Rise of the Argentine Empire

After a period of bustling around, Saint Hérissé finally managed to set up the framework for the Redwood Company and the Prari sales branch.

He spent a large amount of money and energy, gradually completing the internal renovation of the Prari Paladi branch factory.

Buenos Aires is, after all, a big city with abundant talent. Saint Hérissé's desired electricians, plumbers, and renovation workers were all readily available, and these small teams were working for him, unaffected by the city's strikes.

A modern factory, renovated according to Saint Hérissé's wishes, covering an area of 20,000 square meters, designed for a monthly output of 6 million bottles of soda, with a total investment of over 2.2 million US dollars, was taking shape.

To obtain more advanced automated production lines, Saint Hérissé not only contacted General Electric in the United States but also approached more than a dozen foreign companies such as Siemens and Bosch in Germany.

Eventually, he signed a contract with General Electric for 6 production lines and with Siemens for 5. These world-leading production lines could produce not only soda but also fruit juice beverages, and more.

Saint Hérissé's change of heart made the people at General Electric very annoyed, but they were helpless. After all, it was only an initial intention. For a while, he had a nickname, "The Cunning Fox Saint Hérissé," which probably originated from this time.

The final result was still a pleasant cooperation between the two parties, and Saint Hérissé even managed to secure many preferential terms.

The Fourth Reich, rising from the ruins, began its national revitalization and needed an overseas market. Argentina, as one of the two major powers in South America, was an important market. Although not as important as Brazil, it could be used to enter Paraguay, Bolivia, and other South American countries, which was also quite significant.

Saint Hérissé also established good relationships with Siemens, Bosch, and other companies. Just because the cooperation wasn't ideal now didn't mean it couldn't happen in the future. He couldn't afford to fall out with General Electric either. General Electric was still very important, a large enterprise that could lobby the US government, truly wealthy enough to rival a nation.

The two companies purchased a total of 11 automated beverage production lines, each costing $200,000, for a total purchase price of $2.2 million.

Saint Hérissé only needed to pay a 30% down payment, with the remaining 70% to be paid off in two years, and there were many other free equipment included.

Everything looked promising.

......

Time slowly came to January 26th, and the admission exam results for the University of Buenos Aires were about to be released.

Saint Hérissé put down his work and took a taxi to the university campus.

The entire campus was crowded with people. The University of Buenos Aires is located in the city center, next to the City Hall, occupying a large area.

Saint Hérissé found the Faculty of Law. The current Faculty of Law is one of the sixteen faculties of the University of Buenos Aires. In a few years, it will merge with the Faculty of Social Sciences to become one of the largest of the thirteen faculties.

Saint Hérissé started reading from the last name on the large, printed sheets of white paper, becoming more and more disheartened as he looked towards the front.

Could it be that I didn't get in? Saint Hérissé muttered to himself, and he would have to go to the National University of Cordoba.

The National University had already notified Saint Hérissé of his acceptance into the Economics Department, where he ranked second in his major.

The University of Buenos Aires is indeed one of the most difficult universities to get into. This year, the University of Buenos Aires expanded its enrollment by 10%, so many people came to try their luck.

The University of Buenos Aires enrolled 4,000 students this year, and the Faculty of Law enrolled 300. The Faculty of Law is also one of the most popular faculties, having cultivated many well-known figures. The current Dean of the Faculty of Law, Walter Ymer, is a member of the government think tank.

The University of Buenos Aires has the greatest influence in Argentina, with one-third of the current government officials coming from the University of Buenos Aires.

Saint Hérissé thought he hadn't done well on the exam, starting from the last name and becoming more and more disappointed.

Until he came to the last golden list, looking from the back to the front, he finally found the name of Saint Hérissé Cohen in third place, a graduate of San Guo Bo High School in Cordoba Province. This high school could be considered a diploma that Saint Hérissé bought, although he passed all the exams.

Hey, buddy, can you move over?

A young man behind him patted Saint Hérissé on the shoulder.

After repeatedly confirming, Saint Hérissé realized that he had been admitted and was taking up space.

Oh, okay, okay," the young man said thank you and then pointed to the ninth position, Nicolas Eisen. Saint Hérissé glanced at it and left the list.

He felt very relaxed. The half-year of preparation had not been in vain. He just didn't know what the golden list meant.

The golden list is the most dazzling. Each major faculty provides ten, which are the most dazzling existences among the freshmen," a passerby A said to passerby B.

I see," it seemed a little high-profile. Practicing questions still had some effect.

Little Knicks was standing at the gate of the University of Buenos Aires waiting for Saint Hérissé.

Hey, boss, did you get in?

Little Knicks graduated from the National University of La Plata in Argentina.

Oh, I think I got in.

My God, this is the University of Buenos Aires, it's incredible!

Little Knicks made exaggerated gestures and made strange noises.

Knicks, if you make that weird noise again next time, I'll deduct your salary for next month.

Little Knicks, who had just admitted his mistake, winked and said.

Not really interested...", although Little Knicks was only six years older than Saint Hérissé, he already had a wife, but she didn't come to Buenos Aires with him, and he had some "special hobbies."

Boss, is there a day off today? Such a good day should be a day off,

It was indeed not very busy now. The sales volume of Meda Soda was rising steadily, leaving other soda factories with no power to fight back, and it had taken another 5% of the market share.

Okay, go ahead and do your thing. I'll give you a day off with pay today.

Little Knicks had indeed been busy for two weeks, enduring a lot of hardship with Saint Hérissé, without any complaints, and he was doing a good job.

Yay, thank you, boss, then I'll go first,

Little Knicks was afraid that Saint Hérissé would go back on his word, so he quickly stopped a taxi and slipped away.

Knicks, young people need to take care of their bodies,

Saint Hérissé loudly reminded him before Knicks got into the car.

Boss, I will pay attention,

He ran away without looking back.

Saint Hérissé walked out a bit and stood on the side of the road.

He was planning to stop a car to go back to the hotel. He was going back to Cordoba in the next two days.

The University of Buenos Aires would not start until late February, and Cordoba needed to be prepared. This was Saint Hérissé's rear base, so he had to arrange it properly. At the same time, he had to report to the commander and the staff to discuss future work, and he couldn't continue working after going to school.

He prepared to have a good exchange, revealing some future trends to the commander. If he could seize some opportunities, it would be very beneficial for future development. Saint Hérissé finally confirmed.

The local forces in Cordoba were indeed very unusual. Even without Saint Hérissé's successful military exercise, this local military region would have been established.

If he could take advantage of it in the future, it would be very beneficial for future development.

He also didn't know why the commander was portrayed as ambitious but incompetent back then, but Saint Hérissé was just a team leader at that time, and many things seemed superficial.

"Master, take me to the college area," a pleasant voice cut in as Saint Herse was about to close the door. A girl with golden hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a shapely figure entered the taxi from behind, wearing a white polka-dot dress, and sat down.

"Miss, I flagged it down first," Saint Herse reminded her from the front seat.

"Hello, teacher. I have a bit of an emergency. Could you please take me to the college area first?" the girl's voice sounded a little anxious.

"Miss, we're not going the same way. This gentleman is going to Paraí," the taxi driver said, feeling a little embarrassed, since Saint Herse had gotten in first.

"I'll pay a thousand pesos. Can you take me there first? I'll pay for this teacher's fare too. I'm a sophomore at the University of Buenos Aires, and there's a family emergency."

She finished speaking and took several pesos from her bag.

"Alright, I'm not really in a hurry," Saint Herse said, as he truly wasn't.

"Since this teacher agrees, I'll go to the college area first," the driver agreed, thinking it was a good way to make money.

"Thank you. My name is Delia Lilith, and I'm a sophomore in the economics department. Teacher, I'm really grateful to you," Saint Herse saw Delia's graceful demeanor in the rearview mirror.

"Hello, my name is Saint Herse Cohen, prospective freshman, not a teacher," Saint Herse, having been called 'teacher' twice, finally had the chance to respond.

"Wow, you're a junior! Nice to meet you," Saint Herse forgot to shave today and was wearing casual clothes, so he did look a little older.

"How nice is 'nice'?..." Saint Herse blurted out. He didn't mean anything by it, just wanted to see how this senior would respond.

"Uh... you're a bit humorous, junior," Delia was also stunned for a moment, thinking for a while before replying. This junior was toxic.

"Haha, just kidding," Saint Herse didn't know why, but seeing this senior, he suddenly became talkative.

Even the driver in front was a little embarrassed.

Then there was a long silence, and neither of them continued to speak.

Saint Herse could only turn his head and look out the window at the scenery, from San Juan Street to the Rose Palace, Plaza de Mayo, Saint Fe Road, Italy Square, and the college area.

Finally, they stopped in front of an upscale residential area. Delia said goodbye to Saint Herse, left the taxi, and Saint Herse felt a little regretful. He should have asked for her phone number. Oh right, there were no cell phones in this era.

"Hey, young man, only the rich and powerful live here. Don't think too much," the driver, clearly noticing Saint Herse's disappointment, "comforted" him.

That was true. Delia had an outstanding figure and temperament, and clearly came from a wealthy family. Saint Herse compared her with the socialites at the Cordoba Alcala Hotel banquet and realized he couldn't compare.

"That's right," the driver chatted with Saint Herse, proving to be quite talkative.

"The city's unions are uniting to strike..." the car radio broadcasted union propaganda, calling on all workers in the city to unite, demanding wage increases and refusing layoffs.

"These people don't work hard and are always messing around with strikes. They should know that if everyone went on strike and didn't work, it would be a huge disaster," the driver seemed quite dissatisfied with the strikers, as he was working for himself. Striking involved marching in the streets, and some people even mixed in to smash, loot, and burn things.

"Yeah, the country is in trouble now, and these people are messing around. Those union people are really screwing things up," Saint Herse agreed. Did these idiots think they could lie down and win every day by striking? It was ridiculous. Without production, a country could never become strong.

Buenos Aires was indeed a bit chaotic, with people organizing strikes everywhere. This was also one of the downsides of the Perón government. Having risen to power with the support of the unions, inflation had increased in the past two years, and economic development wasn't great. The newly introduced laws favored large factories, and the workers were unhappy, demanding wage increases and so on.

The lower and middle-class workers in Buenos Aires were organized by unions and went on strike from time to time. Some shady characters were mixed in, making it much more chaotic than Cordoba.

Unfortunately, if everyone's wages were increased by printing money, it would only lead to hyperinflation and a collapse of the national credit, like in pre-World War II Germany, Zimbabwe, and later Argentina. It didn't have the fate of a developed country, but it had the disease of one, Saint Herse thought speechlessly.

Of course, Saint Herse was mostly in the city center, protected by the Ministry of Defense's army, so it was still okay. Paraí, however, wasn't a traditional industrial area, so it wasn't very serious. Those areas with many companies and factories were said to be developing greatly, which had already had some impact.

After a while, Saint Herse arrived at the hotel, got out of the taxi, and found people marching and demonstrating downstairs, shouting slogans for wage increases, which Saint Herse found quite comical.

He heard that the strikes in the past few years were even more ruthless, especially after the nationalization of Argentina's railways. The Perón government spent a lot of money on nationalization, but the railway workers went on strike every day. Layoffs also failed, the railway system was held hostage, and national spending continued to increase.

The ever-expanding civil service system made the entire national administration increasingly bloated and incompetent.

Even more laughable, after the liberalization reforms, Argentina's original 35,000 kilometers of railway were reduced to only 1,000 kilometers.

Saint Herse didn't care much, as it wasn't something he was currently concerned with. He returned to his hotel, packed his luggage, and went to Redwood Company again.

Except for the three people who went to America, everyone else was working honestly, which Saint Herse was quite satisfied with. If these people were foolish enough to participate in strikes, Saint Herse would have no choice but to abandon them.

In the newly established office in Plarrie, some people had actually been coaxed into striking. Saint Herse directly told them not to come to work the next day. Saint Herse paid well, which was reasonable during the probationary period.

Plarrie wasn't a state-owned enterprise now, and it was already difficult to survive. These fools didn't work and even learned to strike. Since he hadn't mistreated them, he had no choice but to let them go.

These people cried and begged Little Knicks for mercy. Little Knicks, being the boss for the first time, felt that these problems weren't big, and Saint Herse scolded him.

Saint Herse didn't agree, only saying that the company was too small and had difficulties, and that he would settle their wages according to the law. Sometimes you can't be soft-hearted, because if there's a next time, the company won't be able to function. He wouldn't mind normal wage increases, and the company didn't need fools. It's not shameful to come out and earn money.

After dealing with these annoying things, Saint Herse returned to the hotel and went to sleep.

He had Little Knicks book a train ticket for the next morning to return to Cordoba, back home.