80 Chapter 80

"Your Highness."

As the head of the Empire's intelligence department, Reinhard had access to many undisclosed secret intelligence channels. At this moment, he stood before Wilhelm's desk, reporting the latest information. "As you suspected, just yesterday, the Spanish colonial troops stationed in Morocco and the Canary Islands launched a rebellion under the instigation of Franco, Emilio Mola, and other generals."

"Here it comes." Wilhelm couldn't help but mutter under his breath as the "Little World War," the Spanish Civil War, erupted.

"Miss Annie, I need to convene a military meeting." After giving the order, Wilhelm remembered something. "Reinhard, I recall a few years ago, I asked you to keep an eye on the people around Franco. Any progress?"

Reinhard replied humbly, "Yes, Your Highness. After you gave the command, you entrusted me with full authority, so I didn't need to report to you. In fact, two years ago, we successfully planted our people around Franco, and now they are like his right and left arms."

Wilhelm became interested. "Oh, tell me more?"

Reinhard continued his detailed report. "At that time, while investigating Franco's confidants, I found one named Arrias who resembled one of our intelligence agents. Whether it was his demeanor, appearance, or body shape, it was like he was carved from the same mold. Our intelligence agency secretly observed this Arrias, trying to learn every little detail about him. Eventually, our impostor Arrias even deceived Franco's mistress.

Then, we orchestrated a minor car accident, switched Arrias with our own agent, and subjected him to harsh interrogation. That guy was a weakling; he quickly spilled all the intelligence he had. With the help of our intelligence agency, our fake Arrias steadily climbed the ranks and has become Franco's right-hand man."

Wow, such an operation? Initially, he only expected to buy off Franco's confidants, but the results far exceeded his expectations, with a direct swap of a king for a prince. It couldn't get any better than this. "In that case, continue your efforts. Take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate Franco and let our impostor Arrias take over officially. However, be careful to not raise any suspicions that it was our doing, as it could affect our relationship with the Spanish people." 　　

Wilhelm's first impression of Franco was that of an opportunist.

In the original timeline of World War II, Franco's Spain was a fence-sitter. Spain had abundant tungsten resources, which were crucial for the military industry. Spain sold tungsten to both the Axis and the Allies, making enormous profits. It wasn't until the Allies gained the upper hand later in the war, under pressure from the UK and the US, that Spain stopped supplying tungsten to Germany.

Because Germany and Italy had supported Franco during the civil war, especially when the Axis powers initially gained the upper hand, Franco had even let Spanish soldiers wear German uniforms and participate in the Battle of Leningrad. This force, totaling around 20 to 30 thousand men, had decent combat capabilities and became known as the Spanish "Blue Division." But when the Axis powers suffered defeats, Franco recalled the "Blue Division," claiming that these soldiers were volunteers, and the Spanish government was not responsible for their actions.

Of course, one couldn't deny Franco's contribution to Spain; at least he didn't involve his country in the war. Moreover, he was experienced in diplomacy, and after the war, he aligned with the United States, laying the foundation for Spain's economic takeoff. His regime became the longest-lasting Fašist regime in the world and ultimately achieved a peaceful transition of power for the nation.

Despite all this, Wilhelm still admired this "little brother." Before the start of the 1941 German-Soviet War, Franco issued a decree specifically: all foreign fighters serving the Nazis should be considered German citizens and have equal rights to German military pensions.

However, what interested Wilhelm the most was Spain's tungsten mine.

Earlier, it was mentioned that Spain was simultaneously selling tungsten to both the Axis and the Allies during the war, making a fortune. Spain was rich in tungsten mines, and to cut off Spain's tungsten supply to Germany, Britain and the United States began gradually buying up the tungsten ore. The price skyrocketed from $70 per ton to $17,000 per ton, making Spain profit immensely. Britain even promised to supply Spain with grain, oil, and fertilizers at preferential prices in exchange for oranges, lemons, and mineral products.

Behind the scenes, Britain secretly allocated 10 million pounds per year (equivalent to an enormous sum in 1940) to bribe high-ranking military and political officials in Spain, as well as those officers who opposed Franco's alliance with the Little Mustache (Hitler). This information was discovered by David Stafford, a history professor at the University of Edinburgh, while researching Churchill's correspondence. He stated that by the end of 1940, almost all the money went into the pockets of Spanish military officials. General Antonio Aranda, the director of the Spanish Military Academy at the time, received 2 million US dollars. Churchill believed that although it was a considerable amount for wartime Britain, it was well worth it for stabilizing Spain.

Once he controlled Spain, Franco publicly declared its neutrality. When Britain and the United States wanted to buy out Spain's tungsten, he would demand exorbitant prices and make them pay in gold! At the current exchange rate between gold and the US dollar, one ton of tungsten ore could be exchanged for 10 kilograms of gold!!

If Britain and the United States discovered the truth, who knows if Roosevelt and Churchill would be infuriated?!

"Understood."

"Um, how's the production situation of the counterfeit pound notes at the Andrew Factory?" Last time, Reinhard reported that the counterfeit pounds were already successful. They even had them verified by a Swiss bank, and the reply was that "only 20% were counterfeit." However, Reinhard was still not satisfied and ordered the workers to continue improving. When the second batch of counterfeit notes was made, they were directly sent to the head office of the British Empire for authentication, and only one out of a hundred counterfeit notes was detected.

"Report, Your Highness, the production work is going smoothly. So far, the Andrew Factory has printed 10 tons of white pounds. Among them, 2 tons were taken by our intelligence department for developing intelligence personnel." The so-called white pounds were first printed with a watermark on snow-white paper and then transferred to copper plates for printing text, images, denominations, signatures, and dates separately. The banknotes were made individually, without the concept of "sheet notes" from the future.

The main security measure was the all-over watermark, and the other side was left blank. As a result, the blank side was often used as scratch paper for grocery calculations, letter writing, memos, and even love letters...

This design lasted from 1860 to 1956. However, a famous "Andrew" appeared during the original timeline of 1934-1938, where Germany forged a large number of highly similar white pound banknotes. Britain first discovered the counterfeits when a female front desk employee at a bank held two of her own banknotes with the same serial number!

Ha! Wilhelm almost laughed out loud. They were producing pounds by the ton; it seemed that the pound would soon be as common as toilet paper.

Of course, there were also problems, and not small ones. If Germany could really land in Britain and occupy it in the future, the harm of these counterfeit notes would be reflected back to Germany.

But Wilhelm decided not to worry about it for now. The most important thing was to defeat and occupy Britain by any means necessary. As long as they could hold this European bridgehead, the United States would not be able to launch an attack on Germany across the Atlantic, so it would be worth any cost.