On June 24, 1771, at about 4 p.m., the invasion fleet of the Kingdom of Sardinia officially arrived at the port of Ajaccio.

The massive fleet announced their arrival with cannon fire from the sky.

The eight line ships that led the way were very experienced in keeping the distance of the artillery within the maximum range, and took advantage of the situation to spread out a line of artillery formation, pouring out the overwhelming death and destruction on the Corsican land.

The accompanying frigates and cruisers dispersed to control and clear the entire sea area, removing all obstacles to the landing of the clippers that followed.

Under this continuous artillery bombardment, the soldiers could feel the ground tremble almost throughout the city of Ajacciosi.

The Corsican Wehrmacht lacked heavy firepower, and the only artillery in the army was basically deployed to the south by the Wehrmacht.

In the face of the artillery bombardment of the Sardinian fleet, the only effective counterattacks were a few twelve-pounder guns in the Corsican garrison and the naval fleet anchored in the military port.

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

After more than half an hour of shelling, the Corsican navy in the port had already lost three galleys, and the rest of the 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 shelling of the Sardinian fleet did not bring them too many direct casualties, the continuous artillery fire and the trembling earth still made the soldiers who were waiting for it fearful, after all, the greatest effect of artillery in the eighteenth century was still the direct damage to morale.

"Huh..."

In the watchtower near the port area, the faces of all the officers were extremely heavy, including Carlo Bonaparte, who insisted on joining the battle, and Major Serurier, who was always watching the situation on the battlefield, frowned at this time.

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

The Sardinian fleet wanted to force the garrison forces deployed around the port area to retreat by artillery strikes, so that the subsequent landing ships could successfully establish beachhead strongholds.

"I can only retreat first and retreat, and decide the outcome in the street fight."

Major Serurier bit his lip tightly, and after struggling for a moment, he ordered the city defense troops on the beachhead to retreat first, scattered in the streets and alleys of Xicheng District, waiting for a close street battle with the enemy troops who had landed.

If the army had continued to be ordered to stay in the harbor area, the Sardinian fleet would have been able to continue to use its artillery to attack the morale and will of the city defenders, and by the time the defenders were almost in a state of collapse, the Sardinian landing force would have taken Ajaccio almost without blood.

In view of the absolute disadvantage of the city defense army in terms of strength and firepower, Major Serier was forced to abandon the plan of directly blocking the enemy's landing on the beach, and instead borrowed the city defense army's familiarity and control of the city's terrain, so as to try to directly confront the Sardinian army in a white-knuckle battle.

As long as the two sides engaged in fierce battles in the streets and alleys of the city, the superiority of the Sardinian fleet at sea would not be effective, and the range of their artillery would not be enough to directly hit the civilians and the prime minister's palace in Dongcheng.

Moreover, street battles in urban terrain were difficult to distinguish between winners and losers in a short period of time, which was undoubtedly a disadvantage for the Sardinian fleet that rushed across the sea, and their supplies could not support a long-term tug-of-war.

Soon, under the orders of Major Serurier, the city guards at the beachhead quickly withdrew into the city, ready to fight to the death against the Sardinian army in the streets of Ajaccio.

...

"Oh... Didn't you choose to put up a desperate resistance in the harbor, and it seems that these Corsican barbarians are not all outsiders of war."

Above the flagship of the Sardinian fleet, a British officer lowered his binoculars, a smile on his face that was wanton and relaxed, as if he did not take this raid seriously at all.

The Sardinian officer beside him also laughed and said, nodding his head and agreeing:

"These idiots, what they do now is useless, in their main force

The moment the team moved to Bonifac, the fall of Ajaccio was doomed, and I have received clear information that the defenders in Ajaccio will not exceed four thousand, and we have twice as many soldiers here!"

"A bunch of monkeys who don't know what to do, they probably regret not accepting the kindness of His Excellency Pete." The British official shook his head, and was unabashedly sneering at the barren island and its people:

"By the way, when the landing force enters the Prime Minister's Palace, don't forget that Your Excellency William Pitt must not be harmed."

"Rest assured, we will rescue His Excellency Pete safe and sound."

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

By five o'clock in the afternoon, the Sardinian fleet was pouring into the port of Ajaccio with dozens of galleons almost without hindrance, and only the Corsican navy in the military port not far away fired back at the landing force and sank three sailing ships.

Major Serurier looked intently at the Sardinian army in the harbor from the observation hole, and did not dare to relax for a moment.

Although he knew that the choice of street fighting was the best solution at the moment, with such a large difference in strength, Major Serire was really not sure to hold the enemy's surging offensive.

The first shots of the war also resounded through the streets of Ajaccio immediately after the Sardinian army landed.

After a short rest in the port area, the Sardinian army did not seem to have any special tactics, but simply relied on the numerical superiority to advance from west to east towards the Governor's palace of Ajaccio.

Major Seriers was also forced to maneuver with a very limited number of troops, trying to maintain the line and avoid any breach.

The whole city was divided into hundreds of independent small battlefields for a while, and everywhere you could see the corpses lying in pools of blood, and you could hear the wails of the wounded soldiers everywhere, and the smell of blood and gunpowder was intertwined, permeating every street in Xicheng District.

The Corsican and French soldiers relied on their knowledge of the topography of the city of Ajaccio to flexibly travel to various strongholds and ambush the Sardinian army, which also stalled the advance of the Sardinian army for a while, and even faintly tended to push back.

However, as the fierce fighting between the two sides entered the white-hot stage, the under-armed city defense force also seemed to be a little weak, and despite the efforts of Major Serurier to maintain the defensive line, the battle lines of both sides were still slowly advancing towards the palace of the Prime Minister of Ajaccio.

After several hours of fierce fighting, by about 8 p.m., the Sardinian army had largely occupied the western city of Ajaccio and was still advancing eastward.

"Shhhh Xicheng District is almost about to give up..."

Major Celurier and a number of Corsican officers retreated to the patrol station in the center of Ajaccio, where Lawrence Bonaparte had been stationed.

Listening to the endless reports of the heralds, Major Serier was also nervous, constantly making marks on the map, and always keeping abreast of the movements of the forefront.

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

This is undoubtedly bad news for the city defense coalition army, the increase in the width of the battlefield means that the already inferior city defense army will be more weak in the soldiers assigned to each defense line, if the enemy forces concentrate on breaking through a little, the entire defense line may collapse for thousands of miles.

In particular, there is a large area of open land with almost no buildings near the northern district, and if the Sardinian army attacked the eastern city from there, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The officers in the command post were all grim-faced, and Major Serierier was holding the quill tightly, his eyes were a little straight with nervousness, and he kept thinking about countermeasures:

"Should we abandon the concentration of the two cities in the north and south and retreat to the eastern city to defend it... But then there is no room for turnaround, and it is equally risky to continue to maintain the existing defensive line, in case of a breakthrough at some point, the enemy can surround and annihilate the entire city defense army, damn it, in the final analysis, there are too few troops..."

Ya'an, who was on the side, glanced at Major Serurière, who was full of sorrow, and he also realized what the root of the problem was, and after a moment of secret thought, he suddenly proposed:

"In response to possible holes in the Northern Sector Defence... Perhaps we can recruit a volunteer from among the citizens to fill the gap, we really don't have the extra troops to replenish the northern sector."

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

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

Unlike field warfare, in street warfare, the greatest requirement for an army is not organization and discipline, but the combat ability of individual soldiers.

The Corsicans are already militant and aggressive, advocating blood, force and vendetta, which is one of the main reasons why European countries disdainfully call Corsicans barbarians.

In addition, during the war of independence with the Republic of Genoa, Corsica experienced a period of national conscription, which also means that a considerable part of the citizens of Ajaccio are trained and combat-oriented.

Coupled with the determination of the citizens of Ajaccio to protect their homeland and their support for Lawrence Bonaparte, it is entirely possible to recruit a small army in a short period of time with the ample weapons and supplies in the Arjaccio Armory located in the rear.

However, what worries Major Serier the most is the morale of this volunteer army, if there is no leader who serves the public, these temporarily recruited citizens must not have too strong cohesion, after all, joining the volunteer army is a life-or-death choice.

In that case, they would also be in high risk of falling apart in the face of the Sardinian army, which would lead to the collapse of the entire defensive line.

This is why Major Serire did not recruit the citizens to form a volunteer army before the enemy attacked, but now that the field is so dangerous, the major has to seriously consider this plan of taking the sword off the rails.

And just as Major Serurier hesitated, Carlo Bonaparte, who was in the corner, suddenly spoke:

"I should be able to lead the Volunteers in battle against the Sardinians."

Suddenly, the officers in the entire command room subconsciously looked at Carlo Bonaparte, and Major Serurier glared at him without thinking, and stopped without thinking:

"Impossible, Monsieur Carlo, you are the brother of Lord Bonaparte, and the Volunteers will survive until the end of this battle, I am afraid that one in ten will survive!"

Frankly speaking, Major Serillier's decision to allow Carlo Bonaparte to serve in the front line was already a very risky decision, and he could not have allowed the Count of Bonaparte to lead a mortal army of volunteers to fight in battle.

Moreover, not long ago, Lawrence Bonaparte had mentioned in a letter that he intended Carlo Bonaparte to take the post of vice-governor of Provence in the future, which also made Major Seryrier even more afraid to take this risk.

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

"Because the citizens know that I'm Lawrence's brother, I'm the best fit, right?"

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

Although he knew in his heart that, by virtue of the high prestige of Lawrence Bonaparte, Prime Minister Bonaparte's own brother was indeed an excellent candidate to lead the Civic Volunteers, he did not dare to allow His Excellency Bonaparte's own brother to die on this battlefield.

Ya'an glanced at the Sardinian army not far away, and had to grit his teeth, took Carlo Bonaparte's arm and said quickly:

"Major, just in time when the enemy army 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 force, Mr. Karlo and I will return to the Prime Minister's Office and ask Miss Anna!"

Seeing this, Major Serurier no longer hesitated, he looked into Carlo Bonaparte's eyes, said nothing, just nodded heavily, and motioned for the two to hurry back to the eastern city to recruit citizens.

...

In less than half an hour, Yaan and Carlo Bonaparte rushed back to the prime minister's palace and found Anna Celistia, who was presiding over the distribution of food and water to the evacuated civilians.

"Forming a Volunteer Army...? I see..."

After listening to the report of the two, Anna also nodded solemnly, and did not ask for more details, the girl also knew that the military must be given complete trust at this time.

However, for Carlo Bonaparte's request to personally lead the volunteers, Anna Celistia also firmly refused:

"You must not be at risk yourself, for Monsieur Bonaparte has another appointment for you."

"Miss Anna! Major Ya'an has explained to you very clearly, if there is no core leader of the Volunteers at this time, then even if we recruit more men on the battlefield, it will be useless, and compared to the safety of Ajaccio, compared to the safety of Corsica, everything I have..."

Carlo Bonaparte bit his lip hard, bright red blood oozing from the corners of his mouth, he had also followed Pasquale Pauli against the Genoese, and knew very well that Ajaccio must be defended at all costs at this moment.

But Anna Celistia did not listen to Carlo's persuasion, and the young girl muttered for a moment, and then suddenly said:

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

Carlo Bonaparte was subconsciously stunned, unless his brother returned to Corsica in an instant, he could not think of anyone else who could combine the experience of commanding an army with the support of the people:

"Who?"

Anna did not answer immediately, she first summoned several of her subordinates and instructed them about the recruitment of volunteers among the refuge citizens, and then led Carlo Bonaparte and Yaan outward:

"Please come with me, the leader is in the Prime Minister's Palace... In addition, someone is coming! Please call Miss Shadia Vicky, I need her with me."

Free to read.