Genoa City, the commercial pearl of the Mediterranean alongside Venice, has been synonymous with wealth and prosperity for the past thousand years.
During the Crusade era, almost all the armies participating in the Holy War departed from the city of Genoa and traveled by sea to the eastern lands they dreamed of. As a result, Genoa earned huge profits and influence, and became a major commercial center in the Mediterranean.
Even the Lion-Hearted King of England, Charles, took advantage of the situation and adopted the flag of Genoa, the red cross on a white background, as his personal flag. This flag later became the national flag of the entire Kingdom of England.
In the following hundreds of years, Genoese businessmen also demonstrated their shrewd pursuit of profit to the fullest.
In the thirteenth century, they defeated their old trade enemy, the Republic of Pisa, and gained the island of Corsica. They dominated the entire Mediterranean trade and captured the astonishingly profitable spice trade route.
They took advantage of the Sicilian Vespers War and devoted all their energy to trying to control Sicily's economy; they provided loans to the ruling class, thereby monopolizing the production of grain, silk and sugar in Sicily, and then used that ship to
Shiploads of wheat and beans were exchanged for shiploads of gold and silver from Morocco.
When Philip II of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain declared the country bankrupt, and financiers all over Germany suffered heavy losses, and wailed everywhere, they took the opportunity to provide Spain with large amounts of economic aid, in exchange for almost all of the Spanish Mexico.
Endless silver flows to the port of Genoa.
In countless medieval ballads and stories, Genoese merchants were wealthier than Venetian merchants, synonymous with gold, silver and spices.
Of course, there is no eternal feast in the world, and no country enjoys prosperity forever.
With the rise of the Ottoman Turks, Genoa lost its trade control over Crimea and the Eastern Mediterranean, and Venice's victory in the Fourth Uige War also declared the Venetian Republic's leading position in Mediterranean trade.
Coupled with the Corsican rebellion that had continued since the early eighteenth century, the Republic of Genoa at that time had fallen into inevitable decline.
But even so, the city of Genoa is still a rich and golden city in the eyes of many Europeans. After all, even at the end of the 18th century, Genoa, which was in decline, was still more prosperous and wealthy than Venice at the same time.
In the early morning of October 5, 1771, the Corsican army was less than forty miles away from this golden city.
...
The salty morning sea breeze was blowing on the marching road. Looking to the sea not far to the east, one could vaguely see the endless flow of merchant ships going to and from the port of Genoa in the distance.
Even if it has lost its glory a hundred years ago, the prosperity of the Republic of Genoa cannot be underestimated. The merchant ships that can be seen everywhere on the sea are enough to get a glimpse of it. The number of merchant ships plying to and from the port of Ajaccio is not even ten percent of that here.
one.
Chief of Staff Berthier followed Lawrence at a trot on his horse. He looked at the faintly visible building outlines in the distance and the towering Genoa Lighthouse on the sea, with a very excited expression:
"Ahead is the port of Genoa, a city rich in gold and silver. Legend has it that every citizen of Genoa has gold accessories weighing three ounces."
Lawrence laughed dumbly when he heard this, shook his head and said:
"It's just a legend. The wealth of the Republic of Genoa is concentrated in a very small number of financial families and wealthy families. Although the ordinary citizens there are better off than people in other places, they probably only have enough food and clothing."
"That's true."
Berthier scratched his head. He had collected information about the Republic of Genoa beforehand and knew that the gap between rich and poor in this commercial republic was even more serious than in other countries:
"How much does Genoa's wealth have anything to do with the people at the bottom? Singing, dancing, and living in extravagance are destined to be the privileges of a few people no matter where they are."
Lawrence stared at the ships passing by on the sea, and suddenly said in a deep voice:
"The Kingdom of France is not like this. The kingdom itself is so rich and powerful, but there are so many hungry and cold people trembling in the countryside. The country is strong but the people are weak, the country is rich but the people are poor. Everyone knows this strange phenomenon
What is the root cause, but no one can make any changes... A Versailles Palace can burn a quarter of the entire country's fiscal revenue in a year, and there are so many castles and manors, so many bureaucrats and clergy
, how many silver coins of the general public are spent every year?"
"Char!" Berthier was startled. He subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the other members of the Knights. After making sure that no one heard, he lowered his voice and said:
"Be careful, it is not good for someone to hear such rebellious words. No matter how serious the kingdom's financial crisis is, you cannot point the finger at His Majesty the King."
Lawrence sighed lightly, his expression was not as heavy as before, he just shrugged and ended the topic with a smile:
"It doesn't matter, we are all our own people here."
Berthier nodded hesitantly. He didn't know when he had acquiesced that the Privy Knights, which should be directly subordinate to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, were now directly subordinate to His Excellency Laurence Bonaparte.
...
While Lawrence and Berthier were chatting and laughing, the expressions of the Corsican sergeants on the march were not so relaxed.
When they learned that they were marching towards Genoa City, the Corsican soldiers suddenly felt an indescribable complex emotion in their hearts.
For the children and young people on the island of Corsica, the word Genoese does not seem to be anything special. They have only heard it from their elders. They seemed to be a group of bad people who had ruled the island before.
And those Corsican people who personally experienced the period of Genoa's rule will never forget how much pain and hatred, how much blood and tears that period was filled with.
As a prosperous and wealthy commercial port, Genoa City has a large population staying in the city at all times. Naturally, the amount of food consumed by such a huge population every day is not a small amount.
Genoa's main territory is only this narrow Ligurian coast. This coast itself has almost no agricultural output, let alone meeting the food needs of the citizens of Genoa City.
Therefore, the Genoese government was forced to import large amounts of grain from overseas to meet local needs. In the past, when Genoese merchants controlled the economy of Sicily, this granary of the Roman Empire could perfectly meet the needs of Genoese merchants.
But since Sicily broke away from the control of Genoese merchants, all of this extremely heavy agricultural tax fell on Genoa's only remaining overseas colony, Corsica.
Genoese businessmen didn't care about the island and its people at all. They banned the Corsican people from participating in politics and suppressed the island's handicraft industry and commerce, thereby forcing the Corsican people to invest in agricultural production and provide them with
The great and rich city of Genoa was built upon.
The older generation of Corsican tenant farmers once said that when working under the Corsican landowners, their status was the same as pigs and dogs, but when working under the Genoese, their status was inferior to pigs and dogs.
After all, Corsican landowners will treat tenant farmers as their own private property, just like cattle and sheep. No matter how much they beat or scold them, they will not kill them at will.
And the cold-blooded Genoese businessmen don't care at all about the life and death of these mud-legged people.
A tenant farmer who could not pay taxes was stripped naked and hanged in public in the center of the town. Even after the body decomposed for several months, his relatives did not dare to collect the body. His wife and daughter were snatched away by the guards and never heard from again.
, the taxes and debts incurred during his lifetime also fell directly on his younger son, who was under twelve years old, and had to be repaid within one year.
Stories like this were not even news in Corsica in the past.
Under such cruel and exploitative rule, the Corsican people began to rise up one after another in the 1920s and launched an independence movement under the leadership of Giacinto Paoli.
This independence movement finally reached its climax under the leadership of Giacinto Paoli's son, Pasquale Paoli. It took two generations of father and son for thirty years to finally achieve de facto independence for Corsica.
and liberation.
Although today's Corsicans are not afraid of the threat of Genoa, for the islanders who experienced that period of terror, this blood feud is definitely a pain that they will never forget in their hearts.
Especially at this moment, those Corsican sergeants who are marching in the ranks, many of them are soldiers who have followed three generations of Corsican leaders starting from Giacinto Paoli.
Nearly half a hundred soldiers and officers have forgotten many things in their lives over the years, but they will never forget why their young selves risked bloodshed on their homeland to join the resistance:
"Tooth for tooth, blood for blood, settle the feud and restore my homeland"
Letting the Genoese drown in a pool of their own blood was the sole purpose of the Corsican Defense Force when it was created.
Today, the city of Genoa is just around the corner.
...
Almost at the same time, the center of power of the Republic of Genoa - the large meeting hall of the Doge's Palace.
On weekdays, this splendid, large and spacious meeting hall will only be used for important events such as the change of governors and the reception of envoys from great powers.
And now, the overcrowded scene in the big meeting hall only shows one thing - the Republic of Genoa is suffering from the biggest crisis in decades, even a century:
The sharp blade of the Corsican army has reached the tip of Genoa City's nose.
Since the Corsican army landed at Valdore, the Genoese military has continued to pay attention to the actions of this army. After all, Valdore is only three days away from Genoa City.
However, many parliamentarians and political commentators have said that there is no need to be too concerned about the Corsican barbarians. This group of arrogant nobles still maintains the stereotype of Corsica thirty years ago, believing that such an army is simple and simple.
It is heading towards the Kingdom of Sardinia, and it will not be long before the entire army is wiped out in Piedmont.
Such remarks were quickly supported by a group of decadent and conservative prominent families in the country. They did not want to be frightened just because the Corsicans landed in Liguria. This would not only affect the prestige of the Republic, but also
It affected the trade flow in the port of Genoa, thereby reducing the gold flowing into their pockets.
After all, merchants know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages best. Once the port of Genoa begins to be fortified, those merchant ship captains with a keen sense of smell will inevitably doubt whether the Republic of Genoa is involved in the turmoil of the Italian war. As a result, the Republic's trade income will inevitably
will drop significantly.
As the governor, Giovanni Battista Cambiaso did not support this argument. The sixty-year-old man believed that we should be wary of any army approaching the Republic itself. After all, the country is small and the population is scarce.
Genoa is not known for its military strength, and the entire country's defense focus is still on the sea, with very little investment in the army.
Over the past hundreds of years, the Republic of Genoa has been more accustomed to protecting itself with flexible diplomacy and a powerful navy, rather than relying on an expensive and useless army to maintain its independence.
However, Governor Batista's argument did not receive much support in the previous parliament.
As a merchant republic under an oligarchy, the power of the Republic of Genoa is basically in the hands of those aristocratic wealthy families and financial families. Although the Governor of Genoa nominally rules the entire country, the short two-year term of each term still limits the power of the Governor.
It is extremely restrictive. In many cases, this position is just a puppet and representative supported by major families and even other countries.
It was not until dawn today, when the top leaders of the Republic learned that an unknown number of troops were approaching Genoa City in a hurry, that the rich and nobles who had been comfortable for a long time rushed to the Governor's Palace in chaos.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! At this moment, not only the famous families of the Republic, but also the middle-class citizens have sent their representatives, and dozens or hundreds of people gathered in the conference hall.
Discussing the next countermeasures:
"The Corsicans are coming? What should we do..."
"I don't believe it! It is impossible for the Corsicans to defeat the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia. How could they still have the energy to take care of Genoa at this time? It must be a false alarm!"
"Ask Spain for help, Carlos III still owes us a favor!"
"Are you kidding? The Corsicans are about to raze this place to the ground. Can the Spaniards catch up?"
"Army, where are our Republican Guards? Are there any mercenary groups on standby in the port?"
"Mercenary group...how should the expenses of those mercenaries be divided?"
"Stupid pig! At this time, you still care about this fee?!"
"Do you have the guts to say it again?!"
Hundreds of deputies argued endlessly, chattering, and those who disagreed almost even fought with each other, as if this was not a large conference hall symbolizing the highest authority of the Republic, but a vegetable market next to a stinking ditch in a slum.
"Quiet! Quiet!"
Governor Batista finally couldn't stand it anymore. Although he didn't have much real power, as the nominal supreme leader, his powerful roar still shook the chaos in the chamber:
"General Tiro Belrain has led the Republican Guard to stop the Corsicans. I gave him instructions to find out the other party's intentions, and at the same time, I tried my best to avoid conflict with the Corsican army."
The conference hall became a little quieter. When they heard that the Republican Guard had been dispatched to negotiate with the Corsican Army, the representatives finally breathed a sigh of relief, but then they took a stab at Governor Batista's resolution:
"Hmph, it seems that all the tax money spent on the Army is not used to support a bunch of losers."
"Is General Tyro Belrain a suitable candidate? Why did you decide on the candidate without the consent of the parliament?"
"In order to avoid conflicts, we should go out and attack, defeat the enemy and take back Corsica!"
"Yes, I have read in books that the Corsicans are vulnerable."
In the eyes of this group of children from aristocratic families, Batista, as a governor with no real power, even if he made the right decision in time, he was exceeding his authority without authorization and was not allowed.
The white-haired Governor Batista sighed helplessly, looking exhausted.
Among the hundreds of representatives in front of him, who was not a hothouse kid who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and who really understood the Corsican people and their army. But just such a group of people gathered to decide the fate of the entire Republic of Genoa.
Governor Batista suddenly felt ridiculous and funny.
He could only try his best to persuade:
"General Thiro Belrain is our most senior general. He has fought against the rebels in Corsica for more than ten years and has sufficient experience to face the Corsican army; in addition, although
Our war with Corsica has not officially ended, but this is by no means a good time to actively provoke disputes. The Kingdom of Corsica has already joined the Sicilian War of Independence. If we take the initiative to attack it, it is likely to be regarded as
Interfering in this war... I don’t think you all want the Republic to join this war, especially against the Kingdom of Spain.”
The Republic of Genoa has always been on good terms with the Kingdom of Spain and relies heavily on this relationship to maintain Genoa's independence. Today, the Kingdom of Corsica is fighting side by side with the Kingdom of Spain. If the war rekindles at this moment, it will take the initiative to initiate a war against the Kingdom of Corsica.
, will inevitably damage relations with Spain, which is definitely not a good idea for Genoa.
Seeing that all the representatives basically agreed with this statement and decision, Governor Batista sighed again and continued to chair the meeting:
"We have to wait for General Belair to send back news from the front before we can make further decisions. Before that, let's discuss various possible scenarios first."
...
However, what Governor Batista and the nobles and businessmen did not expect was:
General Tyro Belrain, who they had placed high hopes on, was dying and was being supported by two of his subordinates as he retreated away from the battlefield without looking back.
As for the Republican Guard, the only standing army force in the Republic of Genoa, it had completely collapsed and was running back like a frightened flock of sheep.
On the battlefield, countless corpses lay scattered on the ground, almost all of which belonged to Genoese soldiers. The blood they shed could even form a stream flowing to the Tyrrhenian Sea together.
The wounded soldiers used their muskets as crutches and tried their best to escape from this hell. However, the able-bodied soldiers also lost all their will to fight after witnessing this unprecedented tragedy and joined in the escape.
among the team.
Not far away, the Corsican army leisurely launched a pursuit of the remaining Genoese troops. When the Corsican soldiers walked past the Genoese corpses with an indifferent expression, their trousers were soaked in blood.
General Tyro Belrain turned his head and glanced at the battlefield just now. There was only one expression on his face - blankness.
"In the end what happened?"
The gunshot wounds on his left shoulder and right leg caused bursts of unbearable pain, but the old general's expression was still blank and ignorant, and he kept repeating:
"what is going on?!"
But no one could answer his question, and no officer could understand why the Republican Guard was defeated at the hands of the Corsican Army in such a short time.
Even General Tiro Belrain himself, who has more than ten years of experience in fighting the Corsican Defense Force, has no clue at all.
Victory or defeat is a common thing for soldiers, but General Belrain couldn't accept it at all. He didn't even know how he lost the battle, nor how the elite Republican Guard was completely defeated. Everything seemed to happen in an instant.
occurred in.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!...
Just two hours ago, General Belland led the high-spirited Republican Guards to intercept the Corsican army.
For this veteran, being assigned this critical mission is both a heavy responsibility and a great opportunity.
Three years ago, General Belrain, who served as the commander of the Corsica Corps, achieved a huge victory over the Corsican Defense Force's Northern Corps. He not only occupied the northern important town of Bastia, but also advanced the front line hundreds of miles in one fell swoop.
.
At that time, General Belrain thought that he would soon regain Ajaccio and put down the independent rebellion that had lasted for thirty years in one fell swoop.
But not long after that, news came from Corsica that a new leader announced that he would lead Corsica to be loyal to King Louis XV of France. France actually bypassed Genoa and directly accepted Corsica.
of allegiance and garrisoned.
Naturally, Genoa did not dare to have a direct conflict with France, so it did not express any opinion on this incident. General Belrain's army was naturally disbanded, and the general himself stayed in the country to retire in semi-retirement.
The old general always felt that if the cunning Corsicans had not obtained French asylum through diplomatic means at that time, he would have been able to recapture the entire island of Corsica in one fell swoop.
Therefore, during the march, General Belrain was somewhat excited. If the main force of the Corsican Defense Force could be defeated here, then it would be at least militarily feasible to take the opportunity to recapture Corsica.
With this idea in mind, the vanguard sentries of the two armies soon came into contact with each other.
General Tiro Belrain sent an envoy to warn the Corsican army to leave the country of the Republic of Genoa, and at the same time made full preparations for battle.
The response of the Corsican army made the experienced General Belrain furious - they detained the envoy they sent, and at the same time stated that they would march through Genoa City. If the Genoese army dared to block it, they would be treated as two enemies.
It was a sign of renewed war between the two countries, and the two countries had never reached a peace agreement anyway.
Unlike those hothouse boys in Genoa City, General Belrain believed that he knew the Corsican people extremely well after more than ten years of combat experience with the Corsican Defense Force. He was even at war with the Corsican people three years ago.
The poor island will not undergo any qualitative changes in three years, right?
It was these experiences that made General Belrain feel that the quality of the Republican Guard he led was superior to the Corsican Defense Forces, and he was the one with the upper hand in this battle.
Therefore, General Belrain issued a second symbolic warning, and then ordered the army to launch a full-scale attack on the Corsican army.
But from the moment the two sides officially exchanged fire, General Belrain had no idea what was going on.
He only remembered that the Corsican army had all formed a skirmishing formation, and this was a formation that basically only the chasseurs would adopt.
So far, hunters equipped with rifled guns are extremely rare in the armies of various European countries.
One is because rifled guns are expensive and expensive to build, the other is because the current rifled guns have an extremely low rate of fire and are difficult to form sustained firepower, and the third is because the use of rifled guns places high demands on the shooting quality of soldiers. Only after a long period of
Only through training can you accurately snipe the enemy on the battlefield.
These shortcomings have caused all European countries to only equip a very small number of chasseur regiments in their armies, and their role is only to occasionally provide fire support to line infantry.
Even in the Napoleonic era, because Napoleon himself preferred line infantry, there were few chasseurs in his army. This preference of Napoleon also influenced the later French Army. Until the late nineteenth century, the French Army
A large number of line infantry regiments are still retained in the army.
Therefore, when General Belrain saw the Corsican army all in skirmish formation, he had no idea what the enemy's intentions were.
While General Belrain was busy analyzing, the two armies had already engaged in several rounds of exchanges of fire.
Before the general's order was issued, horrifying news came from the front line:
The vanguard force has been completely defeated.
Faced with this news, not to mention the stunned adjutants, even General Belrain had never seen such a scene in his decades of military career.
Just a few rounds of firefights can completely destroy six line infantry battalions?!
It would be fine if he was leading a group of peasants who had never seen guns. But what he was leading was clearly the most elite Republican Guard in the entire Republic of Genoa. How could he end up like this?!
General Belrain was unwilling to accept this reality at all. He rushed out of the command post like crazy, mounted his horse and rushed to the front line, trying to use his prestige to regroup his troops and launch a counterattack.
What the general didn't know was that the moment he appeared on the frontal battlefield, dozens of rifled rifles were already aimed directly at his head.
After a round of volleys, General Belrain was shot in the left shoulder and right leg, and the blood continued to flow. The war horse under his crotch also became violent and furious due to the gunshot wounds. He jumped and threw General Belrain to the ground, and fled with a neighing sound.
This battlefield.
Seeing General Belrain struggling helplessly and falling into a pool of blood, fear immediately spread among the Genoese soldiers. Even the troops who had not yet entered the battle rushed to drop their weapons and join the fleeing queue.
.
Although the adjutants rushed forward in time to rescue General Belrain, the complete defeat of the Republican Guard was a foregone conclusion.