American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Faced with the US military's nuclear retaliation of three hydrogen bombs with a total yield of 2700 million tons, they could only watch Cuba become a radioactive wasteland in the "bright radiation".

　On the morning of January 18, after three days of cold wind in the Virginia countryside and being charged ten times the room rate by the motel owner, Fieri, Bernard, Dr. Brzezinski and others saw that nothing seemed to have happened in the U.S. Capitol in recent days, so they drove back to the White House.

　Then, before he could even get comfortable in the White House lounge, Fieri received a call to the Langley Building, the CIA headquarters.

　Next, in a brand new office that had obviously been recently renovated and still smelled of formaldehyde, Captain Fillikin was flattered to have his commissioning ceremony jointly presided over by Director Dulles and Deputy Director Bissell. He was promoted to major and awarded a Purple Heart Medal.

　What made him feel something was wrong was that the "barbecue master" Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay was also watching the scene!

　Afterwards, the newly promoted Major Fillikin received a new mission from Director Dulles that left him stunned.

　"What? Let me take over the Cuban Special Task Force and the remaining mercenaries from the 2506th Brigade? Be responsible for finishing the Cuban War?!"

　The author's words:

　Why was a civilian officer like Major Filligin, who had almost no combat experience, appointed as the supreme commander of the Cuban War?

　Well, behind this extraordinary rocket-like promotion, there are naturally a series of very complicated reasons.

　In short, while Castro remained steadfast, Khrushchev finally gave in, bringing the crisis to a close. However, the US military also became wary of the prospect of a nuclear war in a radioactive wasteland, seeking to ditch this overly dangerous task.

　Originally, on January 14 and 15, the US Air Force dispatched B-52 strategic bombers to drop three 9-megaton B53 hydrogen bombs on Cuba, reducing San Cristoforo, Cienfuegos, and Havana to a radioactive wasteland. Based on past experience, the White House, Capitol Hill, and the Pentagon all assumed that the tumultuous Cuban War was over.

　Just like Emperor Showa of Japan seventeen years ago, who decisively issued the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War after suffering the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that bearded Cuban Fidel Castro would have also unconditionally surrendered to the US military after being hit by three hydrogen bombs, right?

　It's impossible for any island nation to continue to resist the American army after being hit by a nuclear bomb, right? No way, no way?

　Even the Japanese in the imperial era were unwilling to sacrifice 100 million lives for Emperor Showa. So are the Cubans today willing to die for Castro?

　Therefore, from President Kennedy, who had just recovered in the shelter, to Ma Run, the fourth-class Marine on the Guantanamo front, everyone relaxed greatly after the flash of the hydrogen bomb, waiting for the Cuban communists on the other side to kneel down and surrender.

　However, until President Kennedy and his cabinet members moved out of the Blue Ridge nuclear shelter and returned to their familiar White House on the afternoon of January 16, and the congressmen on Capitol Hill also returned to their respective offices one after another, the Pentagon still had not received news of the surrender of the Cuban revolutionary regime.

　On the contrary, the Cuban revolutionary regime, which had evacuated and relocated to the inland mountains, released Fidel Castro’s latest speech via radio on January 16. This tough Cuban bearded man did not die under the mushroom cloud in Havana, but escaped in advance and continued to fight!

　In his speech, Castro declared with great confidence that "even a hydrogen bomb cannot destroy the Cuban people's fighting spirit for freedom", "You American imperialists are engaged in an eternal battle with a desperate nation struggling for survival", and "whatever does not kill us will only make us stronger"!

　He called on all Cuban soldiers and civilians to display Che Guevara's brave spirit of "charging towards the mushroom cloud", to fight on the beaches, in the fields, in the mountains, and in the cities. As long as U.S. imperialism and its puppets do not leave Cuba, the Cuban revolutionary army will fight to the end!

　Now, it was the turn of the Kennedy administration and US military generals who were caught off guard to suffer.

　-- How could there be such a thing as a regime in this world that, after being hit by a hydrogen bomb, still maintains its anti-American stance? Shouldn't you be terrified into silence and subservient?

　What's more, the military operation to invade Cuba has been to this point, and the United States has suffered heavy losses and serious injuries.

　In just a few days, the national emergency threw the nation's economy and social order into chaos. From Detroit to New York, Boston to Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Miami, serious riots and violence broke out in over 100 American cities. The death toll during this period alone exceeded 50,000, and property damage reached billions of dollars. At least 20,000 houses and over 100,000 cars were burned down.

　The most outrageous thing is that during the days when members of Congress were evacuated, a group of thugs looted the Capitol and released

　fire!

　As a result, after the "Capitol Hill arson" in Washington, the international investment community immediately significantly raised the risk of the US economy.

　As a result, the Wall Street Stock Exchange, having just reopened, immediately began to plummet. The Chicago Futures Exchange was also in a disastrous avalanche. U.S. Treasury bonds continued to plummet, with interest rates reaching a level that would drive Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon mad.

　In addition to the devastation in the stock and bond markets, the White House also had to contend with a host of daunting challenges, including logistical disruptions, widespread panic, and economic malfunction. Under these circumstances, if the Castro regime in Cuba dragged its feet and refused to surrender, the United States would suffer astronomical losses every day.

　So, with the simple idea of ​​"bombing everything", President Kennedy decided to increase the pressure and continue to escalate the nuclear strikes on Cuba. Late at night on January 16 and on the morning of January 17, he used B-52 strategic bombers to drop a 9-million-ton equivalent B53 hydrogen bomb on the northern Cuban industrial city of Matanzas and the headquarters of the Central Theater Command of Cuba, Santa Clara, respectively, razing the two cities to the ground.

　In addition, seeing the US Air Force happily growing mushrooms on the island of Cuba, the US Navy also felt itchy.

　Chief of Naval Operations General George Anderson managed to obtain presidential approval for the Navy to also attack Cuba with its own nuclear weapons.

　However, although the USS Enterprise, which was ordered to participate in the Caribbean blockade mission, was equipped with tactical nuclear weapons, the nuclear warheads were stored on cruisers in nearby waters and had to be transported to the Enterprise by helicopter before they could be launched.

　As a result, the sea conditions were bad in the past few days, and the front-line fleet had to struggle until January 17 before the nuclear missiles were ready.

　However, before the Enterprise could launch the first-ever nuclear strike from a naval aircraft carrier, it was urgently stopped by the Pentagon.

　The planned attack on the eastern Cuban port city of Santiago was too close to the Guantanamo Bay base. When the Marines at the base learned that the USS Enterprise was growing mushrooms right next to them, they were horrified and outraged, and immediately protested to their superiors. The Pentagon, fearing a Navy accidental bombing, called off the Enterprise's nuclear attack.

　At the same time, the Pentagon also publicly threatened through radio broadcasts and leaflet drops that as long as Castro did not surrender, nuclear strikes against Cuba would not stop until the entire island of Cuba was reduced to a radioactive wasteland and all seven million Cubans were dead!

　——This posture of killing the chicken to scare the monkey is really a perfect example.

　However, although such brutal measures wiped out 10% of Cuba's population within a week, it still did not lead to Castro's surrender.

　On the contrary, such brutal and inhumane nuclear explosions and massacres have aroused the grief of the people in Latin American countries.

　At the beginning of the Cuban nuclear crisis, the Organization of American States (OAS) was horrified and disgusted by the Soviet Union's deployment of troops to aid Cuba. Consequently, it sided with the United States, supporting its efforts to overthrow the Castro regime in Cuba and force the withdrawal of "foreign" forces from the Caribbean.

　However, as the US invasion of Cuba, Operation Tropical Thunder, turned into a real "nuclear thunder", one famous Cuban city after another turned into radioactive dust under the flash of nuclear explosion and mushroom cloud... The vast majority of Latin American people could not help but begin to feel a sense of grief.

　After all, looking at the entire Latin America, due to the United States' consistent lack of morality and inhumanity, basically no matter which Latin American country, there are more or less some anti-American forces.

　What if the United States becomes addicted to dropping nuclear bombs, and if it encounters any Latin American country causing trouble, it will launch a million-ton equivalent bomb to kill the country... Who can withstand this?

　Therefore, starting from January 15, the attitude of the Organization of American States changed and it began to strongly oppose the United States from continuing to launch nuclear strikes against Cuba.

　As for the public opinion on the United Nations stage accusing the United States of causing humanitarian disasters, it is overwhelming and one wave higher than the other.

　However, despite being embroiled in international criticism, irritated by Castro's refusal to surrender, and facing pressure from a chaotic domestic situation, the Kennedy administration ultimately won the battle with great difficulty.

　——Khrushchev of the Soviet Union finally couldn't stand the pressure and was the first to bow to the United States!

　-

　While the fighting was in full swing in the Caribbean Sea, a US U-2 reconnaissance plane was carrying out its routine patrol mission in the distant Arctic Ocean.

　However, because the Arctic Ocean was in polar night at that time, the strong magnetic field of the polar region caused the navigation system to malfunction, and the colorful aurora flashed strongly in the night, making it difficult for the pilot to determine the direction by relying on the constellations. As a result, Captain Charles Moldsby, who was flying the U-2 reconnaissance plane, got lost and entered Soviet airspace at around 8 am on January 16.

　In response, six Soviet MiG-21 fighters immediately took off to intercept. The US Strategic Air Command responded by ordering the Alaska Air Defense Command to dispatch two F-102 fighters on combat readiness duty to intercept.

　Since the United States has entered the highest level of alert at this time, according to standard procedures, the US military aircraft are no longer carrying conventional weapons, but "Falcon" air-to-air tactical nuclear missiles with an explosive power of 2000 tons!

　This type of nuclear missile used in air combat is considered by US military pilots to be "the most powerful in history".

　Stupid air combat nukes".

　Because it cannot directly attack aerial targets, it is designed to explode in mid-air, destroying large enemy aircraft formations with shock waves. However, it is difficult to deal with small formations and high-speed and agile jet fighters.

　What's even more terrible is that the F-102 is a single-person, single-seat fighter jet. Its only weapon is a nuclear warhead. The nuclear button has no electronic locking device and does not require authorization from anyone. The pilot alone can decide whether to launch a nuclear missile.

　So, during a standoff between fighter jets over the Arctic Ocean, the pilot of one of the F-102s, Lieutenant Leon Schmutz, became overly nervous and launched his Falcon tactical nuclear missile, sending a mushroom cloud illuminating the dark ice cap in the polar night.

　Although it failed to shoot down any MiG-21 fighter jets, it successfully shattered the false courage of the Kremlin top brass.

　Let Khrushchev know that if he continues to be stubborn, then he will probably see Moscow turned into a radioactive wasteland very soon!

　Human civilization has been brought to the brink of nuclear disaster and must step back before it is too late.

　It now seems that the previously envisioned nuclear blackmail plan has failed, and the Soviet Union can only be the first to take the initiative to retreat.

　——Although it is shameful to retreat like this in the face of American imperialism, it is better to lose face than to lose one’s life.

　In the early morning of January 17, Khrushchev sent a lengthy and rambling telegram to Kennedy: "We are sane people and fully understand that if we attack you, you will respond in kind. However, if you attack us, you will be attacked in kind. Only madmen and suicidal people who want to destroy the world before they die would do such a thing... We want to survive and have no intention of destroying your country."

　Although the Soviets' words were still filled with stubbornness and unwillingness, their desire to voluntarily submit and avoid nuclear war was evident.

　Next, Soviet Ambassador to the United States Dobrynin met privately with U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy and was ordered to disclose the truth that the Soviet Union's medium-range missiles deployed in Cuba had been completely exhausted and were no longer capable of bombing the U.S. mainland, and that these missiles had never been equipped with nuclear warheads.

　At this point, by sacrificing the Castro regime in Cuba, the United States and the Soviet Union began to move from tension to easing.

　However, while the risk of all-out nuclear war had vanished, Operation Tropic Thunder, the invasion of Cuba, was still ongoing...

　Author's Note: PS: I recently read an article about time-travel martial arts and found an interesting bug. Since there are many TV series based on Jin Yong's novels, not only are there huge differences between the original novels and the TV series, but the TV series themselves are also very different.

　For example, the Singaporean version of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer," due to budget constraints, borrowed props from a Japanese drama crew that had just finished filming. As a result, the Blackwood Cliff, the headquarters of the demonic cult, was transformed into a Japanese castle. The cult elders wore samurai robes and sat on tatami mats to discuss matters. Dongfang Bubai wore the red armor of Takeda Shingen, and many other characters wore kimonos. At first glance, it looked like a bridgehead for Japanese pirates to attack the Ming Dynasty (laughs).

　If the protagonist of the novel traveled to this version of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, how could he explain why the Demon Cult looked at the Japanese with such anger?

　Chapter 123: Cubanization of War

　During the secret negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union, although the Soviet Union had already surrendered, it still tried to keep Cuba's Castro at the beginning.

　Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko suggested that Fidel Castro resign and be replaced by someone else as head of the Cuban government.

　For example, his brother Raúl Castro, or other veterans of the Cuban revolutionary regime.

　However, Kennedy firmly refused, arguing that the United States had already taken the invasion of Cuba to the point of nuclear war. If it were to return empty-handed, it would inevitably deal a devastating blow to America's reputation, something that neither the White House nor the Pentagon could accept.

　It is far from enough to simply force the bearded Castro to resign, not to mention that he may make a comeback in the future.

　The entire Cuban revolutionary regime must be destroyed and the US-backed "Free Cuba" puppet must be put in power!

　On the other hand, Kennedy did not simply ask the Soviet Union to sell out its little brother, but offered a condition of exchange, which was to satisfy Khrushchev's previous desire to restore the nuclear balance between the United States and the Soviet Union and promise to withdraw the US "Jupiter" medium-range nuclear missiles deployed in Türkiye and Italy.

　Of course, the missiles would not be withdrawn publicly, but secretly, but the Soviet Union could send personnel to supervise them, and the withdrawal would not take place until six months later.

　Moreover, the US military withdrew only medium-range missiles from Türkiye and Italy, and did not involve the Air Force bombers dropping nuclear weapons.

　In this way, even if the matter is exposed, the United States can explain to the outside world that the US military still has nuclear weapons deployed in Türkiye and has only withdrawn the missiles.

　At the same time, the Kremlin will also gain a sense of security from the withdrawal of medium-range missiles.

　As for ordinary American nuclear bombs? Khrushchev and the Soviet Politburo members really weren't that afraid.

　Why was the Soviet Union so sensitive to medium-range missiles? Because the warning time is short. Short-range missiles have only a few minutes of warning, and medium-range missiles only about ten minutes. If the Americans launched a missile from Turkey, Khrushchev would have been in the toilet before he could even wipe his ass.

　This is what really made Khrushchev and other senior Soviet officials in the Kremlin uneasy.

　In contrast, if the United States

　The Kremlin had at least half an hour's warning time when the United States launched an intercontinental missile.

　After Khrushchev hid in the underground nuclear bunker, he still had time to drink a bottle of Red Star Vodka to calm his nerves before the intercontinental nuclear missiles fell on Moscow.

　If the US military had used strategic bombers to penetrate, the speed would have been even slower. Even if the Soviet air defense forces unfortunately failed to intercept, by the time the bombers carrying nuclear bombs flew over Moscow, the Corn Empire would have been in the underground nuclear bunker holding the nuclear button and pressing the launch button for a long time.

　Therefore, for the Soviet Union, the threat of nuclear missiles was a minor concern, while the threat of nuclear aerial bombs was a minor problem. The degree of threat was worlds apart.

　As for proactively threatening the United States? This was truly impossible. A look at the map shows that the Soviet Union simply did not have the geographical conditions to launch a preemptive strike. It could only adhere to a nuclear counterattack strategy, using nuclear bundling and nuclear deterrence to deter the United States from launching a nuclear war.

　On the other hand, Kennedy also secretly calculated Khrushchev: even if there was no Cuban Crisis, the United States would have withdrawn the "Jupiter" medium-range missiles deployed in Turkey and Italy in one or two years. Now it was just a little earlier.

　Why are the missiles being withdrawn? Because the Jupiter medium-range missiles are outdated!

　During the Cold War era, when the two major camps competed across the board and science and technology advanced rapidly, military technology was constantly evolving. The United States is now preparing to replace its fixed, land-based medium-range missiles with submarine-launched ballistic missiles carried by nuclear submarines.

　Although President Kennedy promised Khrushchev that he would withdraw the Jupiter medium-range missiles deployed in Türkiye and Italy, he did not say whether strategic missile submarines would be deployed to the Mediterranean in the future.

　At best, this promise created only a brief lull in the missile network surrounding the Soviet Union.

　This will just give Khrushchev and the Kremlin top brass a chance to rejoice for nothing!

　Just like Stalin betrayed the Greek red regime, Khrushchev also betrayed Castro of Cuba and promised not to provide any actual support to the Castro regime. Of course, he still had to make some high-sounding verbal promises, otherwise he would have no way to explain it to his own camp.

　In response, the Kennedy administration also expressed understanding, saying that verbal support is just verbal support as long as there is no actual action.

　Just like in the future, the United States, which is clearly stingy, still promises to donate hundreds of millions of dollars to do good things around the world, and as long as it doesn't give the money afterwards, it will be fine.

　——Anyway, the image of generosity and kindness has already been publicized. As for whether or not the money was actually transferred, that is really not important at all.

　Furthermore, it was not easy to force the Soviet troops already deployed to Cuba to stop fighting, but the Kremlin would try to keep them passive in order to preserve their own defenses. If any Soviet unit failed to receive the notice and stubbornly resisted, Khrushchev would be helpless.

　Although President Kennedy was very dissatisfied with this, he had no way to make Khrushchev publicly withdraw support for Cuba, so he had to reluctantly accept it.

　In this way, as Khrushchev took the initiative to surrender and betray his younger brother, the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union gradually faded.

　As for what price Khrushchev, the future Corn Emperor, would pay for this compromise... well, that's a matter for the future.

　However, although the Soviet Union had settled the issue, international anti-war public opinion remained very strong.

　Not only did the Organization of American States loudly call for humanitarian slogans and demand that the United States stop nuclear attacks, but the two major leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement, India's Nehru and Egypt's Nasser, also followed suit and demanded that the United States withdraw its troops so that "the Cuban people have the right to decide their own destiny"!

　Uh, the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement... well, how should I put it? From its inception, this organization had ideals and ambitions, attempting to become a third force independent of the US and the Soviet Union, and it certainly had a strong presence in the beginning.

　But the problem is that this sense of presence is only short-lived, and soon it becomes a loose communication platform due to lack of strong support.

　Specifically, the Non-Aligned Movement was born in September 1961, jointly promoted by India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser, and Yugoslavia's Tito. However, because Yugoslavia was still a communist regime and was excluded and hostile by the Soviet Union, its influence in the Third World was limited.

　Tito himself was very pro-Western and had a short-lived interest in the Non-Aligned Movement, and did not devote too much energy to this organization.

　In the end, when the Non-Aligned Movement went from an idea to a reality, there were actually only two world-class strongmen backing it up.

　One was Nehru, who was determined to inherit the Asian legacy of the British Empire and build India into a "powerful and influential country"; the other was Nasser, who rose to fame by forcing Britain and France to retreat in the Suez Canal War, gained the leadership of the Arab world, and was known as the "half-caliph."

　However, just one year later, in 1962, India was severely beaten by China in the Himalayas, its international status plummeted, Nehru died in depression, and only Nasser was left to independently support the overall situation.

　In June 1967, the third Middle East war broke out, and Egypt was defeated by Israel in the Sinai Peninsula. Nasser lost his leadership of the Arab world and became a walking corpse in despair and frustration. He died of exhaustion a few years later.

　At this point, the entire Non-Aligned Movement completely lost its pillar of military virtue, and its powerful international influence, known as the "third pole of the Cold War," only lasted a few short years.

　To be precise, it was a "phenomenal" existence that only lasted for five or six years at most.

　But it was January 1962, the Non-Aligned Movement had just been established and was at its peak. India and Egypt each had a group of followers waving their flags and cheering for the movement, and at first glance, it looked quite impressive.

　Even with the strength and hegemony of the United States, its demand for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Cuba cannot be ignored.