Rise of the Argentine Empire

On August 4th, the official military exercise friendly match was about to begin. Saint-Hesse, as one of the instructors of the seed team, finally appeared at the military camp training ground.

The Ninth Brigade's team hadn't changed much. It seemed that Aragon and the soldiers hadn't slacked off on their training plan due to Saint-Hesse's frequent absences.

"I wonder if this will be our team's show time," Saint-Hesse said to Aragon in English, also addressing the Ninth Brigade team.

"Boss, are you crazy? Did you forget to take your fever reducer after being caught in the rain? You don't actually think that our City Defense Force can surpass the elite National Defense Force after some simple training, do you? No way, no way," Aragon said, rolling his eyes. He stood up straight, wearing a light-colored Argentine military uniform, looking puffed up all over, except for that bald head hidden under his hat, which was a bit out of place.

"Private First Class Aragon, you've been getting more and more annoying lately. Do I need to give you some extra training?" Saint-Hesse grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth.

"Boss, I was wrong! The National Defense Force guys are definitely not as good as our City Defense Force. Under the boss's training plan, we will definitely win this competition handsomely..." Aragon's voice trailed off as the National Defense Force troops entered the field.

"Don't boost others' morale and underestimate your own strength. Just compete well, everyone!" Saint-Hesse encouraged the soldiers.

"Yes, sir!"

The Cordoba City Defense Force's uniforms were light green, designed by locals, with ordinary plastic military helmets on their heads. They didn't look like an elite unit at all. Except for Saint-Hesse's Ninth Brigade and the Third Brigade, which were relatively organized, the other brigades were still as lazy and disorganized as before.

The National Defense Force's uniforms were dark green, with military leather shoes and boots, and American-style steel helmets. The uniform design was inspired by the Third Reich of Germany, actually just copied. They looked elegant and handsome, and their marching was powerful and rhythmic, worthy of being a first-class military combat unit.

They did look quite good. The number of soldiers in this batch of the National Defense Force was about the same as the City Defense Force, but their morale was high, and the leaders looked arrogant and haughty.

In terms of soldier treatment alone, the National Defense Force was indeed much better. Saint-Hesse just felt a little uncomfortable, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that they were too arrogant.

No wonder they would overestimate their capabilities and challenge the former British Empire thirty years later. Although that empire had declined into a kingdom since India's independence and was no longer qualified to be called an empire.

It could only be said to be a second-rate world power after its decline, following behind the United States, but it was still one of the five major powers in the world, something that Argentina at that time couldn't afford to provoke. After all, a country without atomic bombs was just a third-rate power.

Still, Saint-Hesse's organized Ninth Brigade looked more down-to-earth and simple. They were neither arrogant nor cowardly, nor were they disorganized. They had a spirit of striving for progress, although it was quite weak.

The Falklands War thirty years later failed to become Argentina's war to become a strong country, but was a complete defeat, a loss of sovereignty and humiliation. Not only was the Falklands not recovered, but the military government also completely collapsed. Argentina's military also declined from its peak after the war.

Argentina's backwardness now is not only in military affairs, but also in military command quality, military industry, naval vessels, and the quality of soldiers, as well as in the economy, industry, and the government as a whole.

That war also completely awakened Argentina. Thatcher, known as the Iron Lady, faced an backward, corrupt, and incompetent military government. The whole of Britain was united, which was a bit of bullying, to be honest. Twice the population, a navy that was a shadow of its former self, and combat supplies over thousands of miles completely defeated Argentina.

If it were a novel, they should shout, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river," and then the whole country would work hard together to build a stronger country.

In fact, the later Argentina failed to learn from its failures, or even make further progress, but instead moved towards liberalization and democratization, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

"Aragon, return to ranks! Everyone, attention!"

"At ease!" Saint-Hesse also stood at ease, looking at these young, energetic soldiers.

"This time, our Ninth Brigade has achieved certain results after two months of hard training. This time, in the competition with our colleagues in the National Defense Force, we must compete with our level, compete with our style, compete with our results, and compete with our ambition."

Saint-Hesse said some platitudes from later sports meets, which did sound a bit impressive.

"At the same time, friendship is second, competition is first, do you understand?!"

The Ninth Brigade's emotions were also fully mobilized.

"Understood!"

"Understood!"

"Understood!"

Saint-Hesse's pre-match pep talk made the Ninth Brigade the focus of the field. The loud shouts also made the National Defense Force realize that the City Defense Force was not all good-for-nothings, and that there were still some talented people.

Commander Thompson, sitting on the rostrum, looked very satisfied. Sitting next to him was Garcia Martin, from the Ministry of National Defense.

He was about forty years old, ambitious.

Born into a landed aristocratic family, he graduated from the Argentine Military Academy and studied in Germany. It is said that he was once a fanatical pro-Prussian military officer of the German faction. Saint-Hesse secretly glanced at him, but he looked like a refined officer. Sure enough, you can't judge a book by its cover.

Commander Thompson, sitting next to him, looked a little wretched.

The others sitting in the audience were some powerful families and government members in the city.

This military exercise confrontation may determine the relationship of interests in Cordoba City and even the future Cordoba Province for the next few years.

Currently, the powerful class and the common people in Cordoba City are happy to see the two warlords adopt this gentle power transition and cake sharing, after all, the situation of turmoil affecting urban development and causing urban stagnation and regression is not uncommon.

Haven't you seen the neighboring provinces of San Luis, Chaco, La Rioja, and San Juan? They are doing very outrageously in this regard.

Saint-Hesse, as an instructor, didn't need to participate in the competition. After arranging the soldier teams participating in the drill, he leisurely sat in the audience seats to watch the show.

Those sitting around Saint-Hesse were all wealthy or influential people. Klein had already gone back to school, otherwise, he would have enjoyed this lively scene.

The person sitting next to him started chatting with Saint-Hesse.

"Hello, you must be Captain Saint-Hesse. I am Sanchez Suen, an official from the city's Justice Bureau. It's a pleasure to meet you," the guy next to him seemed to recognize Saint-Hesse and introduced himself.

Lawsuits were rare. Saint-Hesse could get away with smuggling because he had formal customs clearance certificates, which he could buy with money.

"Oh, hello, hello, Mr. Suen. It's a pleasure to meet you too," the two chatted casually. Saint-Hesse wondered why this guy was looking for him.

"Mr. Saint-Hesse, I heard that you opened a cannery. Could you please do me a favor?" So, even opening a small cannery was known to people. However, the Praly Cannery was quite large now, and it would be easy to find out that Saint-Hesse was behind it.

"Ah?" Saint-Hesse was taken aback. Could it be that he was going to cooperate with an investigation?

The two of them chatted for a long time before this guy finally revealed his purpose. It was evident that small talk was a basic skill for officials, universal throughout the world.

"I wanted to seek a position for my relative…" Hahn said somewhat embarrassedly.

"No problem, we still need workers. Our factory is quite short of people," Saint-Hesse said readily. The new round of expansion did require some people.

"No, you misunderstood. I have a relative who just had her second child this year, has financial difficulties, and hasn't found a proper job, but her foundation is quite solid," a solid foundation meant no work experience.

"She's back here, but she's too old to pass the civil service exam. I was thinking of asking you, since I heard the factory you opened has good benefits, maybe you could help."

"We can help a returning mother to the workforce, it is not a problem."

"If there's anything I can help with in the future, you can also look for me," the guy pushed up his glasses and spoke in a lower voice.

"Okay, she can come to our factory for work directly next Monday for a three-day trial period. We just happen to be short of a financial accountant," the factory did happen to be short of an accountant. It didn't need to be too professional or experienced, just basically reliable.

Saint-Hesse didn't care much about this. Having more friends meant more paths. Going through back doors wasn't a big deal anyway, and a business school graduate was still a talent, knowing that the cannery's most educated employee only graduated from middle school.

"Okay, okay, thank you. This has almost become my heart's disease. It's true that there are few jobs in our country, and it's not easy to pass the civil service exam," Suen muttered.

"How about this, have her come to our factory for an interview next Monday if she has time. You know the address, right?" Saint-Hesse suppressed a smile.

"No problem, I'll tell her then." After the two finished speaking, they continued to watch the competition, then continued to chat, from the country to the nation, without saying anything else.

The two also discussed foreign companies, such as the Brazilian mining company Vale, and Brazil's preparations to establish a state-owned oil company. "Our Argentina is too backward, it's a pity," they thought. Argentina used to be a regional power that could compete with Brazil, but now the country was in turmoil, while Brazil was thriving and had established many powerful company groups.

Among them, Vale, established a few years ago, was a leader, and would become the world's largest mining company in the future. The soon-to-be-established Brazilian National Petroleum Corporation would also become Brazil's most profitable and only oil company.

In contrast, Argentina was somewhat stagnant. Workers were on strike, the national treasury was beginning to dry up, central centralization was not enough, and Patagonia also had abundant oil and natural gas resources, but they couldn't be developed. The two felt somewhat regretful.

The competition on the field began to intensify. Saint-Hesse's Ninth Battalion was indeed professionally trained, and its total score had already reached second place. Moreover, Saint-Hesse's most elite squad had not yet played.

Saint-Hesse had a good idea of the situation. It seemed that the training was very effective.

Aragón, as one of the deputies, also commanded well.

Those from the National Defense Force were somewhat disorganized, while the City Guard became more and more courageous. Whether it was live-fire shooting, playing soccer, or doing single and parallel bars, short sprints, or push-ups, they were not inferior, and even slightly surpassed them.

Saint-Hesse was completely relieved, watching Little Thompson on the stage nod repeatedly, while Martin next to him was calm and indifferent on the surface.

"Old fox, I have to be more careful with this kind of guy in the future," Saint-Hesse thought to himself, then looked at the City Guard on the field, expressing his satisfaction.

Even if weak, they must strive to compete; even if disadvantaged, they must strive to resist the strong. This is the City Guard soldiers.