Fox of France

"This group of bastards! Scumbags! What are they doing!" The Duke of Norfolk viciously threw the document reporting the battle situation to the ground, then chased after him without grace, and kicked the document again.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, although our army suffered a little loss...but...the loss does not seem to be large...Your Excellency..." Adjutant Orkin said in a panic from the side.

"It's not a matter of losses, it's a long fight, at least until the French withdraw their dirty hands, for sure! A loss like this is totally expected, don't say such a small loss, Even a loss ten times larger than this is expected by the United Kingdom. Tony, do you think I will be so angry because more than forty people died?"

"The governor, you..."

The Duke of Norfolk had calmed down at this time, he said: "Because the commander of this team, after suffering such a loss, in order to vent his anger, he actually called... what is the village called?"

"Blackstone Village." Holkin added.

"Yes, it's Heishi Village. That idiot killed all the remaining villagers in Heishi Village in order to vent his anger, and said that this was a warning to the gangsters. This idiot, he doesn't understand, in this When, when he arrives hours later, are the villagers willing to stay where they are, at least not directly rebelling against our rule? What the hell is he doing? He's driving all the Irish Are you going to the rebels? Who is he working for? Us, or those rebels!" At this point, the Duke of Norfolk, who had calmed down, became angry again.

"Tony, I came to Ireland and made the form here very good, but this idiot, scum, lost all his efforts at once..." Speaking of this, Norfolk The Duke sat down on the chair weakly, reached out and took off the monocle on the bridge of his nose, threw it on the table, and closed his eyes. After a while, he waved his hand and said:

"Well, Tony, what's the name of that idiot, help me find out, and then let this idiot retire, otherwise, God knows what stupid things he will do!"

Holkin walked over to pick up the document, turned it over a bit, and said with a troubled look: "My lord governor, that..."

"What's wrong?" The Duke of Norfolk opened his eyes.

"The battalion commander, his surname is Taverton, if I'm not mistaken, he is the son of Earl Taverton." Holkin replied.

"Son of Taverton?" The Duke of Norfolk sat up straight. The Earl of Taffington is a member of the Tory Party in the House of Lords and has a lot of influence. And because he also belongs to the Tory Party, and has a good relationship with the Duke of Norfolk.

"Damn it! How could this old fox, Taverton, have such a stupid son! This is really... However, it seems that we shouldn't beat young people to death with a stick, Tony, don't you think? Young people, you have to allow it." They made a mistake... but give him a little advice..."

Company Commander Taffington, no, is already a battalion commander. In the previous "noose" operation, he performed well and was promoted. Of course, like him, there are many officers who performed well in eliminating those unarmed "untrained rebels", but not many can get such a promotion. After all, not everyone has a member of the House of Lords Dad's.

Becoming the battalion commander made Taffing feel a little smug, but the incident two days ago gave him another blow in the head.

Not long after it got dark that night, a guard came to tell him that the beacon fire was found in the due west direction, and judging from the recorded position, it should be Heishi Village. If it was Taffington who had just arrived in Ireland, most of them would immediately take the team and rush there. But now Ta Huidun just thought about it, and then said: "The Irish rebels are very cunning, and it is easy for them to take advantage of them when they attack at night. Everyone, be vigilant and don't give those rebels an opportunity."

Of course, Battalion Commander Taffington did not say a word, that is: "Anyway, there are only some worthless Irish policemen in Blackstone Village. For these worthless things, let the soldiers of the United Kingdom take risks. It's a hole in the head!"

So until it was completely bright and the sun had risen high, Tahuidun led two hundred people along the main road towards Heishi Village.

In order to avoid a possible ambush, the British cut down the woods that grew near the road for concealment. In this way, it becomes more difficult for the guerrillas to ambush the British army.

But what Ta Huidun didn't expect was that because of the influence of some behind-the-scenes black hands, there was no need for a brigade to ambush or something.

Hidden in the grass just ahead were two 9-inch by 4-inch squares painted in grass green and dark green camouflage. Because of the color, these two things can't be seen clearly at a distance. But if you really go to the front and take a closer look, you will see that there is a small black French line at the bottom of the side of the two small squares facing the road: "This side is facing the enemy."

This is one of the latest weapons that France has recently provided to the Irish guerrillas-the broadsword directional mine. This weapon is naturally a later work pirated by Joseph.

Behind this kind of landmine are two long copper wires. The copper wires are buried in the soil and extend to the back of an earth beam that is also covered with weeds about a hundred meters away. Behind the earth beam, a person was watching the British army approaching the explosion point closely with a periscope.

On the side of that road, there are two inconspicuous stones. Stones like this are everywhere in Ireland. But at this time, these two stones have a unique meaning: between the two stones is the coverage area of ​​the two broad swords directed by the mine.

Taffington rode on horseback, and several other cavalrymen walked in front of the procession, and the infantry fell a little behind. So if they were to be included in the coverage area, the number of people entering the coverage area would be a lot less. Therefore, the guerrillas hiding behind the earth beam let him go.

The infantry behind gradually entered the coverage area of ​​the broadsword. The man looking into the periscope raised his hand, then waved it down slightly. Another guerrilla next to him shook the handle of a small hand generator violently. Immediately afterwards, there was an explosion from the "Broad Sword" directional mine in the distance.

The Bonaparte version of the broadsword has a similar structure to the "broadsword" of later generations. Its back is a curved iron plate, and the front of the iron plate is evenly placed nitrostarch explosives. Because the explosive power of nitrated starch is unstable, the weight of explosives is much more than that of the later version of the broad sword. And in front of the explosives are eight hundred iron beads, and outside the iron beads is a thin wooden shell.

After the explosion, eight hundred iron beads swept across the British army's marching ranks like a big broom.

Tahuidun, who was walking in front, was startled by the explosion. He jumped off his horse and hid behind the horse. Then he poked his head out of the saddle and looked around, but he didn't see anything. Then he turned his head and glanced at his team, and was stunned.

The ground was covered with the corpses of British soldiers, many of which were almost inhuman. And more people fell to the ground, moaning loudly with all kinds of strange sounds that didn't seem to be made by humans.

It took Tahuidun a long time to recover from such a thunderous blow. He counted the number of people, and found that among the two hundred people he brought out, except for some cavalry who walked in front with him and some people who fell behind, the rest were either injured or simply dead. Just these two broadswords made the British army of two hundred people lose their combat effectiveness.

Naturally, it was impossible to go to Heishi Village again, so Tahuidun could only take the dead and wounded soldiers back the same way.

After going back, Ta Huidun became more and more angry. After returning to the stronghold, he checked the details and found that a total of forty-two people had died, and more than eighty people were injured to varying degrees. His anger was even more uncontainable. So Tahuidun, who lost his mind, immediately took the rest of the troops and went straight to Heishi Village again.

This time, he did not encounter any obstacles, and the British army directly reached Heishi Village.

At this time, although there were no more black dogs in Heishi Village, the villagers who were worried about the future still returned to the village within the stipulated time. So when Taverton arrived at Blackstone Village, the villagers were all in the village.

When the villagers saw the British soldiers coming, they thought they were only asking questions about themselves. Some people are still thinking about how to clear themselves or something. Who knew that after the arrival of the British army, they would start killing without saying a word.

"Kill! Kill them all! Kill these Irish bastards!" roared Taffington.

And so began a massacre...

The evil consequences of Tavern's massacre were soon revealed. Fleeing appeared in various villages, and the guerrillas learned more information through these fugitives, so they stepped up their efforts to deal with those fugitives. Attack on a village controlled by Heigouzi. With their help, in just one month, more than a thousand Irish farmers in Kilkenshire alone fled the quasi-law-and-order area and went to the non-law-and-order area controlled by the guerrillas.

Facing the current situation, the Duke of Norfolk formulated two plans after thinking about it.

First, it is recommended that the Navy build more clipper ships to intercept French smuggling ships.

Second, mobilize manpower and material resources to prepare for a second round of sweeps against the areas controlled by the guerrillas.

Thirdly, study and train the officers in the British army in batches, so that they can understand the interests and policies of the United Kingdom, and not do the United Kingdom a disservice.