Chapter 2464: New Avalon "Massacre"

In fact, most of these young soldiers who came to serve in Jotunheim from Feizhen were born in poverty, and there is no way out except as soldiers. Otherwise, who would like to leave their hometown with warm and humid climate and run to the dry and cold Jotunheim. To suffer from the cold, but also to get the eyes of the locals, and suffer the idleness.
The lives of ordinary soldiers and low-level officers are not as glamorous as their uniforms, and their meager salary is not enough to support their families.
In order to subsidize their families, many soldiers take off their military uniforms every weekend and go to the dock to work part-time as stevedores.
The salaries demanded by these soldiers are lower than the average wages of local dock workers. They work hard and are therefore very popular with employers. Of course, it also aroused the resentment of local dock workers, who regarded these soldiers as the scourge of taking away their jobs.
The dock is precisely the sphere of influence of the "Son of Freedom Association", and the porters are mostly members of the Association. Except for the noble but slightly vague political slogans such as "No Representatives, No Taxes" and "Freedom or Death", "Sons of Freedom" "Our vital interests are also threatened, prompting them to take retaliatory actions more actively.
On January 13, 1626, the steamer on the stove finally ushered in the moment when it burst.
That evening, a Feizhen soldier named Hugh White finished the afternoon of loading and unloading, took off his work clothes, changed back to his military uniform, left the dock warehouse, and went to the customs building to take over for another young soldier.
Two men dressed as stevedores had been staring at White secretly, and followed him to the gate of the customs building to find fault and insult the Feizhen soldier who was standing guard.
White was young and energetic, and could not bear to try to drive away the two rascals. As a result, the opponent pushed and shoved roughly, which evolved into a fight of punches and kicks.
The quarrel caused bystanders to watch. In a short while, hundreds of people gathered. Among the onlookers, there were many dock workers. They were acquaintances of the two fault seekers. Several of them were members of the "Freedom Sons Association". Obviously.
People surrounded White to provoke and swear, and when White's companions rushed to maintain order and tried to disperse the crowd, the thugs grabbed snowballs and rocks on the spot, and smashed them at Feizhen officers and soldiers like raindrops.
At this time, White and others reluctantly restrained their anger and did not counterattack the provocations of the demonstrators. Instead of thinking that their forbearance fueled the arrogance of the mob, a murderous clamor came from the crowd:
"Let's hang these executioners!"
Street mobs swarmed up, pushed White and others to the ground, and tried to seize their rifles.
The sound of the fighting spread into the customs building. Captain Thomas Preston, the captain of the guard, looked out from the window and found that the situation was not good. He hurriedly brought his men to the scene and tried to rescue the besieged White and others.
Including Captain Preston, there were only eight soldiers outside the customs building, but the mob gathered around them was no fewer than two to three hundred. They kept throwing snowballs, stones and various sundries at the soldiers, venomously cursing. Unstoppable.
Although the superiors have repeatedly restricted military discipline and strictly ordered not to shoot without authorization, in this situation, every Feizhen officer knew in his heart that if he fell into the hands of these mobs, he would have to be skinned even if he didn't die!
Captain Preston saw the panic of the soldiers under his command and quickly warned them loudly:
"Never shoot!"
However, the environment at the scene was too noisy. A soldier who was far away only heard the last word the captain yelled. He thought he was giving an order to shoot. Seeing the crowd clamoring towards him, the young man buckled in panic. Lower the trigger.
The first gunshot was heard on the streets of New Avalon in the winter night.
The remaining soldiers seemed to be infected, and all subconsciously raised their guns and opened fire.
After a burst of random gunfire, 11 people in the opposite crowd were shot. Three of them died on the spot, and two others were seriously injured. They groaned for several hours before they died.
The demonstrators who were still very arrogant just now saw the dead bodies lying on the street and the blood everywhere, they all fled in fright. As for the "children of liberty" who took the lead in making trouble, they were far from bravery. They all strayed as early as the gunshots sounded.
Before dawn, news of the street murders had spread throughout the city of New Avalon.
When Joseph Adams received the news, he immediately realized that this was an excellent opportunity to completely drive Feizhen's garrison out of New Avalon.
He immediately found a painter friend named Paul Revere and asked him to quickly paint the street conflict that occurred last night into a painting and engrave it on a copper plate so that it could be printed in many copies and distributed as soon as possible for publicity.
But what should I paint?
Mr. Level witnessed the military-civilian conflict last night with his own eyes. If he paints in full compliance with reality, he can only depict groups of mobs besieging a few panicked Fijian soldiers. Of course, this does not reflect the cruelty and evil of the enemy. His kindness and innocence do not meet the needs of revolutionary struggle.
"If you want to paint, you can paint the ferocity of Feizhen soldiers and the innocence of the citizens, paint blood, anger, and hatred!" Adams confessed in this way.
Level is a member of "Sons of Liberty", Adams' little brother. The elder brother gave an order, and the younger brother understood, and a masterpiece was born.
In this copper plate painting, Feizhen soldiers lined up in a neat line, under the command of Captain Preston, shooting at unarmed and peace-loving innocent citizens, as if a butcher was killing a group of poor lambs.
The picture is full of gunpowder and blood is flowing into a river, it is simply an organized and premeditated massacre!
The corpses lying down on the street made the viewers feel pity and sympathy for their experience; on the contrary, the Feizhen officers and soldiers who slaughtered innocent civilians and the Feizhen government arose a bitter hatred!
Sure enough, when this painting was published in the newspaper, it quickly caused a sensation in the city.
People who didn't know the inside story were deeply infected by this painting and were inspired to take to the streets and gather in front of the Governor's Mansion. The sentiment was angered, the shouts shook the sky, and they insisted on severe punishment for the murderer.
Joseph Adams boarded a podium that was temporarily erected on the street with crates and made a public speech to the protesting people, and named the case last night as "New Avalon Massacre."
I have to say that the word "holocaust" is very impactful and particularly eye-catching.
When newspapers from various regions reported on this incident, although they felt that only five people were killed in a conflict, calling it a "holocaust" would be too exaggerated and exaggerated. However, considering the eyeball effect of news dissemination, the major newspapers did not mind. Borrowing the so-called "Holocaust" redefined by Mr. Adams as the headline of the report, to attract readers, somehow it can sell a few more newspapers.
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