"Sardinian sons! Lao Tzu must press you into the sea and drown!"

"Shut up, Corsican monkey, I'll pee on your grave if I can find your body tomorrow!"

On the narrow streets of the northern city of Ajaccio, a bloodied volunteer soldier gasped for breath, holding a short sword in his hand and confronting the Sardinian soldier in front of him.

It was already dark at night, and neither of them could see each other's faces clearly, so they could barely stare at each other's body silhouettes in the dark.

Their feet had been littered with corpses since I don't know how long ago, and the blood that had been spilled on the city had even gathered into small pools of blood on the streets, and the bottom of their boots had been dyed red from the bottom of almost every soldier who was fighting on the front line.

The two soldiers facing each other seemed to be a little physically exhausted, and their teammates had also turned into part of this corpse forest in the bloody battle.

In the clear moonlight, you can even faintly see the tragic situation of the seriously injured and the undead falling to the ground struggling and squirming.

The two remaining soldiers were talking harshly to each other, confronting each other, taking the opportunity to gather strength.

Less than a minute later, the volunteer soldier took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and stabbed with all his might at the invader he hated in front of him.

The Sardinian soldier subconsciously raised his musket bayonet to block, but he had clearly not recovered from the battle, and his hands hung limply under his crotch when the short knife of the volunteer soldier sank three inches deep into his chest.

There were no last words, only an instinctive whimper, and the musket in the Sardinian soldier's hand came out of his hand and slammed into the ground, and his body fell to the pool of blood, and soon there was no movement.

The volunteer soldier gritted his teeth and drew his short knife, staring at the enemy who died under his own sword, without the joy of stabbing the enemy to death, nor the joy of the rest of his life, the smell of blood in the air made him want to vomit.

He wandered blankly in the bloody alley for a moment, and was about to return to the rear to report when a sudden sound of rapidly approaching footsteps sounded behind him.

Bang, bang!

The soldier was about to look back, but several gunshots had already reached his ears.

The soldier's head was only halfway twisted, and the sharp pain that spread throughout his body caused him to fall straight to the ground, and he knew that he had been shot.

Fifteen or sixteen Sardinian soldiers glanced blankly at the Volunteers who had fallen in a pool of blood, and immediately began to reload, while a non-commissioned officer who looked like a captain immediately took the alley under the command of a loud command.

Within minutes of the Sardinian soldiers taking over the alley, another squad of volunteers rushed to try to retake the neighborhood.

In the shadow of swords and the smoke of gunpowder, countless blood was spilled on the land of Ajaccio.

...

Such battles happen all the time.

The soft, watery moonlight shone brightly on Ajaccio, but the city was unlikely to be as peaceful and quiet tonight as it used to be.

As Pasquale Paul's improvised Civic Volunteers joined the battle, the Corsican Army, which was already in decline, breathed a sigh of relief.

Under the leadership of General Poly, this improvised volunteer army also showed amazing cohesion.

Filled with resentment against the invaders, these martial Corsicans rushed to the front line to fight the Sardinian army to the death, showing no morale at all like a makeshift levy army.

At the same time, the strength of this citizen volunteer army seems to have completely exceeded the expectations of the Sardinian army.

At first, the Sardinian commanders were not at all wary of the newly formed rabble.

They discussed the threat of the Ajaccio civil resistance in their early offensive plans, and concluded that there was no need to worry or take any action.

And when the Citizen Volunteers almost broke through the entire front of the Sardinian army directly from the northern city, the Sardinian commanders also froze

Shi reacted in shock and hurriedly redeployed his troops, which barely maintained their control over Xicheng District.

Although it did not cause a catastrophe, this mistake of command also allowed the Sardinian army to waste hours of offensive time, allowing the Corsican army to drag the battle until 25 June.

As the night deepened, the Sardinian army's unfamiliarity with the terrain of the city made it difficult for them to attack the attack, and the fatigue of the soldiers made the Sardinian offensive much weaker than in the afternoon.

By midnight, although it was not yet possible to completely push the Sardinian army back into the sea, the Corsican army had built a solid line of defense and successfully stopped the Sardinian army's advance into the eastern city.

Of course, for the Sardinian landing army, which came across the sea and had the upper hand, maintaining the status quo and engaging in a long-term tug-of-war was definitely the most unacceptable strategy.

...

Port Ajaccio, inside the temporary command post of the Sardinian army.

"What a gaffe!"

Colonel Butland glared angrily at the zero hour and minute hands on his pocket watch, and in a fit of rage, he smashed the valuable pure gold pocket watch to the ground and crushed it into the dirt with his boots.

The officers in the command post all looked at the documents and maps on the table silently, not daring to make any movement when the head of the command was furious.

As the commander of the army for this landing operation, Colonel Butland could not accept the situation at this time.

The Sardinian army had succeeded in strategically deceiving the Wehrmacht of Corsican by moving the main forces to the south, and they still had an absolute superiority in firepower, with a full double superiority in troops, and even superior to the Corsicans in terms of equipment and training, but even so, Colonel Butland was not able to completely take Ajaccio on 24 June.

And judging by the current situation, Colonel Butland did not even dare to guarantee that he would be able to completely capture the Corsican capital on June 25.

"You shit! Something that pigs and dogs are not as good as!"

Colonel Butland slammed his fist on the table, and with a grim face swept around his staff officers and adjutants, obviously in anger:

"Before I set out, I promised the War Department, and even His Majesty the King, that I boasted to those fools at the Admiralty that I could take Ajaccio in one day, but now... What face do you have for me to go back to Turin?!"

The officers were all trembling and did not dare to interject a word.

However, the officers present probably understood Colonel Butland's anger.

After all, a year earlier, Colonel Butland had suffered a major defeat in Corsica.

At that time, the Kingdom of Sardinia received the news of the huge silver mine near Ajaccio, and the king of Sardinia, Carlo Emanuele III, who had already coveted Corsica, immediately ordered the army to cross the sea from the Sardinian army to invade Corsica and seize the silver mine of Ajaccio.

At that time, Colonel Butlan also led an army of more than 3,000 men to cross the strait to the north, trying to establish his great cause by seizing Bonifa in southern Corsica and then directly attacking Ajaccio.

However, the first step of Colonel Butland's plan fell through.

His more than 3,000 men were resisted by a Corsican army of only 1,000 men in Bonifac, and the Corsican army was commanded by a little-known yellow-haired boy named Lawrence Bonaparte, a man whom Colonel Butland had never even heard of.

What happened after that is no secret in Corsica and Sardinia:

Lawrence Bonaparte returned victorious at Bonifa and Colonel Bartland was not only almost completely wiped out, but he himself was wounded by a stray bullet and fell off his horse, barely being saved from the battlefield by his men and saving his life.

Since then, Colonel Butland has been humiliated and neglected at home for his disgrace of 3,000 to 1,000, and although Lawrence Bonaparte soon proved that he was not an idle man, Colonel Butland's disgrace would not be washed away

Brush.

His enemies within the army even advocated that Colonel Butland be brought to court martial, believing that even if a pig were to be the commander of the time, it would not be possible for the Bonifa to be annihilated.

And more than a month ago, when the colonel learned that a surprise attack on the Kingdom of Corsica was being planned within the kingdom, the desperate Colonel Butlan was forced to choose to give it a go:

Filled with a grudge against Lawrence Bonaparte, Colonel Butland mobilized all his connections and political resources, paid a great price, and made countless favors and promises, finally getting the opportunity to command the landing force in Ajaccio at this moment.

As long as he can capture Ajaccio perfectly, Colonel Butland will be able to bring shame to Bonifa, and even take the credit for the subsequent occupation of all Corsica, and such a credit may not allow him to be promoted to a general.

Contrary to expectations, however, the current situation seems to be moving in a very different direction from the bright future that Colonel Butland had imagined.

"Y'all talk to me, huh?! What are you doing with your mouth shut?"

Colonel Butlan roared at the officers, his eyes fixed on the map of the eastern city of Ajaccio, for whom there was a ladder to power and status, as well as a bottomless abyss from which he could never recover:

"Why the hell is this happening on the front line! Why is the advance stalled! And why haven't even those warships in the harbor been completely captured yet?!"

The Sardinian navy had made a special statement before the operation, asking Colonel Butland to capture the Corsican warships in the port intact when he conquered Ajaccio, after all, if all the Corsican naval warships could be incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia, it would also be a great help to the already weak Sardinian navy.

However, under the stubborn resistance of Corsican sailors, the Sardinian army has so far captured only a few brigs and light cruisers, and the two most critical line warships have also resisted stubbornly under the leadership of Grosso Bruno.

Under Colonel Butland's angry questioning, his staff adjutant hesitated for a long time before whispering:

"The resistance we have suffered is fiercer than expected, sir, the terrain of the streets of Ajaccio is more complex than expected... Now that our soldiers are exhausted after hours of continuous fighting, and the visibility at night is so low, I think the possibility of breaking through Ajaccio tonight is quite limited, so it is better to consolidate the line and rest all night..."

"Respite? Why don't you just go back to your home country and recuperate?"

Colonel Butland interrupted the staff officer with a roar, and waved his hand to the naval fleet that loomed in the moonlight on the sea outside the window:

"Do you know that the army officers on the flagship are all gearing up, waiting to take away the command of the landing force from us, and take away the glory and merit that should belong to us! As long as we don't take Ajaccio tonight, there will be more than three generals vying to take command of this force before dawn tomorrow!"

Even a general of the Kingdom of Sardinia would have been faveted by this remarkable feat of capturing Ajaccio and annexing all of Corsica in one fell swoop, and if they found the slightest mistake in the landing operation, they would have demanded that the soft-spoken colonel surrender command of the political forces.

And this is undoubtedly unacceptable to Colonel Butlan, who has given everything in exchange for the command of this operation.

The staff officer's body trembled, although he was a little unaccustomed to the self-owned officer's practice of putting his own interests above everything else, but he didn't dare to say anything, so he had to stubbornly propose:

"This... Well, if you insist on continuing the attack, we have captured a group of Corsicans who have not had time to evacuate, as well as some of the enemy soldiers who have surrendered, and we may be able to force them to act as city guides for our army, and as for the night lighting, we must immediately prepare for the distribution of torches and lanterns to the soldiers..."

"No, I don't need the help of the Corsicans!"

Colonel Butland's eyes widened, and he could even clearly see the dense blood like a spider's web

Silk:

"Put all my captives to death, pull out their intestines, cut off their heads, and I will let the rebels of all Corsica know the fate of disobedience to us! And there is no need to prepare any torches, just set a fire in Ajaccio and use the blazing fire to illuminate our soldiers! Even if the city is reduced to a ruin at dawn, I will make sure that the Savoy banner flies over that ruin!"

The almost roaring words sent shudders down the shudder of all the officers in the command room, who looked in horror at Colonel Butland's demonic and crazy appearance, but did not dare to raise any objections.

Although the officers present knew that when Colonel Butland's orders were carried out thoroughly, the pearl of Corsica would be reduced to a ghost town before dawn.

Free to read.