I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1013 The Correct Way of Resistance

"The English nobles have seized our land and slandered our faith as heresy!

"Our brothers were driven out, our mothers cried in famine, our children were sold into slavery! And today, they want to turn the island of Ireland into a colony with the lie of the "United Kingdom" as a yoke!
"For the glory of the Celts, for the freedom of future generations, we will face the flintlocks of the British with our blood and fight to the last breath..."

Joseph interrupted McCracken's impassioned speech by holding up Tone's letter while McCracken took a breath. "I admire the Irish people's spirit of resisting oppression. So, are you planning to start a riot?"

Thorne's letter mentioned that the United Irishmen Association had secretly contacted thousands of freedom fighters, ready to launch an uprising against British rule at the right time. He was confident that the size of the resistance army could be expanded to 30,000 or 40,000 people in a short period of time. Finally, he hoped to fight against the brutal and evil British together with the great France.

At this time, Portier had been taken to another room, but McCracken still looked around habitually, and then said very seriously: "Your Highness, this is not a riot, but a revolution of freedom!"

"Okay, revolution." Joseph nodded. "Then tell me, how long do you plan to take to defeat the British army?"

"Defeat the British?" McCracken was stunned for a moment, then shouted, "We can drive them out of Ireland in half a year, or even a few months. They are facing the wrath of all Irish people!"

Joseph sighed and said bluntly: “Excuse me, you are no match for the British army.

"Your soldiers lack systematic training, their weapons and equipment are seriously insufficient, and they don't even have much logistical supplies.

"The most fatal thing is that Ireland is an island. Under the blockade of the British fleet, you can't even get help from the outside world."

He knew very well that in history, the Irish had revolted four years later, and declared independence from the British government at the end of May. The British army immediately landed on the island and wiped out all the rebels in October. Afterwards, the British launched a large-scale purge, executing tens of thousands of rebels, which greatly strengthened their rule over Ireland.

Basically, the Irish rebels were just a bunch of rabble, with extremely poor training and bad commanders. Not to mention 4 people, even if their number was doubled, they would not be able to defeat the British army.

Moreover, the Irish people were not as united as McCracken said. The core forces of the uprising were mainly the nobility and the bourgeoisie, and the participation of the lower-class farmers was not high.

McCracken still looked confident and said:

"The problems you mentioned do exist, so we humbly ask you to provide some assistance. Britain is our common enemy. If Ireland succeeds in independence, it will become France's most solid ally and pose a threat to Britain at close range!"

Joseph smiled and shook his head.

The story of my father spending all his money to sponsor American independence was still fresh in my mind. At that time, Americans also swore to form an alliance with France to fight against Britain together.

But what was the result? For the sake of trade interests, the Americans always flirted with Britain and even cheated France from time to time.

Ireland's economic dependence on the UK is even more serious, so don't expect them to always be an enemy of the UK.

McCracken was a little anxious, and stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, you only need to send an army to land in Ireland when the revolution breaks out. Those smuggling ships know how to avoid the search of the British fleet. The powerful French army will join hands with us and we will be able to easily defeat the British!"

Joseph still shook his head.

Historically, Napoleon once sent an expeditionary force to secretly land in Ireland, but was soon cut off from logistical supplies by the British fleet. The Irish were unable to provide the French army with the war materials they needed. In the end, the French army surrendered faster than the Irish rebels.

If the French Navy had the strength to resist the British Navy's supply delivery to Ireland, then there would be no need to bother the Irish to revolt - wouldn't it be more efficient to just send the army to wipe out London?
McCracken was silent for a moment, then sneered, "Well, it seems I shouldn't have come here. You don't dare to..."

Joseph interrupted him and said, "To be honest, you have no idea how to deal with the British."

“What do you want to say?” “Do you know what your greatest strength is?”

"Courage, solidarity and the desire for freedom!"

Joseph shook his head: "No, your biggest advantage is that you are British."

"what?"

"You can freely move in and out of British cities, invest there, and make your voice heard there without arousing any suspicion."

"Oh, what kind of advantage is this?"

"In other words, you can disrupt Britain's finance, destroy their production, and interfere with their public opinion." Joseph persuaded, "The United Irishmen Association has thousands of members. If half of them are divided into various parts of Britain, the impact on Britain will be much greater than one or two riots. Oh, sorry, it's a revolution."

McCracken frowned: "But what good is that? What we need is Irish independence."

"Believe me, only when Britain is weakened to a certain extent can you have a chance of defeating them." Joseph said, "Of course, you also have to strengthen the strength of the resistance army at the same time."

"You mean, provide us with some weapons?"

Joseph exhaled: “I can give you weapons, but that’s not the point.

"You need to incite more Irish people to join the movement against Britain."

“That’s what all of Ireland would do!”

"No, Ireland has a population of nearly 400 million and you can't mobilize even one percent of them right now."

The Irishman blushed. "There are always... there are always some cowardly and stupid people..."

Joseph said bluntly: "There is something wrong with your strategy. What do you rely on to rally the people now?"

"Liberty, equality, rights and hatred..."

Joseph smiled and said, "You tell this to the peasants? They only care about whether they can eat enough and whether their children can survive to adulthood."

McCracken blinked, obviously not understanding.

Joseph continued: "Please tell Mr. Thorne to have your people go to every village and town and tell the people that as long as the British are driven out, they will not have to pay all kinds of damn taxes in the future, and they can use the money to buy bread and butter.

"As long as Ireland is independent, you can impose tariffs on the British. Then your own industries will develop rapidly in an environment without competition, and you can sell your products to the British to make money.

“Without the legal restrictions of the British, the wheat and flax you sell to London will not have to be limited in price, and you will be able to sell them for one-third more than now.

"If you do well, in a few years, your membership could even increase to millions."

(End of this chapter)