Marsh

After releasing a bunch of confusing messages like "We'll set off tomorrow to sweep through," "We'll depart this afternoon," and "The sweep will officially begin in a month," the British Army prepared to officially send troops.

The British Army first adjusted the defenses of those outposts, and the troops originally stationed there, including the "Irish Security Force," were transferred out and replaced with new troops, which were newly transferred Britain recruits. Then the Britain divided the tens of thousands of troops they had gathered into two routes and marched towards Ireland's largest non-security zone.

Although the base area was subject to excessive interference from information, it was still difficult to keep such a large-scale troop deployment a secret. In addition to relying on intelligence workers in the security and quasi-security areas, as well as the "Irish Security Force" that were operating in both areas, some scouts of the Irish Independence Army, as well as county brigades, district squads, and village guerrilla groups near the British Army- controlled areas, were also on high alert and ready to deal with any British Army sweeps.

On the outskirts of the base, because the British Army frequently launched rapid campaigns (the British Army used the high mobility of its cavalry to harass the villages in these areas, attempting to gradually erode these areas), the villages here were more diligent and meticulous in their early warning systems than those in other areas.

During the day, the men went to work in the fields, and the women went to help. The guerrillas on duty kept watch on the main roads, while the teenagers herded the sheep out to graze, also keeping watch on the open paths and carrying out their guard duties. (It wasn't the first or second time that Britain cavalry, led by traitors, had sneaked into the base area through the paths to commit crimes.)

The children were also warned of a possible large-scale Britain army invasion of their bases, and they became more vigilant.

Early this morning, Alice and her friends herded a few lambs to the small hill north of the village. There was a nice meadow there, and they could also keep an eye on the nearby roads from the hill.

A message tree stands on the hill, visible from the direction of the village.

Of course, the message tree cannot be felled casually, because if the villagers see the message tree fall, they will all immediately move to the swamp refuge, and no farm work can be done that day. If it is just a false alarm, then it is too much of a loss.

So the children had a division of labor. When only one or two people came, two older boys, Michael and Thomas, would go forward with short spears to question them, while the other children would guard the message tree. If anything happened, they would immediately knock down the message tree to send an alarm to the village.

Of course, if too many people arrive, and they are not the people we agreed upon beforehand, then we should not hesitate to drop the message tree, and then take the flock of sheep and head directly to the swamp refuge.

After climbing the hill, the children let the sheep graze on the grass below, while they gazed into the distance and chattered amongst themselves.

The early morning hours are the most dangerous time, requiring heightened vigilance. During this period, the ground is covered in dew, preventing people and horses from raising dust and making them harder to spot. However, by midday, the sun has dried the dew, and people and horses traveling on the road will kick up high clouds of dust, making them visible from a great distance.

The children, while dutifully keeping watch, chatted about the taste of the France candies the old district chief had brought them last time. Michael said dreamily, "The old district chief told me that once we win, we can eat France candies every day, as many as we want..."

As the children chatted and dreamed of their sweet future, Alice, with her sharp eyes, suddenly noticed something moving rapidly in the distance.

"Look what's over there?" Alice exclaimed.

The children all stood on tiptoe and looked in that direction; indeed, there was something moving rapidly toward them.

"Those are enemy cavalry! Quick, quickly lower the message tree!"

The children quickly and clumsily felled the message tree, then Michael and Thomas went down to attach the pins to the landmines on the path, while the others herded the sheep and headed straight for the swamp refuge instead of returning to the village.

As soon as the message tree fell, everyone became alert. The villagers hurriedly gathered their belongings—which had already been packed up in the past few days—and headed towards the swamp refuge. A few young men from the village's guerrilla group, armed with guns, went in that direction. They planned to use sniping to disrupt the enemy as much as possible and buy the villagers time to evacuate.

The villagers met up with the children at the entrance to the swamp refuge. All the children and sheep were there except for Michael and Thomas. They told everyone that Michael and Thomas had gone to attach the landmines. A few people stayed behind and waited a while longer. Then they could faintly hear the sound of landmines exploding.

Everyone waited anxiously for a while before Michael and Thomas ran over, their faces full of excitement.

"You brat, where have you been!" Old Michael went up to teach this naughty boy a lesson.

"We saw two Britain cavalrymen's horses have their legs blown off, and the two Britain fell off their horses headfirst, hahaha..." Michael was still looking smug, completely unaware that his father was about to get angry.

"Alright, alright, it's good that you're back. Let's hurry inside." Several people pulled Old Michael back, and then they all headed towards the shelter together. As they walked, they took away the planks and pulled down the wooden stakes.

A few more gunshots rang out outside; the guerrillas were firing sniper shots at the Britain. They had another route in and out of the shelter, so there was no need for anyone to worry about them. Then thick smoke rose from the direction of the village; it was obvious that the Britain were setting fires.

"If they dare to chase us into the swamp, we'll beat them to death!" a villager said angrily. Although their thatched houses weren't worth much, they were still houses they had built with great effort.

Shortly after the villagers entered the shelter, a group of the British Army and a pack of black dogs arrived at the edge of the swamp.

This time, the British Army came prepared, having prepared a new type of equipment specifically for dealing with the swamps: swamp shoes.

The so-called "swamp shoes" are actually just large wooden boards that can be tied to regular boots. The design is simple, and the principle is also simple: increase the contact area and reduce the pressure. Wearing such shoes, the pressure of the human body on the ground can be reduced by more than half, thus making it less likely to sink in. Of course, this is still not foolproof. If you encounter a particularly thin and deep mud pit, you will still die the same way.

Since entering the swamp is still dangerous, it's only natural that the "security forces" should take the lead in this kind of thing.

The black-skinned men of the security forces were the first to put on these shoes, and then each of them carried a long wooden stick in their hand, walking ahead to scout the way.

This simple design did indeed have a good effect; they walked on the muddy swamp without sinking in, and their movements were much lighter than normal.

"Good." Edward Stafford, the Britain officer supervising from behind, nodded. "We'll stay here and watch them go in, and make sure they capture all those rebels!"

Regardless, entering the swamp remained dangerous, even with swamp shoes. Therefore, the British Army preferred to avoid it if possible. Moreover, from what they knew, the village only had about a hundred people, including women and children. There were only a few dozen adult men, and they were all civilians. Edward felt that while the "police force" was somewhat incompetent, they should be able to handle the situation.

By this time, the guerrilla group had entered the swamp through another passage. They soon spotted the black dogs wearing "swamp shoes" and waddling through the swamp like a flock of ducks.

"Hey, these black dogs have this stuff too? Thompson, you quickly report this to the old village chief. Wade and I will hold them off here for now," team leader Higgins said in a low voice to one of his team members.

The group member nodded and then turned and left.

"Wade, let's split up. You go to the left, I'll go to the right, we'll go from both directions..."

"We'll surround them from both sides." Wade nodded. "I understand."

"Damn it! We'll fire at them from both sides. Remember, fire one shot, then move to another spot. After ten shots, we'll meet up at position one, then lead the enemy to position two. Got it?"

"Understood!"

By this time, the "security force" of over two hundred men had already entered the swamp. Squad leader Hyde was forced by Captain O'Kelly to scout ahead. Visibility in the swamp was poor. Everywhere there were tall and short water plants, cattails and reeds everywhere. Occasionally, there would be a rustling in the reeds, and one or two wild ducks would fly out.

Hyde walked cautiously through the swamp when suddenly a gunshot rang out from his left. At the same time, a black dog beside him let out a scream and collapsed into the mud.

The other black dogs were thrown into chaos. They looked to the left and saw a dense patch of reeds, from which a wisp of pale blue smoke seemed to be rising. At the same time, startled by the gunshot, a large flock of wild ducks flew out from the reeds.

"Traitors! The traitors are on the left, in the reeds on the left! Fire! Fire over there!" Hyde shouted, pointing at the reeds.

So the black dogs quickly turned to the left and started firing wildly at the reeds, sending reed stalks and leaves flying everywhere. Whether they hit anyone or not, nobody noticed. In fact, when they opened fire, they didn't even see if anyone was there.

After this round of shooting was over, Captain O'Kelly took a closer look and realized that two more of his men had fallen.

"I didn't see the Independence Army soldiers fire a shot over there. Are they just pretending to be dead?" O'Kelly thought to himself, and was about to kick the two guys who were pretending to be dead when another gunshot rang out from behind them.

"Captain, Captain, the rebels are over there, behind us!" Hyde shouted again.