Night Raid

Early that morning, Matt and his father got up from their shack to leave the village and head to the fields to rid the potatoes with soil. This was the busiest time of day for farming. The potatoes in the field had already sprouted small buds, which meant that underground, the tops of the potato runners were beginning to swell and form small tubers. If the soil wasn't mounded in time, it would affect the growth of the tubers, thus reducing the yield.

A group of farmers arrived at the village entrance. The village was surrounded by a moat about twelve or thirteen feet wide and more than two people deep, with pointed wooden stakes stuck at the bottom. Due to groundwater seepage and rain, there was about half a foot of water at the bottom of the moat.

At the village entrance, there was a retractable wooden plank bridge spanning the moat. Several Irish Security Force officers stood there, checking people leaving the village.

The Britain forcibly concentrated people from several nearby villages into this one village, claiming it would make management easier. But this actually caused a lot of difficulties for the local people. First, there was the issue of housing. Some people whose homes were originally in the village were fine, but those who were forcibly relocated from other villages had no place to live and had to find some branches and clods of earth to build themselves a makeshift shack.

The second problem was that the distance from here to their cultivated fields was very far, and the journey took a lot of time. The Britain also imposed a curfew in these villages; until dawn, the Ireland Security Army's "black dogs" (they wore black uniforms, hence their nickname) wouldn't let anyone leave the village. But in the afternoon, usually after lunch—or at most a moment for a drink of water—these "black dogs" would pack up the planks. Those who hadn't returned by then were unable to enter the village.

Then, according to Britain custom, if a villager failed to return to the village on time, he was considered a suspect and needed to be investigated. Once investigated, even if he could prove that he had not colluded with the rebels and that it was his first time violating the curfew, he would still be whipped. If it was a second time, he would be sent to a place like a quarry to serve a year of hard labor. If he returned after a year of hard labor and violated the law again, he would be hanged.

In this way, the lives of almost everyone in the village were in the hands of those black dogs. Those guys deliberately delayed opening the gates and opened them earlier, so those who couldn't get into the village had no choice but to bribe them to survive.

Matt's land was about four miles (6.5 kilometers) from the village. Even if he ran all the way back, he could only work in the fields for less than an hour before having to rush back. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to get back before the black dogs took down the plank bridge. However, a few days ago, Matt's father had just delivered some money to Hulahan, the leader of the black dogs.

Captain Hulahan was notorious for his greed and ruthlessness. After arriving here, he used various means to send ten people to the gallows and more than twenty people to the quarry within a month. Through such methods, he forced everyone to bow down and pay tribute to him.

Captain Hulahan wasn't particularly satisfied with the amount Matt's father presented, but he accepted the money nonetheless, only having Matt's father sign an IOU. After that, Captain Hulahan generously allowed them to stay out a little later each day.

Of course, Captain Hulahan didn't specify exactly how late it was. He only said, "I'm Ireland too, how could I not know that this is the time when potatoes are budding? If you don't grow them well, when will you ever pay me back the money you owe me? Don't worry, you're working for me now, why would I make things difficult for myself?"

Captain Hulahan indeed stopped causing trouble for everyone on such matters after that. Even if they returned late, anyone who had "borrowed" money from Captain Hulahan was allowed into the village. It's said that Hulahan's men suggested this wasn't safe, and that the farmers should simply find a way to spend the night in the fields and be allowed in at dawn. Hulahan, however, dismissed this, saying, "Those rebels are long gone. What's there to be afraid of? Besides, Robert's mounted police sometimes patrol at night; if they run into these people, it'll be a problem, no matter how small."

Many others, like Matt's family, had also gotten in through Captain Hulahan's connections. They left the village together and hurried back to their fields.

On the way, Matt passed through his former village, which had been burned to the ground. Matt remembered that when they were forcibly evicted, an old man in the village hugged a big tree at the village entrance and said he would never leave, even if it meant death. Then a Britain soldier fulfilled his vow with his bayonet. To this day, there is still a deep bayonet mark on that tree at the village entrance.

Matt's field is right next to the old village. The lush green potatoes are growing well now and have started to form tiny flower buds. In about ten days, the field will be covered with pure white flowers.

This period is also the most crucial time for potato growth. If they don't manage the potatoes properly during this period and it affects the harvest, not only will the family not be able to feed themselves, but they also won't be able to pay the money they "borrowed" from Captain Hulahan, or the rent from Viscount Anderson. And neither of these two men is someone Matt's family can afford to offend.

The farmers then began working in the fields. Since Captain Hulahan had allowed them to stay a little longer, they simply worked a little longer. They worked until the setting sun painted the sky red before packing up and heading back.

By the time everyone reached the village entrance, the sun had already set and the moon had risen. A group of farmers, carrying various farming tools, walked to the village gate. If some bourgeois individuals from later generations were to see this scene, they might very well feign a refined interest and utter a line like, "Rising at dawn to tend the weedy fields, returning home with hoes under the moon."

However, at this moment, no one was in such a leisurely mood; they were all just waiting for Captain Hulahan to pave the plank bridge so they could enter the village.

A plank, much narrower than in the morning and only wide enough for one person to pass through, was handed over and placed across the trench. Several Irish Security Force soldiers stood there, armed with knives and guns and holding torches.

"Come here one by one. When you come over, put down your farm tools and raise your hands so we can search you."

The villagers then walked across the narrow plank bridge one by one, placed their farm tools on the ground, and raised their hands for the black dogs to search them. The black dogs would search each person before allowing the next one to come over.

After a while, just as it was about to be Matt 'Matt father's turn, someone suddenly cut in front of him and stepped onto the plank bridge.

"Who's this?" Matt asked softly.

The man was carrying a hoe, and the brim of his hat hung down slightly, obscuring part of his face. He walked steadily over, bent down, placed the hoe on the ground, and then raised his hands so that the black dog could search him.

Two black dogs approached, and one of them reached out to take off his hat. But at that moment, the man suddenly lowered his raised hands, flicked his wrists, and two knives appeared in his previously empty hands. He thrust the knives forward, plunging them into the throats of the two approaching black dogs.

The two black men carrying rifles panicked and quickly grabbed their rifles, ready to fire. But by then, the man had already pulled the knives from the throats of the two wounded men. With a flick of his wrist, the two knives flew out and accurately pierced the eye sockets of the two men who were about to raise their guns to aim.

The one who made the move was Villefort. He had just killed the four Ireland policemen, but a sudden, extremely dangerous feeling welled up inside him—a feeling that had saved his life more than once on the battlefield. Without thinking twice, he ducked and rolled to the ground. Almost simultaneously, two gunshots rang out from the darkness, two bullets hitting the spot where he had just been standing— Hulahan wasn't entirely unprepared; he had two sentries hidden nearby. It was just that Villefort's movements were so fast that they barely had time to react.

In the instant he rolled to the ground, Villefort had already drawn two revolvers from his back. He fired several shots at the spot where the flash had just appeared, then heard a muffled groan and the sound of a body falling to the ground, followed by the sound of someone dropping their rifle and running away in the darkness. The man shouted, "The guerrillas are in! The guerrillas are in!"

At that moment, more people rushed across the bridge, guns in hand, and stormed into the village. Matt saw that his father was among them.

"Follow me, I know the way! I know where they are!" Matt's father shouted.

Villefort then followed Matt's father and rushed in with some other soldiers.

The battle that followed was almost entirely one-sided. When the guerrilla fighters shouted "Lay down and you will not be killed," almost all the Ireland policemen chose to surrender. But Hulahan was nowhere to be found. After hearing the gunfire, he immediately lit the prepared signal fire and then disappeared into the darkness.

Now that the signal fire had been lit, the guerrillas had to consider the possibility of Britain reinforcements. Estimating the distance, if the Britain came out immediately after spotting the signal fire, they could reach them in about two hours. Of course, it wasn't certain whether the Britain would dare to come out on such a night. If they did, then Villefort had truly prepared a surprise for them.

Even so, they had to consider retreating. The guerrillas gathered the villagers and told them they were an anti-British guerrilla force, there to protect the Ireland. They also told them that the Britain might retaliate against the villagers after they arrived, but the villagers could choose to abandon the village and follow them to the "free land" where the Britain dared not easily go. In the end, most of the villagers who were relocated chose to follow the guerrillas, while most of the original villagers chose to stay.