The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 174 - 188: The Ruhr Demolition Team

Actually, Pierre had quite a few old friends.

He had old friends in Washington, and also in Berlin.

Just as Truman was sending his generous gifts, on April 21 the Soviet army captured the Third Reich’s Reichstag, nine days earlier than in history. The Soviet "Mad Ivans" had even crossed the Oder River by April 9—not only to avoid being bombed by German atomic bombs, but more importantly, to seize German territory ahead of the British and Americans. After all, John Bull and Uncle Sam were advancing on the western front as if on stimulants, moving much faster than in the original timeline. Because of Stalin’s strict orders, the Battle of Berlin was even more brutal than in history—the Soviets suffered over 500,000 casualties, nearly double the historical number.

In fact, because of the threat of atomic bombs, the Allies forced Germany to surrender several days earlier, but paid for it with over 1.5 million casualties, especially the Soviets, whose casualties doubled due to their fierce offensives.

On the 21st, when the Red Flag was raised over the Reichstag, the seemingly victorious Soviet army was actually exhausted—within just a few months, they had suffered a million more casualties than in history, an extremely heavy price.

Of course, the Germans didn’t fare any better—one million died in Berlin, and only a little over a hundred thousand German soldiers were captured. Both sides had fought to the bitter end.

As in history, Berlin was utterly destroyed, the entire city reduced to ruins, and the survivors struggled to eke out a living among the rubble.

On April 23, General Weidling, commander of Berlin’s defenses, went to Chuikov’s forward command post and signed the surrender.

"Germany is about to surrender..."

Looking at the European war reports sent by Allied intelligence, Pierre couldn’t help but sigh.

"The Third Reich is finished..."

Yes, the Third Reich was finished!

But what about its legacy?

The legacy of the Third Reich certainly wasn’t the over a thousand tons of gold in the Murdoch salt mines or the tens of billions of Reichsmarks that were little better than waste paper—it was Germany’s intellectual resources.

Why was Germany able to stand alone against the entire world?

Was it because Germany had the world’s finest generals, or because German soldiers were—

Actually, while that is certainly one reason, at its core, Germany’s ability to stand against the world fundamentally lay in its science and technology. From the late 19th century, the world’s scientific center was in Germany. Even after World War I, when Germany’s economy suffered a devastating blow, this fact did not change. Before the war, Germany was still the world’s scientific hub; compared to Germany, the United States was like a little brother. If it hadn’t been for the tens of thousands of German-Jewish scientists fleeing to America before the war, the US would never have been able to match Germany in science and technology during World War II. After the war, America’s introduction of German intellectual resources further advanced its own scientific progress, allowing the US to replace Germany as the world’s scientific and technological center.

What Pierre needed now was to tear off a piece of meat from the corpse of the Third Reich. Even just a small bite would be enough to propel Borneo into industrialization, and perhaps even into the ranks of technological powers.

Finally, the time had come to take this juicy bite!

Pierre put down the battle report in his hand, pondered for a moment, and then spoke.

"Order Zhao Xiyong to immediately initiate Operation ’Backstitch’."

Pierre had always believed—when it comes to piracy, the best kind is an exact copy, word for word. So even the operation’s code name was a knockoff of the Americans’.

In fact, Zhao Xiyong, who had already entered Cologne, had begun his "large-scale demolition" work even before Pierre gave the order.

After Pierre left Europe, Zhao Xiyong was put in charge of the task force. With such a heavy responsibility, he naturally wouldn’t let his boss down—after all, this was a test for him.

Cologne is the heart of the Ruhr region, just like Hamburg, both places where the grill master Li Mei honed his skills. Although Li Mei, the "Poker Face," had once scorched this place into a wasteland, the factories scattered across the Ruhr region were still largely intact. For the search teams coming from an agricultural country, they could hardly believe their eyes—amid the ruins of factories with blown-out roofs, rows of perfectly intact machinery stood tall. While some machines had been destroyed, most of the equipment was still in good condition.

In some factories, there were even hundreds of nearly completed Panther and Panzer IV tanks, piles of weapon parts—just the sight of them made the team members’ eyes light up with envy. There was no hesitation—they got straight to work dismantling everything!

Thus, the task force was transformed into the "Ruhr Demolition Team."

So many factories, but not enough manpower!

But Zhao Xiyong was never one to be stymied by a lack of hands. He was resourceful and flexible, having honed his skills in the bureaucratic circles back home. He simply hired local workers on the spot to help with the demolition.

"In addition to a daily wage of 10 marks, the most efficient team will get a special bonus—two Camel cigarettes!"

Zhao Xiyong clearly knew how to motivate people—10 marks a day was double what German workers had earned before, and the lure of two Camel cigarettes was even greater. In Germany at this time, two Camels could get you a night with a German girl. There were even stories of soldiers using a pack of Camels to get a college-educated twenty-year-old German woman to propose marriage to them.

That’s right—during the war, German women had already started cozying up to the occupying forces, just to survive... It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

No matter how proud the Aryan race, when faced with cigarettes, they were just the same.

That’s reality!

To ensure that the dismantled equipment became their own, Zhao Xiyong even cordoned off a large area near the train station to serve as the unit’s barracks—in reality, it was just a storage site for the dismantled machinery, waiting for the railway to be restored so they could be shipped out at the first opportunity. The plan was to send everything to Borneo, or at least to North Africa first.

Everyone knew that these ownerless goods only truly became yours once you got them out. If the Allies came asking questions, who knew who would end up with them? Only after they reached North Africa would they truly belong to them. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

That land belonged to a Junker noble, but so what?

Zhao Xiyong even moved directly into the noble’s luxurious mansion, which had been in the family for two hundred years.

But to Count Heydrich, he welcomed them. After all, there was no eternale enmity between races no thats to shallow only benifts enough benifts that start enmity. The British had once come here and shot dozens of wounded soldiers hiding in his yard, including several children.

In the Count’s view, even if those people were SS, they shouldn’t have been killed like wild dogs.

They were very polite. Zhao Xiyong even apologized to him for moving into his home and forcing his family up to the attic. But that didn’t stop them from occupying the best rooms. As the defeated side, what more could they ask for?

"Colonel, are you planning to take everything away?" the Count asked one evening, watching as heavy equipment, covered in tarps, was hauled in by trucks—he couldn’t even tell what kind of machines they were.

"Not everything, just the valuable equipment. Who knows? I’m no industrial expert, but I’m sure the British and French will do the same. Maybe they don’t even need this equipment, but they definitely won’t leave it for the Germans. Besides..."

Zhao Xiyong pointed toward the factory district.

"Those workers need wages, need income to survive, Count. I’m just helping these poor people as much as I can..."

As he said this, Zhao Xiyong was moved by his own words. After all, he really was doing a good deed! He was paying out hundreds of thousands of marks in wages every day. Of course, he wasn’t short on money—he had over a hundred million Reichsmarks in cash on hand, and in North...

There were still large amounts of Reichsmarks in the base, after all, Pierre had taken as much as 2.76 billion Reichsmarks in cash from the Murdoch salt mine!

This money would be nothing but waste paper in other countries, but in Germany, it was still in circulation as currency, even continuing to be used for several years after the war—albeit devalued and no longer as strong as before. However, it was perfectly suitable for paying German workers’ wages and getting them to help dismantle and transport machinery and equipment.

Zhao Xiyong’s words made the Count fall silent for a moment, as if he was considering the logic behind them. After a while, he said,

"You’re right. I think you could use some professional guidance."