Indeed, the British steam warships were technically average. In Joseph's words, it was: "This thing is technically completely slag! Any technology above is far behind us. I spent a total of 50,000 francs and finally got only one valid information, that is, the British steamships were slag!"

Indeed, paddle wheel steamers are completely technically failed. As a warship, exposed paddle wheels are the most obvious weakness. Moreover, the existence of paddle wheels has greatly affected the arrangement of artillery. In military terms, such ships have very limited uses. As civilian ships, paddle wheels themselves are not highly propulsive, but their structural weight is surprisingly large. Not only does it greatly increase the weight of the ship, but its attached transmission mechanisms will also occupy a lot of precious space. In addition, paddle wheels are prone to unilateral water outflow under higher sea conditions, causing the air wheels to fly, which can easily cause various mechanical failures. In short, compared with propellers, paddle wheels have almost no advantages except for being a little scary.

But although Joseph said so, this "backward slag" actually caused quite a lot of trouble to the French.

In just one working cycle, four clippers failed to return from Ireland. In addition, several clippers that returned lost all their cargo. According to these terrifying captains, they encountered the pursuit of the British ships emitting black smoke at sea.

At the same time, British newspapers also published reports about the capture of French fly-scissors by the "Heroic Royal Navy" to boost the morale of the British who were becoming more and more depressed.

Of course, the French immediately fought back with the story of Captain Morel's capture of the British steamship. This story not only appeared in the newspaper, but was even soon brought to the theatrical stage. On the stage, Captain Morel was certainly brave, but what was more eye-catching was the image of the British, which was almost comparable to the Germans in the classic French film "The Escape from the Tiger's Mouth" in later generations.

But the verbal gun cannot immediately change the situation at sea. As the British invested more and more steamships, the supplies that the French could transport to Ireland were literally reduced. Later, the French ships could only wait for a long sea far away from Ireland (anyway, due to the flight restrictions, the British steamships would not run so far) Only when the climate conditions were relatively harsh would they dare to approach Ireland. (Who made the sea conditions higher and the paddle wheels turned into waste)

However, even if this approach is adopted, the blood transfusion vessel extending to Ireland has not been completely cut off, but it is an indisputable fact that this blood vessel has undergone severe embolization.

For the British, it is important to take advantage of this period of time to bleed the Irish people on the battlefield. Even if they cannot completely eliminate the Irish rebels, they must be severely damaged.

So the Duke of Norfolk received the order that he must be severely injured as soon as possible and even eliminate the rebels. Along with this order from the cabinet, there was also an order from the king: "A more severe attack on illegal religious organizations that are unfaithful to the king."

The Duke of Norfolk said that both of these matters were very difficult, and if he had to execute them, he would have to increase his troops. Moreover, the number of troops could not be small, at least one hundred thousand troops would be needed.

Speaking of which, Britain has never mobilized so many troops in history. Such excessive demands naturally cannot be allowed by the government, but the Duke of Norfolk made such requests, which were actually his own considerations.

First of all, you will naturally ask for a price everywhere and pay it back locally. For example, if you honestly say, "I want 50,000 troops." Then the government will definitely find a way to give you a discount, and in the end it will be good to have 25,000 left. So you must first shout: "I want 100,000!"

Secondly, it is to prepare a way out for the future. If you fail, (in fact, even if the Irish people encounter difficulties now, it is not easy to completely eliminate them, and the chance of failure can be much greater than one in ten thousand). There is also a reason to shirk responsibility.

The meaning of the Duke of Norfolk is actually everyone understands that the bureaucracy has been operating like this for many years. Only fools will give whatever they want. In the end, everyone has no excuses, and then they can only take risks and end up being finished.

So the government bargained with the Duke of Norfolk according to the old rules and sent him more than 40,000 troops composed almost all of the new recruits.

The Duke of Norfolk was naturally very dissatisfied with this on the surface, and even spoke rudely in his letters to the Prime Minister. But everyone knew in their hearts that the Duke of Norfolk was actually very satisfied, and his complaints were just leaving a way out for himself.

The Duke of Norfolk also understood that the ones who have been added to the market are recruits who have not fought and have not been trained very well. But even such recruits are better than the "Irish Security Force". At least, as far as possible, there has been no authentic British army on two boats.

During the upcoming sweep, the Duke of Norfolk must leave enough troops to defend his hometown, and no longer have any stories of sending troops to smash other people's bases, and his bases were stolen later. The main purpose of these more than 40,000 new recruits is to protect those key points to ensure the safety of their rear when sweeping.

As for those unreliable "Irish security forces", they are still very useful in sweeping. For example, if they are used to destroy potatoes in non-security areas, can the regular army do this kind of work?

So after the group of new recruits arrived, the Duke of Norfolk sent the new recruits to various military stations, strengthening the defense capabilities of the military stations, and then launched a major raid on the Irish again.

However, this sweep was not particularly good in terms of time. According to the Duke's idea, the sweep must be carried out before the potatoes are about to be harvested. However, the government is eager to get good news, and the Duke himself knows that the French transportation line has not been completely cut off. Now, if it is delayed, delayed for two months, and before the potatoes are harvested, it can indeed cause a greater blow to the Irish rebels. Now, the potatoes have just been planted, and now they have attacked, ruining the potato fields. The Irish still have time to replant a batch. Although the final yield will definitely drop, it is better than being caught like this before the harvest.

However, pushing back so long will also put more pressure on the government. The government needs exciting news at this time. Moreover, a few months will also give the rebels more preparation time. When the time comes, the results may be greater, but the losses will be greater.

In addition, the British have temporarily gained the upper hand on the sea with the "world's number one technology", but who knows whether there will be any changes in the future?

The news that the Duke of Norfolk was preparing for a new round of major sweep could not be concealed at all. The United Irish Federation had long received information. Because in the "Irish Security Force", there were too many people on two boats.

So before the Duke of Norfolk had time to start the action, the Unified Irish Federation was already holding a meeting to discuss the anti-sweeping matter.

"How to do it? Of course, it's the same as last time. The enemy came to our house and we went to our house. Everyone fights each to see who can't stand it first."

"Team Commander Joyce, this time the old bastard got more than 40,000 people from the UK. Most of the time he wanted to keep the more than 40,000 people at home to guard his home. Those soldiers were afraid they would not be as easy as last time." President Russell reminded.

"But President, we have also become much stronger, especially our ability to attack." Joyce replied, "In response to the lack of ability to attack exposed in the last anti-sweeping operation, we asked French comrades to provide support on the one hand, and on the other hand, we also strengthened training in a targeted manner. Now our ability to attack is not comparable to last time. That old guy must have thought we could not chew on his military stations, so we could give them a surprise."

"I agree with Commander Joyce. But I think we should not only attack the enemy's troops, but also concentrate our forces to attack the enemies entering my base." Xie Lan, the commander of the Second Division, said, "Now our army has expanded significantly. The British know this, but they do not know how much our strength has grown. So if they thought they could move forward one time, as long as they assembled hundreds of British troops and hundreds of black dogs, they would be wrong. I think we can let them enter the base first, and then we will start behind them, knock out several key troops, force them to retreat, and then we will immediately move back to the base and attack the retreating enemy."

"Very good, everyone's morale is also very high." President Russell said happily, "We have encountered some trouble recently, and the number of our weapons supplies has dropped a lot. But comrades, we cannot rely solely on our French comrades. We must also be self-reliant. Without guns and cannons, we can let the British build us! In addition, we cannot rely solely on regular troops to defend the motherland. Every county brigade, district brigade, and village gang must be mobilized. Although there are few people in the village and cannot fight a big battle, but killing them a few today and killing them tomorrow will not be underestimated."
Chapter completed!