Rise of the Argentine Empire

October 15th, Monday, 9:00 AM,

布城 (Bucheng), Liberator Building, Ministry of Defense Police Force new weapon bidding event,

The scene wasn't crowded, the personnel were orderly and relatively quiet, the atmosphere was a bit solemn, and people entered one after another. The bidding event officially started at 10:00 AM.

2. Raine-Fritz Military Industries, also located in Bu City, is a new dark horse in the military industry. Rumor has it that it belongs to the military's Blue faction. They have also been vigorously promoting themselves, even appearing in some newspaper news, afraid that others wouldn't know.

3. Argentine Bossa Pistol Company, headquartered in Luo City, specializing in the production and research of pistols, known for producing compact mini-short pistols and revolvers, belonging to the neutral faction, with a certain market share, not very famous, an old pistol factory, often appearing as a background, but the weapon performance is relatively reliable.

In comparison, among the three bidding factories, Raine Military Industries has the strongest momentum, which is inseparable from Saint Hesser's crazy hype. After all, being able to participate in the bidding event itself represents strength and influence.

Many rumors are circulating within the city,

saying that Raine Military Industries' new products have already been exported and sold to the French, and also exported to Africa, and that it uses German technology and is approved by the United States, etc.

Normally, none of the foreign bidding arms companies would attend. Usually, Bucheng Light Weapons Factory would eat its fill, go through the motions, and then distribute some soup scraps. This time it was obviously different. Raine Military Industries was established in less than a year. Everyone is questioning whether it can challenge the Light Weapons Factory.

This time, Raine Military Industries has the endorsement of General Thompson, a rising star in the Ministry of Defense, as well as General Cordite of the Capital Garrison, and even some big shots are joining in to watch the show.

The Ministry of Defense exceptionally found some knowledgeable people and held a formal bidding event, also setting up some judges and on-site live ammunition testing and performance projects.

In fact, the procurement volume this time is not too large, just equipping more than 10,000 operational police with new weapons. Originally, purchasing some pistols would have been enough. The M1911A is the focus of this procurement. Everyone likes this heavy pistol.

But Raine Military Industries, the 'catfish,' not only proposed a lower purchase price slogan, but also brought new things. Based on the broken confidentiality system, it was soon known that they were submachine guns and pistols, but the models were unknown.

There are three products, with a fierce background.

The Light Weapons Factory, after hearing this news, immediately became uneasy and produced some semi-finished products to participate in the bidding event, including some newly improved submachine guns and pistols.

In comparison, Raine Military Industries is more confident. One of their three items is a heavyweight weapon,

plus a matching pistol, basically making it a sure thing. After all, the charm and popularity of the MP40 is very high, but it was not successfully introduced at the beginning.

This time, Professor Darn is leading the Raine Military Industries team. He has the highest prestige in the new company and knows many people, able to keep the factory in order.

He is also the oldest employee of the new company, with the highest academic qualifications, not competing for power and profit, and can be regarded as the stabilizing force of the new company. Having an old person in the family is like having a treasure.

Moreover, he has relationships with both new and old employees. Horst, leading the Freitz Light Weapons Factory personnel, is also attending. Saint Hesser did not participate.

The purpose of this special bidding event by the Ministry of Defense is to equip police weapons and equipment. At this time, the police departments in various parts of Argentina are nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense. Saint Hesser also finds it a bit strange, considering it rather chaotic.

Normally, the police force should be independent of and parallel to the Ministry of Defense.

The two should not be subordinate, but should be under the leadership of the Argentine Supreme Military Council.

This is a quasi-military force of considerable size. Although it can usually only deal with criminal gangs and maintain治安 (zhì ān - public order), under the suppression of various city guard systems in the past, the strength of the police department was quite weak and rarely achieved anything.

It was not until last year when the National Defense Force reorganized the local army that the police department's power increased significantly.

After a boring opening speech, the host directly asked the three factories to send representatives to the stage, with Raine Factory first, Light Weapons Factory second, and Bossa Factory third.

Horst had also undergone Saint Hesser's speech training, revised a lot of the speech稿 (gǎo - draft), and prepared thoroughly, practicing for a long time, not at all stage-frightened.

"Hello everyone, I am Horst, the representative of Raine Military Industries. As everyone knows, simplicity is more difficult than complexity. You have to put in tremendous effort to simplify things,

but in the end, it's all worth it, because once you do, you can create miracles. Today I want to bring you a fantastic gun combination, an Argentine miracle."

After a boastful opening, he immediately attracted everyone's attention. Horst, seeing that the atmosphere was good, immediately continued,

"This time I am responsible for introducing the Raine-style police submachine gun MP40 and the P51 Raine-style police pistol produced by our factory. Among them, the MP40 submachine gun is the latest masterpiece of our factory. I believe everyone will like it."

Horst took out the MP40 from the staff's hands, held it up for display, and did some special painting.

Shameless, too shameless! This is clearly a submachine gun made by the Germans. You directly attribute it to yourselves, too shameless!" The general manager of the Light Weapons Factory, Pastor Leiter, thought psychologically, recognizing it as German goods at a glance, without even changing the name.

Most other knowledgeable people thought the same way. They more or less yearned for German goods and certainly knew the famous MP40 gun, but this gun had never appeared in the official Argentine series. Too few of them flowed out. Argentine domestic firearms and ammunition are mainly American-made, with many imitations and licenses. There are many military compradores.

Horst had no psychological pressure, and even gradually accepted this shameless statement under Saint Hesser's influence. If I give you something to copy, you can't even put it together. That's the strength. Moreover, weapon production is not called copying, it's called reverse engineering, understand?

"This MP40 is a brand new version that you have never seen before, with upgraded safety and reliability. It can adapt to both tropical jungles and icy and snowy conditions.

Overall, the MP40 is a very mature submachine gun. It has a simple structure and is easy to disassemble and assemble. You don't even need any tools to disassemble the entire gun. Moreover, it performs very reliably on the battlefield. It has been tested in actual combat in World War II.

The failure rate is still very low in harsh environments. It can be used throughout the country from south to north. We have conducted many experiments and it performs much better than the Thompson submachine gun, and it is more powerful…"

"Welcome everyone to come to the Ministry of Defense's shooting range to experience and visit later. We have prepared 20 MP40 submachine guns and 20,000 rounds of ammunition. Next, I will talk about the Raine-style P51 police pistol, which uses the same pistol ammunition and can be seamlessly connected…"

Horst boasted about the submachine gun as being particularly high-end, making various comparisons with the Thompson's technical data, making everyone feel that it was more than twice as awesome.

"Does anyone have any questions for me?"

Horst saw that the scene was not very active, so he used the trump card given by Saint Hesser's cold field plan.

"I want to ask, what if the police encounter歹徒 (dǎitú - gangster) assault rifles? The firepower of submachine guns is obviously not as good. Also, what if the歹徒 (dǎitú - gangster) wear bulletproof vests?

Neither pistols nor submachine guns can beat them. Is the 9mm bullet not powerful enough? Why not directly use rifles? The only way to suppress assault rifles is with assault rifles, right?"

There was a shill in the audience, arranged in advance, who asked a series of sharp questions,

and the people at the scene were attracted by these tricky questions, it was有料 (yǒu liào - interesting, informative).

"This is a very good question. This general asked very well. Pistol bullets are certainly not as powerful as rifle bullets, which is normal, but at short distances, the power is actually about the same. Submachine guns are very suitable for urban warfare because there are many buildings.

There are many advantages to using pistol bullets in submachine guns, one of which is that,

it is not easy to accidentally injure civilians after penetrating the target. This is very important for us to protect civilians. Most of the time, criminals are not that scary. If the歹徒 (dǎitú - gangster) basically don't have bulletproof vests, the police use submachine guns and pistols,

it's better not to use short assault rifles. After all, assault rifles are for foreign enemies, but submachine guns are for internal enemies.

Moreover, submachine guns and pistols use the same bullets, which is very convenient for logistics. If the歹徒 (dǎitú - gangster) are heavily equipped with bulletproof vests and submachine guns can't penetrate,

this is an extreme situation, and short assault rifles need to be replaced. If you really encounter歹徒 (dǎitú - gangster) using assault rifles, in this situation, it is recommended to call the army to suppress them. This already belongs to rebellion, and I am powerless…"

The audience burst into laughter, and the police chiefs agreed with this view. Most police stations now only have pistols, and some still use revolvers.

As a result, some gangs have already started using more powerful weapons, and submachine guns are a good firepower supplement. And if they use assault rifles, are they sending the police out to die? It's more appropriate to send troops to suppress them directly.

Argentina's current police departments only have ordinary police. Having a gun is considered good. Revolvers are the most common, as well as M1927 and M1911A.

The armed police and special police hadn't even shown up yet; their firepower was truly weak.

“Indeed, that makes a lot of sense. Our police department's firepower is too pathetic. Even the gangs are using Thompsons, so it's normal for us to use MP40s. I just don't know what the price is like; it shouldn't be too expensive.”

“Support domestic products! I liked this gun at first glance. If the power is good, I'll submit a report to the city government to get special funds for procurement and buy a batch directly. A large gang has appeared in our city, and we need to crack down on them.”

This was a police department that didn't participate in the bidding, planning to go back and write a note to apply for funds.

“That's right, how did I not think of that? We have to get this going, or the mayor will get rid of me first.”

“If we're going to buy, we should buy a whole set. I just don't know how the products from the Domingo factory are. Let's keep looking.”

“Next, the exciting and anticipated moment has arrived! I believe everyone thinks such a powerful product must be very expensive. Everyone can guess the wholesale price.”

Seeing that no one responded, Horst continued,

“Our procurement bid price is $40 USD per piece. Yes, only $40 USD! The more you buy, the cheaper it gets. Each gun comes with 36 rounds of ammunition, additional purchases are calculated separately…”

With a bang, the entire venue suddenly became noisy. They were going crazy, really going crazy.

40 US dollars, a ridiculously low price. Everyone under the stage had only one thought: is this fake? So cheap? Are you not making money? Are you that patriotic?

You need to know that the current cost of a Thompson submachine gun is 45 US dollars. The price of an American Thompson submachine gun in 1939 was 209 US dollars.

By 1942, it had dropped to 70 US dollars, and in 1945 it dropped further to 45 US dollars. This was due to large-scale procurement; Thompson's production was close to 2 million units.

The cost price of the M3 Grease Gun is 20 US dollars, and the estimated cost of the Mp40 is at least 25 US dollars.

And this is just the cost price. Adding overseas transportation, retail, and R\u0026D costs, the ex-factory price is generally set at about twice that. Domestic procurement will be much cheaper, but not by much.

Back then, Saint-Hesse bought Thompsons in bulk in the United States, and one cost no less than 80 US dollars. They were hard to find, and he had to ship them back himself, almost cursing his mother.

Horst also introduced the price of the M1991a replica, which was also very cheap. They were just earning some processing fees to recoup some losses.

“Rhein Factory said it very well. We have also launched a submachine gun this time, the PA2 9mm submachine gun, improved from the Pa1 submachine gun.”

“The main improvement is the addition of a single-shot firing function and a grip safety. The bolt can only be released from the safety sear when the safety handle is gripped.”

“Our bidding price for this submachine gun is $45 USD.”

This is the Domingo factory's imitation of the M3A1 submachine gun, also known as the "Grease Gun" produced by General Motors, also called the M3 Injector Gun. It wins with its low price, but it's too ugly. It can only be said that its appearance is not good enough; anyway, it's much uglier than the mp40.

To be honest, when they saw that Rhein Factory was offering the mp40, and the bid price was 30 US dollars,

they understood that the bulk of this procurement was basically irrelevant to them, but they had to bite the bullet and brag about it. Originally, he wanted to quote 50 US dollars, because his mass production price required 30 US dollars, but after hearing Rhein Factory's quotation, he temporarily changed it to 45 US dollars per piece. Anyway, he wouldn't sell much, so he would earn a little less.

Finally, Bossa Company bid on the police pistol project and came down after a 10-minute introduction, while most of the people at the scene were still in shock.

This bidding conference was like a later-generation product launch event by Rhein Military Industries. Many people were so hyped up that they wanted to snap up a few. After the final results came out, it also fully took care of the other two companies and got some orders.

“Now, I announce that the winning bidder for this procurement is Rhein Military Industries p40, 9000 p51s, and 1000 M1951As.”

“Buchen-Domingo Factory wins the bid for 1000 PA2s, and Sistima wins the bid for 1000 M1927s.”

“Bossa Company wins the bid for 1000 TPRC1950s…”

Rhein got the lion's share of this Ministry of Defense press conference, followed by Buchen-Domingo, and finally Bossa Factory. Horst's speech was very brilliant.

Speaking of Bossa Company, its most famous moment was the first World Cup in 1930. At that time, Argentina faced Uruguay, and eventually the host Uruguay and Argentina advanced to the final. The two sides will compete for the first World Cup trophy.

Nearly 40,000 Argentine fans shouted the slogan "Die if you don't fight" and crossed the Parana River to run to Montevideo on the other side of the river to cheer for their country.

The Uruguayan fans, as the home team, had been waiting in full battle. 60,000 fans poured into the Century Stadium for the final, hoping to witness Argentina bowing down to them again.

Because the confrontational atmosphere between the fans of both sides was extremely tense before the game, the Uruguayan government had to increase security forces and take strong measures to search the fans entering the stadium one by one.

As a result, they didn't know until they searched that more than 1,600 revolvers were found from the fans who arrived at the scene, most of which were produced by Bossa Company, making this brand famous in Latin America. Later, it declined a lot and often belonged to the eternal runner-up of the bidding conference, and now it has been surpassed by Rhein Military Industry in one fell swoop.

If these were brought into the stadium, and the fans on both sides disagreed, and guns were drawn and war broke out, then it would be a large-scale fan war in the stadium, which would be much more explosive than the later Russian 100 fans fighting 3,000 British fans.

At that time, the Uruguayan government dispatched a full 2,000 police officers for the final, almost on par with the armed fans.

At that time, Argentina could be regarded as full of martial virtue. It is a pity that the final result was that Uruguay defeated Argentina again 4:2 and raised the World Cup for the first time.

Argentine fans, who were defeated by the Uruguayans twice, could hardly hide the disappointment and anger in their hearts. A large number of people in Buchen gathered in front of the Uruguayan embassy to throw stones to vent their dissatisfaction, quite like Turkey burning the Russian flag.

…

Rhein Military Industry had just been established, and there were actually a lot of things to adjust. After all, there are all kinds of people when you have a hundred people, not to mention that Rhein Military Industry quickly had a scale of more than a thousand people, which was very chaotic, so rectification was essential.

There are now a total of 9 factories, most of which are still empty shells.

It seems a bit messy, and it can't form a synergy, and it also wastes resources invisibly.

Saint-Hesse certainly couldn't sit idly by. As the boss, he didn't idle. In addition to going to school, he was arranging to dismantle equipment, transport equipment, and then arrange personnel every day.

He cut through the mess with a sharp knife, divided and handed over equipment in units of two factories, and the people followed the equipment, and then formed new factories and new teams.

Of course, 8 of the factories were small in area and the equipment was scattered. This time, they were reorganized into 3 factories, Fritz Light Weapons Factory, which is one of the three main bodies constituting the new Rhein Military Industry.

The bicycle production equipment was split off, piecemeal, and a larger one was found in the existing factory building, and a new bicycle factory was established and incorporated into Rhein Company, specializing in bicycles. Mosquitoes are small but they are still meat, and at least bicycles will be popular for another 70 years, which is not a problem.

Other heavy equipment was also transferred to the Rhein Arms Factory and reorganized into the Rhein Arms and Ordnance Factory.

Saint-Hesse's purpose is also very simple. Rhein Military Industry only needs two factories for the time being, and it can't afford more. This is a money-consuming thing.

They are Rhein Arms and Ordnance Factory, the new factory is located next to the Research Institute, covering a large enough area, mainly responsible for the development and mass production of artillery and large-caliber heavy machine guns.

It has received a lot of molds and equipment from the Fritz factory. The old employees have some experience in explosives factories, and they have allocated a lot of technical personnel. It is better to develop these. They are integrating resources these days.

The Arms and Ordnance Factory did not participate in this bidding conference. They were busy debugging new equipment, and the transfer of the money-losing pistol production line also relieved these old employees and lightened the burden.

Fritz Light Weapons Factory rented a large factory building and moved the light weapons production lines of 8 small factories to form an assembly line, which can also improve production efficiency and reduce production costs. As for the old factory buildings of small factories, they will be used for other purposes.

Fritz Factory is responsible for the mass production of light weapons, submachine guns, pistols, and future assault rifle mass production. It currently has the largest scale and the most employees, and the equipment, data, and personnel of the M1911A have also been transferred.

Rhein Research Institute continues to be responsible for providing technical support and R\u0026D support.

Three pillars stand together.

Augustin, the director of Rhein Military Industry and Arms and Ordnance Factory, showed good leadership and coordination skills. Recently, he has been busy with the construction of the Arms and Ordnance Factory. So far, he has done a good job.

Horst is a bit low-key. Currently, the new company is making the biggest contribution, and the Fritz Factory is currently the largest in scale.

This bidding can actually be regarded as mainly based on him. After all, the two most important new products are provided by him, and the company's focus of research is on how to produce more cost-effective guns and ammunition, and improve and update versions.

Professor Dahn's Rhein Research Institute has also become more and more handy, jointly developing with old partners,

which has greatly increased the strength of the Rhein Research Institute, and truly revolutionized the new company's R\u0026D strength. This is Saint-Hesse's first company with R\u0026D strength, which is quite rare.