Peace and Business (5)

When the British Army stationed in Dublin arrived at the Governor's House, the despicable attackers had long since vanished. The Governor's House was a scene of ruins, littered with corpses. As the soldiers cleared the bodies, several more explosions occurred—the attackers had planted booby traps near the corpses. For example, one corpse had a thin thread tied to its belt, connected to a landmine. Several similar traps were also placed behind doors and windows.

As a result, more than a dozen British Army who arrived were killed or wounded by the bombing, so much so that everyone was terrified as they continued to search inside.

The British Army cautiously searched until they reached the governor's office door. The mahogany door was ajar, as if the occupant was still inside. Everyone looked at each other, none daring to push the door open—who knew if it would crash open with a loud bang?

"Um, does anyone have something longer?" a captain asked.

"I remember there was half a flagpole over there," a soldier shouted. "I'll go get it."

Then the soldier went out, and then—"Boom!"

"Captain, Captain, Jim is dead!"

"Damn it!" The captain slammed his hat to the ground in anger. "Damn it! Harry, go outside the governor's mansion, go to that house over there, and requisition a clothesline!"

A short soldier responded and ran out. After a while, he returned carrying several clotheslines.

"Company commander, there are a few clotheslines here. Let's connect them together; it'll be safer that way."

"Excellent! The young man is quick-witted!" the captain praised.

Several people hurriedly tied the clotheslines together. The captain waved his hand, and everyone silently retreated to the back. The captain lay down on the ground, extended the nearly ten-meter-long, tied-together pole, and carefully braced it against the door. The door opened silently—no explosion occurred.

The captain angrily got up, remembering Jim had been killed by the explosion while trying to retrieve the broken flagpole. He suddenly felt a pain and rage that his intelligence had been trampled on.

Despite his anger, the captain told himself he had to stay calm, otherwise he might fall into a trap.

He cautiously approached the doorway and peered inside, only to see a naked, obese corpse hanging beneath the crystal chandelier in the center of the office. The captain recognized the body; it was none other than Governor-General Duke of Bedford!

"This is a serious matter!" the captain thought. "I wonder how many people will lose their heads because of this..."

At this moment, the other soldiers also came in one after another.

"Don't wander off, don't touch anything! And don't put him down, be careful of explosives," the captain urged.

"Company commander, the governor has writing on his body!" a soldier shouted.

The captain, who had been focused on spotting landmines, quickly looked at the duke's body upon hearing this. He then saw that the thugs had carved the following words into the duke's chest with knives. "The fate of invaders!"

Just then, a gust of wind blew in, and the Duke's hanging corpse began to turn, revealing his back to them. On it were also carved a line of words. "This is your tomorrow!" And a long knife was stuck in the middle of his buttocks.

It took the Britain more than half an hour to confirm that no booby traps had been planted at the Duke's residence— the Ireland bandits had left explosives there for fear that an explosion would damage their message.

The Ireland attack shocked all of Britain and even all of Europe. After all, the British Empire had lost a duke, a figure of such stature, in many years.

In his House of Commons of Commons, Prime Minister Pitt condemned the "horrific" crimes committed by the France in collusion with insurgents within Britain, which violated "basic morality of war," and vowed "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." He also requested additional funds from Parliament to recruit and train more troops to quell the rebellion in Ireland.

"We will make those rebels regret it. We will make them and their descendants never dare to look us in the eye again, and never dare to entertain the thought of rebellion again!"

Prime Minister Pitt made these remarks.

And what about the other Europe countries? Prussia expressed deep regret over the incident and hoped that everyone would exercise restraint and refrain from actions that would further escalate the situation, as peace is hard to come by.

Austria stated, "France merchants should control their arms exports, especially to unstable regions. After all, weapons are not ordinary commodities, and merchants should also consider ethical issues."

The Russia expressed some sympathy for the Britain, believing that the France should stop exporting these dangerous weapons, especially those that were easy to conceal. However, the new Tsar also stated that the Britain should reflect on their actions in Ireland.

Even His Holiness the Pope issued a statement, expressing his hope that Ireland Catholicism would not be treated unjustly after this tragic event, and calling on the Britain government to learn from this lesson and stop persecuting Catholicism in Ireland.

As for the France, Lucien stated in the National Assembly: "What is happening in Ireland is not a rebellion, but a desperate cry from the oppressed and enslaved. The great France people will always stand with the oppressed and enslaved people of the world, and will always stand with truth and justice. We are not afraid of the blustering cries of the Britain; we will continue to support the Ireland people's struggle for freedom and liberation!"

Of course, after stepping down from the National Assembly podium, Lucien, under heavy guard, visited the Minister of Police Fouché, to discuss in depth how to combat possible sabotage by Britain terrorists.

As for Ireland, British Army have already set out to suppress the areas where the rebels are most likely to be hiding...

A troop of Britain cavalry charged into a remote Ireland village. Company Commander William Tahuidun. was ordered to suppress the rebels. Of course, the rebels would never admit to being rebels. So, he told his soldiers: any Ireland who ran away at the sight of us was a rebel terrified of us; any Ireland who didn't run away were elite, well-trained rebels; any Ireland who claimed to be a rebel was a lawless rebel; and any Ireland who denied being a rebel was the most dangerous and cunning—in short, cut off their heads and burn their villages down.

However, when the cavalry charged into the small village, they found it deserted. All the doors were tightly shut.

"Where are they? Where did everyone go?" Tahuidun looked around in confusion.

"I refuse to believe they can all hide underground!" said Company Commander Tahuidun. "Dismount and find those guys!"

The cavalrymen dismounted, and one of them went over and kicked open the door of a dilapidated house, then—"Boom!"

"Don't go inside! Set fire to the house, burn it all down!" shouted Company Commander Tahuidun.

Someone went to the woodpile to gather firewood in preparation for burning the house, when it seemed like they stepped on something—"Boom!" Then, a foot wearing a leather boot landed right in front of Company Commander Tahuidun.

Just then, a gunshot rang out from afar, and a soldier fell to the ground.

"Traitor! The traitor is over there!" Tahuidun drew his sword and pointed to the left. Everyone looked to the left and saw a figure holding a gun, running forward.

The cavalrymen then opened fire on the man, but their guns were short and inaccurate. So several cavalrymen mounted their horses, drew their sabers, and spurred their steeds after him. Then—another loud "boom"...

At that moment, several more shots came from another direction.

"Traitors! The traitors are over there!"

A soldier ran to a corner, trying to avoid the rebels' gunfire, but—there was another loud "boom".

Bullets were flying from all directions. However, the rebels didn't have many guns, and their firepower was very limited. But as the British Army dodged the fire or tried to pursue, there were constant "booms." These "booms" caused considerable casualties to the British Army.

Tahuidun realized that if things continued this way, he would continue to suffer losses. Moreover, darkness was approaching, and who knew how many rebels would appear after nightfall... So he shouted, "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat back the way you came!"

The cavalrymen mounted their horses and rode back along the same route. During this process, two more cavalrymen were hit and fell. But Tahuidun could no longer care about them; he led the remaining cavalrymen and fled on their own.

Watching the fleeing British Army in disarray, the Ireland guerrilla fighters lying in ambush around the village smiled with delight. Before this battle, their observation post on a nearby hilltop had first spotted Captain Tahuidun's cavalry and felled a signal tree. Then, the guerrilla fighters organized the villagers to hide in the nearby forest and cocked the landmines they had already placed in the village.

The outcome of this battle was even better than their exercises at the Toulon Training Camp. The Britain fell into their trap almost every step of the way, and in the end, the Britain fled in disarray, leaving behind more than a dozen corpses, without losing a single man. They didn't even have time to destroy the village. How could such an result not fill these soldiers with pride?

So, someone started it, and everyone began singing a lively and uplifting song they had learned at the Toulon Training Camp:

"Lay landmines, pick up your guns, and set up battlefields all over the mountains and fields. Resolutely eliminate the invaders and arm yourselves to defend our homeland..."