The six-day trip to the Shannon River, hosted by Natsuki, starts in Limerick and ends in Dublin, traversing the island of Ireland, although there are no huddles, extravagant food, pleasant scenery, and relaxing time, but it is very pleasant, and the old feud between Ireland and Britain seems to have faded much in the friendly relationship between the royal family and dignitaries. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

With the construction of railways and roads and the rise of Limerick, the Shannon River is less important in Ireland's economic and social landscape than it was a century ago, but the dredging and expansion of the upstream canal section has increased its military significance, allowing hundreds of tons of light ships to travel between the old and new capitals even in dry seasons.

For the changes in the Shannon Canal, the British **** Edward's entourage officers paid great attention, and when the yacht arrived in Dublin, their consternation was even more overflowing. The former prosperous city was originally destroyed by the war, because the political and economic center moved westward and became a coastal defense point, although a large number of German-style equipment was used, its layout system was completely different from any known style, because it was highly praised by German military experts and known to the world, but except for the German personnel involved in the construction, after the overall completion of the project, no military and political officials of any country were officially invited to come, and those who got the opportunity were mostly in a hurry. The British **** and his entourage were not only allowed to land, but also inspected some of the defense facilities accompanied by Natsuki personally, and saw the long-rumored giant fortress artillery group, among which there was indeed a 13.5-inch main gun dismantled from the "Tiger" battlecruiser. A group of Britons stood in silence for a moment in front of them, sighing and sad.

After a night in Dublin, British officials again proposed economic cooperation between the two countries during the talks the next day. With Britain's industrial base, trade resources, and consumer market, if it concludes an economic alliance with Ireland, Spain, and Austria-Hungary, it will certainly be able to play a positive role in the economic development of these three brothers and sisters, and it will certainly become the leader of this economic alliance. However, due to the confrontation between the Allies and the United States and Britain, Ireland could not enter into full-scale economic cooperation with the United Kingdom, and at best signed some mutually beneficial trade agreements, such as tariff reductions and reductions on industrial products. In that case, the Irish-made Ford Model T would be able to enter the British market in a big way, and maintain a sufficient advantage in terms of price, and Ireland would be able to obtain industrial products from the UK at a relatively low price to meet the economic and social needs of the country.

With a positive and cautious attitude, the talks between the two sides finally entered the substantive stage, but at this moment, the news of the outbreak of religious bloodshed in the north was like a thunderbolt from the blue, and the atmosphere of the talks was a mess.

The conflict began in Craigavon, a small city about an hour from Belfast, where a local law enforcement official was shot dead in his home, prompting a protest by local Catholics, followed by arson in a Protestant neighborhood, burning down several homes and displacing nearly 100 Protestants, causing a backlash among Protestants. Then, in Tandraj, another city near Craigavon, a Catholic church was set on fire, and hundreds of Catholics clashed in the streets with large numbers of Protestants. Later, the Protestants announced that the Irish army had used force to suppress them, killing more than 100 unarmed people and detaining hundreds of innocent civilians, and the Protestants in northern Ireland launched a massive protest......

Natsuki was not surprised by this scene, and even regarded it as an inevitable necessity. In order to change the situation of high concentration of land in Ireland and the emphasis on herding over agriculture, and fundamentally change the disadvantages of the disparity between the rich and the poor and the excessive class gap in Ireland, the Royal Government of Ireland promulgated a number of laws such as prohibiting illegal land enclosure and balancing agricultural and pastoral land, and distributed the land in the hands of large landowners and farmers to the common people in the form of government purchase. With the gradual implementation of these laws and policies, the Irish people at the bottom of the social ladder gradually got rid of the duckweed-like rootless life of the past, the problem of food and clothing was solved, and the living conditions were better day by day, but it was clear that not everyone was satisfied with this. Ireland is dominated by Catholics, the Kingdom of Ireland was founded in accordance with the will of the majority, choosing Catholicism as the state religion, Protestants have a psychological and emotional feeling of abandonment, persecution, the Irish government's tolerant religious policy has not fundamentally changed this situation, and the social problems caused by religion are particularly prominent in the north of Ireland, where Protestants are the majority.

The conflict between Catholics and Protestants in northern Ireland first originated in the British 1609 Ulster Plantation Colonization Program, which confiscated land owned by the locals and settled in Ulster with English and Scottish Protestant "planters". The confrontation between the local Catholics and the colonists led to two bloody ethno-religious conflicts between the two in 1641-1653 and 1689-1691. The political dominance of the English Protestants in Ireland was guaranteed in these wars and in the Irish penal code, which provided for the deprivation of the religious, legal and political rights of all persons who contradicted the Anglican Church of Ireland.

In the late 18th century, the collapse of the Irish penal system led to a new round of conflict, and after the lifting of restrictions on the purchase of land and business by Irish Catholics, Catholics and Protestants became more and more violent. Many Presbyterians, Catholics, and Liberal Protestants joined the United Irishmen's Association, a nationalist movement inspired by the French Revolution whose goal was to end denominational divisions in Ireland and establish an independent Republic of Ireland without any denomination, but their uprising in 1789 failed miserably, and the hardline Protestants were actively armed by the British government against the radicals, dividing Catholics and Protestants into persistent hostilities.

In 1801, the Irish Parliament was dissolved and Ireland was incorporated into the United Kingdom, and the Catholics began to seek a more enlightened way out of reform, and they were committed to the restoration of the Irish Parliament and local self-government, but the Protestants, fearing to become a minority in Catholic-ruled Ireland, tended to support the continuation of British rule, and religious conflicts manifested themselves between those who supported the Act of Union and those who opposed it. In the 20th century, fearful of living in an overwhelmingly Catholic country dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestants formed the Ulster League, vowing to resist the autonomy of Ireland by force if necessary. With the independence of the Kingdom of Ireland and the retreat of the British army to the Belfast area, most of the members of the Ulster Volunteer Army accepted the British military and changed their name to the Belfast Division. After the Belfast Crisis in 1916 and the withdrawal of British troops from Ireland, the Belfast Division fell apart, and many fled to the Americas, while many went to England, where they continued to engage in anti-Irish government activities with the connivance or even covert support of the British government.

Due to the fact that during the British rule, the Protestants in the north of Ireland occupied the upper echelons of power, and the Catholics often lived in poverty, and the land and economic policies of the Kingdom of Ireland were committed to narrowing the class gap and maintaining social balance, which naturally benefited Catholics more, and the vital interests of many Protestants were harmed, most of these people only emotionally resisted the Irish government controlled by Catholics, but under the instigation of the Ulster League, extreme violence was not uncommon. Prior to the murder of Officer Craigavin, there had been more than 200 cases involving bodily injury and even murder caused by Protestants, as well as a considerable number of economic cases and cases of resistance to the implementation of the Act. Although Ireland's police justice system is required to handle matters relating to Protestants with impartiality and prudence, there is no guarantee of absolute justice in enforcement, and contradictions, misunderstandings, and frictions are inevitable. The law enforcement officer who was shot dead was reportedly retaliated against for offending some powerful local Protestants in the course of his usual work.

Politics is not as good as military affairs, the winner is king, the loser is the loser, and the suppression by power is of course simple and direct, but in this era of civilized public opinion, especially in Europe, where communication technology is most developed, brutal and bloody political measures will subject the rulers to pressure from all sides. At that time, the British **** visited Ireland with members of the royal family and government dignitaries, and the United Kingdom is the number one Protestant country, whether it can properly handle this bloody religious conflict and resolve the crisis situation in northern Ireland is another severe test for Natsuki and the Irish government.

The Irish authorities quickly stopped the bilateral economic and trade negotiations that had been opened due to the visit of the British **** to Ireland, and Natsuki said goodbye to Edward **** and his entourage in Dublin, and he returned to Limerick on a special plane, while the British returned home on a ship temporarily sent by the navy. In the face of overwhelming accusations, the Irish government quickly responded by calling on both Catholics and Protestants in conflict to remain calm and restrained, and not to commit fratricidal wrongdoing because of external instigation, and on the other hand, to hold special trials of the case through judicial channels, invite people from all walks of life to attend the trial, and announce the phased results of the investigation through radio and newspapers. At the same time, the Irish government also invited the allies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, as well as neutral and friendly diplomats and journalists such as Denmark, Sweden, and Spain, to the north of Ireland to witness the non-violent measures adopted by the Irish government in mediating religious conflicts and to dispel rumors that the Irish army was massacring Protestants.

(End of chapter)