In order to deal with the war with the Irish, just before the war began, the British Parliament temporarily recalled the Governor-General Duke of Norfolk and asked him about the current situation in Ireland.

"Sir, first of all, please give up the delusion of completely solving the Irish problem within a few months. Unless you are willing to give me an army of more than half a million! Otherwise, don't think about solving the Irish problem in a few months!" The Duke of Norfolk replied bluntly in the face of the members of the House of Commons.

"Mr. Governor, are the rebels in Ireland so strong now?" asked a MP.

"Their so-called Irish Independence Army now has at least 100,000 people, and its equipment level is no less than ours, and its training level is quite high. With our current strength in Ireland, it is very difficult not to go out to fight against rebels or guard the existing areas. If I cannot give me some reinforcements immediately, I may have to give up some minor strongholds to ensure the safety of several important cities." The Duke of Norfolk replied.

"Hisser Duke, I want to know why under your management, the power of the Irish rebels has expanded to such a dangerous level?" asked a Whig guy. The accusation contained in this question was very obvious.

"I was bound by the armistice agreement that you Whigs have always maintained." The Norfolk Coin immediately responded angrily, "I have given warnings more than once in the past few years. When the ceasefire agreement was just completed, I warned you that the ceasefire will allow Irish rebels to rest and become strong. Since then, I will remind you almost every two months that if the French cannot stop smuggling the Irish people, Irish rebels will be

The bandits will become stronger and stronger. But what about you? For a little order and for money, you dare not seriously block the Irish access to weapons. Everyone knows what the agricultural supplies the French export to Ireland every year! Rifles called bird drives, directional mines called group boar drives, and other messy things that fell into the hands of the Irish rebels under your indulgence.

The situation in Ireland is out of control. As the governor of Ireland, of course I am willing to bear certain responsibilities, but the main responsibility is not with me, but all of you! I have said long ago that Ireland is already an active volcano that is about to erupt, but you do not even allow me to pour a glass of water on the crater. I ask you to relax your plunder of Ireland and should be gentle when necessary, but what about you? You are in Ireland, and tax collection will be collected for the next century! You tied my hands and feet, and you thought that by putting me on the crater and relying on my weight, you could suppress the magma below? I have asked to resign more than once, but who would like to pick me up?

Now, you still have the face to ask me how the Irish rebels have developed to this point. Isn’t this all your credit? You still have the face to ask me what’s going on!"

The Duke of Norfolk seized the opportunity and scolded the entire government and parliament, but to sum it up, it can basically be attributed to the following points:

First, the situation in Ireland is very bad, very bad. Now it is no longer necessary to discuss how to eliminate the rebels, but to consider how to avoid being wiped out by the rebels. To maintain the situation, you have to give me money and give me people. If there is nothing, you can just wait for Ireland to collapse!

Second, the corruption of the situation in Ireland is entirely your responsibility. If it weren’t for me, Ireland would have been over. I only have the credit, and the pot will be yours. If you don’t take this pot, I will not do it! Please be smart!

Third, the baby has been in pain over the years and has no place to say it. The baby needs to vent now, so listen carefully!

Anyway, after a snoring consultation, the Duke of Norfolk got some of what he wanted.

Of course, it's just part. Congress certainly cannot give him a half million troops, because it costs too much money. And Britain is facing the threat of a French shipbuilding competition at this time, how can it take so much money to use it in this regard?

So the Duke of Norfolk only received one-tenth of the 500,000-50,000. However, most of them were relatively elite troops. Congress also lowered its goal in Ireland to maintain the situation instead of destroying the rebels.

In addition, Congress passed the decision to block the Irish coast and destroy the ports controlled by the Irish. Although this is unlikely to completely block the Irish people from receiving support from the French, it can also make the French support the Irish less efficient.

In fact, when the British and Irish rebels reached a temporary truce a few years ago, the Duke of Norfolk knew that the situation in Ireland would be difficult to say. Since then, he has been preparing for the situation at this moment.

The Duke of Norfolk mainly made efforts in these aspects. First of all, he had been trying hard to throw the position of Governor of Ireland to anyone else, but this effort did not succeed. Because others are not fools, who can't see that the place in Ireland is difficult to do? Therefore, the Duke of Norfolk's efforts failed shamefully.

So the Duke of Norfolk had no choice but to find a way to strengthen his defense.

At this time, the emergence of the railway provided a lot of help to the Duke of Norfolk. With the support of the Duke of Norfolk, a railway was established between several important cities in Ireland. The most important railway was the railway from Dublin on the east coast to Galway on the west coast. This railway divided the entire Ireland into two halves. The strategic position was very important.

Relying on this railway, the British could quickly mobilize their troops, but the mobilization of the Irish Independence Army would be subject to various restrictions on this railway. Of course, in order to protect this railway, the Duke of Norfolk also tried his best to protect it.

Athlon, located in the center of this railway, became the most important military stronghold in Ireland. After carefully studying the French defense in Verdun, the Duke of Norfolk used similar means to build the place into the most solid stronghold. More than 6,000 regular British troops were stationed here.

At the same time, along the railway line, there is a small stronghold with tight defense every distance. A little further away, there is a support point for troops stationed in a regiment. Relying on the railway, they can quickly support each other.

In addition, the Duke of Norfolk also prepared four special armored trains for this railway. These armored trains are battleships running on the railway line. As long as the British can quickly enrich more troops, the Duke of Norfolk feels that he can still hold on for a while. Of course, the premise is that the French will not come up with any bad tricks.

In addition to this railway, railways were also built between Dublin and some surrounding strongholds to improve the British army's rapid response capabilities. Therefore, ground battles in Ireland were basically carried out around the railway since then.

The Irish Independence Army dared to issue an ultimatum to the British at this time, which naturally had a certain degree of confidence in the railway line attacking the British. The Irish army has always had a weakness, which is its lack of heavy firepower. Therefore, it was very weak when attacking.

Although the Irish introduced explosive packs, blasting tubes, and even thunder cannons and grenade launchers from the French, these things are actually not easy to use when attacking. Both explosive packs and blasting tubes must be close to the face before they can be used, and to rush up, many times, you have to make a great sacrifice.

The range of the flying thunder cannon is quite limited, the accuracy is also a problem, and the preparation time is too long. Especially after the French developed the electric lights, the British imported a lot of high-power searchlights from France, which made it very difficult for the Irish to arrange the flying thunder cannon at close range at night.

As for the grenade launcher, the thing is too powerful and basically has no penetration power, so it is almost useless against bunkers or something. However, conventional artillery is too heavy and its maneuverability is a problem, and it is inconvenient to use anti-sweeping operations that require frequent movement. In addition, it is expensive, so the French are not very helpful. So until the war started, there were very few serious cannons in the hands of the Independence Army.

But this does not mean that the Independence Army has no cannons. The French always like to experiment with some new concept weapons for the Irish. This time is no exception. Not long ago, a brand new "infantry cannon" was sent to the hands of the Irish.

This is a metal barrel with a relatively slender tripod, which looks very simple in structure. The French gave it a name, "Gustav Infantry Cannon".

Military adviser Noadier de Villefort introduced this "cannon" to the soldiers of the Independence Army:

"'Gustav Infantry Cannon' is the world's first cannon without recoil and the world's first real infantry cannon, because a few infantry can carry it around. It can be mounted on a tripod to ensure shooting accuracy, but in an emergency, it can even be carried directly on the shoulder to fire.

The 84mm shells it fires can deal with various fortresses very effectively. Of course, the range of this thing is relatively close, with a direct shooting distance of only about 400 meters. So when you use it, you have already entered the range of the enemy's rifle."

"Even four hundred meters, even if an elephant is placed there, the British cannot hit it." A warrior said disapprovingly.

"This cannon has no recoil? How is this possible? This does not conform to Newton's third law of motion?" asked the company commander Bob.

"It's not that there is no recoil at all, it's just relatively small." Noadier replied, "There is a nozzle at the rear of this kind of gunpowder gas at the back. When the shell is fired, part of the gunpowder gas will be sprayed out from the back, thus generating an opposite recoil, which offsets the main recoil when the shell is fired, so there is no recoil. Of course, this also means that when the cannon is fired, there can be no one behind, otherwise the people behind will become roast goose. In addition, this cannon cannot be fired in a closed space. When it is fired, there cannot be walls or steep slopes behind, otherwise the bounced back flame can turn the gunner into roast goose."

Compared with the authentic Gustav recoilless guns in later generations, the legal recoilless guns in this era are much worse in performance. Later generations Gustav recoilless guns adopt titanium alloy barrel and carbon fiber winding technology, making the empty weight of this gun only 6.6 kilograms.

However, there were no such things in this era, so the gun barrel of the French "Gustav" was a solid steel pipe, and because the quality of the steel cannot be compared with that of later generations, it had to be slightly thicker. Then, the difference between the processing technology of the tail nozzle and the later generations was also very obvious, so the tail nozzle was also heavy. Finally, the entire gun weighed more than 30 kilograms only in the body part. So although theoretically this gun can carry the fire on the shoulder, if you are not a strong man, you really can't carry this thing. As long as it is possible, it is best to use it with a tripod.

Therefore, this gun requires a lot of people. Two people who take turns carrying gun barrels, one with a tripod, three people who carry shells, and four people who are responsible for protection, just one shift. It can be regarded as a redefining the weapons used in the shift.

However, in the eyes of people of this era, this is not a shortcoming. Such a light cannon, even if it can only hit four hundred meters directly, is a dreamlike weapon. As for the people who are equipped with a squad of a cannon, isn't that normal?

What really made the Irish people feel a headache was that the shells of this cannon were too expensive. Although considering the Irish lacked money and the strategic significance of supporting the liberation cause of the Irish people, the price that the Irish Independence Army could get when ordering weapons from the French was even lower than that of the French army when they bought these things themselves. However, the price of this shell that used trigger fuses was still too expensive. So when President Russell learned about the price of the shells of this cannon, he still sighed:

"This shell is really more expensive than a carriage with four horses. Just think about it, and if you shoot it, you will fly with a carriage like both. If you don't hit it, it will be really distressing."
Chapter completed!