Rise of the Argentine Empire

The sweltering summer seemed to be drawing to a close, with occasional gusts of autumn wind. In this era without air conditioning, it was always a bit uncomfortable.

It was almost mid-March, and the weather was starting to turn cool, even with a light rain that eased the drought a little.

This year at the University of Buenos Aires, due to increased enrollment and the increasingly serious strikes in the capital, coupled with the new presidential election where Perón was seeking re-election and condoning union strikes,

To avoid the Perón government firing up the national printing press and causing ordinary inflation (a small matter compared to the dozens of times inflation later on), Saint-Jeorge immediately converted all incoming revenue into foreign exchange dollars, secured raw materials for production, or purchased gold and other hard assets to prevent his money from becoming worthless paper.

There were already faint signs of inflation. The drought had dealt the Perón government a heavy blow, with significant reductions in agricultural and livestock production.

If domestic banks weren't so strict with their reviews of industrial operating loans, Saint-Jeorge would have considered taking out several more bank loans to buy more equipment and other hard currency, even buying land if he went crazy, but buying land wasn't cost-effective right now. Simply put, Saint-Jeorge didn't need to buy ranches for farming at this stage.

Another avenue for loans was through the Argentine National Housing Bank. The Perón government hadn't banned this route, but it was very complicated to navigate and was still in the planning stages.

Having received capital injection from the central government, the National Housing Bank had the largest loan volume. If Saint-Jeorge wanted to prepare for a real estate company, it would be best to go to the capital. Ke City was about to change, Maria Town was too small, and Buenos Aires was just right for starting.

…

The sweltering summer months had multiplied Saint-Jeorge's money several times over, and the profits from soda were ridiculously high.

Moreover, shortly after Saint-Jeorge arrived in Ke City, he contacted the Argentine Industrial Bank and the City Bank, immediately mortgaging the Pralle factory in Ke City and the Maria Petrochemical Plastics Factory to several banks, obtaining a high-value loan of approximately $6 million.

Don't ask why it was so much; the equipment cost so much to buy from the United States. The Pralle Soda Factory's monthly output was nearly $1 million, and the plastic factory buildings cost $2 million in real money to build. Borrowing $6 million, a total of 300 million pesos, wasn't too excessive. Who knew that in a few years, 300 million would only be worth 150 million?

This was the reason why Saint-Jeorge's pockets had been particularly deep for the past month or two. The Perón government's creation of the printing press and issuing banknotes was their own doing, and had nothing to do with Saint-Jeorge.

The money was borrowed based on his ability, and he wasn't planning on not paying it back. So what if the currency depreciated in a couple of years? He paid interest, didn't he? He wasn't like the Argentine government, which liked to be a deadbeat and default on debts. You can't slander someone's reputation out of thin air.

If he didn't spend the money quickly, he would really become an idiot, wasting his effort to help others for nothing. This was why Saint-Jeorge didn't stop Sean from stirring things up for him – he felt that as long as he spent money fast enough, inflation wouldn't catch up to him.

Many of the bad habits of the Argentine government started during the Perón era, such as national debt defaults and firing up the printing press. These were two things that Saint-Jeorge deeply understood. As for pseudo-high welfare, union strikes, military governments, isolationism, import substitution, and high import tariffs leading to rampant smuggling, those were secondary, after all, Saint-Jeorge really had a cow.

Saint-Jeorge imagined a whole inner drama and went to sleep leisurely.

…

The next day, at eight o'clock in the morning.

"Boss, boss, boss," Sean knocked on the wooden door three times.

"Sean Todd, what is it now? Don't you need to sleep in the morning? You have to go to work in half an hour! If you don't sleep, I still need to sleep!" Saint-Jeorge quickly put on his pants, opened the door, with two big dark circles under his eyes, and kept talking.

"Boss, I forgot to tell you one more thing, it's about that…" Sean said hurriedly,

"Hmm? What else is there? Speak quickly, don't beat around the bush anymore, thank you," Saint-Jeorge vaguely gritted his teeth.

"Okay, it's just that the electricity supply in Maria Town seems to be running out. We have so many new factories, and we still need to build new ones."

"I've already considered this. I contacted the power company last month to build a hydroelectric power plant, in which Maria Town also has shares. Construction has already started."

Saint-Jeorge had indeed considered this. His newly built factories were all electricity-guzzling monsters. Maria Town's infrastructure was not comparable to a large industrial city; it was just a small agricultural town at its base. Therefore, the expansion of power supply facilities and the electricity problem were indeed taken into account.

When the plastic chemical plant was built, Saint-Jeorge had already contacted two domestic power companies as a precaution, fearing that there wouldn't be enough electricity in the future. The first was Buenos Aires Electric Power Company, and the other was the state-owned Hydropower Electric Power Company, both of which were large state-owned power companies.

After several rounds of communication between the two sides, Saint-Jeorge finally decided to cooperate with the state-owned Hydropower Electric Power Company to build a hydroelectric power plant upstream of the Maria Town River.

This power plant will be a tripartite joint venture, with Maria Town eventually participating in the investment. The state-owned Hydropower Electric Power Company will also advance the project funds first.

The project is located more than twenty kilometers upstream of the Maria River. The Maria River is the mother river of Maria Town, and it is also a tributary of the Paraná River. The Maria River originates from the Pampas Plateau in central Argentina, near Mount Champaquí. The upper reaches of the river still have some hydropower potential.

This major project is a collaboration between three parties: Maria Town contributes 40% of the capital, Saint-Jeorge contributes 40%, and the hydropower company provides 20% of the funds and construction personnel.

The hydropower company advances the initial funds, and the subsequent electricity bill profits are divided equally among the three parties, each benefiting.

The survey work for the hydropower station has been completed, and preliminary construction began ten days ago. This will also affect some river transport, but the Maria Port will also undergo a new construction under the condition of reduced water volume. Fortunately, the Minsk has already left, and the draft depth has been reduced by 0.5 meters.

Once this hydropower station is completed, Maria Town's electricity for the next ten years will no longer be a problem. By then, the electricity supply problem for Saint-Jeorge's further factory expansion will also be solved easily.

The installed design capacity of the Maria Hydropower Station is 20,000 kW. The exploration work began at the end of February this year. Argentina continues to experience drought this year, and Maria Town, which is mainly agricultural and pastoral, belongs to the transition zone between temperate continental climate and subtropical monsoon climate.

Currently, the national treasury does not have much funds to carry out new water conservancy infrastructure construction, so Saint-Jeorge's plan has been very well received.

Maria Town needs electricity and irrigation water, the state-owned power plant needs new electricity sources for development, and Saint-Jeorge needs cheaper electricity. The three parties hit it off and finalized the contract, and a construction team has been sent to carry out the construction work intensely.

The power station has a total reservoir capacity of 3.87 million cubic meters and a total investment of up to 8 million US dollars. It is a medium-sized hydropower station.

The annual power generation reaches as high as 80 million kilowatt-hours, with four 5,000-kilowatt generators installed, utilizing American hydroelectric power technology.

"Boss, you're truly brilliant. This power plant not only provides electricity but also greatly benefits irrigation in our vicinity," Sean said, genuinely admiring him. Foresightful planning indeed. He hadn't known about this hydroelectric power station, being someone who stays cooped up in the factory all day, but the impact of the drought is indeed significant.

"The equipment you needed, I've already had people procure from overseas. We have connections with General Electric, so it shouldn't be a big issue. It's just that my investment has increased. You must work hard when the time comes."

"Understood, boss. Thank you for your hard work. Our first batch of fireworks has already been shipped out. I will definitely make our fertilizer plant crush the Red Cedar Fertilizer Plant," Sean said with a serious expression.

"Okay, when the cash payments come in, use all of it to buy raw materials, don't leave a single cent. Also, hire more suitable workers."

"Yes, boss, I'll take care of it right away. No problem, I'll work hard."

"Also, if the timing is right, separate the fireworks factory and establish a new factory."

"I'll prepare to build several new factory buildings in the valley. Under suitable circumstances, I won't put the ammonia synthesis equipment in the Thunder Explosives Factory. Yeah, it just doesn't feel safe enough." He's planning to directly incubate three factories.

Explosives are dangerous goods, while synthetic ammonia is somewhat safer, so a new factory must be established elsewhere.

"Yes, our Laine Explosives Factory doesn't have enough electricity either. It would be best to build the fertilizer plant in a convenient location."

"Okay, I'll communicate with Mayor Cavo. If you don't have anything else, go get busy."

"Okay, boss, you go ahead."

The equipment for the synthetic ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer plant is relatively expensive. This fertilizer plant alone will cost Saint-Hesse 5 million US dollars, but that's far from enough.

To this end, Saint-Hesse plans to raise funds through multiple channels, forming a joint venture with Maria Town, with Saint-Hesse holding the majority stake and leading the project. They will also apply for an import substitution project, which could save a lot of money.

Medium and large fertilizer plants require an investment of tens of millions at the outset, which is indeed a major headache. Unlike the previous plastic bottle factory, clothing factory, and soda factory, this is a true heavy industrial investment.

Saint-Hesse's goal for the fertilizer plant is an annual output of 200,000 tons. He is negotiating with equipment suppliers in the United States and the Netherlands for a complete set of imported fertilizer equipment. If conditions do not permit, he will have to start with a small fertilizer plant.

His preliminary plan is for the Maria Fertilizer Plant to cover an area of 400,000 square meters, establishing its own factory buildings. The fertilizer plant will be located on the east side of Maria Town, near the shipping terminal, for convenient transportation of raw materials and shipment of goods.

After spending this money, Saint-Hesse's cash flow will finally be exhausted. Of course, the money flowing back each month is enough to support the daily production of these factories.

The US dollar is very strong now, pegged to gold, until the 1970s when the dollar decoupled from gold and the Bretton Woods system collapsed.

Of course, even so, the US dollar is depreciating year by year, albeit slowly, depreciating by about half from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Imported fertilizer production equipment is too expensive due to customs clearance and tariffs, so high that it's outrageous, even double taxation. It's gone mad.

The Peron government's import substitution policy has begun to deteriorate. High tariffs are imposed on everything, which is very frustrating.

But if the project can be constructed using the national import substitution policy, the scale of the fertilizer plant can be greatly expanded.

It's too difficult to build everything slowly on your own. Time is running out. Future steel mills and shipyards, with investments of tens of millions of US dollars, are even more troublesome.

Previously, Saint-Hesse mostly used roundabout smuggling tactics to import most important industrial equipment, detouring through Uruguay, Paraguay, and then to Argentina, establishing his own route.

Of course, now most of it is single-line transactions. Since World War II, Argentina's import of industrial equipment has been almost interrupted, and Saint-Hesse, through special "imports," has given his factories a huge production cost advantage, earning the first pot of gold. This is why Saint-Hesse is currently making big money, while Argentine customs and taxation are quite corrupt, and Saint-Hesse launders it after a round.

Argentina now has a very close relationship with Uruguay and Paraguay, and a less friendly relationship with Chile. The relationship with Brazil is neither good nor bad.

As for other things, Saint-Hesse can't manage too much. He's frantically building factories now to prepare for the future.

The growth of the soda factory has also entered its peak stage, almost at its limit. Saint-Hesse is already planning to start with other things, entering a banking industry - the beer industry.

This is Argentina's largest beverage market. Although soda has opened up many new markets, it still cannot shake the size of Argentina's beer market. Argentina has many descendants of foreign immigrants who advocate liberalism and populism, and the unions are currently fighting for benefits, making workers like to drink after work.

Summer is about to end, and the autumn and winter seasons are coming. Beer sales continue to be stable, while soda drinks are about to enter the off-season. Exploring the international market is one aspect, but building your own brewery is undoubtedly an important means.

Saint-Hesse happens to have a large amount of funds in hand, which is a huge advantage. Sean's glass factory can also quickly produce 550 ml, or even 650 ml special edition beer bottles through some means.

That's right, Saint-Hesse plans to launch the most powerful weapon for new product launches: a price war.

This year, the wheat harvest has been severely reduced, and the raw materials for wheat are strictly controlled. Many local breweries have therefore been hit hard, and prices have risen a lot. Coupled with inflation, Argentines can hardly afford beer anymore!

Saint-Hesse's soda factory has therefore achieved rapid growth, and the wineries in the south have also seen a decline in wine production and quality due to poor grape harvests.

The Prari factory uses groundwater, which has not been affected. Argentina's water conservancy facilities are not very well constructed. Crops depend on the weather, and the new irrigation system has not been popularized, which has a great impact. Another man-made reason is that the Peron government's import substitution industrialization policy has led to a shortage of people in farms and ranches.

The Peron government also controls agricultural product prices at low levels, greatly discouraging agricultural production, and there are no corresponding measures to protect agriculture. After all, Argentina's population is too small, which has led to this drought being somewhat severe.

… …

The Argentine state-owned hydroelectric power company was also trying to build reservoirs during the dry season against this background, but with little success. It wasn't until a month ago that Saint-Hesse found them and contacted Mayor Cavo, and they hit it off, leading to the future Maria Power Plant to solve the energy problem.

Saying that he wanted to build a hydroelectric power station upstream of Maria Town led to the construction of this Maria Reservoir Power Station.

The ranches and farms in Maria Town have also been somewhat severely affected. This year's drought has led to reduced yields in many farmlands.

However, this drought in Argentina is good for Saint-Hesse. Building new factory buildings requires people for everything, so Saint-Hesse's factories have developed so quickly. And Saint-Hesse's beverage factory has already invested in several groundwater pumping stations before construction has even begun, so the impact is not significant.