Limerick, County Clare, Ireland. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Through the high-powered telescope set up behind the window, Natsuki was engrossed in observing the distance. The line of sight was directly on a British barracks with British soldiers and some military vehicles conducting training in formations. On the south side of the barracks, separated only by a narrow street, there was a two-story building with a white façade, a terrace facing the sea planted with flowers, a flat lawn in front and back, and an iron fence with a gray stone base on the perimeter.

On the lawn in front of the building, two ladies in white dresses walked by. They are generally tall and similar in size. The one with her hair in a bun was obviously more mature, she held a lace umbrella in her hand, and her beautiful face was haggard; The curly hair style is already handsome and charming, and she holds her companions with both hands, and her expression seems very focused when she listens to each other's words.

Based on their silhouettes alone, Natsuki was 80% sure that they were General Hill's wife and Charlotte Hill, who had haunted her dreams. With the help of this monocular, he was able to see the familiar face directly.

Standing next to Xia Shu at this moment is a young man wearing glasses, he has a polite appearance and a thin and thin figure, which often makes people think of him as a teacher, copywriter and other professions, obviously few people would think that he is actually a professional intelligence officer from Germany, proficient in reconnaissance, tracking, eavesdropping, good at communicating with people and trying to get information, if necessary, he can also carry out violent and bloody tasks such as assassination and shooting.

While Natsuki was concentrating on his target, the young man did not wait for the invitation, but keenly observed the roofs, windows, and balconies of the same or similar height. After the second Balkan crisis, under the instruction of the German military and political leaders, the intelligence agencies of the army and navy greatly increased their foreign forces, and the intelligence elites were sent to Britain, France, and Russia, and as the most turbulent region in Britain, Ireland naturally became the ideal target for "digging into the wall."

Thanks to the development and growth of the German Naval Intelligence Bureau, Natsuki does not have to rely on the "friendly reminders" of others to find out the news about his sweetheart, and the letter of appointment of the Duke of Hill to Ireland has not yet been issued, and Natsuki has already received accurate information. As soon as some members of the Hill family left Thetford, the report of the German Naval Intelligence Bureau was sent to Natsuki, and then a detailed investigation and deployment were carried out, and by the time Natsuki arrived in Ireland, the preliminary work had been completed excellently and all preparations were in place.

From a distance of four or five hundred meters, Natsuki silently watched Charlotte's mother and daughter, watching them stroll warmly and affectionately. It was almost dusk, and they walked out of the iron-fenced courtyard and along the simple but clean street, followed by two British soldiers who had been guarding the gate of the courtyard. I don't know if it was because of the two British soldiers, or for some other reason, passers-by nearby avoided it, and the atmosphere was quite strange

Limerick is located on the west coast of Ireland, with a beautiful environment and fresh air, because of convenient shipping and transportation, and the mouth of the Shannon River, it has become the main garrison of the British army in the southwest of Ireland. Coincidentally, modern submarine pioneer and one of Natsuki's key partners, John Holland, was born in County Clare. Based on many considerations, the Hubert shipyard built by Xia Shu is located in Limenirk, and after these six years of construction and development, it has repeatedly expanded its scale, and invested in branches in Dublin and Cork, the total number of employees has increased to 2,500 people, capable of building various types of ships below 2,000 tons, and with the Holland series of submarines, racing yachts and private yachts as the main products, it occupies a place in the international light ship market.

Across two streets, Charlotte's mother and daughter stopped at an old stone bridge, facing the setting sun, quietly watching the red clouds in the shape of terraced fields, and from Natsuki's point of view, their figures were so delicate that one couldn't help but worry that they were burdened by the weight of life. However, General Hill has been using the ship as his home for many years, and it is difficult to take care of his wife and daughter, and although he can provide superior material conditions, he also cannot make Charlotte feel at ease......

When the mother and daughter in the sunset stepped on the procedure, Xia Shu closed his tired eyes, and his endless hesitation turned into a soft sigh.

Seeing Natsuki leave the window, the young man cautiously closed the curtains, and then waited respectfully for Natsuki to speak.

Natsuki looked up at the ceiling, thought for a moment, and asked, "How is the hospital here?" ”

If you want to keep an eye on the target task, you need to know your surroundings, and the young guy and his team obviously did just that. He quickly replied: "There is a church hospital and a public hospital in the city, as well as four private clinics. According to our observations, General Hill's wife was accompanied by Miss Hill to the public hospital every week for a medical check-up, and they were taken to the hospital in a private car with two armed servicemen on board at a time. ”

Natsuki thought for a moment, "What is Duke Hill's reputation here?" ”

"Every Irishman here knows he's the new military governor."

The bespectacled young man apparently couldn't keep up with Natsuki's train of thought. So, Natsuki asked again in a different way.

"Oh, the only adjustment he has made to the garrison during his time here has been to strengthen the surface patrol force of the port, and so far not a single case of smuggling has been caught."

"Was there a serious smuggling situation here before he came?"

The young man replied: "As far as I know, there is relatively little smuggling in and around County Clare, and in several counties in the south of Ireland, especially Cork, where smuggling is so serious that it is under the watchful eye of the British garrison. ”

Natsuki nodded, he hadn't visited Ireland in six years since his graduation season's training voyage, but he had never relaxed his focus on the British backyard. Through the independence activists he had met earlier in Cork Harbour, he not only donated hundreds of thousands of marks to the independence movement in Ireland, but also provided them with speedboats and small submarines, and the smuggling of such equipment was inextricably linked to the rampant smuggling in southern Ireland.

With his initial idea in hand, Natsuki leaves the hotel and drives to Hubert's shipyard. After nightfall, the shipbuilding area is still lit up and the slipway is full of busy figures. In recent years, as major powers have plunged into naval construction, the international arms market has ushered in a golden age before the war. Due to the high quality and low price of Hubert's small submarines, the excellent performance of racing yachts in various competitions, and the overwhelming number of construction orders, the number of employees has been increased, and the shift work system has been adopted on the other hand, and the shipyard's main shareholder and technical director, John Holland, is a native of the area, and Hubert Shipyard has a high reputation in the local area.

Formally, Hubert Shipyard is a purely Irish enterprise, with directors, shareholders, operating officers, and technical directors all held by Irishmen, and only for the purpose of improving work efficiency and ensuring the quality of construction hired a group of German consultants, who were responsible for production organization and technical supervision. In fact, the former was just puppets sitting in a conference room, and the German consultants working for the shipyard were the hanging wires of the puppets, and the real decision-makers behind the scenes were Natsuki and his collaborators at the Friedrichs shipyard.

"There is no problem with the funds, there is no problem with the direction, the problem is that the Irish do not like the English officials and their families very much, and their donations are likely to be regarded as deliberate curry favor or charity, unless the wife of General Hill and Miss Hill can resolve the misunderstanding with their practical actions, and over time, the local population will naturally accept them."

In a consultant's apartment at Hubert's shipyard, Chief Operating Consultant Gaunt Messner further analyzes Natsuki's vision.

Natsuki agreed, "It's true that this can't be achieved overnight. ”

Messner, a middle-aged man with short hair and a shirt, known for his nimble and shrewd mind, lifted his glasses and looked at Natsuki curiously: "Time can change everything, Your Highness, it's just ...... Why should we help the British to resolve their conflict with the Irish? ”

Xia Shu said lightly: "It seems that you have lived abroad for a long time and don't know much about some things about me. ”

"Oh?" The middle-aged man looked at Natsuki embarrassedly, "This Miss Hill is ......"

Natsuki glanced at him and didn't answer.

The middle-aged man was not only shrewd, but also decisive enough, he immediately threw his doubts into the trash can and gave advice to Natsuki wholeheartedly: "In Ireland, most drugs are controlled items, and it is not easy to buy them in large quantities, and they will cause unnecessary trouble if they are used for donations. In this case, we will first anonymously donate a batch of beds to the hospital to help them expand their capacity, which is what they urgently need right now. The second step is to send someone to Switzerland to contact the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a neutral body recognized by the Geneva Conventions, and persuade them to help with medicines and equipment, and if possible, invite a group of medical personnel to come and provide free treatment. The third step is to reveal the anonymous donors through the newspapers, namely General Hill's wife and Miss Hill, and of course, it is best to communicate with them in advance, as long as they do not come forward to deny it, our goal will be fully achieved. ”

Natsuki listened and thought, and when Messner finished speaking, he nodded and said, "Very good, Mr. Messner, you are worthy of being recommended by Wiesel, with a flexible mind and quick thinking, but it is a pity that you did not join the army, otherwise you must be a hot think tank in the senior staff." ”

After being polite as usual, Messner said, "Since Your Highness thinks this is feasible, then I will do it as soon as possible." If Your Highness has any other needs, please feel free to command. ”

With the exception of Holland's 20% stake, Hubert's shipyard is entirely a private property owned by Natsuki. After ten years of running the Friedrich shipyard, he had mastered the art of the royal family, and the German managers sent to Ireland were all personally vetted by him. Despite its exotic location and its unique cultural heritage, the Hubert shipyard is managed as well as the Friedrichsyard. Here, of course, Natsuki does not need to be inhibited, he confesses: "I am going to stay in Ireland for a week this time. Spend three days in Limerick before heading south to Cork to meet some old friends before returning home on a yacht. I would come again if I had time in the future, but I did not want to spend twenty hours at a time at sea, so I considered establishing an air route between Germany and Ireland as little as possible to attract the attention of the British, so I was prepared to use airships or seaplanes, without the need for a fixed airfield on land, as long as the ships for supply and maintenance were prepared accordingly. ”

Messner said he was not under pressure.

In terms of the specific handling of affairs, Xia Shu is happy to be the shopkeeper, and he clapped his hands and said: "Just do it!" I will send professional technicians from home to assist you in the preparation of your ships, and the funds will be allocated from our secret funds. ”

Like the Friedrich shipyard, the Hubert shipyard, although privately owned, kept a considerable amount of secret funding off the books, both from legitimate and illegal day-to-day operations and from the German government's investment in support of overseas intelligence networks – both companies and private individuals who assisted German intelligence services in obtaining espionage information were eligible.

"Understood!" Messner replied very dryly.

Meanwhile, in the residence of the military governor of Munster, the Duke of Hill, seated at the table, still wore his proud Royal Admiral's uniform and the Victoria Cross, a symbol of the highest honor, and his solemn expression made every family member at the table, including his lieutenant, feel sincere awe.

For officers in the prime of life, it is a good errand to be assigned to serve as a local military commander, which is not only conducive to accumulating seniority and enriching experience, but also broadening their horizons and balancing their abilities, and perhaps even encountering the opportunity to become famous in one fell swoop, while for officers approaching or reaching retirement age, this is mostly a retirement placement, especially in those areas where the situation is stable, and the local military commander does not have much to worry about.

Ireland is close to the British mainland in contrast to the remote colonies, and from the official name of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which has been used for more than 200 years, it enjoys the treatment of native English members, but since the invasion and rule of Ireland by King Henry II of England in the 12th century, the Irish independence movement has not stopped, which is a national struggle of the Celts and a religious struggle of Catholics against pagans (Protestants). After the Industrial Revolution, the economic and industrial gap between Ireland and Britain grew, the Great Famine of the 19th and 40s made the Irish people hate the status of second-class citizens, the independence movement flourished, and radical independence activists secretly formed paramilitary forces, which also made Ireland the most unstable part of the British Isles.

Unfortunately, the six counties of Cork, Clare, Carey, Limerick, Thiburelli and Waterford, which are geographically part of Munster, are predominantly Catholic (Britain is a Protestant country), and they are also historically the most active areas of the Irish independence movement.

"If you do still maintain some form of contact, Charlotte, I want you to send him a message that the past is a thing of the past, and that if he stays on the continent in peace, I will not be soft on the fact that he is a member of the German royal family. This is Ireland, and I have the right to deal with emergencies, and my soldiers have the right to shoot at what they deem extremely dangerous. ”

Duke Hill's words came out in an ultimatum-like tone, and everyone at the table stared down at the plate in front of them, not daring to take a sip.

The girl sitting opposite the Duke had a delicate face and a stubborn expression, she silently put down the cutlery in her hand, and said word by word: "In the past 24 months and 10 days, I have had no contact with him. If he comes, I can't stop it, and as for whether you give the order to shoot, the first thing you should consider is not my feelings, but the relationship between countries. ”

The Duke's eyes widened with rage, and he said angrily, "Britain has the most powerful navy on the planet, and it is not afraid of war with any country!" ”

His granddaughter, Charlotte Hill, is speechless at this point.

An annoyed Duke Hill left the table with a look of pork liver, and a good dinner was dissolved. When she returned to her room, Charlotte's eyes were full of tears, and she stood in front of the window for a long time, it was the crisp autumn season, the cool sea breeze made people feel no trace of heat, and the starlight was reflected on the sea, merging with the lights of the port town. Thinking of the appearance of her sweetheart, a look of loss appeared on her face, but her eyes were full of warmth, and she longed and looked forward to it in her heart......

(End of chapter)