Fox of France

The British's previous series of victories did not actually change their strategic dilemma. Because of being restrained by France, they were unable to send large-scale reinforcements from the mainland, and they were unable to break through the blockade of the US fleet. Therefore, the most important military supplies could not be sent to Canada.

And Canada's own industry is quite limited, and many vital military supplies cannot be produced. The British have some stocks in Canada, but the quantity is not very large. It must be enough to deal with general border frictions, but it is far from enough to deal with large-scale wars.

After the independence of the United States, the British came to a conclusion that the colonies should not have too strong and relatively complete industrial and agricultural industries. independent.

This kind of thinking is of course reasonable, but any political measure cannot have only positive effects without side effects. For example, the current practice of the British has very obvious side effects, that is, once the sea route between the mainland and the colonies is temporarily cut off, the ability of the colonies to independently support the war is very weak. So even if the Canadian army performed very well, these tactical successes did not change their strategic dilemma.

"Unless we can get more supplies, we will soon have to retreat from Cleveland," General Isaac Bullock wrote to the Governor General of Canada.

On the contrary, although the Americans have suffered a lot, the real richest area in the United States at this time, that is, the southern United States, has not suffered much damage, so the Americans still have money to spend, and they still have money to pay those damned of the French buy weapons and ammunition. Although those French are no worse than the Jews in asking for money.

For example, regarding the lease of the cruiser, the Republic of Santo Domingo paid a symbolic price of two francs for renting the two French cruisers. one year entitlement. Even, in order to show the unbreakable friendship between France and the Republic of Santo Domingo, even the salaries of the soldiers on these two warships, and part of the maintenance and supply costs are still provided by the French government.

The lifelong governor of Santo Domingo didn't even have time to see the two warships, so he changed hands and leased the two cruisers to the Americans. Of course, the lease fee is by no means two francs, but Eight hundred thousand francs apiece! Moreover, the crew's military pay, maintenance and supply costs are all paid by the Americans. Obviously, this part of the money, together with the previous price difference, was all divided up by some middlemen.

In addition to cruisers, even other weapons, damn it, middlemen who made the difference appeared inexplicably. Because the French insisted that they must leave some weapons to meet the needs of French citizens in Louisiana. Especially during this period of time, the Americans and the British are fighting so livelyly. There are many places where the border between Louisiana and the United States, as well as Canada, is not completely determined. Maybe when this war will bring down Louisiana at once Is it coming from the territory? Therefore, the French must first ensure that the needs of French citizens to possess weapons for self-defense can be met. Even the French who speak German are the same. In fact, in Louisiana, the German-speaking French are almost more patriotic than the French-speaking French.

This is also a very normal thing, because these German-speaking French, if they want to gain a firm foothold in places like Louisiana and not be bullied by Americans, British or even Indians, they must rely on France, and France at least In North America, they are indeed treated as their own. In this way, how can they not be patriotic?

It's just that in this way, there will be fewer weapons that can be sold to the Americans. But it doesn't matter, as long as they are willing to pay, the Americans can still intercept part of the weapons from another big customer. This big customer is Mexican. The Mexicans have recently won a decisive victory and seized the crucial Saucito silver mine, which has greatly improved their ability to pay.

So not long ago, they just paid a large sum of money like the French and ordered a large number of weapons enough to take back Mexico City in one go. These weapons are now on the way, and it is estimated that they will arrive in New Orleans in three to five days. The French knew that the Americans urgently needed these weapons, so they kindly helped them draw a line, and then, after the Americans offered a high enough price, the Mexicans agreed to hand over this batch of weapons to the Americans first. And they can wait for the next shipment. Anyway, it is impossible for the Spaniards to invest more power in Mexico in a short period of time. Waiting for a while is not a big problem.

Of course, in this transaction, those Frenchmen must have made another fortune.

But for Americans today, time is indeed the most precious thing. Because the French government cannot continue the military exercise indefinitely in order to cooperate with them. Every day in the military exercise is a waste of money.

Once the exercises are over, the French will not continue to maintain a strong army in Calais, which is also very expensive. Then the assembled troops will return to their respective stations, and the assembled warships will also return to their home ports for maintenance. After such a large-scale exercise is over, the French army will definitely not make any major moves in a short time.

So as long as the French disperse these troops, the British will immediately send reinforcements to reinforce North America. The United States must catch up before this and regain its advantage.

So, within a few days, the Americans re-armed again, and this time, they not only had guns and cannons, but also had mines and barbed wire. Of course, more importantly, their southern soldiers finally became a lot more obedient after the last lesson.

So the Americans quickly reorganized an army of more than 40,000 people in the south, and began to gather near Cleveland—if Cleveland could not be recaptured, the Americans would not be able to destroy the British's control of shipping in the Great Lakes. There will be many adverse effects. Therefore, for the Americans, recapturing Cleveland has become the top priority of the next stage of operations.

In New England, 10,000 state soldiers urgently recruited by New York State also arrived near Cleveland.