Chapter 1750 I am actually a member of SFA
"Boss, are we just going to drive along this railway?" Kasim asked while driving.
Xiao Peng nodded: "That's right, let's go to Vorkuta first."
The city of Salekhard was originally a Gulag exile center where various prisoners were held for a long time.
Actually, it’s not right to say “imprisoned”. There are no walls here, and prisoners can escape at will. No one can escape anyway - if you escape in winter, you will freeze to death, and if you escape in summer, you will be fed to wild beasts.
The only task of these prisoners here is to build the railway.
During the Soviet era, there were plans to build a railway from Salekhard to Igarka, in order to establish a transportation network between the Arctic deep-water ports and the Soviet interior.
Due to World War II, the Soviet Union's industry was mostly concentrated in Siberia and the Far East. The completion of this railway would have been of great strategic significance, connecting the Arctic waterway with the western railway network, greatly facilitating the transportation of Soviet goods.
So the Soviet Union began to build this 1,297-kilometer railway!
And this railway is built on human lives.
There were only two types of people responsible for building this railway: prisoners and captives.
At that time, there were 120,000 prisoners in Salekhard and tens of thousands of captives - most of them were from Japan.
In August 1945, the Soviet Union launched a three-pronged attack on Japan's Kwantung Army in northeastern Bactria, capturing 800,000 Japanese soldiers. These prisoners were taken to Siberia, where they were dispersed and forced to work as laborers. Even the longest highway in Siberia, now built by these prisoners, was built by them.
What’s even worse is that the Soviets really didn’t treat those Japanese prisoners of war as human beings!
How cold is Siberia? Hokkaido feels like the tropics compared to it! The Soviets didn't even consider how to house their prisoners of war. Their so-called "POW camps" consisted of only tents. The Japanese had to build their own houses, and they had no idea how to build wooden huts, so how could they withstand such cold weather?
More than 50,000 Japanese prisoners of war froze to death in the first year after arriving in Siberia!
What's even more terrifying is that the land in Siberia is frozen! There's no way to dig a pit to bury the bodies, and in the end, the bodies are left exposed in the wilderness and become food for wild animals...
In the end, only 470,000 of the 800,000 prisoners of war returned to Japan, and the rest died in Siberia.
The railway in Salekhard was finally stopped after six years of construction due to strategic shifts. The rails, sleepers, carriages and locomotives were all left here and have been preserved to this day.
Kasin asked as he drove, "Boss, there are at least tens of thousands of tons of steel dumped here. If we recycle these rails, we'll make a fortune, right? Anyway, no one cares about these rails. What do you think if I transport them all away and sell them?"
Xiao Peng lit a cigarette and curled his lips, saying, "So you can't make a fortune. If you want to make money by recycling these steels, no matter how much money you have, it won't be enough to cover your losses."
"How can I lose money?" Kasin asked. "The tens of thousands of tons of steel here cost as much as hiring an offshore vessel to salvage a sunken ship. Those who salvage shipwrecks and make base steel can all make money. Why can't I make money picking up railroad tracks for free?"
Xiao Peng sighed: "Kaxin, let me ask you a question: if you live on the eighth floor and want to get rid of a ten-year-old refrigerator, what would you do?"
Without thinking, Kasim replied directly: "Put it on the balcony, in case it comes in handy someday."
Xiao Peng's face was filled with black lines. Damn, Kashin, this is not playing by the rules! But this answer is really Russian. Russian balconies are basically garbage stations. All the things that are not used but not broken are piled up on the balcony.
"Ahem, what I mean is that you go to the scrap collectors and try to sell it to them. But when the scrap collectors see the refrigerator, they will at most say: I'm lucky enough to carry it for you. You still want to sell it for money? Forget it. Do you understand what I mean?" Xiao Peng asked.
Kasim thought for a moment and said, "Oh, boss, I understand now."
Xiao Peng continued, "You want to remove these rails here, but this is an extremely cold area. The manpower and financial resources required to work here are more expensive than the value of these scrap metals. So, will you recycle them? These rails can remain here for this reason. When they built this place, the cost was very low because they used prisoners and prisoners of war, who risked their lives to build this project. Under the current circumstances, this is simply impossible to replicate. Can you still find hundreds of thousands of prisoners to come here and remove steel for you for free? Half of the prisoners who built this railway died here, including Japanese prisoners, German and Italian prisoners of war. It's winter for eight months every year, and in the summer, there are swamps everywhere and mosquitoes can bite you to death. Who are you going to find to work?"
After hearing this, Kasim fell silent.
After a while, Kashin suddenly asked, "Boss, do you know SFA?"
Xiao Peng was stunned after hearing this: "SFA? What is that?"
Kashin hesitated for a moment and said, "Boss, Desarev spoke to me privately and asked me to find a way to get some information about the SFA from you. After all, he is from the FSB and I am Russian. I can't refuse this order, but I don't want to hide it from you."
Xiao Peng said helplessly, "If you want to know something, why don't you just ask me directly? I won't hide anything from you, right? But I really don't know what SFA is."
Kashin's eyes widened as he spoke, "Desalev told me that while investigating Western intelligence agencies, he received information that they were paying close attention to an intelligence organization in Daxia called the SFA. He's discussed this with his Daxia counterparts, but they only laughed at him and refused to tell him anything about the SFA. So, he wants me to help him investigate!"
Xiao Peng became a little impatient after hearing this: "I don't even know what the SFA is. If there really is such a powerful intelligence agency, how would ordinary people like us know about it?"
"He's talking about your country's official agencies!" Kasin said, "At least that's what Western intelligence agencies say."
Xiao Peng was completely anxious: "Then don't mention the abbreviation! Tell me what SFA is?"
"He said it's called the Strategic Deception Bureau!" Kasin gave the answer.
"Pfft!" Xiao Peng couldn't help laughing.
But this wasn't a joke: Western media outlets often reported seriously on news about Daxia's "Strategic Deception Bureau." Xiao Peng remembered once watching the news. He'd forgotten the content, but the headline nearly made him laugh to death: "According to the public intelligence released by the director of Daxia's Strategic Deception Bureau, Daxia will do blah blah blah blah..."
Damn, don’t foreigners have a good sense of humor?
You are not serious when you should be serious, and you are too serious when you shouldn’t be serious!
Are Western intelligence agencies really seriously studying the "Strategic Deception Bureau"? Even Desarev is ready to seek its advice?
What do you want to learn? How do you cheat?
He rolled his eyes and said, "Kasim, you've really hit the nail on the head. I'm actually a member of the SFA!"
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