Early that morning, Matt got up from the hut with his father, and prepared to leave the village and go to the fields to ridge and soil the potatoes. This is the busiest time for farming. Potatoes in the field have now grown small flower buds, which means that in the ground, the top of the stolons of potatoes is starting to swell to form small tubers. At this time, if the soil is not planted in time, it will affect the growth of the tuber, thus reducing the yield.

A group of peasants came to the entrance of the village. The village was surrounded by a trench about twelve or thirteen feet wide, more than two people deep, with pointed wooden stakes stuck at the bottom, and about half a foot of water had accumulated under the ditch because of the seepage of groundwater and rain.

At the entrance of the village, there is a wooden plank bridge that can be put away on the trench. Several Irish security force officers were standing here, checking out the crowd out of the village.

The British forcibly gathered people from several nearby villages into this one village, saying that it was easy to manage. But this actually caused a lot of difficulties for the local people. First of all, there is a place to live, like some homes that were originally from this village, but people who have been forcibly relocated from other villages do not even have a place to live, so they can only find some branches and clods of soil by themselves, and build a shack for themselves.

The second trouble is that it is a long distance from here to the fields they cultivate, and it takes a lot of time on the road. The British imposed a curfew in these villages, and until dawn, the black dogs of the Irish security forces (they wore black uniforms, hence the title) would not let people out of the village at all, but in the afternoon, usually after lunch, and at most when they drank saliva, they would put away the bridge. And those who have not come back at this time will not be able to enter the village.

Then, according to British rule, if a villager does not return to the village on time, he is suspicious and needs to be investigated. And once investigated, even if they can prove that they are not in collusion with the rebels, and that it is the first time they have violated the curfew, they will be whipped. And if it was the second time, he would be sent to a quarry or something like that for a year of hard labor. If you can come back after a year of hard labor, and if you commit it again, then you will be hanged directly.

In this way, almost the lives of almost everyone in the entire village were pinched in the hands of those black dogs. Those guys deliberately delayed the opening of the door, and closed the door early, and those who could not enter the village could only pay bribes to survive.

Matt's land was about four miles (about 6.5 kilometers) from the village, and even if he trotted all the way back, he would have to work in the fields for less than an hour before he had to go back, or else he wouldn't be able to get back before the black dogs put away the plank bridge. However, the other day, Matt's father had just gone to deliver a sum of money to Hulahan, the captain of the Black Dogs.

Captain Hurahan was notoriously greedy and ruthless, and after he arrived here, in just one month he used various means to send ten people to the gallows, and more than twenty to the quarry. By such means, he made everyone have to bow their heads to him.

Captain Hurahan was not particularly pleased with the number sent by Matt's father, but he accepted the money anyway, only for Matt's father to sign an IOU. After this, Captain Hulahan graciously allowed them to go back later each day.

Of course, how late it was, Captain Hurahan didn't say clearly. He simply said, "I'm also Irish, so how could I not know that now is the time for potatoes to bud?" If you don't plant well, when will you pay back the money you owe me? Don't worry, now that you're working for me, can I still embarrass myself? ”

It is true that Captain Hurahan has not been troubled by anyone on such issues since then, and even if he comes back late, as long as he has "borrowed" Captain Hulahan's money, he can enter the village. It is said that Hulahan's men had suggested to him that it was not safe to do so, and that it would be better to let the peasants spend the night in the fields and let them in at dawn. Hu Lahan said disappreciatively: "Now those traitors are already finished." What are you afraid of? Besides, Robert's Mounties sometimes come out on patrol at night, and if they let them run into them, it's a nuisance. ”

There are also many people who have followed the path of Captain Hurahan and Matt's family. They went out of the village together, and then hurried desperately to their fields.

On the way, Matt passed by the village where he used to live, which had been burned to the ground. Matt remembers that when they were forcibly evicted, an old man in the village hugged a big tree at the entrance of the village and said that he would not leave until he died. Then a British soldier used a bayonet to help him fulfill his oath. There is still a deep bayonet mark on the tree at the entrance of the village.

Matt's field is next to the village in the past, and now the green potatoes are growing just right, and they have begun to bear small buds, and in ten days or so, this field will be full of white flowers.

This is also the most critical time for potato growth. If this period of time is not well managed, and the harvest is affected, not to mention that the family has enough to eat, but the money of the "borrowed" captain Hulahan, as well as the rent of Viscount Anderson above, will not be paid. And neither of these two people can afford to mess with Matt and his family.

The peasants began to work in the fields. Since Captain Hurahan allowed everyone to go back later, everyone simply worked for a while. It wasn't until the sunset dyed the sky red that everyone packed up their things and rushed back.

By the time everyone arrived at the entrance of the village, the sun had already set, the moon had risen, and a group of farmers carried various farm tools to the village gate. If some people in later generations who were a little bourgeois tempered saw this picture, they would have to pretend to be Yaxing's big hair, "Morningside is ridiculous, and return with the moon and lotus".

But at this moment, no one has such a leisurely state of mind, and they are just waiting for Captain Hulahan to pave the bridge for him to enter the village.

A plank much narrower than in the morning, which could only be passed by one person, was handed over and set up on the trench, and several black dogs of the Irish security forces, armed with knives and guns, stood with torches:

"Come over one by one, come over, put down the farm tools first, raise your hand and let us search."

One by one, the villagers walked over the narrow bridge, put their farming tools on the ground, and then raised their hands to search the black dogs. The black dogs only allowed the next person to come after searching one of them.

After a while, it seemed that it would be Matt's father's turn, but a man suddenly stepped in front of Matt's father and walked onto the bridge.

"Who is this?" Matt said softly.

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

Two black dogs approached, and one of them reached for his hat. But at this moment, the man's raised hands suddenly sank down, his wrists shook, and he didn't know when there were two more knives in his originally empty hands. He stabbed the knife forward and stabbed them into the throats of the two black dogs who came by.

The two black dogs with rifles on their backs next to them suddenly panicked, quickly took the rifles in their hands, and wanted to shoot. But by this time, the man had already pulled out the knives from the throats of the two black dogs who had been stabbed, and with a wave of his hand, the two knives flew out and were accurately inserted into the eye sockets of the two black dogs who were about to raise their guns to aim.

The man who did it was Villefort. He had just killed the four Irish policemen, but a feeling of extreme danger suddenly appeared in his heart, which had saved his life on the battlefield more than once, and he didn't care too much, so he rolled on the ground. Almost at the same time, two gunshots rang out from the darkness, and two bullets hit the place where he had just stood—Hurahan was not really completely unprepared, he had two sentry ready. It's just that Villefort's movements were so fast that they barely reacted at this time.

At the moment when he rolled on the spot, Villefort had already drawn two revolvers from his back, and he fired several shots at the place where the fire had just been lit, when he heard a muffled grunt and the sound of his body falling to the ground, and the sound of someone dropping his rifle and running away in the darkness. The man also shouted: "The guerrillas have come in!" The guerrillas have come in! ”

At this time, more people rushed over the bridge, and they rushed into the village with their guns in hand, and Matt saw that his father was among them.

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

Villefort followed Matt's father and rushed in with the rest of the warriors.

The battle after that was almost one-sided. When the guerrilla fighters shouted the slogan "Shoot or kill", almost all of the Irish police surrendered. But Hulahan didn't know where he went. When he heard the gunshots, he lit the prepared beacon and disappeared into the darkness.

Now that the beacon fire had been ignited, the guerrillas had to consider the question of reinforcements from the British. Estimate the distance, if the British come out immediately after discovering the beacon, they will be able to reach here in about two hours. Of course, it is not certain that the British would dare to come out on such a night. If they dare to come out, then Villefort has a surprise in store for them.

But even then, they had to think about retreating. The partisans gathered the villagers and told them that they were anti-British guerrillas who had come to defend the Irish. They were also told that when the British came, they might retaliate against the villagers, but the villagers could choose to abandon the village and follow them to the "free land" that the British did not dare to go to. In the end, most of the villagers who were relocated chose to follow the guerrillas, while those who were originally from the village mostly chose to stay.