The Fox of France

The series of victories previously won by the British actually did not change their strategic dilemma. Because of the constraints imposed by France, they were unable to deploy a large scale of reinforcements from their homeland, nor could they break through the American fleet's blockade. Therefore, those most crucial military supplies could not be delivered to Canada.

The industrial capacity within Canada itself was quite limited, and many vital military supplies could not be produced. The British had some stockpiles in Canada, but the quantities were not very large. They were sufficient for handling ordinary border skirmishes, but far from enough for a large-scale war.

After the American independence, the British concluded that colonies should not have too strong and relatively complete agriculture and industry. The more incomplete their industrial chains, the stronger their dependence on the mother country, making it less likely for them to seek independence.

This reasoning certainly made sense, but any political measure could not have only positive effects without any negatives. For instance, the current practice of the British had very obvious negative consequences: once the maritime communication between the homeland and the colonies was temporarily cut off, the colonies' capability to support a war for independence was very weak. Even if the Canadian forces performed exceptionally well, these tactical successes did not change their strategic predicament.

"Unless we can receive more supplies, we will soon have to retreat from Cleveland," General Isaac Brock wrote in a letter to the Governor-General of Canada.

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Conversely, despite having suffered considerable losses, the wealthiest regions of the United States, particularly the South, had not been too badly damaged. Therefore, the Americans still had the financial means to purchase weapons and ammunition from those damn Frenchmen, who were just as demanding about money as the Jews.

For instance, the leasing of cruisers to the Republic of Saint-Domingue involved only a symbolic payment of two francs for the rental of two French cruisers for an entire year. To demonstrate the unbreakable friendship between France and Saint-Domingue, even some of the crew's salaries, as well as a portion of the maintenance and supply costs, were still provided by the French government.

The lifetime ruler of Saint-Domingue had not even had the chance to see those two cruisers before they were leased to the Americans, naturally, for much more than two francs—eight hundred thousand francs per ship! And the Americans were responsible for the crew's salaries, maintenance, and supply costs. Evidently, a portion of this money, along with the difference in price, was divided among certain middlemen.

Apart from cruisers, even other weapons mysteriously involved middlemen making a profit. Because the French insisted they must retain a portion of the weapons to ensure the needs of French citizens in Louisiana were met. Especially during this time, with the American and British conflict intensifying and many boundaries between Louisiana, the United States, and Canada not fully determined, war could break out in Louisiana at any moment. Therefore, the French had to first ensure that French citizens had the means to defend themselves, even the German-speaking French citizens. In fact, in Louisiana, the German-speaking French were almost more patriotic than the French-speaking ones.

This was quite normal, as these German-speaking French needed to rely on France to establish themselves in Louisiana without being bullied by Americans, British, or even Native Americans. France, at least in North America, genuinely considered them their own, which naturally fostered their patriotism.

However, this meant fewer weapons available for sale to the Americans. But that was not a major issue; as long as they were willing to pay, the Americans could intercept a portion of the weapons from another major customer, Mexico. Recently, after achieving a decisive victory and capturing the crucial Sochi silver mine, Mexico's ability to pay significantly increased.

Thus, not long ago, they paid a large sum to the French for a huge stock of weapons capable of recapturing Mexico City in one fell swoop. These weapons were already en route, expected to arrive in New Orleans within three to five days. Knowing the Americans' urgent need for these weapons, the French kindly facilitated a connection. After the Americans offered a high enough price, the Mexicans agreed to hand over this batch of weapons to the Americans first. They could wait for the next shipment. After all, the Spanish could not possibly deploy more forces to Mexico in the short term, so waiting a bit longer was not a significant issue.

Of course, the French surely profited from this deal.

But for the Americans at this time, time was indeed the most precious commodity. Because the French government, to coordinate with their military exercises, could not keep them going indefinitely. Every day of military exercises was costly.

Once the exercises concluded, the French would not continue to maintain a large army in Calais, which was also very costly. Then the assembled forces would return to their respective bases, and the assembled ships would return to their home ports for maintenance. After such large-scale exercises, the French military would not make any significant moves in the short term.

So, as soon as the French dispersed these forces, the British would immediately send reinforcements to North America. The United States must regain the advantage before this happens.

Thus, within a few days, the Americans were rearmed. This time, they not only had guns and cannons but also landmines and barbed wire. More importantly, after learning from previous lessons, their southern soldiers had become much more obedient.

So, the Americans quickly organized an army of over forty thousand men in the South, beginning to assemble near Cleveland—if they could not recapture Cleveland, the Americans would be unable to disrupt the British control over the Great Lakes shipping, which would have many adverse effects on future operations. Therefore, for the Americans, recapturing Cleveland became the top priority in the next phase of the war.

In the New England region, ten thousand state militia urgently recruited by the State of New York also arrived near Cleveland.