Full moon people reunite, I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

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After a week-long visit to Denmark, Natsuki and his party set off for home. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 By this time, the number of European countries with which Ireland had established formal diplomatic relations had increased to 22, and with the exception of a few small southern European countries that were insignificant, only Britain was reluctant to establish diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Ireland. With the enmity between Britain and Ireland, the British would not have easily recognized the legitimacy of the Kingdom of Ireland had it not been for the terms of the London Armistice.

Natsuki had no intention of reaching a genuine rapprochement with Britain until he recaptured the Belfast region and rightfully wore the Irish crown, but since becoming a candidate for the throne of Ireland, he has never lashed out at Britain in diplomatic settings, nor has he tirelessly emphasized Ireland's unquestionable sovereignty over the Belfast region, behind which there are methodical military and diplomatic preparations. After more than two months of training, the Irish Army, Army and Air Force have taken on a new look, seven military academies for different levels have begun to operate, all officers and more than two-thirds of the non-commissioned officers are receiving training at the primary stage in batches, the soldiers have been screened, and those who remain in the active force are young and strong young men, after rigorous formal training, they have been able to use their weapons correctly, and know the most basic tactics, and their combat ability has made great progress compared with the period of the War of Independence.

Returning to Ireland with fruitful diplomatic results, Natsuki was satisfied to see that the army building was proceeding in an orderly manner, and that the officers and soldiers were always high in morale, gearing up and eager to try, and many were too hated to attack the Belfast area immediately. At present, although the three most elite infantry regiments of the Irish Army were sent to Eastern Europe to participate in the war, the remaining regular troops still had more than 60,000 men, and with the second-line reserve troops, it was not difficult to gather 100,000 troops, while the British garrison in Belfast was only about 10,000. At first glance, it should not be difficult for the Irish army to win this local war with the courage to fight to the death, but during these two months, Britain was also actively preparing for military affairs, mobilizing local people, transporting labor and building materials from the mainland, and building a large number of fortifications in the Belfast area. The northeastern corner of Ireland has become a military zone full of forts and trenches, and intelligence shows that the British garrison has a large amount of military supplies, even if the Irish army uses the navy and air force to block the shipping lanes, the British army can rely on the reserves to support itself for a long time, and no one can predict what kind of changes will occur in the international situation at that time.

There is an element of adventure in any war, and Natsuki is never afraid of this, but his usual style is to prepare as much as possible before taking risks, and the grasp of timing is his greatest advantage that distinguishes him from ordinary military commanders. In his opinion, the British army's defense system in Belfast was in its infancy, and the defending officers and men were in a state of high alert, and the chances of winning the attack at this time were not high, and even if Germany was dragged into the water with the terms of the alliance, it would inevitably fall into passivity in the end, and such a situation was very unfavorable to the new Kingdom of Ireland.

If we want to fight, we must have the certainty of relying on the Irish army to win the war independently. Standing at this starting point, Xia Shu thought of the strategy of repairing the plank road and secretly crossing Chen Cang. In the name of peacefully resolving the sovereignty issue of Belfast, he sent a diplomatic mission to Britain, and the negotiations lasted several days, but the two sides did not reach a consensus, but the diplomatic contact itself was seen as a strong signal that the two countries were seeking peaceful coexistence.

After the first round of negotiations broke down completely, two weeks later, the Irish side took the initiative to start a new round of negotiations, and after the British government agreed, Ireland submitted a list of negotiators, and when they received this list, the British could not believe their eyes - the name of Joachim Franz Hubert, the candidate for the Irish throne, was impressively listed!

After urgent deliberation at the Royal Council, King George V decided that those who wish to come should not refuse, and that the scope of activities of the Irish negotiating delegation in Britain was clearly defined, and on this basis, the police and the army must be more vigilant to ensure the safety of the candidates for the Irish throne during their stay in the United Kingdom.

George V seemed to see this as a challenge to the authority and bearing of the British Empire, and he decided to fight, but some high-ranking officials of the British government and army did not think so, and they feared that the so-called Hohenzollern genius, who was known for his cunning, had other plans and could not disobey the king's will, so he added a statement to his diplomatic reply to the Kingdom of Ireland, saying that a small number of people in England with extreme ideas and actions might be unfavorable to the candidates for the Irish throne, and that although the British government would provide all-round security protection, in the event of an unexpected accident beyond its strength, The British government refused to take the main responsibility, let alone allow any country to take advantage of the problem and turn the British Isles into the next Balkans.

The Irish cabinet ministers, who were not accustomed to seeing the world, were frightened by the British statement, and they persuaded Natsuki to cancel the trip, even if he wanted to visit the UK, at least until the relationship between the two countries stabilized, Natsuki was unmoved, and in turn comforted the ministers, if he was unfortunately killed in Britain, the whole of Britain would be buried for himself, and the German army would naturally raze the British defense line in Belfast with siege artillery instead of the Irish army's bloody fight.

The Irish cabinet ministers made concessions suspiciously, and the German royal family and government were surprised to learn that Natsuki was preparing to go to England, after all, the war caused by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand had not yet been extinguished, and in case of a similar accident, Germany had to go to war against Britain again, but between support and opposition, the attitude of the German generals played a leading role, believing that the British had cunningly exploited the loopholes of the London Armistice Treaty and obtained the conditions for a rapid restoration of military strength through cooperation with the United States. How strong is the industrial power of the United States, and if the current situation continues, in a few years, Britain will once again have a main fleet that is not inferior to that of Germany, and if there is direct support from the United States and Japan, Germany will have to face an even worse war situation than in the summer of 1914, and the best and most direct way is to attack Britain immediately, completely defeat the country, and make it impossible for it to turn over.

The support and assurances of the German government strengthened Natsuki's determination to go to England, and the trip seemed to be dangerous, but it was not as bad as people thought. The main reason why the British people were indignant at the independence of Ireland was that Britain was divided by external forces, and the dignity and prestige of the country were greatly damaged. They did not have much resistance to the independence of Ireland, considering that Ireland's position in the British political map was simply a colony close to the mainland, as evidenced by the Great Famine in Ireland in the mid-19th century, and the loss of a vegetable plot and the preservation of the British island was a perfectly acceptable outcome. On the other hand, Britain lost to Germany at sea one after another, and the situation in land battles was basically the same, and Europeans were in awe of the strong, and the British gentlemen living in Britain were no exception, so when the British military and civilians learned that the strongmen who had led the major operations of the German Navy had come to the British Island, most people should have been full of surprise and curiosity.

Natsuki has never been the kind of person who is reckless and reckless, and he shows the delicate mind of an engineer in many things. When he set foot on British soil again, the first anniversary of the Battle of Jutland had just passed more than two weeks, so he did not rush to meet with British officials, but went to the military cemetery in Plymouth Harbour to lay flowers to the dead of the Battle of Jutland. In the Daily Mail and in a number of local newspapers in the United Kingdom, it was only then that most Britons knew that the rumored candidate for the Irish throne who was going to visit the United Kingdom had arrived.

During his stay at the flagship in Plymouth Harbour, Natsuki did not travel lightly except for diplomatic talks with British officials, but stayed in a heavily guarded hotel, where uninvited people did not want to enter easily, but he received at least two groups of reporters a day, and in the serious mainstream press, he praised the British navy for its performance in the war, attributed the German navy's victory to extremely rigorous training and uncontrollable luck factors, and raised good hopes for the prospect of peace between Ireland and Britain. In the popular newspaper, Natsuki evaluated the gains and losses of the British fleet in several important naval battles from the perspective of his opponents, and this unprecedented description of the reality immediately aroused great curiosity among the British public, and the Daily Mail even sold out of stock for several days in a row. In order to attract public attention, Natsuki sent an invitation to Admiral Jericho, the former commander of the British Grand Fleet, through the Daily Mail, hoping to have a face-to-face exchange with him, and this invitation immediately caused a sensation in Britain, because the conversation between the two is likely to unravel the ultimate truth about the successive defeats of the British fleet, but Jericho, who has been relieved of the command of the Grand Fleet, did not respond.

At the negotiating table, the British official representatives still refused to make the slightest concession on the question of the ownership of the Belfast area, and Natsuki did not show the "military muscle" of Ireland in order to make progress, but did not tire of affirming that the normalization of Anglo-Irish relations must be based on the premise of resolving the Belfast dispute, and the four-day talks unsurprisingly failed. However, in response to the attention of the British public and the outside world, King George V decided to hold a welcome banquet at Windsor Castle in the name of the royal family, and sent an invitation to the candidates for the Irish throne who had been staying in Plymouth Harbour since arriving in the UK.

(End of chapter)