From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

The orders issued from the command post were quickly conveyed to the non-commissioned officers of all levels of the landing force.

Just half an hour later, hundreds of Ajaccio citizens who had not evacuated to the Dongcheng District for various reasons and were captured by the Sardinian army were blindfolded and gathered in a square. In boundless fear and despair, they were captured by the Sardinian soldiers. executed on the spot.

In order to save ammunition, the Sardinian soldiers did not even choose to shoot them. Instead, they used bayonets to penetrate the hearts of these ignorant civilians from behind.

The entire square was filled with a lingering smell of blood. Many civilians who were stabbed through the heart did not die immediately. Instead, they fell in a pool of blood with hideous faces and struggled for a long time before slowly becoming silent.

And Colonel Bartland's orders were implemented perfectly.

The Sardinian soldiers then cut off the heads of the dead, put them on long poles and brought them to the front line area where they were fighting with the enemy. They held up the bloody corpses and shouted to all the Corsicans to give up resistance immediately.

Of course, for the volunteers who were determined to take up arms and embark on the battlefield, this despicable and vicious method could not inspire any fear in them. Instead, it aroused the resentment in the hearts of all soldiers to infinity.

No one knows whether the parents, relatives, friends, and children of those poor people who were brutally killed by the Sardinians and whose heads were humiliatingly hung on the flagpole were among them.

At the same time, a raging fire was also set on fire by Sardinian soldiers and quickly spread in the city of Ajaccio.

Especially at the front line of the confrontation between the two armies, it was almost reduced to a sea of ​​fire. Even the sea breeze blowing by brought a scalding heat wave. Countless buildings familiar to the citizens of Ajaccio were also submerged in this area. In the sea of ​​​​fire, the crackling sound of wood and stone exploding due to the high temperature can be heard everywhere.

The flames flying in the sky illuminated the entire Ajaccio in orange, and the Sardinian soldiers took advantage of the favorable wind and fire to once again launch a fierce attack on Ajaccio.

"Damn Sardinians, are they crazy?"

In a building on the front line in Beicheng District, the injured commander Pasquale Pauli stood by the window, staring blankly at the overwhelming fire in front of him. The waves of heat that hit his face almost made him unable to open his eyes. Eye.

Pasquale Paoli never imagined that the Sardinian army would be so eager to capture Ajaccio, even at the expense of reducing Corsica's largest city to a charred wasteland.

What makes Poly even more troublesome is that the wind direction tonight is from west to east, which means that the roaring east wind will spread the sea of ​​​​fire to Dongcheng District within a few hours.

Although the building density in Dongcheng District is low, the fire will not spread as quickly as it does now, but as long as time is given, with the blessing of the east wind, the Sardinian Army will still be able to use fire attacks to continuously push back the entire city defense force .

By then, both the city defense troops and the Prime Minister's Office will probably be forced to withdraw from Ajaccio and go south to join the main force of the National Defense Forces, and hand over the capital of Ajaccio to the Sardinians.

Big beads of sweat rolled down from General Pauli's forehead. Perhaps it was because the temperature of the room rose rapidly due to the heat wave, or perhaps because Pasquale Pauli also realized that Corsica had reached the point of its life and death. crucial moment.

As the former Governor of Corsica, Pasquale Paoli knew very well that once Ajaccio fell, the Kingdom of Sardinia would be able to establish a safe supply line and provide continuous reinforcements from the mainland. According to Corsica, With the army strength of the National Defense Force, it is absolutely impossible to recapture the city again.

After realizing this, Pasquale Pauli's eyes dimmed instantly. Although he was no longer the ruler of this island, he still had deep feelings for this land and its people.

Especially after witnessing the atrocities committed by the Sardinian army, Pasquale Paoli could not accept it. The island he had fought for for more than twenty years was completely reduced to a colony of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

In contrast, he was more able to accept the usurper Laurence Bonaparte continuing to rule Corsica. At least the young man was nominally his legal successor, and he could have a good death in his hands.

When General Pauli looked at the sea of ​​​​fire in front of him with mixed emotions, the fire had already spread to this area. A volunteer soldier also rushed upstairs, quickly grabbed the injured General Pauli and walked out:

"General, the fire is about to reach here! The Sardinians are also approaching! Let's retreat first. The Central Gendarmerie and the French Army are also planning to retreat to the border of Dongcheng District!"

"Yeah."

Hearing the news, Pasquale Pauli was stunned again, and the look in his eyes once again disappeared. Since both the French garrison and the Central Gendarmerie have chosen to retreat, it means that the criticality of the battle situation may be Worse than he imagined.

He knew that if there was no compelling situation, the garrison and the Central Gendarmerie would not take the initiative to retreat to the core Dongcheng District.

After all, if the war situation continues to deteriorate, the entire city defense force will have no room for retreat.

At that time, the choice of leaving any Corsicans would be to fight to the last man in Ajaccio, or to withdraw from the capital and hand over the city to others, and either option was obviously absolutely unacceptable.

"Is Ajaccio destined to fall tonight?"

General Pauli quickly put away the maps and annotations on the table, and finally looked back at the sea of ​​​​fire outside the window. The approaching flames reflected his pale cheeks in orange:

"Laurence Bonaparte, will Corsica end up like this in your hands? Or are you still holding back as before?"

"What a fire, what a good fire, and even the wind tonight is a perfect easterly."

At the same time, in Xicheng District, Colonel Butland walked out of the command post with several trusted officers and went to a high ground to observe the battlefield situation in person.

Colonel Butland on the high ground held binoculars and carefully observed Ajaccio covered in fire, as enthusiastic and excited as if he was admiring a master painting in a museum.

Those areas that have been burned by the sea of ​​​​fire look like a piece of coal that has not been extinguished from a distance, flashing a shocking dark red in the dark night.

This dark red area continues to expand, which means that the Sardinian army is taking advantage of this God-given fire to continuously compress the defensive space of the Corsican defenders.

Colonel Bartland didn't care how many people's bones and souls were buried under the dark red ashes, nor how many Corsican homes were turned into ruins. On the contrary, he witnessed the city of Ajaccio. Step by step into destruction, a great sense of satisfaction arose in the colonel's heart.

A year ago, he was defeated on the land of Corsica at the hands of the most deserving Laurence Bonaparte, leaving all his glory, achievements, status and power behind in this land. The land disgusted him to the point of nausea.

And now, Colonel Bartram looked at the hell on earth in front of him proudly. He was already immersed in beautiful fantasies, imagining that this city destined to be turned into scorched earth would become his perfect revenge against Lawrence Bonaparte. prove.

"Hmph, the Bonaparte who loves his people like his own son, the Bonaparte who loves the people, it's all bullshit."

Colonel Bartland grinned and looked at his cronies beside him triumphantly:

"Where is he, Laurence Bonaparte, and what can he, Laurence Bonaparte, do now that I am standing here plundering his cities and slaughtering his people? How ridiculous!"

All the officers also forced their faces to smile and echoed a few words. They all knew that Colonel Bartland had regarded Laurence Bonaparte as his number one enemy since his defeat at the hands of the Bonifacas last year, and he wanted to do it all day long. He killed the Corsican himself.

At this moment, Colonel Bartland, who was confident of victory, vented all his anger and hatred on this land without any scruples.

The colonel laughed heartily, and the pleasure of revenge was like an electric current flowing through his body. This pleasure was a thousand times stronger than taking a puff of the purest Cuban cigar.

And while everyone was standing here admiring the Sardinian army advancing eastward with the help of fire, a herald suddenly climbed up to the high ground out of breath. The uniform he wore was the naval uniform of the Sardinian fleet. :

"Colonel, there is an urgent message from Fleet Headquarters!"

Colonel Bartland was stunned for a moment, then cursed and said:

"Urgent report? Damn it, there are so many people in the headquarters doing shit. This battle will be over soon, so what else do they have to do?"

But the herald couldn't care less about Colonel Bartland's complaints. His face was pale and his chest was heaving violently. He had obviously run all the way from the port to here. The herald shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Reporting to the commander, our fleet has discovered a warship formation heading towards Ajaccio in the northwest direction. Its size is initially estimated to be about three times the size of our fleet!"

"What did you say? The scale is."

Colonel Bartland's brain shut down for a few seconds, and the smile and proud look on his lips disappeared in an instant:

"Three times the size of our fleet? Are you fucking kidding me, that's France's Mediterranean fleet?! How could they take the initiative to intervene in this war? Didn't the French already sign a statement with the British?!"

Although the Sardinian fleet also privately rented many warships temporarily from the British Royal Navy, Colonel Bartland could not imagine that France would directly send their main Mediterranean fleet to Ajaccio.

Even the officers next to them changed their expressions, completely confused as to what the Kingdom of France wanted to do.

With such blatant transgression, are they trying to break the non-aggression pact? !

The herald was also sweating profusely, and he forced himself to answer:

"The identity of the opposing fleet has not yet been verified, but the headquarters guesses that it is most likely France's Mediterranean fleet. Diplomatic matters can only be left to diplomats to resolve. As soldiers, we must now avoid fighting with that large fleet. , our fleet is already preparing to evacuate the Ajaccio port area."

Colonel Bartland nodded blankly. In this case, immediate evacuation of the fleet is indeed the best option. If the French fleet really breaks the neutrality treaty and attacks the Sardinian fleet, the Sardinian fleet will suffer heavy losses even if it is not completely annihilated. They absolutely cannot take such a risk.

And in the next second, Colonel Bartland immediately realized something, and his face instantly turned pale:

"What about this landing force?"

If the logistical support of the fleet is lost, even though the force in the hands of Colonel Butland has several times the strength of the Corsican Defense Force, it can only be slaughtered like a beast with its limbs cut off.

The herald's face was also very ugly. He nodded seriously and sighed:

"There is no time for the army to board the ship, colonel. The headquarters has officially authorized you to command independently and requires you to do your best to preserve the vitality of this force."

This short sentence seemed to weigh ten thousand pounds to Colonel Bartland. The colonel's pupils trembled. He knew very well the purpose of the command in authorizing him to have independent command at this time.

This is not at all a matter of trusting his ability and believing that he can lead this army to defeat the Corsicans, but the headquarters wants to place all responsibilities in his hands alone. If this army is really wiped out in a foreign country , he, Colonel Bartland, would be single-handedly responsible for the huge crime of losing nearly one-third of the Kingdom of Sardinia's standing army.

Colonel Bartland's body went limp and he knelt straight on the ground. He weakly turned his head and glanced at the firelight behind him, and murmured to himself in a daze:

"Are you kidding? How could this be possible? I'm obviously going to capture Ajaccio! I'm obviously going to occupy all of Corsica! I'm obviously going to use this feat to be promoted to general!"

Almost at the same time, in the waters northwest of Corsica, hundreds of ships were cutting through the calm waves of the Mediterranean Sea, heading toward Ajaccio in a mighty manner. The tracks at the rear of these ships alone were enough to A vast expanse of snow-white billows in this sea area.

In the center of the fleet, on the flagship of the French Mediterranean Fleet.

Laurence Bonaparte stood at the bow of the ship, leaning against the side of the ship and looking at Ajaccio not far away. His face was gloomy, and his eyes were full of murderous intent, without even a trace of concealment.

Even from dozens of nautical miles away, Lawrence could clearly see the bright Ajaccio in this dark night.

And Lawrence also knew very well that given the size of Ajaccio, its own lights could not be so bright.

In other words, the little light in the southeast is not the city lights that symbolize peace and prosperity at all, but the flames of war brought by the Kingdom of Sardinia, symbolizing turmoil and killing.

Thinking of the war raging in the land of Corsica, even with the calm state of mind of Lawrence II, he could not restrain the anger and murderous intention in his heart at this time.

Standing behind Lawrence was his new chief of staff and political administrator of the Privy Council, Louis-Alexandre Berthier.

At this time, Berthier was completely able to detect and understand Lawrence's unabashed murderous intention, so he took the initiative and said:

"In line with the predictions of the staff, the Kingdom of Sardinia indeed chose to invade Ajaccio directly from the sea."

Lawrence took a deep breath, quickly regained his composure, and then nodded. It seemed that taking this group of outstanding military talents from the Paris Military Academy was indeed a wise choice.

Long before Lawrence and the Privy Knights arrived in Marseille to cross the sea to Corsica, they had been continuously receiving intelligence from the French Mediterranean Fleet and learned about the unusual movements of the Kingdom of Sardinia's navy.

Everyone in the Privy Knights, that is, the newly established Corsican Army Staff, immediately conducted a careful analysis of this abnormal trend, and finally concluded that the Kingdom of Sardinia was most likely to use its joint fleet with the British to attack directly. Corsica launched a raid, and the target of the raid was most likely Ajaccio, which was the top priority.

After being convinced that the Army Staff's judgment was correct, Lawrence also made a special trip to Toulon after much deliberation and asked for the assistance of the French Mediterranean Fleet. After all, Corsica's own naval and army strength alone was definitely not enough to resist Sardinia. The kingdom invaded with such fanfare.

Judging from the current situation, all progress is within the plans of the Army Staff and Lawrence. The Sardinian fleet indeed launched a raid on Ajaccio on June 24.

Next, once the powerful French Mediterranean Fleet intervenes in this battle, even if the French fleet does not make any aggressive moves, the Sardinian fleet will definitely not dare to stay in this area for too long and will actively abandon the landing force at sea. supply lines.

In this way, Lawrence was sure to annihilate one-third of the standing army of the Kingdom of Sardinia on the land of Corsica, like a turtle in a urn.

However, even though Lawrence understood that Ajaccio's sacrifice was to attract the main army of the Kingdom of Sardinia to Corsica, at this moment, looking at the blazing homeland, Lawrence still felt a burning desire in his heart. A mixture of complex emotions mixed with anger, guilt and sadness.

"Monsieur Bonaparte, just as we expected."

Just as Lawrence and Berthier were looking at the distant Corsica with solemn expressions, a pale-haired old man also walked out of the captain's room, walked to Lawrence in a steady pace, and joined the two of them. conversation:

"The Navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia immediately began to evacuate north after discovering traces of this fleet. It is estimated that they will be huddled in their home port for a while."

In front of this old man, Lawrence's expression was also very cautious, and he saluted with great respect:

"Once again, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Mediterranean Fleet for their assistance, Admiral Pierre."

The calm, dignified old man in front of him is the commander-in-chief of the entire French Mediterranean Fleet, Count Jean-Pierre de Artois, who holds the title of admiral.

Admiral Pierre just nodded slightly. His expression was unsmiling at all times, but it could also be seen from his look that the general was not willing to provide Lawrence with this assistance.

In fact, a few days ago, when Lawrence had just arrived in Toulon and asked the Mediterranean fleet to help intervene in the siege of Ajaccio, Admiral Pierre was naturally very resistant.

After all, with his position, he must know that His Majesty the King is now extremely resistant to war. For this reason, he specially signed a non-aggression agreement with the British and a neutrality agreement in the Naples Civil War.

If Louis XV had learned that the French Mediterranean Fleet had launched an attack on the Sardinian fleet during the siege of Ajaccio, breaking France's neutrality agreement, one can imagine the terror His Majesty would have inflicted on Count Pierre, a veteran general. anger.

Faced with the resistance of Admiral Pierre, Lawrence didn't waste much time and directly used the name of another top dignitary - the Duke of Choiseul.

Before Lawrence arrived in Toulon, he knew that Admiral Pierre must be a member of the Choiseul faction. After all, the Duke of Choiseul not only served as Lord of the Admiralty, but was actually in charge of the Seven Years' War. Expansion and war readiness of the entire French navy.

For the crucial position of Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, Duke Choiseul could not safely place an outsider in such a high position.

In fact, this was indeed the case. When Lawrence took out the title of Duke of Choiseul, Admiral Pierre was obviously shaken.

How could this sixty-year-old veteran not know that the Duke of Choiseul was now eager to expand the scope of the war?

He knew that the intervention of the Mediterranean fleet in the siege of Ajaccio would make Louis XV furious, but he also knew that if he refused Laurence Bonaparte's request and ignored the loss of such an opportunity to expand the scale of the war, Duke Choiseul would also be angry. doubts about his loyalty.

With His Majesty the King of France on one side and the powerful Duke of Choiseul on the other, Admiral Pierre was forced to make a compromise choice after weighing for a long time - he agreed to let the Mediterranean Fleet assist Lawrence this time. action, but also agreed with Lawrence that the Mediterranean Fleet would never provide any military support.

Lawrence also readily agreed to Admiral Pierre's agreement on the spot, and immediately prepared a completely reasonable name for the Mediterranean Fleet's operation:

According to the "Assistance to Corsica Act" approved by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finance, War, Navy and the Paris High Court a few weeks ago, the Kingdom of France is not only obliged to provide material assistance to Corsica, but also has an obligation to Assuming the responsibility of transportation escort, it is necessary to ensure that each batch of materials arrives safely in Corsica.

This time, with Lawrence crossing the sea from Marseille, there were more than 20 large merchant ships loaded with military supplies, including new rifled guns produced by Trifali Arsenal and matching Mini bullets, which were also assembled on board. Shipping to Ajaccio.

The French Mediterranean Fleet also came to the waters of Ajaccio in the name of escorting this cargo ship fleet.

Although the scene of nearly a hundred warships escorting more than twenty merchant ships made Admiral Pierre find it a bit funny, he had no choice but to accept this nominally justified reason.

"No need to say thank you, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I just want to remind you of our agreement."

Admiral Pierre also looked at Ajaccio, who was shining like a bright torch in the distance, and said in a deep voice:

"After the merchant fleet safely arrives at the port of Ajaccio, the mission of the Mediterranean Fleet will be successfully completed, and no matter what, the Mediterranean Fleet will not provide you with even a ship or even a soldier to assist you; this is This war must be fought by yourselves."

Even with Admiral Pierre's qualifications and status, he would not dare to make Louis XV furious at such a time point.

"I understand your dilemma, General."

Lawrence moved his eyes away from Admiral Pierre's thin and resolute cheek, and once again stared at Corsica above the sea:

"We will avenge the Corsican blood debt with our own hands. Those who offend this land will soon drown in a pool of their own blood."