With a creak, the barn door shut, and then the sound of footsteps drifting away - he was not discovered by the Irish soldiers who came in to search, and the British Air Force Lieutenant John Lake was surprised, but the boulder hanging in his heart did not fall, because he knew that the Irishmen would not give up until the missing British reconnaissance plane pilot was found. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Huddled in a cold, damp corner, Lake was annoyed. If he hadn't been on the wrong step in the flight assessment, he would have been graded A, and he would have served in the fighter unit at this point, instead of flying an unstable reconnaissance plane to Ireland on this bad morning, and would not have been hiding like a vole in this foul-smelling barn.

After about two hours, the Irish soldiers who had searched the surrounding area returned to the village in sight. The morning fog had completely dissipated, and the villagers who had eaten breakfast went about their work, but in this season their main focus was on tending the vegetable fields rather than taking care of the wheat fields, so no one came to the barn to get farm tools. Worried that the smell of urine would attract attention, Lake just moistened his mouth with the water from the kettle, and spent the rest of the day carefully observing his surroundings. If you leave the barn in broad daylight, even if you take off your unsightly flight suit, you may be stopped by the vigilant Irish villagers, who must wait until after dark to try to find the hidden pro-British groups in nearby towns - hopefully they will hear the news of the crash of the British reconnaissance plane and the pilot's disappearance, and leave a contact mark in front of the church in the same way they left earlier, otherwise Lake will not be able to find them at all, and will have to venture to the next town to try his luck, and the longer the time, the longer the journey, The more likely your identity is revealed!

Thinking of the difficult road ahead, Lake felt the urge to give up on himself. He closed his eyes, but his mind felt a kind of peace that he had not seen for a long time, and for a long time, it was so quiet that he could hear the croaking of insects clearly, and after a long time, there was a strange roar in his ears.

Through the cracks in the plank walls, Lake saw a convoy. In such wet conditions, the convoy drove through the road without rolling dust, and if it weren't for the roar of the engine and the exhaust fumes from the vehicles, the yellow-green paint would not have been noticeable from a distance of several kilometers. Upon closer inspection, Lake noticed that many of them were tracked and half-track vehicles.

Can the Irish army send an armored unit to search for itself?

The answer is obviously no, Lake naturally thinks of the current tense situation, people say that war can break out at any time, could it be that in the short time that he lost contact with the command, the situation has changed again?

Lake thought hard about whether Britain and Ireland were in a state of peace or war, and that his current situation would not improve, except that he might become a prisoner of war in the Irish army, rather than a "border crosser" with a special status.

The convoy of a dozen full-tracked tanks, forty or fifty half-tracks, and a few wheeled vehicles did not go in the direction of the barn, but turned north at a fork in the road not far away, either from the barracks to the assembly point or to adjust their positions. In the current situation, it is almost impossible for Britain to take the initiative to attack Ireland at the beginning of the war, but the Irish army is likely to attack the British mainland with Germany, and Belfast is on the coast of the nearest North Channel between Britain and Ireland, once the Irish army and the German army deployed in Ireland join forces to attack Britain, Belfast will inevitably become an important strategic springboard, which is why the British military has recently frequently carried out aerial reconnaissance on Belfast!

The armoured troops vanished at the end of the road, and an army-green car and several trucks in the same livery came from the east, turning south at the same junction, and after a short time they passed the front of the barn, and then all stopped at the entrance of the village.

Dozens of heavily armed Irish soldiers got out of their cars and began a new round of searches under the command of the officers. Seeing that the guys had brought a few hounds, Lake sighed heavily, took out the maps and documents related to the flight, poured kerosene from the lighter on them, and set them on fire......

A few minutes later, Lieutenant John Lake, a pilot of RAF's 26th Squadron, raised his hands in front of the muzzles of several black holes, his unloaded Browning pistol, which was now in ashes except for identification documents.

When escorted to the Irish officers, Lake asked in English, "Mr. Officer, have I become your prisoner of war?" ”

The Irish officer, with a beautiful beard and a majestic elegance, stared at Lake up and down for a moment, and replied in pure English: "No, sir, Ireland and England are not yet at war, so you are not strictly a prisoner of war, and if you are lucky, you will soon be deported to England, and until then, I hope you will cooperate with us seriously and honestly." ”

Lake shrugged: "You are the country with the fastest development momentum in Europe in the past ten years, the country is respected, and the people are rich, why should you follow the Germans into this endless dispute?" ”

The officer puffed out his chest and raised his chin: "I can't answer this question for you, but if Ireland does go to war with the British, my soldiers and I will not show mercy." The debts you have owed in the past will be repaid. ”

has become meat in other people's hands on other people's land, Lake should have bowed his head and behaved, but he is a stubborn temper, and he can't pull ten cows when he comes up stubbornly.

"By the time your proud Limerick is reduced to burning ruins like Luvan, I hope you won't regret your decision today."

Hearing this, the Irish officer clasped his hands in front of his chest, looked Lake again coldly, and said loudly: "Luwan is an accident, and it is an accident that belongs to the loser, and the Irish soldier will never let Limerick become someone else's trophy!" ”

Seeing that the other party only reciprocated and showed no signs of rudeness, Lake shot back even more unscrupulously: "You are an army officer, and you may be able to guarantee that your capital will not be captured by other countries' troops from land, but you can't stop other countries' air forces from blowing it into ruins." ”

"Then let's see!" The Irish officer waved his hand and motioned for the soldiers to escort him into the truck, then turned and walked to the side, silently lighting a cigarette. It is true that this fat-looking British pilot said, he is an army officer and cannot control those things in the sky, but like most of his colleagues, he feels that the new branch of the air force, which has only been born for more than a dozen years, cannot decide the outcome of the war, and that the army and navy, which have a history of several thousand years, are the real masters of the battlefield. Whether it is the landing of the British army in Ireland or the landing of the Irish army in the United Kingdom, the Irish army will defeat the British on the battlefield, and with the current situation, the chance of avoiding war through diplomatic mediation has become smaller and smaller, and if war comes tonight, he will not only not feel at a loss, but will also cherish this opportunity to serve the country and go into battle to kill the enemy.

At the same time in London, England, all the buildings that witnessed the glorious peak of the empire on which the sun never set were still hidden in the thick haze, and Buckingham Palace, where the British royal family lived, was also one of them. In the imposing and elegant King's bedroom, King George V of England was half-reclined on the bed, his dressing gown fabricated, the cushions beautifully embroidered, the velvet blanket looking cozy, and the treasures that were regarded as priceless treasures, which were meaningless to a pale and frail old man.

The middle-aged man sitting on the edge of the bed, handsome and resolute, and his eyebrows were quite similar to the old man lying in bed, he said in a deep tone: "According to our analysis of the available information, the German army has basically completed the mobilization of active troops, 70 percent of the troops are deployed in northern France and Ireland, 20 percent are deployed on the Russian border, and only 10 percent remain in the country. Judging from the situation before the outbreak of the three wars of Prussia, Austria, and Prussia, we believe that the Germans will soon start a war this time. ”

The old man looked at the ceiling with a blank face, a dome painting of the Virgin embracing Jesus, and the background was a pleasant forest meadow, and the picture and colors had a calming effect.

"When the Treaty of London was signed, I knew that there was still a war between Britain and Germany, but unfortunately my body did not allow me to carry the battle flag again and lead the army and people of the Kingdom of Great Britain and overseas territories against a strong enemy."

"You don't have to be too anxious." The middle-aged man reassured with a calm face, "The British army is ready for war, our main fleet is gathering together with the US Navy, the elite Marine troops are on standby in the harbor, an unprecedented fleet will leave for the Azores as soon as the war breaks out, as long as we resist the attack of Germany and its allies, the situation will inevitably be reversed, and Soviet Russia and Japan, which are in a wait-and-see state, will definitely enter the war." ”

The old man sighed: "The lessons of history tell us that another country that cannot pin the fate of its own country at any time will do its best to help, and even if we win the battle against the Germans, Britain's industrial economy will be catastrophically wounded, and the world will be decided by the Americans, and if we fail to win, then Britain may even become a colony of Berlin." ”

"But we've made enough concessions to avoid war." The middle-aged man argued, "whether or not to carry out does not depend on our position, but on the ideas of the German rulers." In my communication with the German crown prince, I received a clear signal from him that if Germany wants to dominate the world, it must remove our stumbling block and defeat their biggest competitor in business and politics, the United States. Russia and Japan were not their targets, so we have reason to believe that there has been some kind of secret agreement, or some tacit understanding, between Berlin and Moscow and Tokyo. ”

The middle-aged man paused for a moment, then said in an impassioned mood: "The situation is so sinister now, we can only survive by winning, and the illusion of peace will only make us negative, and whether war breaks out tomorrow or next year, it will be the same for us." ”

(End of chapter)