One hundred and forty-two, the chain fell again at the critical moment
As before, the second round of Zuihou ultimatum of the Shanghai Soviet government was met with only a wave of contempt and ridicule from the domestic public opinion circles.
-- The newspapers and radio stations in Peiping, which were under the control of the Japanese invaders, ridiculed the Shanghai Red Army as a chattering Boxer, and at the same time boasted of the perseverance and extraordinary quality of the Japanese Yamato nation, which was bound to overcome all difficulties under the protection of the emperor's divine authority and persist in the great cause of "educating East Asia" to the end. The newspapers in Wuhan listed a bunch of "experts and professors" and ridiculed the "fallacy" of the Shanghai Red Army's insistence on the natural disasters as their own credit from a "scientific" point of view, using papers mixed with various foreign language words.
In addition to "refuting fallacies with science," Hong Kong's newspapers and radio stations also took the lead in organizing large-scale fund-raising, calling on the public to repay their grievances against Japan with virtue and to send money and goods to Japanese relief organizations...... As for the bone-strewn mass graves next to the mines in Northeast China, and the villages and towns on the North China Plain that were being burned and slaughtered by the Japanese army, they were completely ignored by the "high-class Chinese" in the Hong Kong media.
Newspapers in Nanjing? Well, as the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army continued to advance westward from the shores of Taihu Lake, gunfire could already be heard occasionally in the suburbs of Nanjing, and the wealthy gentry and celebrities in the city fled one after another -- in fact, most of the bigwigs fled when the Japanese entered the city -- Wang Jingwei and He Yingqin were also busy discussing where to relocate, and no one cared about what newspapers were published, and martial law was repeatedly read on the radio, except for the national anthem......
Of course, for such a public opinion reaction. The leaders of the Shanghai Soviet Government, who had already suffered a psychological blow, had expected it, but they had nothing to be angry about. It's just that Vice Chairman Jinjina has a lot of doubts about whether the second nuclear bomb attack can be successful.
Truly. In order to prevent the enemy from heightening its vigilance and causing unpredictable accidents, the Shanghai Soviet Government only vaguely referred to the nuclear bomb as a "powerful secret weapon," without saying its true name and operating principle, nor explaining how it would be attacked. Even Fang Zhimin, Su Yu and other comrades of the Red Army in this time and space did not explain the principle of nuclear bombs, but only said that they had obtained a batch of extremely powerful bombs and used them to bombard the Japanese...... But here's the thing. After all, a nuclear bomb had already been dropped in Sasebo before, and although the Japanese insisted that it was just an unavoidable natural disaster, did they know some details in their hearts? Even if a targeted air defense deployment was made, no one would know for the time being.
Moreover, Sasebo is only seven or eight hundred kilometers away from Shanghai, and the slow-moving airship can still take advantage of the cover of night. Fly directly over the destination and detonate. However, the distance between Tokyo and Shanghai is nearly 2,000 kilometers. If you continue to use a remote-controlled airship, not to mention that the remote control distance is too long, it will not be possible to operate it without a satellite relay, and worse, it will have to fly over the Japanese archipelago during the day -- isn't this waiting to be shot down?
In this regard, Wang Qiu comforted her and said that although the 100 million tons of "Khrushchev" hydrogen bomb used this time was indeed too bulky to fit into an intercontinental missile. But at least it can still fit a bomber -- China is preparing to replace an old military transport plane with a super-large drone to carry the 46-ton guy from Shanghai to Tokyo. Then detonate in the air...... Although the coordinates of the destination will not be very accurate because of the lack of satellite navigation, for the "Khrushchev" with a tonne equivalent of 100 million tons of TNT, the impact point does not need to be very precise.
As for the Japanese air defense liliang, there is no need to worry at all, they simply do not have the ability to shoot down a jet at night: no radar has been invented on the shijie today, nor has a real night fighter been created, and the night air defense basically relies entirely on listening to sounds, searchlights, and anti-aircraft guns -- Europe also specially trains blind people to be responsible for night listening at air defense posts, because the blind man's mind is pure and his ears are sharp -- Japan is not in good condition because of jishu, Historically, until the end of the Pacific War, no anti-aircraft gun capable of attacking B-29 bombers from the ground was invented. Modern jets, on the other hand, can fly higher and faster than the B-29 bombers of World War II, and are basically invincible in the skies of Japan in this era......
All in all, for these military issues in the pure jishu field, Ms. Jin Qina, a purely amateur female literary youth and red idol, no matter how much she cares and worries, she can't intervene at all, so Zuihou can only let it go.
In the days when the countdown to the Tokyo nuclear bombing began, the smoke of the beacon fire that permeated the land of China was still not extinguished for a moment.
On April 19, after a multi-day siege, the Red Army routed the defenders of two Japanese squadrons, occupied Jiangyin, and further blocked the Yangtze waterway.
On April 20, the cruiser Pinghai was successfully launched at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, and was immediately identified as the flagship of the Chinese Red Navy.
On 22 April, due to the large spread of the strategic offensive, from the eastern coast of Zhejiang to the vicinity of Nanjing, to the eastern part of Jiangxi and the Zhejiang-Fujian border, the Red Army's strength was tight everywhere, and the Red Fifth Front Army Headquarters and the Shanghai Soviet Government were really unable to squeeze out too many surplus troops, so they had to authorize the Shanghai Chengguan Brigade, a Jinqina "descendant army," led by Wang Yaowu, a Kuomintang general, to be responsible for the recovery of Changxing Island and Chongming Island.
Previously, the Shanghai Chengguan Brigade had already tried its skills in the night battle to annihilate the Japanese landing force and won a good start. Now that he has the opportunity to make a name for himself, Wang Yaowu, who is eager to make meritorious service to show himself, is naturally very excited, and he hurriedly shows all his skills, transports ammunition overnight, arranges military stations, rushes to repair artillery positions, and bombards the Japanese artillery on Changxing Island across thousands of meters of river.
Before the ground forces of the two sides formally exchanged fire, the Japanese Army Flying Corps and the Shanghai Red Army Flying Corps preemptively began a fierce battle for air supremacy. As they fought in the airspace of Shanghai, the Red Army's flying squadrons not only had radar guidance, but also received great support from ground antiaircraft artillery and individual anti-aircraft missiles, and some of their planes were also equipped with short-range air-to-air missiles, so they took a big advantage in the battle -- 41 fighters were shot down in front and behind, and only five of the armed Chujiao-6 planes were lost. Zuihou even bombed the Nantong airfield of the Japanese army, completely paralyzing the Japanese front-line air liliang.
On April 24, due to the low terrain of Changxing Island. It was too close to the coast of Shanghai, and there was no time to build any permanent fortifications, so the Japanese troops on the island were completely exposed to the rocket artillery bombardment and aircraft bombardment of the Shanghai Chengguan Brigade. After barely holding out for twenty-four hours, the remnants of the Japanese army were forced to retreat to Chongming Island, but were intercepted by Red Army gunboats. Almost all of them are wiped out.
On April 25, the Battle of the Yangtze River Estuary broke out, and General Su Yu had just finished outfitting the cruiser Pinghai. He led a number of gunboats, torpedo boats, and missile boats to anchor and go to sea, and with the cooperation of the air force and shore artillery, they launched an active attack on the light ships of the great powers entrenched at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
After a day of fierce fighting. The young Red Navy relied on the aggressiveness of a newborn calf that was not afraid of tigers. In addition, the Jishu equipment, which was nearly a century more advanced than its opponents, successfully achieved the excellent record of sinking one Portuguese destroyer, two Japanese gunboats, three British gunboats, and three old Kuomintang gunboats, and severely damaged the Dutch cruiser "Java", in addition to shooting down seven planes of the Japanese naval flying group and five American planes.
So far. The imperialist powers in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were almost swept away on the sea. Zuihou had a few warships of the Great Powers that narrowly escaped the catastrophe of the Sasebo hydrogen bomb, as well as small gunboats that could not cross the ocean. had to flee to the Zhoushan Islands, which were still flying the blue sky and white sun flag for the time being
On the same day, the Shanghai Chengguan Brigade crossed the river to recover Changxing Island, annihilated more than 100 Japanese soldiers, and then eyed Chongming Island, which was also separated by a river.
On April 26, after several days of fierce fighting, Mao Zetan, who was alone in Nanjing, was finally repelled by He Yingqin, who personally supervised the battle, at Moling Pass, and had to temporarily withdraw to Liyang to recuperate. This is the end of the hastily prepared first Nanjing raider.
At the same time, Marshal Zhang Xueliang, who fled into Funiu Mountain in a panic, found that he had actually stepped into a bandit's den -- in this lawless and poor countryside, the defeated troops of the Northeast Army had become a fat sheep in the eyes of the "generals" (Henan people's proper name for bandits) in western Henan. Many of the most unlucky guys were not only shots, but also searched their money bags, and even their pants were ripped off, and they could only hang around the mountains with their bare butts.
The troops personally led by Major Marshal Zhang Xueliang were also ambushed several times in the Funiu Mountains, and lost an unknown number of people. By the time he finally crossed the mountains and came to Luoyang to defect to Yang Hucheng, there were only a hundred people left around him, which can be said to have lost his capital.
On the other hand, the Japanese army in North China continued its invincible continuous victories during this period of Zuihou scenery -- stimulated by the successive victories in the Central Plains battlefield, the Japanese army left behind in Beiping gathered a small force and drove thousands of Manchukuo puppet troops and Mongolian puppet armies to the west into the Mongolian steppe, launched a campaign against Fu Zuoyi's department in Suiyuan Province, and drove all the way to hundreds of miles, once under the city of Baotou......
Next, the implementation date of the "extermination order" announced by Vice Chairman Jinjina is getting closer and closer, and it has reached a point that cannot be ignored.
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April 27, Tokyo, Emperor's Palace
The warm spring breeze blew the green of the quaint and elegant courtyard, and the fluttering butterflies fluttered leisurely among the flowers. Although the gorgeous cherry blossoms have withered, the lush variety of precious flowers and plants are still competing for beauty under the brilliant spring sun, and a few cats fluttering on the grass bring a bit of fun.
However, the spring scenery that is about to be bright and beautiful and green will not soothe the bad mood of Showa Emperor Hirohito Bixia.
-- More than 20 days have passed, and the news coming from Kyushu Island has become more terrible than the other.
The Sasebo Castle Guardhouse, which gathered most of the essence of the Japanese Navy, and almost the entire Combined Fleet Headquarters, were all wiped out in the sudden catastrophe. The port of Nagasaki, which has been a trading center since the Warring States period, was also burned into a pile of charred ruins. From the Goto Islands, Hiradojima, Sasebo, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Saga, Kokura, and Hiroshima to Hiroshima, there has been a terrible area of destruction and ruins in the western part of Japan, and the death toll alone has exceeded 600,000, more than four times that of the Great Kanto Earthquake of the previous year!
What's even more terrifying is that in addition to the city destroyed by the monstrous flames, there is also a mysterious plague that is spreading rapidly in the Kansai disaster area, and the patients are suffering from nausea and diarrhea at first. Then the hair fell out and he fell into a coma with a fever...... When he died, his whole body ulcerated, and his internal organs were rotten. Even maggots and worms emerge and die in a horrible state - the biggest problem is that there is no cure for this disease! No one can even say what it is!
-- In the early part of the twentieth century, with the exception of a very small number of nuclear physicists, the vast majority of ordinary people had little understanding of the dangers of radioactive materials, and chronic diseases caused by long-term exposure to radioactive materials. It is also very different from the acute radiation sickness caused by a nuclear explosion. If you don't think about it from this perspective, even if you are a nuclear physics expert, I'm afraid it will be difficult to associate the two together.
What is even more unimaginable to future generations is. Although people in the 21st century talk almost exclusively about radiation discoloration, about 40 years after the discovery of radioactivity, people at that time believed in radium and uranium for their incredible health benefits, and they flocked to it!
Therefore. At that time, the market was flooded with various "radioactive health products". For example, in the early 20th century, an American company launched radiated mineral water treated with radium ore, claiming that it was a "natural path to health", which could make people immortal, rejuvenate, cure all diseases, and prevent diseases...... Another American company has introduced radiation suppositories, which are claimed to have aphrodisiac properties. It also strengthens all weakened organs. This is made by adding soluble radium to coconut oil and using it by stuffing it into the rectum.
Furthermore. Not to be outdone, the German company has launched a radiant toothpaste that is guaranteed to make the user's teeth shine like a glow-in-the-dark watch!
Even until the seventies of the twentieth century, there were American companies that launched atomic energy toy boxes for children to play with uranium ore......
As a result, the Japanese people in the vicinity of the disaster area did not understand the cause of the disease, nor did they understand the route of infection and the means of prevention and control, so they fell into a serious panic. In particular, after Seishiro Itatsu, a special commissioner of the General Staff Headquarters, and Hakushi Okaku, who had gone to the scene of the disaster to investigate, died of a violent illness just after returning to Tokyo...... Even panic broke out in the city of Tokyo, and masks, alcohol, and disinfectants were completely out of stock for a while. Some of the patients in the disaster area who were urgently transferred to the rear were also driven out of the hospital. There are also many ruthless people who forcibly expelled their relatives from the disaster area who came to flee to their homes. Relief efforts have also been hampered, with many first-aid posts empty as doctors and nurses have fled......
At present, due to the continuous violent deaths, several refugee camps have almost become morgues, and the social order in many places west of Kyoto has almost collapsed, and there are refugees everywhere who have nowhere to return, stealing and looting, and frequently causing trouble, and the Japanese government is helpless to do anything about it.
Even the cause of this catastrophe is currently divided and unanimous: some say it was a volcanic eruption, but a volcanic eruption usually takes a long time to brew and does not occur so quickly and without warning, not to mention that there is no lava or new volcanic cone at the scene. Some people said it was a meteorite impact, but the observatory immediately jumped out to refute it, saying that they had not observed any comets or asteroids at all with the possibility of impact......
“…… Alas! Now it is really a dangerous situation and how difficult the national affairs are! ”
Emperor Hirohito looked solemnly at the beautiful and vibrant courtyard, listening to the elegant sound of the palace maids playing in the distance, but he couldn't help but sigh deeply—he hadn't heard a single piece of good news from Kyushu Island in all this time, not even a little relieved.
As for how the war on the Shina continent was fought, whether there were victories or setbacks, Emperor Bixia had no heart to ask at all.
However, Hirohito Bixia also heard the arrogant and ignorant remarks of the rebellious Shina Red elements in Shanghai claiming that they had caused the catastrophe on Kyushu Island with their "powerful secret weapon" -- as a joke, of course. The problem is that they then claim to do the same thing to Tokyo on May 1...... Well, although I didn't believe their words at all, seeing how careless they were, and given that the report on the disaster area on Kyushu Island was really appalling, Emperor Bixia still felt a little uneasy in his heart.
So, after some thought, Emperor Hirohito summoned the Minister of the Interior, Makino Hideno, and instructed him: "...... Now that the heavens have brought disasters to our country, the land of the western kingdom has become purgatory, and I have lost hundreds of thousands of subjects, tens of thousands of loyal and brave soldiers, and many important ministers, and my heart has always been sad and uneasy. Therefore, he wanted to take the queen out of Beijing, visit Ise Jingu, and pray for the suffering people. All the ceremonial guards can be simplified, and please prepare Aiqing. ”
And Makino Kinano, who also heard the rumors, no matter what he thought in his heart, he bowed respectfully on the surface and replied, "...... Respectfully receive the oracle! ”
On April 29, the Emperor and his family left Beijing to Ise Jingu, a religious shrine southeast of Kyoto, to pray for the suffering of the victims.
On April 30, the day in Tokyo, Japan, it seemed like business as usual.
On May 1, the sun rose in Tokyo in the early morning as it did yesterday.
On May 2nd, the morning light of Tokyo was still as bright as ever, and the streets were as noisy as ever.
On the 4th of May, the emperor and his family had already returned to Tokyo by train, and the Kanto Plain of Japan was still unharmed!
At this point, the "Tokyo Extermination Order" proclamation issued by the Shanghai Soviet Government has completely become a verbal criticism in the press...... (To be continued......)