Rise of the Argentine Empire

The Cordoba City Guard was formerly the La Plata Governorate Cordoba Militia Guard, considered an army with a "glorious tradition."

After Cordoba became the third largest city in the Argentine Republic, the militia guard was reorganized and upgraded to the City Guard.

The essence of the City Guard is still that of a militia guard; it's not a first-rate combat unit. In terms of military equipment, it only has some ordinary firearms and a few military vehicles; it doesn't even have mortars. Most of its ordnance is obsolete equipment from other units, and when it occasionally gets new weapons, the quantity is far from sufficient.

If Saint-Hesse had to make a comparison, their combat effectiveness was similar to that of the urban management brigades of later generations. However, this army is still quite formidable, ranking first among local forces and even managing to obtain extra military funding from the Cordoba Province, so they live quite comfortably.

The City Guard's garrison was originally located in a military camp in the suburbs. From the 1930s onward, the country alternated between military juntas and civilian governments, greatly elevating the status of the military.

This also gave the City Guard an excuse to interfere in city affairs and even gain autonomous power, such as independently organizing the recruitment of soldiers. This could be considered a huge hidden danger, and it was how Saint-Hesse was recruited.

The City Guard's garrison commander sometimes seized power to become the city's highest official, with authority far exceeding that of the mayor and the council. Later, they simply established their headquarters next to the city government, creating a three-way power split.

The responsibilities of the City Guard's headquarters also became quite chaotic. At most, it had administrative, law enforcement, and military powers. Except for not being able to legislate or adjudicate, it almost became a first-level administrative organ of the city of Cordoba, squeezing out the official institutions and sidelining the mayor.

Cordoba's economy also became increasingly depressed due to the repeated policy flip-flops of the government, leading to population loss and industrial decline, a vicious cycle. Outsiders were also unwilling to come here to develop, and only native gauchos and some new ethnic groups from abroad would come here to look for opportunities.

Officers are very different. Most of them graduate from Argentine military academies and can be directly appointed. The army's clerical staff comes from ordinary universities and military academy clerical programs. They can enter through simple examinations and are promoted quickly.

Squad leaders are contractually based low-level officers, belonging to the outer layer of the army's establishment. Of course, it can also be said that they are not part of the establishment. Appointments do not even require much investigation, nor do they require graduation from a military academy; conscripts can become them.

According to current Argentine military law, ordinary soldiers can serve up to 35 years old. Because the gauchos have a lower status, they also cause trouble. There have even been incidents of white officers suppressing and mistreating gauchos, leading to bloody conflicts, forcing the army leadership to carry out reforms and appease them.

Later, most gauchos also had the right to become junior officers—the position of captain—but their status was still the lowest, and their development was still limited.

Saint-Hesse's age is an exception; he is almost the youngest squad leader in the City Guard. However, he plans to serve until the end of this year at most and then go to university.

Currently, ordinary soldiers can enlist at the age of 16 and generally serve for two years. First-level combat soldiers are 20 years old, which will be changed to 18 in a few years.

At that time, Saint-Hesse can designate a gaucho to succeed him. If the superiors approve, he can be elected as the captain in charge of a squad's management.

This time, Saint-Hesse plans to give this group of subordinates some intensive training, because they have been a bit lazy recently, idle and even getting into fights, which makes Saint-Hesse a little embarrassed.

This is also the basic responsibility of the captain. Saint-Hesse puts on his military uniform and takes a car to the camp.

There are not many people guarding the camp, and there are even women going in and out. The squad leaders are still drinking in broad daylight.

Arriving in front of the barracks, the patrolling soldiers are in twos and threes, chatting idly, quite lazy. No wonder they couldn't beat the English thirty years later.

Simply from their temperament, this is a bunch of feudal-minded strawberry soldiers. Saint-Hesse once briefly studied those Middle Eastern countries, and their level is at most equivalent to that of Saudi Arabia.

Even with advanced weapons, technology, and equipment, their combat effectiveness is not as good as those jungle guerrillas.

The Vietnamese guerrillas were quite strong, having been taught by China. It is now time to train the squad.

In fact, Saint-Hesse in his previous life had never managed a team of fifty people. His greatest management experience should have been as a QQ group owner, a true keyboard warrior.

Now he can accumulate more experience. Although the canning factory's headcount has already exceeded one hundred and its scale has expanded, it is still somewhat different compared to these army loafers. In a nutshell, there are a lot of slackers.

Saint-Hesse blows the emergency assembly order. Only after ten minutes do people come to the training ground. Today happens to be the change of guard day, and Saint-Hesse is choosing this day to carry out some intensive training.

Gradually, everyone arrived, but out of a full strength team of fifty, there were only forty-seven present. Two were still fast asleep, and Aragon had already gone to wake them. This was equivalent to the size of five squads, a reinforced platoon.

The city guard was still in disarray. Though nominally a 'military' force, it only had five thousand personnel out of a full complement of six thousand. It was unclear if this included logistics and support staff.

In scale, it was equivalent to a reinforced regiment, and the largest local force besides the Buenos Aires city guard. It comprised three small infantry battalions, each with a full strength of 2000 men. Saint Hilaire's team belonged to the Fifth Squad of the Second Company of the Third Battalion.

The organizational structure was chaotic, and the unit had not seen any combat. Even daily training was neglected, let alone any military exercises.

Looking at the disheveled soldiers, of all shapes and sizes, some were missing parts of their uniforms, like military caps or buttons. It was a motley crew.

This unit wasn't even as good as a basic training battalion. They were too weak; a security team could probably wipe them out.

It seemed like he was complaining a bit too much. For some reason, Saint Hilaire had been thinking about this all morning. He suddenly thought that maybe he could propose a basic military exercise to the Commander. He hadn't contacted him since their meal, so now he could start training them in advance.

"Everyone, look forward! Attention!" Saint Hilaire raised his voice and began to address the troops.

"At ease."

"Upon receiving orders from higher command, in half a month, to showcase the spirit of our city guard, we will hold a military exercise. I am ordering the five deputy squad leaders to take ten men each and conduct military training," Saint Hilaire cleared his throat and said.

"Aragon, Best, Cruz, Lombetta, Newpis, step forward!" Saint Hilaire called out.

"You five are now appointed as temporary deputy squad leaders. If you perform well this time, you will have the opportunity to be promoted to captain, just like me!" he shouted loudly.

"Did you hear me clearly?"

"Yes, sir! We obey orders!"

The five men had been listless, but hearing this, they instantly straightened up.

"Alright, everyone! Today's training is a ten-kilometer run, with a one-hour time limit. No one eats until they finish!" Saint Hilaire didn't make it too difficult for them, setting a reasonable goal. Then, he arranged the afternoon's training schedule, watching over the soldiers as they trained. The other soldiers in the barracks looked at this squad as if they were idiots.

To motivate the men, Saint Hilaire didn't just watch. He ran easily in front of them, also exercising his body. It was easy for him; his physical fitness was no joke. No wonder he could become a squad leader.

Seeing their captain training with them, the soldiers gritted their teeth and persevered. The gauchos were quite hardworking, and the other mixed-race soldiers didn't slack off in the overall environment.

Saint Hilaire was quite satisfied.

The afternoon consisted of traditional training exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, and frog jumps. Standing at attention and shouting slogans nearly drove the men to the brink of death.

Although the food in the barracks was "okay," with sufficient protein and carbohydrates, the taste was really bad. Every day, they ate sausage stew with mashed potatoes, beef stew with mashed potatoes, lamb chop stew with mashed potatoes, and corn stew, which was also a staple. Otherwise, it was hot and sour cabbage soup, cooked in one big pot.

Occasionally, there would be some vegetable salads, but they were just thrown together haphazardly. The food was either bland, overly salty, oily, or greasy, like pig slop, just a mishmash stew.

There were very few noodle dishes. If it weren't for the Italian descendants in the city guard, there wouldn't even be any lumps of spaghetti. The most common staple was bread, and this bread was hard enough to use as a club. There was also strong-smelling milk, which Saint Hilaire could drink, perhaps due to his genetic makeup.

During mealtimes, Saint Hilaire gave the military kitchen five thousand pesos to cook better meals privately, preparing dishes with slightly better taste.

He forbade drinking alcohol, purchased medicine to promote blood circulation, and also bought a batch of basins for them to soak their feet in hot water at night.

By the end of the day, Aragon and the others had learned quite a bit.

These people were too tired to stay up late at night and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

Of course, the intensity of the training wouldn't be increased too quickly to prevent muscle strains and soreness.

Starting the next day, Saint Hilaire also conducted simple military theory training to strengthen their ideological and theoretical understanding.

This was basically the routine every day. During breaks, they would stand at attention and march in formation. Once they adapted, the training intensity would be increased. In just one week, this fifty-man squad had become quite decent.

A week had passed, and on the training ground, these men trained against the cold wind with firm gazes and a strong spirit. They had achieved some success.

"The training results these past few days have been very good. Tomorrow is Sunday, and you will have a day off," Saint Hilaire said with a smile, but in the eyes of the others, it was the smile of a devil, too terrifying.

"Yes, sir!" Although the men were a little excited to hear this, they still stood at attention very well. Saint Hilaire was very satisfied; he had put them through quite a bit in the past few days.

Tomorrow, he would go to see the Commander and propose a military exercise.

While Saint Hilaire was conducting military training, he also seriously studied military theory to put into practice. He felt that he had made some progress. Li Qingyun from the cannery had also entered the factory three days ago as a small assembler. The production line was ready, and the output had made a new breakthrough. He also took the time to clear out the inventory at the glass factory and placed a new, larger order. Everything was developing in a positive direction.