Rise of the Argentine Empire

After sending Elena home, Saint-Herse arrived at the Rennes Institute by car, which served as the temporary base for the new Falcon Bureau.

When sending away the little hoodlums tonight, the people from the intelligence bureau gave him an important message, jointly sent by Guerrero and Andrew.

People from the Armed Forces drove him to a building, which was located in the most remote corner of the manor and designated as a restricted area, with at least a 50-man team providing protection every day. It was also the current temporary base of the intelligence bureau.

Saint-Herse walked into the third-floor office, where two people were waiting for him.

With a serious expression, Saint-Herse motioned for them to sit down, then directly opened the secret report. This was currently the highest-level report, and also the intelligence bureau's first top-secret document, with the highest level of destruction clearance.

The signatures of Andrei and Guerrero were on it.

He smelled a hint of unusualness from it.

Now Guerrero had classified various intelligence reports by level. Top-secret intelligence could only be accessed by the director, deputy director, and ministers of the intelligence bureau. Currently, no more than 7 people could view this report.

The Rennes Arms Factory had received a large investment and transformation from Saint-Herse in recent months, and its development was very rapid. However, due to technical, equipment, and talent reasons, the production line was struggling and not doing very well. The Ministry of Defense's orders had not yet been obtained.

Overall, it was still losing a lot of money, and currently it was also competing with the Domingo Arms Factory for a new batch of pistol orders, which was a very stressful time.

Currently, a factory and a firearms production line, specifically for the M1911A, had been built on a vacant lot outside the manor, but Saint-Herse was not very satisfied.

Professor Dahn Cody was the part-time director of the Rennes Institute and also the chief engineer of the arms factory. The current factory director was Augustine Rossi, a deputy director originally appointed by Philip. After leading the team to Bu City, he was appointed as the new factory director.

His technical processing level was very high, and he was also the head of the production department.

But obviously, this secret report seemed extraordinary.

Saint-Herse carefully read the secret report, which also cleared up many of his confusions about the fleeing Nazis after World War II. Saint-Herse sometimes frowned, and sometimes his face was calm.

The more he read, the more exciting it became. This intelligence was a great thing, at least for him, it was a particularly good thing, and Saint-Herse planned to seize this opportunity by any means.

This could potentially completely change the fate of Saint-Herse's arsenal. This matter was greatly related to the Nazis, involving a group of German talents who fled to South America before and after Germany's defeat in World War II.

Closing the report, Saint-Herse glanced at the two people sitting in front of the table.

"When was this situation discovered, Andrei? This intelligence is indeed very important, very well done."

Andrei was originally responsible for the intelligence organization in Bu City, and was also responsible for keeping an eye on Saint-Herse's three industries, newspaper, soda factory, and research institute.

"It was discovered last month, but it took a lot of time to collect intelligence. This Dahn has strong counter-reconnaissance abilities, and we also discovered it by accident. Currently, there is no other contact, but we have discovered several important informants."

"On the 18th of last month, Dahn had some contact with a secret organization, and I don't know if it's a good thing or not."

"I think it's a good thing. Our strength is too weak, and we need to absorb more talent. These Germans are people who have lost their homes, and we have a certain strength, so we can cooperate with them more thoroughly."

This secret report talked about some Nazi espionage activities in Argentina by the Third Reich. They once established a secret radio station. In August 1944, with the cooperation of the CIA and the Argentine intelligence authorities,

most of the German agents and spies were arrested, permanently ending all effective espionage activities of VID4 in the West. Operation "Bolivar" ended, which was the official announcement from the government.

The Germans who managed to escape continued to conduct small-scale espionage activities in Latin America until the end of World War II in 1945, but the amount of secret radio communications never returned to its original level.

But besides spies, they also had some secret arsenals in Argentina. The most important one was Fritz, who was actually a Jew. He set up many bicycle factories in Argentina.

Although as early as 1944, Argentina froze diplomatic relations with the Axis powers and joined the Allied forces,

and declared war on the Axis powers in March 1945.

But after the end of World War II, the Argentine government still opened the door wide for Nazi elements fleeing from Europe, issuing more than 10,000 blank passports.

Argentina once became a paradise for Nazi war criminals in South America. More than 300 high-ranking Nazis entered Argentina, and some even became guests of honor of the president, like the head of the Argentine Air Force.

And President Peron himself was once a pro-Nazi element, and still is to some extent.

As early as the 1930s, Peron was sent to Europe as a military observer, to Germany and Italy, as well as Spain. Germany and Italy were both the core of the Axis powers, as well as the little Japan in the Far East.

Intelligence showed that this Professor Dahn was actually of German descent, and the number of German descendants in Argentina is currently estimated to be at least 500,000, most of whom came before World War II.

During and after World War II, most of them hid and changed their names, and were not very conspicuous. Only those with clean backgrounds like Klose dared to come out to work, but they would also receive some discrimination.

And Dahn was in contact with the person in charge of a former secret arsenal, whose name was unknown. He had many bicycle factories in Argentina, one of which was in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, and Dahn was in very frequent contact with him.

Guerrero contacted a female worker at the bicycle factory named Margaret Marykin, who was an informant developed by Andrew.

"According to her, Fritz founded this bicycle company in 1943. He registered the company as vice president. As for how long he has lived in Argentina, no one knows the details. It is still a mystery."

"Obviously, the Germans in the bicycle factory once received protection from the presidential palace, but now, the presidential palace no longer has much energy to protect him."

"The current presidential palace is opposed by many Argentines. Some of the things they have done have violated the laws of economic development, such as high welfare, printing money to distribute money, and various unfinished economic plans."

"These Germans are preparing to sell or transfer this bicycle factory in the city center, while looking for some new partners. If there are no new cooperation opportunities, they may go to Chile, where the political and economic environment is obviously better than Argentina."

These people are not very optimistic about Peron now, and their usefulness to Peron is not as great

"Even the equipment in these arsenals, dating back to the 1930s and 40s, is something we don't have," Saint-Hesse said with a sigh. Only when truly delving into the "highly specialized" field of firearms equipment did he increasingly feel powerless.

"Yes, Boss."

Saint-Hesse seemed somewhat excited. This was a gift delivered right to his door, and he absolutely couldn't miss it, or he'd be asking for trouble.

If the Americans could plunder German scientists and the Soviets could dismantle German industrial equipment, then it was perfectly reasonable, even quite justified, for him, Saint-Hesse, to set up a small arsenal and absorb some German talent.

...

The next day, Saint-Hesse went to the engineering department and found Professor Dahn working in the laboratory. He seemed to be processing a cutting part.

"Hello, Professor Dahn. How about we talk about the Rhein Research Institute? There's something very important I need to discuss with you," Saint-Hesse said.

"Ah, Cohen, of course. Just let me finish processing this component," Dahn replied, wearing glasses to protect against glare.

"Alright, you go ahead. I'll wait for you outside."

Half an hour later, Dahn finished with the component, changed his clothes, and came out.

"Cohen, what's the matter?"

"It's like this, Professor Dahn. I'd like to talk about the Fletz Bicycle Factory. Let's go to the research institute. Andrew, you're driving."

"I knew this day would come," Dahn said, appearing somewhat lonely, but not very surprised.

He obviously thought that Saint-Hesse was an official 'fishing' agent, even though he was very happy working at the firearms institute.

"Don't think like that. I want to deepen our cooperation. I only care about the future development of the factory, as for what they and you have done in the past, I don't really care about that," Saint-Hesse said directly, shaking his head.

"Is that so? If you're not with the State Intelligence Agency, then we can certainly talk about cooperation."

The State Intelligence Agency was the Argentine intelligence agency established by Peron.

"I have some connections with the military. I held a warrant officer rank in the army, but we're not with the intelligence agency. I come bearing friendship."

"Alright. I came to Argentina to study in '28. I used to be a secret overseas member of the Nazis. Later, I joined Argentine citizenship and have been in secret contact with them ever since.

After the fall of the Third Reich, they received protection from the Presidential Palace, but now the situation is very difficult. Many civilian products can't generate profits, Argentina's export policies have severely damaged the factory, and high welfare is about to drag us down.

And we don't dare to sell military products, so many have been abandoned."

Saint-Hesse had roughly guessed this. Peron had the greatest control over Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province, and most of the Fletz factories were located in those areas.

"Can you contact the person in charge of the Fletz factories, Professor Dahn? I can buy all of your production lines. You can even receive protection from the forces behind me. We can cooperate more deeply. We are very powerful. We have influence in Córdoba, the north, Buenos Aires Province, and Buenos Aires City."

Saint-Hesse was shamelessly bragging, creating the impression of vast power and strength, at least his on-paper strength was indeed becoming difficult to ignore, in order to gain Dahn's trust.

"We have a dozen or twenty factories, and we're going to build steel mills, cement factories, and fertilizer factories. And let me tell you a secret, we particularly hate Jews. They are scum."

Saint-Hesse wasn't lying. He really hated Jews.

"Then there's no problem. We believe in the friendship of the Argentinians towards us. We've also investigated you, Cohen. Although you appear to be just a student, the people behind you are very frightening, at least we can't find out anything about them."

Obviously, it wasn't as simple as he said. They must have investigated Saint-Hesse as well. Saint-Hesse's visible strength was already not simple, and his hidden strength was even more terrifying.

Of course, they wouldn't know that Saint-Hesse's on-paper strength was all he had.

I predicted your prediction, and it wasn't an overactive imagination on their part. After losing the backing of the Third Reich, they had completely lost their foundation.

Now they were even planning to defect to Chile, clearly they were nearing the end of their rope.

"Congratulations, Professor Dahn. You've made a very good choice. I believe you will receive very good returns.

I can promise that unless our organization collapses, we will always protect you until you normalize. As for the Jews, I will take care of them.

This is my promise. You can contact the people at the Fletz factories today and have them come here to find me.

They can all join my factory, and I can find you a truly safe place in Jujuy Province, Salta Province, the Northern Province,

or in the central Córdoba Province. You can also leave Argentina for Chile at any time. We can provide assistance in Santiago, providing any help you want."

Saint-Hesse promised earnestly, while also making grand claims.

He intentionally wanted to subdue or recruit these Germans, showing off his muscles.

This was his sincerity. In Jujuy Province and Salta Province, Thunder Mining was now an important force, enough to guarantee their safety.

"Alright, thank you, Cohen. I will discuss it with them again."

These Germans who came over didn't dare to show their faces, not even to establish a force, let alone engage in politics or business. Even finding work as a laborer was difficult, especially since many factories in Argentina were now state-owned.

Their cooperation with local forces was also very limited. Besides being exploited, they were often deceived and their surplus value squeezed.

But Saint-Hesse was completely different. He was full of sincerity and possessed Argentina's most efficient factories, welcoming all talents.

Saint-Hesse was a thoroughly Argentine, able to develop freely without being targeted by the authorities. As long as he defeated the local forces, it would be a clear case of the survival of the fittest,

and no one would dare to talk nonsense or complain.

Moreover, he had the mark of the Córdoba gang, his own vast factory forces, and scattered forces in the north. He could indeed be said to be a very good partner.

Of course, it would still take some time. Their trust was not so easy to earn. Professor Dahn was just a middleman.

...

Saint-Hesse's goal was simple: to annex the armaments equipment of these seemingly Fletz Bicycle Factories. The opportunity could not be missed.

Even a bicycle factory could be used as the foundation for a motorcycle factory. It was truly a treasure trove. For others, it was a burden, but for him, it was a gold mine.

His arsenal could rapidly expand and develop into one of the largest arsenals in Argentina and even South America, and one that truly had the strength to conduct research and development, not like now, where they could only make knockoffs.

With the implicit support of General Thompson, Rhein Firearms Factory finally obtained permission from the Ministry of Defense to participate in the new round of handgun replacement bidding by the Ministry of Defense.

The Argentine Ministry of Defense's Liberator Building is located in the central area of the capital, adjacent to the Presidential Residence.