I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1038 Stubborn Spaniards

After hurling curses at the stubborn Spaniards, Anthony Wayne ordered a fierce attack on Baton Rouge.

Although the U.S. military has an absolute advantage in manpower, Elcano has built five or six defense lines in the north of the city in the past few months. Now that the Americans are defending with all their might, they really won't be able to take over this place in a short period of time.

Two days later, Wayne was commanding the death squad to cross the enemy's outermost defense line when a messenger suddenly came to report to him: "General, Mr. Wilson, the 'Mayor' of Natchez, has something very urgent to see you about."

Wayne couldn't help but frown.

Natchez is Fort Rosalie, the French colonial settlement in Louisiana, and is the largest American settlement in the lower Mississippi River.

There is no formal city established here for the time being, but because of the large number of residents, the Mississippi Provisional Territorial Government has appointed a special person to manage this place, and everyone is accustomed to calling him the mayor.

Something very serious must have happened for the mayor to come to the front line in person.

Wayne looked at the army that was about to occupy the Spanish defense line and said to the messenger: "Let him wait a moment..."

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, Mayor Wilson had already run to his temporary command post, sweating profusely, and hurriedly bowed to him, saying: "General Wayne, please send troops to reinforce the Port of New Orleans immediately. In the past few days, we have lost 13 ships...

"Well, a small boat escaped from the harbor yesterday under the cover of night. The people on the boat said that those wild Indians threatened to set fire to the harbor after clearing the ships on the dock..."

Wayne suddenly felt dizzy.

Are these Indians crazy? It’s not enough to rob things, they even want to burn the docks!
What's in it for them?
But he immediately interrupted these meaningless thoughts. After all, barbarians can do anything.

He said to Wilson with a dark face: "You see, the Spaniards blocked my troops."

"You can try to negotiate with them."

"Negotiations. Yes, negotiations!" Wayne nodded. "They definitely don't want the port to be burned down."

After 1 hours.

The artillery fire outside Baton Rouge temporarily stopped, and Wayne and Louisiana Governor Elcano met in the open space between the two armies.

After Wayne told him about the situation in the Port of New Orleans, the Spanish governor slightly pushed aside the heavy shield in front of him - when the Americans fought against the British army, they often used the name of negotiation to shoot at the enemy officers - and said loudly: "Don't try to trick me into leaving Baton Rouge.

“Besides, even if the port is destroyed, His Majesty the King will allocate funds for its reconstruction. But if you occupy New Orleans, I will definitely be dismissed and even prosecuted.

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

Wayne was going crazy with anxiety. The Spaniards were preparing to suffer losses on both sides!
But he knew very well that once the port was burned down, it would take at least four or five months to rebuild it.

Before that, all trade along the Mississippi River would have to stop. The current economic model of the United States is dependent on exports to Europe, and no trade means no income.

Not to mention four or five months, within a month, a large number of Americans nearby will go bankrupt, and in two months the number of immigrants east of the Mississippi River may be reduced by one third!

He yelled at Elcano, "We don't have to do this at all. All right, I'll withdraw west of the Chickasaw, and you can send someone to monitor along the way.

"Then you go and take care of those damn Indians first!"

Chickasaw is more than 100 miles away from Baton Rouge, and it takes about a month to go back and forth. He is really sincere.

However, Elcano only said, "If you have nothing else to do, let's continue to communicate with cannons." Yes, this is Joseph's strategy to save Baton Rouge.

Spain had only 1 immigrants along the Mississippi coast, plus black slaves and mixed-race vassals, a total of only about 4 people.

The Louisiana government could easily grit its teeth and come up with tens of thousands of escudos to help them make a living.

However, there were as many as 200,000 to 300,000 Americans on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and most of them were pioneers who responded to the U.S. government's call to move westward.

Given the financial situation of the United States, there is absolutely no money to subsidize so many people.

Once these pioneers went bankrupt, they had no choice but to return to the Midwestern United States to make a living.

The United States' control over the Mississippi River region would be greatly weakened, and Indians and Spanish would follow suit to occupy these lands.

This was an absolutely devastating blow to America's westward expansion plan.

Therefore, in this game of "who blinks first", the losers will definitely be the Americans.

Moreover, at this moment, Elcano actually felt very at ease.

Because he knew that the Indians would not actually burn down the port of New Orleans.

Even most of the merchant ships that were robbed were American - the Indians must have been warned to pretend to be careless and avoid Spanish ships.

The offensive and defensive battle in Baton Rouge resumed.

However, in the following two days, officials from Woodville, Memphis and other places rushed to the front line of Baton Rouge and asked Brigadier General Wayne to reinforce the Port of New Orleans as soon as possible.

Until Paul Gallagher, secretary of the Mississippi Provisional Territorial Government, arrived. He was the second-in-command of the state government.

In the officer's tent, Gallagher said to Wayne with a sullen face: "The Indians burned three merchant ships a few days ago. The Governor is worried that they may do something more serious at any time."

Wayne just held his sword and said nothing. He was already personally directing the attack, but at the current pace, it would take at least a month to capture Baton Rouge.

Gallagher sighed: "The Governor has formally proposed to the Federal Congress to cease fire with the Spanish in exchange for their stabilization of the situation in New Orleans."

Wayne remained silent. The armistice meant that all his previous victories would be in vain. The Spanish would definitely strengthen the Mississippi River defense line. The next time they wanted to occupy New Orleans, they would have to pay a greater price.

Gallagher handed him a document and said, "This is the negotiation terms drawn up by the Governor. Please see if there is anything else you want to add."

Two o'clock in the afternoon the next day.

The United States and Spain signed an armistice agreement with great efficiency in a church in Baton Rouge.

The agreement stipulated that Wayne's militia would be disbanded immediately and return to their respective states. Woodville and Natchez were set up as demilitarized buffer zones - in fact, these western areas were not US territory at all, and they had no right to station troops there.

Elcano should lead his troops to New Orleans within a week and restore navigation as quickly as possible.

In addition, the United States gained a small benefit of increasing the number of American ships sailing on the Mississippi River by 10%.

(End of this chapter)