Chapter 694 Dividends and Tableware
While the British army continued to reduce its numbers due to disease, the black governments of Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the Lesser Andres Islands began to send troops to reinforce Saint-Domingue.
They are all members of the "Caribbean Military Council". Even if Saint-Domingue, the strongest black regime, falls, other governments will have the fate of being ousted one by one by the British.
In addition, these islands have received assistance from Santo Domingo before, so now they are naturally sparing no effort to return the aid.
As a result, black volunteers boarded American merchant ships from various islands every day and continuously gathered in Santo Domingo.
American merchant ships also brought a large amount of food, clothing, medicine, and even military horses and other supplies to support tens of thousands of black soldiers in the Duarte Mountains and launched continuous attacks on the British army.
……
London.
Number 10 Downing Street.
“The situation seems quite serious.” Lord Grenville put Marquis Cunningham’s report on the table and looked at Little Pete.
This report is filled with despair.
Of the 7,500 soldiers of the expeditionary force, only more than 4,000 are currently able to maintain combat capabilities, and the others are tortured by various diseases.
In the past few months, only about 300 British soldiers have died in battle, but as many as 530 have died of illness.
This was the number two months ago, and now there are only more soldiers getting sick.
At the same time, although Marquis Cunningham occupied important towns such as Port-au-Prince, Marian, and Magua on the island, he could never find the main force of the rebels.
He tried to go into the mountains to look for those niggas, but was troubled by the wet and muddy environment, and voluntarily withdrew after half a month.
At the end of the report, Marquis Cunningham stated that unless London could send an additional 4,000 expeditionary troops to the Caribbean, he would be unable to defend Port-au-Prince in at most six months.
“It’s worse than the worst case scenario I imagined.” Little Pete sighed, “By the way, you should have heard that Spain is also ready to recognize the nigger government. In other words, , three major countries will recognize the independence of Saint-Domingue. "
Yes, after the Netherlands, the Americans also recognized the Republic of Saint-Domingue, driven by huge sugar profits.
“It’s 4.” Grenville corrected, “France will do the same soon.”
Little Pete nodded: "Yes. Frankly speaking, the French are indeed one step ahead this time."
After such a long game, if the British still cannot see that France is behind the situation in the Caribbean, Then there is really no need to sit on the throne of world hegemony.
"General Jervis and the Marquis of Wyndham both advocated continuing to increase the number of troops." He glanced at the Foreign Secretary, "What do you think?"
Jervis is the Minister of Naval War. Wyndham is the former British War Secretary.
“If you try to grab everything, you will get nothing in the end.” Grenville said, “Santo Domingo is obviously a bottomless pit. We have now thrown nearly 500,000 pounds into it. Nothing but casualties were gained and it was time to give up there.”
Little Pete pressed the armrest of the chair hard, took a deep breath, and said: "But we need sucrose."
"The solution is France." Grenville said without hesitation, "As long as France can be made to surrender. , we can ask them to sell beet sugar at subsidized prices
“Even after the black people in the Caribbean lose support, we can find ways to regain control there. "
Little Pete smiled: "There is a person who has exactly the same opinions as you. Do you know who he is? ”
“You? ”
"No, it's the Marquis of Wellesley."
Grenville nodded: "I heard that his military reforms are going well."
"If there are no constraints from those old-fashioned people, It will be more productive."
"So, the process of starting the war must be accelerated?" "The problem now is that our allies have not eaten their 'snacks'."
Little Peter was naturally referring to the Prussian-Austrian partition of Poland.
Grenville immediately said: "Then help them buy a new set of tableware. You know, this is a necessary expense."
Little Pete smiled: "I will make it happen the day after tomorrow. Propose a 500,000-pound 'tableware' budget in parliament. Please support it."
"This is a matter of duty."
Then the two men expressed their support for Pu'ao. The terms were refined, and then Grenville prepared to stand up and leave.
He had just taken a few steps when he suddenly remembered something and turned around: "By the way, Mr. Peter, maybe we can get some 'dividends' back from the Caribbean."
"Yours What does it mean?"
"The Caribbean Leave it to the Americans." Grenville said, "We can't let the French control it."
Little Peter nodded thoughtfully: "It seems that you should go to Philadelphia."
“With pleasure.”
…
Western Poland.
Poznan Province.
General Horn looked back at the fortress behind him, not feeling much sense of accomplishment.
The Poles were almost defenseless. There were less than 600 soldiers stationed in the most important fortress in western Poland.
Just one day after Potsdam declared war on Poland, he led his army to easily capture it.
His Majesty the King must be regretting it now and should not have delayed taking action until now.
Horn glanced westward: "Thank you, His Majesty George III."
What he said was true.
If the British had not asked William II to send troops immediately with a low-interest loan of 250,000 pounds this time, the latter planned to wait for Russia to eliminate the main Polish army before declaring war.
It is said that the loan this time is disbursed on a monthly basis. If Prussia failed to achieve agreed-upon military objectives, the loan would be suspended.
Horn looked north again and said to himself: "According to this progress, it should not take two months, maybe one month is enough."
William II gave him The order was that the entire Greater Poland region, as well as the most important port of Gdansk, must be captured within two months.
In the next three days, Horn led his 35,000 troops through Gniezno like a tourist. Without any fighting, he declared his occupation here.
The Poles have always naively trusted the Pope-Prussian Alliance Treaty. Even though they removed Prussian officers from the military command system at the repeated request of the French Dauphin, they did not believe that Prussia would launch an attack on them.
So much so that just ten days ago, Polish Foreign Minister Count Potocki went to Potsdam to meet with William II and asked the latter to send troops from East Prussia to help Poland resist Russian aggression.
William II simply rejected him on the grounds that the "Polish Constitution" had been adopted without Prussia's permission.
Then, Horn's army stabbed Poland hard in the back.
At the operational meeting that night, Horn looked at the map of Poland in front of him and said to one of his generals: "General Hoppner, you lead the Stendal Army, the Berlin Army, and the Royal 7th Artillery Battalion, continue to attack in the direction of Kalisz."
He looked around at several other officers: "The others will follow me northward and occupy Gdansk as quickly as possible."
(End of this chapter)