Chapter 155, Going to the Wasteland (Part 1)
Soviet Union, Moscow, Kremlin, Office of General Secretary Stalin
Moscow is still very cold in March. Although the remaining snow in winter has begun to melt slightly, the green vegetation has not yet sprouted. The lingering power of the blizzard from the Arctic Ocean means that the sweet breath of the goddess of spring is far from reaching this land that is always loved. A bitterly cold land ruled by General Winter.
Of course, the Russians who have lived here for generations have long been accustomed to such a cold climate. Due to their natural cold resistance, many Russians had already taken off their thick fur coats and put on thin suits, work clothes and casual clothes at this time. Beauty-loving Soviet girls even changed out of their bloated winter clothes early and put on stockings, dresses or plaid skirts, showing off their slender legs on the streets.
However, sitting in the office of General Secretary Stalin, with the warm and comfortable humidified heater blowing in front of him, the current People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, Comrade Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, was still thinking in his heart at this moment. I couldn't help but feel a little chilly, even a little trembling.
As the head of diplomacy of the Soviet Union, Molotov has been thinking about how to end this war since the nuclear explosion on the United States and the defeat was certain. From ancient times to the present, every war must have an end. The way to do this is to either sign an armistice treaty or directly destroy the country and annex the land. After sending troops to invade the enemy's country, they couldn't stand firm, so they had to pack their bags and go back home in despair... After all, they couldn't keep fighting endlessly: the horrific consumption of modern war means that no matter how aggressive a country is, it can't do anything To support war with war, we cannot remain in a state of war for a long time.
Although the United States of America is blessed with unique land and rich resources, it is too far away from the Soviet Union after all, and the population on that land is too large. Even if the United States is forcibly annexed, it will not be able to digest it in the future, let alone control it. So it’s better to stop when you’re ready
According to Molotov's idea, after winning the world war, the Soviet Union only needs to take back Alaska, which the Russian government sold to the United States at a low price (it was said to be sold for US$7.2 million, but it was actually given away for free). Yes, because during the Civil War, Russia The country sent a fleet to the United States to assist in countering the rebellion, and the military expenditure was 7.2 million, which was never reimbursed afterwards... However, the Tsarist Russian government was not stupid and generous enough to give away its territory in vain. It was actually because Russia was After the disastrous defeat in the Crimean War, the country The country's strength is greatly weakened, its finances are in ruins, it is internally unstable, and it is quite hostile and isolated internationally. The overall situation is worse than during the Russo-Japanese War. It is impossible to save the Alaska colony in North America. It can only take the initiative to avoid disasters and follow the It was the same reason that Britain had to give up various colonies after World War II.) To cut off a large piece of Western Canada was to seize the entire west coast of Canada, allowing the Soviet Union to have a communication channel in its new territory in North America. Freezing port (Vancouver), that’s about it.
In addition, the Hawaiian Islands, a transportation hub in the middle of the North Pacific, should be allowed to establish an independent country or be assigned to "Red Japan". However, the remaining 48 states in the United States should not continue to meddle and divide, lest they be divided up in one fell swoop Eating too much will ruin your stomach...
However, although the land in the 48 core states of the United States no longer needs to be ceded, in addition to this poor "goodwill", other large compensation, garrison supervision, establishment of concessions, surrender of weapons and warships, disbandment of the federal army and The National Guard... and other extremely harsh punishment clauses, but even one of them is indispensable. In the past few months, Molotov has already customized a set of "Ten Tortures of Socialism" for the post-war United States with reference to the provisions against Germany in the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. , it will definitely drain the last drop of oil from these arrogant Yang guys, and by the way, it will make the United States highly disabled socially and economically, unable to take care of itself, and there will be no hope of relief within a few decades.
Therefore, in Molotov's view, as long as the United States accepts the above-mentioned "goodwill", obediently surrenders unconditionally, disarms its military, and then launches a large number of war criminals to be hanged on the gallows to be displayed to the world (otherwise, too much cruelty has been done) The Soviet Union cannot deal with internal and external affairs), then it can promise to preserve the territorial integrity of the United States, and even promise not to carry out socialist transformation of the United States... This is not non-negotiable.
——If you want to continuously milk the cows from the defeated United States, you naturally cannot raise the cows themselves to death.
Of course, the United States today is still very "arrogant". Although it has suffered so many nuclear bombs, it is still unwilling to surrender unconditionally. However, Molotov confidently believes that as long as he continues to maintain a certain degree of military pressure and properly instigates internal rebellion against the American ruling class, he will be able to see the country surrender on its knees in a very short period of time - anyway. , the current situation has become very clear, the United States is destined to be defeated, and except for aliens who do not know where they are, there is no potential foreign aid to be found. As long as there is a way to survive, even if it is a way of extreme humiliation and suffering, even if it is a way of survival that may not be possible, the American ruling class, which has been in desperate situation, will cling to it like a life-saving straw.
There are warriors in this world who would rather die than surrender, but there are very few politicians and capitalists who would rather die than surrender. If there are, then it means they are not qualified.
However, at the same time, the current master of the Kremlin, the iron father of all peoples in the Soviet Union, the restorer of Constantinople, the great liberator of the entire European continent, the supreme teacher of the proletariat of the world, the contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought The orthodox successor, the glorious culmination of red communism The author, Comrade Joseph Stalin, although he agreed with some of the views of Molotov’s People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, that is, the Soviet Union should not take advantage of the victory to overexpand its territory, and should not ignore the obstacles of natural geographical conditions and the difficulty of national integration in seeking to seize the continental United States. County to avoid indigestion problems.
However, General Secretary Stalin had his own set of ideas on how to deal with the post-war United States... What he wanted was not an America that paid tribute every year but still had strength, held a grudge, and thought about revenge at any time. I want an America that is completely destroyed and only historical records remain!
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"...I insist that the United States of America must be completely destroyed and become a relic of history, just like the ancient Roman Empire..."
Sitting behind the desk opposite Commissar Molotov, General Secretary Stalin held his beloved pipe in his mouth, slowly blowing smoke rings, and in a tone as cold as a cold wave, delivered the final verdict of death to the United States of America: "...The Treaty of Versailles only brought an armistice to Europe for twenty years, and also made Germany once again the source of world war. France even paid a The price of one-time destruction. Therefore, today we must not make the same mistake that the Allied Powers made at the Paris Peace Conference. We let go of the poisonous snake that may bite us in the future just for the sake of temporary gains. In fact, the French After the First World War, it seems that not much compensation was received from Germany in the end, and most of it was defaulted, wasn’t it? ”
"...Even if the cost of doing this is that we, as the victors of the war, gain nothing?" Molotov boldly asked, "...Comrade General Secretary, judging from the current situation, if we are in the future If you want to gain continuous benefits from the United States while trying to suppress the status of the United States, the best and easiest way is not to turn the United States into a society like ours. socialist country, but will continue to retain the backward system of the United States. In the future, this will be a special kind of pariah status, making Americans despised everywhere on the earth where red flags are planted, and they will also suffer inferior status and even more. The poor living conditions and the lack of sympathy from public opinion gradually prompted American civilians to stand up and overthrow the old system.
On the contrary, if we insist on carrying out socialist transformation of the entire United States during this war, on the one hand, it will arouse the desperate resistance of the American ruling class. They would rather watch us destroy everything they have with nuclear bombs than give in. ——They can also pack up their belongings and flee to South Africa for refuge; another On the other hand, this kind of brutal one-step approach will not get the sincere support and active cooperation of the people at the bottom of the United States - after all, the scale of killing by nuclear bombs is too terrifying, and the hatred it brings is really difficult to resolve... In short, the consequences of this approach The price is too high and the gains outweigh the losses..."
"...However, I originally planned to make the American ruling class give up on themselves in despair and cooperate with us to destroy everything in the United States! In fact, I never intended to send the Red Army to the United States in order to allow the American people to enter socialism Thousands of large families shed their blood and died
Let me tell you, the so-called comprehensive socialist transformation of the United States is actually, from a certain perspective, just a cover to block the road to peace talks and make the entire socialist camp speechless. I just want to see the complete destruction of the United States of America and hear the complete playing of the funeral song of capitalism... At this point, I have communicated with other committee members and convinced them to agree with my point of view. ”
Stalin opened his mouth and blew out a smoke ring, and said frankly, "...The United States will either be completely destroyed or completely dyed red. There is no third option!"
"... Comrade Stalin, do you still think that it is possible for the United States to become the leader of the capitalist camp again in the future and once again have the strength to challenge the entire socialist camp? This is impossible! Whether it is soft power or hard power, the current The United States is completely bankrupt!”
Molotov shook his head and said, "...even if the American capitalist system is retained, they will only be able to survive for a while at most."
"...I also know that the possibility is unlikely, but there is still a little flaw. If it is not fixed for a day, I will not be able to rest at ease for a day."
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Seeing that Stalin was so obsessed with destroying the United States, Molotov stopped trying to persuade him, but there was still some hesitation and confusion on his face.
General Secretary Stalin knew this very well, so after thinking for a moment, he continued to say to Molotov calmly: "...Comrade Molotov, you should still remember the first time that incredible Miss Sophie Show up at the Kremlin and tell us some terrible information.”
"...Yes, I still remember it all." People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov didn't know what he thought of, and nodded with a complicated expression.
"...I don't know what you are thinking. In short, since then, I have found that I seem to have become a drowning man trying to grasp life-saving straws... You know, from a rational point of view It is said that the birth of our country is equivalent to the largest social science experiment in the history of human civilization. Since it is an experiment, it must take a path that others have not taken, and it will bear more risks than other countries.
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At the beginning, we had reached a consensus that we were going to use a long period of peace-building to meet the people's material needs as soon as possible, or to take a more efficient capitalist road first to achieve the conditions of great material abundance as much as possible. , and then entered the socialist stage. This is the greatest advantage of our highly centralized political system based on the integration of the party and the state, which can fully eliminate waste and internal friction in all kinds of disorderly free competition.
But the problem is that the crazy hostility from the capitalist camp around the world has forced our country to face unprecedented threats from the very beginning, forcing us to change our original plan. The newly born Soviet must be strong enough in the shortest possible time. heavy industry to face the oppression of old capitalist countries. Moreover, there is still no way to collect the massive wealth accumulated through industrialization relatively easily through the scissor gap exploitation of the colonies like the Western countries in the colonial era. We can only use the internal scissor gap to reduce people's consumption and use blood and tears to make the country Running enters the industrial age. It's not that we are ruthless, there really is nothing we can do. Compared with our terrible enemies all over the world, the power of the Soviet Union is too weak.
Next, the leapfrog development of the Great Depression era has not yet been truly completed, and the entire Soviet country is still riddled with all kinds of diseases. We will have to face the terrible threat of Nazi and fascist forces again... Fortunately, the following history has been greatly changed by us. . The sacrifices that the world war brought to the Soviet people were still huge, but numerically they were much less than in another history. Our enemies have been weakened to a level that can basically be ignored, and the Cold War that exhausted and exhausted the Soviet people will no longer happen again. It seems that everything is developing towards the bright side. ”
Stalin let out a long sigh: "...but despite this, in the past year, I have been having a very terrifying dream for no reason - in my nightmare, the long years of peace have made our people forget The past sufferings have been erased and the glorious history of the past has been smeared and tampered with. The whitewashing and clamoring of a small group of hypocritical literati have transformed the relationship between black and white, justice and evil. It is no longer so clear. Although the all-pervasive reactionary enemy of capitalism cannot defeat us on the battlefield, it can use all kinds of degenerate ideas to silently corrupt our youth, and use all kinds of evil temptations and false promises. , allowing the greed and ambition of bureaucrats to grow rapidly and destroy the great cause for which we have worked our entire lives from within.
In the end, the red flag of the Kremlin fell and the hammer-and-sickle party emblem was smashed. The confused people were deceived by the rhetoric of class enemies, incited and coerced by bureaucrats with ulterior motives, and destroyed their own country with their own hands, and then there was overwhelming evil. , blood and darkness..."
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In response to this, Molotov, who also knew some secrets, laughed dryly: "...I see, you are overthinking, and none of this will happen."
"...Yes, all the tragedies and tragedies of the Soviet Union in that world should never happen again! However, that nightmare is so real that I really dare not think that it is just a dream... I have had this nightmare for many years, and now I want to let it go completely away from me - nothing No matter what cruel decisions I make and what infamy I bear, I must personally liberate myself, this country, and the cause of socialism for which we have been fighting for our whole life, from this damn nightmare! Anyway, the brutal rule of the past and present! No one more than me!”
Stalin spoke so softly, but his expression was stern and solemn, "...You can laugh at my lack of self-confidence and lack of rationality, but I just can't overcome this fear of the future in my heart, and there are many others. Even gay people can't overcome such inner demons. I don't know that in this world, What kind of deadly and powerful enemies will the Soviet Union and the cause of socialism encounter in the future, but this does not prevent me from, when I am able, knocking out this enemy that I already know and confirm has the potential to completely destroy the Soviet Union and the cause of socialism. On the ground, step on ten thousand feet and crush him alive
While it would be nice to leave the United States to continue squeezing wealth, it is nothing compared to getting rid of the fear that lingers in our hearts. As an ordinary person, I personally feel that this is nothing to be ashamed of. Even the ancient Roman Republic, which was so proud and confident, was still resolute after the Third Punic War because of its fear of Hannibal. Completely destroying the city of Carthage, the cornucopia that could have continuously brought wealth to Rome, and even spreading salt on the ruins of Carthage (symbolizing that this land will forever lose its vitality)? ”
Seeing that Comrade Stalin had obviously made up his mind, Molotov sighed, "...have you made up your mind? Aren't you afraid that you will regret it in the future?"
"...Well, it's been decided! Instead of regretting not doing it many years later, it's better to do it first and then regret it later!"
Stalin took the pipe out of his mouth, banged it on the ashtray a few times, then stuffed new tobacco into it and said decisively.
"...So, now that you have made such a decision, may I ask you what your next plan is?" Molotov continued to ask.
"...Well, first of all, we need to continue to make Americans more fully aware of the value of peace and the horror of war! To put it simply, we need to start strategic nuclear strikes against the United States again! And the scale of nuclear explosions is even bigger If it increases further, the frequency of bombing will also increase!”
Stalin's face showed a creepy and terrifying smile, "...Currently, the number of atomic bombs in the Soviet nuclear arsenal has increased to 10,000. If at least half of them cannot be used during the world war, it will really be a disaster. What a waste! Last year, Miss Sophie sent me a product called The computer game "Fallout" was given as a birthday gift. This adventure game with the United States as the background map is very good. My children and I like it very much, and other committee members also like it very much. So, I hope that the American people can also join. Play Fallout... in real life, of course."
——After hearing this, Molotov, who had also played the “Fallout” series of games, couldn’t help but reach out and wipe the cold sweat from his forehead—really want to turn the United States into the radioactive wasteland in the game? This... ten thousand atomic bombs with a single yield of less than fifty thousand tons is probably not enough, right?
Moreover, there should not be so many messy underground shelters in the United States at the moment... I wonder if there will really be Nuclear Bomb Town, Death Claws, Nuka-Cola, Mutants, and the Brotherhood of Steel in a few years. , the Enclave and the New California Republic, appeared on that land?
So, recalling the content of the game, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov soon fell into some kind of wonderful reverie of running farther and farther...
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PS: The author has some digressions to say about the historical story of Russia’s forced sale or “gift” of Alaska to the United States.
Historically, some of the “stupid” actions that we now consider to be voluntary land transfers are actually because the information we now obtain is often incomplete. Behind those seemingly generous concessions, there are often factors of last resort or exchange of interests. . For example, the Treaty of Nerchinsk is often criticized in modern China. Why did the Qing army cede land to Russia after their victory? It was not entirely because Emperor Kangxi was too stupid or overly generous, giving away his land to others for ostentation, but because Emperor Kangxi hoped to exchange some concessions in the outer northeast in exchange for Russia's cooperation in the northwest, and with the Qing army. Attack together, or at least the Jungar Khanate, which no longer supports Galdan. If the Qing Dynasty failed to conquer this last nomadic empire, then China's northwest border would only reach Jiayuguan, and even Tibet might not be able to be saved. Compared with the Western Region, which has a long history and outstanding people, the small piece of wilderness given over by the Treaty of Nerchinsk is nothing.