On the morning of December 17, 1915, snowflakes were floating in the sky of London. At the famous Victoria Pier, the Irish throne candidates who visited the UK and their teams boarded the Irish main warship "Long Live Freedom". Among the thousands who watched them leave, the flag-waving people accounted for the majority. They not only had Irish diplomats and Irish expatriates stationed in Britain, but also many were ordinary British people. Some of them were impressed by the personal charm of the Irish throne candidates, and some were positive and optimistic about the prospects of friendship between Britain and Iran.

On the same morning, in the southern harbor of Clover, the rain and snow weather that lasted for several days had come to an end, but under the wet and cold sea breeze, people outside could feel the chill. Local residents were welcoming the new day with the comfort of Christmas approaching. Suddenly, a shrill whistle broke the tranquility of the air. In a flash, strange thunder came from the sea. People who lived in the smoke of war a few months ago were very frightened. Most people's first reaction was that they thought the war had come without warning. Under the urging of whistles, the British officers and soldiers stationed here were hurried.

Hurry up to the battle position. This port is more than 30 kilometers away from the city of Belfast. It is an important stronghold on the outer defense line of Belfast. It has a coastal defense fortification and land defense fortifications. From here, it is the military dividing line between Britain and Ireland. Because the Irish people's desire to regain Belfast was very strong, almost from the day the Kingdom of Ireland was born, the British team was deploying strategic defense in this area. After the signing of the London Armistice Agreement, the haze of war that enveloped the British people finally dissipated, but the garrison troops in the Belfast area were always in a state of tense combat readiness.

"My God... look there!"

Next to Claff's port channel, the British soldiers at the lookout post greeted his companions in panic. Through the telescope, you can see that water columns at least a hundred meters high appeared on the distant sea. They were like huge pillars, supporting an invisible Temple of Zeus. There were no traces of ships nearby. They appeared out of thin air, and the scene was shocking.

Seeing this scene, another British soldier exclaimed: "Oh, that's the splash of the shells! What kind of caliber artillery should be?"

A moment later, the phone in the concrete fortification rang, and a non-commissioned officer with an upper lip tilt picked up the earpiece: "Hey, observation post z-5... The sir, the shelling from unknown direction, was about ten kilometers away... the specific distance? We are measuring."

At this time, the soldier holding the tubular artillery mirror said, "The shell lands at 15,000 yards."

The non-commissioned officer standing by the phone reported to the person on the other end of the phone line: "The distance is 15,000 yards, sir! No ships have been observed on the sea for the time being, it may have been called from land..."

As he was speaking, another shrill whistle came from the air, an unbearable tone, as if someone was scratching the porcelain plate with a metal spoon in the next room. Since the bullet was more than 10,000 meters away, if the cannon fired the shell was farther away, it would not have been heard.

"Here comes again, sir, quantity? Guys, count how many columns of water there are."

After a while, the soldier holding the telescope turned around and made a "six" gesture.

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

The conversation between the non-commissioned officer and the other end of the phone ended here. He put down the microphone and hurriedly walked to the lookout window. Apart from the extra water columns, the sea in the distance was still a monotonous and straight thin line, and there was no trace of uninvited guests.

"This may be a test shot of the Irish heavy artillery." A soldier guessed anxiously.

Another soldier responded: "A cannon of this caliber may be able to level the entire Claff Port."

The non-commissioned officer punched the wall: "I have heard that the Irish people have brought heavy siege cannons from Germany and Austria. It seems that the rumors are true, and they have transported the cannons to the front line. Is this a signal to launch an attack?"

The British soldier who spoke first said, "If we hadn't had these cannons, we would have been able to block the attack of the Irish army, but... you should have heard that the Germans' heavy artillery completely destroyed the Belgian Liege Fortress, which is known as the No. 1 in Europe!"

Another soldier said without fighting spirit: "If that is the case, we can only pray for God's blessing here."

The non-commissioned officer should not be indifferent to the pessimistic ideas of the soldiers, but his attention was obviously not focused on the soldiers' conversations. After a moment, he signaled everyone to silence, and then listened. The screaming sound of the shells passing by in the air first came from the southwest, and the tone quickly rose, then gradually moved away, and the shells fell to the south, followed by the thunder-like explosion.

"The Irish cannons should be in the southwest direction of ours, and maybe only about ten kilometers away from us, which means they can directly attack Clough Harbor without moving their positions..."

As soon as these words came out, the soldiers in the bunker were stunned. Could it be that the attack of the Irish army is really imminent?

The British officers and soldiers deployed in Clough Harbor were only stimulating from the sound. At the frontier guard positions that were separated from the Irish army, British soldiers who were also in the observation bunker were almost scared of heart attack by the scene in front of them: countless tracked armored vehicles actually spread across the fields like a tide! There was no artillery fire suppression, no infantry coordination, and no shot, but the radiant momentum of this armored force made the British officers and soldiers on this side of the front extremely nervous, and many even

I thought I was about to face a disaster. Under the orders of the officers, all the guns and cannons on the British police positions were quickly prepared to open fire, and the only thing that was missing was the last shooting order. At this critical moment, the discipline of professional soldiers played a key role in the Irish army did not cross the line or shoot at the British army. The British officer did not order fire. The Irish steel division finally turned a corner hundreds of meters away from the border line and left with a high muzzle.

Although it was just a false alarm, the British officers and soldiers guarding the frontier positions were still stunned by the domineering Irish armored troops. They did not expect that the Irish army had such a huge group of chariots as rumored, and launched an assault with such a huge formation. The whole process was flowing, and it only took more than ten minutes to cross a wide area of ​​several thousand meters. In the past, only cavalry had such outstanding mobility, but cavalry could not break through the positions protected by barbed wire and trenches, and chariots that replaced tires with tracks, covered with armor and equipped with machine guns and cannons were invincible!

"War is approaching?!"

A few hours later, this question with an exclamation mark put a tense and heavy tone on the hasty British cabinet meeting.

"It's really hard to imagine that before the British waters were completely gone, his highness had already begun to provoke us with guns and cannons." Sir Newgent, the foreign minister of Bonalao's cabinet, was still restrained, and the anger on his face had long been disguised.

Army Secretary Kitchener was a terrified man, and he suggested in anger: "Let's kill him once and for all! Sooner or later, this guy will be Britain's biggest enemy!"

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

If the voyage has not been temporarily changed, the warship carrying candidates of the Irish throne and their entourage is sailing in the English Channel. Although the British Navy has not sent warships to accompany them, there are combat ships stationed in Isbourne, Portsmouth and Weymouth, and they can be dispatched to intercept at any time. After all, the English Channel is different from open sea areas. It is supplemented by seaplanes for air reconnaissance. It is not difficult to find and attack a large ship.

The Navy Minister Earl Orery said angrily: "Your Majesty has made the decision, so you don't have to worry about this issue anymore. Besides, modern warfare is a competition between the state, and personal will is actually a reflection of national interests."

"I agree with the count." Prime Minister Bona Lau said, "A step back, even if killing His Highness can make the Irish lose its spirit, we must be sure to take action. Otherwise, not only will the goal not be achieved, but it will also become an excuse for Germany and Ireland to launch a war against us. I personally think the Irish military activities this morning are very strange, and it seems to have the intention to lure us into fire."

"Hmph, isn't it easy for them to create the illusion that we fire first?" Kichinner shouted. "They are just engaging in a naked provocation, showing off their strength to us, making us feel that they can break through the defense line of Belfast with heavy artillery and chariots so that we can hand over Belfast."

Although the Army Minister had an angry look, his analysis was still relatively objective and calm. Unfortunately, his colleagues ignited his opinions intentionally or unintentionally. After some discussion, they decided to start from both diplomatic and military aspects, while criticizing the Irish military provocation with great fanfare, while sending more troops to Belfast without showing his edge, so that the Irish retreated.

The only opposition came from Marshal Kitchener: "If we deal with ordinary countries, this is an effective way. But Ireland is as unreasonable as Germany. I am worried that if we can't wait until our diplomatic and military means take effect, they will leave us with no way out!"

"Another time I was forced to the point where there was no way out?"

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

The British king took off his hat and walked to the conference table with great strides: "What's the result?"

Prime Minister Bona Lau respectfully reported to him: "It is so, Your Majesty, most of us feel that diplomatic pressure should be put on Ireland, and at the same time, the rapid addition of combat troops to Belfast, forcing the Irish to abandon their provocation."

George V pondered briefly: “Is this useful for them?”

"I personally think it's basically useless." Kitchener said bluntly, "that extremely smart Your Highness must have been prepared long ago. All of this is his exquisite layout."

George V asked without any objection: "What can you do?"

Kitchener said with a serious face: "The best way is to hold a referendum in advance to make Belfast's ownership of the United Kingdom an internationally recognized fact, but what I am most worried about at the moment is... that Your Highness doesn't even leave us the referendum time."
Chapter completed!