Great time travel

Chapter 1: Is this a nuclear winter?

For the Europeans in AD [-], the spring of this year was extremely cold, it was hopelessly cold.

In January, a severe cold wave that had never happened in a century swept across the continent, bringing extremely cold weather that lasted for more than a month to this piece of European land that was devastated by the war. The temperature in London, England dropped to minus [-] The temperature in the mountains of Eastern Europe and Ukraine suddenly dropped to minus [-] or [-] degrees. It is true that dripping water turns into ice, and pee turns into icicles... The Danube, Rhine, Elbe, Po River in northern Italy, and Thames River in England are here. During a wave of cold waves, the entire line was frozen, and the ships were frozen.Even Sicily, which has never had any snowfall, has experienced half a meter of snow this winter.Even Arabs in Morocco and Algeria were amazed to see tiny snowflakes falling slowly across the Sahara desert.And many Egyptians saw for the first time in their lifetimes that fine ice floes floated on the Nile River...

As for the major cities in Europe, it is even worse. The snow in Rome and Madrid is as thick as one meter, and the snow in Paris and Berlin is as thick as three meters. Amsterdam, which has just suffered a nuclear bomb, because it is close to the coast and has sufficient water vapor, the snow is actually thick. Even the chimneys on the roof were buried by snow. Many unlucky Dutch people were buried alive in their homes by the heavy snow. Those who were not buried alive began to try to learn from the Eskimos to build igloos.The temperature in the water city of Venice also dropped to minus [-] degrees. Citizens found that their city was frozen in a big ice lump, and they could go shopping on the ice without rowing.

If it was a peaceful time, the government would definitely do its best to take various disaster relief measures, such as requisitioning primary and secondary school classrooms and unused hotel ballrooms, setting up temporary heating centers, airdropping food to villages besieged by heavy snow, dispatching snow plows and spreading salt Vehicles clear roads, restore transportation, and more.

However, in Europe during World War III, such conditions did not exist: cities in various countries generally suffered severe war damage, and road and rail transportation were not fully repaired. When the severe cold wave came, rivers and ports were frozen, and even water transportation followed. broken.What's more terrible is that European metropolises such as Madrid, Paris, London, and Amsterdam have just suffered atomic bombs (Stockholm, Leningrad, Helsinki, and Tallinn will be bombed next), and many other cities have been hit by atomic bombs. Carpet strategic bombing.At least 1000 million people were forced to live among the rubble in shabby shacks and tents.At this time, they have no heating, no electricity, no fuel, no houses, no clothes, and even food supplies are very short.In the severe cold weather of minus [-] to [-] degrees Celsius, there seems to be no other way out except to freeze and starve into zombies in despair. With a thin physique that doesn't wear much, no matter how you look at it, you can't go far and you will die!

Afterwards, according to incomplete statistics, more than 380 million people in Europe died of freezing and starvation during the unprecedentedly miserable and extremely cold weather for more than a month.It was hard to survive until the weather turned slightly warmer. Although the roads and railways were still impassable, at least it was not so easy to freeze to death.Unexpectedly, the United States on the other side of the ocean came to send warmth again, presenting a Valentine's Day gift called the atomic bomb to the European people-the flash of the nuclear explosion is really... warm enough!

But no matter how many people die in winter, those who are still alive will continue to struggle to survive and reproduce.A few weeks after the nuclear explosion, the ice and snow on the land of Europe finally melted and spring blossomed.Hungry and lean European farmers hurriedly began to plow the land and sow the seeds... Who would have thought that the crops had just germinated, and another cold spring came with heavy snow, bringing the temperature back below zero again!
Looking at the snow-capped fields and thinking about the prospect of no crops, the common people in all European countries are crying without tears and gloomy.

What's even more frightening is that they have to go through such a nightmare day several times—if they can still survive...

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Belgrade, Yugoslavia, May [-]
Although it is midday, the brightest time of the day, the sky over Belgrade is overcast like dusk.

After finishing his inspection of the rural areas around the capital, the General Secretary of the Yugoslav Communist Party, Joseph Broz Tito, set out on his way home with a haggard face.

Although it is late April, the streets of Belgrade are still snowing lightly, and the windshield wipers are struggling to remove the fluffy flakes.There was a patch of mud on the road, and as soon as the car passed by, the mud was splashed high.Looking at the confused wind and snow outside the car window, Tito couldn't help feeling a little dazed.

The weather in Yugoslavia this year is terrible. Leaving aside the severe cold of minus [-] degrees in January and February, March has just warmed up a bit. It even dropped to minus thirteen or four degrees in a few days, and now it is still minus two or three degrees.Freezing rain fell in most parts of Yugoslavia, and the streets of the capital Belgrade were covered with snow up to their feet.

In such an unseasonable cold wave, General Secretary Tito, who was not young, accidentally caught a bad cold, coughing so much that his lungs were about to be coughed up, no matter how much aspirin he took and how much hot tea he drank It didn't get better either, and finally got a little healthier after taking antibiotics.However, despite such a worrying health condition, General Secretary Tito still dragged his sick body around to inspect the situation of the extreme cold disaster, and the more he watched, the more frightened he became.

——In the whole of Yugoslavia, I am afraid that no one has seen such a cold spring.The weather in May is still like winter. There are always snowflakes and ice chips floating in the sky from time to time. People found that sheep froze on the pastures, the tender flower buds that had just bloomed were frozen to death, and ten centimeters of water formed in ponds and rivers. Thick ice, the newly planted crops in the field are ravaged by the severe cold, farmers have to wear thick coats and gloves to work in the field, trying to save some remaining crops.However, such an unseasonable cold has never been experienced by wheat and corn at this latitude.Even with the hard work of the Yugoslav farmers, this year's crops will not fail in the end, but at the very least, it may be the result of the reduction of more than half of the grain production!

Therefore, all the officials complained to Tito during the tour, saying that there will definitely be an outbreak of famine on an unprecedented scale in the second half of this year.As for the solution to the famine by tapping the potential within Yugoslavia...at present, there should be absolutely no way.

If you want the Yugoslavs to survive this difficult time, it seems to everyone that the only feasible way is to kneel down and reach out to the big brother of the Soviet Union-but the problem is that the Soviets are not philanthropists, the Kremlin Where is the aid and relief supplies so easy to get?
Thinking of the package of terms of exchange proposed by the Kremlin, Tito couldn't help but feel his brain twitching: adopting a unified currency for the entire socialist camp, unifying diplomatic stance, joining economic mutual aid associations, and favoring the "limited sovereignty theory"... Tito is very clear, In the eyes of Serbs and Croats whose national self-esteem has been overly incited by propaganda, this series of demands for serious interference in Yugoslavia's internal affairs must be absolutely unacceptable.If he dared to nod and agree casually, then there would be a political storm that would shake Guozuo immediately.However, if you don't do this, you won't get aid from the Soviet Union. At that time, the hungry and panic-stricken people in the country will still rise up and rebel under the instigation of some ambitious people.

Either civil strife due to political crisis, or civil strife due to famine outbreak, this dilemma gave General Secretary Tito a headache.

In the end, General Secretary Tito could only decide to wait and see—maybe...the harvest this autumn was not as bad as expected?
In any case, before the crisis broke out, he and the Yugoslav government still had some time to consider and consider, didn't they?
However, compared to the Yugoslavs who still have a choice, the British on the isolated island have no chance to choose a way out...

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June [-], England, south Cornwall, north shore of the English Channel

Under the leaden gray sky, the former German artillery lieutenant colonel Heinrich, who escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp at the end of last year, was wrapped in an ill-fitting fur coat, standing on the top balcony of a certain manor building, overlooking the Looking at the bleak field covered with frost flowers, I was silent for a long time.

——Relying on some fuel, quilts and food looted by the united black American army when they stormed the city of Bath last Christmas, the most important thing is the intact houses in the city, Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich and his followers More than 200 Nazi German prisoners of war finally survived this difficult winter.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich knew very well that it would be difficult for them to survive in a foreign country for a long time just by burning, killing and looting.Moreover, they did not have a stable channel for ammunition replenishment. Bullets and artillery shells were fired one by one, and in fact, they could not afford any high-intensity continuous battle.When the last bullet was fired and the British could only be fought with a bayonet... at that time, it was hard to say who was robbing whom!

So, after the extremely cold weather at the beginning of the year ended and the temperature rose to allow human activities in the wild, Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich led his troops to leave the city of Bath, which had been looted, and head south to Cornwall, which is said to have no troublesome forces. The county grabs land.Then, relying on the guns in his hand, Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich successfully occupied a solid and intact English country manor, and then imitated the medieval feudal system, proclaimed himself a lord, and canonized his men as knights, just like a standard German Rong Like the owner of the Ke manor, he started to manage this small land, preparing to resume food production for a long-term plan-the Germans naturally became knights and servants, and the British farmers captured along the way happened to serve as serfs character of.

Although they didn't actually have a single horse... it's kind of interesting to think that a German Junker could claim land in England and stand on his own.

However, the weird weather that followed made Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich's plan of resuming production and occupying land as king completely defeated.

——Since entering April, as the days have become longer and longer, the temperature in England has become colder, and the whistling wind and snow have continued, making people suspect that they are in the polar regions.Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich has lived for so many years in his life, but he has never seen such a weird weather. It has clearly entered the early summer, but the temperature in the morning has dropped below zero.The terrible cold snap froze the newly softened ground hard again.

In order to save these crops that symbolize future hope, Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich lit bonfires in the cornfields for more than ten consecutive nights starting from late May, and arranged for people to take turns to watch over the firewood so that the bonfires would not go out, lest The corn froze to death... But he failed in the end, and June came with ice and snow, and England was covered in a glassy layer of ice.Almost all green plants were frozen under the frost overnight.Those crops that barely survived the cold wave in May will inevitably die in the frost in June.

Seeing that the crops are doomed to fail, and the food hoarded in his hands is running out, and it is very likely that he will not last until this autumn. Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich, full of melancholy, climbed up and looked at the surrounding countryside from the balcony. go.It is full of bleak and dilapidated tones - the trees have no leaves, the mountains are bare, the fields are sad, the hills are gloomy, and the branches are withered...

He has never seen such a tragic year, but it is not difficult to imagine what kind of tragedy will happen next: this year, the entire rural areas of the British Isle may not have any decent harvests. will further become extremely scarce.After the overseas trade was cut off and the fire of civilization in the industrial society was extinguished by the Soviet nuclear bomb, for the people on the British island, the food harvest meant mass death.

The "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" that have terrified Europeans since ancient times - war, hunger, plague, and death - will intensify and descend on the overpopulated Great Britain, where food is becoming increasingly self-sufficient, as well as the neighboring Irish island. It is also difficult to escape this disaster.After losing civilization and order and entering the dark age, the remaining people will split into more camps, fight more for a morsel of food, perform all kinds of evil, cruel and bloody scandals, and even be forced to starve. Being forced to eat people is like a purgatory scene at the end of the world.

Such a terrifying prospect, like a nightmare, made Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich feel trembling from the depths of his soul.He took a deep breath and turned to look at the rough English Channel at the edge of the sky, the European continent on the other side of the channel, and the more distant motherland and hometown...

This cursed island seems to be unable to stay any longer.Maybe... Now is the time to go back and try your luck!Even if you can't find a big boat, and you don't have sailors available, even if you venture across the sea on a raft, it's much better than starving to death and freezing to death in this ghost place!
Anyway, with his own military rank, he should not be qualified to go to a military court with the title of war criminal.According to common sense, the Soviets would lock themselves into labor camps at most... Under the current circumstances, if the food in the labor camps can be full, then going there may be a good way out.

Just like that, Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich lit a cigar for himself, puffed out smoke rings in the cold wind, thought wildly, and at the same time recited a very appropriate poem he had just read in a low voice. Poetry, "Darkness" by English poet Lord Byron: "...the bright sun is extinguished, and the stars are displaced in a dim eternal void, where there is no light, no way, and the frozen globe of the earth turns blindly, in a moonless sky The nether world is shrouded..."

However, what Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich does not know today is that under the newly established socialist German regime at this time, there are also devastation everywhere, and the social order is on the verge of collapse.The people are also in dire straits, and millions of Germans are struggling on the verge of life and death...

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June [-], Berlin, Germany

"... woo woo woo——"

Accompanied by the long siren sound and the drifting soot, a long passenger train rumbled out of Berlin Station and headed for the far east.

In the crowded and noisy carriage, Mrs. Maria Smit curled up in the narrow seat with a small suitcase in her arms—compared to Christmas, she seemed to be ten years older suddenly Above, and there is only one person left, no relatives to accompany...

——Before the extremely cold weather in January, she and her fellow workers were organized by the government to go to the countryside far away from the city of Berlin to repair a power plant.So Mrs. Smit had to entrust her two sons, Simon, ten, and Justin, eight, to the care of a relative in Berlin.

As a result, after more than two months.When she returned to Berlin from the construction site with snowflakes all over her body and chilblains on her face and hands, she was shocked to learn that her relative's dilapidated old house was suddenly destroyed in the middle of a night not long ago. The heavy snow fell instantly, and her two sons, Simon and Justin, as well as the relative's whole family, were all crushed to death under the rubble and snow on the spot!At this moment, even the corpse has been burned to ashes!
This huge blow caused Mrs. Maria Smit to have a nervous breakdown. After burying the urns of her two underage sons in a trance, she drank heavily all day long and almost wanted to commit suicide several times... ...If she hadn't thought about her husband, Captain Lucas Smit, who was still sailing a merchant ship in the remote Pacific Ocean to work for the Soviets, risking his life to earn money, maybe she would really be with her sons went.

Then, as signs of climate anomalies intensified across Europe, food and fuel supplies in Germany became increasingly strained.In desperation, the German socialist government had no choice but to temporarily suspend the demolition of ruins and urban reconstruction projects, and mobilized some of the surplus population to respond to the call of the Soviet Union and move to Siberia and the Far East, where the food supply is relatively abundant, to build socialism. By the way, relieve the pressure on the motherland...

At this time, on the one hand, Mrs. Smit lost her job because of this, and on the other hand, she missed her husband even more after the death of her son. Therefore, as soon as she heard the news, Mrs. Smit took the initiative to sign up, hoping to leave temporarily. This homeland left her with countless sad memories—just like that, she held a photo of her two sons and a letter from her husband from the East, and with a small suitcase, she took the bus to Vladivos. Toke's international train, muttering to himself from time to time, "...I'm sorry, please forgive me, dear Lucas, I failed to take good care of the children..."

And like Mrs. Maria Smit, there are many, many Europeans who left their dilapidated homeland for various reasons and went to the East to work hard in this difficult year... A considerable number of them settled in the East just like this , never returned to Europe...

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Next, with the arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere, and the further clarification of various signs of global climate anomalies, as well as various bad news from all over the world, this catastrophic low-temperature weather affecting the global scale finally caused Wang Qiu , Ma Tong and other traversers' attention...

Therefore, in response to the above issues, they soon broke out various debates:
"...How did this happen? Could it be that too many nuclear bombs have been dropped recently, which really ruined the environment and caused a nuclear winter?"

"...How is that possible? You are imagining the power of human beings too strong, and the earth is too fragile!
The most powerful atomic bomb these days is equivalent to two or three times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb in our world. It is only about [-] tons to [-] tons. Hydrogen bombs can do it.

And the total equivalent of 1961 such powerful atomic bombs can't keep up with the "Big Ivan" that the Soviet Union tested in [-]!

Since in our side of the world, the earth was not blown up to be unsuitable for human existence in the year of the "Big Ivan" test explosion, or caused any terrible nuclear winter, then these small-yield nuclear bombs that grow mushrooms all over the place today, There will be no nuclear winter. "

"...Wait? 1961? It seems that the life of the Chinese people in that year was really not good! What's like '3000 million starved to death'..."

"...Please, don't you know? Those are all nonsense jokes made by street stall literature publications! Jokes! Don't take it seriously! Besides, the so-called 'nuclear winter' has also been confirmed after the Cold War, but it was just a group of anti A well-intentioned hoax concocted by war scientists..."