The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 162 - 174: A Gift from Berlin

Just as Allied intelligence agencies were launching a comprehensive investigation into the "Murdock Incident," trying to locate the missing gold reserves of the German National Bank, Kang Guowei and his squad had already boarded a plane to Tunisia, where they would join the main force heading to Southeast Asia.

To cover up Kang Guowei’s movements, Pierre specifically recalled several search teams from the front lines. After all, the plan was for the troops to return to Asia, so this did not arouse any outside suspicion.

After Kang Guowei and his group left by plane, Allied intelligence also investigated the search teams, but the investigation clearly led nowhere—there was no way a dozen or twenty trucks could have transported thousands of truckloads of gold and other artworks.

While Allied intelligence was searching everywhere for the missing German National Bank gold reserves and artworks from the Murdock disappearance, Pierre, who had already arrived in Tunisia, was faced with a dilemma—the amount of goods they’d brought was so great that it took up almost all the available space, leaving room for only a little over 200,000 chemical shells.

The remaining chemical shells could only be temporarily stored in Germany, to be transported to Asia at a later date.

You win some, you lose some.

It’s always been that way, throughout history.

But just how much gold was there?

Pierre didn’t have an exact figure, but one thing was certain: it was far more than the amount the Allies had tallied up after the war. In fact, just the gold bars and ingots alone were more than ten times the Allies’ reported total. As for why there was so much more, perhaps only God knows.

Still, no one ever complains about having too much gold. While Pierre was instructing the Eurasian Development Bank to hire engineers to design a large vault for storing the gold, and making final preparations for the security forces’ return to Borneo, an old friend of his arrived in Switzerland.

"My friend!"

After a hearty embrace, Pierre said,

"I thought we might never see each other again."

"I thought so too, but the situation has deteriorated even faster than we imagined."

With dark circles under his eyes, Berlin sounded somewhat despondent—and who could blame him? The empire was on the verge of collapse; no one could be happy about that.

"Whether it’s the Anglo-American Allies on the Western Front or the Russians on the Eastern Front, their offensives have been relentless, giving us almost no breathing room. Now, aside from the Führer himself, no one believes we still have a chance..."

At that moment, neither Berlin nor Pierre knew that Roosevelt, Churchill, and the Iron Father (Stalin) were all attacking with everything they had out of fear—afraid that the Germans would use atomic bombs against them. In fact, to spur Stalin into an all-out assault, Roosevelt even shared intelligence that Germany was close to producing an atomic bomb. As a result, millions of Soviet troops, under Stalin’s orders, turned into "Mad Ivans," launching attacks regardless of cost or casualties.

Churchill did the same, ordering the British Army to attack at all costs.

Why?

Because both Stalin and Churchill knew that even if the Germans couldn’t bomb America with atomic weapons, bombing London or Moscow was still very much possible.

Thus, with over a thousand tons of uranium oxide missing, Germany had to face "Mad Ivan" on the Eastern Front and "Furious John" on the Western Front.

Once the three great powers went into "madness mode," when would the war end?

No one knew, but one thing was certain: many more people would die—perhaps millions more.

What kind of impact would the flutter of a butterfly’s wings have on this world? Pierre didn’t know. At that moment, he was not only happy to be reunited with an old friend, but also delighted by the gift his friend had brought.

"This... is this your gift?"

Pierre was a little surprised as he picked up the piece of paper in front of him. He knew this paper all too well—a five-pound note. When he first arrived in this world, his first pot of gold had come from these.

"Yes."

Berlin took a drag on his cigarette and tapped the banknote with his finger.

"Issued by the Bank of England, manufactured at the Sachsenhausen factory!"

In short—it was a counterfeit note!

"In the summer of ’42, the Reich Security Main Office launched ’Operation Number One’—to destroy the British economy by forging pound notes. They set up a counterfeit printing plant at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, gathering Germany’s best engraving, papermaking, and mathematical experts. The latter were responsible for deducing the serial number patterns on the pound notes..."

In fact, there was no need for Berlin to explain the story behind this note—Pierre already knew it well.

Afterwards, Pierre also learned the origin of this banknote—the Bernhard Operation. After all, he had seen the movie; this piece of history had been adapted for the screen in later years.

"...The counterfeit notes produced at Sachsenhausen were divided into four grades: perfect, near-perfect, flawed, and unqualified. The initial plan was to airdrop the unqualified notes over Britain, but in the end, they were destroyed. The perfect counterfeits were stored for use by German spies in enemy and neutral countries. The exquisitely printed, high-quality counterfeit pounds even fooled seasoned bank employees. They were so convincing that only by checking the serial numbers could one tell the difference."

After speaking, Berlin looked at Pierre and said,

"Now, the Russians are closing in on Sachsenhausen. All equipment and personnel have been transferred to a sub-camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. The printing work continues there. The pounds being printed now are actually just being prepared for some people’s escape. But as everyone knows, the most sought-after currency now is the US dollar, not the pound. So, the batch of pounds we previously stored in Switzerland is now almost as worthless as scrap paper. However, since Borneo is a British colony, and there are many British colonies in Asia, I think if I give them to you, they might come in handy."

This was Berlin’s gift!

Faced with such a generous gift from Berlin, Pierre was almost at a loss for words to describe his feelings.

Berlin was always the kind of guy who would bring good news unexpectedly. Just as he said, this batch of pounds really could be useful to Pierre.

"Sigh, I don’t even know what to say, old friend."

As Pierre sighed, Berlin smiled and said,

"You know, I’m not one to do a losing business. The gift I’m giving you comes with strings attached."

Berlin’s words made Pierre laugh.

"Go ahead, as long as it’s within my power."

"I need a few planes to get some people out of Switzerland."

"No problem,"

Pierre agreed without hesitation.

"Also, those people will accompany your troops to Asia in the future."

"No problem!" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

As he agreed, Pierre looked at Berlin and asked,

"What about you, my friend? Will you be leaving as well?"

Faced with his friend’s question, Berlin thought for a while, then shook his head and said,

"I still have many friends left in Germany. If I stay in Switzerland, at least I can help some of them. In any case, I just hope you won’t forget your promise."

Watching Berlin stand up, knowing he was about to leave again, Pierre also stood up and, as he shook his hand, said,

"Don’t worry, Berlin. A man of integrity keeps his word. I will never betray my promise."