Chapter 784: Chapter 692: The Nightmare of the Caribbean Sea Chapter 784: Chapter 692: The Nightmare of the Caribbean Sea United States.
Philadelphia.
In the hall of Congress Building, Hamilton stood at the podium, waving his right hand and declaid loudly: “After 20 years, the arrogant British have once again crushed our trade rights, trampling our dignity underfoot!
“The Federal Governnt must at all costs maintain our comrcial routes in the Caribbean Sea, and must adopt an absolutely tough posture, demanding that the British imdiately release all illegally detained rchant ships, and promise not to continue intercepting or arresting our ships and crew!”
As the most hard-line representative among the Arican hawks, usually, the mbers of Congress would not react too strongly to his words.
However, this ti the hall erupted with thunderous shouting, “We must be tough on the British!”
“Send a diplomatic protest imdiately!”
“Free trade must not be compromised!”
Even more than ten mbers of Congress excitedly walked onto the stage, standing behind Hamilton, waving their hands in support.
No wonder they were so united in their anger, just over a month ago, the newly established governnt of Saint Domingo sent a special trade permit to the United States!
This was like a pie falling from the sky. Without a trade permit, rchant ships could not buy a single sugar cane from there after the independence of Saint Domingo.
This sudden special permit ant that Arican businessn only need to load up sugar cane in Saint Domingo, then make a trip to Europe, and with the current sky-high sugar prices, they could easily make a huge profit of 140%!
Of course, this permit was actually brought from Paris by a French advisor—according to the secret agreent between France and Saint Domingo, the sugar cane produced by Saint Domingo could only be sold to those authorized by France for the next ten years.
Although Joseph believed that the Saint Domingo governnt would likely drag the British Expeditionary Force to its doom, considering the island’s single output and dependence on external supplies for many goods, he decided to reach out to the nearby United States for assistance.
As he expected, the Aricans imdiately went crazy.
A massive number of rchant ships surged towards Port-au-Prince like hungry dogs sensing the sll of at.
However, the British Navy, in order to prevent the black governnt of Saint Domingo from obtaining supplies from the outside world, blockaded this harbor.
Soon, several Arican rchant ships were seized by the British on charges of “funding insurrection.”
But this did absolutely nothing to deter the relentless fervor of the Aricans.
With the temptation of 140% profit, they wouldn’t back down for anything, not even if God Himself descended with divine punishnt.
anwhile, the shrewd rchants turned to lesser-known ports like Asua Port and Plata Port on Saint Domingo Island for loading and unloading goods.
The British fleet could only patrol around the island day and night, exhausted to the core, but as a result, more Arican ships were arrested.
Finally, the Arican Governnt exploded.
Well, plenty of the sugar cane trading business done in the Caribbean Sea was invested by mbers of the Arican Parliant or the capitalists they represented.
The British Navy seizing rchant ships was like taking money out of their pockets.
Hamilton raised his hand to signal for quiet, his expression solemn: “I suggest we dispatch a naval fleet to escort our rchant ships, to ensure that the British no longer harm our country’s legitimate interests!”
His words once again garnered a storm of shouts, “Send the Navy!”
“Never bow down to the British!”
“Maintain open sea lanes with warships!”
The United States Navy had shown its prowess in the Caribbean Sea just two years ago, driving pirates away like dogs losing hos, so the mbers of Congress were full of confidence in the Navy.
The Arican Parliant, with unprecedented efficiency, unanimously passed the “Special Trade Act for the Caribbean Sea” the very next morning.
Of course, aside from the interests of the sugar trade, another reason for the swift passage of the act was the Arican need for revenge for the Black revolt in Georgia.
Although the Aricans also found it strange that England would support slaves causing trouble in Arica, in the absence of other clues, most mbers of Congress were inclined to let England take the bla.
A few days later, three inconspicuous Arican escort ships appeared off the coast of Saint Domingo…
In the southern part of Saint Domingo, Asua.
Minister of the Army of the Republic and Quasi-General Dusang Luvidur looked at the map and instructed the officer beside him, “We are already very close to Cocos Town. Have the soldiers march close to the woodlands and maintain silence.
“Also, recall all the scouting cavalry, careful not to alert the British.”
“Yes, General!”
Before the officer could turn away, a flurry of gunshots was heard in the distance.
Luvidur’s brow furrowed imdiately—had his movents been discovered?
With just over 700 soldiers in his command, it would be difficult to defeat the 300 British soldiers stationed in Cocos Town if the British were prepared.
As he hesitated over whether to turn back to Duarte Mountain, a mixed-race cavalryman rushed forward, crying out, “General, a resistance force is attacking Cocos Town, and they’ve already breached the north side of the town.”
The so-called resistance forces were civilian militias ford throughout Saint Domingo.
Luvidur was greatly surprised. He was well aware of the combat capabilities of the resistance forces; most of their mbers were newly freed slaves who were barely capable of shooting, let alone attacking and breaking through a British encampnt!
He imdiately ordered, “Quick march, let’s go help them!”
By the ti he led his troops to Cocos Town, the fight had reached a fever pitch.
Over a hundred British soldiers were taking cover behind a mill in the town, fiercely exchanging fire with two to three hundred mbers of the resistance force.
The arrival of Luvidur’s troops imdiately broke the British’s will to resist.
A white flag was hoisted atop the mill.
Soon after, the Minister of the Army of Saint Domingo t the commander of the resistance force that had attacked.
After praising the latter, he asked curiously, “So, how many soldiers did you lead to attack Cocos Town?”
“We had 260 n, General.”
“So few!” Luvidur’s eyes widened in shock, “How did you manage to enter the town? I received intel saying there were over three hundred British soldiers stationed here.”
The commander of the resistance nodded, “Indeed, there were 300 white n, General. But a relative in town told a few days ago that among them, hundreds had co down with yellow fever, and many of the rest were suffering from diarrhea.
“So I decided to try my luck.”
Yellow fever clearly severely affected the morale of the British soldiers, to the extent that they were entangled by a motley crew and ultimately overwheld by Luvidur’s regular army.
The situation on the battlefield was quickly summarized and brought to Luvidur.
The British forces in town had only just over 130 completely healthy soldiers; yellow fever, dysentery, and blackwater fever had nearly destroyed this unit.
In fact, similar situations were common among the British forces on the island, especially with the rampant spread of yellow fever.
Indeed, even though it was already October, the temperature here remained above 25 degrees Celsius, with mosquitoes almost drowning people, bringing the scourge of yellow fever.
For the British soldiers who lacked resistance, it was an absolute nightmarish hell.
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