Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 1131: Chapter 1037: Stubborn Spaniards

After cursing the stubborn Spaniards fiercely, Anthony Wayne ordered a fierce attack on Baton Rouge.

Although the American Army had a decisive advantage in terms of force, Elcano had built five or six lines of defense north of the city over the past few months. With concentrated defense, the Americans truly couldn’t overcome this short-term.

Two days later, Wayne was directing a troop of daredevils to cross the outermost defense line of the enemy when a courier suddenly came to report to him: “General, Mr. Wilson, the ’mayor’ of Natchez, has something urgent to see you about.”

Wayne couldn’t help but frown.

Natchez was Fort Rosalie during the France colonial period in Louisiana, the largest American settlement in the lower Mississippi River.

There wasn’t a formal city established here yet, but because of the large population, the Mississippi provisional territorial government appointed someone to manage the area, and people got used to calling him mayor.

If this mayor came to the frontline personally, then certainly something serious must have happened.

He looked at the army about to occupy the Spanish defense line and said to the courier: “Let him wait for a moment…”

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, Mayor Wilson was already sweating profusely and ran to his temporary command post, quickly bowed, and urgently said: “General Wayne, please immediately send troops to reinforce New Orleans Port. In the past few days, we have already lost 13 ships…

“Oh, yesterday a small boat escaped from the port under the cover of night. The people on board said that those barbaric Indians threatened that after they emptied the ships at the dock, they would set fire to the port…”

Wayne felt a dizzy spell.

Are these Indians crazy? Robbing things isn’t enough, they even want to burn the dock!

What good would this do them?

But he immediately dismissed these meaningless thoughts, after all, barbarians were capable of anything.

He said to Wilson with a black face: “You saw, the Spaniards have blocked my troops.”

“You can try negotiating with them.”

“Negotiating. Yes, negotiating!” Wayne nodded, “They certainly don’t wish for the port to be burned either.”

hour later.

The cannon fire outside Baton Rouge temporarily ceased, and Wayne and Louisiana Governor Elcano arranged a meeting in the open space between the two armies.

After Wayne explained the situation at New Orleans Port, the Spanish Governor slightly moved aside the thick shield in front of him—the Americans, during their battles with the British Army in years past, had often used negotiations as a means to ambush opposing officers—and said loudly: “You won’t trick me into leaving Baton Rouge.

“Moreover, even if the port is destroyed, His Majesty the King will allocate funds for reconstruction. But if you capture New Orleans, I will certainly be dismissed, and even prosecuted.

“Go back, my brave soldiers will resist until the last moment!”

Wayne was going insane, the Spaniards were prepared for mutual suffering!

But he knew very well that once the port was burned, it would take at least four to five months to complete the reconstruction.

Until then, all trade along the Mississippi River would halt. The current economic model in the United States heavily relied on exports to Europe; without trade, there’s no income.

Not to mention four or five months, within a month, many Americans nearby would go bankrupt, and two months later, the immigrant population on the Mississippi River’s east bank would likely decrease by one-third!

He yelled at Elcano: “We don’t need to do this at all. Okay, I will retreat west of Chickasaw, and you can send people to monitor along the way.

“Then you go deal with those damned Indians first!”

Chickasaw is over 100 miles from Baton Rouge, takes about a month for a round trip. He truly showed sincerity.

However, Elcano left only one sentence, “If you don’t have anything else, let’s continue communicating with cannons,” and returned to the city.

Yes, this was Joseph’s tactic to hold Baton Rouge.

Spain only had 14,000 immigrants along the Mississippi River, totaling around 38,000 when including black slaves and mixed-race subordinates.

The Louisiana government could bite the bullet and take out several thousand escudos to help them make a living.

But the Americans on the east bank of the Mississippi River numbered around 200,000 to 300,000, most of whom were pioneers responding to the American Government’s call for westward expansion.

Given the financial situation in the United States, there’s absolutely no money to subsidize so many people.

Once these pioneers go bankrupt, they’ll have to return to the eastern United States to make a living.

America’s control over the Mississippi region would drastically weaken, and the Indians and Spaniards will quickly occupy these lands thereafter.

This would be a devastating blow to America’s westward expansion plan.

So in this game of “who blinks first,” the losers would certainly be the Americans.

Moreover, at that moment, Elcano was, in fact, deeply reassured.

Because he knew, the Indians wouldn’t really burn New Orleans Port.

Even most of the stolen merchant ships were American—Indians should have been instructed to deliberately dodge Spanish ships.

The battle for Baton Rouge resumed.

However, in the following two days, officials from Woodville, Memphis, and other places also came to the frontline outside Baton Rouge, pleading with Quasi-General Wayne to quickly reinforce New Orleans Port.

Until Paul Gallagher, the secretary from the Mississippi provisional territorial government, also arrived. He is the second-in-command of the state government.

Inside the officer’s tent, Gallagher, with a sullen face, said to Wayne: “A few days ago, the Indians burned three merchant ships. The Governor is worried they might do something more serious at any time.”

Wayne just pressed the sword, saying nothing. He was already personally directing the attack, but at the current pace, it would take at least a month to take Baton Rouge.

Gallagher sighed: “The Governor has formally suggested to the Federal Congress to cease the conflict with the Spaniards in exchange for their stabilization of New Orleans.”

Wayne still remained silent. Ceasefire meant his previous series of victories would all go to waste, and the Spaniards would surely reinforce the Mississippi River defense line; next time trying to capture New Orleans would incur much greater costs.

Gallagher handed him a document: “These are the negotiation terms drafted by the Governor; see if there’s anything to add.”

Next day afternoon at two o’clock.

Both sides, the United States and Spain signed the ceasefire agreement at the church in Baton Rouge city with high efficiency.

The agreement stipulated that Wayne’s militia would immediately disband and return to their own states. And Woodville and Natchez would be set up as non-military buffer zones—in fact, these western regions weren’t even American territory; originally, they had no authority to garrison here.

Elcano was to lead his troops to New Orleans within a week and resume navigation at the fastest speed.

Besides this, the United States bargained for a small benefit to increase the number of American ships navigating the Mississippi River by 10%.