Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

The British were suddenly startled, they had not anticipated that these black devils would have cannons.

The next moment, a neat line of infantry appeared on the north side of the cotton field, comprising over seven hundred soldiers. Except for some mixed-race officers, the vast majority were black.

Although these black soldiers wore a variety of clothing, they all carried Charleville 1763 flintlock guns.

Previously, the British Army had been focused solely on pursuing the defeated enemy and had no formation to speak of at this time. They could only reluctantly halt and turn toward the incoming enemy under the desperate shouting and cursing of the officers.

However, Ludwell didn't give them a chance to organize their formation and took the lead, sword held high. It wasn't until he could see the faces of the British soldiers in front that he loudly commanded,

"Stop! Prepare to shoot!"

The officers quickly relayed the command. Within less than a minute, 700 black soldiers simultaneously raised their flintlock guns.

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

A cloud of gun smoke rose into the air, and a volley of bullets flew toward the still-dazed British soldiers, immediately causing over a dozen to fall to the ground howling in agony.

Following that, Ludwell's troops quickly reloaded, advanced 20 steps, fired again, and continued moving forward while reloading...

By the time Lieutenant Colonel Straw realized something was amiss and called for reserve troops to reinforce, the nine rows of British Army in front of the cotton field had already scattered and fled, leaving over 200 bodies on the ground.

Ludwell then commanded his line of infantry to turn and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the more than 300 British reinforcements.

The British "Lobster Soldiers" were clearly of much higher quality than the black corps—the former not only shot faster but also more accurately, and managed to hold their own against Ludwell with less than half their forces.

Seeing the once invincible British regular army being chased around like mice, Lidington also felt a surge of boldness in his chest, swinging his riding crop to gather his previously defeated subordinates:

"You see! Those white men can be killed by the slaves whom they oppress as well!

"You can do the same. Don't run, charge back with me!

"Today will be the day you truly gain your freedom. Use the guns in your hands to tell those slave owners that your souls can never be enslaved!"

The soldiers of the Bahamas Rebel Army, upon hearing this, turned around and indeed saw British soldiers fleeing in more disarray than themselves.

Soon, hundreds of black men gathered beside Lidington to go and support Ludwell.

More black soldiers picked up their weapons again and began to chase after the fleeing British.

Though their combat ability might not match that of the British Army, their muscular strength and endurance from long-term physical labor were quite formidable, plus they outnumbered the British three to one.

For a while, around the cotton field, groups of black soldiers surrounded the British, took no prisoners, and simply stabbed wildly with bayonets.

While Ludwell was caught up fighting the British reserve, suddenly, four to five hundred black soldiers charged from the rear flank.

Seeing the tall officer leading them on horse, a smile crossed his face:

"Lieutenant Lidington, I thought you wouldn't come back before the fight ended."

No sooner had Lidington's troops charged than, without even managing to shoot, the already outnumbered British soldiers broke morale.

A company commander took the lead in kneeling down to surrender, causing two companies to turn and flee.

Ludwell instructed his men to stop the Bahamas Rebel Army from killing prisoners and, together with Lidington, chased the fleeing enemies into Nassau City.

The next morning, Nassau City was completely under the control of the Bahamas Abolitionist Organization, and under Ludwell's supervision, Congress began to convene to discuss matters.

The Governor of Bahamas escaped to the sea by boat under the cover provided by Lieutenant Colonel Strau.

In this battle, over 500 British soldiers stationed in the Bahamas were killed and 220 were captured, with less than 70 men remaining by Strau's side.

The news quickly spread throughout the Caribbean Sea, and everyone involved with the Abolitionist United Front rejoiced.

This was especially true for the Rebel Army in Barbados, whose morale soared. Even though they were relentlessly attacked by Brand, they continued to resist tenaciously. Additionally, more black slaves, upon hearing the news, fled the plantations to join the ranks of the Rebel Army.

Outside the capital city of Bridgetown in Barbados.

British temporary command center.

Brand looked at the group of officers who were silent and looking down. After a long while, a Lieutenant Colonel softly said,

"General, the messenger sent to London for reinforcements has already departed. Cough, also, we killed more than 70 rebels this morning..."

"What use is killing a few black devils?" Brand roared, "More will always spring up from the plantations! Strau, that fool—now that Bahamas has declared independence, what are we to do? What?"

A Scottish officer cautiously said, "General, we just need to return to Nassau, and we can immediately make this 'Panama Republic' disappear."

"No! I will not leave Barbados this time," Brand gritted his teeth, "I will cleanse this place of black devils, then recruit locals to form a defense force to ensure such rebellion never arises again."

"But General, about Bahamas..."

"I can't worry about that now!"

The Scottish Major stood up again and said to Brand, "General, perhaps we could seek help from the French."

"Do you know what you're talking about?"

"Please hear me out, General. Currently, the French Army in Santo Domingo is in a standoff at the Imagua Fortress with the rebels. In fact, the fortress doesn't need 6,000 soldiers for defense. If you could convince them to dispatch half of their force to the Bahamas, it could at least buy us some time."

"Hmph, why would the French help us?"

"The French surely also want to reclaim Santo Domingo. You could promise them that our expeditionary force will help them deal with the black devils there; I believe they might seriously consider it."

Brand narrowed his eyes slightly.

France had previously been defeated by the black population of Santo Domingo, suffering heavy losses. With naval battles still not favoring them, they might indeed accept this suggestion.

In fact, historically, even though England, France, and Spain were at each other's throats in Europe, they immediately united against the black uprisings in the Caribbean, executing the Rebel Army multiple times.

The interests of the three nations in the region aligned.

However, Brand did not know that the instigator behind the Caribbean abolition movement was none other than France, the country he intended to seek cooperation from.

After a moment, he finally nodded,

"Fine, you head to Santo Domingo immediately, do whatever it takes to persuade the French."

...

United States.

At the border of Georgia and South Carolina.

Book stood watching through his binoculars at the American Army camp, his face filled with bitterness and ferocity.

His Rebel Army had expanded to nearly 5,000 men, and due to the earlier capture of a militia armory in Georgia, the soldiers were well-equipped.

However, in front of him were over 16,000 American soldiers, including 5,000 from the recently formed "American Legion"—America's most elite standing army.