Fox of France

Before coming to Ireland, the Duke of Norfolk still made some serious preparations. He studied some previous battles between the rebel army and the British army, and found a characteristic of the Irish rebels in combat—they basically had no battles against strongholds. The Duke of Norfolk believed that this showed one point, that is, these rebels There is no ability to attack tough problems, at least the ability to attack tough ones is insufficient. This would be a weakness that the British Army could exploit.

Secondly, the British army suffered some losses in the previous battles. The Duke of Norfolk believed that this was mainly due to the dispersion of troops and their mistaken entry into the enemy's ambush circle. However, it can also be seen from these battle examples that the combat capability of the Irish rebels is still obviously inferior to that of the British army—their attacks mainly rely on harassment and landmines, and few of them can completely wipe out the British army, even if there is only one platoon of the British army. battle examples.

Of course, the Duke also realized that the Irish rebels also had many advantages. For example, most of Ireland supported the rebels, at least, they supported the rebels spiritually. Even some Irishmen who are still serving the United Kingdom are no exception.

The Irish are unreliable, but for the time being they have to be used in many places. This gave the Irish rebels another advantage, and that was the intelligence advantage.

"Everyone, looking at some of the previous battles, if our army does not disperse, we will not be able to find those rebels at all; and once our army disperses, we will be attacked by superior rebels. If this problem cannot be solved, Our work may be half the effort." At the military meeting before the expedition, the Duke of Norfolk said to the officers below.

"In fact, the problem of Ireland is not a military problem, at least the military is not the main problem. The main problem is a political problem. Therefore, to solve the problem of the Irish rebellion, it must be a combination of political and military means. Even seven-point politics, Three points military.

What is this seven-point politics? The first is to clean up the spies. You know that we are blind and deaf if our every move is under the enemy's sight, and we are ignorant of the enemy's movements. A man who is blind and deaf, even if he is as strong as Samson, who can beat him? So, our first step is to have to gouge out their eyes. Then find a way to buy those who are willing to cooperate with us and let them become our eyes, so that we can win the real victory.

The second is that our actions must be cautious, and we can no longer easily step into the enemy's trap as before. Everyone, look at this map. On this map, I have divided the whole of Ireland into three types of regions.

The first type of area is one that we have complete control over, like where we are now. I call such areas security zones. Marked as a green area on the map. In this area, the enemy mainly operates underground, and their main method of destruction is to steal various secrets.

The second type of area is an area where both our forces and the forces of the rebels can penetrate to a high degree, such as the outskirts of the cities we control. These places are close to us, and the time required for our army to respond is very short. The enemy's forces are not absent in these areas, but they can only operate on a small scale, with limited action. I call such areas quasi-law and order areas, marked orange on the map.

The third type of area is the area controlled by the rebels. Most of these areas are rural areas, far away from our stronghold, and places that are difficult for us to control are the lairs of the rebels. The rebels can operate openly in this area, but those who are inclined to us can only carry out underground activities if they come to these areas. I call this area the non-law and order area.

Gentlemen, in different regions, our tasks are different. In the security area, our main task is to catch the spies and make the rebels blind.

We must formulate a strict confidentiality system to avoid leakage of secrets, and at the same time strengthen public security and eliminate bandits and spies. We're going to have strict ID and household checks, and everyone in the city must have a document that shows their identity, well, we can call it a 'good citizen card', Irish people who hold a 'good citizen card' must have a surety , you can let them serve as each other's guarantors. Once anyone is a spy or has contacts with a spy, all the guarantors will be punished together.

In addition, we also want to organize here to find the Irish on our side, give them certain powers and benefits, let them deal with those Irish spies, and even use them to help us fight in the second and third types of areas.

Gentlemen, our forces are limited, and we have so much to control, the United Kingdom now has to fight France, expand overseas, and suppress such rebellions. If the United Kingdom needs to invest too much power in Ireland, then even if we win, it may well be strategically outweighed.

So, everyone, don't imagine mobilizing 300,000 to 500,000 troops from the country to suppress the rebellion. Although this is not completely impossible, if it really reaches such a point, the United Kingdom will definitely pay a greater price in other regions . If it really gets to this point, all of you, including me, will be the laughingstock of the whole of the United Kingdom for your incompetence. Therefore, it is the most economical and reasonable way to use the Irish to fight the Irish. I hope everyone can understand this.

In the second type of areas, we must gradually strengthen our presence, we must establish more strongholds in these areas, expand our control surface, we must protect those who are willing to support us, and those who are inclined to rebels People, we have to hit hard.

In this area, we will build a strong fort in every village and station some troops. Between several small strongholds, set up a large stronghold and station an army that can quickly support other strongholds in battle. We also need to establish roads between these strongholds to facilitate mutual support. In addition, it is necessary to build blockade walls and blockade trenches that can prevent the enemy from moving quickly.

Ultimately, we want the people in this area to raise their heads and see our watchtowers; lower their heads, they can see our blockades; to our detective team. Only in this way can we consolidate these areas and turn the second type of areas into the first type of areas.

As for the third type of areas, now we are mainly attacking by force.

Gentlemen, the rebels are unable to fight our army head-on, and our army must insist on operating in large military groups in the third type of area and not easily disperse our forces. The combat goal of our army is not only to arm the rebels themselves, but also the basis for the existence of the rebels. Those rebels existed because the Irish in those places supported them. And those Irish people supported them because they felt that the rebels could bring them benefits.

Therefore, the actions of our army are to persuade them, let them recognize the reality, and let them realize that the rebels cannot protect them, and even only bring them pain. In this way, they will no longer dare to support the rebels. Without the support of these Irish farmers, the rebels would be vulnerable.

So, everyone, the principle of our army's actions in the non-public order area is to make the Irish in this area fear and suffer as much as possible. To put it more simply, it is..."

Speaking of this, the Duke of Norfolk stood up, leaning forward with his hands on the table, his eyes gleaming fiercely: "Kill any moving thing we see, whether it's a man or a woman or a child; burn Take away every building we see, whether it's a mansion or a hut; take anything of value we can, whether it's money, objects or just a chicken.

Gentlemen, this is a politically necessary move, and this is our policy! You must strictly implement this policy. Any hesitation or so-called sympathy or chivalry is a betrayal to His Majesty the King and the United Kingdom—do you understand? "

All the officers stood up at the same time and replied loudly: "Understood!"

"Very good." The Duke of Norfolk said, "Please sit down, everyone. Now let me explain the goal of our operation. The goal of our operation is to cause a huge panic in the non-public security area, thereby weakening the rebellion. The power of the bandits will help us consolidate the security zone and buy time for us to be free from interference in the quasi-security zone.

Ladies and gentlemen, the more you kill, the more you burn, and the more you loot in non-security areas. The more we consolidate the law and order areas, the more likely we will succeed in operations in quasi-law and order areas. This time our plan of action is called 'Noose'. Now, let our General Anderson arrange the specific battle arrangements..."

After the meeting, the 40,000 British troops moved quickly. They were divided into eight teams and set off from Dublin to sweep eastward. According to their battle plan, the 40,000 troops will first encircle the large rural areas east of Dublin, and then the encirclement will gradually tighten like a noose. British troops will destroy everything in the area they pass through.

According to the plan, in the end, a large number of rebels and farmers who supported the rebels will be surrounded in a gradually shrinking encirclement and finally resolved. The Duke of Norfolk believes that if this battle can be successful, it will deal a heavy blow to the Irish and reverse the situation in Ireland in one fell swoop.

Regarding this operation, the Duke of Norfolk believed that his chances of success should be quite high. First, only a limited number of high-ranking military officers had knowledge of the entire program, making leaks very unlikely. Secondly, even if the purpose of this plan was leaked, he did not think that the rebels could transfer all the farmers in such a large area in such a short period of time. So now, His Excellency the Duke feels that he only needs to wait for the good news in the Governor's Mansion.