The Free Trade left Port-au-Prince with the newly restored Constitution, and they first circled to Cap-de-France, where they did not see any American warships - apparently they had been warned from Toussaint Louver to evacuate first.

The "Free Trade" took the "Constitution" around Cap-de-France and then headed west.

More than a week ago, Americans in Santo Domingo knew about the capture of the USS Constitution. It's just that it will take time to get the news from Santo Domingo back to the United States, and Florida is still in the hands of the Spaniards at that time, and it will take time to get the news back to the United States. According to the calculations of Victor and Zola, the Americans are probably just getting the news now. In this era, the US Navy is a weak chicken if it is placed in Europe, and the entire Navy has only six major warships. Although these six cruisers are all so-called "super cruisers".

But in the Americas, this naval force is quite good. As long as these six super cruisers do not run into battleships, they can walk sideways on the sea, and even if they encounter battleships, they can run desperately with oil on the soles of their feet. And the naval powers of this era are all in Europe, everyone is staring at me, I am staring at you, and they are holding each other back, resulting in good things such as battleships basically having to be kept at home, so in various colonies, the detachments of the European powers are actually not too strong.

For example, in the original history, the United Kingdom used almost the strongest fleet in India outside the mainland in the war launched by the United Kingdom for armed drug trafficking, but this fleet only had three third-class battleships with 74 guns. Compared to the size of the British Home Fleet with hundreds of third-class battleships in the Battle of Trafalgar, I don't know how bad it was.

However, if it were not for the unprecedented victory at Trafalgar, the British could not have sent more than a dozen battleships to North America at once and launched the Second American-British War.

In the Americas, the flagships of the sub-fleets of various countries are often only fifth-class ships (cruisers), and the other ships are often sixth-class ships with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons and no more than 20 cannons, or even small mascrow gunboats that are not of the same rank.

It is precisely because the strength of the detachments of these countries on this side is so weak that piracy in the Caribbean has always been very rampant. At one time, they were even rampant to the point that the United States had to pay them protection money. The original goal of the United States in building a navy was that it did not want to pay protection money to these pirates.

In another time and space, the U.S. Navy, which later collected protection money all over the world, started from such six "super cruisers." And it is very interesting that during this period, the navy of a certain country that collected protection money all over the world had only six decent surface ships left.

Victor estimated that the Americans would not be reconciled after learning the news, and they would definitely try to concentrate their efforts on killing and reclaiming the "Constitution"

The USS Constitution suffered limited damage, but due to a lack of manpower, it lost its combat effectiveness for a short time. But the sailing ability is still very good. Once in New Orleans, the French were able to quickly recruit sailors and bring the USS Constitution back into combat. Therefore, the Americans will definitely find a way to stop the "Constitution" before it reaches New Orleans, defeat them, and recapture the "Constitution" and regain military superiority in the Caribbean.

In fact, the Americans reacted much faster than Victor thought. Because the news about the "Free Trade" and the "Constitution" was not sent back by ships, but by carrier pigeons. On the contrary, it took a lot of time for the Americans to concentrate the warships.

It was not until the news that the "Free Trade" and the "Constitution" had left Santo Domingo that the Americans had gathered three warships: the "America" supercruiser, the "Congress" supercruiser, and the French warship "Fabrewind", which had been captured by the "Constitution" not long ago, but by this time, this small sail ship with only 16 guns had been renamed "Lafayette".

Considering that the "Constitution" that is now in the hands of the French has not been completely restored, and the French have not been able to recruit many sailors in Santo Domingo, it can be assumed that the "Constitution" is capable of sailing, but it is not combative. Therefore, this lineup of the US Navy should already have the upper hand in the battle against the French.

"Entangled the steamer with two ships, and then the remaining one catches up with the Constitution, and you can recapture the Constitution." The captain of the USS America and the commander of the operation, Colonel Matthews, said this to the other combatants.

But this is just a theory, and in practice, they still have a big problem to solve. That is how to find those two French warships as quickly as possible.

Nowadays, there is no radio, and once the warships of the Navy go out to sea, it is almost impossible to communicate with each other if they are scattered. If they are clustered together, the sea area that can be controlled will be much smaller. And the likelihood that the enemy will bypass the interception from other directions increases.

Of course, because they can easily determine where the French are going, (and where can they go except New Orleans?). So they could just be outside the port of New Orleans and wait for the rabbits.

But the French also had a detachment in New Orleans, although this fleet was not strong, with only one ordinary sixth-rank ship and three small gunboats. But if a fight broke out with a French steamship near New Orleans, that fleet would be a game-changing force if it joined in.

Therefore, from this point of view, the interception point must be set at a distance from New Orleans. But if it's too far away from New Orleans, there's a chance you'll miss the target.

Just when the Americans were agonizing about this, an unexpected ally suddenly appeared - a British fleet came to the door.

Neither the two British colonies in the Caribbean, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, were particularly thriving. At least not much more prosperous than Santo Domingo. Jamaica, however, was able to offer a special commodity – slaves brought from Africa. So it's a relatively important trade node.

The British had a detachment here, small in size, with only two cruisers and three brigs. In addition, they are said to have had a good relationship with pirates in the Caribbean.

Lieutenant Colonel Wayne, the commander of the British detachment, sent an emissary directly to the Americans, telling them that the British were willing to join forces with the Americans against the French, and of course, if they could sink or capture the French steamship, the steamship would go to the British.

If the steam cruiser can capture the French, then it is of course the most valuable trophy. But both the British and the Americans, who actually knew that the chances of capturing the ship in battle were slim. In addition, the most exciting thing about this ship is the various black technologies on it, but with today's scientific level in the United States, most of them can't understand these things and can't use them.

This is just like in later generations, Da Mao's family opened a brick exhibition, and rabbits and white elephants went to cheer. Da Mao stipulates: The things I have here, the white elephant can look at it casually, touch it casually, and the rabbit is not allowed to look at it indiscriminately, and it is not allowed to touch it! Why? The white elephant looks at it in vain, and touches it in vain. But if you let the rabbit look at it and touch it, it will really get pregnant.

Since it was useless for the Americans to get it, Colonel Matthews agreed. So a temporary alliance emerged.

Soon after, a combined fleet of four cruisers and four gunboats appeared off the coast of New Orleans.

Because the British fleet had never fought in conjunction with the American fleet before, they were not mixed together, but maintained their own independent formations, but the British fleet at this time hung the American flag on the mast.

According to the division of labor between the two sides, the Americans were responsible for intercepting and attacking the French steam cruiser that came from afar and recapturing the "Constitution"; The British, on the other hand, were responsible for containing the French fleet in the harbor of New Orleans.

"The British shouldn't have taken the opportunity to shell New Orleans, right? And under our flag. Thomas, the first mate of the USS America, said to Colonel Matthews.

"Maybe the British will do it." "They want now that we're going to have a complete turnaround with France, preferably just a declaration of war," Matthews said. So whatever the outcome, it's good for them. ”

"Then we'll ......," Thomas said.

"We can't afford to allow the French to gain a foothold on the American continent, and, besides, do the French really have the strength to go to war with us while suppressing all of Europe? So our conflict is conflict, war or something, it should not be enough. And we really need their cooperation at this time. ”

While they were talking, the shouts of the lookout posts suddenly sounded in their ears: "Target found!" At nine o'clock, discover the target! ”

The two men quickly raised their heads and looked in the direction of nine o'clock, only to see a thick black plume of smoke slowly rising from below the horizon.

"French steam battleship!" The two immediately made a judgment.

As far as they could tell, the French steam warships also had sails, and they usually relied mainly on sails and did not use steam engines, and at this time, the smoke showed one thing, that is, the French were ready for battle.

At the same time, on the "Free Trade", the atmosphere was not tense, the steam engine had already started, and it was not far from New Orleans. In fact, the start of the steam engine was more just a matter of insurance, and the "Free Trade" did not know at this time that there was a fleet waiting for him in front.