The Fourth Disaster, Starting from the Movie Eight Hundred

"Who cares? This is a tropical fruit. Come on, open it and taste it!"

Chapter 257: Unique delicious memory

(Third update! I reached 10,000 words today! Where are your votes, comrades?)

Human memory is really a wonderful thing, especially when we suddenly fall into memories, it not only adds filters to our memories, but also adds beautiful emotions such as expectation, desire, cherishment, etc.

For the Soviet people living in high latitudes, there is also the added layer of their passion for fruit.

The more people lack something, the more they yearn for it. For the Soviet people, tropical fruits are their faith.

There is no other way. It is very difficult to grow crops on frozen soil at minus 40 or 50 degrees Celsius, let alone fruits, especially tropical fruits. At least the technological level of World War II was not enough to achieve large-scale production of fruits in high-latitude areas.

In the real world, players have conducted special research on what Russians like to eat and use. Their daily diet and daily consumption have been recorded, and now they are replicated on the Soviet people.

Davari, this is canned tropical fruit from under the red flag of socialism. Would you like to try it?

Frankly speaking, many tropical fruits that were not specially cultivated at that time actually tasted quite bad. Players couldn't stand the taste anyway. Many fruits we are familiar with now only appeared after fifty or sixty years of iterative cultivation, such as watermelon, apples, and crystal grapes.

Many fruits in 1944, although their names match the fruits known to players and they look similar, the taste is too abstract. Fruits themselves are high-end consumer goods and have little market in China. Domestic people who have a little money in their wallets prefer to buy more meat. In their eyes, meat is a good thing and fruits are just embellishments of life and are dispensable. However, it is really despairing not to see any oily smell during festivals.

However, there is no market in China, but it is crazily sought after abroad, especially by the Soviets. As for the taste problem of those fruits, it can be solved by some processing methods. The simplest one is to add sugar, a lot of sugar, and add those technologies and hard work that can solve the mass production problem at this stage. Food additives have never been a problem. The problem is that some people do not use them in the right way.

After the players' operations, various delicious canned tropical fruits appeared. Sugar and salt have the function of preservatives. The Russians eat such a large amount of them. In addition, after pre-processing, they are vacuumed, so there is no need for any preservatives. They can be directly thrown on the train and transported to the front line. The temperature in high latitudes can also extend the shelf life of food.

In fact, many canned foods will not kill people even if they are expired, but the taste may be a little worse. However, as long as the can itself does not swell and stink, and the contents are precious enough, Soviet officers and soldiers said they can overcome it.

There is nothing to overcome at all. Don’t you see how much they love this kind of food?

Because they were supplies to the army, these cans were very durable. Coco Tree coconut juice was packaged in metal cans and could be drunk right after opening. With the belief in tropical food and beverages, ten ten-liter cans of Coco Tree coconut juice were drunk up, and from that day on, it quickly became the second must-drink drink for Soviet soldiers.

The top spot always goes to vodka. This is their national characteristic. Even Coco Tree coconut juice cannot beat it no matter how hard it tries.

But unlike vodka, Coco Tree coconut juice was more popular among Soviet commanders because it would not make them drunk and did not have the negative effects of alcohol. So from that day on, two-thirds of the drinks on the Soviet front were replaced by Coco Tree coconut juice, as well as other Xinhua brand sodas, and colas included Xijing Cola, Qinghai Cola, Xinjiang Cola, Tibet Cola, and so on.

Oh, there are also Sprite, sea buckthorn juice, mint black tea, etc. Anyway, it is to give full play to the subjective initiative of local governments.

Of course, they have also developed a series of products similar to "Chinese herbal tea". The flavors are so bizarre and the ingredient list is so shocking that it can be written into a thesis. However, they still have a certain audience in the local area, but they do not have a mass influence and can only become a unique local brand.

No, no, wait a minute, why are all these brands made in the West? Where's the Arctic Ocean? Where are all the original, historic brands?

Do you want to think about how the players "fired cannons and blew up the motherfucker" when they liberated Peking?

The local industrial base and historical relics were all blown away by the artillery shells and the Japanese invaders. The Arctic Ocean Soda Factory naturally did not escape either. These were necessary sacrifices that had to be made in order to liberate the motherland. If they are gone, they are gone. Anyway, the players will be better prepared, like now.

Afterwards, the Red Party came to power with the support of the Volunteer Army, and the main area of ​​activity of the Volunteer Army became the Northwest and Southwest regions. The places where the players were located were all developing rapidly. Heavy industry required national support, but light industry was easy to implement after local support and then fully rolled out. Moreover, the Northwest and Southwest regions already had development potential, but the early development costs were too high, which was not something that could be afforded in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. But after the players arrived, these were no longer a problem.

The current Soviet-German War was not so tense that the Soviet Union was pushed to the gates of Moscow in one wave, so production and life in the rear continued as usual. Since everything was the same, there was consumer demand. If no other country could meet the Soviet Union's consumption of light industrial products, the people of the whole country would have to endure it together. But now there is Xinhua, the Soviet Union needs it, and Xinhua is willing, so don't be polite. The Soviet side set up a special "Unified Purchasing Department" to be responsible for this matter. The person in charge was a young man named Brezhnev.

That’s right, your Xunzong! (Tongliao’s uniquely excited accent).

He is indeed quite young. Brezhnev was born in 1906 and it is 1944 now. He is less than 40 years old. He is a young man in the cadre team of a big country. But now the experienced old guys are on the front line and in key positions. No matter whether you are young or not, you have to step up and gain experience. This is what the times require of you. The opportunity has been given, so you should take it if you can.

This is just like Brezhnev's time as a driver in history. He was competing with the Stuka. Those who could win were all god-level drivers, while those who lost would be buried in the Monument to the Unknown Hero.

By the same token, the experienced German pilots were trained through sparring with the Il-2.

Brezhnev did have some ability. Like Khrushchev, he was one of those people who could basically do his job well as long as he was not in the position of supreme leader, and he could definitely do his job well, or produce a good job. This young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes relied on his enthusiasm, sincerity and frankness to win the favor of his subordinates and superiors in the Soviet Union's Ministry of Purchase. When conducting relevant negotiations with Xinhua, he knew etiquette and made concessions, and everyone was decent, so he also won the favor of Xinhua officials. They were just a little uncomfortable with his enthusiasm and flattery.

But this is their character and custom, it's understandable, it's understandable.

After considering the requirements of the front and the rear, as well as the instructions of the leaders, Brezhnev realized that although he had to purchase what was needed for the front, he could not purchase it entirely according to the needs of the front. For example, the water of life was indeed a necessity, but if possible, it was best to only be needed at special times. In most occasions, it was better to use beverages to meet the needs of the soldiers.

After some selection, Brezhnev chose Coco Tree coconut juice and various colas, and also purchased some other beverages to dilute a considerable portion of the alcoholic beverages.

Facts have proved that the effect is very good. The Soviet soldiers on the front line had no objection at all. After all, it is actually very challenging to take alcohol in. Not many people fall in love with alcohol the first time they drink it, but the happiness brought by sugar is certain. Among the Soviet army, young people under 30 years old still prefer beverages. Alcohol is not necessarily a necessity. Among people over 30 years old, alcoholics are a minority after all. It’s just that the proportion of this minority in the Soviet group is larger and more, but it is not to the extent that everyone has to drink to the point of being drunk. With other flavors of beverages as a change, their demand for alcohol has also decreased.

In fact, during World War II, the Cold War, and even for a long period of time after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Soviet people did not have many options for beverages. Many times they had no choice at all, there were very few options, and there were often out of stock. Queuing was the norm. At this time, they could only get what they wanted in large quantities, and the right to allocate and decide on social resources was basically in the hands of people over 40 years old. Naturally, this alcohol culture was passed down from generation to generation.

Environmental factors certainly play a role, but with the development of technology, even areas at high latitudes have gradually avoided the boredom of hibernation, and the lifestyle options available in winter have become more diverse. There is no longer a need for so much self-deceiving drunkenness, so alcohol consumption has also decreased.

Don't forget that drinking itself is also a form of entertainment. There are so many things to do now, so why bother to force yourself in a direction that makes you uncomfortable?

However, since Xinhua tried to internationalize all its brands, some foods and beverages with unique flavors also entered the Soviet Union. The "tasting gift packages" sent to the front line were like opening a blind box, with all kinds of monsters inside. As a result, many Soviet soldiers often complained about Xinhua's local specialty snacks and drinks when talking about that period, but some of their comrades around them liked this kind of snacks.

If both of them survived, they would still argue with each other during interviews, but if only one of them survived...

"Yes, I know that one. It tastes so weird, but Ilyich loves it. What a shame. If he had survived, he would have been a huge fan of that product. Those were the rare days on the battlefield when we could have a happy argument."

In addition, there are changes in Soviet cuisine. In any case, Chinese people who traveled to the Soviet Union after World War II could not understand at first why the Russians liked a dish called "pineapple stewed with coconut milk" and called it the "Veteran's Set Meal."

When asked about the chef, who had participated in the Great Patriotic War, smiled and said, "At the time, we only had Coco Tree coconut milk and canned pineapples, but the comrades on the mission wanted something hot, so I had to stew them together. They said it tasted very good and hoped to have it again when they return."

War and food, two things that sound unrelated, were indeed combined in a unique way in the winter of 1944 in the Soviet Union and became a common memory for people who experienced that era.

Chapter 258: The Sun in America

(The first update is here! A 5,000-word chapter, please vote~) -p

Real World, Mexico

"Why? Why is Defend Mexico offline!"

"I'm dying without Defence of Mexico!"

"It's gone, just like that! I can't find it anywhere, wuwuwu~"

"I heard that the server for the game 'Protecting Mexico' is in the United States, and now the US government doesn't allow us to play it."

"Damn Americans! They're still so disgusting even after they've gone away."

"My 'Defense of Mexico,' my 'Defense of Mexico...'"

What is it about these Mexican guys that makes their mental state so beautiful?

Because "Defense of Mexico", which was considered the best game of the year and their favorite FPS game by the Mexican people, has been taken offline and can no longer be found.

It appeared so suddenly, and then disappeared just as suddenly. It came and went so quickly. You can't even find a private server for this game. There's almost no trace of it left on the internet, except for the players' own memories.

Some things were still left behind, such as the bits and pieces recorded by players when they took pictures of the screen with their mobile phones.

But no matter what, the game was taken off the shelves, becoming a permanent regret in the hearts of countless Mexicans.

The reason for the game's removal was simple. Liu Qi had already completed his phased deployment. So, Mexican players could temporarily stop playing online. And so, their beloved "Defense of Mexico," their ultimate anti-American savior, was temporarily gone.

Liu Qi did not make any notifications, and this game did not have a krypton gold system, so there was no financial dispute. Even if there was a financial dispute, the players had no way to deal with it since it disappeared so completely.

However, the players' anger would not disappear in one place, it would only shift. So soon, there were urban rumors that Americans were unhappy with the game, so they shut down the game's servers in the United States, and the relevant personnel were arrested by the US government in the name of threatening US national security.

How should I put it? This story is largely based on hearsay and the players' own imaginations, and much of the information doesn't stand up to scrutiny. However, the US government's reputation for being unkind is deeply ingrained in people's minds, and all players have assumed it's something the US government would absolutely do.

Don't forget about threatening U.S. national security. This pocket crime is used unscrupulously by the U.S. government. They certainly wouldn't dare to do that when facing a strong country like the University of Tokyo, but there is no pressure in bullying small countries.

So it wasn't long before a manifesto appeared on the Internet in which Mexican players collectively condemned the US government.

“Give us ‘Defense of Mexico’ back!”

"This is all a conspiracy by the US government. These shady hooligans and scoundrels can't stand seeing others doing well."

"The US government is targeting a game like this. Where is your conscience? Oh, sorry, you have no fucking conscience at all!"

Thousands of Mexican gamers signed their names to the petition, quickly turning it into international news. The outcry was so strong that the US government was forced to step in and explain that it had nothing to do with the incident.

It really wasn't me! How dare you so casually pin the blame on me? Why did you insist on pointing this to me? What's your motive? Why would you specifically research something like this? Who ordered this? Tell me clearly!

The US government, accustomed to its dominance, refuses to admit they are in the wrong. Furthermore, this incident clearly proves they are not at fault. So, after Cao Cao's initial explanation, all that remained were criticisms and questions directed at Mexican netizens.

But the problem is that when encountering similar situations in the past, the US government always has this attitude. Regardless of whether the problem lies with me or not, the US government will question the person who raised the question, and then use various evidence to instill in the world the idea that "this matter has nothing to do with me."

So what if I have solid evidence? So what if I caught him red-handed? As long as I don't admit it, it's not my fault!

Furthermore, the credibility of the US government has been completely overdrawn during Trump's presidency. Therefore, the tougher the US government's stance, the louder its spokespersons are in public, and the more resolute its accusations are, the more people believe that they were responsible.

It just so happens that Trump's team is basically composed of giant babies, so when Mexican players began to criticize the US government, these senior US government officials were very disrespectful and personally came out to lead the team in the criticism.

"You troublemakers! The United States has paid a huge price to protect world peace and works tirelessly for the world every day. Have you ever said thank you? No, you haven't. Not only did you not say thank you, but you blamed the United States for such a trivial matter, without any evidence at all. You are truly a bunch of ungrateful people who don't understand America's kindness."

"Four years ago, Emperor Trump ascended the throne, and the North and South of the United States united. Now, four years have passed, and under the leadership of the great Emperor Trump, the United States has witnessed victory after victory. Although the United States is no longer in America today, the wealth and faith we left for that land still exist. Isn't this gratitude enough for you to correctly judge who did this?"

"So I think this must have been done by China. Only China could do such a thing. China is the culprit behind all this, China, China, China!"

Mexican netizens, furious, saw a high-ranking US government official personally intervene and cause trouble. Their already pent-up anger levels shot up.

"Damn, I've seen shameless people before, but I've never seen anyone this shameless. They're clearly covered in shit, but they're saying others are dirty. The shamelessness of the US government is truly breathtaking."

"He's anxious, anxious, it's obvious he's anxious. He's in such a hurry to come out and clean the floor. It's obvious he has something to hide."

"They did this back when TikTok was around, and now it's just a repeat of history."

"Witness the boomerang, the US government is hitting itself in the face at an increasingly rapid pace."

"Don't be ridiculous. The US government never cares about boomerangs. Their skin is thicker than the Great Wall of China."

"Your cesspool-like country, I hope your stench won't pollute the beautiful Eurasian continent."

"As a Brit, I completely agree with every word and every sentence that was said."

"As a Frenchman, I agree with what this Englishman said this time."

"Shameless America, I'll fuck you!"

"There's something that's born but nobody cares for it!"

"I am an American. Since you criticize the US government, you can't criticize us."

"Good scolding, increase the intensity, it's very satisfying for me as an American to hear."

This war of words, which provided wonderful material for countless bloggers in the political section of Bilibili, continued until the US authorities broke down and banned a large number of accounts. However, they could only block accounts on American social media. They had no way to deal with TikTok. After all, many congressmen have investments in this area. This is an issue that cannot be brought to the table. If it is really brought to Congress for discussion, the Democrats will be very happy to make things difficult for the Trump administration.

The real-world verbal battle ultimately came to nothing, because compared to the impact of the exchange incident, the Mexican players simply lost their favorite game, which was really not a big deal. There are so many game companies that have gone bankrupt in the world, and if they really protested one by one, 365 days a year would not be enough.

If you don’t believe it, just look at the corporate registration information of the University of Tokyo. There are a lot of Internet companies going bankrupt every day. Many of these things are born and die quickly, with a very low survival rate. Most of them are test products under the cost of trial and error and the whirlpool of the times.

Even in the most promising times, there are still people who cannot make money, even if you have an advanced memory.

Otherwise, why is the first key investment called angel investment?

Of course Liu Qi noticed the waves in the real world, but he only paid a little attention to it. This matter itself was really not very interesting. If you want to see something interesting, you have to look at the anti-drug campaign of the University of Tokyo against Mexico.

Half a year after the exchange, the University of Tokyo had completely adjusted its hardware needs and established harmonious and friendly cooperative relations with its neighbors. Then the Mexican government invited the University of Tokyo to help it fight drugs.

Yes, we invited the University of Tokyo. They are invited. We can tolerate whatever you do to us. We Mexicans have had enough of those drug lords. Big brother, please help us!

Drugs are Mexico's only choice, revenge in a bad situation, but now that the United States has gone to hell and it has a new big brother who can help it get rich, Mexico naturally has to cling to the thigh again.

Even if you cling to the United States, you will still be drained of blood, but the University of Tokyo is only interested in goods and resources that it can produce sustainably. Even if there is a scissors gap, the University of Tokyo is 50-50, while the United States is all-in. How can the nature be the same!

In the end, Mexico and the University of Tokyo signed the Mexico City Treaty on Drug Control, but the first thing the University of Tokyo did was not to fight drugs, but to build roads for Mexico.

Coincidentally, long before the two sides decided to sign the "Mexico City Anti-Drug Cooperation Treaty", an earthquake occurred on the border between Oriental and Mexico, which created a crack in the original mountain blockade and the storm subsided a lot. The Mexican drug lords who stayed behind and could not see the situation clearly thought they could vigorously develop the blue ocean market of Oriental, and they rushed to the front, and more than a thousand people were killed that day.

Are you kidding? Todai's anti-drug strategy is really as powerful as a bazooka. The methods used by Mexican drug lords are nothing to Todai. No matter if you are a submarine, an airplane, or something else, as long as any unregistered foreign vehicle appears in Todai's territorial waters, in this special period, you will be killed without mercy.

The University of Tokyo knows the situation in Mexico very well, so the front-line drug enforcement police are now patrolling with Type 95 patrol boats, and the patrol boats are equipped with missiles and machine guns. If there is a mismatch after three verifications, you will be sunk directly.

As for drone drug trafficking, Mexican drug lords, why don't you dismantle your drones and see who manufactured the key equipment inside? Even without a backdoor, the signals from those devices can be easily jammed by the University of Tokyo.

Less than a month after the border storm subsided, the anti-drug police of the University of Tokyo seized 3,000 tons of various drugs, many of which were stocks previously intended for the United States and have now been destroyed.

At the same time, the University of East Asia also rapidly carried out infrastructure construction and established a railway connection with Mexico. Subsequently, a large number of armed police and special police from the University of East Asia drove directly into Mexico.

Yes, it is just armed police and special police, no regular army. After all, the configuration of Xinhua's regular army is aimed at destroying the country. Letting them fight drug trafficking is equivalent to the Japanese government razing the entire Mexico and rebuilding it.

Compared with the United States' single strangulation-style drug control, the Tokyo University's drug control strategy is a combination of suppression and appeasement. Drug dealers must be cracked down on and drug lords must be executed, but basically they adopt an execution model of investigating crimes, killing the main offenders, and not questioning accomplices. Because everyone knows what the situation in Mexico was before, you can't question why the other party is not kind enough when they have no choice.

The cost of kindness is very high. In ancient times, all the great philanthropists had knives behind their backs to protect themselves.

Don't disbelieve me. It's just a soup kitchen. If you don't even have the military force to maintain order, do you really think the starving refugees will talk to you about public order and morality? They will just rush in to rob and try to feed themselves. They don't care about what happens to others. Starving people are just beasts.

This kind of differential treatment is also intended to undermine the resistance of drug dealers. When the opportunity to turn over a new leaf is presented and there is a choice, the vast majority of people still yearn for normal order.

Needless to say, in terms of combat effectiveness, even if it is just the armed police and special police, the University of Tokyo can launch a dimensionality reduction attack on these Mexican drug traffickers.

However, after quickly wiping out these scum-level opponents, the University of Tokyo immediately dispatched an engineering team and a business team. The former reorganized the infrastructure in the region, and the latter brought high-quality and large-scale industrial products into Mexico, such as some factories that still needed labor-intensive industries, to solve the employment problems of local people and directly deprive drug traffickers of the soil for drug trafficking.

Frankly speaking, the money earned by workers in these factories is certainly less than what they previously earned working for drug dealers, but this money is well-valued, stable, and secure, and is linked to a stable order.

Why are drug traffickers able to recruit on a large scale in Mexico?

One of the most important reasons is that the locals are penniless and have only their lives left to sell. Do they have any other choice?

So it's not just drug dealers that are rampant in Mexico, there are also gangs, and these gangs often act as grassroots governments, and their efficiency is really higher than that of the Mexican government. No matter what their style of doing things is, they can really help local people solve problems. Between bad and worse, local people will definitely choose bad.

Before doing so, the University of Tokyo first informed the Mexican government, "Look, we have taken over the grassroots management of your country. Can your Mexican government also send some people over to learn a little bit so that it will be convenient for us to leave..."