The Fox of France

Chapter 447: Retreat

If the Canadians who entered the White House were all genuine, English-speaking Canadians, it would have been one thing. Those folks, although quite nasty, have limited artistic creativity. At most, they might use some red paint to write nonsensical things, like using an "F" to start off some ridiculous phrase, for example, “I F'd Y”, without any real technical content.

However, among the Canadians, there are also those from Quebec who speak French. Quebec was once a French colony, which, after the French were defeated by the British in the Seven Years' War, fell under British control. But the main residents there still spoke French, effectively becoming English-speaking French people. It's just like how, in Louisiana today, there are many French-speaking Germans.

Speaking of which, these French speakers do not have a high sense of identification with England. To be honest, their sense of identification with Canada isn't strong either. Even centuries later, they sporadically claim the need for a referendum for independence. But at this time, they were very enthusiastic about fighting the Americans. Of course, this is because—Americans were persecuting Catholics!

Initially, many of the British immigrants who came to North America did so to avoid persecution from the Church of England towards Puritans. However, as the saying goes, the young dragon slayer eventually turns into a dragon himself. Once these followers of Calvin established their own country, they began persecuting others, such as Catholics, considered heretics.

This could be considered a traditional skill of Calvinism. When Calvin was still persecuted by Catholics, in his most important work, "Institutes of the Christian Religion," he sincerely wrote: "To kill a heretic is a sin, and to end their lives with fire and sword is against all principles of humanity." But once Calvin became the de facto ruler of Geneva, he immediately organized a large barbecue for Servetus, a heretic who did not recognize the Trinity.

Thus, when the Puritans, followers of Calvin, gained power in America, they followed their mentor's example and attacked those "unpious heretics" vigorously. Many Catholics then fled to the French-speaking areas of Canada, taking their religious hatred with them.

In terms of artistic creativity, French speakers are somewhat better than English speakers. For example, when Bill, a private from Ottawa, was about to write some crude words on the President's desk with a bucket of black paint, his friend Louis from Quebec stopped him.

"What are you planning to write?" Louis asked.

"Of course, ‘Jefferson, I F'd your whole family.’ What else?" the naive Bill responded.

"That’s so unimaginative! Listen to me! First, you need to get a bucket of red paint. Then, you write this: ‘Dear President Jefferson, I had a delightful time on your desk with your sister and daughter, and with the stuff they leaked out, I’m writing you this letter. They all say I’m much better at it than you...’"

"Wow! Louis, you’re wicked! But, this is really interesting, haha... Let’s do it!"

Then Bill went to get a bucket of red paint...

Aside from the writings, those French speakers also left behind a large number of paintings in the White House, depicting Calvin going to hell, Calvin licking Lucifer's boots in hell with the Puritans, and the like, quite vividly done.

Additionally, the Canadians discovered a secret passage in the basement of the White House, but it seemed that it hadn't been used in a long time, and it was unclear what it was for.

However, the British offensive essentially ended there. Without reinforcements from home, the British, or rather the Canadians, faced an insurmountable problem—their military and logistical limits were very low. Now that the situation had reached this point, the supply line from Cleveland to Washington was constantly harassed by the Americans.

Just as in another timeline, after Napoleon took Moscow and waited in Moscow hoping to see the Tsar's envoy pleading for peace, General Isaac Brock also kept his army in Washington for a week, waiting for the possible peace envoy from the Americans.

But the Americans, despite suffering several defeats, were not ready to seek peace immediately. They knew that the Canadian forces had reached their limit. As long as the American navy could continue to blockade the Canadian shipping routes, the Canadian forces would eventually be exhausted. Even if negotiations were necessary, it would be much better to negotiate at that time than now.

On the other hand, although the Americans were spectacularly defeated by the British in direct combat, the Americans had a lot of potential in conducting raids. The American people had many guns, and the guns they bought with their own money were generally better in performance than those procured by the state for the military. Plus, their frequent handling of guns meant their shooting skills were not bad. So, mounting horses and armed with guns, occasionally attacking British supply convoys turned out to be quite effective.

After staying for a week, General Isaac Brock began to lead his troops back along the same route. Just as in the original history, when Napoleon retreated from Russia, the Russian Cossacks followed Napoleon's army, continuously attacking the French troops and causing significant losses.

But the British situation was much better than Napoleon's in another timeline. Indeed, American militia spontaneously followed the retreating British troops, attempting to attack them. However, the British had a much shorter distance to retreat, and more importantly, there was no fierce General Winter on the American side.

Thus, the British retreat to Cleveland was relatively smooth, and those American cavalrymen who tried to take advantage of the situation mostly came up empty-handed, some even being counterattacked by the British and suffering heavy losses. The British not only successfully retreated to Cleveland but also looted everything they could along the way—knowing that if reinforcements from home did not arrive quickly, their greatest enemy in North America for the foreseeable future would be the lack of supplies.

In the following period, the British forces centered around Cleveland, using their control over the Great Lakes to continuously raid nearby Americans, looting their towns and farms. Then, through the waterways, they sent these goods back to Canada.