In the early morning of December 17, 1915, snowflakes fell in the sky of London. At the famous Victoria Docks, the candidates for the Irish throne who visited Britain boarded the Irish main battleship "Long Live Freedom", and among the thousands of people who saw them leave, most of them waved the flag, not only Irish diplomats and Irish expatriates stationed in the United Kingdom, but also many ordinary British citizens, some of whom were impressed by the personal charm of the candidates for the Irish throne.www.biquge.info Some are positive and optimistic about the prospects for friendship between Britain and Ireland.

On the same morning, in the southern harbour of Clough in the Belfast region, days of rain and snow had come to an end, but the damp and cold sea breeze made it chill to those outside. Locals are welcoming the day with the comfort of approaching Christmas, when suddenly, a terrible screech breaks the silence in the air. In the blink of an eye, a strange thunder came from the sea, and the people who had lived in the smoke of war a few months ago were terrified, and the first reaction of most people was to think that war had just come without warning. Urged by the sound of whistles, the British officers and soldiers stationed here hurried to their battle positions, this port is more than 30 kilometers away from the city of Belfast, is an important stronghold of Belfast's outer defense line, built coastal defense fortresses and land fortifications, from here to the southwest seven or eight kilometers to the military demarcation line between Britain and Ireland. Due to the strong desire of the Irish to recover Belfast, almost from the day the Kingdom of Ireland was born, the British army began to deploy the strategic defense of this area, and after the signing of the London Armistice, the haze of war hanging over the British finally dissipated, but the garrison troops in the Belfast area were always in a tense state of combat readiness.

"Oh my God...... Look there! ”

Clough's harbor channel, the British soldier at the lookout post greeted his companion in great panic, through the telescope, you can see that there are columns of water at least 100 meters high on the distant sea, they are like huge pillars, supporting an invisible temple of Zeus, there is no trace of ships nearby, they appear out of thin air, the scene is very shocking.

Witnessing this scene, another British soldier exclaimed, "Oh, that's a cannonball!" How big caliber of artillery should it be? ”

A moment later, the phone rang in the concrete fortifications, and a non-commissioned officer with an upper lip mustache picked up the receiver: "Hey, Z-5 observation post...... Sir, the shelling came from an unknown direction, and it landed about 10 kilometers away...... What is the distance? We're measuring. ”

At this time, the soldier holding the tubular cannon team mirror said: "The shell landed 15,000 yards. ”

The non-commissioned officer standing next to the phone reported to the man on the other end of the line: "15,000 yards away, sir! There are no ships observed on the surface of the sea for the time being, and it is possible that they are coming from land......"

As he spoke, another terrible screech came from the air, an unbearable tone, as if someone was scraping a porcelain plate with a metal spoon in the next room. Since the impact point of the projectile is more than 10,000 meters away, it stands to reason that this sound will not be heard if the artillery that fired the shell is farther away.

"Again, sir, quantity? Guys, count and see how many water jets there are. ”

After a while, the soldier with the binoculars turned around and made a "six" gesture.

"We observed six shells, sir, yes, six fell this time, it should be the same as before......"

This was the end of the conversation between the non-commissioned officer and the other end of the phone, he put down the microphone and hurried to the lookout window, except for these extra columns of water, the sea in the distance was still a monotonous and straight thin line, and there was no trace of uninvited guests.

"It could be a test shot of heavy artillery from the Irish." One soldier speculated apprehensively.

Another soldier answered: "I'm afraid that a cannon of this caliber could raze the whole of Clough Harbor." ”

The non-commissioned officer slammed his fist on the wall: "I have long heard that the Irish have brought heavy siege artillery from Germany and Austria, it seems that the rumors are true, and they have already transported the artillery to the front line, is this a signal to attack?" ”

The British soldier who spoke first said: "Without these cannons, we would have been able to hold off the Irish attack, but ...... As you may have heard, it took only a few days for the Germans to completely destroy the Belgian fortress of Liège, which is known as the first fortress in Europe! ”

Another soldier said in a state of utter discouragement: "If that were the case, we would have to pray to God for our blessing here." ”

The non-commissioned officer should not be indifferent to the pessimistic thoughts of his soldiers, but his attention at this time was clearly not focused on the dialogue of the soldiers. After a moment, he motioned for the crowd to silence, and then listened. The screeching of shells slicing through the air first came from the southwest, quickly rising in pitch, then fading away, the shells falling to the south, followed by the sound of rolling thunderous explosions.

"The artillery of the Irish should be in our southwest direction, and it is only about ten kilometers away from us, which means that they do not need to move their positions to attack Port Clough directly......"

As soon as these words came out, several soldiers in the lookout bunker couldn't help but be stunned, could it be that the attack of the Irish army was really imminent?

The British officers and soldiers deployed in Port Clough were only stimulated by sound, and in the forward guard positions across the border from the Irish army, the British soldiers who were also in the lookout bunkers were almost frightened by the sight before them: countless tracked armored fighting vehicles were flooding over the fields! There was no artillery suppression, no infantry coordination, and not even a single shot, but the momentum of this armored force alone made the British officers and soldiers on this side of the battle line extremely nervous, and many even thought that they were about to be in a catastrophe. Under the orders of the officers, all the guns on the British garrison positions were quickly ready to fire, and only the last firing order was missing. At this critical juncture, the discipline of the professional soldiers played a key role - the Irish army did not cross the line or shoot at the British, the British officers did not give the order to open fire, and the Irish steel division finally turned a few hundred meters from the border line, and drove away with its guns held high.

Although it was only a false alarm, the British officers and soldiers guarding the forward position were still stunned by the domineering and exposed Irish armored troops, they did not expect that the Irish army really had such a large fleet of tanks as rumored, and launched a surprise attack in such a huge formation, the whole process was smooth, and it only took more than ten minutes to cross the open area of several thousand meters. In the past, only cavalry had such excellent mobility ability, but cavalry could not break through positions protected by barbed wire and trenches, and vehicles with tracks instead of tires, armor and machine guns were invincible!

"War is looming?!"

A few hours later, the question with the exclamation mark painted a tense and heavy tone over the hastily convened British cabinet meeting.

"It's hard to imagine that His Highness has not completely left the British waters, and has already begun to provoke us with guns and cannons." Sir Nugant, the foreign secretary in Bonner-Law's cabinet, was restrained in his words, and the anger on his face was long gone.

War Chancellor Kitchener was a hot-tempered man, and he angrily proposed: "Let's just kill him once and for all!" Sooner or later, this guy will be Britain's worst enemy! ”

"If you can guarantee a lethal hit, why not?" Lord Norris, Chancellor of the Exchequer, poured oil on the fire.

Had it not been for a temporary change of course, the warship carrying the candidate for the Irish throne and his retinue was now sailing in the English Channel, and although the British Navy had not sent warships to accompany it, there were warships stationed at Isbent, Portsmouth, and Weymouth, ready to intercept them. After all, the English Channel is different from the open sea, supplemented by seaplanes for aerial reconnaissance, it is not difficult to find and attack a large ship.

The Lord of the Admiralty, Count Aurelius, said angrily: "Your Majesty has already made up your mind, so you don't need to dwell on this issue anymore. Moreover, modern warfare is a competition between countries, and individual will is actually the embodiment of national interests. ”

"I agree with the Count." "Taking a step back," said Prime Minister Beauer-Law, "even if the killing of His Highness can discourage the Irish, we must be sure that we will do so, otherwise we will not only fail to achieve our goal, but will also serve as a pretext for Germany and Ireland to wage war against us." Personally, I find the military activity of the Irish this morning very strange and seems to have the intention of luring us into opening fire. ”

"Hmph, it's not easy for them to create the illusion that we are going to fire first?" "They are making a naked provocation, a show of force against us, to make us feel that they can break through Belfast's defences with heavy artillery and chariots, so that we can surrender Belfast." ”

Although the Minister of War was angry, his analysis was relatively objective and calm, but it was a pity that his colleagues deliberately or unintentionally skipped his opinion. After some deliberation, they decided to proceed from both the diplomatic and military sides, attacking the Irish with great fanfare for their military provocations and sending additional troops to Belfast without showing any hint in order to make the Irish retreat.

The only objection came from Field Marshal Kitchener: "It is an effective way to deal with ordinary countries, but Ireland is as unreasonable as Germany, and I fear that before our diplomatic and military means can be used, they will have left us with no way out!" ”

"Once again driven to the point of no return?"

George V suddenly appeared at the door of the conference room, and everyone stood up.

The King of England took off his hat and strode to the conference table: "What is the result of the discussion?" ”

The Prime Minister, Beauer-Raub, respectfully reported to him: "It is so, Your Majesty, that most of us feel that diplomatic pressure should be exerted on Ireland, and at the same time expeditiously send additional combat troops to Belfast, and compel the Irish to abandon their provocations." ”

George V pondered for a moment: "Will this work for them?" ”

"Personally, I don't think it's going to work." Kitchener said bluntly, "That brilliant highness must have been prepared for a long time, and all this is exactly what he has planned. ”

George V asked noncommittally: "What can you do?" ”

Kitchener said with a serious face: "The best thing to do is to hold an early referendum to make Belfast's belonging to the United Kingdom an internationally accepted fact, but what I am most worried about at the moment is ...... His Highness doesn't even leave us time for the referendum. ”

"Really?" George V frowned, and his whole face looked gloomy and terrifying.

(End of chapter)