Chapter 96: Let the nuclear explosion be more violent! (Part 1)
In general, even if they feel numb to war and death, and feel depressed, pessimistic or even desperate about the future, the soldiers and civilians of the British Empire still have the last courage. Even those peace activists who once opposed the war policy of Churchill's cabinet, when news of the nuclear explosion in Paris came, it seemed that there was no hope of seeking a decent peace. At this time of crisis, they devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the defense of the homeland. Came at work.
Encouraged by the propaganda of the cabinet and the royal family, squires, celebrities, priests and nobles from all counties in England, Scotland and Wales took the lead in taking action. In just a short time, more than 3,000 battalions of the "National Guard" were raised. , almost every village is holding group training. Since most of the young and strong British boys have died in this abominable world war, the standard for conscription this time is that they must be hungry or not. Basically, they are non-disabled people between the ages of sixteen and sixty, as long as they have no missing arms or legs. All were conscripted into the army, and children under the age of sixteen and old men over the age of sixty were also conscripted to be responsible for auxiliary work such as logistics and transportation. Almost all of them had no military training, and many of them had even touched a gun for the first time in their lives. If you are lucky, you may meet a retired veteran, but don't expect too much. After living a peaceful life for so long, the memories in the military camp have long been blurred. In addition, a large number of female soldiers were recruited, and the scale was quite astonishing. The total number of people reported before and after was actually as high as two million!
However, it is not enough to just have people. Next, they must be armed, and given the necessary training and appropriate tactics. Only then can they have the value to go to the battlefield and serve as cannon fodder to cause trouble for the enemy. Otherwise, They are just pigs that have been driven away and slaughtered.
However, at this time, the British Empire was almost at the end of its rope. All military material reserves were already under the warning line. Even every company of the regular army might not be able to be assigned a mortar. In addition to the recent batch of urgently recruited recruits, In addition to a military uniform, not even a rifle is guaranteed for each person. Some recruits only received a grenade. I really don't know whether it is used to kill the enemy or to commit suicide. Not to mention the irregular militias such as the National Guard. During the war, the cabinet could not even issue a set of military uniforms to each of these "National Guards" who were eager to serve the country.
As for eating, there is no need to worry about it for the time being. Although it is basically impossible to maintain the food level before the war, with wine and meat and butter on bread every day, but if all the land in Great Britain is planted with potatoes, then It is still barely enough to feed the people of the country.
In desperation, Churchill had no choice but to order the National Guard members to bring their own cooking utensils and wear civilian clothes to fight. At the same time, they racked their brains and managed to move out a batch of old-style rifles that had been repackaged and sealed. However, the number of soldiers who needed weapons was too terrifying. Throwing this batch of rifles away would not even be a drop in the bucket. And even if you get the rifle, whether it can still be used is still a big question - thanks to the British Empire's tradition of hoarding old goods, these rifles are antiques that have been sealed for many years or even produced in the last century. The variety and span of time are truly breathtaking. Some equipment can even be traced back to the Napoleonic Wars. Some members of the National Guard actually got a batch of brown Bess flintlocks with oil seals that were harder than rocks (the kind that require biting off the bottom of the bullet before they can be used). As a result, the Indian soldiers rioted because the bullets were coated with lard and beef tallow. Rebellious stuff)......
In the end, Churchill had no choice but to order the gentry, landowners and aristocratic stickmen who formed the National Guard to raise their own weapons. So the people below began to show off their magical powers - first of all, as the main force in forming the militia, the British squire who loved hunting There is usually no shortage of weapons at home. They hunt not for survival, but for entertainment and excitement. Therefore, they not only hunted foxes and rabbits locally, butchered bison and brown bears in North America, killed tigers as rare animals in India, and killed countless antelopes, rhinos, lions, and African elephants in Africa. The entire head of the beast was cut off and made into a specimen and hung on the wall to show off. In order to hunt these beasts, these modern British tycoons are like gamblers, always willing to spend a lot of money on various killing weapons, just like modern rich people are happy to spend a lot of money on luxury cars, such as James partner shotguns, thunder Minton shotguns, hunting heavy crossbows...you name it. Even if someone doesn't like hunting, he or she will still keep the hunting rifle of his ancestors for self-defense.
——Don’t look down on this hobby of British gentlemen. No matter what, it at least exercises their courage to face ferocious beasts, their strong physique to travel through mountains and rivers, as well as their shooting skills and wild survival ability. It is better than the tycoons of the late Qing Dynasty who spent all day. Smoking is much healthier.
Don't think that this kind of thing is just a matter of eating too much and having nothing to do. You must know that a person's life should be spent in constant pursuit and struggle. Although the results of struggle include success and failure, it is always better than having no desires and no demands. If a person has no pursuit and desire, he will completely lose the goal of life and fall into extreme spiritual emptiness and confusion. Therefore, those big stars who seem to have unlimited fame and success will pursue excitement inexplicably, racing like crazy, taking drugs like drugs, having sex like promiscuity... To put it bluntly, it's all because of boredom. Compared to these depraved guys, being fond of hunting is really nothing - a British gentleman who loves hunting can bravely defeat the enemy during wartime, or at least serve as a qualified guerrilla. But what contribution could a drug addict make to society?
However, no matter how many shotguns these hunting enthusiasts collect in their homes, they may not be enough to arm an army. Moreover, a considerable number of squires who are not generous enough may not be willing to hand over expensive and exquisite hunting firearms to those mud-legged people. Fortunately, Britain has not yet been completely de-industrialized. There are still many small workshops in the countryside, many of which are crouching tigers, hidden dragons. The blacksmiths in some small workshops can even knock out a car by hand - so in the government After the ban was lifted , rural workshops in various British counties began to frantically manufacture all kinds of guns and artillery, such as muskets, rifled guns, air guns, revolvers, match guns, lever guns, and potato guns, and then there were rockets, Mortars and other "heavy equipment".
Of course, this is a product that can only be produced by workshops with good craftsmanship. Those rural blacksmiths with poor craftsmanship do not have the courage to make firearms (for fear of exploding the chamber), so they can only forge some cold weapons, such as spears, broadswords, and maces. , stabbing swords and maces, and some people even came up with the Welsh longbow as a characteristic British product. However, the most manufactured items were axes and pitchforks, because they seemed to be the most cost-effective and would still be useful after the war.
Although they were dressed in a mess and equipped with a variety of weapons, the flags of these National Guardsmen were quite exquisite. The country nobles who organized the regiment naturally moved their family emblems to the military flags, while the little country squires who had no aristocratic status spent their time flipping through the noble heraldry books in the library to create their own creations. Other militia groups led by priests and bishops naturally painted various crosses on their military flags... The teams that were finally formed, some looked like medieval aristocratic private soldiers or mercenaries, and some looked like The Resurrection Crusaders.
Suddenly, from the highlands of Scotland to the mountains of Wales, from the factories of Glasgow to the universities of Oxford, from the warm Windsor Castle to the cold winds of the Shetland Islands, there were groups of National Guardsmen everywhere. Wearing a variety of clothes, holding a mess of weapons, and holding bright flags, they marched in formation, shouted slogans, and sang military songs, just like a super-large-scale "Medieval Total War COSPLAY".
Then, the scenes of these rabble-rousers training across the UK were successively photographed by the all-pervasive Soviet spies and reconnaissance satellites in orbit, and were quickly transmitted to the hands of the big shots in the other camp.
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South Pacific, Easter Island
In the vast South Pacific, there is a small island with an area of 165 square kilometers. This is the famous Easter Island. This small triangular island made of volcanic lava is the easternmost point of the Polynesian Islands spanning the South Pacific. It is also one of the loneliest landmasses in the world, with vast oceans in all directions. It is 2,000 kilometers from the nearest Pitcairn Island and 3,700 kilometers from the coast of South America.
In addition to loneliness, the most profound impression on Easter Island is that it is "desolate" and "barren" - completely different from the conventional impression of those tropical islands in the South Seas with dense vegetation and lush vegetation. There are no streams or springs on Easter Island. There are no coral reefs and almost no decent trees. Apart from bare rocks and sand, there are only low weeds and shrubs. At first glance, it makes people think that they are in the Gobi Desert.
In the future of another world, it will attract tourists from all over the world with its mysterious giant stone statues and "talking wooden boards". But in this time and space of 1946, there were only a few thousand sheep and goats on the island, a white-haired Chilean missionary and hundreds of indigenous people who had converted to Christianity.
As for the more than 900 giant stone statues spread across the island, they had all been torn down or even destroyed during the civil war among the Easter Island natives. They were originally intended to be used by a large number of archaeologists to come to the island in the future, and out of the need to develop tourism. Only then will it be re-erected by people. However, in this time and space of 1946, they were still lying quietly among the weeds and sand, forgotten by everyone, and even the stone platform on which the giant statues were placed was in dilapidated condition.
Well, there used to be a U.S. Navy weather station here, but before the Japanese troops arrived, they had already left early.
And the Chilean government in South America, the legal owner of Easter Island, does not have the courage to use their pocket-sized navy to fight a head-on battle with the Japanese naval combined fleet in order to defend this remote and inhospitable territory. So far, no Chilean warship has appeared in nearby waters.
In short, in the battle plan formulated by the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, Easter Island is the final destination of this "South Pacific Strategy".
At this time, Wang Qiu was standing on the only small beach on Easter Island, watching a group of Japanese sailors excitedly raising the rising sun flag on the coastal highlands.
As a volcanic island isolated in the deep sea, the coast of Easter Island is full of cliffs. The coastal rock formations formed by volcanic eruptions have become very steep due to erosion by the foaming waves. From the sea, they almost tower into the sky. The sky is reminiscent of the steep coast of the Scottish Highlands. These cliffs generally show layers of reddish brown, yellow with gray and other colors, like a sliced cake. On the top of the cliff, you can see lush green grass, as well as remnants of ancient islanders, like ancient walls that are about to collapse at any time. Of course, the entire coast of Easter Island cannot be all cliffs. There are also many relatively gentle places where you can see grassy hills and fields covered with rocks. However, outside the coastline, there is still a large mess of black lava, which surrounds the island like a wall, making it difficult for any larger ship to dock. It also makes Easter Island, which is densely covered with rocks and has no shelter, It cannot become a naval base like Oahu, Hawaii.
"...Well, this place is really barren. The coast looks like the Scottish Highlands, and the inland looks like a Mongolian grassland, or the kind of grassland that is located on the edge of the Gobi Desert and is on the verge of desertification... There is even a strip of land on the island. There is no river, drinking water depends on rain, it is difficult to be self-sufficient in food, and even fruits and vegetables are not collected. Really, only exiled prisoners and missionaries can live in this kind of place..."
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Senior Ma Tong who followed Wang Qiu to the island, after carrying Doraemon's [Bamboo Dragonfly] around for a while, returned to the beach where she first landed, saying this - and behind her, Still following A large group of Easter Island natives worshiped her as a god, chasing after her one by one, shouting "Birdman!" "Birdman!"... Well, in the eyes of the local natives, this was A word of praise.
Although the scene was a bit messy, what Senior Sister Ma Tong said was indeed true. A barren, desolate, remote place like Easter Island that lacks a natural harbor is simply worthless and has no value in stationing troops there for a long time.
The Japanese Navy Combined Fleet did not intend to stay here longer. They just sent some people to land and go around, roughly surveyed the terrain and properties of the island, planted several national flags and military flags, and erected a monument. He said that he had been here before and planned to call it a day and return home.
As for whether the U.S. Pacific Fleet or the Chilean Navy will take advantage of the loopholes to regain this place in the future, everyone in the combined fleet said it doesn't matter. Anyway, the distance from Easter Island to the Samoa base is further than the distance from Japan to New Zealand! If the U.S. Pacific Fleet Command is really crazy and is planning to use Easter Island, which has nothing left, as a counterattack base in the South Pacific, then everyone in the combined fleet can open champagne to celebrate!
However, although Easter Island is so barren that there are no trees, the Japanese did not gain nothing here. At least, the thousands of sheep left by the Chilean Livestock Company on the island were all accepted by the Japanese marines who landed on the island, in the spirit of frugality that thieves never leave empty-handed. Now he is being slaughtered and bled by the army cooks on the beach, his hair and skin removed, and he is preparing to prepare a feast of roasted lamb in the wild as a treat for everyone. At this moment, Wang Qiu could already smell pepper and cumin...Eh? Why does it feel more like being in the Mongolian grassland?
I just don’t know if the taste of beach barbecue made by Japanese chefs these days can be considered authentic?
Swallowing, trying to suppress the greed in his stomach, Wang Qiu raised the tablet in his hand, pulled out a photo, then moved it to Ma Tong's eyes and whispered, "...Look at this, what do you think? What should this be?”
Ma Tong took a closer look and found that the photo was taken very clearly. In a flat and vast grassland, he could see a group of white people wearing all kinds of messy clothes, mainly old men, children and women, holding the coins of the last century. Antique muskets, as well as various miscellaneous weapons such as the famous longbow, broadsword and mace, are marching in a majestic procession under the leadership of a Christian cleric holding a cross flag.
"... Could this be... someone filming a medieval European costume movie? Or is it a costume COSPLAY?" Ma Tong guessed.
"...No, this is the top priority that Churchill is currently busy with, preparing the two million National Guards to resist the Soviet invasion!"
"...What? Using these old, weak, sick and disabled people to fight against the Soviet Red Army? Do the British think it is possible to win?" Ma Tong was stunned.
"...Perhaps they really think they can win! After all, the British people these days are really arrogant. All their eyes are on the top of their heads. They seem to think that they are the second child and they are the third child... You have to defeat them severely to make them admit defeat, right?”
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On the eve of the collapse of any great empire, there will always be some weird, funny and even suicidal thoughts. Essentially, this is all due to the inability of thinking concepts to keep up with changes in reality. This was the case with the Roman Empire at the end of the period, with China at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and with the British Empire on the eve of its collapse.
The British of this era were completely different from the cautious and cautious people of the marginal island countries of later generations. Their hearts were still filled with the dream of an empire that was arrogant to the world.
In fact. Ever since they won the Napoleonic War and rose to the top of the world in strength, the British have been living in their own world. Even though the Empire that never sets today is almost gone, the vast majority of British people are still as arrogant, stubborn, and almost stupidly stubborn as ever. He never forgets the sense of superiority of the Empire on which the sun never sets, and sincerely believes that he can still control the world and dominate the earth.
Neither World War I nor World War II woke these outdated British pirates from their dreams.
Therefore, despite the extremely unfavorable situation, the British still did not give up the courage to fight and the determination to unite and defend their homeland.
But the question is, can such a scene of nationwide military training, which is as exciting as a mental patient, deter the Soviet Red Army that is ready to go?
This is of course absolutely impossible. In the eyes of Uncle Steel, Stalin, these are just a group of criminals waiting to be tried by him. They are all losers who have failed or will fail in the future... Uncle Steel's real name is not Stalin. , and later changed his name to Stalin. Because the name Stalin means steel. He thinks he is the invincible Iron Man, and his motto in life is: Only the winner can avoid being judged. Lenin's evaluation of him was that Stalin was very rough. If one day I am no longer here, comrades, you must be careful.
Then, Stalin launched the Great Purge, killing the early revolutionary heroes and leaving rivers of blood.
Although the real Iron Man Stalin is as tragically tall as the Iron Man in the Marvel world, only 1.62 meters tall, he has a steel body that is truly invulnerable and invulnerable to all poisons. He suffered from smallpox and recovered on his own thanks to his invulnerable constitution, but some pockmarks were left on his face. Later, he suffered from fatal septicemia and recovered by relying on his steel-like physique. However, his left arm became shorter due to this. In the early days of the revolution, because of financial constraints, he often risked his life to rob cash trucks and banks. All the money robbed was given to the organization, and I didn't keep any of it. Later, the Soviet Union's industrial style of being silly, big, black, and steely was all the product of Stalin's personal style dominating the will of the country.
After Stalin came to power, in order to give full play to the advantages and efficiency of collectivized large-scale production in socialist countries and to quickly industrialize the country, he did not hesitate to use the most cruel means to exploit the people, and even caused famine in Ukraine. However, after the three five-year plans, the Soviet Union's steel output also increased by more than 200 times, surpassing the entire European continent, becoming an industrial power second only to the United States, and laying a solid foundation for winning World War II.
In short, Uncle Steel is a red tyrant who is ruthless to others as well as himself, a super ruthless character who leads the global proletarian revolution.
Obviously, Stalin would never be intimidated by this ridiculous British bluff - no matter how well-trained the British militiamen were? Even if they could defeat the landing enemy forces with ease, how could they defeat the Soviet strategic bombers that dropped nuclear bombs?
——"It seems that this atomic bomb cannot be stopped! In this case, let's just make the nuclear explosion more violent!" So, two weeks after the "One Hundred Hours of Bombing" ended, these simple weapons The British "National Guard", still training their weapons day and night and with high morale, did not wait for the Soviet Red Army commandos to land, but ushered in the next wave of more violent nuclear explosions from the Soviets...