Ireland, 1843.

The summer was exceptionally hot, and the potato late blight, which had been raging everywhere before, seemed to disappear out of thin air. But instead, it was unusually hot, and most people chose to stay home.

In fact, the poor prefer heat to cold, because cold consumes valuable fuel, while hot people can drink water and do not have to do farm work.

With the exception of those who had previously suffered from potato late blight, they had to brave the scorching sun to go into the fields. Fortunately, the potato crop is extremely tenacious and does not require a high season, and it is still too late to plant and harvest before the arrival of winter.

However, it has not rained for several weeks, which is still very worrying.

Skaha stayed home and watched the grass turn from green to yellow to die, and she thought, "If the whole island of Ireland turns yellow, won't anyone call the island of Emerald Island?" Maybe it's called Topaz Island? And what about winter? White Gem Island? Or Diamond Island is better. ”

The more Skaha Jennings thought about it, the more annoyed she became, and finally she couldn't sit still and called her younger siblings out to collect hay.

Although the children were unwilling, they still gave in under the strong power of their sister. Skaha didn't want to wait until winter to collect hay, because at that time every family was collecting it, and children like them couldn't grab it.

Another underlying logic is that since the summer is already too hot to sleep, the winter must not be too cold to sleep.

At this moment, there was a glint of wisdom above Shaka's head, and Patrick, as the eldest brother in the family, did not want to mess around with his younger siblings.

In his heart, selling the family's pigs for a good price is the most important thing, after all, after reading books and gaining knowledge, he feels that money is the most important thing, whether he wants to live with dignity or want to save Ireland, money is necessary.

Shaka's parents were talking about things in their hut, also trying to sell the pigs for a high price. But the purpose is different, they don't think about dignity, or saving Ireland or something like that.

They just want to stay alive and keep their families alive.

"It's so hot in the summer, and it must be even harder in the winter."

"yes, there will definitely be people in the village who can't survive."

"Sell the pigs at a good price and rent a few more acres of land in the coming year."

They seem to have long been accustomed to it, and when someone dies, they take the opportunity to rent a few more acres of land at a high price. In this way, my family will be less hungry in the coming year.

In some prosperous times, there would have been accusations that they were cold-blooded, ruthless, and calculating even the dead, but at least they and their children survived

Under the scorching sun, some people are earning their lives for themselves, some people want to earn their lives for others, some people are planning for winter, and some people are planning for spring.

In the church in Queen's Village, Father Clovin is keeping a diary, and he wants to record everything here. It was not just about fulfilling the archbishop's command, it was about himself feeling that he had to do it.

Someone has to know what's going on here.

"It's been four weeks since it rained and the heat wave was breathless. Those who were affected (before) were not rescued, and the officials and nobles here did not take any substantive action.

People have to get water from wells that are drying up, some of the livestock are already sick, and if those lives are not saved, their owners are afraid that they will not be able to repay the rent for the following year

On one side is the yellowed crops of the farmers, and on the other side is the verdant pasture of the landlord's pasture. There is no shortage of water here, but there is no shortage of canals for the farmers."

What he didn't know was that even in a village with a canal, the landlord would cut off the canal leading to the farmland for the sake of his cattle and sheep.

Vienna, Royal Military Academy.

Several international students from Switzerland have become outrageously stupid, and the professors have said that they can't do anything about it.

Pastor Belite was a clergyman who knew nothing about military command, as the professors had expected.

But it is inconceivable that General Ulrich Salis, one of the supreme commanders of the Swiss army, did not even know the most basic common sense of marching and fighting.

Especially in this era, he didn't know anything about the application of artillery, and his tactical thinking was still stuck in the time of the American Revolution.

Let these people lead the troops to fight, and the result will undoubtedly be the total annihilation, or the defeat of the whole army without a fight.

The professors' evaluation is that it is not impossible to let them catch the ducks on the shelves, but the final result will be very uncertain. At the same time, the Austrian Empire also had a very beautiful file on General Dufour, who had received many awards, and was indeed good at mountain warfare.

At the same time, he also has rich combat experience, even in the French army, or the Austrian army, he can still be regarded as an excellent commander.

Of course, this person is not invincible, and Austria at this time is not the poor and weak Austria-Hungary that it was later, and there are still some generals with abundant martial virtues.

However, these people were not suitable to go to Switzerland to command the war, because if these high-ranking generals were involved, it would be contrary to the original intention of Austria not to be directly involved.

There was really one capable and experienced commander who did not belong to the Austrian military.

Vienna, Abrecci Palace.

"Grandpa Carl, I would like to invite you to Switzerland for a vacation."

Grand Duke Karl cupped his forehead.

"Franz, are you turning me and John upside down? I don't like mountaineering, and I don't like snow. ”

"But you like to fight, or you're good at it."

Franz's words were very abrupt, which made Archduke Karl frown.

"What do you mean? It makes me feel like I'm a war maniac. ”

"There may be a war in Switzerland in the future, and it will be a war of great disparity, to which the Austrian Empire will not send a single soldier.

But other countries don't necessarily do this, and the local people are not determined to fight. I need you to hold on as long as possible to create a pretext for the intervention of the Austrian Empire. ”

In fact, after the news of a possible civil war broke in Switzerland, Austria intensified its intelligence gathering. But from the known intelligence complex, the chances of the Independent Alliance winning are almost zero.

The alliance is too loose, and there is no stable economic source, let alone a unified and coordinated command. People were overly optimistic about the prospect of war, believing that the intervention of the great powers would allow them to gain an independent status.

They wanted to separate more than to unify Switzerland. Moreover, from the point of view of the situation of friend and foe, the Orthodox Union (the new name of the Independent Union) is also at a disadvantage, and the fall of Fribourg is almost inevitable, the question is only the length of time.

Historically, the canton of Fribourg held out for only 3 hours before surrendering to Dufour's army.

The personnel, the terrain, and the international situation were all unfavorable, and it was only then that Franz understood why Metternich had to let the two sides cease fighting.

If the two sides were to go to war, I am afraid that the war would be over before the Austrian army arrived in Switzerland. Austria could send troops to Tyrol, but crossing the Alps was not an easy task.

(End of chapter)