County Wicklow in Ireland is located south of Dublin. It is adjacent to the Irish Sea, mainly mountains and hills, and land transportation is not convenient. After being expelled from Dublin by the Commonwealth Army, the main force of the Irish Volunteer Army temporarily retreated here. It was originally to rest and try to fight again, but bad news suddenly came from the rear that the rebels occupied the Port of Cork, and senior officials of the Provisional Government were either detained or surrendered to the rebel camp. The front-line troops were suddenly in a state of turmoil. People were worried about the situation in the rear, and they were afraid that the British army would take advantage of the situation. In this case, a large retreat may turn into a fugitive. Once the British army really launched an attack, the losses suffered by the troops would be disastrous...

Kano, the southern town of County Wicklow, is about 70 kilometers north to Dublin, only more than 50 kilometers away from Watford, a coastal town in southeastern Ireland, and is nearly 200 kilometers away from Cork Harbor. On the third day after Cork Harbor fell into the hands of the rebels, the 1st Cork Army Corps Command moved from central County Wicklow to this remote and inconspicuous small place on the map.

On the same day, Aoun McNell, the interim president of the Republic of Ireland who had fled from Cork Harbor, also came to Kano. Under the protection of the troops, his panic was greatly relieved. In the house vacated by the mayor, McNell fell asleep after supper and did not wake up until dawn the next day.

The tents of Irish volunteer soldiers were everywhere.

Of course, McNell knew that these tents were basically all supplies transported by the Germans before the war. At that time, many members of the Brotherhood of Republic were puzzled, who would have a good house to set up tents and sleep. For a long time, these supplies were piled up in secret warehouses. Fortunately, the waterproof materials used to make tents were not prone to decay, and they were still intact after two or three years. Nowadays, British submarines continue to cruise around Ireland like sharks. Even with warships escort, the loss rate of German transport ships is still very high. Every ton of cargo arrived in Ireland is the most urgently needed for combat. This in turn proves how prescient the Germans were transported to the tents before the war.

For a simple breakfast, McNell chewed a few bites, and then summoned the commander of the 1st Legion, Lawlands, and several of his capable generals in the guest room. These people were wearing brand new senior officer uniforms, and their embarrassment and frustration were in sharp contrast to the uniform. Although they were rewarded for their heroic performance, this did not prove that they were competent for the role of commander of the large army. In fact, before the armed uprising, Lawlands was a middle school history teacher. Most of his generals and colonels were civilians. Only some of them had been local policemen or volunteers in the British team. They could have their current status. The biggest advantage was that they joined the Irish Volunteer Army earlier and had certain leadership and command abilities. However, in terms of formal military qualities, they were not as good as the young officers under Pierce who had secretly studied in Germany.

Lawlanders' chief of staff reported: "A news just received this morning that our 4th Infantry Regiment arrived in Willierston, Watfordshire, but failed to cross the Blackwater River. The rebels placed explosives on the bridge and ambushed the riflemen on the west bank of the Blackwater River."

"Why can't the brave 4th Infantry Regiment forcefully cross the river?" McNell stared at Lawlands, his tone soft and weak, and there was no even a bit of fierce look in his eyes.

Lawlanders did not speak, but was "spoke" by his chief of staff: "Mr. President, our soldiers are unwilling to open fire on their fellow brothers, and no one wants to see the Irish die in the civil war."

This answer made McNell feel unreasonable anger: "The other party took out explosives and ambushed the riflemen. They completely ignored the bloodlines of their fellow citizens, but we are here to talk about kindness!"

The Chief of Staff explained with a grievance: "They threatened to detonate explosives before we approached the bridge, and soldiers trying to cross the river were shot by them, but no one was injured."

"Enough!" McNell could not bear to stop the noisy guy. He looked at Lawlands with hopeful eyes. He thought he could trust him and said pitifully: "If we cannot make up our minds to quell the rebellion, the Ireland Republic will be over. In the future, the entire Ireland will be under the rule of a German. Is this restricted independence and freedom what everyone wants to see?"

Lawlands remained silent, his generals and colonels seemed to have expected McNell to say this, one by one, like sculptures, without saying a word.

McNell sighed deeply. As a veteran of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the founder of the Irish Volunteer Army, he has a very deep qualification, but his reputation within the Brotherhood and Volunteer Army is not the highest. One important reason is that he advocates "peaceful and independent". McNell's original intention of forming the Irish Volunteer Army was not to fight a war, but to use this armed force as a bargaining for negotiations with the British government and to gain maximum autonomy for Ireland through non-violent means. In the past, at meetings within the organization or in conversations between comrades, he always said bluntly that with the British military and political strength, Ireland would have to wait until the next century to become a completely independent country. His efforts were to prevent the Irish people from shedding blood in the rebellion with little hope.

Now, this sentence has become a great irony to him.

In fact, as early as around 1910, the Germans quietly increased their investment in Ireland and provided secret military assistance to the Brotherhood of the Irish Republic and some branches of the Irish Volunteer Army. The weak Irish Volunteer Army continued to grow and grow. With the latest rifles, machine guns and even artillery, more and more people within the Volunteer Army began to look forward to the prospect of armed expulsion of British troops. McNell should have noticed these, but when the signs of war breaking out in Europe became more and more obvious, he did not adjust his views in a timely manner, but stubbornly insisted on his view unless the British forced recruitment in Ireland, or if there was great hope of success, the Irish Volunteer Army could consider an armed uprising.

Therefore, the reputation of the elders and even rising stars of the Republican Brotherhood who advocated armed independence was growing and McNell's status was no longer the same. After the war broke out, Emon Kanter secretly visited Germany with Pierce and others, and received a promise of Germany to provide a large amount of military aid and direct troops. Later, at the high-level meeting of the Republican Brotherhood and the Volunteer Army, most of them agreed to armed independence, and McNell had to accept this fact of success. Later, the German Navy won one after another, and the Irish Volunteer Army took the lead in launching an armed uprising. The Germans also transported a large number of marine troops to Ireland as agreed. After many twists and turns, the Irish independent armed forces gradually became a general trend. At this time, McNell

Nell refused to oppose the opposition and decided to announce the establishment of the Republic of Ireland in Port Cork. As soon as the announcement was released, the whole country was joking and the people who supported Irish independence were all excited. But unlike these ordinary military and civilians, McNell and his followers knew that the Republican Brotherhood had signed a series of secret treaties with the German government, including the establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland and respecting a member of the German royal family as the king of Ireland. Although he did not agree with too in-depth cooperation with the Germans from the beginning, these secret treaties were also the decision made by the other leaders of the Republican Brotherhood and the Volunteer Army bypassed him, so in a strict sense, McNell did not fulfill the obligations of these secret treaties, and he did.

However, judging by McNell's series of actions after he took office as President of the Republic of Ireland, he did not realize how powerful the opponents were, even if he realized it, he did not have enough time and ability to make careful arrangements and implement them.

The desperate McNell sneered: "Gentlemen, since you are not willing to be enemies with your former comrades, then give me, a failed interim president of the Republic of Ireland, to the rebels, to preserve your status and honor!"

"Mr. President, everyone sitting here has been born and died on the battlefield. In the past, we dared to straighten our chests when facing the British cannons and bayonets, and today we are equally fearless in the face of the German cannons and machine guns. But our soldiers do not think so. The establishment of the Republic of Ireland was in a hurry, and its foundation was not stable. Many people have not even figured out what it was. Now, those coups who opposed the Republic did not want to overthrow the country, but re-select their state and leaders through parliamentary votes. This is not enough to arouse the anger of the soldiers. If we force them to launch an attack, I can assert that the 4th Infantry Regiment will have a mutiny within one day, and other troops will definitely be affected."

Lawlands' words made McNell sit down slowly.

Then, Lawlands nodded to his chief of staff, and the officer took out a piece of paper slightly larger than a slap from his pocket, and wrote a few sentences in printed form, which looked very simple.

Lawlands handed the paper to McNell.

"This is a flyer dropped by the rebels with planes, and more than half of our troops have received such flyer." He explained, as if to express his consolation for McNell, he used the term "rebels" that he had been avoiding before.

McNell grabbed the flyer and glanced a few times, his face as if dead.

"To be honest, our troops are on the verge of collapse. If we can choose fairly, I believe most soldiers will choose you to continue to serve as the leader of this country, but the conditions are not equal now. Without the support of the Germans, we were defeated in Dublin, and the troops needed to revitalize morale, but now they have suffered a heavy blow in their spirit. It is precisely because our opponents have seen this that they dared to launch a coup with a few forces." Lawlanders said this here, as if there was a text, but he did not say a word.

"In this way, our decision to fight Dublin was too frivolous, giving the Germans and their supporters a great opportunity." McNel said with a heart of grief. "Now, we seem to have no way out except surrender."

"No, we are not surrendering." Lawlands corrected, "but negotiations, to resolve the crisis in a peaceful way, and let the will of the people determine the future of Ireland."
Chapter completed!