Chapter 174: Regrouping


    Veine and others rowed the boat, towing a series of boxes, silently approaching the shore. In the glow of the fire beneath the cliffs, they saw several people approaching.


    "Cut off one head," someone over there said.


    "Two heads will grow in its ce," Veine replied.


    The code was confirmed, and both sides quickened their pace to meet each other, hands tightly sped.


    "Comrades, we''ve finally been waiting for you!"


    "Comrades, we''rete, and we apologize for the hardship you''ve endured!"


    "Notte, notte, we''re d you''re here!"


    After exchanging a few words, they together dragged the floating crates ashore.


    "What''s the situation now? How''s the team''s morale?" Veine asked while dragging a heavy crate with a slender resistance fighter beside him.


    "Morale is not a problem; we all want revenge and can''t sleep at night just thinking about it. The only issue is that most of the experiencedrades sacrificed themselves in previous battles, and many people don''t even know how to handle a rifle."


    The voice of the resistance fighter was clear, almost like a child''s.


    Veine asked, "Can you handle this? It''s quite heavy." At the same time, he added some extra strength.


    The little guy seemed to feel doubted and belittled, so he also exerted more effort. Together, they dragged the crate next to the bonfire. In the firelight, Veine saw the appearance of the rade" who had just helped him with the crate  a thin, small figure with a hint of peach fuzz on the lips, looking no more than twelve or thirteen.


    At that moment, anotherrger figure arrived at the bonfire, dragging an even bigger crate. In the firelight, Veine recognized his Irish friend from his time in Toulon.


    "Kevin!" Veine eximed.


    "Arnold! I didn''t expect it to be you! When I was dragging the crate just now, I saw your back, and I felt like... It''s great to work with you again!" Kevin gave Veine a bear hug, almost leaving him breathless.


    "Alright, Kevin, let go of me. I''m not a little girl."


    Kevin released Veine.


    "How are Glenn and Jeff?" Veine asked.


    Kevin fell silent, and Veine instantly had a bad feeling.


    "They both sacrificed themselves not long ago," Kevin said in a low voice.


    At this moment, the child heard them talking and saw two more peopleing with crates, so he went to help. Veine asked Kevin, "How did you let such a young child join the team?"


    "Oh..." Kevin sighed.


    The child had sharp ears and heard their conversation. He turned around and said, "What''s wrong with being a kid? Can''t kids seek revenge on the British? When the British were killing the Irish, did they spare the children?"


    "He''s Glenn''s little brother, the only one left in their family," Kevin exined.


    Veine gazed at the child''s innocent face, where he could see a faint resemnce to Glenn.


    "Though Theo is young, he''s clever and capable. He''s a qualified young soldier," Kevin added.


    "If you can remove the ''little'' from that, I''d be very happy," the child grumbled and turned to help others with the crates.


    "It''s getting light; we need to hurry," Veine said, ncing at the sky and turning to Kevin.


    Before daybreak, they had brought all the crates ashore, loaded them onto wagons, and left the coast.


    In a vige near arge swamp, Veine distributed weapons to the revitalized guerri fighters of Kilken County. The county brigade had been rebuilt after the recent sweep, and now they had more than eighty members, not significantly fewer than before. ording to Kevin, if they kept expanding, they could easily recruit more people.


    "However, we don''t have many veteran members left here. Most of them either sacrificed themselves during the resistance or in the swamps while leading everyone, paving the way. Right now, it''s mainly me, Elliott, and West among the old members. The rest of them hardly know anything. Their training will depend on you," Kevin said.


    "By the way, most of these guys don''t speak French or English, only Irish. While I''ve learned a bit of Irish and West is here to help, it''s still quite inconvenient," Veine noted.


    For instance, when one fool identally reversed the fuse on andmine, Veine was about to scold him but realized a significant problem: he didn''t know how to swear in Irish. So, he yelled in French and then looked at West.


    West shrugged and said, "Sorry, Arnold, you spoke too fast. There were parts I didn''t catch clearly, and some phrases I don''t know how to trante. Well, anyway..."


    West turned to the guy who made the mistake and said, "Veine instructor thinks you''re a fool!"


    So, with this brief and concise sentence, West tranted Veine''s one-minute-plus tirade and insults.


    However, these new recruits were genuinelymitted to learning. Their grasp of the skills taught by Veine on the first day was indeed quite poor, but by the second day, their understanding had noticeably improved. They devoted all avable time to practicing. Soon, Veine discovered another problem: hecked vocabry not only for swearing but also for praising people.


    During this month, these new fighters learned from Veine the art of pistol and rifle shooting,ndmine cement, setting various traps, as well as various fieldwork, demolitions, and explosive techniques.


    After about a month, the emergency training of the county brigade concluded, and it was time to put what they had learned into practice.


    During this period, the British were not idle. They hadrgely enforced the "loyalty certificates" in the cities, organized a tight neighborhood watch system, and set up garrisons and strongholds in areas close to the cities.


    In an era without radios or machine guns, controlling arge area with just a guard tower and a toon of soldiers was quite impossible. So, every garrison required a significant number of British troops, at least apany. However, if every stronghold had to be manned by that many soldiers, it would consume too many resources. Therefore, the British devised a solution bybining authentic British troops with Irish police.


    The British stationed the Irish police, dubbed the "Irish Constabry," in viges near the garrisons, forming neighborhood watch posts and maintaining order and safetymittees. These Irish police officers were responsible for conveying British orders and collecting various fees.


    The British knew very well that putting the power to collect fees into the hands of these "Irish police" meant that they would take advantage of the situation to exploit the poption and line their own pockets. This might lead to widespread dissatisfaction, but, as the Duke of Norfolk, the Viceroy of Irnd, asked, "If these ''Irish police'' don''t act like this, can they be trusted?"


    The Duke''s meaning was quite clear: if an Irish person cannot gain unreasonable benefits from the English, why should they serve the English? If they are not foolish, they must be up to something. Fools are not worth considering because they will only mess things up and have no value; as for those who have ulterior motives or, to be more explicit, spies for the guerri side, shouldn''t they be quickly found and hanged?


    Therefore, if any Irish police officer did not exploit the poption, did not embezzle and extort, they were better off being arrested and hanged. The worst case would be mistakenly killing a few Irish fools, but what''s the big deal? The main drawback would be that it would raise the average intelligence of the Irish people slightly.


    On the contrary, if the Irish police officers exploited the people and were corrupt, what would it matter? This meant that they would be enemies with most Irish people, which, in turn, meant that everything they did depended on the English. So, these were the ones to trust.


    With such reasoning in ce, one could easily imagine the kind of individuals in the new "Irish Constabry." The resistance, on the other hand, believed that to break the British strategy of sweeps, imprisonments, and consolidation, they had to target these Irish turncoats.


    Additionally, these "Irish Constabry" members were rtively poorly equipped and trained, and theirbat spirit couldn''tpare to genuine British troops. First, striking against them would disrupt British ns, deter the turncoats, and help train the guerri force.


    In a rtively short time, a "Irish Constabry" post became the first target of the newly revitalized Kilken County Brigade.