302 Chapter 379 Operation Starvation (3)

Liverpool is situated on both sides of the mouth of the River Mersey, on the west coast of England, entering the Irish Sea. It is one of the important ports in the UK. The depth of the Liverpool port is about 10 meters, with calm waves, making it a natural harbor. Therefore, there are many shipyards, repair yards, and large docks near the port.

In a cafe near the port, two middle-aged men sitting in a corner were leisurely drinking coffee and chatting. Because Liverpool had not been bombed by the German air raids, and being a port city, supplies had not reached the point of scarcity. Compared to London, it was like paradise.

After the nearby customers left, one of the men in a gray suit glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to them before whispering, "The 'Prince of Wales' is almost completed and can be put into combat in up to two months. These are the performance data I gathered." As he spoke, he passed over several layers of folded paper from under the table.

The other middle-aged man in a black suit nodded slightly. "Good." He took out a thick envelope from his pocket and handed it over from under the table. "Prices have risen recently. I managed to get you an extra £1000."

Seeing a hint of hesitation on the face of the man in the gray suit, he asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

The man in the gray suit lowered his voice again. "After you occupy Britain, can you arrange a position for me in a government department? It doesn't have to be too important, just enough to live comfortably."

After some thought, the man in the black suit nodded. "It shouldn't be a problem. Our Highness never mistreats those who serve the Empire. I will report this request."

"Thank you," said the man in the gray suit, taking the envelope and tucking it into his pocket.

The soaring prices in Britain were not only due to the scarcity of goods but also because of the large influx of counterfeit money into the market.

Counterfeit currency is not a product of modern society. As early as 700 years ago during the Yuan Dynasty, people carved printing plates for paper currency on bricks for personal use, becoming the ancestors of Eastern counterfeit currency. However, counterfeit currency is not just a tool used by criminals to accumulate wealth. During certain historical periods, it also became a weapon used by both sides of a war to strike against each other, secretly playing a role in warfare.

In 1789, the bourgeois revolution broke out in France, marking an important era in the history of war and unveiling the prelude to the European counterfeit currency financial war. Royalist supporters colluded with British spies to produce counterfeit currency, attempting to overthrow the French revolutionary government. By the end of 1794, there were 70 workers in the royalist counterfeit currency workshops, and it was estimated that they could "produce" one million Livre counterfeit currency in a day. The actual number was much higher. In the autumn of 1795, after the exiled army landed in Brest in northern France, they were immediately annihilated by General Hoche's army, and among the spoils captured by the republicans were a total of one billion Livre counterfeit currency. Not only did Britain produce a large number of counterfeit French currencies, but counterfeit currencies were also produced in large quantities in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, and in certain areas of France temporarily occupied by foreign armed intervention forces and royalists. Counterfeit currency led to rapid inflation, and the loss of trust in devalued paper currency resulted in serious political and economic consequences.

Counterfeiting currency as a weapon in secret warfare was later extensively utilized by Napoleon. When someone showed Napoleon French currency made in London, he couldn't help but greatly admire the quality of the counterfeit currency and instructed to use it to pay the military expenses. Starting from 1806, counterfeit Austrian and British currencies were produced in Paris. The engravers of the military department, led by Dali, were responsible for making the copper plates for counterfeit currency. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Police and the Emperor's Secretariat, counterfeit currency was printed at the printing house located on the Palais Royal. They soaked the printed counterfeit currency in dust to corrode it, giving it the appearance of circulated currency. In 1810, Napoleon ordered his national bank to produce large quantities of Austrian currency (Zidore Banknotes) and Russian rubles. According to Napoleon's instructions, tens of billions of counterfeit Russian rubles were successively produced in Paris, Dresden, and Warsaw. When the Napoleon's army occupied Moscow, the occupying regime attempted to issue large amounts of counterfeit currency in Moscow for a brief period. For this purpose, an issuing office was even set up near the Borodino battlefield on the outskirts.

In modern warfare, one of the warring parties counterfeits the currency of the other side on a large scale to disrupt the enemy's economy. In this invisible modern financial war, the most famous operation is the "Operation Bernhard" pound counterfeit operation.

In the late stages of the original World War II timeline, Germany deployed large squadrons to air-drop counterfeit British pounds on the British Isles. The British people scrambled to pick them up, resulting in transportation disruptions, factory shutdowns, and panic buying in the market, leading to a sudden rise in prices. In response, the British government quickly took emergency measures, ordering the closure of all shops nationwide to prevent counterfeit currency from flooding the market. They then proceeded to block all international ports and airports, prohibiting passengers from leaving the country to prevent counterfeit currency from flowing abroad.

According to the "Operation Bernhard" plan, the counterfeit fake pounds were used to disrupt and disturb the British economy, while also solving the problem of funding for conducting foreign intelligence work.

The Germans also classified the use of counterfeit currency and set regulations: the highest quality, flawless class was exclusively used for German purchases in neutral countries, while being widely distributed in neutral countries and occupied territories of the Allies, but prohibited from being distributed within countries under German rule to avoid causing economic chaos in the occupied territories. This type of fake pounds was quickly used by Germans in neutral countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and Turkey for purchasing goods. At the same time, this counterfeit currency was also used for the operating expenses of advanced spies of the German military intelligence department stationed abroad.

The slightly inferior second class of counterfeit currency was mainly distributed to Gestapo personnel stationed in occupied territories to buy intelligence and cooperation from informants. For example, in September 1943, when Mussolini was arrested and imprisoned by the Italian military government in a secret location in the Apennine Mountains, the Germans spent 50,000 fake pounds to obtain the location and then sent a paratrooper assault team to rescue Mussolini. This type of second-class counterfeit currency was also carried by large numbers of operatives sent by the German military intelligence department to infiltrate Allied occupied territories, purchasing gold and genuine foreign currencies or exchanging them for real pounds on the black market.

The third class of inferior counterfeit currency was stockpiled for other purposes, some of which were even used for arms smuggling. As a result, large amounts of counterfeit pounds flowed into the Bank of England headquarters through financial centers in countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, and Portugal without being noticed.

The "reward" given by the middle-aged man in the black suit to the man in the gray suit was this kind of counterfeit currency that blurred the line between real and fake.

Wilhelm also wanted to airdrop large amounts of counterfeit currency into Britain to severely damage its economy. However, in order to maintain their own "righteous" image, he had to dispel this idea. Furthermore, he had a plan. In the future, if they could occupy Britain, they would shift the blame for inflation onto the British government, then issue new currency to reduce the harm caused by the rebound of these counterfeit currencies.