When Glive arrived in Brest, he was very warmly welcomed by the "elder brother's old comrade-in-arms", who showed him around the city and tried many new things that he had never even thought of before.

The former Red Army sergeant, surnamed Ignaty, has now become a senior leader of the railway system, with an administrative rank of seven, equivalent to a captain in the Soviet Red Army.

The Soviet railway system was under the leadership of the Soviet Transport Committee and had a semi-military management system, so railway employees usually wore uniforms and rank markings. On the collar badge of the seventh-class railway cadre is three red hexagonal logos, as well as a cross hammer and wrench representing Soviet railway workers.

At first, Gref was very grateful to Ignady, believing that he had met a good Samaritan, but soon the young man realized that things were not as simple as he thought.

Ignady was a high-ranking member of a border smuggling gang that carried all sorts of smuggled goods on transport trains through the Soviet-German railway trade, and as an insider of the railway system, he had a unique advantage in this.

Neither the Soviet nor the German customs strictly searched these international supply trains, because no one knew what was in the carriage until the door was opened, whether it was French wine bought by a marshal, or a silk bed sheet ordered by the wife of a commissioner, many of which were not on the waybill anyway.

Gref finally understood why this man's position had risen so quickly, and each of his superiors was able to get a considerable share of the profits from these illegal businesses, and at the same time, he also left a deadly handle in the hands of this man, and finally had to accept the other party's coercion and manipulation.

Ignady found Gref for not what he said he was doing. In fact, Gref later learned that Ignady and Anton were not a company in the army at all, and Anton had just been promoted to non-commissioned officer when he retired, and the intersection between the two was that they had met twice when they participated in the battalion headquarters training.

The main reason why Gref was favored by the other party was because of his status as a martyr's family, which made it easier for him to gain the trust of the Red Army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs system.

Although the Railway Engineering Service may apply for a permit for vehicles to enter and exit the military zone, it must first provide a convincing reason for the military each time, and these documents are usually one-time and must be re-applied to the army the next time.

Ignatigriv, on the other hand, applied for an entry and exit permit valid for one year, which required a rather strict political examination. Gref's status is an extra plus here.

Ignady's vision was also proven, and Gref easily obtained the entry and exit passes of the military district issued by the Brest Fortress Command and the NKVD.

This also means that the smuggling syndicate led by Ignady now has a delivery man who can cross the border military zone anytime and anywhere.

Gref has never been a patriot, and unlike Anton, Gref is the youngest son of the family and has been pampered by his parents since he was a child. He was brought up by his hardcore royalist grandfather, and in that environment, one can imagine what kind of three views he would shape.

After all, he did not hate the Soviets as much as the elder Gref, but he did not have much affection for the Soviet government.

The people in the countryside of Ukraine are already relatively dismissive of the law, and Gref is young at this time, so he has no mental pressure at all to participate in illegal and undisciplined things.

All he knew was that for every "cargo" delivered, he would receive a large commission from Ignady, and except for a part of it for his own squandering, the rest would be sent back to his home in Ukraine, enough for his parents to live on a daily basis.

Opium was only a new business that emerged in the past two months, and before that they were smuggling mainly alcohol and luxury goods, as well as jewelry, antiques and precious metal products from the Russian Empire abroad.

Usually they would transport goods from the interior of the Soviet Union to Brest, where they would load them onto freight trains bound for Germany, while river transport ships loaded with European smuggled goods would sneak ashore on the Soviet side at night to unload their goods, and then the smuggling gangs would use trucks during the day to transport the goods to the railway depots in Brest.

"Sir, are you really going to let me go when I'm done?" Gref asked cautiously.

"After this, do you think you'll be able to get out of it? Brat. Sweinbach, who was sitting on the right side of the cab, put his elbow on the window frame and looked at the young Ukrainian with a playful expression.

"You should be glad that you are still useful to us, so that you don't become a cold corpse lying in a ditch." The SS corporal, sitting in the middle of the cab, was very bluntly intimidated.

After discovering that the other party was a smuggler, the Germans did not continue to hide their identity, they needed this person to serve them, and openness and honesty could make the problem easier.

Gref could choose to refuse to serve the Germans, and of course the Germans would not leave him alive, after all, driving a truck is not a special skill.

Some of the necessary insurance work had to be done, such as signing a document to volunteer for the German government, and taking a few photos of shaking hands and hugging the German special operators, which proved to be quite useful for a rookie like Gref.

"Rest assured, Deutsche will not treat anyone who works for us harshly." Sweinbach took out a cloth bag from his bosom and poured out a dozen gold coins and a large roll of ruble banknotes.

At this time, the currency in circulation in the Soviet Union was the Chervin bank notes (chervonets), which were originally a ruble banknote that could be exchanged for gold, which was also known as the gold ruble.

The corresponding Soviet government also minted a batch of gold coins of 90 percent purity, which could be exchanged for these paper rubles to stabilize the value of the paper money.

Soviet gold coins were mainly used for foreign trade, to pay for purchases, etc., because the paper ruble had not yet established credit in the world, and the Soviet Union was seriously lacking in foreign exchange, so it could only choose to trade with gold, an internationally recognized hard currency.

At this time, the gold ruble coin was no longer in circulation in the Soviet Union, but it was still preserved in the people, after all, the Slavs had always been fond of storing gold.

"Do you choose gold or paper money?" Sweinbach asked with a smile.

"Banknotes." Gref felt that the gold coins were too conspicuous.

"It's really a young man's choice." The SS sergeant pulled out ten brand-new ten-ruble bills from a roll of rubles and handed them to the deputy squad leader sitting beside him.

"I'll give you a hundred roubles first, and then a hundred when I'm done." Krent slipped the banknote into the driver's breast pocket.

"Don't worry, I'm familiar with this road, and I'll definitely get you to your destination." It was only then that Gref finally breathed a sigh of relief, and it seemed that the Germans were really not prepared to take their own lives.

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"We have a couple of people on the other side of the river now?" Colonel Dougan sat at the head of the conference table, flanked by high-ranking SS officers.

"General, according to the original plan, three reconnaissance detachments are going to the other side of the river to carry out their tasks today. The command had previously ordered the suspension of all operations, but by the time the order was given, a small detachment had already crossed the Bug River. An SS lieutenant colonel stood up and reported.

"Will the command be able to contact this detachment?" Dogan frowned.

"Report to the general, no." The lieutenant colonel replied crisply.

"Why not?" Dogan couldn't help but raise the key.

"Because—" The lieutenant colonel turned his gaze to Kirsten, who was sitting next to Dogen.

"Because this is the rule of the General Security Bureau, once these troops cross the river, they will immediately enter a state of radio silence to prevent being targeted by the other side, General Dogen." Colonel Kirsten picked up the conversation.

"The Soviets had this ability? Can radio signals be used to determine the location of a radio station? "It's the first time Dougan has heard of anything like this.

"It's not surprising at all, General, that this technology is what we gave them." Kirsten replied, rubbing his eyebrows.

"Okay, now let's move on to what we just said. It's afternoon... At three o'clock, the sun will set in two hours, and there is not much time left for the front-line troops to prepare. Dougan stood up and held out his palm to the map spread out on the table.

"The command plans to launch a raid on these targets marked on the map before dark. I know you have a lot of questions in your mind, but I'm not going to tell you the answers. Does anyone complain about this? Very well, it seems that all of you here are smart people. Major General Dougan sneered with satisfaction.