"Councilor Godfrey, only by forming a real political party can we better unite all factions. This organizational form is too loose and inefficient. Everyone comes and goes as they please. If we form a political party, we can act consistently in all aspects, we can..." Bonis eagerly encouraged Charles, seeing his hesitation.
What he said basically covered the benefits of transforming from a flexible party to a rigid party for an organization, but he did not explain what real benefits a political party could bring to its participants.
Unfortunately, American society is a very realistic society; those who participate in political parties care deeply about what benefits their participation can bring them. This is especially true for Charles' financial interest group, whose members are already representatives of financial groups and are even more concerned about whether joining a political party can bring them advantages.
Charles smiled and did not listen to Bonis' incessant chatter, nor did he directly express approval or opposition.
When Bonis stopped talking, thirsty, and began to drink tea, Charles finally explained the main reason for his hesitation:
"Our faction is not yet mature, and the Continental Congress itself is not suitable for party struggles right now. Many representatives have known each other for several years, but more have only known each other for two or three years. If we form a political party now, the greatest possibility is that many local parties will emerge.
Those small, weak states with established connections might form their own parties from a few mutually familiar representatives within their state. In this way, internal party conflicts within the Continental Congress would be equivalent to local conflicts, which would absolutely lead to the division of various localities, ultimately causing those weak and small states to secede from the Continental Congress."
If this explanation were given to other great politicians like Jefferson, they would immediately understand. But for an old fox like old Bones, who slowly worked his way up step by step to his current social status, it was a bit difficult to comprehend. Conflicts in the Continental Congress, the secession of weak and small states—how does that concern our interests? As long as the major states are in hand, why fear those small states that want to leave?
"Councilor Godfrey, even if local parties emerge, they shouldn't have the ability to contend with our financial interest group, right? I heard that the financial interest group has about twenty members in the Continental Congress, accounting for nearly one-third of the total. Those small local factions would have at most five or six people. We don't need to worry about their secession at all." old Bones still tried to encourage Charles.
"Haha!" Charles chuckled softly. "Division is not conducive to the war we are currently fighting. So, unless other political parties emerge in the Continental Congress, I am not prepared to immediately reorganize our faction into a political party."
He had come to recognize old Bones' true abilities: at best, he was fit to be a state councilor. Further advancement would be extremely difficult. He didn't even realize that, facing the British as a common enemy, the threat of division would ultimately lead to the failure of the war of Independence.
Seeing that old Bones still wanted to speak, Charles could only offer another reason:
"The formation of a party is not that simple either. The various representatives in the Continental Congress at present cannot hold their current positions long-term. We cannot assume our faction is strong just because many representatives are involved now.
We should first develop power at the grassroots level, in towns and states, to consolidate our foundational strength before we can truly establish a complete political party. If we only focus on the twenty or so people in the Continental Congress, a political party without a good foundation will not survive for many years."
old Bones immediately understood this reason.
"Yes, grassroots power is very important. This was my biggest realization when I ran for state councilor. Don't worry, I will seize the time to develop our faction's power in the towns and villages near Philadelphia, striving to provide a stable rear support for our faction," old Bones said excitedly.
Charles was very satisfied with old Bones' promise.
An old man like him no longer had much ability to contend with Samuel and Jefferson in the political arena, but if placed at the grassroots level, using his long-standing prestige from years in office to provide extensive connections and form a solid rear support for his faction and future political party, it would absolutely be the most effective use of his talents.
"Thank you, Mr. Bonis! You will absolutely become an elder statesman of our future political party!" Charles praised him.
This was not an empty promise; old Bones had been a town mayor for decades. If an election were held, the people of that town would be solid votes for his future party. With just the votes from that one town, old Bones would absolutely qualify as an elder statesman.
old Bones' visit to the castle today was very fruitful. Not only did he secure a larger order for Picric acid, but he also joined the financial interest group led by Charles and received the task from this faction to develop grassroots power.
The former brought economic income, and the latter brought political benefits. Receiving two advantages from one visit made old Bones, who was both greedy for money and fond of power, very happy indeed.
Urged by old Bones, Charles also accelerated the process of party formation. Although not as obvious as Jefferson's democratic faction, his decision to start developing grassroots power made the entire faction more stable.
On the surface, the spotlight of the Continental Congress was temporarily stolen by Jefferson's democratic faction, but in reality, the financial interest group, with its stable foundation, could always firmly occupy a certain number of seats and would not lose its existing influence. Moreover, if Charles needed to, he could reclaim the spotlight at any time.
Just as signs of renewed party struggles were subtly emerging in the Continental Congress, two pieces of war news—one good, one bad—arrived, making the Continental Congress in Philadelphia tense once again.
First, the good news from Washington: after his troops rejoined General Greene, they combined forces and directly launched an attack on the small town of Charlestown.
General Cornwallis of Charlestown, upon hearing the news of Washington's southward march, was initially not alarmed. He simply ordered the Hessian army to quickly converge on Charlestown and unite with him before destroying the attacking Washington's army. However, the well-prepared General Greene intercepted several of his messengers, preventing the Hessian army from receiving the message.
When Cornwallis realized that Washington's large army was only a few hundred miles away, and knowing that uniting with the Hessian army was no longer possible, he thought of retreating by sea. But by then, the French army's Comte D'Estaing fleet had already blockaded the outer sea of Charlestown. At the small town's pier,
the cruiser dared not attack the large warship with nearly a hundred cannons, nor dared to hope to escape from the French army fleet in a cruiser. So, in the end, he could only send a few small sailboats to the south and north for help, while he quickly built fortifications outside the small town, preparing to resist Washington's attack.
Thus, the combined forces of Washington and General Greene, along with the French Navy's Comte D'Estaing fleet, successfully completed the encirclement of Charlestown from all four sides.
Washington immediately sent a messenger to inform Cornwallis of the situation, demanding his unconditional surrender.
The complete annihilation of Cornwallis' forces was now only a matter of time.
As the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the American-British army in America, Cornwallis, of course, could not surrender to the American army without firing a shot. He firmly believed that reinforcements from other places would surely arrive before Charlestown was captured. So, after cordially entertaining the messenger, he had him deliver a letter of refusal to surrender to Washington, and the Battle of Charlestown officially began.
Another piece of bad news arrived from Britain a month earlier.
The British army, as Charles and Washington had expected, was still preparing domestically. But this newly arrived bad news proved that the British Navy was indeed far superior to the British army. It had completed its preparations several months ahead of the army, and therefore, without waiting for those useless army troops, it had set off early to conquer America.
When the spy sent this bad news via a fast ship, the British Navy was already preparing to depart. Charles calculated that even if the speed of large naval warships was not as fast as the quick ship, it would take at most another ten days for the British Navy fleet to reach the outer sea of Philadelphia.
—
Britain's strongest Navy arrived early.
Although this bad news did not directly state that the British Navy's attack target was the French Navy defending Charlestown, Charles believed that even if they did not know Charlestown was under siege, the British Navy fleet would still sail towards the outer sea of Charlestown to report to Commander-in-Chief Cornwallis. At that time, facing the French Comte D'Estaing fleet blockading the sea area, a fierce battle was inevitable.
And with the strength of the French Navy's Comte D'Estaing fleet, Charles found it hard to believe they would ultimately achieve victory.
Nevertheless, Charles immediately had someone send this message by land to Washington, asking him to relay it to General Comte D'Estaing, to be vigilant. If it truly didn't work out, then they would just have to give up on destroying Cornwallis in Charlestown.
Charles felt depressed, knowing that war changes rapidly and such situations are normal. But to have expended a large amount of supplies only to fight a futile battle left him somewhat unwilling.
Unfortunately, although New Orleans' new steam paddle-wheel warship had already been launched, it was found that it was too greatly affected by wind and waves during long-distance voyages. Fortunately, the new ship cautiously retained its original sails; otherwise, its first voyage would have had to rely on oars to return. As for Charles' several steamships in Philadelphia, they were all flat-bottomed ships for river navigation. Let alone engaging with naval vessels, they might not even be able to return safely after just leaving the river mouth.
After all calculations, there was no way to deal with the attacking British Navy.
Charles now truly understood how important a powerful Navy was to a country before the advent of modern air forces. The current helplessness in the face of the British Navy gave Charles an even more urgent desire to build a powerful Navy.
A few days later, an urgent message from northern spies indicated that the British Navy reinforcement fleet had arrived in Canada. The fleet consisted of five large warships alone, with a total of twenty other warships, including cruisers.
Such a powerful fleet would be enough to annihilate any country's fleet in the Americas, North or South, once over.
Charles, at the request of the Continental Congress, convened an urgent informal Military and Ordnance Committee meeting.
The participants were only a few big figures from the Continental Congress, members of Charles' Military and Ordnance Committee, and representatives from the Continental army.
"Charles, I heard that the British reinforcement fleet arrived early?" Jefferson first confirmed this news with Charles.
"Yes! Both our intelligence from Britain and from Canada show that the British reinforcement fleet has arrived in America ahead of their army. It is estimated that they will reach the outer sea of Charlestown within five days," Charles said helplessly.
This was assuming the British fleet did not know Charlestown was under siege, which might delay them for five days. If they knew about the war in Charlestown and accelerated their voyage, they could even arrive within three days.
"Then did you make any special arrangements for this fleet back then? You should have contingency plans for this situation, right?"
"How could there be special arrangements? Making contingency plans also depends on one's own strength. How could we have the strength to slightly contend with the British army? If it were a small-scale fleet, I could still scrounge together our armed merchant ships to offer some resistance, but the British Navy now has five large warships of the hundred-cannon class alone. Our ships don't even need to think about approaching them. All strategies and contingency plans are ineffective in the face of absolute strength," Charles quoted a classic saying.
A clever woman cannot cook without rice. Facing warships running on the sea, no matter how you try to use land-based weapons, you cannot solve the problem. Ultimately, facing the Navy, one must rely on one's own naval power.
"We really must build a powerful Navy!" Continental Congress Chairman Hancock did not press Charles, but merely sighed with emotion.
"Indeed! I have already had my Coal and Steel Alliance research new naval cannons; their performance should be slightly better than the British Navy's old artillery. Large warships can also be manufactured in the ports of New York and Philadelphia under the guidance of French engineers. Now we only lack sailors and qualified naval commanders. I have an idea that requires you, Thomas, to solve through diplomatic breakthrough. I wonder if you are willing to take it on?" Charles posed a question to Jefferson.