From Corsica to the Fourth Rome.

Chapter 373: The Arrival at Genoa

The city of Genoa, a Mediterranean commercial pearl on par with Venice, has been synonymous with wealth and prosperity for the past thousand years.

During the Crusades, the armies participating in the holy war almost all set out from Genoa and traveled by sea to the long-dreamed-of Eastern lands. As a result, Genoa earned huge profits and influence, becoming a major commercial center in the Mediterranean.

Even Charles the Lionheart of England took the flag of Genoa - a red cross on a white background - as his personal flag, which later became the national flag of the entire Kingdom of England.

In the following hundreds of years, Genoa's merchants also demonstrated their shrewdness and pursuit of profit to the fullest.

In the 13th century, they defeated their old trade rival, the Republic of Pisa, and thereby acquired the island of Corsica. They then became the leader in all Mediterranean trade and took control of the incredibly profitable spice trade route.

They took advantage of the Sicilian Vespers War and tried to control the Sicilian economy with all their might; they provided loans to the ruling class, thereby monopolizing Sicily's grain, silk, and sugar production, and then exchanged those shiploads of wheat and beans for shiploads of gold and silver from Morocco.

When Philip II of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty declared national bankruptcy and financiers across Germany suffered heavy losses and wailing, they took the opportunity to provide Spain with a large amount of economic aid in exchange for almost endless silver from Spanish Mexico flowing to the port of Genoa.

In countless medieval ballads and stories, Genoese merchants were wealthier than Venetian merchants and were synonymous with gold, silver and spices.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and no country can enjoy prosperity forever.

With the rise of the Ottoman Empire, Genoa lost control of trade in Crimea and the eastern Mediterranean, while Venice's victory in the Fourth Vige War also declared the Republic of Venice's leading position in Mediterranean trade.

Coupled with the Corsican rebellion that had been going on since the beginning of the 18th century, the Republic of Genoa at that time had fallen into inevitable decline.

But even so, Genoa is still a rich golden city in the eyes of many Europeans. After all, even in the late eighteenth century, the declining Genoa was still more prosperous and wealthy than Venice of the same period.

On the morning of October 1771, 10, the Corsican army was less than forty miles away from the Golden City.

The salty morning sea breeze blew along the marching road. Looking toward the sea not far to the east, one could vaguely see the endless stream of merchant ships going to and from the distant port of Genoa.

Even though it no longer has the glory it had a hundred years ago, the prosperity of the Republic of Genoa cannot be underestimated. This can be seen from the merchant ships that can be seen everywhere on the sea. The number of merchant ships traveling to and from the port of Ajaccio is less than one-tenth of the number here.

Chief of Staff Berthier rode his horse and followed Lawrence at a slow pace. He looked at the vague outline of the building in the distance and the towering Genoa Lighthouse on the sea, and his expression was very excited:
"In front of us is the port of Genoa, a rich city filled with gold and silver. It is said that every citizen of Genoa has gold accessories weighing three ounces."

Lawrence laughed dumbly and shook his head.

"It's just a legend. The wealth of the Republic of Genoa is concentrated in a very small number of financial families and wealthy clans. Although the ordinary citizens there live a more affluent life than people in other places, I'm afraid they can only barely afford to eat and wear clothes."

"That's true."

Berthier scratched his head. He had also collected intelligence about the Republic of Genoa beforehand and knew that the gap between the rich and the poor in this commercial republic was even more serious than in other countries:

"How much does Genoa's wealth have to do with the lower classes? Singing and dancing, extravagance and decadence are destined to be the privilege 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 same is true of the Kingdom of France. The kingdom itself is so rich and powerful, but how many people are shivering in hunger and cold in the countryside. The country is strong but the people are weak, the country is rich but the people are poor. Everyone knows the root cause of this strange phenomenon, but no one can make any changes. The Palace of Versailles alone can burn up a quarter of the country's fiscal revenue in a year. There are so many castles and manors, so many bureaucrats and clergy. How much silver coins do they cost the general public every year?"

"Charles!" Berthier was startled and subconsciously turned his head to look at the other members of the Knights. After making sure no one heard him, he lowered his voice and said:

"Be careful with your words. It's not good for others to hear such treasonous words. No matter how serious the financial crisis of the kingdom is, you can't point the finger at His Majesty the King."

Lawrence sighed lightly, his expression no longer as heavy as before. He just shrugged and ended the topic with a smile:
"It doesn't matter. We are all family here."

Berthier nodded hesitantly. He didn't know since when he had tacitly accepted that the Privy Council, which should have been directly under the jurisdiction of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, was now directly under the jurisdiction of His Excellency Lawrence Bonaparte.

While Lawrence and Berthier were chatting and laughing, the Corsican soldiers on the march did not look so relaxed.

When the Corsican soldiers learned that they were marching towards the city of Genoa, an indescribable complex emotion suddenly arose in their hearts.

For the children and young people on Corsica, the word Genoese did not seem to be anything special. They had only heard it from their elders, and it seemed that they were a group of bad people who had ruled the island before.

The Corsicans who personally experienced the Genoese rule will never forget how much pain and hatred, how much blood and tears were shed during that period.

As a prosperous and wealthy commercial port, Genoa has a large population staying in the city at all times. The amount of food consumed by such a huge population every day is naturally not a small number.

The mainland of Genoa only consists of a narrow strip of the Ligurian coast, which has almost no agricultural output, let alone meeting the food needs of the citizens of Genoa.

As a result, the Genoese government was forced to import large amounts of grain from overseas to meet local demand. In the past, when Genoese merchants controlled the economy of Sicily, this granary of the Roman Empire was able to perfectly meet the needs of Genoese merchants.

But since Sicily broke away from the control of Genoese merchants, this extremely heavy agricultural tax fell entirely on Genoa's only remaining overseas colony - Corsica.

The Genoese merchants did not care about this island or its people at all. They prohibited the Corsicans from participating in politics and strongly suppressed the island's handicrafts and commerce, forcing the Corsicans to devote themselves to agricultural production and contribute to their great and prosperous city of Genoa.

The older generation of Corsican tenants once said that when they worked for the Corsican landlords, their status was the same as pigs and dogs, while when they worked for the Genoese, their status was even worse than pigs and dogs.

After all, the Corsican landlords would treat the tenants as their own private property, just like cattle and sheep, and would not kill them at will no matter how much they beat and scolded them.

The cold-blooded Genoese merchants didn't care about the lives of these peasants at all.

Tenant farmers who could not pay taxes were stripped naked and hanged in public in the town center. Even after their bodies had rotted for months, their relatives did not dare to collect them. Their wives and daughters were taken away by the guards and never heard from again. The taxes and debts he owed during his lifetime fell directly on his youngest son, who was less than twelve years old and had one year to repay them.

Stories like this wouldn’t even be news in Corsica in the past.

Under such cruel and exploitative rule, the Corsicans began to rise up 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 the two generations of father and son thirty years to finally achieve de facto independence and liberation for Corsica.

Although the Corsicans today are no longer afraid of the threat from Genoa, for the islanders who experienced that period of terror, this blood feud is definitely a pain that they will never forget.

Especially at this moment, those Corsican soldiers who are marching, many of them are soldiers who have followed three generations of Corsican leaders since Giacinto Paoli.

These nearly fifty-year-old soldiers and officers have forgotten many things in their lives, but they will never forget why their younger selves risked their lives to join the resistance:

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, blood for blood, let's end the feud and recover our homeland"

To let the Genoese drown in their own blood was the sole purpose of the Corsican Defense Force when it was first established.

Now, the city of Genoa is within reach.

At almost the same time, in the Grand Council Hall of the Doge's Palace, the power center of the Republic of Genoa.

Normally, this magnificent and spacious meeting hall would only be used during important events such as the change of governors and the reception of envoys from major powers.

And now, the crowded scene in the Great Council Hall only shows one thing - the Republic of Genoa is suffering from the biggest crisis in decades, or even centuries:

The sharp blade of the Corsican army has already poked the nose of the city of Genoa.

Ever since the Corsican army landed in Vadolidore, the Genoese military has been paying close attention to the actions of this army. After all, Vadolidore is only three days' journey from Genoa city.

However, many parliamentarians and political commentators have said that there is no need to worry too much about the Corsican barbarians. These arrogant young men from noble families still maintain the stereotype of Corsica from thirty years ago, believing that such an army is simply heading for the Kingdom of Sardinia and will soon be wiped out in Piedmont.

Such remarks were soon supported by the corrupt and conservative noble families in the country. They did not want to be frightened by the Corsicans landing in Liguria. That would affect the prestige of the Republic and the trade of the Port of Genoa, thus reducing the gold flowing into their pockets.

After all, merchants are the ones who know best how to seek profit and avoid harm. Once the port of Genoa begins to deploy defenses, those merchant ship captains with a keen sense of smell will inevitably suspect whether the Republic of Genoa is involved in the turmoil of the Italian War. In this case, the Republic's trade income will inevitably decline sharply.

However, the Governor Giovanni Battista Cambiaso did not support this argument. The sixty-year-old man believed that they should be wary of any army approaching the mainland of the Republic. After all, Genoa, with its small territory and sparse population, was not known for its military strength. In addition, the defense focus of the entire country was on the sea, and the investment in the army was very scarce.

For hundreds of years, the Republic of Genoa has relied on flexible diplomacy and a powerful navy to protect itself rather than relying on an expensive and often ineffective 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 oligarchic regime, the power of the Republic of Genoa is basically in the hands of the nobles and financial families. Although the Governor of Genoa nominally rules the entire country, the short term of two years each term still greatly restricts the Governor's power. In many cases, this position is just a puppet and representative supported by major families or even other countries.

It was not until dawn today, when the top leaders of the Republic learned that an army of unknown size was approaching the city of Genoa at a forced march, that these wealthy and noble people who had lived in comfort for so long rushed to the Governor's Palace in a panic.

At this moment, not only the noble families of the Republic, but also the middle-class citizens have sent their representatives. Dozens or even hundreds of people gathered in the meeting hall to discuss the next countermeasures:

"The Corsicans are coming to attack us. What should we do?"

"I don't believe it! It's impossible for the Corsicans to defeat the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia. How could they have the energy to care about Genoa at this time? This must be a false alarm!"

"Let's ask Spain for help. Carlos III still owes us a favor!" "What a joke! The Corsicans are about to raze this place to the ground. How can the Spanish catch up?"

"Military, where are our Republican Guards? Are there any mercenary groups on standby in the harbor?"

"How should the expenses of the mercenaries in the mercenary group be shared?"

"Idiot! You still care about this little expense at this time?!"

"You dare to say it again?!"

Hundreds of representatives were arguing and chattering endlessly, and those who disagreed were almost at odds with each other, as if this was not a grand meeting hall symbolizing the highest authority of the Republic, but a vegetable market next to a stinking ditch in the slums.

"Silence! Silence!"

Governor Batista on the stage finally couldn't stand it anymore. Although he didn't have much real power, as the nominal supreme leader, his powerful roar still shocked the chaos in the meeting hall:
"General Tiro Berlan has led the Republican Guard to stop the Corsicans. I have given him instructions to find out the other party's intentions and do his best to avoid conflict with the Corsican army."

The meeting room quieted down a bit. The delegates finally breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that the Republican Guard had been dispatched to negotiate with the Corsican army. But then they started to provoke Governor Batista's decision again:

"Humph, it seems that not all the tax money spent on the army is used to support a bunch of good-for-nothings."

"General Tiro Belland? Is he a suitable candidate? Why did you decide on the candidate without the consent of the parliament?"

"What do you mean by avoiding conflict? We should go out and attack, defeat the enemy and take back Corsica!"

"Yes, I have read that the Corsicans are vulnerable."

In the eyes of these children from aristocratic families, Batista, as a governor without real power, was considered to have exceeded his authority and was not allowed even if he made the right decision in a timely manner.

The white-haired Governor Batista sighed helplessly, looking exhausted.

The hundreds of representatives in front of him, each of them was a hothouse child born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and each of them really understood the Corsicans and their army. But it was such a group of people gathered together to decide the fate of the entire Republic of Genoa. Governor Batista suddenly felt it was absurd and ridiculous.

He could only try his best to persuade:

"General Tiro Berlan is our most senior general. He has fought against the rebels on Corsica for more than ten years and has sufficient experience in facing the Corsican army. In addition, although our war with Corsica has not officially ended, this is definitely not a good time to take the initiative to provoke disputes. The Kingdom of Corsica has joined the Sicilian War of Independence. If we take the initiative to attack it, it will most likely be regarded as interfering in this war. I think none of you 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. However, the Kingdom of Corsica is now fighting alongside the Kingdom of Spain. If the war is reignited at this moment and a war is initiated against the Kingdom of Corsica, it 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 preside over the meeting:

"We have to wait for General Belran to report back from the front before we can make further decisions. Before that, let's discuss some contingency plans for various possible situations."

However, what Governor Batista, the nobles and the merchants did not expect was:
General Tiro Belland, who they had placed high hopes on, was now dying and was being supported by two of his subordinates as he retreated out of the battlefield without looking back.

As for the Republic of Genoa's only standing army force, the Republican Guard, it had completely collapsed and was fleeing backwards frantically like a flock of frightened sheep.

On the battlefield, countless corpses were lying on the ground, almost all of them were Genoese soldiers. Their blood gathered together and even formed a stream flowing to the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The wounded soldiers used their muskets as crutches and tried their best to escape from this hell. The healthy soldiers lost all their fighting will after witnessing this unprecedented tragedy and joined the fleeing team.

Not far away, the Corsican army slowly pursued the remnants of the Genoese. When the Corsican soldiers stepped over the bodies of the Genoese with indifference, their trouser legs were soaked with blood.

General Tiro Belland turned his head and looked at the battlefield just now. There was only one expression on his face - confusion.

"In the end what happened?"

The gunshot wounds on his left shoulder and right leg sent waves 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 so quickly by the Corsican army.

Even General Tiro Berlan, who had more than ten years of experience in fighting the Corsican Defense Forces, had no clue at all.

Victory and defeat are common in the military, but General Berlant simply could not accept it. He did not even know how he had lost the battle, nor how the elite Republican Guard had been completely disintegrated. Everything seemed to have happened in an instant.

Just two hours ago, General Berlant led the spirited Republican Guard and was ordered to intercept the Corsican Army.

For this veteran, this mission in times of crisis is both a heavy burden and a great opportunity.

Three years ago, General Berlain, commander of the Corps in Corsica, achieved a great victory over the Northern Corps of the Corsican Defense Force. He not only captured the important northern town of Bastia, but also pushed the front line forward hundreds of miles in one fell swoop.

At that time, General Berlan thought that he would be able to recapture Ajaccio soon and put down the independence rebellion that had lasted for thirty years in one fell swoop.

But soon after that, news came from Corsica that a new leader announced that he would lead Corsica to pledge allegiance to King Louis XV of France, and France actually bypassed Genoa, directly accepted Corsica's allegiance and stationed troops there.

Genoa naturally did not dare to engage in direct conflict with France, so it did not make any comments on this incident. General Berlan's legion was naturally disbanded, and the general himself semi-retired and stayed in his homeland to enjoy his retirement.

The old general always felt that if the cunning Corsicans had not obtained the protection of France through diplomatic means, he would have been able to retake the entire island of Corsica in one fell swoop.

Therefore, during the march, General Berlant was somewhat excited. If he could really defeat the main force of the Corsican Defense Army here, then taking the opportunity to retake Corsica would at least be feasible militarily.

With this thought in mind, the vanguard sentinels of the two armies soon came into contact with each other.

General Tiro Belland sent an envoy to warn the Corsican army to leave the territory 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 Berran furious - they detained the envoys they sent and expressed their intention to march through the city of Genoa. If the Genoese army dared to stop them, it would be seen as a signal of renewed war between the two countries. Anyway, the two countries had never reached a peace agreement.

Unlike those greenhouse kids in Genoa, General Berlant believed that he understood the Corsicans very well due to his more than a decade of combat experience with the Corsican Defense Forces. He was even fighting the Corsicans three years ago. It was impossible that the poor island would undergo any qualitative changes in three years, right?

It was these experiences that made General Berlant feel that the Republican Guard he led was superior to the Corsican Defense Force in quality, and that he was the one with the upper hand in this battle.

Therefore, General Berlain 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 opened fire, General Belran had no idea what was happening.

He only remembered that the Corsican army was actually deployed in a skirmish formation, which was a formation that only chasseurs would deploy.

To date, hunters equipped with rifled rifles are extremely rare in the armies of European countries.

First, rifled guns are expensive and costly to produce; second, the current rifled guns have an extremely low firing rate, making it difficult to form sustained firepower; and third, the use of rifled guns places very high demands on the soldiers' shooting qualities, and only after long-term training can they accurately snipe and kill the enemy on the battlefield.

Due to these shortcomings, European countries only have a very small number of chasseur regiments in their armies, and their role is just to provide occasional fire support to the line infantry.

Even in the Napoleonic era, there were few chasseurs in Napoleon's army because he preferred line infantry. Napoleon's preference continued to influence the French Army. Until the late 19th century, the French Army still retained a large number of line infantry regiments.

Therefore, when General Berlant saw that the Corsican army was all deployed in a skirmish formation, he had no idea what the enemy's intentions were.

While General Belran was analyzing the situation anxiously, the two armies had already engaged in several rounds of fire.

Before the general's order was issued, a shocking news came from the front line:

The vanguard troops had been completely defeated.

Faced with this news, not to mention the stunned adjutants, even General Belran had never seen such a scene in his decades of military career.

Just a few rounds of fire were enough to completely destroy six line infantry battalions? !
If he was leading a group of peasants who had never seen guns, it would be fine, but he was leading the most elite Republican Guard in the entire Republic of Genoa. How could he end up like this? !

General Belran was simply unwilling to accept this reality. He rushed out of the command post like a madman, rode his horse to the front line himself, and tried to reorganize the troops and launch a counterattack with his prestige.

What the general didn't know was that the moment he appeared on the front battlefield, dozens of rifles were aimed directly at his head.

After a round of volleys, General Belran was shot in the left shoulder and right leg, and bleeding profusely. The warhorse under his crotch also became irritable and furious due to the gunshot wounds. It leaped and knocked General Belran to the ground, then fled the battlefield neighing.

Seeing General Berlant falling in a pool of blood without any power to struggle, fear immediately spread rapidly among the Genoese soldiers. Even the troops that had not yet been involved in the battle dropped their weapons and joined the fleeing queue.

Although the adjutants rushed forward in time to rescue General Berlan, the complete defeat of the Republican Guard was inevitable.