Fox of France

Chapter 475: , Siege One

If it was a few months ago, Captain Jarvis took his hands down to catch people, he would probably be caught, even his own people would be gone. However, the situation has improved a bit recently, because the British army has shrunk its strength. Now in Dublin, the number of British troops is not even smaller than the Irish citizens of Dublin.

In this way, the "security" in Dublin seems to be a little better than before. At least to arrest individuals or something, the most is that the arrested target is missing, and the arrested person is no longer missing.

But when Jarvis rushed into a small courtyard with his troops, he found that there was no one. Apparently one of them had leaked the news.

Jarvis was very angry about this, he yelled at the men who participated in the arrest. Threatened to hand them all over to the British. However, everyone is actually not too afraid, because first of all, the British are busy with their own affairs, so there is no time to take care of these small things.

Secondly, over the period of time, the British's crackdown on such things has actually dropped a lot.

It is said that after the British army retreated to Dublin, in order to guarantee the defense, someone proposed to the Governor of Norfolk to kill all the Irish in Dublin or expel them all.

But both opinions were rejected by the Duke of Norfolk. Carnage? After the massacre was over, the Irish followed the French army and landed in Britain. What would happen next?

The Duke of Norfolk was not worried that the Irish would retaliate by massacring British civilians. It's just civilians anyway, there is a big deal. But he is worried that this approach will greatly increase the cost of compromise. Of course, this is not the most important issue. The most important issue is that at that time, he himself and his family may become one of the increased costs. This kind of thing that is not good for the country, for the family, and for oneself, will only be done when there is a hole in the head.

As for the expulsion of the Dubliners, the Duke of Norfolk felt that what kind of idiots were all under him! Is it because the rebels outside don’t know the details of Dublin or are they worried that they have too few people?

This attitude from the top immediately made the people below feel something. After all, people in the lower ranks are not all fools. So they immediately realized that the situation was wrong, and the guys above were all thinking about the back road. Well, everyone should also think about "seeing each other in the future". Moreover, if the pressure is increased, there is a collective defect or something, the people below cannot bear the responsibility. So even the British are not very accountable for such things.

It's just that Captain Jarvis is very sad, because a "hardcore rapist" like him is not sure that the British will take him back to England when they retreat. So he needs to make more contributions quickly. Otherwise-just think about it, if the Englishman stays in Ireland, then he can be more or less useful; if the Englishman goes back to the UK, what use can he do?

Just as Captain Jarvis was trembling to his mind, the Irish Independence Army began to appear outside Dublin. As a result, the situation became more tense.

The Irish Independence Army did not immediately attack Dublin. Dublin has a large number of garrisons and strong fortifications. In some directions, it can be supported by naval cruisers. Although the Irish Independence Army has high morale and greatly improved field capabilities, its ability to attack has always been a big hole. So now they can only isolate and separate the several strongholds of the British. Then wait for reinforcements from the French army.

Therefore, as soon as these Irish Independence Army arrived outside the city, they began to build various fortifications to cut off the connection between Dublin and other strongholds on land. But the British don't care about this, because Dublin is a port, as long as the sea is open, this is not a problem.

But the next news got the Duke of Norfolk very worried. That is, they used a balloon to find that a large number of Irish farmers were laying a railroad track.

Most of the railway from Dublin to Gowell is already under the control of the Irish. Athlone, who once made the Irish suffer a big loss, has been given up by the British. When the British were retreating, they also demolished many railways themselves, but looking at this posture...

The Duke of Norfolk immediately remembered a legend about the French Urban Cannon.

It is said that Napoleon complained to Joseph that the set of defenses he had developed was really annoying. It was fine when France was in a defensive state before. Now France is the strongest in the world, but it always faces the defense of Joseph, a foreigner, which is really uncomfortable.

So the military-industrial complex launched a so-called "urban plan." This plan was named after the Urban Cannon used by the Turkish Empire when it conquered Constantinople. Therefore, some people suspect that the French wanted to create a particularly large siege artillery. Of course, using the name of the cannon that once destroyed the shield of Christ, as the name of the plan, once again proved that France is really a filial son of God. Now that the Irish were building railways, the Duke of Norfolk naturally remembered this legend.

"If there is a new type of urban cannon, it is probably moved by rail." The Duke of Norfolk thought.

In history, in order to transport the huge "Urban Cannon", the Turks used 400 laborers and 60 cattle, and it took six full weeks to transport such a giant cannon in place. On average, he can only move 2.5 miles a day.

Although the urban cannons in history were terrifying at the time, with the progress of the times, it is estimated that a cannon of this size is no longer worthy of the name "Urban Project." You know, the 10-inch gun on the British battleship alone weighs more than 20 tons, which is much heavier than the historic Urban Cannon (17 tons). The Russian giant cannon, which has never been fired before, weighs 40 tons. If this type of giant artillery is to be transported on land, then railways are obviously the most suitable means.

But even with such speculations, the Duke of Norfolk does not have much good ideas. He may be able to launch several raids to destroy the railway that the Irish are laying, but he also knows that because the Irish were before that, A lot of fortifications have been built, so such an action will cause a lot of casualties. As a result, the defensive power of the city was weakened. The effect achieved is to delay the arrival of the French "Urban Cannon" by a few days or a week or two. The Duke of Norfolk felt that this was a bit outweighed.

But just watching and waiting is not a thing. Therefore, the Duke of Norfolk, after consulting with the army, began to build an underground gun shelter on the defensive line outside the city.

Of course, if the cannons of the "Urban Project" are really big enough, this kind of temporary underground anti-cannon hole will definitely not be able to stop the cannon shells. But it can still compress the damage range of the cannon a lot. As long as there are not too many people in each cave, at least the pressure caused by this cannon can be greatly reduced.

At this time, in Port Carroll, a huge French ship docked. This is a group of large freighters just launched by French shipbuilding, with a displacement of up to 15,000 tons. At present, this is also the largest freighter in the world.

This freighter used the tower crane that had just arrived half a month ago and was installed to hoist large parts to the dock.

These large parts include various artillery and a large number of flatbed cars used for railways.

Just as the British guessed, there are indeed some large artillery in the "Urban Project", but the result of the "Urban Project" is not a marvelous cannon-although Napoleon loved the spectacle very much, It was strongly demanded to get a giant cannon of the spectacle level, but in the end, Joseph did not come up with what Napoleon was expecting. He had a giant cannon with a huge barrel that could allow an adult man to climb in and out. Plant something with a diameter of 280 mm.

It is said that Joseph originally thought that the 203 mm caliber was basically enough, and it could be much cheaper. But Napoleon said that this was too detailed and not too addictive, and threatened that if Joseph did not make concessions, he would cut the plan funds:

"Joseph, you didn't say that with me at the beginning. You said we would have a cannon that was so thick and thick, so long and long, so that when people all over the world could see it, they would tremble and fear. I thought you were. Would show me a cannon as thick as a water tank. Even if it is not as thick as a water tank, it should be as thick as a bucket? As a result, you just used a small toothpick with a thickness of 203 mm to fool me! No, This will never work!"

"When did I say that the water tank was thick?" Joseph asked.

"Don't deny it. I asked you how thick the biggest gun in the'Urban Project' is. You said to me at the time:'How thick do you want to be? Don't worry, it's absolutely thick and long. It's about the same thickness. "You just pointed to a water tank and said at the time!"

"That's because you read it wrong. I said it referring to the water lily leaf in the tank! God can testify!"

"Come on, Joseph, you guy doesn’t believe in God at all. Your piety to God is comparable to that of Talleyrand and Fouché. You guy is the same as them. As long as you mention God, you must be You are telling a lie! Why don’t you say that there are still a few fish in that tank, and you are pointing at the scales of those fish?”

"What the hell, let me tell you..."

The two brothers quarreled, and finally Napoleon said: "Joseph, I know, that kind of oversized cannon is not very useful. Don’t I understand this kind of military affairs? Indeed, in most cases, 203 Millimeter-caliber cannons are indeed enough. However, when we get this thing out, it also has the effect of deterring other countries. People in those countries don’t know all about it. If the 203 thing passes, you can’t bully people at all, but If something thick in the water tank comes out, the blow to their morale will be decisive! Understand?"

"But technically, the water tank is thick, and we can't do it now. Unless you really only plan to have a mascot like the Tsar Cannon!

The Tsar Cannon is a copper smoothbore artillery cast by Russian artillery craftsmen in 1586. It has a caliber of 915 mm, which is thicker than the later Dora cannon. The barrel is 5.18 meters long and weighs 40 tons. The total weight of the gun is 80 tons. The copper bomb has a bore length of 1.74 meters and a diameter of 440 mm. Spherical pig iron bullets. Because the artillery was too heavy, people had to use thick logs to move the artillery. Later, people also made a decorative frame for this gun king.

However, such a giant gun has never been fired before, and it is uncertain whether it can even be fired. So this beautifully decorated cannon is actually a beautiful decoration.

Of course, Napoleon could not accept such a thing, so Napoleon had to lower the standard, and finally determined a principle, that is, it cannot be smaller than the gun on the British battleship.

So Joseph and the others stepped on the lower limit and came up with such a thing.

This gun weighs fifty tons and uses a barrel that is 11 meters long. This also means that it can only use new nitrocellulose propellant. So not only the artillery is very expensive, but the shell is also very expensive. In addition, considering the cost issue, this gun is not equipped with a tube retreat device. When shooting, it can only rely on putting down a large parking plough, and then relying on the track on the special flatbed to move backward, and then reset, and then again. Fire again.

The 280 gun occupies a row of flatbed trucks alone. Using various lifting equipment, the workers spent three whole days fixing the gun on a specially customized flatbed truck.

Then came the other accessory artillery, including two 203 guns and twelve 100mm guns, which were all installed on a fixed position on a special flatbed ~www.readwn.com~ and then under the traction of two power vehicles, Under the cover of an armored train, the train cannon began to leave Port Carroll along the railway, and headed towards Dublin along the railway line.

The Urban Plan involved not only a large-caliber artillery, but also a group of artillery that could move quickly along the railway. Relying on railways that can move at high speeds, the French can increase the size of the artillery that the army can use. Such artillery clusters are battleships walking on land.

Under the protection of the Brigade’s Independent Army and the French Army, this “land battleship” took two days to reach the front line of Dublin. At this time, the anti-cannon holes built by the Duke of Norfolk were no longer available. not enough.

After the French "land battleship" was in place, a regiment of the French army took over the most important fortifications nearby and assumed the task of protecting this huge land battleship.

On the second day of the arrival of the artillery train, the artillery train finally launched its first bombardment towards the British positions outside Dublin.

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