Chapter 44

The next day, a major event occurred in Galway.

Those thugs and soldiers who extorted money at the dock yesterday are dead.

Their bodies were found in an alley, with over a dozen stab wounds to their hearts and abdomens, and their skulls were even smashed. Blood was everywhere. It is said that when the woman who went to fetch water in the morning discovered these bodies, she was almost driven mad with fear.

After an examination by the prison guards, the judge made a preliminary judgment that these poor Englishmen had been beaten to death by a group of people!

This is absolutely inhumane!

What's even more infuriating is that when the judge sent people to question the Irish people living near that alley, they all received the same answer: they didn't know, they didn't hear, they didn't see, and they were all incredibly passive, as if no one had noticed the commotion that happened the night before!

Unable to find any clues about the murderer, the investigators had to return empty-handed.

The Englishmen in Galway gathered together and hurled insults at the Irish, calling them an ungrateful bunch of rats, barbaric and filthy inferiors, and saying that more troops should be sent in to hang them all.

Later, the case even alarmed the Governor of Ireland. Under pressure and reprimand from the Governor, the judge had no choice but to randomly grab a few Irishmen from a nearby alley, identify them as the murderers, and then behead them.

As members of the Scottish caravan who had dealt with the dead at the docks the previous day, Mary and her party were also investigated. In Ireland, their information channels were not well-established. Albert, who was using the alias Edwards, was initially completely unaware of what had happened. He only learned about the situation after presenting a gift, and then, at Mary's instruction, spent several tens of pounds to escape.

Before they had earned a single penny after arriving in Ireland, this imposter caravan had already spent two sums of money on bribes due to two hopeless misfortunes. At that time, the pound was still quite valuable, and a country gentleman who owned land earned only a few to a dozen pounds a year.

This setback left Seton in a slump throughout his journey to Dublin.

“God, I never want to come to Ireland again. It’s crammed with corrupt and greedy British people. Just looking at them makes me sick,” Seton complained. She didn’t care about the money; she just felt her dignity had been insulted.

She was the daughter of a lord, of noble birth, and was sent to serve as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Scots at a young age. She was highly trusted and favored by the Queen. The nobles she encountered in the court may have been hostile to her, but they definitely took her seriously.

As for my experience in Ireland, well...

The English people looked at her as if she were a lowly slave or a stray animal on the street, and they took it for granted that they could insult her, not treating her as a person at all.

“This amount of money is nothing. Once we get to Dublin, I will spend much more money and resources, and the support I will provide here will be astronomical… However, looking at it from another perspective, this is actually a good thing,” Mary said.

"What good news?" Seton asked.

“Mr. Edwards, what do you think?” Mary called out Albert’s pseudonym in a serious tone.

"The attitude of those British soldiers towards us and their fate have already indirectly illustrated the current situation in Ireland. If the British oppress us foreigners like this, they will only be more ruthless towards the Irish people who have already surrendered. Although the Irish have been driven to surrender, their souls have never surrendered. Everyone harbors resentment towards the British, which could explode like a powder keg at any moment," Albert said.

Out of consideration for the feelings of the ladies present, Albert did not reveal the news he had heard in the past few days.

With the British's indulgence and tacit approval, the British treated the Irish even worse than they treated African slaves. Nine out of ten Irish people were serfs, and the remaining one was a servant. They could only live in low mud shacks without even windows.

Farm owners could buy and sell Irish people like livestock, whip them at will, hang unproductive serfs on scarecrows in the fields to starve to death, and abduct beautiful Irish women to exercise the so-called "right of the first night." These horrific scenes were not uncommon in Ireland for decades after Henry VIII became King of Ireland.

“Anything else?” Mary asked.

“And…” Albert, sitting across the carriage, crossed his arms in front of him. After a slight hesitation, he spoke frankly: “…Even if the Irish are this angry, it’s not enough to overthrow English rule. The anger of a hundred serfs is no match for the charge of a knight. Skinny, untrained serfs are no match for a regular army. This is a problem you must consider.”

Given the current situation in Ireland, they might suddenly riot over some event, forming a rebel army of hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of people to resist the Scots, and they could easily win over the hearts and minds of the people.

But as soon as fewer than five hundred English soldiers on horseback charge this so-called rebel army, those serfs who don't know a single letter will scatter, kneel on the ground, and beg England to forgive their sins.

"...So our main goal this time is to find a suitable assistant with leadership skills, and then support him in organizing the army," Mary said slowly.

She already has a suitable candidate in mind.

— Gerald, Count of Desmond.

— Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Dillon.

Historically, the Munster Revolt of 1569 was led by Gerald, Earl of Desmond, who was defeated and killed in 1583. The Nine Years' War between England and Ireland in 1594 was led by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Dillon, who even received support from Spain, but unfortunately, he was still defeated.

However, both uprisings caused great damage to Britain, even nearly bankrupting the British treasury.

...

After arriving in Dublin, they, members of the White Salt Guild led by the Wilson family, began to do some small business selling snow salt while also engaging in large-scale charity and charity among the poor in the nearby countryside.

Giving money and food to the poor was something that every rich man and nobleman did in this era, both for their own reputation and to accumulate merit so that they could go to heaven after death.

Even in her previous life, when she was under house arrest in England, she had the freedom to go to the nearby countryside every month to give alms to the poor.

Before long, farmers near Ireland began to talk about these kind and good-hearted Scotsmen, prayed for them before God, and started using a new food called potatoes.

The farmers said that because of their similar circumstances, the Scottish merchants felt great sympathy for these poor Irish people and were very willing to help them whenever they could.

Not long after such rumors spread, Mary, who was living in a rented country villa, received an invitation to a dinner party hosted by Irish nobles.

On the cover, the shamrock, a symbol of Ireland and the Celts, is a vibrant green.