Rise of the Argentine Empire

The issue of army construction is a major one, probably the only real headache for José in the near future. The Ministry of Defense will soon send people to cooperate with him in reorganizing the Defense Force.

He's been frequently visiting military camps recently, personally tackling various issues. According to the intelligence information the Falcon Bureau has on the troops, the situation is relatively optimistic.

On August 6th, a light rain began to fall, and the cold wind was biting.

José organized a live ammunition training exercise at the military camp of the Third Regiment of the Second Division of the La Pampa Defense Force. The Third Regiment of the Second Division was reorganized from the Blue Delta Company and is considered the strongest regiment among the three divisions of the La Pampa Defense Force.

"Commander, welcome to your inspection."

José, dressed in military uniform and wearing the newly issued Senior Colonel rank from the Ministry of Defense, looked at the aging La Pampa Defense Force in their dark green uniforms and felt a sense of melancholy.

The military rank was awarded by the Ministry of Defense when he took office as the commander of the La Pampa Defense Force, both a nominal and actual rank.

The La Pampa Defense Force was officially recognized by the Ministry of Defense as a local force and included in the Argentine Defense Forces sequence, requiring reorganization.

This was one of the conditions José negotiated with the Ministry of Defense on behalf of the La Pampa Defense Force. Many conditions were discussed, including the army organization.

Currently, the La Pampa Defense Force, including the logistics units, has nearly 22,000 people, even more than the national defense force of neighboring Paraguay by several thousand. This is the result of José's reckless expansion, with about 15,000 people coming from other provinces.

The composition of the Defense Force is quite complex, including not only whites and Indians, but also gauchos, natives, peasant natives, and even foreigners. There are also police transfers, making it very chaotic. Even with multiple reorganizations and training, there are still significant problems, and the factions are complex, including the Santa Rosa City Security Regiment, the Blanca City Police, and rural regiments. Some gangsters who couldn't make it in the underworld even joined the army, which is why the Defense Force's numbers increased so quickly.

With normal expansion, the number of people couldn't have ballooned so quickly.

Looking at the age of the soldiers, they range from 16 to over 40 years old. The initial conscription standards were very simple: anyone who could carry a gun and run 5 kilometers in half an hour was accepted. Basically, if you were a man, you were in.

In terms of the composition of the military branches, they are basically all infantry, using light weapons. There isn't even an artillery unit, and there are only a few tanks. The newly expanded regiments probably don't get more than 30 bullets for training each month.

Few young people enlist in the La Pampa Defense Force, and none of them joined through normal conscription. The combat effectiveness of such a force is predictable.

The three regiments transferred when he took office as a senior official were basically his true direct lineage, the foundation of the two major security companies, even after being screened.

Last year, his strategic goal of forming the La Pampa Defense Force was achieved.

Now that he has become the true leader of La Pampa, it is time to downsize and build a professional force.

Blanca City and the three coastal cities are also about to enter the next stage of economic construction. Releasing one or two thousand strong laborers is enough to maintain a dozen or twenty medium-sized factories. Economic construction is currently short of people.

He has also been paying attention to the problem of illiteracy and low education levels in the army. His insistence on implementing literacy programs and basic military management in the army has been somewhat useful.

These soldiers can also receive a subsidy and job training after they retire, which is also beneficial.

After the demobilization, artillery and tank units will be formed. In terms of weapons, tanks and armored vehicles will be added, as well as light and heavy weapons. In terms of training, basic infantry-tank coordination and other training will be conducted.

The research progress of the several research institutes established by Rhein Military Industries has not fallen behind. After Rhein Military Industries was nationalized, it was directly emptied and moved to Blanca City by New Cohen Heavy Industries.

This development has been even more rapid. Although there hasn't been much progress in high-precision aviation weapons, airplanes, and fighter jets like the San Martin Aircraft Factory, the development of ordinary army equipment such as tanks, rocket launchers, and light weapons is still good with José guiding the way.

At the same time, the La Pampa Defense Force will establish regiments and brigades equipped with artillery and rocket launchers as their basic equipment. These new types of ground fire assault units can be used to support the combat operations of infantry and tank soldiers, and cooperate with other arms and services. They can also independently conduct fire combat, which will truly strengthen the combat effectiveness of the La Pampa Defense Force.

Rocket launchers are the focus of development for the New Cohen Artillery Factory and Research Institute. Rocket launchers have a fast firing speed, fierce firepower, good surprise attack capabilities, and strong mobility. They can launch a large number of rockets in a very short period of time, and the manufacturing cost will also be lower than cannons and howitzers, making them very suitable for the Defense Force's artillery.

There has also been some development in the production and manufacturing of suppression artillery such as howitzers and cannons, but it is mainly based on imitation of the United States, with great progress in production technology.

As the saying goes, a benevolent person should not command troops, and a righteous person should not manage wealth. José realized that his biggest shortcomings were still being too soft-hearted and that the army's professionalization was too poor.

Although he served in the Cordoba City Guard for three years, he had only served as a short-term staff officer at most and had never led a regiment. He had never received systematic training at a military academy and could only be said to be a self-taught amateur.

Now, the La Pampa Defense Force seems to be huge, but it is just a miscellaneous force among miscellaneous forces. Through short-term large-scale expansion, it does not have much foundation, and its combat effectiveness is probably only slightly higher than that of African chiefs.

His training of the army still uses the old methods of the past, mercenary-style training, or the training methods of security companies, which can only deal with gangsters, bandits, and small warlords.

The level of these military academy students who have been there for less than a year is also relatively limited. Even if a dozen or so professional officers are stuffed in, it is difficult to deal with these veterans.

Moreover, the financial supply is also quite difficult, so he finally had the idea of downsizing the army.

From the current point of view, downsizing the army is inevitable.

Turning a force of nearly 30,000 into about 10,000, reducing 3 divisions into 1 division, and also getting some benefits from the Ministry of Defense.

He was a little too naive when he expanded the army at the beginning.

Military reform is also imperative. He can only hate that he doesn't have a few excellent officers under his command.

At the same time, many unnecessary light and heavy weapons can be sold to Africa to save on military expenses.

Evaluating and selecting suitable personnel can also slightly improve combat effectiveness.

The La Pampa Military Academy, as a university directly under the La Pampa Defense Force, has been operating for some time.

In the future, in terms of military deployment, it is actually just a matter of arranging it around Blanca City, and there is no need to arrange garrisons in Santa Rosa City.

Moreover, a division of three regiments, when truly trained, has a combat effectiveness that cannot be underestimated. Although it is difficult to attack the capital and stage a military coup, it is enough to maintain local security and protect the safety of La Pampa Province. It is also possible to go to the capital to defend the emperor when necessary.

… …

In addition to the difficult problem of army construction, there is also the Colorado River Comprehensive Hub Project in La Pampa Province.

As the de facto military and political leader of La Pampa Province, setting the direction, grasping the overall situation, recognizing and employing people, and managing people well are José's responsibilities.

Saint Hérse now doesn't need to do specific things; what he needs to do is formulate good policies and put the right people in the right positions.

However, he is the primary person responsible for the canal construction, pulling in the necessary resources.

The preliminary demonstration and preparation work has been done, and the new canal can connect the Colorado tributary and Blanca Bay well. If it is completely successfully constructed, the canal length will be approximately 390.4 kilometers, and the later maintenance will mainly use a gravity-flow mode.

Even so, the construction cost is astronomical. 80 million US dollars is actually far from enough; it is at most the cost of the first phase. The river and engineering team estimate that it will require at least 240 million US dollars, with the average cost per kilometer still reaching 60,000 US dollars.

In fact, Saint Hérse is a little too eager to build the canal, but he also wants to take the opportunity to bring some people from other provinces to fill the population.

To develop industrialization, there must be enough people. Argentina has few people. If this canal construction can bring 70,000 to 80,000 workers to the La Pampa region, it will not occupy the province's labor force, and large-scale project construction will inevitably drive economic construction.

Saint Hérse couldn't help but sigh again, if La Pampa Province had 10 million people now, he could attack Buenos Aires next month.

The famous Suez Canal is 175 kilometers long, with an average river surface width of 135 meters and an average depth of 13 meters, almost equivalent to a medium-to-large river.

The Panama Canal is also like this, with a total length of 81.3 kilometers and a water depth of 13 meters to 15 meters, and a river width of 150 meters to 304 meters.

Temporarily named the Colorado Canal, it is now officially named the La Pampa Canal Project, which is longer, and the expected channel width is also about 15 meters.

It is expected to use at least 1,500 excavating engineering machines and forklifts, as well as a large number of tractors and trucks, of which more than half will be domestically produced Argentine engineering machinery, all provided jointly by Leiton Motors and New Cohen Heavy Industries.

However, there are very few people in Argentina who can operate excavators and forklifts. Fortunately, the La Pampa Defense Force has enough people. Before their withdrawal, they recruited excavator and engineering machinery drivers and provided free training, and they were immediately fully staffed.

The La Pampa Defense Force laid off a regiment in the first wave. The La Pampa Provincial State-owned Assets Committee established the La Pampa Engineering Machinery Company in Blanca City, and purchased 1,000 engineering machines from New Cohen Heavy Industries through installment payments with loans to support the construction of the La Pampa Canal.

The preliminary exploration progress of the canal will take a relatively long time. Currently, the tractor factory, truck factory, and engineering machinery factory are being expanded.

Leiton Motors has earned a lot of profit from selling Fiat cars, while the sales of the Philip Tractor Factory and New Cohen Heavy Industries' truck factory are not satisfactory. The quality is average, and the price is also high, which forms a vicious circle.

Saint Hérse's large canal project also intends to bring these factories along, which can be considered a multiple win.

The general construction legal person responsible for the canal construction is organized by the La Pampa Provincial Government, officially named the La Pampa Canal Comprehensive Management Bureau, responsible for diverting water from the Salado River basin, and then extending it southward to divert water from the Colorado River to supplement the water volume.

The Colorado River originates in southern South America and is the boundary river between La Pampa Province and Negro River Province. It originates in the Andes Mountains. The river is only more than 900 kilometers long, but the flow is more than twice that of the Colorado River in Texas, USA, and the population along the Colorado River is sparse.

In this way, the impact of diverting water from the Colorado River to the Salado River—La Pampa Canal will be relatively small, and it is also very suitable for supplying natural water to the future Blanca Bay economic zone. Although the precipitation in the upper and middle reaches is not abundant, the average annual precipitation is between 200 mm and 500 mm, the precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of the canal can reach 1000 mm, which is a good supplement to the river water.

Large reservoirs can be built in the middle and lower reaches to accumulate the canal water, and it will not affect the original Colorado River channel too much.

The land in the Colorado River basin can also be developed and utilized to a certain extent, so that the relatively water-scarce La Pampa Province can obtain more water resources.

The remaining engineering machinery gap in the construction is also contracted by some gray forces that need to be transformed with the introduction of various preferential policies. This is their specialty. Other things like sand fields and soil transportation are also contracted out in large quantities.

These underground gray and black forces from Blanca City also need some way to survive, which is also making the best use of waste.

The La Pampa Provincial Power Generation Company, jointly established by the La Pampa State-owned Assets Committee and the Blanca City Southern Power Company, has been established in Blanca City, responsible for the construction of the hydropower station in the upper reaches of the Colorado River and the construction of dams along the canal.

Other related constructions are contracted by 7 professional road and bridge construction companies, including the Second Construction Company of Blanca City, in sections to speed up the construction.

The canal construction project officially started on August 8.

… …

Regarding investment in the United States, there has been good news recently. Sequoia Capital, through a large number of diversified investments and betting on the US stock market, first successfully bought the bottom of many companies at low prices, and then encountered the golden stock market, earning two or three times the funds at once. These funds cannot be directly transferred to Argentina, so a part of them was invested in Saint Hérse's only industrial company in the United States, Enco Electric, and the rest of the money was also heavily invested in semiconductor laboratories and some emerging companies.

Enco Electric, headquartered in New York, could only be said to be a third- or fourth-rate electrical appliance company. With a large amount of money from Sequoia Capital, it acquired a batch of industry-specialized electrical appliance companies.

Enco recruited a group of talented R\u0026D personnel, promoted and trained professional management, acquired a batch of newly invented patents and technologies, established various industrial laboratories, and had some advanced development plans, embarking on a high-speed development opportunity.

Except for the initial transistor radio project which was not very profitable, the washing machine, refrigerator, color TV, rice cooker, and microwave oven projects that were invested in and acquired successively were all successful.

Among them, the washing machines and refrigerators launched by Enco are of excellent quality and have a very beautiful appearance. In addition, with money to invest a lot of advertising on TV stations, radio magazines, they quickly became popular in the United States, and then exports increased greatly. Europe, Canada, South America, and Japan have all achieved considerable sales.

The transistor color TV represents Enco Electric's scientific research strength, because the investment is not cost-effective, and it has also innovatively improved the resolution of color TVs, which is regarded as a symbol of American technological development.

Due to the development of several electrical appliances, Enco Electric has grown from a small electrical appliance company in the eastern United States to the largest electrical appliance company on the east coast of the United States.

The main reason why color TVs are not sold much is that the concept is ahead of its time, and the appearance still needs to be improved. Color TVs are expensive, and only a small number of wealthy people can afford them now. Black and white TVs are more popular now.

Finally, 700 centrifuge core components were smuggled in a decentralized manner to the potassium triangle border, and then transported to Neuquén Province and La Pampa Province for uranium enrichment, providing a large number of high-quality raw materials for nuclear physics and nuclear weapons research and development.

These secret smuggling activities have also attracted the attention of some intelligence agencies, but under the cover of the Falcon Bureau, they have not been paid too much attention. What they are mainly focusing on is the Argentine Atomic Energy Agency, and few people think that a private institution can develop an atomic bomb.

However, that's indeed the case. Without the intervention of national power, San Jose's nuclear weapons program is progressing quite slowly, far from reaching the point of success. At most, it's equivalent to reserving technology and talent.

......

The textile and clothing industries in Blanca City have made rapid progress and can now compete with Buenos Aires, with export volumes increasing rapidly every month.

It has also established cotton textile supply bases abroad, especially in Paraguay, which has greatly supplemented the insufficient domestic cotton production in Argentina.

After the military coup in Paraguay in 1954, the Stroessner military government was established. The military and the Red Party are the two main pillars of the military government. Orland City in the Potassium Triangle area and Formosa City in Formosa Province are important areas for Thunder Cross, Thunder Mining, Blue Cloud Textile, Future Agriculture, and Andes Tobacco. They are also "smuggling bases" for exports to Paraguay, and have established good economic and political relations with the Paraguayan military government.

San Jose didn't personally get involved, but he has good relations with Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay, the three important neighboring countries of the former Greater La Plata region. Among them, Uruguay's cooperation was established through the iron ore of the Thirty-Three Orientals Province and Plarrie International Trade. These three countries mainly export raw materials and minerals, and now they urgently need an important trade channel. The Cohen Consortium has inexpensive Argentine manufacturing, and the complementary relationship is very obvious, which can also promote employment.

Bill Byrd of Orland City, as one of San Jose's most important subordinates, controls the most important non-governmental military force in the Potassium Triangle area, the weakened but already formally registered Thunder Cross Security Company, and has partial control over Thunder Mining. He is already one of the most powerful people in the Potassium Triangle area.

The one in charge of dealing with Paraguay is Guerrero, the first director of the Falcon Bureau. Although he is not suitable for intelligence agencies, he is very skilled as a political broker. Paraguay was originally a weak link in the Cohen Consortium, but now it is developing much faster than Bolivia. The Cohen Consortium's resources in northeastern Argentina have also been utilized, and tobacco, cotton, farms, import and export trade, and smuggling channels have all developed rapidly.

The northeastern region of Argentina, like the northwestern region, is quite poor and backward, but there are also advantages. The local powers in poor and backward places are generally not very strong. With the mountains high and the emperor far away, it is also conducive to the development of San Jose Group's underground forces.

It's just that these underground forces have nothing to do with San Jose on the surface.

Guerrero and Bill are also San Jose's links to Bolivia and Paraguay.

Brazil and Uruguay are being handled by the Plarrie International team. Thunder Mining and various export factories also export manufactured goods to Uruguay.

Uruguay adopted an import substitution industrialization strategy and built a large number of state-owned enterprises. However, before and after 1955, the economy was restricted by the size and population of the country, the manufacturing industry developed slowly, and the competitiveness became worse and worse. There is already a trend of a military government coming to power.

The deterioration of economic development has weakened the position of the ruling Red Party. After careful analysis by the San Jose think tank, they plan to bet on the White Party in order to obtain more benefits. To this end, he also sent a group of his subordinates to Montevideo to operate.

Brazil is currently the fastest-growing economy in South America. The Cohen Consortium has already established some branches in major Brazilian cities to share the fruits of development.

Progress in Chile and Peru is relatively slow, and they are not the focus of San Jose's development. Appropriate greed is no problem, but too much greed can easily lead to a collapse.

The population of La Pampa Province has now exceeded that of Uruguay and is rushing towards 3 million.

The lucky thing about La Pampa Province compared to Uruguay is that Argentina's domestic population size has a certain advantage, which can form a stable domestic market. Although the population size does not seem to be of any use for exports, it can indeed form a batch of more competitive companies.

Uruguay's population growth rate increased to 1.4 million in the 1930s and then declined year by year, remaining between 1.2 and 1.5%. Now it is less than 2 million. Because of the stagnation of economic development, Uruguay is even losing population every year, mostly young people, which has exacerbated Uruguay's economic situation.

Under San Jose's instructions, La Pampa Province established an immigration agency in Uruguay to attract young Uruguayan immigrants. In the past few months, it has attracted thousands of young immigrants to the prosperous Blanca City, and they have been well integrated. Similar cultural backgrounds and language also eliminate discrimination.

With the promotion of the immigration agency, Blanca City has become a more youthful, energetic, booming, and full of opportunities than Montevideo. There are many job opportunities here, and immigrants are treated very favorably.

Such immigration agencies have also been established in Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru, but they are not as obvious as in Uruguay. They are more of an extension of the former Cohen Brothers Consulting Company, mainly for black immigrants.

Bolivia is poorer than Uruguay, while Paraguay, due to the military government, has seen many wealthy people flee Asuncion to foreign countries due to the liquidation work. Argentina is not considered far from their homeland, and it is more suitable than the United States and Brazil. The same language and similar ethnicity are what attract them. The prosperous Blanca City is San Jose's trump card.

Many wealthy immigrants are also willing to come to Blanca City, which has more development opportunities, instead of Buenos Aires, where the positions have been taken up. This is also inseparable from the powerful propaganda machine. Buenos Aires is too old and lacks job opportunities. Frequent strikes, poor public security, dirty and chaotic living environment, and high living costs dissuade many new immigrants.

La Pampa Province's Blanca City is different. San Jose promulgated a new provincial constitution. As long as you live and work in La Pampa Province for more than 5 years and are legally registered, you will automatically obtain the right to vote at the provincial level. Living for 2 years can obtain most of the rights of normal citizens. This attracts many people to join, but if you are electing the president, the next generation of newborns must be 16 years old before they can, which cannot be changed.

The birth rate in La Pampa Province is the highest in Argentina under certain artificial interventions, mostly from Blanca City. Now the policy has been extended to the entire La Pampa Province.

A large number of newborns were born this year, and even many pregnant women from other provinces went to La Pampa Province just to enjoy Argentina's most unique fertility preferential policies. Families with 5 children can even get tax exemption and employment education subsidies.

San Jose and Elena's second child is about to be born, and there are already four or five illegitimate children, who will all receive good training.

The introduction of these pro-natalist bills is under tremendous pressure and has even led to a decline in San Jose's approval rating. It is also accompanied by huge financial expenditures, but it has not shaken San Jose's determination.

Because San Jose knows that with rapid industrialization and urbanization, the door to population growth is about to close. Taking advantage of the present to have a few more children is also responsible for maintaining the future development of Argentina.