"Those people are here to participate in the campaign against the natives, sir!" Greenspan's forehead was sweating, indicating he was very busy. "When you and Mayor Patrick decided to campaign against the Iroquois Tribes of the Great Lakes, the neighboring towns came to negotiate several times and have already agreed to send people to participate in the war; most of them are armed civilians from other towns."
"It's better to have more people participating in the war than fewer; this way, we save many of our own civilians, who can stay and continue to participate in production and construction," Charles said, pleased with this situation.
Seeing Greenspan's indifferent expression, Charles knew it was pointless to discuss this with someone who only understood economics, so he continued to ask about his own family's affairs:
"Greenspan, how is the relocation of my steel workshop coming along?"
He originally hated seeing the thick smoke billowing over the town, but now that he couldn't see the smoke at the town entrance, he felt a similar discomfort. Billowing smoke symbolized industrial prosperity, but now the town only had a few wisps of black smoke rising from low chimneys, which clearly wasn't the steel workshop at work. He naturally guessed that the relocation had already begun.
"The relocation of the workshop was completed a few days ago. Now, at the new factory, I estimate they've already started trial production of molten iron," Greenspan replied with a smile.
"That fast?" Charles was a little incredulous.
It was already mid-July, but the factory construction at Scarlet Manor had only been going on for less than three months. Even if the factory building was simple, adding relocation and debugging, how could it be completed so quickly?
"Yes. Butler Jonathan had prepared all sorts of materials long ago. Patrick and Antoine also cooperated immensely in all aspects. Plus, we hired enough manpower and worked tirelessly every day, building the steel factory in just two months.
It's just that because the militia militia urgently needed cannons and firearms, plus your order from Philadelphia, the steel produced during this period has mainly been used for military production. This has caused a shortage of various steel tools for the canal, and we haven't been able to supply them in time, so they're a bit unhappy with our approach," Greenspan complained softly.
"Haha! Don't worry about the canal's reaction; I'll handle it. The Continental army's weapon demands are truly the most urgent, after all, New York is about to go to war. Getting weapons one day earlier means forming combat effectiveness one day sooner.
This is a matter related to the need for independence, and no one can oppose it. I know about Patrick and Antoine's urgency for weapons, but why haven't they taken action against the natives yet?" Speaking of weapons, he couldn't help but ask about the natives' situation.
"It'll be soon, sir," Greenspan said with a bitter smile and shook his head. "When you and Patrick first notified the surrounding towns, calling on them to send militiamen to participate in the action, a few people did come, but they were mostly officials.
Not many quick-shooters came. After several back-and-forth discussions on whether to take proactive action, it was finally decided. Then they discussed the action plan, and the formal combat plan was only finalized the day before yesterday. They've been busy preparing for war these past few days. The area outside the town is also already filled with armed civilians who have come from various towns, and formal action is expected in a couple of days."
Charles could only shake his head after hearing this. If he had known this, he might as well have trained a batch of militiamen to act alone. After dragging it out for more than two months, even if the natives weren't alerted, their preparations to attack Pittsburgh were probably almost complete. By then, both sides would have initially trained musketeers on the battlefield, and it would be hard to say who would win.
While he was talking with Greenspan, Patrick and Antoine arrived one after another.
Seeing the travel-worn Antoine and the beaming Patrick, Charles could only suppress his dissatisfaction. He smiled and shook hands with them, greeting them.
"Patrick, let's hold a formal town meeting tomorrow. The Continental Congress has passed the Declaration of Independence. I want to announce to all the citizens of the town that from now on, we will no longer be called Americans, nor colonials; we will be called United Statesmen, people of the United States of America!" Charles first spoke of the political task.
All the way from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, he had been the one to read the Declaration of Independence to most of the towns. Besides winning the cheers of the common people, Charles also unexpectedly gained the recognition of the local gentry. Unfortunately, there were too few decent towns along the way, so the overall impact was not significant, and it was also limited to Pennsylvania.
"People of the United States of America?" Patrick pondered for a moment and, unlike ordinary Americans, was not overly excited. He just smiled faintly and said, "That's a very good name."
Antoine, on the other hand, was extremely excited, and for a long time, he stammered, "Is it true? lord, we have declared independence? We are people of the United States of America? Americans?"
"Yes!" Charles smiled and nodded.
The reactions of Patrick and Antoine made it easy to see their future prospects. One, just from a declaration, became so excited he could barely speak, making it unlikely for him to develop in the intriguing political arena; the other, after hearing the news, could still carefully ponder whether the name sounded good or not, calm and steady, with unlimited political potential. It was fortunate that these two, one was an ordinary militia leader, a soldier; the other was the mayor, a politician. Such identities were more suitable for their future development.
Since there were few people present, Antoine calmed down after a moment of excitement, smiling awkwardly at Charles and Patrick.
"Hehe! Now we are not colonials, not Americans, but Americans."
Antoine, clearly an old militiaman in his forties or fifties, reacted at that moment like a young man who had just seen a woman.
"Antoine, how are your preparations for the action against the Iroquois natives coming along? Greenspan told me you're still preparing. Why haven't you taken military action after so many days? Are you waiting for them to come to your doorstep?"
"Uh, well, because the surrounding towns were preparing weapons, assembling militiamen, and there were also significant disputes over specific actions and command authority, it was delayed until a few days ago. But don't worry, we are now ready, and we can almost set off tomorrow to campaign against the Iroquois Tribes, at the latest by the day after tomorrow," Antoine replied hurriedly.
He himself seemed uncomfortable with the current situation, so he didn't hide his glare at the smiling Patrick beside him.
It was all this politician's doing; if it were up to him, he would have led his troops to war long ago.
"Charles! This expedition has indeed dragged on a bit. But you also know that the more people who go to war, the easier the victory. This time, after excluding a few cowardly towns, we still gained the alliance of twenty-six towns and nearly two thousand militiamen. It's just that those mayors are all stubborn old men; they argued for more than ten days just over command authority. Now it has finally been decided that Pittsburgh will lead. It took a lot of time, but they will also bear the pressure of this war, and our losses will be even smaller," Patrick said very pragmatically.
Charles nodded with a stern face:
"Alright, then let's wait until I announce the Declaration of Independence tomorrow, and then everyone can set off with an oath."
He inwardly disapproved of Patrick's approach. These towns sharing the enemy, did that mean there would be no losses? It just meant that his own losses would be distributed among the allies. For the entire West, it didn't necessarily bring any benefits.
"Good! That's even better. I expect that when the Declaration of Independence is read, everyone will be stirred up and morale will greatly increase, and my confidence in defeating the natives will be even stronger," Antoine nodded excitedly.
Seeing his reaction, Charles couldn't help but shake his head. This Antoine was not a great general. If he didn't have anyone else, and Antoine was the only one who understood warfare, especially as a commander who knew the natives very well, he wouldn't really want to use him as the commander of the grand army. However, it is estimated that after this expedition to the Iroquois Tribes, Pittsburgh is unlikely to have any war for several years, and he can slowly find a suitable replacement.
The next day, in the center of Pittsburgh, which was the entrance to the Comber family's trading center, people surged, and bayonets gleamed.
Charles, Patrick, Antoine, and several mayors from neighboring towns stood together on the open ground at the entrance of the trading center.
Looking at the chaotic crowd in front of them, each person reacted differently: Charles, of course, frowned deeply. Patrick's face showed no particular change, while Antoine was sometimes happy, sometimes frowning. Most of the mayors were smiling and cheerful, believing that with so many soldiers going to war, they would surely return victorious.
These "soldiers" had no resemblance to real soldiers at all. Except for a very few who had served in the British regular army, the most outstanding among the others were a few retired militiamen. The vast majority were ordinary civilians, young and strong, who knew how to shoot a musket and hunt.
However, because this operation dragged on for too long, besides bringing many adverse effects, there was also a positive aspect: it brought in militiamen and quasi-armed forces from more distant areas, bringing the "soldiers" gathered here, plus the armed workers from Pittsburgh, to nearly three thousand people.
Three thousand people going to war was not like a few people going hunting. Just the food supply for three thousand people would be enough to empty Scarlet Manor, plus there were large quantities of gunpowder, bullets, cannonballs, and other military supplies. Naturally, it was not a simple matter. For the preparation of these materials, Patrick and several mayors who had rushed over from nearby were already overwhelmed.
Because Pittsburgh itself, apart from having ample firearms and cannons, all other supplies like food, clothing, gunpowder, etc., needed to be transported across the Ohio River from neighboring towns. Otherwise, even if Patrick were useless, he wouldn't take two months to prepare for the expedition.
Although the neighboring towns were complaining bitterly under the pressure of these logistical supplies, all kinds of provisions and guarantees were basically supplied on time and in quantity. Because everyone had a deep understanding of the horrors of the Midwest war. Not to mention the natives' methods, even the "civilized" British, in the Midwest war, were the embodiment of barbarism and evil.
During the American Revolutionary war, the Iroquois Tribes (Iroquois Confederation, also known as the Six Nations Alliance) made a very clear but completely wrong judgment: the colonials were destined to lose this war.
Therefore, they accepted the British request for alliance, and starting from the Great Lakes and Canada, they constantly harassed settlers in New York and western Pennsylvania with the British army, attempting to permanently clear the American colonials from the area, causing great harm to the towns in the Midwest.
Many reports of savage war in the frontier areas indicated that many British officers collected scalps and celebrated victories by eating human flesh with their native allies.
In real history, after receiving such casualty reports, Washington did not order a commander named John Sullivan to lead a task force of four thousand men to retaliate against the Iroquois Tribes with a similarly savage plan until 1779. "Your next objective," he wrote to Sullivan, "is the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible."
Washington, more familiar with the disputed territories than anyone else, issued detailed instructions to Sullivan; in the summer of 1779, Sullivan launched a ruthless campaign, and about twenty cities and villages were completely destroyed. Only the Oneida and others who sided with the Americans were spared. The Six Nations Alliance, which once ruled the Ohio region and later formed a tripartite balance of power with the French and British, was never able to recover after this blow.
Although Washington did not believe that the campaign led by Sullivan would directly lead to the British surrender, this war did help America establish control over the area west of the Allegheny Mountains after the war.
And now, history has already changed to a certain extent. Before the joint forces of the natives and the British launched their attack, the people of Pittsburgh had already launched a preemptive strike.
Charles will also establish his control over the Midwest Ohio and the area west of the Allegheny Mountains through this western expedition.
Of course, at this time, Charles' self-proclaimed purpose for the expedition was mainly to eliminate the threat of the natives to Pittsburgh and other Midwest towns, and also to open up a passage from Pittsburgh to Louisiana to contact the French.
As for whether they could conquer the Ohio region and the area west of the Allegheny Mountains, he and the leadership of Pittsburgh had never even considered it.