The Fox of France - Chapter 466 (Patreon)

Chapter 466: The Pretext for War

The British aboard the armored train had already noticed the damage to the tracks ahead, so the train began to slow down, and the infantry onboard started preparing for combat disembarkation.

The train's wheels squeaked loudly against the rails as it trembled and decelerated sharply, with soldiers grabbing onto whatever was nearby to maintain their balance.

The armored train's braking system performed well, coming to a gradual stop close to the damaged section of the track, with soldiers readying their weapons for disembarkation. Just then, a series of cannon shots rang out.

The independence army's two 40mm long-barrel cannons fired first. Their target was the British armored train's power car, which, unlike conventional trains, is usually positioned in the middle to prevent damage from mines to the most crucial power car.

However, in front of the cannons, such arrangement was futile. Two 40mm armor-piercing shells easily penetrated the thin armor designed to protect against rifle bullets, making it seem as fragile as paper in front of the 40mm shells.

After the shells penetrated the cylinders, they exploded, releasing a burst of high-pressure steam that enveloped everything, including the driver's cabin, in white vapor. Later, the independence army soldiers found that the drivers and boiler workers had been cooked alive by the steam.

Following the 40mm cannons' fire, the other artillery units also opened fire on the armored train fiercely. When using the 60mm short-barrel cannons, due to their lower initial velocity, their penetrating power was far inferior to the 40mm shells. However, the 60mm armor-piercing fragmentation shells were still capable of penetrating the armor of the passenger cars, which were only designed to withstand rifle bullets.

The French military had already begun equipping high-explosive shells, but since they were very expensive, the Irish opted not to use them unless necessary. Armor-piercing fragmentation shells, relying on shrapnel from the shell's fragmentation upon penetrating the armor, did not require a fuse or explosives, making them much cheaper by comparison.

The British armored train had a total of six carriages, with the power car and coal-water car in the middle, flanked by passenger cars, and each end of the train had a fire support carriage equipped with two cannons.

According to the plan, one of the independence army's artillery units' important tasks was to strike the passenger cars before the British soldiers could disembark. Experiments by the French indicated that if they could fire a round or two of armor-piercing fragmentation shells at the passenger cars before the British soldiers could disembark, they could almost immediately incapacitate the troops inside.

As the French experiments had shown, after a few volleys were fired at the passenger cars, several bloodied, shell-shocked British soldiers were seen scrambling down.

These British soldiers didn't even have their rifles; they just ran around, even forgetting that the surrounding area was mined, causing many of them to step on landmines.

Then, the British fire support carriages responded by firing at the independence army's artillery units, but due to hasty shooting, none of the shells hit effectively. Meanwhile, the independence army's infantry, brandishing their guns, rushed towards the paralyzed British armored train.

The few cannons on the fire support carriages could not stop the infantry charge, as they could not provide continuous fire. The armored train's combat effectiveness largely depended on the infantry it carried, but now those infantry were of no use, allowing the independence army's soldiers to quickly approach and enter the cannons' dead zones on the fire support carriages.

As the soldiers were about to throw grenades at the stubbornly resisting enemy, they suddenly found the enemy's cannon fire cease, and a white shirt was hoisted on a bayonet, waved at them. They also heard a voice shouting: "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! We surrender!"

The British surrendered so readily, which was quite unexpected to the soldiers. Typically, the combat capability and will of the regular British army far exceeded that of the gendarmerie, and they rarely surrendered so easily.

However, when the soldiers entered the passenger cars and saw the carnage caused by the armor-piercing fragmentation shells, everyone understood why the British had surrendered so readily.

"The inside (of the passenger cars) was a horrific sight. The shells had pierced through the outer armor and fragmented upon entry, like bullets from a shotgun, ah, but much more potent than that. A shotgun pellet is at best comparable to a bullet from a revolver. But these were shells, and even the smaller fragments could penetrate a person and then wound another. The larger pieces could penetrate several people and, after passing through three or four, could bounce back from the armor on the other side and wound another person.

The passenger cars were so crowded that there was no place to hide during the bombardment. Continuous firing meant that they didn't even have a chance to disembark, and in one carriage, apart

from a few individuals, the majority of the British were either killed or severely wounded in the bombardment. It can be said that these few rounds of firing decided the outcome of the battle.

The independence army soldiers left those who were dead or injured and then used explosives to completely destroy the armored train before leaving the railway line with prisoners and trophies.

Over the following month, the independence army mobilized over a hundred battalions to launch raids on various railway lines across Ireland, successfully dislodging hundreds of British military positions, killing or wounding over six thousand British soldiers, destroying thirteen armored trains, and capturing a large amount of weaponry.

During this battle, a situation previously rare occurred: whether in terms of casualties or prisoners, the British forces far exceeded the gendarmerie. Many gendarmerie units excused themselves from battle with pretexts such as "the telephone is broken, completely inaudible," (it was said some gendarmerie units cut their own phone lines, naturally becoming unreachable due to sabotage by the independence army). Thus, aside from losing some weapons, they didn't suffer significant losses.

However, the British military reports showed their losses as astonishing. Including Captain Jarvis, their units reported being attacked by the independence army, suffering heavy casualties, with nearly half their men dead, and in some cases, only a third surviving. After all, if the genuine British lords suffered so many casualties, how could the gendarmerie come out unscathed? That would be tantamount to admitting collusion with the independence army. Hence, they had to significantly exaggerate their losses to justify themselves when the British lords were besieged by rebels.

Of course, the "dead" Irish gendarmerie were mostly ghosts, or rather, individuals who existed only on payroll registers and not in reality. They all shared a common name: "ghost soldiers."

The British faced another setback and retreated to major cities. Recently, Aslon, which had previously caused significant losses to the independence army, began to be isolated. Although they weren't surrounded again, the continuous destruction of railway lines made supplies increasingly difficult.

"Damn it, where is our fleet? If we can't cut off the French support for the rebels, we'll bleed dry in the swamps of Ireland!" Faced with this predicament, the Duke of Norfolk began to shift the blame desperately onto the British navy's head.

This was inevitable, as the situation was nearing out of control. If not blaming others now, how could one survive later? Just like the later "Knowing King," who would curse the rabbit whenever the polls were against him, the more he lagged behind, the more black pots he threw at the little white rabbit, requiring more imagination.

However, the Duke of Norfolk didn't know that at this moment, Nelson's fleet was facing significant danger.

To keep abreast of information from North America, the French navy dispatched several cruisers equipped with wireless equipment to patrol the Atlantic, acting as temporary wireless signal relay stations.

Using this system, the French quickly learned about the British fleet, especially the "Queen Elizabeth," which was severely damaged and unable to sail at high speed. The fleet was currently returning home.

"Joseph, look at the new intelligence, 'Queen Elizabeth' is severely damaged and cannot sail at high speed. They are on their way back now. Do you think we should...?"

"Are you suggesting we take advantage of their vulnerability?" Joseph, who was telling his daughter a story, paused to ask Napoleon this question.

"Daddy, what happened to Snow White afterwards?" little Alice asked.

"Ah, didn't I tell you? The prince and princess lived happily ever after, right?" Joseph said.

"What happened after that?" His daughter, unwilling to end it there, asked again.

"After that? Well, they eventually died," Joseph said.

"How did they die? Was there another witch who gave her a poisoned apple?"

"There was no witch, but people grow old and die. If Snow White didn't die, she would have turned into an old witch!" Joseph smiled, patting Alice's head, then said, "Alright Alice, the story is over. Uh, go play by yourself for a while, I have some things to discuss with your uncle Napoleon."

Alice ran out the door, thoughtfully closing it behind her.

"I want to dispatch our main fleet to intercept them and eliminate them. As long as we can find them at sea and destroy them, we can gain a decisive advantage over the British navy and force them to further concede to us."

"Who is the commander of the British fleet?" Joseph asked.

"General Nelson. He has performed excellently in a series of military operations before," Napoleon answered.

Hearing this name made Joseph hesitate. Although, according to Napoleon's idea, the French fleet was far superior in tonnage and equipment level to Nelson's fleet, the mere name Nelson was enough to make Joseph hesitate.

However, after thinking for a while, Joseph finally made up his mind:

"Our fleet, relative to Nelson's, is

larger, better equipped, and in better condition. It's practically a dragon... No, no, no, such disrespectful words shouldn't be spoken lightly," Joseph thought, then said, "We can try, but let's not suffer losses."

After talking for half a day and setting the general principles, the next steps were up to Admiral Treveil.

Seeing that his older brother blessed the plan, Napoleon felt even more confident about the operation.

"As everyone knows, Joseph is a coward; he wouldn't speak recklessly about uncertain things," Napoleon thought.

Of course, France and Britain were still at peace. To attack the British, even though it was clear they were taking advantage of their vulnerability, a reason or pretext was still needed. If only France and Britain shared a border, then the French could dress some death row inmates in British army uniforms...

However, this issue also didn't require Napoleon to brainstorm; letting Lucien and Talleyrand discuss it was sufficient.

After consulting, Lucien and Talleyrand came back to Napoleon and said, "We'll send a warship, preferably a relatively significant one, to visit Britain, in a show-off manner. Then, the British will undoubtedly have protest actions against us. Next, we'll have this ship explode and sink in a British port. Then we can accuse the British of blowing up our warship, followed by making a bunch of demands they couldn't possibly agree to, and issue them an ultimatum. Then we can justifiably and legally go to war with Britain."

"What kind of class of warship do you think is appropriate?" Napoleon asked.

"A super-cruiser," Lucien answered.

"Nonsense, you really don't know how to be frugal! Do you know how expensive a super-cruiser is?" Napoleon said displeasedly, "Moreover, super-cruisers are an important force in combat, we can't waste them like this. Hmm, send an armored cruiser, that'll do. Really, it's just a pretext. Who doesn't know it's a pretext? Besides, as long as the British attack our ship, even if it's just a patrol boat that sinks, that's a sufficient pretext."

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