Rise of the Argentine Empire

Let Aragon scout out a few good storefronts and factory buildings, preparing to rent them to do a little business, planning some funds for future tuition and living expenses.

Currently, Argentina is indeed lacking in food equipment and industry, mainly concentrated in the capital Buenos Aires and Rosario. It is difficult to find packaging production lines domestically.

These devices can only be produced in the United States now. After World War II, production capacity began to be surplus, but unfortunately, they cannot be bought openly.

Europeans themselves probably don't have enough for their own use. Currently, Argentina has no direct trade relations with the United States. Only after the Perón government completely collapses will American capital enter Argentina in large quantities, because the Americans hate the Perón government's "Third Position".

Nowadays, the United States adopts a strong economic blockade against Argentina, and the Economic Cooperation Administration discriminates against Argentina. It is impossible to obtain American industrial equipment openly.

Of course, smuggling is possible. As long as it is Brazil or Uruguay, as long as you have money, you can still buy it on the underground black market, but it is limited to ordinary light industrial equipment.

Argentina's foreign exchange reserves are in pounds sterling. After the decline of British power, foreign exchange controls are implemented. Pounds sterling and US dollars cannot be directly exchanged, and San Jose's pesos cannot be directly exchanged into US dollars, so it is impossible to buy equipment.

Originally, he also planned to produce canned food, but went bankrupt due to debt. The asking price is 100,000 pesos per line, which is about 2,000 US dollars per line, which is ridiculously expensive, but this is the 1950s.

It's really dark enough, but San Jose reluctantly accepts it. Who told Argentina that it can't produce these things and can only be controlled by others? He ordered two lines from the underground intermediary. It's a good thing not to go to the United States, so take them back and try them out first.

Uruguay, as Argentina's younger brother, has a status somewhat similar to Hong Kong in New China, but a larger version. He paid a deposit of 50,000 pesos, and the balance will be paid when the production line is handed over.

Argentina's domestic market is quite closed. Agriculture is quite developed, but exports rely on primary agricultural products. There is almost no deep processing of fruits. Cordoba is currently the third largest city, but there is not much competition.

I went to the largest market in the city and some grocery stores. The variety of goods is not rich. Even ordinary drinks such as Coca-Cola seem to be unavailable. The American blockade is relatively thorough.

There are some preliminary processed traditional foods and inferior beer produced by domestic breweries, which San Jose and his partners do not drink, and the taste is very average.

It is also related to the current international trade environment. It has only been a few years since the end of World War II, and international trade is not developed. The Soviet Union's economy is stepping up to restore production.

Western Europe, which Argentina has good relations with, is still recovering, and Europe is also healing, with great restraint on exports, and not enough for its own people to eat.

American capitalists have coveted the Argentine market for a long time. In recent years, the country has been closed to the outside world and tariffs have been high. Argentina's relationship with Spain is still okay, but Spain is no longer the glorious first empire on which the sun never sets. Spain is a dictatorship under Franco, and the Perón government's nationalization policy has plunged Anglo-Argentine relations to a historic low.

Overall, the market opportunity is very good, and San Jose is still very good at food processing.

Following Aragon, he came to a large dairy farm that he was optimistic about, preparing to talk to the owner.

Looking from afar, there are several other farms around the factory building, but they are even more desolate. They are full of weeds and no one has taken care of them for a long time. The overall framework is still good, and it is also connected to electricity, covering an area of more than 3,000 square meters. There are also warehouses to meet San Jose's needs.

Local businessman Mariquiniens greeted San Jose with a smile.

"Mr. San Jose, if you buy this factory building, you will definitely make a profit. If I didn't want to develop in the capital, I would definitely be reluctant to sell it. This factory building is worth at least 1 million pesos.

If you want to buy it, you only need to pay 750,000 pesos, and the monthly rent is 20,000 pesos," Mariquini said with a flattering expression. In fact, San Jose wanted to buy it, and the price was not expensive, and the place was big enough, but unfortunately, he only had 50,000 pesos in assets.

"Mr. Mariquini, are you sure you are not joking? Now, no one in Cordoba except me will rent your broken factory building. I don't need to buy a factory building for the time being,"

Now there is a shortage of funds, and it would be foolish to buy these heavy assets, which are too difficult to realize.

"Mr. San Jose, it cost me 1.1 million pesos to build this factory building... Look at this steel structure, this strong red brick, absolutely genuine materials,"

Mariquini said, touching the wall skin, but as soon as he touched it, a piece of wall skin fell off, which was a bit embarrassing.

"Stop... I can only pay up to 10,000 pesos a month. The rent in the near suburbs of Cordoba is not high now, and the area around here is also very desolate. I'm not kidding. Tomorrow I can pay up to 9,000 pesos and tell you a valuable piece of information for free. There will definitely be a large-scale conflict in Cordoba in the next six months. At that time, businessmen like you... should suffer heavy losses."

Mariquini took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped non-existent cold sweat, then breathed on his hands and rubbed them together.

"Mr. San Jose, I really can't talk you out of it. How about we each take a step back? I also have several shops under my name. You can rent them together for 15,000 pesos, which is definitely a great value. I also have a vacant house that can be rented to you as a gift,"

Mariquini was also a little worried about the situation and wanted to develop in the capital. As for here, it was a bit unsafe.

"I looked at it, forget about your house, the shops are okay, 12,000 pesos a month, that's the highest price I can offer, I can pay a month's rent first, if it's suitable, let's sign the contract today... If you don't think it's suitable, then forget it, and I wish you a pleasant trip to the capital...", San Jose looked a little impatient.

"Okay, deal, happy cooperation, Mr. San Jose,"

The weather in Argentina this year is a bit abnormal. I heard that people were frozen to death in Brittany Santa Cruz, which made national news. It's really hell. There was also a drought in the first half of the year. It's not so cold at this time of year. Mr. San Jose, would you like to have some wine and barbecue to warm up?"

Mariquini hurriedly agreed. He was wearing a jacket and was a little happy to have made this deal, so he invited San Jose to have barbecue.

San Jose also stomped his feet, as if to dispel some of the cold, looking at the drizzle in the sky, and the roof of the factory building was a little wet, and said,

"Next time, I'm busy now. Next time, I'll treat you to dinner at the Aclara Hotel. The lobster there is okay,"

It's not that he's really busy, it's just that he feels that drinking and eating barbecue is not healthy recently, plus he really needs to survey the factory for other safety hazards, and he will have to renovate the factory tomorrow.

This time, he really didn't cheat Mariquini. Now it's good to be able to rent out the farm and shops in Kecheng. If this farm wasn't big enough, strong enough, and hadn't been abandoned for too long, San Jose would definitely not want it. Idle assets don't generate rent.

The nearby farms were mostly abandoned, and even within the city, people were selling their properties. Cordoba was becoming the eye of the storm in the country. Ordinary people were fleeing to the countryside, while those with more money went to Buenos Aires, and a small fraction simply immigrated to the United States or Europe.

Today, I even heard some gunshots in the city. Some rioters were taking the opportunity to rob pedestrians and shops.

San Jose now had to bring several subordinates with him whenever he went out. Maric was in the trading business. This factory was originally a large warehouse and breeding base.

Business hadn't been good in recent years, and having made some money, he planned to rent out the property and immigrate to the capital to expand his business. Argentina was not peaceful now.

Policies were constantly changing, the political situation was unstable, and he even had to bring bodyguards when going out.

Trucks brought the production equipment San Jose had purchased. These were two used semi-automatic packaging machines, well-maintained and ready for direct use after assembly.

He also hired people to clear weeds, paint walls, repair leaks and holes, and reinforce the house. The previously messy factory began to become neat and clean, taking on a new look.

San Jose even considered having Aragon purchase a batch of firearms and ammunition from the black market in the city, but he didn't go through with it. Instead, he recruited ten people from the city to protect the factory and equipment.

He hired several employees, taught them how to operate the production equipment, and then set up a large pot to start boiling fruit, high-temperature sterilization, disinfection, packaging, and product packaging.

This trip almost exhausted all his savings, leaving San Jose a little short of money.

He bought 150 tons of apples from fruit farms in the suburbs through "black market channels." Due to the drought, fruit production was not high, but the Peron government lowered the purchase price of agricultural products.

On the one hand, fruits were selling very expensively and were scarce in the market. Yes, Argentinians couldn't afford fruit because of the drought.

On the other hand, a large amount of fruit was stored in the farm owners' warehouses, unwilling to sell because they would lose money. This gave San Jose another opportunity, agreeing to settle accounts every half month.

You might not believe it, but the original owner, besides liking to save money, also had a talent for building relationships.

He had befriended many farm owners outside the city when he enjoyed herding cattle and horses. Inheriting the original owner's connections,

the first batch of fruit he bought was obtained through his "relationships." Later, the cooperation improved and became formal.

However, the daughter of one farm owner fell too deeply in love, giving him a headache. Her help was very timely.

In the end, San Jose could only reluctantly reject her. Later, she married a good man; she was a very lovely girl.

He also went to the Sean State-Owned Glass Factory for commercial procurement. After much persuasion, he pulled 20,000 glass canning jars from the warehouse. He found matching canning lids in the hardware market and then had stickers printed with trademark information, starting to produce canned apples.

After a week of hard work, he finally set up the canning factory. He randomly chose a name and started a black workshop since he hadn't even registered the factory yet.

There were probably fewer than a thousand factories in the entire Cordoba. Most were state-owned, and most of them were losing money because the turmoil had stalled much of the production, and people were panicking.

The Plarrie Canning Factory, named by San Jose, was located in the suburbs, in a relatively barren area.

One advantage was that it was not too conspicuous, but the transportation was still convenient, only a dozen kilometers away from the Cordoba Central Railway Station, making it very suitable for transporting goods to all parts of the country.

When Maric built the warehouse here, he spent a lot of effort setting up power transmission lines. The newly recruited workers were mostly gauchos and people from the satellite towns. There was also a brick and wood structure small building here, with several wooden beds, divided into employee dormitories.

Most of them worked very hard. After all, if they worked hard, they could earn 6,000 pesos a month, which was indeed very considerable in this era. Moreover, most of these people had been unemployed for a long time. Although Argentina had been promoting high welfare policies in recent years, there were still many people without jobs.

San Jose also found a leader among the workers and had him responsible for the processing work of the small canning factory.

Thirty people cooperated, boiling apples, burning firewood, operating machines, and busily working.

Looking at the small factory, he felt quite satisfied. As for the next step, it was to find sales channels.

As for how to find sales channels, the military camp was a good start. The people in the city guards were quite wealthy. A bottle of canned fruit wasn't expensive, even not much more expensive than apples on the market, and they could try something new.

He directly took a batch of canned goods, specially packaged them, and after arriving at the military camp, he gave each colleague and officer in the entire camp a box, making himself a familiar face.

And kindly said that this was a high-end product bought from the Cincinnati store in the city, and the taste was really good. He only gave it to you because you were a friend... He bragged a lot.

"Old buddy, this canned food called Sam Landis is from America, yes, yes, that's America, awesome, right? It's delicious and nutritious, and it looks good. It's so refreshing to have a bite while drinking..." San Jose casually made up an American name.

He sent them out to those he had befriended, and then asked some salesmen to contact high-end shops in the city and place order advertisements to them.

A series of hype...

However, these high-end shops didn't pay much attention to canned food, and since the canned food couldn't be bought on credit, most of them threw the sales leaflets into the trash can.

One hundred boxes were sent out to the military camp at once, and the 1,200 boxes of canned food produced in the early stage were being hoarded in the warehouse.

"Hey, buddy, have you heard? Our boss received a box of canned food from Captain San Jose. I heard it's from America, and only high-end stores in the city sell it. It only costs 100 pesos a bottle, and the taste is really amazing."

A soldier smacked his lips, as if recalling the delicious taste.

"What's so good about that thing? Isn't my wine fragrant?"

Another soldier dismissed it, but vaguely swallowed.

"That thing is more fragrant when eaten with peanuts. That silky taste, that sweet taste, you don't know, our boss doesn't even eat good roasted lamb legs anymore, and he ate several cans at once," Anyway, bragging doesn't cost tax.

"Canned food is only available in the United States. The boss rewarded me with a bite, and the taste was really amazing...", some exaggerated.

"I'm going to buy a bottle home for my family to try when I get off work... It's been too long since I've eaten fruit. The price of apples in the market has risen to 160 pesos a pound,"

Some soldiers couldn't help it anymore.

"Why don't we slip away later?" Some soldiers were planning to leave early.

"Isn't that too bad?"

Some people were embarrassed on the surface but were preparing to secretly change their uniforms.

San Jose's strategy was quite effective. The captains in the military camp were San Jose's "real promoters." The rumors about these canned foods quickly swept through the city guards.

The soldiers ran to the stores to ask after get off work, but none of them had it. This offended people. These managers remembered the salesmen from the previous two days, and some quickly found contact information and asked them to deliver the goods.

"Yes, yes, I want two hundred boxes, cash, cash, okay, okay..."

Orders for goods quickly continued to arrive at the cooperative shops in the city.

"Boss, that thing is on fire! High-end stores in the city are now snapping up this canned apple!"

His subordinate Aragon's face flushed with excitement.

"Calm down, calm down, let Sean Glass Bottle Factory pull another 50,000 glass bottles, and pay off the arrears from last time by the way."