Because Aragon's position is too firm, the balance of power is too great, the international situation is too unfavorable, and Aragon's bid is enough for the tycoon - 100,000 ducats......

So the Genoese finally chose to accept the reality and agreed to "return" Corsica.

Corsica, which has been "separated" from the "motherland" for two hundred years, is finally "returning" to the "embrace of the motherland". What a historic moment!

……

On the morning of June 30, 1494, twenty-four ships of the Aragonese Mediterranean Fleet, carrying 3,000 soldiers from Sardinia in the south, sailed into the port of Ajaccio. For the sake of secrecy, they used the arquebus again, but also with the most advanced, His Majesty's version of the Mushkert arquebus, and of course, the salary was not reduced. In short, they did not lack the material foundation and spiritual support of the local tyrants, but the Genoese could not tell how they differed from ordinary soldiers with the naked eye.

But the Genoese and some well-informed Corsicans understood one thing: Corsica, according to the Aragonese people, "as a sacred and inalienable territory of Aragon, is finally returning to the bosom of the great motherland", and today is the last day before the return.

Of course, the Genoese must have been depressed, and the Corsicans were puzzled as to when they became "the people of the great kingdom of Aragon" and when their homeland became "the sacred and inalienable territory of Aragon since ancient times"?

Anyway, with the intelligence and emotional intelligence of Corsican islanders, it is impossible to understand the wisdom and feelings contained in this.

But Ferdinand didn't expect them to understand that the Corsican islanders were a great problem in his opinion! Judging from the fact that Corsica has always been not very peaceful in history, it is feared that these islanders will not be comfortable as subjects of the Kingdom of Aragon. The more I think about it, the more I think, this is similar to the situation in Victoria Harbour.

……

After the last landing of the Genoese red cross flag on a white background, which had been flying in Corsica for 61 years, the Genoese merchant ship "Genoese", which had carried the departing governor Liguria, sailed out of Ajaccio – the last moment of Genoa's evacuation of Corsica.

The farewell ceremony of the Republic of Genoa was inaugurated on the afternoon of June 30, 1495 at the Doge's Palace in Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica. In the blood-red sunset, the last Governor of Hong Kong bid farewell to the newly renovated courtyard.

In the afternoon, a dignified Liguria watched as the Genoese flag lowered its pole to the sound of the trumpet in the "aftermath of the tide". This time, there will never be another Genoese flag raised from here. At 4:40, Liguria, who had ruled Corsica for five years on behalf of the Republic of Genoa, boarded the Doge's carriage and left the Doge's Palace for the last time.

With the reconstruction of the fire-damaged Ajaccio, the Genoese Dogeate in Corsica was completed in 1490, but with the departure of the last Doge of Corsica, the new Renaissance building is about to become a thing of the past. Not necessarily, as it is likely that this governor's palace will serve as the seat of the new governor of the province of Aragon.

On the evening of 30 June, a farewell ceremony was held to the east of the Ajaccio barracks, not far from the headquarters of the Genoese army in Corsica. The Genoese merchant ship "Genoese" anchored in the harbor and the huge Aragonese gold and red flag (four-bar, red and five-bar gold) hoisted from the nearby building form the backdrop for this "sunset ceremony".

At this time, the sunset is getting lower and lower. The Bishop of Corsica, Barbarigo (who was on the same side as the Pope), read the papal message in the rain: "The flag of Genoa will be lowered and the flag of Aragon will fly over the island of Corsica." Sixty-one years of rule in Genoa were coming to an end. ”

After the sun set, torches were lit in the square of the city of Ajaccio for the second flag-lowering ceremony of the day on Corsica. Sixty-one years ago, a Genoese battalion commander named Barbarigo led his soldiers to capture the last of the Aragãns in Corsica who had not had time to retreat in Ajaccio, where the Genoese flag was raised; Today, another Genoese soldier lowered the red cross flag on a white background at this place next to the Genoese barracks.

Of course, the most remarkable thing is in the middle of the night, under the light of the moon, torches, oil lamps, and fires...... Ignore these details...... The change of flags took place at the ceremony of the transfer of sovereignty over Corsica between Aragon and Genoa. At the last minute of June 30, 1495 (the determination is not precise enough, for sure), the red cross flag on a white background was lowered for the last time in Corsica, and Genoa's sixty-one years of rule in Corsica came to an end.

In the first minute of the new day (also inaccurately), the flag of Aragon was raised to the conquest of Paradise (lyrics not expressed), which Ferdinand had ordered at his own discretion, and the Kingdom of Aragon resumed its sovereignty over Corsica. At the same time, the gold and red flag was raised in the Genoese army barracks, and two hours earlier, the Genoese barracks had been handed over to the Sardinian Army and the Mediterranean Fleet of the Kingdom of Aragon, and the Aragon Army had begun to take over the defense of Corsica.

……

"Hell, I've never spent so much time in a pile of torches and oil lamps or even a fire on a dark night like this! And so much more nonsense! Damn the Aragonese! What a bunch of boring guys! I felt like I had attended a ceremony by a barbarian chieftain! ”

Ahem, perhaps this passage can show that this is not the era that is at least officially solemn five hundred years later, and that this ceremony is not at all comparable to the grandeur of the handover of Victoria Harbour. Sober up from the literary and poetic atmosphere! It's 1495!

The one who expressed his dissatisfaction in private was naturally the last governor Liguria, who was forcibly driven away by the Aragonese so inexplicably, and it was strange that he was in a good mood!

The Bishop of Corsica was beside him without saying a word. As a clergyman of the Holy See, he remained here. It was only when the last Governor, who had already stepped down, finished complaining that he said lightly: "Your Excellency, you should go." ”

About an hour later, Liguria, the 13th Viceroy of Genoa in Corsica, who had just attended the handover ceremony, boarded the deck of the Genoese. The sailboat soon disappeared into the night of the western Mediterranean.

Sixty-one years, four months and four days elapsed from February 26, 1434, when the Genoese expeditionary force planted the Genoese flag in the Corsica capital, to July 1, 1495, when the flag of Aragon was raised in Corsica. The Genoese came from the sea, and went from the sea.

……

The Genoese were sent away, but the matter was not over. Now, there are two messages. One good news, one bad news.

The good news is that all the islands in the Western Mediterranean that can show their faces on the map of all Europe are already under Aragon's control, and there is not a single island with an area of more than 10 square kilometers that is not under Aragon's control. This conjures up a modern word, island chain.

The bad news is that due to the "return" of Corsica, the number of troops in Sardinia is 10,500 and 500 to the Kingdom of Naples, which is negligible, but this time another 3,000 are stationed in Corsica, and all of a sudden the number of troops is somewhat insufficient. At the same time, 3,000 people on Corsica are also very stretched, after all, the order of Sardinia has long been swept away, although Corsica is smaller than Sardinia, but the land is small, and even the governor of Genoa has been assassinated, of course, the Genoese themselves may be mainly responsible, because this is inseparable from the poor administration and serious corruption and heavy taxes of the Genoese people.

……