Rise of the Argentine Empire

After arranging the affairs of the Falcon Intelligence Group and logistical support, except for two intelligence officers who remained, the rest were sent by Saint Hesser to the Potassium Triangle to occupy territory and purchase potassium chloride raw materials, in a relatively special way.

Watching his subordinates go so far just to buy some raw materials, Saint Hesser felt a bit regretful, but his mind quickly became active. Wasn't the newly established Maria Town militia a good opportunity?

Maria Town, or rather Maria City, as an important city in Cordoba Province, Argentina, couldn't be without its own city guard. And Saint Hesser, as the new head of the shadow government of Maria Town, couldn't justify not controlling a militia. So, a pleasant transaction began.

This militia was submitted to the Ministry of Defense and the Cordoba Provincial Council. The council did not have the final say on these matters, so the signatory was none other than Thompson Jr.

Of course, it couldn't be too outrageous. Just setting up two or three companies of militia would be enough. In name, they belonged to the Maria Town militia, but in reality, they were Saint Hesser's quasi-private armed force.

Coincidentally, Saint Hesser still had his identity and position in the 8th Brigade of the National Defense Forces. With the unanimous approval of the Maria Town Council and the signature of Commander Thompson Jr.,

Saint Hesser, in a dignified manner, became the glorious militia captain of Maria Town with the rank of warrant officer, leading a strengthened militia company with a total strength of three hundred men.

Of course, a militia is, well, you know, with outdated equipment, little training, and scarce funding. To put it nicely, they're just weak chickens. But with Saint Hesser's weapon support, it's a different story.

Moreover, the soldiers of the militia were all veterans directly retired from the National Defense Forces. All of Saint Hesser's old subordinates were stuffed in, easily taking control of this armed force.

Saint Hesser's purpose wasn't to rebel or anything. He just wanted to protect Maria Town, do patrols, prevent crime, and escort armed transports. Anyway, the Maria Town Police Department only had a dozen people left, just enough to replace some functions.

Maria Town, as a new small city, is different from Ke City. The church in Ke City has infiltrated very deeply, while the local church in Maria is very weak and unable to collude with other town government forces.

The Maria Town Militia Guard, code-named MAPD, belongs to the national militia paramilitary system, with a reserve force establishment. It can eat some national food while also doing some private work for Saint Hesser.

Saint Hesser's identity transformed from a National Defense Forces officer to the quasi-number two figure in Maria Town, second only to Mayor Cavo. Although the original Maria Town was solely controlled by Mayor Cavo, now he is a proper wild civil servant, but he hasn't completely broken away from the Ministry of Defense.

In the future, Cordoba City will no longer have anyone to cover him. Commander Thompson Jr. is also preparing to be transferred to the Ministry of Defense, and Saint Hesser will also have a stable rear. The old factory in Ke City can just do business honestly; people under the eaves have to bow their heads.

It is worth mentioning that Chief of Staff Eureka was also promoted. Saint Hesser somewhat regretted not having fostered a good relationship.

Back then, he wanted to concentrate on preparing for the Buda University entrance exam. Being a small staff officer could no longer satisfy Saint Hesser's appetite. The military system vaguely ridiculed a staff officer who hadn't graduated from middle school. Saint Hesser simply refused to serve and got a leave of absence without pay from the commander.

After all, without a university degree, even if Saint Hesser was confident in his talent, he was unwilling to stoop to flattery.

Of course, the militia guard is not his own after all, so well-trained militiamen, as long as the conditions and opportunities are right, will be arranged to retire and then join the Thunder Cross Security Company. To sum it up in one sentence: Your trained militia is good, now they are my Thunder Cross employees. This is also Saint Hesser's glorious tradition.

Your explosives factory is doing well, but now it belongs to me. Your employees are very promising and talented, but they will be my employees in the future. Your minerals are of good quality, and they will belong to me in the future.

If the money is not enough, then I'll add some.

… …

The entire population of the Maria Town area, according to Mayor Cavo's development report, is estimated to be 30,000 permanent residents in the core town area, 10,000 in the suburbs, and about 10,000 migrant workers, mostly in the nearby large cities of Rosario and Cordoba.

Starting this year, from the initial petrochemical plastic bottle factory to the latest mold factory going into production, and the soda factory also preparing to go into production, more than 2,200 workers have been added. Some workers brought their families, bringing another 2,000 people to Maria Town. With some population returning, tertiary industry development, and supporting facility construction, the permanent population in the town center area has reached more than 40,000 in Maria Town in more than half a year.

Now Saint Hesser is starting to arrange new factory construction plans. The Raines Explosives Factory has added nearly 100 workers. The total population of Maria Town (including suburbs) is approaching 55,000.

The whole town has re-prospered. Mayor Cavo and Saint Hesser's relationship has become closer and closer. It's just that Sean from the Raines Explosives Factory comes to urge Saint Hesser for a new factory director every day, or comes to cause trouble, making Saint Hesser have a headache.

Just as Saint Hesser was thinking about things and drinking tea, Sean ran over again.

"Boss, boss, something big has happened!"

"Sean, you're almost forty years old. Why are you so flustered all day long?"

"No, it's that the synthetic ammonia equipment is not enough. It's seriously aging and there's a big danger! It's easy to explode and send our factory to the sky."

"Shift, didn't you just say last time that it had only been used for a few years? You old boy wouldn't be fooling me, would you?"

"Boss is shit, it's like this, boss, you see, our explosives factory has to get most of the people out to make fireworks, but we can't give up our old business, right? Boss, you're quite rich, why not just buy a few new sets of synthetic ammonia equipment? Our explosives factory needs to store more raw materials."

"Can't these ammonia water be stored for a long time, can we store so much?"

"Boss, did you forget about the Redwood Organic Fertilizer Factory?"

"What does this have to do with organic fertilizer? Don't change the subject."

"You don't know how outrageous the profit of Redwood Organic Fertilizer is. If you want to grow land, you can't be without fertilizer. This thing is food for food."

"But we don't grow land. Don't talk too much nonsense. Get to the point."

"The fertilizer market is very big, and our factory used to be small in scale. In the future, as the scale expands, there will be more and more by-products. We can't waste them. God told us that waste is shameful," Sean said worriedly.

"Can this still be made into fertilizer? Waste it if it's wasted. I don't have time to do this now," Saint Hesser was somewhat exhausted in energy and time preparing the militia guard. He had to first set up the framework, support an assistant, and then prepare to go to school.

"Yes, synthetic ammonia refers to ammonia directly synthesized from nitrogen and hydrogen under high temperature, high pressure, and the presence of a catalyst. Ammonia is an important elemental component of nitrogen fertilizer. When we get potassium chloride, we can synthesize ammonium nitrate, and potassium nitrate is also fertilizer.

"It's very suitable as fertilizer. Our country is experiencing a drought this year, so there's actually a shortage of fertilizer. That Sequoia Fertilizer Factory has grown so big, initially by importing bird droppings from Chile. Now their organic fertilizer is really terrible. This is a good opportunity for our factory."

"You've said a lot, but I didn't understand a word. Do you have a grudge against Sequoia Fertilizer Factory? I think you've mentioned it more than twice."

"Actually, it's like this. I think Sequoia Fertilizer Factory is seriously cutting corners. Didn't my family have thousands of acres of cornfields? We used their inferior fertilizer, which led to a poor harvest.

I was in debt up to my ears. Later, I wanted to produce fertilizer myself to defeat them, but Argentina didn't have any proper fertilizer factories. My qualifications weren't enough to get into a state-owned factory, so I came to Maria Elena Factory. Unfortunately, it's just a small factory, until a young and wealthy boss came before me…"

"Stop, stop, stop. You can even come up with such a lousy excuse. It's a pity you're not in sales. Can't I just invest money? Why don't you spend your days doing more in the lab? Preferably come up with some big firecrackers."

"By the way, does your family really have thousands of acres of cornfields? Is it acres or some other unit?" San Jose lazily raised his head. To be honest, four thousand acres of land is much bigger than San Jose's industrial park.

"My family does have about 4,000 acres of cornfields, plus 7,000 acres of wheat and 8,000 acres of pasture. But we haven't made much money in recent years. Thank you, boss. The initial investment only needs $500,000, no, $400,000 can buy several good sets of small reaction equipment…"

Seeing San Jose's expression change slightly, Sean immediately changed his tune.

"Your family is so rich, yet you come to this small dynamite factory as a worker. Are rich people these days so capricious?" Somewhat speechless, these big landowners don't go home to farm but instead mess around with gunpowder. Wouldn't it be nice to just lie down and relax?

"Boss, actually, I'm an engineer, not a worker. It's like this, my family isn't from Cordoba Province, but from Salta Province. Although my family has a lot of land,

after I inherited it, I felt that although farming had a high income, my ideal was to defeat Sequoia Fertilizer Factory. Sequoia Fertilizer Factory really screwed my family over. Now my younger brother is farming the land, and I get a little dividend every year. Unfortunately, the investment in fertilizer production is too big, and I haven't had the chance."

"Okay, I don't know yet if I want to invest the money, but don't bother me in the future. Also, show me the equipment报价."

"Boss, I'm afraid that's not possible. Many things still need your approval, such as equipment procurement, supplier selection, subsequent equipment expansion. Buying just one set isn't enough, and there are raw materials and such."

"Truly a landlord's silly son, although a bit old now. I really don't have that much money right now,"

San Jose looked at the information provided by Sean. Building a large synthetic ammonia factory with an annual output, including urea and synthetic ammonia, requires large industrial equipment costing tens of millions of dollars. Selling all of San Jose's factories wouldn't be enough to buy one set, which almost made him jump up.

A small chemical factory would be a little better, but a set of equipment still starts at $500,000. The main producing countries are the United States and the Netherlands. San Jose's head ached as he looked.

This equipment plan is too large. A 150,000-ton fertilizer factory, a 200,000-ton fertilizer factory, the construction period takes three to five years, and the investment starts at tens of millions of dollars.

But things got better later on. Small equipment can still be bought, and setting up a small fertilizer factory isn't a big problem. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, I'll study this information. You go back first. This matter can't be rushed, and I'll consider it carefully."

He can't agree too quickly this time. Although Sean is doing it for the factory's development, agreeing too quickly feels like he'll come up with something even bigger next time. He must be cautious.

Sean left with a sad face, his back looking a little desolate, and his eyes suddenly turned red.

San Jose almost couldn't help but call Sean back, but he held back, and decided to agree to him tomorrow.

San Jose then went to Mayor Cavo to discuss the establishment of the militia guard, and had lunch there, finalizing the specific details.

The hat has already been put on. Guerrero has also contacted two informants through special channels. Everything is normal on the road, and they are expected to arrive at the Potassium Triangle the day after tomorrow. The weapons and equipment, going upstream, will also arrive at the designated location soon.

San Jose also went to the mold factory, which had already started working. It was doing well. The newly established large soda factory's equipment was also being installed and debugged, and the first batch of products would be produced soon.

After San Jose had some free time, he looked at the newspapers, which Lucifer had brought back from abroad. Maria Elena Town is good in every way, but there are too few newspapers. San Jose hadn't read a newspaper in a long time. He made a cup of coffee and leisurely started reading.

"The United Nations forces, led by the United States, have been retreating steadily on the North Korean battlefield since occupying Seoul. The counterattack has been declared a failure. MacArthur says he wants to invade New China." Such a great thing, he must add a chicken leg tonight, no, set off fireworks to celebrate.

That lackey MacArthur seems to be getting fired in a few days. A grasshopper after autumn can't hop for many days.

"The United States is trying the case of leaking atomic secrets…"

"Hey, Sean, this is San Jose. Bring ten boxes of fireworks tonight and send them to my residence."

"Okay, boss, about the equipment…"

"I've decided to buy the equipment, so you don't have to worry. You set off the fireworks yourself tonight."

"Ah, really? That's great. Boss, you are so wise. We will definitely defeat Sequoia Fertilizer Factory…" Sean, you bastard, what did the fertilizer factory do to you?

"Beep beep beep…"

The boss must have been moved by my hard work, Sean said with emotion as he hung up the phone.

"Argentina continues to experience drought. The Perón government is starting a rescue plan, importing grain from Brazil again."

"The European Coal and Steel Community is preparing to be formally established on April 18, and the treaty will be signed in Paris." This is the future EU thigh, he must calculate and hug it when the time comes.

The EU can at least develop and prosper until the early 21st century, and was the third largest force at the time besides the US and the Soviet Union.

"Brazilian pineapples are on the market on a large scale. Due to the high output, the price has fallen below the cost price," San Jose no longer pays much attention to canned products, so he skipped it.

"The Vargas regime has once again taken over the Brazilian government, with an ambiguous relationship with the United States." He didn't recognize it, so he skipped it.

He didn't see any other important information. San Jose went to take a nap, planning to celebrate tonight. San Jose was happy that the United States had taken a tumble.