Rise of the Argentine Empire

May 1st, Saturday, Labor Day.

The time here is basically equivalent to November 1st in the Northern Hemisphere; some places have even started to snow, but things are still alright in Bahía Blanca.

The weather in southern Argentina at this time is very suitable for planting winter wheat.

José is also conducting mobilization and promotion on wheat farms outside the city of Bahía Blanca, encouraging the planting of more grain, and Sunlight Agriculture has also begun planting winter wheat.

With enough fertilizer, there is no need to worry too much about the decline in soil fertility.

José hopes to cultivate more high-quality wheat varieties. Currently, Argentina's agricultural potential has not been fully stimulated, which is very bad. Argentina has not realized that grain is actually a very good weapon.

In later generations, Argentina's wheat production was even less than Australia's, and agriculture was controlled by foreign capital, precisely because it did not value the technology contained in agriculture, did not cultivate improved varieties, and did not produce enough fertilizer.

On Labor Day, Bahía Blanca has a two-day holiday. Most workers choose to work overtime for double pay, and José also urges factories to provide holiday benefits.

The sales of Pralar Foods have been growing rapidly recently. José is using import and export trading companies to prepare for the construction of Argentina's first modern supermarket.

Now, in addition to fiscal revenue, Bahía Blanca needs to continue to find ways to expand its sources of income. However, supermarkets in a sparsely populated country like Argentina really don't have much of a market.

The weather is bad today. The sky is gloomy, and there was heavy fog in the morning. Everyone is wearing autumn clothes.

It's time to consider how the entire city will get through the winter.

The temperature hasn't dropped significantly today. The daytime temperature is still around 18 degrees Celsius, but it's still a bit cool when the wind blows.

José is taking the city's civil servants to visit the residents of the slums. These people are unemployed for various reasons and are even worse off than the people of Buenos Aires.

Recently, there have been many job opportunities in Bahía Blanca, which has slowly improved their livelihoods, but it will still take time to solve the problem.

José is also aware of these situations. The city hall's finances cannot be spent on this. Creating more jobs for the majority of people in the city is what needs to be addressed at present.

The city hall held a simple Labor Day celebration, but there is still a vexing matter waiting for him.

It snows in Bahía Blanca in winter. This year, Bahía Blanca has increased by 60,000 to 70,000 people compared to last year, plus the 20,000 people in the new three districts. The burden on his shoulders is heavy, and it is expected that there will be another 50,000 or more people this year.

This will correspondingly increase the demand for heating in winter. If indoor work is to be carried out in winter, indoor heating is required, using radiators.

Bahía Blanca's first thermal power plant is already in operation, but the price of electricity is still very high. This is determined by the cost, and the thermal power plant is not built in the urban area, and it is mainly for factories.

The apartment-style dormitories that José built do not have electricity. Heating in winter is indeed a problem.

Currently, only water is supplied, not electricity. The municipal facilities will not be repaired for electricity until the end of the year, and it will be spring by then.

It is also necessary to build houses that can accommodate tens of thousands of people, which is also a headache. The speed is much faster than in San Martín, where the houses were built slowly.

Currently, there are no greenhouse vegetables because there is a lack of cheap plastic film, so expensive glass is used, which cannot be promoted for the time being.

Fortunately, the people here don't have a particular fondness for eating green vegetables, so José hasn't promoted this kind of greenhouse.

His neighbors are a little curious about this strange building.

To cope with the city's winter heating needs, José has dispatched more coal ships from Australia, which will arrive in port in a few days. However, only middle-income people can afford these coals, after all, the price is still very high.

Since last year, Thunder Mining has bought several coal mines in Australia to supply coal to La Plata Steel, which can also solve the winter heating problem by the way, but such coal is still a luxury for poor families.

Moreover, Thunder Mining's low-quality coal has poor sales. It needs to be refined for ironmaking, which is costly, and there are many problems with burning it directly.

José is also thinking of a way out for Thunder Mining. Argentina still has a lot of reserves of low-quality coal.

"This low-quality coal should be able to be made into briquettes."

José suddenly thought of this transmigrator's artifact, which he had never thought of before. This is probably because he was too busy with other things.

Low-quality coal is not that it cannot be burned, but that the combustion efficiency is relatively low, that is, the calorific value is low.

Moreover, low-quality coal has more impurities, but it can still be burned, whether it is used for heating, cooking, boiling water, etc., it is very good. More importantly, its price is very cheap.

José instructed people from the Rain Mechanical Factory to draw up a rough blueprint of the machine.

Let them experiment with manufacturing two machines, namely a briquette stove and a manual briquette production machine. There is no need for a specific production line, mainly just a manual machine.

This is just for transition.

It is not difficult to manufacture these machines. Use a punch press to punch out a circular mold, and then weld on the handle to make a simple briquette mold.

Hundreds of manual machines were made in half a day, and the output is very reliable.

The stove is more troublesome, but it's okay. Hundreds of them can also be made in a day.

José came to the low-quality coal warehouse and asked people to take it out, add some loess, sawdust from the furniture factory, and lime produced by the cement factory, mix it with water, and press it out one by one using a mold.

José personally pressed out hundreds of briquettes and asked people to write down the steps and publish them in the newspaper, preparing to promote it.

Briquettes are only popular in East Asia, and it is also a last resort, and they were slowly cancelled until the 21st century.

It's just that there is no sun today, so it can only be ventilated and dried in the shade, and it can be used the next day.

With the successful ignition, the briquettes are red, there is no smoke, and the fire is very strong, which is indeed a good thing.

According to José's intention, the Rain Mechanical Factory continued to produce a large number of winter briquette stoves, as well as briquette-making equipment.

12-hole briquettes are reasonably designed, with four holes in the middle and eight holes around. These holes are symmetrical and uniform, allowing for interchangeability in all directions and convenient use.

With this design, the briquettes have a very strong firepower, and a pot of water can be boiled in twelve minutes. This kind of briquette ignites quickly and is easy to burn. It can be lit with a match from the stove opening.

The advantage of briquettes is that they are economical and easy to use. The price of this kind of coal is not very expensive, and most people can accept it.

Briquettes are safe and reliable. They do not ignite without an open flame, do not burn when exposed to sparks, do not deteriorate during storage, and do not emit harmful gases.

The cost of briquettes is low. The price of coal from Thunder Mining is very low, so the cost is also low, and the selling price is cheap.

Honeycomb briquettes burn after being lit, allowing for on-demand use, which is convenient and quick. Placing one or two briquettes can maintain heat for one and a half to two hours.

Very reliable, it's indeed a good thing for the people of Bahía Blanca.

Bahía Blanca's employment numbers have reached a historic high. San José visited several large factories and provided guidance on their development.

On the afternoon of May 2nd, San José took a normal rest and prepared a lavish dinner.

After dinner, the family held their daughter and watched television by the fireplace.

The television program was quite boring, but Elena was in good spirits.

In the evening, Elena took a bath and looked radiant.

They handed their daughter over to the nanny, Lina, and the two of them spent a wonderful night.

......

Starting on May 3rd, San José, having proven the effectiveness of honeycomb briquettes, showcased this good thing to the civil servants and began to promote it comprehensively in Bahía Blanca.

San José promoted the coal stove and the honeycomb briquette pressing machine.

He commissioned several small factories to undertake the production of more affordable and high-quality stoves for rapid promotion, giving away the technology for free.

He also instructed citizens to ensure good ventilation, as burning coal in stoves can easily lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.

The small coal stoves were in short supply, and the price also rose a bit.

Under the massive market stimulation, these small factories quickly developed new versions.

The Siderca brick factory also got involved, producing cheaper clay stoves.

The demand from the tens of thousands of people in Bahía Blanca was still very large. With the news spreading like wildfire.

Honeycomb briquettes were also promoted in other southern cities, causing a buying frenzy.

Some factories in Bahía Blanca even gave away some of the produced honeycomb briquettes for free to expand sales.

At least this winter will be easier to get through.

Thunder Mining rapidly expanded production,

Transporting more coal via railway.

The waste utilization effect is not bad.

After a few days, Bahía Blanca suddenly experienced strong winds and light rain. After several days of cloudy and rainy weather, the weather clearly turned colder. There were one or two sunny days, and with the sun in the sky, every household was rushing to make honeycomb briquettes.

The small honeycomb briquettes came in handy, greatly increasing San José's approval rating.

Moreover, there are many places colder than Bahía Blanca, and Thunder Mining sold such coal to even more distant places, after all, Argentina's railway network is very developed.

Seeing that honeycomb briquettes were indeed good, San José immediately implemented a plan to quickly promote the honeycomb briquette technology for free nationwide.

He freely authorized factories to produce them, and even more versions emerged, even alarming the Presidential Palace. Finally, the Argentine National Mining also personally stepped in to promote them.

Thunder Mining, which provided the coal, made a huge profit. The weather in Salta Province, where the coal was located, was good, and the temperature was not low.

The coal mining machines began to operate around the clock.

And with the operation of honeycomb briquettes, the popularity of Bahía Blanca also increased a lot.

The honeycomb briquette thing was not promoted very much, and few people associated this honeycomb briquette with the country on the other side of the earth.

Honeycomb briquettes also boosted steel sales, and San José made a small fortune this winter.

It must be said that such livelihood projects easily create goodwill, especially in the surrounding cities, where the cooperation in development is even higher.

......

Bahía Blanca, in conjunction with La Pampa Province and Río Negro Province, is exploring the Salado River-Colorado River hydropower development and construction plan.

The purpose is to develop the boundary river between the two provinces and then supply electricity to the factories around Bahía Blanca. The majority of the income will go to the two provinces, and an artificial river will be excavated, and multiple reservoirs and hydropower stations will be built for stepped development to supply water and electricity to Bahía Blanca.

The Colorado River is a large river in southern Argentina, with a basin area of nearly 400,000 square kilometers, eventually flowing into Bahía Blanca Bay.

This time it is a joint development, and at the same time, it is also taking water for local agricultural irrigation. Western La Pampa Province belongs to the relatively precipitation-deficient Pampa Valley, the shrub-filled semi-arid Patagonian Plateau, and high mountains, suitable for various agricultural developments, but relatively arid with little rain.

The climate environment of Río Negro Province is better, with two large rivers passing through.

The development of the basin needs to ensure scientific and rational principles. The prices of various infrastructure materials are not high, and the cost will also be much cheaper than the hydropower station during the María Town period.

After reasonable demonstration, the construction of the reservoir will begin in September this year, building a large hydropower station for power supply.

The three parties will jointly invest and develop together, and this time they will also issue construction bonds for the two cities. Bahía Blanca will only be responsible for providing funds.

The construction unit will be undertaken by the Bahía Blanca Construction Engineering Company.

Workers will be recruited separately from the two provinces to solve employment problems along the way.

Implement work-for-relief.

Comprehensive development and management of the entire basin will be carried out in the later stage.

The three cities conducted a series of consultations, and San José made great concessions.

The fiscal revenue that the two provincial cities can use is still a lot.

Moreover, they can issue dollar bonds. There are many poor people in these two provinces, and there are also many rich people.

With the city's official credit, issuing 15 to 20 million in city bonds, plus loans from other banks in Argentina, can completely cover the construction expenses of the hydropower station.

...

San José arranged a promotion in the free port and formally implemented the form of the free port through the provincial assembly.

From cooking the rice to making it a cooked meal, it can now be considered a success.

There are also many more ships exporting from the port, it's just because the winter is relatively cold, but since there is affordable coal, Bahía Blanca can actually work in the winter.

With heating, the indoor temperature can be increased to above 10 degrees Celsius, which can greatly increase the competitiveness of Bahía Blanca's industry.

Moreover, the winter in Bahía Blanca is actually not too cold, rarely falling below zero degrees, and occasionally snowflakes flutter by.

Being close to the ocean, only some outdoor construction can only be stopped.

The weather in San Martín is better in winter, and a lot of production has not stopped and can continue to work.

The grain company has acquired a total of 2 million tons of grain, making this winter particularly warm.

Bahía Blanca, with abundant supplies and a warm indoor environment, has also achieved some unexpected results.

For example, experimental tank armor has made new breakthroughs after blending various metals.

Fewer people want to cause trouble in winter, with new warm stoves for heating.

Many factories have started to have more holidays, and the idle and warm citizens of Bahía Blanca are starting to prepare for the next round of new baby boom.

Especially in the colder winters further south, new warm stoves have also been used. Cities like Viedma have seen birth rates increase many times over this winter compared to previous years.

For some Bahía Blanca citizens who have difficulty with heating, San José organized a donation campaign, purchasing a large number of honeycomb briquettes and coal stoves to donate.

This winter in Bahía Blanca is particularly warm.