From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

Chapter 361 Carlo Bonaparte’s Determination

On June 24, 1771, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, the invasion fleet of the Kingdom of Sardinia officially arrived at the port of Ajaccio.

This huge fleet announced their arrival with cannon fire all over the sky.

The eight line ships in the lead were very experienced in controlling the distance of the artillery within the maximum range, and launched a straight-line bombardment formation, pouring overwhelming death and destruction onto the land of Corsica.

The accompanying frigates and cruisers spread out to control and clear the entire sea area, clearing all obstacles for the landing clippers that followed to seize the beach.

Under this continuous artillery bombardment, the soldiers could almost feel the entire western city of Ajaccio trembling.

The Corsican Defense Forces lacked heavy firepower, and the only artillery in the army was basically dispatched to the south by the Defense Forces.

Facing the artillery bombardment of the Sardinian fleet, the only ones that could effectively counterattack were a few twelve-pound guns in the Corsican garrison and the naval fleet parked in the military port.

But even so, the firepower gap between the two sides is still huge.

After more than half an hour of shelling, the Corsican Navy in the military port had lost three galleys, and the remaining ships, including the only two line ships, were also damaged to varying degrees.

As for the army soldiers deployed near the port area, although the artillery bombardment by the Sardinian fleet did not cause too many direct casualties to them, the continuous artillery fire and the trembling earth still made the soldiers who were waiting for the battle unable to help but feel fear. , after all, the biggest role of artillery in the eighteenth century was still the direct damage to morale.

"whispering sound"

In the watchtower near the port area, all the officers had extremely heavy expressions, including Carlo Bonaparte who insisted on joining the battle. Major Serurier, who was always watching the battlefield situation, was frowning at this time.

As an officer who joined the French army at the age of thirteen and has served for nineteen years, the experienced Major Serulier quickly realized the enemy's intentions.

The Sardinian fleet wanted to use artillery attacks on the city defense troops deployed around the port area to force the well-positioned troops to retreat, so that subsequent landing ships could successfully establish beachhead strongholds.

"We can only retreat first and then decide the outcome in the street fighting."

Major Serurier bit his lip tightly, and after struggling for a moment, he ordered the city defense troops on the beach to retreat first and dispersed in the streets of the West City District, waiting for close-range street battles with the landing enemy troops.

If the army continues to be ordered to stay in the port area, then the Sardinian fleet can completely stand still and continue to use artillery to attack the morale and will of the city defenders. When the defenders are almost defeated, the Sardinian army's landing force can almost Ajaccio was taken without any blood.

In view of the fact that the city defense army was at an absolute disadvantage in both strength and firepower, Major Serurier was forced to give up his plan to directly block the enemy's landing on the beach, and instead relied on the city defense army's familiarity and control of the city's terrain. An attempt was made to directly confront the Sardinian army in hand-to-hand combat.

As long as the two sides engage in fierce battles in the streets and alleys within the city, the firepower advantage of the Sardinian fleet at sea will be difficult to exert its effect, and their artillery range is not enough to directly hit the civilians in Dongcheng District and the Prime Minister's Office.

Moreover, it is difficult to determine the winner in a short period of time in street battles in urban terrain. This is undoubtedly a disadvantage for the Sardinian fleet rushing across the sea. Their supplies cannot support a long-term tug-of-war. .

Soon, under the order of Major Serurier, the city defense troops stationed on the beach quickly retreated into the city, preparing to fight to the death with the Sardinian army on the streets of Ajaccio.

"Oh, didn't you choose to resist desperately in the harbor? It seems that these Corsican barbarians are not all laymen in war."

On the flagship of the Sardinian fleet, a British officer put down his telescope, with a wanton and relaxed smile on his face, as if he didn't take this raid into consideration at all.

The Sardinian officer beside him was also talking and laughing, nodding in agreement:

"What these idiots do now is of no use. The moment they transferred their main forces to Bonifacio, the fall of Ajaccio was doomed. I have received clear information that the situation in Ajaccio is The garrison will not exceed four thousand people, and we have twice as many soldiers here!"

"They are just a bunch of ungrateful monkeys. They probably regret not accepting Lord Pitt's kindness." The British officer shook his head and expressed his undisguised scorn for this barren island and its people:

"By the way, when the landing force invades the Prime Minister's Office, don't forget that Sir William Pitt must not be harmed."

"You can rest assured that we will rescue Lord Peter safe and sound."

The commanders on the flagship were chatting and laughing, and directly ordered the clipper troops to approach the port of Ajaccio and begin the landing operation.

At early five o'clock in the afternoon, the Sardinian fleet and dozens of clippers poured into the port of Ajaccio without any hindrance. Only the Corsican navy in the military port not far away launched an artillery counterattack against these landing troops, and Three sailing ships were sunk.

Major Serurier was concentrating on looking at the Sardinian army in the port area from the observation hole, and did not dare to relax for a moment.

Although he knew that his choice of street fighting was the optimal solution at the moment, with such a huge gap in troops, Major Serurier was really not sure of holding on to the enemy's surging offensive.

The first gunshots of this war resounded in the streets of Ajaccio immediately after the Sardinian troops landed.

After a brief rest in the port area, the Sardinian army did not seem to have any special tactics. They simply relied on their numerical advantage to make a comprehensive advance from west to east towards the Governor's Palace in Ajaccio.

Major Serurier was also forced to flexibly deploy his extremely limited troops, trying his best to maintain the defense line and avoid any breakthrough.

The entire city was divided into hundreds of independent small battlefields for a time. Bodies lying in pools of blood could be seen everywhere, and the wailing of wounded soldiers could be heard everywhere. The smell of blood and gunpowder were intertwined, permeating Xicheng District. on every street.

Relying on their understanding of the urban terrain of Ajaccio, the Corsican and French soldiers flexibly rushed to various strongholds to ambush the Sardinian army. For a time, the advance of the Sardinian army was stalled, and there was even a faint hint of danger. The tendency to push back.

However, when the fierce battle between the two sides entered a fierce stage, the city defense troops who were short of troops also seemed to be somewhat weak. Even though Major Serurier tried his best to maintain the defense line, the battle lines of both sides were still slowly advancing towards the Prime Minister's Palace in Ajaccio. .

After several hours of fierce fighting, at around 8 p.m., the Sardinian army had basically occupied the western part of Ajaccio and was still advancing eastward.

"Is Xixi City almost giving up?"

Major Serrurier and a group of Corsican officers also retreated to the patrol station in the center of Ajaccio, which was also the former station of Laurence Bonaparte.

Listening to the endless reports from the messengers, Major Serurier was also nervous and kept making marks on the map, always keeping track of the trends on the front line.

Soon, the officers in the command post discovered an extremely serious problem - when the battle line advanced from the Xicheng District to the north and south districts, the width of the battlefield increased significantly.

This is undoubtedly bad news for the city defense coalition. The increase in the width of the battlefield means that the soldiers of the city defense army, which is already at a disadvantage in terms of strength, will be even weaker when distributed to each defense line. If the enemy forces concentrate their forces to break through at one point, the entire defense line will be destroyed. The defense line may collapse thousands of miles away.

In particular, there is a large piece of open land near the North City District with almost no buildings. If the Sardinian army attacks the East City District directly from there, the consequences will be disastrous.

The officers in the command post all had heavy expressions on their faces. Major Serurier was holding the quill tightly, his eyes were so nervous that he kept thinking about countermeasures:

"Should we abandon the northern and southern cities and retreat to the Dongcheng District to defend it? But then there would be no room for change. Continuing to maintain the existing defense line is also risky. If a certain point is breached, the enemy can defend the entire city. The army was surrounded and annihilated. Damn it, in the final analysis, the troops were still too few."

Ya'an on the side glanced at the sad-looking Major Serurier. He also realized what the root of the problem was. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly suggested:

"Perhaps we can recruit a volunteer army from the citizens to fill the possible loopholes in the northern section of the defense line. We really don't have any extra troops to defend the northern section."

"Volunteers?" Major Serurier was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up and he thought carefully:

"This may be feasible, but the biggest problem is probably morale."

Different from field battles, in street battles, the biggest requirement for an army is not organization and discipline, but the combat ability of individual soldiers.

The Corsican people are inherently martial and aggressive, advocating blood, force and vendetta. This is one of the reasons why European countries despise the Corsican people as barbarians.

Moreover, during the previous independence war with the Republic of Genoa, Corsica experienced a long period of all-people soldiers, which also meant that a considerable part of the citizens of Ajaccio had received training and had combat literacy.

Coupled with the determination of the citizens of Ajaccio to protect their homeland and their support for Laurence Bonaparte, it is entirely possible to recruit a small army in a short time with the sufficient weapons and supplies in the Ajaccio armory at the rear Come.

However, what worries Major Serulier the most is the morale of this volunteer army. Without a leader who obeys the crowd, these temporarily recruited citizens must not have strong cohesion. After all, joining the volunteer army is a life-threatening undertaking. choose.

In that case, they would most likely collapse when facing the Sardinian army, which would lead to the collapse of the entire defense line.

This is why Major Serurier did not recruit citizens to form a volunteer army before the enemy attacked. But in this precarious situation, the major had no choice but to seriously consider this deviant plan.

Just as Major Serurier was hesitating, Carlo Bonaparte in the corner suddenly spoke:

"I should be able to lead the volunteers to fight the Sardinians."

In an instant, all the officers in the command room subconsciously looked at Carlo Bonaparte. Major Serurier glared and stopped him without thinking:

"Impossible, Mr. Carlo, you are Monsignor Bonaparte's brother. I am afraid that only one of the volunteers can survive until the end of this battle!"

Frankly speaking, Major Serurier's decision to allow Carlo Bonaparte to participate in front-line command was already a very risky decision, and it was impossible for him to allow Count Bonaparte to lead a volunteer army that narrowly escaped death and participated in it personally. fighting.

What's more, Lawrence Bonaparte mentioned in a letter not long ago that he intended to let Carlo Bonaparte serve as deputy governor of Provence in the future, which made Major Serrurier even more afraid. Take the risk.

Carlo Bonaparte ignored the major's dissuasion and just asked with a wry smile, his tone unwavering:

"Just because the citizens know that I am Lawrence's biological brother, I am the most suitable, right?"

Major Serulier also choked for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Although he knew in his heart that relying on the high prestige of Laurence Bonaparte, Prime Minister Bonaparte's brother was indeed an excellent candidate to lead the citizens' volunteer army, but he did not dare to let Bonaparte's brother die in battle. On this battlefield.

Yan glanced at the Sardinian army not far away, gritted his teeth, took Carlo Bonaparte's arm and said quickly:

"Major, while the enemy has not yet figured out the terrain and the offensive is slowing down, we must form an insurrectionary army as soon as possible. As for who will lead that army, Mr. Carlo and I will return to the Prime Minister's Office for instructions. Miss Anna!”

Upon seeing this, Major Serurier no longer hesitated. He looked into Carlo Bonaparte's eyes and said nothing. He just nodded heavily and signaled the two of them to quickly return to Dongcheng District to recruit citizens.

In less than half an hour, Yaan and Carlo Bonaparte rushed back to the Prime Minister's Palace and found Anna Celestia, who was presiding over the distribution of food and water to the refugee civilians.

"Form a volunteer army? I understand."

After listening to the two people's reports, Anna nodded solemnly and did not ask for more details. The girl also knew that she must give the military complete trust at this time.

However, Anna Celestia also firmly rejected Carlo Bonaparte’s request to lead the volunteer army in person:

"You must not personally take part in the danger. M. Bonaparte has another appointment for you."

"Miss Anna! Major Ya'an has explained it very clearly to you. If the volunteer army does not have a core leader at this time, then no matter how many people we recruit on the battlefield, it will be of no avail. Moreover, the safety of Ajaccio is not related to the safety of Ajaccio. Compared with the safety of Corsica, everything about me is nothing."

Carlo Bonaparte bit his lip hard, and bright red blood oozed from the corners of his mouth. He had also followed Pasquale Paoli to fight against the Genoese, and he knew very well that at this moment, Ajac must be defended at all costs. resemble.

But Anna Celestia did not listen to Carlo's persuasion. The girl pondered for a moment and suddenly said:

"No, maybe I can find a more suitable leader than you, Mr. Carlo."

Carlo Bonaparte was stunned subconsciously. Unless his brother returned to Corsica instantly, he could not think of anyone else who could have both the experience of commanding an army and the support of the people:

"who?"

Anna did not answer immediately. She first summoned a few subordinates and told them about recruiting volunteers among the refugees, and then led Carlo Bonaparte and Yaan out:

"Please come with me, the leader is in the Prime Minister's Office. Also, someone! Please call Miss Shadiya Vicki, I need her to accompany me."