Crisis Management Game

"Mr. White, does age really matter?"

Facing the doubts, Gu Ji did not show any fear, but directly responded:

"You are the permanent undersecretary in charge of the health system. You should be a professional who understands environmental pollution and public diseases. You should understand that this data is definitely not groundless."

Perhaps it was his calm demeanor that changed White's mind, and he signaled Sahana to stop.

This time, he picked up a magnifying glass and began to study the report carefully.

As time goes by.

White's expression gradually changed. His brows furrowed tighter and tighter, and the muscles on his face twitched slightly, until finally even his breathing became rapid.

Gu Ji kept the question in suspense here.

But White still found it a little unbelievable. He walked around the desk and came to Gu Ji. He clenched the report in his hand tightly, and his knuckles turned white from the force.

"But even if you are right about the data from the past few days, how can you be sure that the smog will develop as you inferred?"

Of course Gu Ji knew what this guy was questioning.

The modern weather forecasting system was born in 1856, and it is less than a hundred years until the present day, 1952.

Although the accuracy has been significantly improved compared to the early days, it still has great limitations compared to modern times.

During this period, the UK Meteorological Office had established a relatively complete meteorological observation network, which was able to collect some basic meteorological data, such as temperature, air pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, etc.

However, since computer technology was not yet popular at that time, the processing and calculation of meteorological data mainly relied on manual work, which greatly limited the ability to solve complex meteorological models.

For some large-scale weather systems, such as the development and movement of cyclones, and long-term weather trends, forecast accuracy is very low.

Especially the current London smog incident, which is an extremely special weather phenomenon, the meteorological station is simply unable to take into account the impact of pollutants on air quality.

This is also why the British government was unprepared for the incident at the time, because they had no ability to anticipate it.

Gu Ji is just thinking about the problem by standing on the shoulders of giants.

All the data, theories and analyses in his report came from modern meteorological experts' summary of the 1952 London smog incident.

Of course, he couldn't just say he came from the future.

So he pretended to be mysterious and said:

"If you don't believe it, you can call the London Meteorological Observatory right now and ask if the wind speed in the city is zero."

White narrowed his eyes and looked at Gu Ji for a long time.

He turned back to his desk, picked up the phone, dialed a number, and his voice suddenly became serious:

"I'm White from the City Hall Health Department. Please help me check the current wind speed data in downtown London..."

There was a rustling sound from the other end of the phone, followed by a string of numbers and professional terms.

White's face gradually became solemn, and his original look of doubt disappeared without a trace, replaced by eyes full of astonishment.

His mouth opened slightly. “Are you sure these data are accurate?”

"Yes."

There was another affirmative reply from the other end of the phone.

White then slowly put down the receiver and looked at Gu Ji with a dull look. After a while, he slowly spoke: "The monitoring department of the meteorological station just measured the data, and you were right..."

"What?"

Sahana's eyes widened as she listened, as if they were about to burst.

The weather station just released the data.

This means that the data and predictions in this report are accurate, and this London smog may really turn into an unprecedented epic disaster!

For a while.

She didn't know whether she should be glad that she made the right choice or worry about the safety of her family and friends.

White stared at the report and digested it for a while.

"I still don't understand how you calculated these data and how accurate they are?"

"In fact, it is not difficult to draw this conclusion. Since the UK launched its industrialization movement, London has long relied on coal as an energy source. Industrial emissions and household coal-burning for heating have caused the concentration of pollutants such as smoke and sulfur dioxide in the air to continue to rise. By the 1950s, London had an average of more than 80 foggy days per year, and visibility was often less than a kilometer. These are all real historical background data.

Yesterday, eastern England was controlled by a high-pressure cyclone, forming an inversion layer, where the cold air on the ground was covered by the warm air above, and pollutants could not spread;

Today, the smog has increased, visibility has dropped rapidly, traffic has come to a standstill, pedestrians and shops need to hold lights before going, the concentration of sulfur dioxide and smoke in the air must be seriously exceeded, if the two are mixed to form sulfuric acid dust, it will definitely cause serious damage to the respiratory system of Londoners. "

Gu Ji sorted out the process and disaster timeline of the 1952 London smog incident word by word.

Hearing this, White and Sahana's mouths opened involuntarily and couldn't close for a long time.

"God, I never thought there was a genius like you in London!"

White muttered to himself.

This time, he was completely convinced.

Gu Ji's theoretical support and analysis are rigorous and scientific, and there is almost nothing wrong with them.

"Sahana, take him immediately... No! I'll take him to meet the Secretary General myself!"

Having said that, White couldn't wait to take Gu Ji out.

Come to this point.

Gu Ji could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Because as long as there are officials who believe in him, it is equivalent to having trust endorsement, and then it will be much easier to convince senior officials of the city hall.

At that time, as long as the city hall holds a discussion and the mayor agrees, the relevant handling policies will be implemented immediately and the crisis can be easily resolved!

then.

Throughout the afternoon, Gu Ji and Sahana followed White and reported to the Secretary-General and the Mayor of London respectively.

Before entering the mayor's office, the two were still worried that he would say something wrong because of nervousness.

However, I didn't expect that Gu Ji talked freely throughout the whole process without any pauses, as smoothly as if he was communicating with an ordinary person.

How would they know?

Before entering this checkpoint, Gu Ji had just come out of the West Garden after meeting Mr. Chen.

Not to mention a small London mayor, even if the person standing in front of him was the British Prime Minister, he would still be able to remain calm.

Busy until the evening.

Gu Ji finally convinced the mayor of London of the seriousness of the smog incident.

In fact, starting from the afternoon, the increasingly severe smog has begun to affect London’s traffic and citizens’ lives.

On the streets, many private cars and buses were unable to drive, leaving only a few experienced drivers driving slowly with their lights on;

Train stations, ship ports and airports all stopped operating, and only the subway, which was least affected by the smog, was still in operation.

The crime rate in London is also soaring.

Because the smog has severely reduced visibility, not only do we not have to worry about being discovered, but it also makes it much more difficult for the police to handle cases and arrests.

Therefore, with such natural advantages, thieves and robbers can commit crimes with impunity.

Thousands of chimneys emit gas, soot and dust, which are unable to spread under the pressure of the high-pressure cyclone and eventually fall into every corner of London.

Even if Gu Ji stayed in the city hall the entire afternoon, the doors and windows were closed.

But the smog was still spreading into the room, the vision in the corridors and offices became increasingly blurred, and his and the office staff's clothes and skin were covered with dirty dust.

It has come to this.

Even if the mayor was a fool, he could see that this smog was different from the previous ones. Coupled with Gu Ji's highly professional speech, it naturally pushed the government to speed up the handling of the matter.

When we came out of the City Hall, it was already completely dark.

"God, I can't see anything!"

"I never thought that Henk was right. The smog is so severe that we can't even see clearly!"

"Damn it, I have to go back and tell my parents not to go out!"

"Me too……"

The city hall staff who came out together were all shocked by the scene before them.

They never expected that the air visibility at this moment had dropped to only two or three meters.

The usually bright street lights, now surrounded by heavy smog, are like candles that are about to go out, barely outlining a circle of light.

A pungent smell filled the air, filled with the choking smell of coal smoke and the sour and damp smell of decay.

When Gu Ji took a breath, it felt like he had inhaled a handful of sharp needles, stinging his nose and throat and making him cough uncontrollably.

He quickly put on the S10 gas mask on his face and followed the vehicle arranged by White to the western suburbs of London to coordinate the arrangements with the City Hall.

I can also stop by Volut, take the car out, and then test Bakken's attitude.

There were almost no pedestrians on the way to the western suburbs.

Gu Ji and the driver could only judge from the coughing sounds or light sources. Occasionally, one or two vague outlines moved with difficulty in the fog, like ghosts.

They wrapped their coats tightly, lowered their heads, covered their mouths and noses with scarves in one hand, held coal lamps in the other, and walked hurriedly but carefully, fearing that they would accidentally bump into any obstacles.

But when the lighting turned on and he saw Gu Ji wearing a mask in the car, he was so scared that he ran away in a hurry.

Obviously, they regarded Gu Ji as some terrible criminal.

Because along the way, he heard more than once the sound of glass being smashed or passers-by screaming, indicating that someone was taking the opportunity to commit a crime.

"Turn left ahead, you should be there!"

"Really! I didn't expect you to have such a good memory. Even with such severe smog, you can still tell the direction!"

Along the way, the driver relied on Gu Ji to give directions.

He said that he had been driving in this area for a long time, but in fact, it was all thanks to the ORS satellite.

"Go find the mayor first, I'll meet you later!"

After getting off the car and saying something, Gu Ji turned around and came to the gate of the yard where Volut Company was located.

Gone all afternoon.

The door had already been closed, and he could only vaguely see the lights on in the house. He knocked several times.

A moment later, two dark figures appeared near the iron gate silently like ghosts, and asked vigilantly:

"Who are you?"

"I'm Henk. I came here to fix the car this morning. I'm a friend of Bakken's!"

When Gu Ji heard that the voices of the people coming were not Baken and Paul, he immediately began to explain and spread out his hands to indicate that he posed no threat.

Because he could vaguely see the shadow of a long black pole held in both hands of a person.

A normal stick would never be held in this position.

So, it's a gun!

Gu Ji was not surprised as to why the people from Volut got the guns.

Because modern Britain itself allows civilians to legally own guns, not to mention in 1952, when people had just experienced World War II and almost every household had one or two hunting rifles.

"Henk? I think I've heard of this name..."

"Let him in first. I've seen him. This is the sound of him wearing a gas mask."

The two men discussed for a while before opening the iron gate.

Only when he got closer could Gu Ji see their appearance clearly. They were wearing dirty work clothes and the lower half of their faces were wrapped in dark scarves.

"Sorry Henk, it seems there are a lot of criminals in this town tonight, and we have no other choice to protect ourselves!"

"It's okay. I'm sorry for causing you trouble. I'm here to pick up the car."

"Don't worry, although the smog is severe, fortunately the damage to the front of your car is not serious and has been repaired."

The three of them talked as they walked.

Although Gu Ji should have returned to pick up the car long ago, he should have rushed to the steel factory to pick up "his" boss, the sarcastic white old woman, before evening.

But London is now in chaos.

I'm afraid that old white woman has no time to take care of him. Even if she calls the police and accuses him of stealing a car, there is no way to arrest him at this time.

So Gu Ji didn't take the agreement seriously at all.

"Okay, the vehicle is fine, thank you for your hard work!"

He took a quick look and then looked back at the house. "Is your boss Buchan in the house? I want to thank him in person."

Gu Jiben planned to take this opportunity to get some more information.

But what he didn't expect was that the older worker just shook his head and sighed, "Our boss is not here. He went out with Paul this morning and hasn't come back yet!"

"Are you still discussing business?"

Gu Ji knew that Baken was in a hurry to leave in the morning, apparently in order to win a big order from a research institute.

Another young worker then spoke up:

"We called the research institute to check. The boss and Paul had left in the afternoon, and they haven't returned for more than four hours!"

"Four hours..."

Gu Ji frowned slightly.

Although the smog seriously affected London's public transportation, four hours was enough for the two of them to walk back, even if they had to rely entirely on their own legs.

If they really encountered difficulties, they would at least find a hotel to stay in, or use a public telephone booth to report their safety to employees at the company or home.

"Henk, you're back from outside. Tell us what the city of London is like now. Our boss..." (End of this chapter)