1855 United States Tycoon

A shooting range near Frankfurt, Germany. An important weapon test is going on here. In the center of the shooting range, there are some things like bunkers and so on. Inside those bunkers are dozens of large and small iron cages with various animals, including horses, monkeys, and goats. , There are rabbits, chickens, and pigeons. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince came to inspect the experiment in person. He and some other people led their horses and stayed on a small hill four kilometers away from the target. A high-powered telescope was also set up there for observation.

The crown prince looked up from the objective lens of the telescope and asked, "Are you ready to start?"

The prince’s adjutant Major Fritz glanced at the weathercock hanging next to him. The weathercock was quiet and motionless. This was a good weather for experimenting with secret weapons. So he replied to the crown prince, "It's about to start soon, Your Royal Highness!"

What is being tested here is a real weapon of mass destruction-chemical weapons.

When cooperating with Scrooge to develop insecticides, in addition to the "DDT" currently used on a large scale, the project team has also developed many other types of insecticides. This is because insects sometimes kill certain insecticides. Insect agents develop resistance, which leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of insecticides. In order to deal with this possible problem, Scrooge felt that they needed more pesticides.

A team led by German experts is responsible for the development of carbamate pesticides. In the process of making these things, they got a by-product-phosgene, phosgene. This is one of the raw materials for the production of carbamate, which is widely used in many pesticides. Even in later generations, this is a common pesticide.

There was a phosgene leak in the laboratory, which caused many people to be poisoned. Although no one was dead, it caused several German researchers to suffer from pulmonary edema and stayed in the hospital for a long time. Because carbamate insecticides are also very effective, the Germans who are partners in the research also got a copy.When the German experts returned home, they packaged all these technologies with them. Relying on the war indemnities from the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans quickly built more factories, which of course also included synthetic ammonia factories and pesticide factories. When building a pesticide plant, an expert mentioned that it is best to build a pesticide plant in the leeward direction of the city, and it is better to be far enough away from the city to avoid accidents and endanger the safety of the city.

This suggestion naturally attracted the attention of the above, and when inquiring about the reason, the German expert also said that if it is necessary to produce carbamate pesticides, a lot of phosgene is needed in the intermediate process, and one must be built or Multiple large phosgene tanks for storage. But phosgene is very toxic, and once it leaks, it may have serious consequences. Therefore, pesticide plants with a large amount of phosgene naturally need to be built in the leeward direction of the city, and the farther away the city is, the better.

The above will naturally ask how much harm will be caused if phosgene leaks. After rigorous calculations, the experts told the above that if the scale of the factory is large enough, and it is in the city like a normal factory, plus the weather If conditions are matched, the worst accident may cause hundreds of thousands of deaths. Well, in order to emphasize the necessity of keeping this kind of factory away from the city, the experts may have exaggerated it a little bit. Because building a factory far away from the city will inevitably bring about a series of cost ascending problems, so experts feel that if you don’t let the guys above who can only see money understand the seriousness of this problem, most of them are Will not take it to heart. After all, compared with cost reduction, or to put it more clearly, compared with money, is the dead person a hammer?

In fact, the experts are really not too exaggerated, they just don't know that similar catastrophic accidents really happened in later lives.

In the early morning of December 3, 1984, a pesticide plant of United States Union Carbide (India) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of United States Union Carbide in Bhopal City, Madhya Pradesh, India, had a cyanide leak in a pesticide plant near a slum area, causing serious problems. s consequence. This caused 25,000 direct deaths, 550,000 deaths indirectly, and more than 200,000 human tragedies that were permanently disabled. One of the important reasons why the damage is so alarming is that this pesticide factory with highly toxic gases was built in a densely populated area. One of the main reasons for this is to reduce costs. Even, for the same reason, well, this company has also simplified the safety management procedures and simplified some vital but "too expensive" automated testing equipment.

None of the main persons responsible for the accident were poisoned to death. However, they could not escape the legal sanctions of Sacred, the world’s largest democratic country. Several Indians of them were finally sentenced for dereliction of duty after a careful and careful trial of 25 years. Up to two years' imprisonment (in India, the maximum sentence for dereliction of duty is two years). As for the persons responsible for the United States side, of course they couldn't escape, and they were all fined. I believe that such an efficient and severe punishment will definitely prevent similar disasters from happening again.

However, the Germans are different from the low-caste bipedal creatures in India. Even in the 19th century, when they were less concerned about human lives, if the Germans were to be poisoned to death by hundreds of thousands of people because of an accident, it would be a loss for Germany. People can't afford it. Therefore, Germany simply enacted a law for this, stipulating that pesticide factories must maintain a distance of more than ten kilometers from the city.

However, the efforts of these experts have also produced a negative effect, that is, some middle-level officers who "kill as if you can't lift" began to get confused. They suggested to the above that since phosgene or something, there is such a thing. Great lethality, so why not just use them as weapons? Think about it, my dear, when your enemy gathers a large army and builds a strong fortification, and you insist on chewing, you will probably suffer a big loss, even if your mouth is as good as Suarez, you will be collapsed. Lost more than half of the teeth. What a painful thing this is! But if your shells are not TNT explosives, but phosgene, then you can find a windless weather, a phosgene shell hits it, and then the guy on the opposite side will be dead, just like using DDT to kill. It's as convenient as bugs. This is really beautiful to think about. Moreover, the phosgene cannonball is not expensive, as long as 998, the phosgene cannonball is taken home, dear, what are you waiting for?

The proposals of these middle-level officers have been highly valued by the above. There is no way, things used to harm people are always more valued than things used to help humans. As a result, under the order from the above, a poison gas weapon research group was established and began to develop phosgene shells.

To be honest, the difficulty of the phosgene shells is really not that great, so soon, um, they took out the prototypes and can test them. The guys in the development team did a few experiments by themselves, and the results were pretty good most of the time. Of course, they also discovered two weaknesses of this thing. First, they were afraid of wind. If the wind is too strong, they have not waited to poison people. , Was blown away. The second is afraid of rain, phosgene is very easy to hydrolyze, even in cold water, the hydrolysis rate of phosgene is also very fast. So if it rains, um, it's basically useless. But when there is no wind and rain, its power is really not covered. Take the reinforced concrete bunkers on the shooting range in front of you. They have to be bombarded with ordinary artillery, and they can’t be shot at all, but with phosgene bombs, the animals in those bunkers can be killed with just a few rounds. Light.

"If they are ready, let them start!" the crown prince ordered.

"Okay." The Adjutant Fritz immediately picked up the wired phone next to him, shook it, and shouted into the microphone: "His Royal Highness said, you can start!"

After a while, through the high-powered telescope, the crown prince saw several things falling on the shooting range, but these things just threw up a little dust and did not explode. He adjusted his binoculars and saw a squashed small tin can that had fallen on the side. That thing was a phosgene cannonball. Because phosgene has no color, he can't see other things at all.

After a while, the report said that the gas bombs should have taken effect. They will immediately disinfect the scene, and then invite His Royal Highness to watch the results.

"His Royal Highness, do you want me to follow them first." Adjutant Fritz asked.

"Okay, be careful yourself."

Fritz nodded, then stood at attention, raised his hand in a military salute to the crown prince, then mounted his horse and passed towards the artillery.

After a while, the crown prince saw in the telescope, a group of people wearing gas masks, um, this thing was also an invention of Scrooge, mainly used in those chemical plants with more toxic and harmful gases. The effect of the gas mask is very good, but the shape is really... "Take that thing, it looks like a pig's head." The crown prince couldn't help but think like this.

These men dragged several trolleys, which were filled with some kind of liquid. Well, the crown prince knew that that thing was strong ammonia. Because phosgene reacts quickly with ammonia to produce non-toxic substances such as urea and ammonium chloride. So spraying concentrated ammonia water is the best and fastest disinfection method. It’s just the smell of concentrated ammonia water. Just think about it, even if it’s still several kilometers away, His Royal Highness wants to take out a handkerchief to cover his nose.

After a while, these people are finally done. Then after a while, Major Fritz returned.

"Fritz, what's going on over there?" the crown prince asked.

"Except for that horse, they are all dead. The foamy mouth of that horse collapsed on the ground, unable to move, but it was not dead. Your Highness, if you want to see for yourself, I will prepare a gas mask for you. "Major Fritz replied.

Everyone put on gas masks, mounted their horses and ran towards the shooting range, and the crown prince’s guards naturally also put on gas masks and rode behind them. When he reached the shooting range, the crown prince jumped off his horse and handed the reins to a guard to make a gesture to let them leave the horse in place-there is no gas mask for war horses yet. Although phosgene is probably gone, although ammonia gas is not poisonous to war horses, it is by no means easy to provoke.

Fritz took the crown prince into the bunker. The various animals in the iron cages in the bunker had foamed and died in the cage. Only the old horse was lying on the ground, panting hard. When I was breathing, my nose and mouth were full of foam, and foam was constantly spraying out of my nose. It opened its eyes wide and lay there motionless. Only tears kept streaming from its wide open eyes.

The crown prince walked over in silence and stood in front of the horse for a while, then he took out his own pistol and fired two shots at the old horse's head, ending its pain.

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