County Claire, Ireland, Limerick.

Through the high-power telescope behind the window, Xia Shu was observing the distance with all his attention. His eyes were facing a British barracks, with British soldiers and some military vehicles conducting training in line on the playground. On the south side of the barracks, there was a two-story building with white exterior walls, with flowers and plants planted on the terrace facing the sea. There were flat lawns in front and behind the buildings, and an iron fence with grey stone bases on the outer side.

On the lawn in front of the building, two ladies in white dresses walked in a stylish manner. They were generally tall and had similar figures. The one holding a bun was obviously more mature. She held a lace-edged umbrella in her hand, but her beautiful face looked haggard; her curly hair was not powder-shaped and handsome, she held the people walking with her hands, and when she listened to the other person talking, she looked very focused.

With the outline alone, Xia Shu was 80% sure that they were General Hill's wife and Charlotte Hill who had been dreaming about him. With the help of this single-tube high-power telescope, he could see the familiar face directly.

Standing next to Xia Shu at this moment was a young man wearing glasses. He had a gentle appearance and a thin and thin figure. This often made people think that he was a professional intelligence officer from Germany, proficient in reconnaissance, tracking, eavesdropping, good at communicating with people and trying to obtain intelligence. If necessary, he could also perform violent and bloody tasks such as assassination and gunshots.

When Xia Shu was concentrating on the target, the young man did not wait to take credit, but keenly observed the roofs, windows, and balcony of the same or similar heights around. In the newly established German Navy Intelligence Agency, there were still many intelligence personnel like him who had been professionally trained but not rich in practical experience. After the second Balkan crisis, under the instruction of senior German government officials, the intelligence agencies of the army and the navy greatly increased their expatriates. The intelligence elites were mainly sent to Britain, France and Russia. As the most turbulent area in Britain, Ireland, naturally became the ideal target of "poaching".

Thanks to the development and growth of the German Naval Intelligence Agency, Xia Shu did not have to rely on "friendly reminders" from others to find out the news about his lover. Before the letter of appointment of Duke Hill to transfer to Ireland was issued, Xia Shu had already received the exact information. As soon as some members of the Hill family left Thetford, the report of the German Naval Intelligence Agency was sent to Xia Shu, and then conducted detailed exploration and deployment. By the time Xia Shu retreated to Ireland, the preliminary work had been completed and all preparations were made.

Across four or five hundred meters, Xia Shu silently watched Charlotte and his daughter, watching them stroll warmly. It was almost dusk, and they walked out of the courtyard surrounded by iron fences and walked along the simple but clean streets. Two British soldiers who were originally guarding the gate of the courtyard followed not far behind. I don’t know whether it was because of the two British soldiers or for some other reason, passers-by nearby avoided them, and the atmosphere seemed quite strange.

Limerick is located on the west coast of Ireland. It has a beautiful environment and fresh air. Due to its convenient shipping and transportation, it also guards the estuary of the Shannon River, making it the main station of the British army in southwestern Ireland. Coincidentally, John Holland, a pioneer of modern submarines and one of Xiashu's important partners, was born in County Clare. Based on many considerations, the Hubert Shipyard invested by Xiashu is located in Limenirik. After six years of construction and development, it has expanded its scale and invested in branches in Dublin and Cork. The total number of employees has increased to 2,500 people. It can build various types of ships below 2,000 tons. It mainly produces Holland series submarines, racing speed boats and private yachts, and has a place in the international light ship market.

After passing through two streets, Charlotte and his daughter stopped on an ancient stone bridge. They faced the sunset and quietly watched the red clouds in the terraced fields. From the perspective of the summer trees, their figures were so delicate that they couldn't help but worry that they were burdened by the burden of life. However, General Hill has been using ships as his home for many years and has been unable to give his wife and daughter a comprehensive care. Although he can provide superior material conditions, he cannot make Charlotte feel at ease...

When the mother and daughter stepped on the rules in the setting sun, Xia Shu closed her sore eyes, and her endless hesitation turned into a sigh.

Seeing Xia Shu leave the window, the young man carefully pulled up the curtains and then waited respectfully for Xia Shu to speak.

Xia Shu looked up at the ceiling, thought for a moment, and asked, "How is the hospital here?"

To keep a close eye on the target mission, it is essential to understand the surrounding environment. The young man and his team obviously did this. He quickly replied: "There is a church hospital and a public hospital in the city, and four private clinics. According to our observation, General Hill is accompanied by Miss Hill to the public hospital every week to check their bodies. The one who takes them to the hospital is a private car, and there are two soldiers carrying weapons in the car at a time."

Natsuki thought for a while: "How is Duke Hill's reputation here?"

"Every Irish here knows that he is the new military chief."

The young man wearing glasses obviously couldn't keep up with Xia Shu's idea. So Xia Shu changed his planting method and asked again.

"Oh, the only adjustment he made to the garrison troops during this time was to strengthen the water surface patrol force at the port. So far, no case of smuggling has been arrested."

"Is the smuggling here serious before he comes?"

The young man replied: "As far as I know, there is relatively little smuggling in County Claire and its surrounding areas. In several counties in southern Ireland, especially Cork, smuggling is very serious, and he is therefore under the key patrols of British troops."

Xia Shu nodded. Since his training voyage during graduation season, he has not visited Ireland for six years, but has never relaxed his attention to the British backyard. Through the independence movements he met in Cork Harbor, he not only donated hundreds of thousands of marks to the Ireland independence movement, but also provided them with speedboats and small submarines. The reason why smuggling in southern Ireland is rampant is closely related to these equipment.

With his initial vision, Xia Shu left the hotel and drove to Hubert Shipyard. After nightfall, the lights were still on in the shipbuilding area, and busy figures were everywhere on the ship platform. In recent years, as the great powers of all sizes have devoted themselves to naval construction, the international arms market has ushered in a golden period before the war. Because Hubert Shipyard's small submarines are of good quality and low price, and the racing speedboats have performed well in various competitions, and construction orders are overwhelmed, so while increasing the number of employees, they adopt a shift work system. In addition, John Holland, the main shareholder and technical director of the shipyard, is a native resident here. Hubert Shipyard has a high reputation in the local area.

In form, Hubert Shipyard is a pure Irish local enterprise. Directors, shareholders, operation officers and technical directors are all served by Irish people. They hired a group of German consultants to improve work efficiency and ensure construction quality. In fact, the former is just a puppet sitting in the conference room, and the German consultant working for the shipyard is the hanging line of these puppets, and the real decision-makers behind the scenes are Xia Shu and his collaborators at Friedrich Shipyard.

"There is no problem with the funding and the direction is no problem with it. The problem is that the Irish people don't like English officials and their families very much. Their donations are likely to be regarded as intentional pleasing or giving, unless General Hill and Miss Hill can use their actual actions to resolve the misunderstanding. Over time, local residents will naturally accept them slowly."

In a consultant apartment at Hubert Shipyard, Chief Operations Consultant Gunter Messner further analyzed the idea of ​​Xia Shu.

Xia Shu agreed: "This is indeed not something that can be achieved overnight."

Mesner, a middle-aged man with short hair and shirt, is known for his flexible and smart mind. He held his glasses and looked at Natsuki with curiosity: "Time can change everything, Your Highness, but... why should we help the British and the Irish resolve conflicts?"

Xia Shu said lightly: "It seems that you have lived abroad for a long time and don't know much about some things about me."

"Oh?" The middle-aged man looked at Xia Shu awkwardly, "This Miss Hill is..."

Xia Shu glanced at him without answering.

The middle-aged man was not only smart but also decisive. He immediately threw the doubts he had just put into the trash can and carefully proposed to Xia Shu: "In Ireland, most drugs are controlled items, and buying them in large quantities is not easy, and donating them will also cause unnecessary trouble. In this case, we will donate a batch of beds to the hospital anonymously to help them expand their capacity, which is what they urgently need at present. The second step is to send someone to Switzerland to contact the International Committee of the Red Cross, a neutral body recognized by the Geneva Convention, to persuade them to help solve the medicine and equipment, and if possible, invite a group of medical staff to come for free diagnosis and treatment. The third step is to disclose the situation of the anonymous donors, namely General Hill and Miss Hill, through newspapers. Of course, you'd better communicate with them in advance. As long as they don't stand up and deny it, our purpose will be achieved."

Xia Shu listened and thought, and when Messner finished speaking, he nodded and said, "Very good, Mr. Messner, you are worthy of being recommended by Weizel. You are agile and quick-thinking. Unfortunately, you did not join the army, otherwise you would have been a hot think tank in the senior staff."

After being polite as usual, Mesner said: "Since Your Highness thinks this is possible, I will do it as soon as possible. If Your Highness has other needs, please feel free to give instructions."

In addition to Holland's 20% stake, Hubert Shipyard is entirely Xiashu's private property. After ten years of operating the Friedrich Shipyard, he has mastered the skills he learned in the royal family, and the German managers sent to Ireland have been reviewed by him without exception. Although they are located in a foreign land and have a special local cultural style, Hubert Shipyard's business management is still as well organized as Friedrich Shipyard. Here, Xiashu certainly does not need to be restrained, he admitted.

: "I am going to stay in Ireland for a week this time. I stayed in Limerick for three days, then headed south to Cork, met some old friends, and returned home on a yacht. If I have time in the future, I will come again, but I don't want to spend more than twenty hours rushing on the sea every time, so I am considering establishing an air route between Germany and Ireland, trying not to attract the attention of the British, so I am going to use airships or seaplanes, without having to establish a fixed airport on land, just prepare for supply and maintenance ships accordingly."

Messner expressed no pressure on this.

In terms of the specific handling of the matter, Xia Shu was happy to be the boss, so he made a decision: "Just do it like this! I will dispatch professional technicians from China to help you prepare the ships, and the funds will be allocated from our secret funds."

Like Friedrich's Shipyard, although Hubert's Shipyard is a private property, it still has a considerable amount of secret funds outside the books. Its sources include reasonable and illegal daily operations, and there are also companies and private individuals who are used by the German government to support overseas intelligence networks to assist German intelligence agencies in obtaining intelligence information.

"I understand!" Mesner answered very simply.

At the same time, in the apartment of the military commander of the Munster, Duke Hill, who was sitting at the dining table, was still wearing his proud royal admiral uniform and the Victoria Cross symbolizing supreme honor. His majestic expression made every family member at the table and his adjutant feel sincerely awe.

For young and strong officers, it is a good job to be assigned to serve as local military chiefs. It is conducive to accumulating qualifications, enriching experience, broadening horizons and balancing abilities. Maybe you can also encounter opportunities to become famous in one fell swoop. For officers close to or reaching retirement age, this is mostly a retired placement, especially in areas where the situation is stable, local military chiefs do not have much to worry about.

Compared with those remote colonies, Ireland is close to the British mainland. Judging from the official name of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland, which has been used for more than two hundred years, it enjoys the treatment of native British members. However, since the invasion and rule of Ireland in the 12th century, King Henry II of England invaded and ruled Ireland, the Irish independence movement has never stopped. This is a national struggle of the Celtics and a religious struggle of Catholics against pagans (Protestantism). After the Industrial Revolution, the economic and industrial gap between Ireland and Britain grew increasingly. The Great Famine in the 1840s made the Irish hate the status of second-class citizens. The independence movement flourished. The radical independence movement secretly formed a paramilitary force, which also made Ireland the most unstable part of the British islands.

Unfortunately, the six counties of Cork, Claire, Carrey, Limerick, Tiberrey, and Watford, which geographically belong to Munster Province, are mostly Catholic (the United Kingdom is a Protestant country), and they are also the most active areas of the Irish independence movement in history.

"If you do maintain some form of contact, Xia Luo, I hope you will send him a message. Everything in the past is gone. It would be fine if he stayed in the European continent in peace. If he really came here ignorantly, I would not be lenient because he was a member of the German royal family. This is Ireland, I have the right to deal with emergencies, and my soldiers have the right to shoot at the extreme dangerous elements they identified."

Duke Hill said this in an ultimatum tone. Everyone at the table looked down at the plate in front of him, and did not dare to sip.

The girl sitting opposite the Duke had a pretty face and a stubborn expression. She silently put down the tableware in her hand and said word by word: "In the past 24 months and 10 days, I have no contact with him anymore. If he wants to come, I cannot stop him. As for whether you order a gun, the first thing you should consider is not my feelings, but the relationship between the country."

The Duke glared wide, and he said in a muffled voice: "British has the most powerful navy on this planet, and it is not afraid of going to war with any country!"

His granddaughter, Charlotte Hill, was more speechless than words at this time.
Chapter completed!