If it had been a few months ago, Captain Jarvis had gone down with his men to arrest people, and most of them would have been arrested, and even his own people would have disappeared. Lately, however, the situation has changed a little, for the British army has shrunk its forces, and now the British army is not even smaller than the Irish citizens of Dublin.

In this way, Dublin's "law and order" seems to be a little better than before. At least to catch someone or something, at most, it means that the target is missing, and there will be no more things about the person who went out to arrest the missing.

However, when Jarvis rushed into a small courtyard with his men, he found it empty. Apparently one of them leaked the news.

Jarvis was so angry that he scolded his men for the arrest. Threatened to hand them all over to the British. However, everyone is actually not too afraid, because first of all, the British are too busy with their own affairs, and how can they have time to take care of these small things.

The second is that during this period of time, the British's crackdown on this kind of thing has actually decreased a lot.

It is said that after the British army retreated to Dublin, in order to ensure the defense, it was proposed to the governor of Norfolk that all the Irish in Dublin be killed or expelled.

But both opinions were rejected by the Duke of Norfolk. Commit a massacre? After the massacre, the Irish landed in England with the French army, and then what happened?

The Duke of Norfolk was not afraid that the Irish would retaliate by massacring British civilians at that time. Anyway, it's just a civilian, there's a big deal. But he worries that this approach will greatly increase the cost of compromise. Of course, this is not the most important problem, the most important problem is that at that time, he and his family may also become one of the increased costs. This kind of thing that is not good for the country, the family, or oneself will only be done when there is a hole in the head.

As for the expulsion of the Dubliners, the Duke of Norfolk felt that his men were all idiots! Is it because the rebels outside don't know the details of Dublin, or are they worried that they are too few people?

This attitude above immediately made the people below feel something. After all, those who are in positions of rank are not all fools. So they also immediately realized that the situation was not right, and the guys above were thinking about the back road. Well, everyone should also think about the "good to see each other in the future". And if the pressure is too great, and there is a collective defection or something, the people below can't take responsibility. So even the British, now they are not very accountable for this kind of thing.

It's just that Captain Jarvis is very sad, because a "hardcore lover" like him can't be sure that the British will take him back to England when they retreat. So he needs to hurry up and make more contributions. Otherwise, just think about it, if the Englishman were to remain in Ireland, he would be of some use; What good would it be if the British went back to England?

Just as Captain Jarvis was trembling towards his thoughts, the ranks of the Irish Independence Army began to appear outside Dublin. As a result, the situation became more and more tense.

The Irish Independence Army did not immediately attack Dublin. The defenders of Dublin were numerous and fortified, and in some directions they could be supported by the fire of the cruisers of the navy. Although the Irish Independence Army has high morale and has made great progress in field warfare, its ability to attack fortified positions has always been a big hole. So now they can only isolate and divide a few strongholds of the British. Then wait for reinforcements from the French army.

So, as soon as the Irish Independence Army arrived outside the city, they began to build fortifications to cut Dublin off from the rest of the stronghold on land. However, the British did not care about this, because Dublin is a port, and as long as the sea route is open, this is not a problem.

But then I got a piece of news that made the Duke of Norfolk very worried. That is, they used the balloon to discover a large number of Irish farmers laying a railroad track.

Most of the railway from Dublin to Goville was already under the control of the Irish. Athlone, which had once inflicted a big loss on the Irish, had been abandoned by the British. And when the British retreated, they also demolished a lot of railways, but look at this posture......

The Duke of Norfolk immediately remembered a legend about the Frenchman's cannon of Urban.

Napoleon is said to have complained to Joseph that the defenses he had put up were too annoying. In the past, when France was on the defensive, it was fine, but now France is the strongest in the world, but it always has to face the defense of Joseph, a foreigner, which is really uncomfortable.

So the military-industrial complex launched a so-called "Urban Plan". This plan takes its name from the use of the urban cannon used by the Turkish Empire when it conquered Constantinople. Therefore, some people suspect that the French wanted to create a particularly large siege artillery. Of course, the use of the name of this cannon that once destroyed the Shield of Christ, as the name of the plan, proves once again that France is really the filial son of God. Now that the Irish are building railroads, the Duke of Norfolk naturally remembers this legend.

"If there was a new type of urban cannon, it would probably be moved by rail." The Duke of Norfolk thought.

Historically, the Turks used 400 laborers and 60 cattle to transport the huge "urban cannon", and it took a full six weeks to transport such a huge cannon. On average, only 2.5 miles can be moved per day.

Although the historical Urban cannon could be said to be big and scary at the time, with the progress of the times, it is estimated that a cannon of this size is no longer worthy of the name "Urban Plan". You know, just the 10-inch guns on the British's own battleships weighed more than twenty tons, which was a lot heavier than the historical Urban cannon (17 tons). And Russia's Tsar cannon, which has never been fired, weighs 40 tons. If this kind of cannon is to be transported by land, then the railway is obviously the most suitable means.

However, even with this speculation, the Duke of Norfolk did not have many good methods, he might be able to launch a few raids to destroy the railway that the Irish were laying down, but he also knew that because the Irish had built a lot of fortifications before this, it would lead to a lot of casualties to carry out such an operation. As a result, the city's defenses were weakened. And the effect obtained is at most to delay the arrival of the French "Urban cannon" by a few days or a week or two. The Duke of Norfolk felt that this was a bit more than worth the cost.

But just watching, waiting, is not a thing. Therefore, the Duke of Norfolk, after consulting with the army, began to build underground artillery bunkers on the defensive line outside the city.

Of course, if the cannon of the "Urban Plan" was really big enough, this kind of improvised underground anti-artillery hole would certainly not be able to stop the shells of this cannon. However, it can still reduce the cannon's killing range a lot. As long as there are not too many people in each cave, then at least the pressure caused by this cannon can be greatly reduced.

It was also at this time, in Port Carroll, that a French giant ship docked. This is a batch of large cargo ships that have just been launched by French shipbuilding, with a displacement of up to 15,000 tons, which is currently the largest cargo ship in the world.

The freighter used the tower crane that arrived just half a month ago and was installed to lift the large parts to the wharf.

These large components included a variety of artillery pieces and a large number of flatbed cars for the railway.

As the British speculated, there were indeed some large artillery pieces in the "Urban Plan", but the result of the "Urban Plan" was not a spectacle-level cannon - although Napoleon was very fond of spectacle and strongly demanded to be able to make a spectacle-level cannon, but in the end, Joseph did not come up with the giant cannon that Napoleon expected, which could allow an adult man to climb in and out of a huge barrel, but made something of 280 mm caliber.

It is said that Joseph even thought that the 203 mm caliber was basically enough, and it could be much cheaper. But Napoleon said that this was too detailed, too unpleasant, and threatened to cut the program if Joseph did not budge:

"Joseph, you didn't say that to me at the beginning, you said that we would have a cannon that was so thick and thick that it could be seen by the whole world, and they would tremble and be afraid. I thought you'd show me a cannon the size of a water tank. Even if it's not as thick as a water tank, it should be as thick as a bucket, right? As a result, you fooled me with a small toothpick that is 203 mm and the thickness of a plate! No, it's absolutely not going to work! ”

"When did I say the tank was thick?" Joseph said.

"Don't deny it, the time I asked you how thick the biggest cannon in the 'Urban Plan' was, and you said to me: 'How thick do you want it to be?' Rest assured, it's definitely thick and long, just as thick as it. You were pointing to a water tank! ”

"That's what you read wrong, I was pointing to that water lily leaf in the jar! God can testify! ”

"Come on, Joseph, you don't believe in God at all. Your devotion to God is comparable to that of Talleyrand and Foucher. You, like them, are telling a lie when you talk about God! Why don't you say that there are still a few fish in that tank, and you are pointing to the scales of those fish? ”

"What nonsense, I'll tell you......"

The two brothers quarreled for a while, and finally Napoleon said: "Joseph, I know that that kind of oversized cannon is not very useful, and I don't understand this kind of military thing?" Indeed, for the most part, a cannon of 203 mm caliber is really enough. However, when we get this thing out, it also has the effect of deterring other countries. People in those countries don't necessarily understand that if you pass that 203 thing, you can't bluff people at all, but if you get something as thick as a water tank out, the blow to their morale will be decisive! Do you understand? ”

"But technically, the water tank is thick, and we can't do it yet. Unless you're really just going to have a mascot like the Tsar Cannon! ”

The Tsar Cannon is a bronze smoothbore cannon cast by Russian gunsmiths in 1586. It has a caliber of 915 mm, thicker than the Dora cannon of later generations, with a barrel length of 5.18 meters, weighing 40 tons, and a total weight of 80 tons, and a copper chamber of 1.74 meters long and a diameter of 440 mm. Since the cannon was too heavy, people had to use thick logs to move the cannon. Later, decorative gun mounts were also made for this gun king.

However, such a huge cannon has never been fired, and it is not even certain whether it can be fired. So this beautifully decorated cannon is actually just a beautiful ornament.

Such a thing, of course, Napoleon could not accept, so Napoleon had to lower the standards and finally settled on the principle that it could not be smaller than the gun on the battleships of the British.

So Joseph and the others stepped on the lower limit and made such a thing.

The gun weighed fifty tons and had a barrel up to 11 meters long. This also means that it can only use new nitrocellulose propellants. So not only are the cannons expensive, but the shells are also expensive. In addition, considering the cost, this gun was not equipped with a tube retreat device, and when firing, it had to rely on the large standing plow, and then rely on the track on the special flatbed car to move backwards, and then reset, and then refire.

The 280 gun occupied a single flatbed truck, and using various lifting equipment, the workers spent three full days to fix the gun on a specially customized flatbed.

Then there were the other auxiliary guns, including two 203 guns and twelve 100 mm guns, which were mounted in fixed positions on special flatbed trucks. Then under the tow of two powered cars, and under the cover of two armored trains, the train guns began to leave Port Carroll along the railway, and along the railway line, towards Dublin.

The Urban Plan involved not just a large-caliber artillery piece, but also a group of artillery that could quickly maneuver along the railway. Relying on the railroad that could move at high speeds, the French were able to make the artillery that the army could use much larger. This artillery cluster is a battleship that walks on land.

Under the protection of the Independence Army and the French Army, it took two days for the "land battleships" to reach the front line in Dublin, and by this time, the Duke of Norfolk had already built many of the new anti-artillery holes.

Once the French "land battleships" were in place, a regiment of the French Army took over the most important fortifications in the vicinity and took on the task of protecting the huge land battleship.

The day after the artillery train arrived, the artillery train finally launched its first shelling of the British positions outside Dublin.