Great time travel

Chapter 88. The Earth under the Mushroom Cloud

China, Shanghai, late at night
The bustling scene of the former "City That Never Sleeps in the Far East" has been burned to the ground by the tragic war. The whole city can no longer see the red, green and green neon lights, nor can it hear the glamorous music, only the smoke of gunpowder is left. , sporadic flames and fallen corpses.

The resounding sound of bugles, rumbling cannons and the sound of machine guns echoing in the streets of China's largest metropolis.

——With the blue sky and white sun flags, the Mi Zi flag and the Stars and Stripes falling one after another, and the red flags with sickles and hammers advancing towards the center of Shanghai, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's campaign to liberate Shanghai has finally entered the final and most brutal stage of street fighting .

After about two months of fierce fighting and repeated back-and-forth, the "Shanghai Iron Wall", which was originally guarded by 20 "party-state tigers" and more than 3 American and British intervention troops, has collapsed under the overwhelming offensive of 50 workers, peasants and Red Army.At the same time, various underground parties lurking in Shanghai in advance also called on the progressive masses from all walks of life in Shanghai to raise their flags to launch an armed uprising, and launched a fatal blow to the Shanghai defenders from the rear.In addition, Shanghai's underground party also organized a group of armed factory protection teams to protect Shanghai's waterworks, power plants, and gas stations from being destroyed, in case the enemy jumped over the wall in a hurry.

Faced with such a desperate situation where the trees fell and the monkeys scattered, General Tang Enbo, who was appointed by Chairman Jiang as the commander of the Shanghai city defense, fled to Taiwan two weeks ago. He left Shanghai and fled to a warship anchored in Hangzhou Bay.

At this very moment, in the besieged city of Shanghai, there are less than [-] members of the "Youth Army" of Chairman Chiang's direct lineage still stubbornly resisting. It is extremely political, and its officers and soldiers are basically the sons of local tyrants and evil gentry who have a family-destroying feud with the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, or are heinous executioners who once massacred the revolutionary masses in the base areas.This "Youth Army" might not necessarily have the strongest combat effectiveness, but it definitely has the strongest stand and fighting spirit. Basically, it can be said that it is at odds with the Red Army.According to the propaganda of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, these stubborn enemies are basically the most die-hard reactionaries and class enemies in the country, or the five black categories.

Therefore, although the situation of the battle was completely hopeless, they were still determined to fight to the end.Facing the Red Army of Workers and Peasants who had flooded into the urban area, these staunch enemies retreated to the Bund area, relying on the high-rise buildings on the Puxi Bund and the bunkers and barricades repaired before the war, and continued to fight with the Red Army soldiers.

However, what you red-eyed youth army "party and country righteous men" don't know is that behind them in the closed Shanghai HSBC Bank building, somewhere in an underground vault with many organs, there is a super killer weapon The fuze is counting down "tick-tick-tick"...

It was an atomic bomb produced by the Oak Ridge factory in the United States! ! !

——In order to guard against the all-pervasive hidden underground party, the U.S. military did not tell any Chinese people when they placed the nuclear bomb at HSBC.

Right now, Lieutenant General Stilwell, the supreme commander of the U.S. military stationed in China who installed the timed nuclear bomb, is staying in the waters of Hangzhou Bay to the south of Shanghai, on the light cruiser St. Louis outside Jinshanwei Port, staring at the clock on the bulkhead. The pointer, anxiously waiting for the moment of the nuclear explosion.

——According to the original nuclear strike plan formulated by the Pentagon, Shanghai Hongqiao Airport is to be used as the frontline base, and a formation of B-29 "Super Fortress" bombers will take off here, carrying atomic bombs to bomb the city of Beijing, which has just been selected as the capital of new China .

Unexpectedly, the plan always fails to keep up with the changes. As soon as the atomic bomb and the B-29 bomber arrived in Shanghai, Hongqiao Airport was attacked by the Soviet Air Force Aid to China. The damage cannot be repaired in a short time.As an alternative base, Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport was put on a red flag before the fall of Shanghai because of the active uprising of the Hangzhou defenders.

In desperation, General Stilwell could only arrange ships to transport the atomic bomb away.Unexpectedly, the defenders of the Wusongkou Fortress turned their backs and revolted at this time, blocking the waterway of the Huangpu River... The U.S. fleet stranded near the mouth of the Yangtze River wanted to destroy the Wusong Fort and forcibly broke into the Huangpu River to transport the atomic bomb away. Wusongkou was attacked by Red Army torpedo boats and dive bombers. After a fierce battle, a light cruiser and two destroyers were destroyed and sank on the tidal flats of the Yangtze River Estuary—in order to transport the heavy atomic bomb from Shanghai. It is already an impossible task.

General Stilwell, who had no idea at all, had to send a confidential telegram to report to Washington for instructions, and the reply he got immediately was: detonate on the spot!

To be honest, Lieutenant General Stilwell was very conflicted about such a brutal order from Washington.However, the soldier had no choice but to obey orders... So he had to put the atomic bomb into the underground vault of the HSBC Bank building on the Bund in Shanghai, install a timing detonation device, lock the vault, and block the gate of HSBC Bank with bricks and sandbags. Finally, he led the remaining American and British allies and expatriates to withdraw from Shanghai from Jinshanwei in the south.

At this time, all the Liberty Ships carrying expatriates and soldiers had left Jinshanwei and fled to Zhoushan and Taiwan in the south. Only General Stilwell and his light cruiser St. Louis still risked being bombed by Red Army planes. Lingering in the waters south of Shanghai.

Because, Lieutenant General Stilwell had to confirm the explosion of the atomic bomb with his own eyes before he could relieve the burden on his heart: if something goes wrong when the detonation of this final nuclear weapon, which is the hope of American mankind, it will be over. The U.S. troops evacuated from Shanghai really had nothing to do but stare blankly—in case the timed detonator on the atomic bomb failed, or those abandoned "Chinese allies" on the Bund failed to resist the moment of the nuclear explosion, but in the Prior to this, the Red Army soldiers rushed into the HSBC Bank and deactivated the timing fuze on the atomic bomb, so that an intact American atomic bomb fell into the hands of the Chinese Bolsheviks... The consequences were simply unimaginable!

At least Lieutenant General Stilwell thought he couldn't bear this responsibility, and he would definitely go to a court-martial and be imprisoned by then!

What disturbed him even more was the American ambassador to China, Leighton Stuart, who was sitting on the same boat... When he learned that the US military was going to use an atomic bomb on the Bund in Shanghai, this man who was born and raised in China, like a Chinese The offspring of Presbyterian missionaries, who are more like Americans, were furious immediately, shaking their fists to fight Stilwell desperately, shouting "This is the biggest mistake the White House made in China in this century, this perfidious nuclear strike It will not frighten any enemy, but will only drive all the Chinese who have a good impression of the United States to the Bolsheviks!"

——From the heart and logic, Stilwell actually agrees with Ambassador Stuart's statement, but because of his duty as a soldier, he can only order his subordinates to drag the overly emotional Mr. Ambassador out and throw him into the sailors Let's talk calmly in the small dark room of confinement... Well, listening to the roaring and knocking sounds faintly coming from the other side of the bulkhead, Ambassador Stuart probably won't be able to calm down for a while.

So, should we simply go too far and give him an injection of anesthesia or some sleeping pills?

Lieutenant General Stilwell was thinking so wildly that before he knew it, the time had come for the scheduled detonation of the atomic bomb... Then, he saw a violent flash of light, which lit up from behind the northern horizon, instantly illuminating the dark Sky!

Then, after a while, the light cruiser St. Louis, moored on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay, heard a dull explosion.

At this point, Lieutenant General Stilwell, who had been worrying about gains and losses for a long time, finally sighed with relief, but then his face was full of bitterness.

——The Shanghai nuclear explosion should have been a success, but the image of the United States in the minds of the Chinese people is probably almost destroyed.

Especially myself, the murderer who personally planned the Shanghai nuclear bombing, in the eyes of the Chinese people, I am afraid that he can be compared with the devil, right?

Alas, it seems that when I get older, I become sentimental... In fact, if you think about it carefully, what is there to sigh about?No matter how many layers of justice and morality are put on, isn't the essence of war just to kill and be killed?Those who can cut people are the strong, and don’t complain when they are slaughtered. The truth in this world is the social Darwinism of the law of the jungle. From ancient times to the present, which hero didn’t become famous by stepping on the pile of bones?
Looking at the sky reddened by fire in the distance, Lieutenant General Stilwell sighed for the last time, then turned around and called the captain, and ordered in a low voice: "...Okay, everything is over! Let's lift anchor now! We have nothing to do here!"

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On the other side, when the light cruiser St.Louis slowly lifted anchor and sailed away from Jinshanwei, and gradually disappeared into the night-shrouded sea horizon, behind it was the largest city in China, the city that never sleeps in the Far East, a paradise for adventurers, and Shanghai Beach , but fell into an unprecedented catastrophe.

——Because the nuclear bomb in Shanghai exploded underground instead of the conventional air detonation, a considerable part of the explosion energy was held underground, and the sound and light effects caused were not as good as those of the previous ones, at least the mushroom cloud was much smaller However, the damage it caused was equally terrifying: the energy of the nuclear bomb caused most of Shanghai to be plunged into a violent earthquake, and the ground in the urban area trembled like a wild horse running wild, throwing away citizens, vehicles, trees and even houses on the ground. Up in the air!As for the exquisite and gorgeous reinforced concrete Western buildings on the Bund, they are like soap bubbles swept by a strong wind, either disappearing in an instant, or leaving only a pile of twisted and ugly wreckage... And the Shanghai HSBC Bank Building, which is the most heartbreaking, has never been This world has completely evaporated, leaving only a large scalding hole on the ground like a crater, emitting high temperature and red light like a crucible in a metallurgical factory.

Next, the heat wave from the nuclear explosion sparked a fire. At this time, Zhabei, Shanghai, was still a shanty town full of shacks. Not only was it densely populated, but it was also full of flammable building materials.In the previous street fighting between the Kuomintang and the Communist armies, many flames had sporadically ignited. Now, when the super-high-temperature air wave with a speed of 400 meters per second caused by the nuclear explosion blows, it turns into countless flowing flames and splashes all over the sky. The gorgeous scene of fiery trees, silver flowers, and endless sky... In this cruel and beautiful night scene, the entire Zhabei area became a sea of ​​flames, with various explosions, cries for help, and wailing one after another.

Since the war destroyed the self-rescue mechanism of the city of Shanghai, the fire in Zhabei soon became uncontrollable and spread rapidly to other parts of the urban area of ​​Shanghai.The air waves of the nuclear explosion and the fire's foehn rolled up countless sparkling embers and spread these deadly fire seeds into the unburned neighborhoods.Wherever the hot wind engulfing Mars blows, the soaring flames will spread.Factories are burning, shops are burning, wharf warehouses are burning, Shanghai-style Shikumen houses are burning, cars and street trees are burning, and soldiers and citizens who have no time to escape are also burning... Many people just struggled to climb out of the collapsed houses The ruins, before he had time to wrap his wounds, he found himself surrounded by flames in despair!

By the time the besieging Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants began to order troops to withdraw from the city and save the citizens as much as possible, the whole of Shanghai had been engulfed in raging fire. At first glance, it seemed as if the sky was burning and the earth was also burning.The burned houses collapsed one after another in the flames, and many people burned into indistinguishable coke together with their own beams.Some Shanghai citizens were lucky enough not to be directly buried in the ruins, but fled to some open space in a mess, trying to escape the fire, but then they were wrapped up in dumplings by the wanton fire, and thousands of them were burned to death together and smoked die.

There are also some people who were cornered by the fire demon, grabbed a few pieces of wood or buckets and jumped into the Huangpu River, trying to escape the fire by relying on the surging river water.Unexpectedly, the oil depot at the riverside wharf soon exploded and leaked. Tens of thousands of tons of heavy oil flowed into the Huangpu River, floated on the water, and then was ignited by the fire, turning the Huangpu River into a burning river of flames. Citizens who entered the river turned into meatballs in a hot pot...

As a matter of fact, due to the turmoil and almost no one organized to fight the fire, the fire on the beach in Shanghai burned for three days and three nights before it was extinguished. More than half of the houses in the city were destroyed, and the number of civilian casualties exceeded 300 million. , the streets and alleys are filled with a burnt smell, and it is said that the thick smoke can be smelled all the way to Suzhou.And the radiation pollution caused by the underground nuclear explosion in the area around the Bund is not known when it will be cleared.Those Shanghai residents who had escaped by chance came back to see the tragic situation in their hometown in the future, crying loudly and lamenting to the sky: "Shanghai is dead!"

However, although the number of casualties of the Shanghai nuclear explosion broke the record of any previous nuclear explosion and brought unforgettable pain to the Chinese people, General Stilwell's notoriety did not make the Chinese curse for too long— Because, there is a great teammate who is taking away the hatred for him.

—— After hearing the news of the nuclear explosion in Shanghai and the heavy defeat of the Red Bandits, Generalissimo Chiang, who had fled to Taiwan, was immediately overjoyed. He turned around and discussed with his wife, Meiling, and took the credit for his own brazenness. He made a speech on the radio station, claiming that the U.S. government dropped the atomic bomb on the "Bolshevik gangster party that is a disaster for the country" at his invitation, so this is not only a victory for the friendly country, but a victory for the party-state, and it is also the victory of someone like Jiang. victory.

Then, in order to boost morale and reverse the defeat, after bragging about the record of the Shanghai nuclear explosion, Generalissimo Jiang falsely claimed that more atomic bombs would be dropped on the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in the future, “...no matter how The ferocious thieves and bandits will all be reduced to dust under the nuclear bombs of friendly countries..."

In the end, his wife Meiling also chimed in and said: "...the major cities that are still under the rule of the party state must make a statement and learn from Shanghai's experience. Give it to God, and don't give a complete China to the Red Party..."

All in all, it is not yet known how effective this speech will be in motivating loyal officials of the party and state.However, the reaction aroused on the front line in eastern Zhejiang was immediate. A group of "party-state veterans" from Shanghai who had just retreated to Ningbo by boat heard Chairman Chiang's speech on the radio, and immediately mutinied collectively and coerced Leading their regiment leader rushed to the mouth of the Fenghua River, dug up the Jiang family's ancestral grave there, and set fire to the Jiang family's ancestral hall...