Chapter 88, Under the Earth Under the Mushroom Cloud China, Shanghai, late at night The prosperous scene of the former "city that never sleeps in the Far East" has now been burned away by the fierce flames of war.
The red and green neon lights can no longer be seen in the city, nor can the sounds of drunkenness and dissipation be heard.
Only the smoke of gunpowder remains. , sporadic firelight and fallen corpses.
Loud bugles, rumbling cannons and machine gunfire like fried beans echoed continuously in the streets of China's largest metropolis.
As the blue-sky and white-sun flags, Union Jack flags and Star-Spangled Banners withered one after another, and the red flags with sickle and hammer marched towards the center of Shanghai, the battle of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army to liberate Shanghai finally entered the final and most brutal stage of street fighting.
After about two months of fierce fighting and back-and-forth, the "Shanghai Iron Wall" originally garrisoned by 200,000 "Party-State Tigers" and more than 30,000 American and British intervention troops has been under an overwhelming offensive by the 500,000-strong Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
Falling apart.
At the same time, various underground parties lurking in Shanghai in advance also called on progressive people from all walks of life in Shanghai to raise flags to launch an armed uprising and launch a fatal blow to the Shanghai defenders from the rear.
In addition, the underground party in Shanghai also organized a group of armed factory protection teams to protect Shanghai's waterworks, power plants and gas stations from being destroyed to prevent enemies from jumping over the wall.
Faced with such a desperate situation, General Tang Enbo, who was appointed as the commander of Shanghai city defense by Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, had already fled to Taiwan two weeks ago, and the American General Stilwell, who led the American and British reinforcements to help defend Shanghai, also He left Shanghai and fled to a warship anchored in Hangzhou Bay.
At this moment, in the besieged city of Shanghai, there are only less than 10,000 members of Chairman Chiang's direct "Youth Army" still resisting.
This army was led by "Prince" Chiang Ching-kuo, and is politically motivated.
It is extremely powerful, and its officers and soldiers are basically the children of local tyrants and evil gentry who have a grudge against the Red Army of Workers and Peasants for destroying their families, or they are executioners who have massacred the revolutionary masses in the base areas and have blood debts on their hands, and are heinous executioners.
This "youth army" may not necessarily have the strongest combat effectiveness, but its stance and fighting spirit are definitely the firmest.
Basically, it can be said that it is sworn in with the Red Army.
According to the propaganda of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, these stubborn enemies are basically the most hardcore reactionaries and class enemies in the country, or the Black Five Categories.
Therefore, although the situation was completely hopeless, they were still determined to fight to the end.
Facing the workers' and peasants' Red Army that had poured into the city in large numbers, these stubborn enemies retreated to the Bund area, relying on the high-rise buildings on the Puxi Bund and the bunker barricades repaired before the war to continue fighting with the Red Army soldiers.
However, what the red-eyed youth army "Party-state heroes" don't know is that behind them, in the closed Shanghai HSBC Bank building, somewhere in a heavily institutionalized underground vault, there is a super killer weapon.
The fuse is counting down with a "ticking" sound.
That was an atomic bomb produced at the Oak Ridge Factory in the United States.
In order to guard against the all-pervasive underground party, the US military did not tell any Chinese when they planted the nuclear bomb at HSBC Bank.
Right now, Lieutenant General Stilwell, the top commander of the US military stationed in China, who installed the timed nuclear bomb, is staying on the light cruiser USS St.
Louis outside Jinshanwei Port in the waters of Hangzhou Bay south of Shanghai, staring at the clock on the bulkhead.
The hands are anxiously waiting for the moment of nuclear explosion to arrive.
According to the original nuclear strike plan formulated by the Pentagon, it was planned to use Shanghai Hongqiao Airport as a front-line base, where a formation of B29 "Super Flying Fortress" bombers would take off, carrying atomic bombs to bomb the city of Beijing, which had just been selected as the capital of New China.
Unexpectedly, the plan always failed to keep up with the changes.
As soon as the atomic bombs and B29 bombers arrived in Shanghai, Hongqiao Airport was attacked by the Soviet Air Force to aid China.
All the aircraft and aviation fuel warehouses were blown up, and even the airport runway was severely damaged.
It cannot be repaired in a short period of time.
As for the Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport as an alternative base, because of the active uprising of the Hangzhou defenders, a red flag had already been planted before the fall of Shanghai.
In desperation, General Stilwell could only arrange ships to transport the atomic bomb away again.
Unexpectedly, the defenders of Wusongkou Fort rebelled at this time and blocked the Huangpu River channel.
The American fleet stranded near the mouth of the Yangtze River once wanted to destroy the Wusong Fort and forced its way into the Huangpu River to transport the atomic bomb, but failed at Wusongkou. meet After a fierce battle, a light cruiser and two destroyers were destroyed and sunk on the tidal flats of the Yangtze River Estuary.
It was impossible to transport the heavy atomic bombs out of Shanghai.
Task.
General Stilwell, who had no idea at all, had no choice but to send a secret telegram to Washington for instructions.
The immediate reply he received was: detonate on the spot.
To be honest, Lieutenant General Stilwell was very resistant to Washington's inhumane order.
But the soldier had no choice but to obey orders, so he had no choice but to put the atomic bomb into the underground vault of the HSBC Bank building on the Bund in Shanghai, install a timed detonation device, then lock the vault, block the door of the HSBC Bank with bricks and sandbags, and finally led The remaining American and British allied forces and expatriates evacuated 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 the light cruiser USS St.
Louis he was aboard still faced the risk of being bombed by Red Army aircraft.
Wandering 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 heavy burden on his heart: If this nuclear weapon of final battle, which embodies the hope of mankind in the United States, had something go wrong when it was detonated, it would have been The U.S. troops evacuating Shanghai really had nothing to do except stare blankly in case the atomic bomb was targeted.
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When the detonator failed, or the abandoned "Chinese allies" on the Bund failed to resist the moment of the nuclear explosion, they allowed the Red Army soldiers to rush into the HSBC Bank before that and deactivated the time fuse on the atomic bomb, thus The consequences of letting an intact American atomic bomb fall into the hands of the Bolsheviks in China would be simply unimaginable.
At least Lieutenant General Stilwell believed that he was unable to shoulder this responsibility.
He would definitely be court-martialed and imprisoned by then.
What made him even more upset was the U.S.
Ambassador to China Leighton Stuart who was sitting in the same boat.
When he learned that the U.S. military was going to use an atomic bomb on the Bund of Shanghai, this man who was born and raised in China and looked more like a Chinese than Descendants of American Presbyterian missionaries were immediately angry Unstoppable, he waved his fists and tried to fight Stilwell, shouting, "This is the biggest mistake the White House has made in China this century.
This treacherous nuclear strike will not scare any enemies, but will only destroy those who were originally All the Chinese people who have a good impression of the United States rushed to the Bolsheviks."
From a heart and logic point of view, Stilwell actually agreed with Ambassador Stuart's statement, but out of his duty as a soldier, he could only order his subordinates to drag the overly excited ambassador out and throw him into a sailor's confinement Let's calm down in the small dark room.
Listening to the roaring and banging sounds coming from the other end of the bulkhead, Ambassador Stuart probably couldn't calm down for a while.
So, why don't you go a little further and give him an injection of anesthetic or some sleeping pills?
Lieutenant General Stilwell was thinking so wildly that before he knew it, the time to detonate the atomic bomb had arrived.
Then, he saw a violent flash of light, lighting up from behind the northern horizon, illuminating the dark sky in an instant.
Then, after a while, the light cruiser USS St.
Louis, anchored 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 while, finally sighed with relief, but then his face was full of bitterness.
The Shanghai nuclear explosion should have been successful, but the image of the United States in the minds of the Chinese people should have been almost completely destroyed.
Especially the murderer who personally planned the Shanghai nuclear explosion.
In the minds of Chinese people, I am afraid he can be compared with the devil.
Alas, it seems that I have become sentimental as I get older.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, there is nothing to sigh about.
No matter how many layers of justice and morality are put on, the essence of war is killing and being killed.
How can you kill people?
The only one who is strong is the strong, so don’t complain if you are slaughtered.
The truth in this world is social Darwinism where the weak can prey on the strong.
From ancient times to the present, which hero has become famous without stepping on mountains of bones.
Looking at the sky red with fire in the distance, Lieutenant General Stilwell let out a long sigh for the last time, then turned around and called the captain, and ordered in a deep voice: "Okay, everything is over, now lift anchor."
Let’s go.
We have nothing to do with you here anymore.”
On the other side, when the light cruiser USS St.
Louis slowly weighs anchor and sails away from Jinshanwei, gradually disappearing into the night-shrouded horizon, behind it lies China's largest metropolis, the city that never sleeps in the Far East, the paradise of adventurers, and the glamorous Shanghai Beach. , but fell into an unprecedented tragic catastrophe.
Since the nuclear bomb in Shanghai exploded underground instead of being detonated in the air, a considerable part of the energy of the explosion was suppressed underground, and the resulting sound and light effects were not as good as those of the previous ones.
At least the mushroom cloud was much smaller.
But the damage caused was equally horrific: the energy of the nuclear bomb caused most of Shanghai to fall into a violent earthquake.
The ground in the urban area was shaking like a wild horse, shaking citizens, vehicles, and trees on the ground.
Wooden buildings and even houses were "thrown" into the air.
As for the exquisite and gorgeous reinforced concrete Western buildings on the Bund, they were like soap bubbles swept by the strong wind.
They were either wiped out in an instant, or only a bunch of twisted and ugly buildings were left.
The wreckage of the Shanghai HSBC Bank building, which was the centerpiece of the explosion, completely evaporated from the world, leaving only a hot hole on the ground like a crater, emitting high temperature and red light like a crucible in a metallurgical plant.
Next, the heat wave of the nuclear explosion caused another fire.
At this time, Zhabei, Shanghai, was still a shantytown full of shacks.
It was not only densely populated, but also full of flammable building materials.
In the previous street battles between the Kuomintang and the Communist armies, many flames had been ignited sporadically.
Now, when the super high-temperature air wave with a speed of 400 meters per second caused by the nuclear explosion was blown, it turned into countless flowing flames flying all over the sky.
A gorgeous scene of fiery trees and silver flowers that never sleeps.
In this cruel and beautiful night scene, the entire Zhabei area turned into a sea of fire, and various explosions, calls for help, and howls came one after another.
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Because the war destroyed the city's self-rescue mechanism, the fire in Zhabei quickly grew out of control and spread rapidly to other parts of Shanghai.
The airwaves of nuclear explosions and the foehn winds of fires picked up countless embers with sparks, spreading these deadly fires into neighborhoods that were not yet on fire.
Wherever the hot wind carrying sparks blows, the flames will spread to the sky.
Factories are burning, shops are burning, dock warehouses are burning, Shanghai-style Shikumen houses are burning, cars and street trees are burning, soldiers and citizens who have no time to escape are also burning.
Many people have just struggled to climb out of the ruins of collapsed houses.
Before he could wrap up the wound, he desperately found himself surrounded by flames.
By the time the besieging Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army began to order troops to withdraw from the city and try to save the citizens, the entire Shanghai had been engulfed in flames.
At first glance, it seemed as if the sky was burning and the earth was burning.
The burned houses collapsed one after another in the flames, and many people were burned into indistinguishable charcoal along with the beams of their houses.
Some Shanghai citizens were lucky enough not to be buried directly in the ruins.
Instead, they fled to some open spaces in a chaotic manner in an attempt to escape the fire.
Then they were completely wrapped up in dumplings by the rampant fire, and thousands of them were burned to death together. die.
Some people were forced by the fire demon into desperation, so they grabbed a few pieces of wood or buckets and jumped into the Huangpu River, trying to escape the raging fire by relying on the surging water.
Unexpectedly, the oil depot at the Jiangpan Terminal soon exploded and leaked.
Tens of thousands of tons of heavy oil flowed into the Huangpu River, floated on the water, and were then ignited by fire, turning the Huangpu River into a river of burning flames.
The citizens who entered the river became meatballs in the hot pot.
In fact, because there was basically no one to organize the fight in the chaos of war, the fire 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 three million.
Everyone, the streets and alleys were filled with a burning smell, and the thick smoke was said to be smellable all the way to Suzhou.
As for the radiation pollution caused by the underground nuclear explosion in the Bund area, it is not known when it will be cleared.
Those Shanghai citizens who were lucky enough to escape life later came back and saw the tragic situation in their hometown.
They all cried loudly and looked up to the sky and lamented: "Shanghai is dead."
However, although the number of casualties in the nuclear explosion in Shanghai exceeded the record of any previous nuclear explosion and brought unforgettable pain to the Chinese people, the notoriety of General Stilwell did not make the Chinese curse them for too long because, He has a great teammate taking the hate away from him.
After learning about the nuclear explosion in Shanghai and the severe defeat of the Red Bandits, Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, who had already fled to Taiwan, was overjoyed.
He turned to discuss with his wife Mei-ling, and shamelessly took the credit for himself.
On the radio station He delivered a speech on the Internet, claiming that the U.S. government dropped the atomic bomb on the "Bolshevik gangster party that brought disaster to the country" at his invitation.
Therefore, this was not only a victory for friendly countries, but a victory for the party and the country, and also a victory for him, Chiang Kai-shek.
Then, in order to boost morale and reverse the defeat, after bragging about the nuclear bombing record in Shanghai, Chairman Chiang also lied that more atomic bombs would be dropped on the heads of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, “No matter how stubborn they are, All thieves and bandits will be turned into powder under friendly nuclear bombs."
Finally, his wife Mei Ling also supported her by saying: "Nowadays, major cities that are still under the rule of the party-state must take a clear stand and learn from Shanghai's experience.
They would rather be in pieces than in ruins.
They would rather dedicate a dead China to God." , and will not hand over a complete China to the Red Party.”
All in all, it is not yet known how effective this speech is in motivating loyal officials of the party and state.
But the reaction aroused on the front line in eastern Zhejiang was immediate.
A group of "veterans of the party and state" from Shanghai who had just retreated to Ningbo by boat heard Chairman Chiang's speech on the radio and immediately mutinied collectively, coercing them.
The head of the regiment rushed to the mouth of Fenghua River, dug up the Chiang family's ancestral grave there, and burned the Chiang family ancestral hall oshow7: