Choice

In truth, the Canada weren't particularly aware of the current war situation. At that time, apart from the France, no one had radio, so the Britain fleet essentially had no way to contact British Army on the Canada mainland. Of course, the Britain actions had already been reported in Louisiana newspapers. (Needless to say, the France portrayed the Britain as if they were Mongols.)

The problem is that newspapers in Louisiana are only found in a few larger cities like New Orleans. The areas bordering Louisiana and the United States and Canada are mostly small towns with some farmers. These towns are essentially villages. Many of them don't even have a sheriff on horseback carrying a large-caliber shotgun, let alone a newspaper.

Of course, to guard against Canada, United States, Native Americans, and France people looking to take shortcuts (whether they speak German or French), or to put it more bluntly, to guard against any Homo sapiens the townspeople didn't know or trust, every town had a telephone. It was usually located in the town hall. The sole purpose of this telephone was to call for help during a siege, or to mobilize militia for rescue when other towns were under siege. Adding to this, the damned Louisiana Telephone Company charged not only landline fees but also time-based charges, and the fees were quite high. As a result, even when communicating with the outside world, people preferred to write letters, even though the town's postman only came once every two weeks or so.

Therefore, the "France" people in these places were equally isolated from information. Generally speaking, even if someone wanted to read newspapers, they would only come once every two weeks or so. If anything, only those heretics who believed in "Revolutionary Theology" and ran "collective farms" there were better informed, because they needed to maintain frequent contact with the outside world. They had dedicated post offices, and postmen came daily to collect and deliver mail. Furthermore, if something major happened, their comrades in well-informed areas would be willing to use the telephone to inform them.

Therefore, it was equally unlikely that the Canada would learn about the changing tides of the war from the "France" in their neighboring regions. Those men were either as ignorant as they were, or they were evil heretics, and who knew if what they said was even true?

In addition, during the previous battles, the Britain had captured some American soldiers and learned from them that Britain reinforcements had arrived and attacked the American South. However, General Isaac Brock was very skeptical of this information. He worried that the United States were using such false information to deceive him because they could not break through his fortifications and suffered too many casualties during the attack, so as to lure him into launching an attack and then defeat him by ambush.

"My friends, in the previous battles—I mean the series of battles in Cleveland after we left Washington —we achieved a very good exchange ratio by taking advantage of our defenses and the United States' lack of experience. We can be sure that even if the United States eventually manage to retake Cleveland due to their overwhelming numbers, they will be too exhausted from the bloodshed there to cause us trouble elsewhere."

If this news is true, the United States will soon retreat. If we can seize the opportunity to pursue them, we might achieve a great victory. However, we cannot ignore the possibility that our enemy has lost confidence in breaking through our defenses. So they are using this news to deceive us, or rather, to incite us, to make us leave our fortified positions and launch an attack. This way, they will have the opportunity to defeat us in open battle.

Now let's consider the actions we take and the potential gains we might make.

If the news is true, let's consider this: our fleet should currently be heading north along the coastline. Considering their speed, their retreat at this point, and their attempt to reinforce the coast, will be very time-consuming. Therefore, their retreat must be swift. The biggest danger in such a retreat is being pursued. If this news is true, pursuing them would be very beneficial. Even if we can't defeat them, simply delaying them would be the greatest support we can give our fleet.

If the enemy wants to ambush us, they will definitely set up an ambush on our retreat route. They might even try to secretly hide an army to cut off our retreat.

Now we have two choices.

First, we can ignore them and continue to hold our ground in the city. This is the safest approach. We already have a clear advantage. Taking a cautious approach, firmly maintaining our advantage, and not giving the United States a chance to turn the tide is theoretically a good option. However, we all know that letting such an opportunity slip away would be a great pity. Besides, it's hard to say how long our fleet can stay in North America. Who knows what trouble those France might cause us?

Secondly, we can pursue and attack the retreating United States, and if we do well, we might achieve another great success. However, if we fall for a trap, if the information we receive is false, we could suffer huge losses. Once we suffer heavy losses, the United States military could take advantage of the situation and invade Canada, and our position and the advantages we have accumulated over the past few days would vanish. The whole of Canada would be in danger. This risk is extremely high.

"So, gentlemen, what do you all think we should do next?" General Isaac Brock asked his officers.

"General, I think we don't need to worry about them. Just hold Cleveland. If the fleet does arrive, even without us attacking, our advantage is already very clear. Even if the France cause trouble later, at least the situation won't be too bad for the time being. The fleet's attacks on the United States, and the supplies we receive after the fleet arrives, will be enough to stabilize the situation and maintain our advantage. Even if the fleet leaves because of the France, we can still maintain our advantage for a considerable period of time. The United States' national strength is also limited; they can't maintain a stalemate with us for long. At that time, they will admit defeat. So, I think we don't need to take any risks at all," replied Major General Sheldon, another commander.

Other British Army officers generally supported this approach. This is understandable; firstly, the Britain Army has always been conservative. Moreover, these officers had already earned considerable honors in the war, and continuing to take risks was no longer cost-effective for them.

Thus, the common choice became. "Let him be strong, I am like a gentle breeze brushing the mountain; let him be domineering, I am like the bright moon shining on the great river."