Fox of France

Just five days after the end of the first great British raid, the famous Parisian newspaper "Science and Truth" published a very long news report. The headline of the report was: "Hell in My Eyes—Reports from the Irish Field"

This is a piece of news with a length of more than 30,000 words, which was completely unprecedented in those days. Newspapers in that era were just in their infancy. Due to the limitations of printing technology, the paper used was often only sixteen pages, and the articles that could be printed were naturally impossible to have a large length. In order to publish this long article, "Science und Pravda" had to make this issue as thick as a book.

In this article, the author surnamed Villefort described various things he saw with his own eyes in Ireland, especially the British sweep of the Irish countryside, and all kinds of appalling atrocities in it.

Generally speaking, the French don't like the British in the first place, and they are more likely to believe negative news about the British. But even so, the brutality of the British depicted in this report is far beyond the imagination of the French.

But soon, more evidence came out, and this evidence was the British army's own battle report. In order to show off his "martial arts", in order to frighten the Irish, so that they dare not resist. The British army did not shy away from the battle reports it issued, and even tried its best to show off its "achievements" in "Operation Noose". These "results" also just proved the seemingly exaggerated report in the previous "Science and Pravda".

Two days later, the Directory called an emergency meeting and announced that it would further increase aid to the struggle of the Irish people. At the same time, the Pope also generously donated one million francs to help those "suffering Irish brothers". Brother" reached out to help.

Joseph also understood that the revolution in Ireland was at a critical moment. If the Irish really couldn't stand it anymore, they would lose money in the future! So this time, after receiving the grant, he actually did not carry out a large-scale "drifting" for the first time, but actually put all the things that the money could buy on board honestly and shipped them to Ireland. Of course, "floating" can be absent, but "lubricant" is indispensable for a franc.

As well as the arms, more advisers will also be sailing to Ireland. In Ireland, they will use the blood of the British and the Irish to constantly experiment with new weapons and new methods of warfare.

Arnotier de Villefort, the military adviser, boarded a clipper ship bound for Ireland at this time. He was a tall young man in his twenties, with two very long arms and large hands that seemed a little too much. If it is in later generations, it will probably become the most prominent one on the college basketball court. He was born in a fallen nobleman, but he devoted himself to the revolution, and his brother Victor was the author of the long article that had just been published in "Science and Pravda".

"Mr. Villefort, the situation at sea has changed a little recently. Maybe I should tell you so that you can be prepared." When Villefort boarded the ship, Captain Morrel said to him and several others.

"What is it? What has changed?" asked Villefort.

"The British have recently built ships specially designed to intercept us," replied Morel.

"Used to intercept us? Just rely on their warships that are not easy to run to 6 knots?" A young man named Lecler next to him said disdainfully.

"No, not warships, but clipper ships like ours. Those Englishmen have copied some clipper ships." Morel said.

"The clipper? But the clipper is unarmed?" asked Villefort.

The clipper ship was too low to mount its cannons because of its low deck and swaying too much. If not, Joseph would not only use it for shipping, but would use it for transactions that cost nothing.

"There are no cannons, not unarmed." Morel corrected, "However, in the era before the invention of cannons, were there no pirates on the sea? You know, those Vikings rowed dragon-headed boats back then. With an ax in hand, you can rob at sea."

"You mean the Brits, like the Vikings, intercepted us by boarding?"

"It's not a boarding battle either. They approach us and then throw 'little melons' at us, and we naturally fight back with 'little melons'. However, if it really develops to the point of a boarding battle, it will be very bad for us .Because our ships are mainly loaded with cargo, and there are not many people on them. But there is no cargo on their ships, only soldiers."

"Have we lost?" asked Villefort.

"Yes, Daken, that one-eyed Netherlander. His 'Flying' encountered an English clipper ship a few days ago. At that time he thought it was his own, because the ship looked completely It was exactly the same as our boat, and even flew the tricolor flag. The boat approached them, and the people on board waved to them, as if they had something to look for them."

"And then?" asked Villefort.

"Then? Then Cyclops was fooled and let the enemy approach. If the guy on the other side couldn't hold back and threw an unfried melon over, Cyclops would definitely be finished. After the boat was exposed, he The British flag was raised, and Cyclops and the others threw small melons at each other. Cyclops was lucky. His boat was returning home at that time. There was nothing on board, so he ran a little faster. Finally, he ran back. But his boat died. Four men were killed, and Cyclops himself was wounded," replied Captain Morrel.

"So, gentlemen, if an English ship appears, I hope you are all ready to fight," said Captain Morel.

"We understand." Several passengers replied.

The news made Villefort both a little excited and a little nervous. Although he is not the first brother on the battlefield, he has fought a lot of battles with Napoleon's Italian Legion and won two medals. But that was all on land, and this time it was at sea.

But maybe the number of clipper ships in the hands of the British is still limited, and the sea is big enough, so Villefort and his party did not encounter other ships.

Joseph naturally also knew the information about the British clipper ship. Although the British clippers have not caused them too much loss so far, Joseph knows that this matter should not be taken lightly.

The loss is still small now because the British themselves are not sure how effective this method of combat will be. Once they find that this works, with the British shipbuilding capabilities and sailor reserves, they should be able to produce a lot of clipper ships very quickly. And as Morell said, the British clippers do not need to carry cargo, so they will have an advantage in battle.

"Maybe I should really prepare a special weapon for the clipper ship?" Joseph thought.

Originally, Joseph did not intend to invest too much scientific research power in the clipper ship—the clipper ship would definitely be replaced by a steam ship in the end, and it was not worthwhile to continue wasting points on this technology tree. But now it seems that the steamship will not appear in a short time, but the clipper ship has strategic significance, so he has to continue to invest more time in the clipper ship.

"Obviously, a clipper ship can't hold cannons. It can't hold a bed crossbow either (because the clipper ship has heavy waves, and things like bows and crossbows won't work if they get wet). What else can I use besides a melon?"

Joseph ruled out several things in a row, and finally he thought of a weapon that seemed to be very suitable for the clipper ship to fight against another clipper ship-"Greek Fire".

Greek fire is a liquid incendiary agent invented by the real Eastern Roman Empire that can burn on water, and is mainly used in naval warfare. Back then, the Eastern Roman Empire used this weapon to defeat its opponents at sea and on land many times. It is actually the world's first flamethrower.

"As long as the range of the flamethrower exceeds that of the little melon, our clipper ships will once again have an advantage over the British in terms of combat effectiveness. At that time, the situation will become that those who can beat us cannot catch up with us, and those who can catch up We can’t beat us.” Joseph thought so, so he asked Lavoisier to propose this task to him, and told him that every time there was a ship equipped with this thing at sea, he could give it to him. One hundred francs. Only in terms of technical indicators, Joseph specially emphasized that this thing should not be too big, and it should not take up too much space that could have been used for goods.

Lavoisier thought for a while, and started bargaining with Joseph as usual, and finally the two sides reached a new agreement: If Lavoisier can develop the "Greek Fire" that can be used in actual combat within one month, then he can get each ship Two hundred francs; if all the work is completed within one and a half months, the reward for each boat will be one hundred francs; If it cannot be completed within two and a half months, the bonus will be cancelled, and a fine of 10 francs will be imposed for each day of delay thereafter.

After signing such an agreement, Lavoisier went to work full of fighting spirit. Lavoisier thought that he had won better treatment for himself, but he did not expect that the "Greek fire" used on the ship could be used as a weapon for land warfare as long as it was slightly modified. Prior to this, the reason why he particularly emphasized the size requirements of the system was in fact to a large extent to facilitate subsequent modifications. As for the modified land version, naturally there is no need to give Lavoisier any more money.