Located in the south of Ireland, Munster Province is a mountainous terrain, where mountains and ravines are stacked, and the territory is full of rivers and lakes. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The day after the coup d'état in Port Cork, the winding mountain roads of northern Cork were marked by a rare display of motor vehicles, the roar of motorcycles and car engines resounded through the valley, and four-wheeled trucks in yellow-and-green camouflage paint hobbled along, and the tarpaulin-covered carriages were lined up with soldiers in field grey military uniforms wearing shear-eared steel helmets, armed with Mauser rifles or Madsen light machine guns in front of them, all of their leather gear made of natural light brown leather, with a tight-rolled sleeping blanket wrapped around the sides of a square cowhide backpackWith a black lunch box on their backpacks and a water bottle, sapper shovels and bayonets on their belts, their outfits are being remembered as the German army swept across Europe, and are destined to occupy a prominent place in the military history books of later generations.

The roads are rugged but a shortcut to the southern ports of Ireland and the bustling metropolises of the east, and with three days of foot and a day of horseback riding, motorized vehicles can travel slightly slower than horses on mountain roads, but it only takes one day to reach the coastal area through the mountains as long as there are no mechanical problems and no human obstacles.

Everywhere the mountain road passes, the fields are dotted with villages, some of which are only seven or eight houses, and some of which are inhabited by dozens of households. In a village near a mountain pass, a middle-aged man in a trench coat on a black horse rode his horse and shouted: "They want to overthrow the Republic of Ireland, we must not let them succeed, we must prevent them from passing through here!" ”

Twenty or thirty men gathered here, almost no less than fifty years old, many of them were thin old men, and they had weapons ranging from ancient flintlock muskets to modern Mauser rifles. The leader, a shaggy sixty-year-old man wearing an old faded double-breasted military uniform without a logo, tilted his head and said:

"But sir, they have hundreds of men, well-armed and well-trained, with machine guns, cannons, and airplanes, and we only have seventeen rifles, most of which are single-shot, and let us fight against the German army, it is like rabbits to stop the horses!"

Someone in the crowd said maliciously: "We have a lot of bullets in our hands, and it is really awkward to use the bullets sent by the Germans to hit the Germans!" Isn't it? ”

The middle-aged man on horseback was very dissatisfied with such remarks, and he exclaimed: "Don't be deceived by the little favor that the Germans have given you, they are not natural philanthropists, and all aid is demanded in return, are you willing to become slaves of the Germans as soon as you break away from British rule?" ”

This piercing rhetorical question immediately overwhelmed everyone's doubts. The character of the Irish is like the ground under their feet, barren, hard, proud, unwilling to give in.

The old man in the lead said helplessly: "Well, sir, we will do everything we can to stop these Germans, may God be with us!" ”

Seeing this group of warriors who were not considered warriors leave, the middle-aged man on horseback sighed on his back. The South was the home base of the Irish Brotherhood, and the best of the boys were all members of the Irish Volunteers, and it was unrealistic to expect them to hold back the German army. But the events in Port Cork can only be concealed for a while, and it will not be long before the news spreads everywhere, and when the people are in a state of panic, who will work hard for a declining and frustrated regime?

For ordinary people, as long as the independence and freedom of Ireland can be guaranteed, there is no essential difference between a monarchy and a republic.

Putting away the surging emotion in his heart, the middle-aged man rode forward and hurried to the next village with the order issued by the provisional president of the republic.

Soon the German convoy appeared on the road ahead of the pass, and several young men on horseback came from behind and crossed the convoy to explore the way in front. A sharp-eyed young man spotted the team lurking on the side of the road, and he rushed over alone.

"Don't open fire, it seems to be our own, where should I have seen him......" said the leading old man to his partisans.

The young man on horseback shouted in Irish from afar: "Hey, hello, I'm Odia of the 17th Regiment of the Irish Volunteers, my own people, don't shoot!" ”

The leading old man leaned up and waved at him, "Hey, Odia, I'm Dunn from Hoxenson, you can come closer and talk." ”

The young men rode their horses, and the old partisans consciously raised the muzzle of their guns, so as not to be injured by a trembling hand.

When the young man was still more than ten meters away from the ambush position, the leader of the old man shouted: "Stop, don't come!" ”

"Hey, Mr. Dunn, what are you doing here?" The young man asked calmly.

"What are you doing?" The leading old man asked rhetorically.

"Lead our allies to Port Cork." The youth replied, "They have taken Limerick and are now free to solve new problems." ”

"We got the news that the Germans were preparing to occupy Cork and replace the British as the new ruler of Ireland." The leader replied bluntly.

The young man on horseback laughed: "You believe it? ”

The leading old man frowned: "What don't you believe?" ”

"In Ireland, the British army has more than 100,000 men, the Irish armed forces have hundreds of thousands, and the German army has only 20,000 or 30,000 men, do you think it is possible for the Germans to occupy Ireland?"

The guerrillas around him wavered, but the leader of the old man was not easily convinced, and he calmly said: "That may be true." As long as they control our government and the upper echelons of the army, and mobilize our troops to drive the British out, will not they have control of Ireland? ”

The young man on horseback smiled and said, "Mr. Dunn, you seem to have a very reasonable point, and I have to admit that you are a very imaginative person. Let me tell you the truth, Mackerney's election to the presidency was not the result of a voluntary vote by the legislators, who were a bold party leader but not capable enough to lead a country. He stubbornly mobilized his army to attack Ireland, and as a result, suffered a great defeat, and we lost more than 100,000 men at the front! This showed that Mackerney and his ministers were not in a position to lead a country well, and we decided to remove him from power and let Parliament decide the future of the country without being affected, whether to continue as a republic or to form a new kingdom and elect a man who was able enough to be king. ”

The trucks in front came to a halt outside the range of rifle fire, and the German soldiers dismounted, lined up in trained formations, and then crouched in place to wait for orders.

The leader, who was more than half a hundred years old, and although he lived in a remote village, he was not an uninformed person, and he asked in surprise: "What you said is true?" We lost more than a hundred thousand people in Dublin? ”

"That's just a conservative estimate." The young man on horseback said with a sad face, "The situation may be worse than we thought." ”

"I heard that the Germans did not participate in this battle, and they deliberately sent our people to their deaths!" Someone behind the leader asked loudly.

"I said, it was McElner who insisted on attacking. From a military point of view, it was obvious that Limerick should be taken first, and the confidence of the British should be severely damaged, and then the forces should be concentrated to surround Dublin. This fatal mistake fully exposed Mackerner's ignorance. ”

The leading old man hesitated for a moment and asked, "Who are you going to choose as king?" ”

The young man on horseback was not shy about it: "There is only one person in this world who has defeated the British four times in a row, and that is Prince Joachim of Germany." We will elect him as a candidate for the throne of Ireland, and if he is willing to renounce his position as German royal family and swear to be a loyal member of the Kingdom of Ireland, we will put him on the throne of Ireland and lead the country to the revival of the British army. ”

"In the end, we are not going to accept German rule?" The leading old man stared at the young man on horseback with straight eyes.

"We just choose a capable and authoritative German to be our king, which is not the same thing as accepting German rule!" The young man on horseback turned his head to look at the convoy that had been parked in place for a few minutes, "Listen to me, Mr. Dunn, you and your men have to make a decision right away!" We don't ask you to do it with us, but don't do it with us either, no one wants to see senseless bloodshed. You just have to keep your eyes open and see if what I'm saying is true or not. I can assure you that no one can tarnish Ireland's freedom of independence, and that if we put on the throne a bastard who betrayed the interests of Ireland, we would remove him from the throne, no matter how high the title and reward he gave us. ”

The leading old man said slowly: "Okay! Odia, many of our sons have fought alongside the Germans on the battlefield, and for whatever purpose, the Germans have indeed been of great help to Ireland, and that the Germans, having won the war, will certainly be able to cede large tracts of fertile land and a large number of colonies from England and France, and that Ireland will be of interest to them other than to provide them with a few seaports? ”

"Yes, there's no need to worry about that." The young man on horseback should and said.

"But then again, each of us is happy for the establishment of the Republic of Ireland, and feels that we finally have an independent country, and who is the president and who is the king has nothing to do with us ordinary people, we just want to drive the British away, and let the whole of Ireland be bathed in the sun of independence and freedom, and we don't want to see the Irish and the Irish fighting each other for power, so ...... If possible, I hope that you can resolve your so-called political problems by non-force. ”

Looking at the eyes of the leader of the old man full of sincere prayer, the young man on horseback pondered for a moment and replied: "As far as I know, the troops supporting Prince Joachim on the throne of Ireland have completely occupied Cork Harbour, and supporting the fact that Mackerney is returning from the Dublin front, and these German soldiers have rushed to end this dispute as soon as possible. ”

The leader nodded, turned to his partisans, and said, "Go home, everybody!" The struggle of those in power has nothing to do with us, let us mourn for all who died, pray for all who are alive, may God bless us and bless Ireland! ”

(End of chapter)