On April 12, tobacco fields on the outskirts of Oran City, tobacco farms in the eastern Andes.
Today is the time to harvest the first batch of tobacco leaves on the eastern farm. What is harvested are the lowest-grade tobacco leaves, which are the lowest leaves. They are generally used to produce low-grade cigarettes and ordinary cigars.
Repas, Guerrero and Bill each held a cigar newly produced by the cigarette factory, looking quite comfortable. People always feel happy during a good harvest.
Repas is the first generation leader of the tobacco field and has been recognized by St. Jose. He now manages this large tobacco farm of more than 9,000 acres, which is nine times larger than the original one.
Now is the golden autumn season in Argentina. For farmers who grow flue-cured tobacco, looking at the endless yellow-green mature tobacco leaves in the tobacco fields, they feel happy in their hearts. It can really be said that it is a blessing in disguise. These employees who work in the Andes Cigarette Factory Busy in the tobacco planting fields and tobacco rooms.
Cigarette factory workers and tobacco farmers are also very excited. Tobacco cultivation is not easy, with many twists and turns.
Last year, the Indian villages recruited by St. Jose helped start the cultivation of tobacco fields in the cigarette factory. This is also an old skill.
Originally, one thousand acres of land was enough for manpower, but Saint Jose was very dissatisfied, so the tobacco field expanded tenfold in one breath. The original artificial cultivation was no longer feasible, so it was gone forever on the road to mechanization.
This is the first year for the cigarette factory to grow tobacco leaves, and a lot of things need to be explored. Even with the support of various funds and advanced ideas from the boss, the implementation is often unsatisfactory and requires constant adjustments. The results are good.
Guerrero saw rows of newly built modern tobacco houses erected on the west side of the farm. When he walked up to them, the smell of tobacco blew into his face.
Customized three-wheeled motorcycles imported from Japan replaced the former horse-powered transportation. The motorcycle drivers were basically gauchos recruited locally. They drove the picked tobacco leaves on the roads of the tobacco fields.
Some motorcycles were trophies obtained through gang wars, forming convoys to transport fertilizers, tobacco seedlings, and various agricultural machinery.
The employees working there include young Indians from the Nola tribe, Gauchos recruited locally, and some poor white farmers. Most of them echo each other, wearing work clothes and hats customized by Lanyun Garment Factory, and are full of enthusiasm. Because the scale is huge and manual harvesting is required, some Thunder Cross logistics staff are helping.
This is a plain farm, which Saint Jose has inspected. It is a bit different from the alpine tobacco field on the Puna Plateau. The planting area here is larger and the degree of mechanization is higher.
In particular, the Andes Cigarette Factory also recruited several veteran agricultural experts from the north, selected a tobacco leaf variety unique to the Andes Mountains of South America, and carried out large-scale breeding work, with good results.
Last year, the problem of tobacco leaf varieties was solved. At that time, the next step was the problem of employees in the tobacco farm. Under Bill's arrangement, following some of the usual practices in St. Jose, the staff dormitories of the tobacco farm were built and their own was opened. In the vegetable garden, a poultry farm was also opened to provide food and lodging for the tobacco farm employees.
With Saint Hesse's permission, Bill also sent a group of young teams to the United States to learn new tobacco growing techniques under the arrangement of Thain's connections. The United States is now the world's largest tobacco country, much more powerful than the United Kingdom. There are well-known brands such as Marlboro and Camel cigarettes, and tobacco cultivation is flourishing and very powerful.
For three months last year, they traveled from Virginia to California, and visited two companies, Marlboro and Camel. The route they walked was almost all at tobacco farms in the United States. They squatted by the tobacco fields to watch the cultivation of tobacco leaves, and American tobacco farmers talked about technology, and also studied the tobacco growing method manual distributed to tobacco farmers in the United States, and made it Argentinian.
After returning to China, the study team set up a tobacco training room in Oran City to train the Indian tribes who grow tobacco and locally recruited employees on scientific growing methods.
Pares pointed to the tobacco fields in the distance and said:
"Director, since last week, more than 9,000 acres of tobacco leaves here have been topping, and they are now yellow and mature. These are this year's new products, top-notch configuration, and super high quality."
Next to him, Bill held a newly made handmade cigar in his right hand, which tasted average. He held a yellow tobacco leaf in his left hand. He introduced it to Guerrero seriously. Now he was half a tobacco expert.
"Boss, look, this tobacco leaf is very mature. The leaf color has turned yellow, the leaves are drooping and the main veins have turned white. The hairs have fallen off and there are mature spots. They are very good leaves."
Bill served as the deputy director of the Falcon Bureau and was a talent scouted by Guerrero, and the two had a good relationship.
"Our cigarette factory divides tobacco leaves into five standards, from cigars, high-end cigarettes to the lowest grade. The final prices are different, so as to increase the profit margin of flue-cured tobacco as much as possible. This year is actually not the peak of our tobacco field, because we are still in the exploratory stage. , there are more low-end quality ones.”
Pares introduced seriously, and the three of them walked forward together. Seeing the busy workers, Guerrero also felt a sense of accomplishment. The cigarette factory was his idea, and it is now a towering tree.
"Bill, we really had a bumper harvest this year. These are growing so well that the boss will be very happy. You all need to take credit. I will write a good report."
Guerrero was very satisfied with Bill's work. The Potassium Triangle developed rapidly and was quite stable. He did a good job in intelligence collection and even carried out several successful missions and "legally" killed several land nobles.
"Thank you, boss. It's not easy to get the boss's approval. This area is growing really well and we can have a bumper harvest this year. I wonder if the boss will come to the Potassium Triangle this year to have a look."
"Pares, tell me about tobacco. When I left here, this land was still a wasteland. You all worked hard."
"It's not hard, this is what we should do. For tobacco, the seedbed period refers to the period from sowing to transplanting, usually 60 days, and the field period refers to the period from transplanting tobacco seedlings to harvesting, usually 100-120 days. sky."
"It's amazing, it's amazing. Growing cigarettes is really a tedious job."
Guerrero praised a few words. He could feel the hard work inside. Bill looked very excited. He was stationed in the Potassium Triangle and was responsible for protecting the safety of Morado Town, Thunder Mining, and cigarette factories. At the same time, he also provided support to the Bolivian guerrillas. Some material assistance.
"Tobacco leaves are not picked all at once, but in batches. The picking cycle of a tobacco leaf plant lasts for several weeks. Taking our tobacco fields as an example, the entire tobacco leaf harvesting cycle takes almost 25 days."
Sares introduced the steps of picking tobacco leaves. This is not a one-time project, but also an important symbol of tobacco grading.
“When picking tobacco leaves, start from the bottom of the plant and pick the lowest 2 or 3 small leaves. Usually the first picked leaves are used for machine-made cigars, and the quality is relatively poor on the plant. We will pick them today and tomorrow. The manpower required to handle so much tobacco is quite amazing.”
"I didn't expect this to be the worst made. Our cigarette factory will definitely be able to sell it in a big way. It's very good to grab tobacco."
Guerrero looked at the cigar in his hand and thought it tasted good.
"Seven days after the first picking after the tobacco leaves mature, the main picking will be carried out in a three-day cycle. Eventually all the tobacco leaves will be picked, the tobacco leaves will be pulled out, and the land will be plowed, waiting for planting next year. of tobacco plants.”
This is also a characteristic of tobacco leaves. Tobacco leaves grow one type a year, and new plants must be cultivated every year. After harvest, the old plants need to be uprooted. So the tobacco leaves are new every year.
The development of the cigarette factory was not smooth sailing at the beginning. The shredded tobacco purchased from outside was of poor quality, varied in length, had too many stems, and the tobacco leaves were not mature enough and lacked the inherent aroma of tobacco. Therefore, Guerrero considered operating it himself.
Several people looked at the tobacco and came to the baking room on the east side. It is very old here. They use anthracite coal to bake. After roasting the leaves, they get the flue-cured tobacco leaves. Then they cut them into shreds, roll them, and make one cigarette. finished.
What is being promoted now is advanced baking technology, improving the construction of curing rooms, and ensuring good smoke, so that the quality of tobacco leaves can be continuously and steadily improved. Rods of tobacco leaves are hung here and baked through temperature.
After seeing the tobacco house, the three of them went to the cigarette factory, which is not far away and is where the final cigarettes are shredded, packaged, and boxed.
There were many problems in the cigarette factory at the beginning. At the beginning, it could only produce low-quality cigarettes and handmade cigarettes. However, it still made tens of thousands of dollars. In order to formalize the cigarette factory, Saint-Jesse later invested in upgrading the technology of the cigarette factory.
At the same time, in order to improve the irrigation environment of tobacco fields, Bill built a series of water diversion and irrigation systems to improve tobacco planting conditions.
The income of tobacco farmers has increased, which makes everyone more motivated, and the quality of tobacco leaf raw materials has been fundamentally guaranteed.
Bill used his connections with the British and South African mining industry to purchase relatively new British machines at the time. He switched from hand-made cigarettes to machine-made production, which cost Thunder Mining a month's profit, and every minute The production volume has increased rapidly, and the products are excellent. Now they look like high-end goods, and they have been promoted in advance.
"Argentina's national brand of cigarettes, the cigarettes of the Andes, the spirit of the times."
"Smoking is harmful to health, please support national cigarettes."
"Every foreign cigarette you smoke will become the enemy's bullet..."
Anyway, some weird and inflammatory advertising slogans were published in some newspapers in Argentina.
In order to expand the influence of the cigarette factory, San Jose also directly purchased a football club and renamed it Eagle Football Club, intending to use football matches to generate small advertising.
Cigarette sales also need to open up various retail channels, and the domestic distribution channels of Cohen Brothers can be used just right.
Foreign exports rely on Prairie International, which will be another hard currency against British and American cigarette companies, especially the French military market.
After the group visited the tobacco room and exited the gate, Bill quickly asked,
"Boss, in addition to this field, alpine tobacco leaves are also planted in some hills of the Potassium Triangle. Let's go take a look this afternoon?"
"No problem, let's go see the equipment of the cigarette factory. To be honest, I haven't seen it yet."
Bill took off his coat. The place where the tobacco had been smoked was very hot.
There are now more than 10,000 acres of tobacco fields in the Potassium Triangle, which is much more than the original plan, equivalent to more than 60,000 acres. These many tobacco fields can produce at least 100,000 dans of tobacco leaves, and a quintal of tobacco is 50kg. Equivalent to 5 million kilograms of tobacco.
The value of the tobacco leaves here alone exceeds 5 million U.S. dollars. If made into cigarettes, this number can become at least 15 million U.S. dollars. It is a hugely profitable industry, even far exceeding the profit margin of Rennes Military Industry.
Rennes Military Industry produces an MP40 with a retail price of 40 US dollars. Now due to the increase in production costs, the price has become 45 US dollars.
Bullets are also distributed, and the profit is only 20 US dollars. If you want to have a profit of 10 million US dollars, at least 500,000 MP40s must be produced. And with so many guns produced, it will take almost two years to sell them all, and the cigarette factory only needs to plant 1 Ten thousand acres of tobacco would be enough.
In fact, only pistols have more market for civilian use. Submachine guns are generally purchased by the military and police. Fortunately, there are wars everywhere in the world, and there are still many markets for the export of small arms.
The tobacco industry is really a money-printing machine, and the profits are very generous, and the investment is not much. Argentina currently does not have a tobacco monopoly, and most of them are foreign brands, especially the United Kingdom and the United States. This is a huge market opportunity.
"Director, should we continue to expand tobacco production next year?"
Pares took out a notebook next to him and asked.
"This is no nonsense. We must continue to expand, but we need to find land that is not so flat. Sunshine Agriculture needs to develop an agricultural production plan. The tobacco field owner's goal of producing tobacco next year is 30,000 acres. We will establish our own Tobacco base.”
"And our tobacco factory needs to continue to expand its scale. We can't do it by ourselves. We need to cooperate with farmers in the Potassium Triangle and let them grow tobacco on the mountains. In this way, the scale can be expanded faster. We are responsible for providing technology and Smoke seedlings.”
"Understood, we will implement it seriously."
"A cigarette rolled with cut tobacco is about 0.8 grams. Based on this calculation, 500 grams of cut tobacco can roll approximately 625 cigarettes."
Guerrero next to him counted them out of boredom, no more, no less, exactly 625.
"Boss, your calculations are really accurate."
Bill praised seriously and grinned.
"I want to report this good news to my boss seriously. There are too many places that need money recently."
As the intelligence chief, Guerrero is also responsible for collecting business intelligence from various companies. There has been a lot of money spent recently. The cigarette factory is the boss's money printing machine, which can alleviate many difficulties.
In particular, investment in American redwood companies is essential, and the U.S. stock market is soaring every month.
"Boss, the specific situation is this. Our Andes Cigarette Factory is simply a money printing machine."
"You should pay attention to safety. This is very important. When the flue-cured tobacco harvest is completed, I will hold a celebration banquet for you."
"Okay, boss."
After Guerrero hung up the phone, he started a new round of intelligence analysis work. The information on the potassium triangle was also quite complicated and confusing.
...
Two days later they returned to Oran, where Bill and Guerrero were sitting in chairs chatting.
As we chatted, we talked about the Bolivian guerrillas. Their old ways are the same. Bolivia is the great benefactor of South America. From the entrance to the sea to the Chaco War, Bolivia lost countless territories. The only country that can compare with them is Mexico in the north.
"Yes, the intelligence work has not been going well recently. Did Pace really go to the uprising? I only know his identity now. It is really amazing. For someone who has been president, our intelligence is not good enough."
"Intelligence work was indeed not done well. He was really in a state of decline at that time. Who knew this guy had such a big background." Pace was wearing rags at that time and wanted to solicit sponsorships. Fortunately, they felt that this guy was indeed a Those who are good at it actually provide some sponsorship.
"There is no news yet, but he returned to Bolivia last month. Their guerrillas have expanded rapidly, and judging from the situation at the border, the Bolivians are launching an uprising."
Bill Guerrero and Pace had a pretty good relationship. They sponsored a thousand guns and a large amount of supplies for them. The second-hand guns and ammunition that happened to be replaced needed to be sold, so they simply sold them half and half gave them away.
On April 9, Bolivia's Ugo military government prepared to send 30,000 troops to participate in the Goryeo War under pressure from the United States, causing public outrage in Bolivia.
The nationalist revolutionary movement took advantage of the situation and mobilized the masses to stage an armed uprising. Workers, students and farmers took up arms and defeated the offensive of the government troops. Farmers from all over the country established farmers' associations and launched a struggle to seize land.
Bolivian trade unions and the Republican Party also participated in leading the uprising, and the leader of the Bolivian Communist Party, Manuel Miranda, died in street fighting.
The Bolivian Revolution was a success!
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