Rise of the Argentine Empire

Within a single day, two small to medium-sized factions in the southeastern Puna Plateau were annihilated, attracting the attention of larger forces around the Lithium Triangle area, especially the nearby Barrosa family branch, making them quite nervous.

The Barrosa family is one of the important families in Jujuy Province, with roots tracing back to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata era. They were once the strongest family in the Salta Governorate, which later split into four provinces.

They were a significant force during the Argentine War of Independence but were later suppressed. Currently, they are mainly based in the city of San Pedro and the town of Susques in the southern part of the Lithium Triangle.

Susques is located in the southern part of the Lithium Triangle and is an important town. Including the surrounding villages, it has a population of about 9,000 people, making it the largest town in the southern Lithium Triangle and also a highland town.

The head of Susques is Brilido Barrosa, who is also the mayor and the chief of the police, holding multiple positions. Unlike central towns like Mina Pirquitas,

this area is considered their private territory. All the salt lake mines within a 300 square kilometer radius south of the town belong to them, subject only to minimal taxes.

After the destruction of the two major forces in the southeast, the former dozens of villages now belong to Relámpago Mining.

San Jose is once again preparing to expand Relámpago Mining,

planning to establish a new town by merging dozens of small villages in the surrounding area. This requires the support of Jujuy Province.

This is permitted by the Argentine Constitution. For example, further west, the town of Rinconada belongs to "Calagasta Mining," Argentina's largest mining company, which established the town to exploit the Salar de Cauchari-Olaroz, one of Argentina's largest salt lakes.

The Argentine part of the Lithium Triangle has about 70,000 to 80,000 people, accounting for slightly less than a quarter of the Lithium Triangle.

It is dotted with eight or nine small to medium-sized towns, the largest of which is Humahuaca in the south, belonging to the Barrosa family.

Rinconada in the west belongs to Calagasta Mining.

There are some separatist forces in Argentina now, but they are constantly being incorporated by the central government. When the administrative conditions are ripe, they are converted into provinces. Jujuy Province is not very large.

After being split up, it no longer has its former strength. Currently, the entire province has less than 300,000 people. The Puna Plateau region of the Lithium Triangle within Argentina has about 70,000 people, mainly for mining.

These few towns are the largest.

San Jose's purpose in establishing a mining town is to better cooperate with other forces, especially the town of Humahuaca, more than ten kilometers away. However, the investment is huge, so he also needs to attract some investment.

There are still quite a few warlords like Crepúsculo Final and Alma de la Rueda. They are involved in a variety of chaotic activities, but Jujuy Province does not have the strength to carry out suppression operations.

There are not many minerals on the Puna Plateau, but they do exist. Jujuy, founded in 1593, is a trading center for agricultural and pastoral areas, mainly collecting sugarcane, tobacco, timber, cattle, and sheep.

The headquarters of Relámpago Mining, Orán, belongs to Salta Province, which is slightly different.

Building a new town is not as simple as adding villages. Mining towns are also for mining purposes. Subject to transportation and salt mine selling prices, this area is not as good as the iron mines in the valleys and canyons outside the plateau.

San Jose plans to build the mining town by referring to the construction methods of Mina Pirquitas,

After considering various factors, he decided to establish the town at the former base of Alma de la Rueda. This location is in the middle of Crepúsculo Final and the valley, the transportation is okay, and the terrain is relatively flat, so the construction is decent.

There are also many underground water resources and the source of a tributary of the Río Bélgica nearby, enough to support a small town with a scale of more than 5,000 people. At that time, you only need to build more houses and move the surrounding villagers over to form a large settlement.

Although the original valley has good conditions and environment, its development is somewhat limited and it is relatively remote. The current two thousand people are already very crowded, which is not conducive to continued development.

Of course, Rome was not built in a day. It takes a lot of time and effort, especially capital investment, but the expected return will be very good.

"Boss, what should we call this new town? It's your right."

Aragón shrugged his shoulders and stretched. The aftereffects of the special coffee were strong, and many people didn't get enough rest.

"How about calling it General San Jose Town?" San Jose said with a wicked sense of humor.

There are many celebrity towns in Argentina, such as San Martín County, General Roca Town, and Colonel Pringles City. It is said that President Perón also planned to establish a President Juan Perón Province.

"Haha, Boss, that's not very good, is it? You were just a warrant officer before, far from a general. Even the former Little Thompson was just a colonel," Aragón scratched the back of his head.

"Just kidding. There's a Cerro Morado here, so it's better to call it Morado Town. Anyway, the name isn't that important. Actually, I'd rather have a Guerrero Town, Relámpago Town, or something like that, but that would be too ostentatious. Besides, mining companies don't need too much fame."

San Jose pointed to a high peak in the southwest. This mountain doesn't look high, but it is more than 5,000 meters above sea level, making it the highest mountain in the vicinity. It doesn't look too high because this is the plateau.

San Jose really had the idea of naming it Guerrero Town. Guerrero has put a lot of effort here, but unfortunately, for intelligence work, disguise is very important, so most of the time he didn't use his real name, even in Relámpago Mining. This is also a necessary protection.

"That's okay. Actually, I think General San Jose Town sounds good, but unfortunately, we Gauchos have never heard of anyone becoming a general.

Boss, are you still planning to rejoin the National Army in the future? I heard that you become a warrant officer half a year after graduating from university."

"Well, I'm also thinking about this. Unfortunately, I don't have any clues. There's a 50% chance I'll consider joining the National Army, but there are too many factions in the military, and it's not good to take sides. If you make a mistake, you'll be demoted, and going to jail is not a good experience."

San Jose didn't lie. Although there are many military governments in Argentina, even in the next thirty years, he doesn't know if joining the National Army will allow him to develop faster. He still has some resistance to military governments.

Moreover, military government is also a dangerous profession. Who knows when you will be assassinated, so you must have your own secret defense force and intelligence gathering department.

There are many farces that are one-day or one-month military dictators. Without enough foundation and supporters,

that would completely ruin one's political career.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Graduation is still more than three years away. That's when we really need to worry about such things. Our country's military power is still a bit too strong, even though Bilong is also a military academy graduate."

Bilong can be said to be a democratically elected government, but whether it's his background or the forces behind him, he has military ties. The Argentine military is a force to be reckoned with.

Like Commander Thompson, he once acquired a lot of influence from the Cordoba City Hall, which is tacitly accepted in many places.

The two walked and talked, enjoying the panoramic view of the plateau.

"Boss, I might be getting married this year."

"What's the situation?!"

"Didn't I tell you in Maria Town that I liked a girl? I'm probably planning to get married in the next couple of months."

"That's great! I remember you're a year younger than me. I didn't expect little Aragon to be getting married."

"Boss, when I have kids, I want you to be the godfather."

"Godfather, huh? I suddenly remembered that the Lucien's baby is due in the next couple of months. I wonder how things are going. Last time I went straight to Maria Town, I didn't stop in Rosario. My memory is a bit bad, but I should still be able to make it."

Saint Hilaire remembered that he had promised Lucien and his wife to be the godfather of their son or daughter, and he felt a little guilty now that he didn't know how things were going.

"Lucien, isn't he the salesman from the Plarrie factory, the handsome one?"

"Yeah, he's amazing. He married a good woman."

Saint Hilaire also thought of Bessie. He had to say that Lucien was lucky. The two supported each other. He truly met a good person and started a family first. He wondered if he could be considered Lucien's benefactor.

Saint Hilaire thought self-indulgently.

"Aragon, where is your fiancée from? I haven't seen her in the past few days."

Saint Hilaire looked back through his memories. Aragon had been with him for the past few days. Could it be that he was sneaking out on dates late at night?

"Boss, she lives in Ukanaka Town. We've only known each other for less than two months."

Aragon recalled, counting on his fingers.

"Her name is Lisa, Lisa Barrosa."

"Did her family agree? You're getting married so quickly."

"It's not too fast, Boss. Back in the village, you had quite a few girlfriends. You toned it down a lot when you were in the army, but I still remember you going to hotels often. It's just that you stopped going later."

Aragon said. Indeed, many people in the village got married at sixteen or seventeen. Now, nineteen-year-old Saint Hilaire was definitely an "older youth."

"Aragon, let's not bring up those old things again. I was too young back then, and I didn't know any better. Congratulations on meeting someone you like."

"Thank you for your blessings, Boss. You need to hurry up and find a wife too. Maybe your aunt and uncle are watching you from God's side."

"This… When did you learn this? I still have plenty of time. There are too many things to do. Are you going back to the village for your wedding?"

"We're probably going to, I haven't been home in a long time. I don't know if Dad is still doing well, and if Mom's little lambs have shed their wool yet."

"Haha, that's good. Keep up the good work. Keep it up."

… …

Saint Hilaire received an invitation from the Barrosa family, inviting Thunder Mining to attend a business discussion.

Saint Hilaire guessed that it might be to prevent Thunder Mining's expansion, as it did not align with the interests of most of the Potassium Triangle forces.

This action once again made Saint Hilaire and Guerrero disdain the quasi-warlords who were actually bandits and gangsters. Physical salvation was the main thing.

At this time, Saint Hilaire's perception of enemies and friends was that the small warlords were relatively weak, but he believed that there was no need to be polite to these trash.

"Guerrero, what do you think about how to handle the relationship with the Barrosa family? They invited Thunder Mining to attend a discussion. Do you think they want to get rid of us?"

Saint Hilaire had some persecution paranoia recently, feeling that he was too high-profile. At that time, he was led by anger and changed his established strategy.

"Boss, it shouldn't be that bad. The Barrosa family's situation is still good. At least there hasn't been any overt assassination attempts."

"But the Americans must be watched. Their CIA has a lot of infiltration here, especially since the Soviets came."

"This is indeed a place with complex forces. Although it's not as much lobbying as in the capital, this is a tri-border area, and the central government doesn't have much control. Mainly, since the Soviets established diplomatic relations with Chile, this place has become lively."

"That's good. Now is a very critical period, and we must pay attention to everything. Starting this month, we will carry out larger-scale salt mining operations to strive for economies of scale."

"Understood, Boss."

"Make more friends and fewer enemies. This is conducive to our development. If necessary, even give up some current interests."

Once we have a firm foothold, the next step is to honestly engage in construction. This is the most difficult thing. The actions of the past few days have been too high-profile, especially the one at Twilight's End. It is estimated that it will make Thunder Mining's reputation worse.

Having already taken care of the two largest criminal forces nearby, at least there won't be these things in the short term.

"Boss, we need a lot of bricks and concrete to build stronger and more durable houses, at least not the kind that can be blown up with one mortar shell."

"It's best to build more underground sections to make our towns safer."

The so-called underground refers to basements and the like, which require mechanical excavation.

"If we can get excavators and the like, we can quickly expand the town, trucks, and skilled workers."

There are very few large machines in Argentina now. Normally, excavators need to be replaced every 15-20 years, but there is not much construction going on in the country now. The economy is relatively difficult, and the country cannot produce this kind of large machine at all, so it can only be imported.

"This is not easy. It will take at least half a year for this future town to basically complete a simple framework. Sustained development will require a year."

This is still an optimistic estimate.

As it stands, even ordinary plains construction is very difficult, and the plateau is even more difficult, with address conditions, weather, and various other problems, raw material transportation. Fortunately, the construction engineering team can recruit in Maria Town, which is also a benefit of large-scale construction.

"Well, for Thunder Mining's first large-scale mine, we need to work harder."

This is the future cash cow, and Saint Hilaire cannot ignore it, and he must also pay attention to methods. He must not offend other major forces again, otherwise it would be bad to cause their resistance or even attack.

Saint Hilaire planned to have a good talk with them, strive to make more friends, and see what local forces are like.

… …