The Fox of France

Chapter 481: The Siege (7)

"general, you are free to think of us as you wish. we quebecois have always respected freedom of thought, and while we may not agree with your views, we believe that it is your natural right," said the quebecois man, dressing general arthur wellesley up as a civilized man as he departed.

indeed, every word he uttered was filled with provocation, fully laced with sarcasm. it was only when this man was being sent away that general arthur wellesley first realized that he possessed an immunity to sarcasm, although on several occasions he had been tempted to throw his glove in the man's face.nôv(el)b\\jnn

general arthur wellesley did issue a threat of war, but that was all it was—a threat. the quebecois were not easy to provoke. and in the current situation, it was beneficial to avoid a direct rebellion by the quebecois. even maintaining a grudging or somewhat unfriendly neutrality was preferable to outright conflict. however, the demands of the quebecois were simply unacceptable; it was almost like asking them to surrender their arms.

"i hope they can be more rational, to avoid a battle at the end," general arthur wellesley thought.

the quebecois, indeed, sent another messenger to general arthur wellesley two hours before the deadline the next day, saying, "the quebec parliament needs more time to discuss, so we cannot provide a formal response to you, general, before the last deadline you set. we hope you can extend the deadline a bit more."

general arthur wellesley felt that the quebecois had actually softened up but were just saving face, so he stated he could grant them an extension of half a day.

when he mentioned extending "half a day," he could clearly see the quebecois man breathe a sigh of relief. however, the quebecois man still insisted that half a day was not enough and that they needed to extend it by another half day.

from the quebecois man's weak tone, general arthur wellesley felt he need not entertain his request any further, so he told him, "our patience is not limitless; i can only give you half a day more. once the time is up, we will attack."

"hmph, i knew the french speakers were cowards!" general arthur wellesley remarked disdainfully upon receiving this news.

"general arthur wellesley's army served as both propagandists and sowers. they spread the necessity of resisting tyranny everywhere they went, planting seeds of the pursuit of freedom in the hearts of the vast quebecois population..."

in short, the quebecois had begun a scorched earth policy against the british. however, general arthur wellesley decided that it was best not to entangle with these damned quebecois at this time. quickly passing through quebec was the best option now.

meanwhile, across the ocean in ireland, the siege of dublin was still underway. in a sense,

this battle had come to mean more than just dublin itself. everyone in europe, except for the russians and turks, was focused here because the city's situation was actually very favorable to the british—with secure supply lines, prepared defenses, and ample troops. if the british could not hold a place like this, it would mean they could hardly hold anywhere else.

the irish, supported by french artillery, had launched several attacks on dublin, and the british had proven their resolve and capabilities more than once. in just over a month, about fifteen thousand irish and slightly more than half that number of british had died in the fighting around the city.

in terms of exchange rates, the british undoubtedly had the upper hand, and in terms of total population, britain far surpassed ireland. it seemed that britain could afford more losses. however, britain was not just fighting ireland; they were also battling the french, americans, spanish, and dutch. so from a global perspective, british manpower was simply insufficient unless they could bring indians back to britain.

but with maritime control no longer in british hands, that was not a feasible thought. moreover, even if it were possible to transport them, it was doubtful that these indians would willingly die for the british.

despite the heavy sacrifices, the irish had not gained nothing. with the support of french artillery, the irish had pushed forward about a kilometer—a modest distance, but it brought them just a step away from downtown dublin.