Genoa City, the commercial pearl of the Mediterranean alongside Venice, has been synonymous with wealth and prosperity for the past thousand years.

During the Crusade era, almost all the armies participating in the Holy War departed from the city of Genoa and traveled by sea to the eastern lands they dreamed of. As a result, Genoa earned huge profits and influence, and became a major commercial center in the Mediterranean.

Even the Lion-Hearted King of England, Charles, took advantage of the situation and adopted the flag of Genoa, the red cross on a white background, as his personal flag. This flag later became the national flag of the entire Kingdom of England.

In the following hundreds of years, Genoese businessmen also demonstrated their shrewd pursuit of profit to the fullest.

In the thirteenth century, they defeated their old trade enemy, the Republic of Pisa, and gained the island of Corsica. They dominated the entire Mediterranean trade and captured the astonishingly profitable spice trade route.

They took advantage of the Sicilian Vespers War and devoted all their energy to trying to control Sicily's economy; they provided loans to the ruling class, thereby monopolizing the production of grain, silk and sugar in Sicily, and then used that ship to

Shiploads of wheat and beans were exchanged for shiploads of gold and silver from Morocco.

When Philip II of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain declared the country bankrupt, and financiers all over Germany suffered heavy losses, and wailed everywhere, they took the opportunity to provide Spain with large amounts of economic aid, in exchange for almost all of the Spanish Mexico.

Endless silver flows to the port of Genoa.

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

Of course, there is no eternal feast in the world, and no country enjoys prosperity forever.

With the rise of the Ottoman Turks, Genoa lost its trade control over Crimea and the Eastern Mediterranean, and Venice's victory in the Fourth Uige War also declared the Venetian Republic's leading position in Mediterranean trade.

Coupled with the Corsican rebellion that had continued since the early eighteenth century, the Republic of Genoa at that time had fallen into inevitable decline.

But even so, the city of Genoa is still a rich and golden city in the eyes of many Europeans. After all, even at the end of the 18th century, Genoa, which was in decline, was still more prosperous and wealthy than Venice at the same time.

In the early morning of October 5, 1771, the Corsican army was less than forty miles away from this golden city.

...

The salty morning sea breeze was blowing on the marching road. Looking to the sea not far to the east, one could vaguely see the endless flow of merchant ships going to and from the port of Genoa in the distance.

Even if it has lost its glory a hundred years ago, the prosperity of the Republic of Genoa cannot be underestimated. The merchant ships that can be seen everywhere on the sea are enough to get a glimpse of it. The number of merchant ships plying to and from the port of Ajaccio is not even ten percent of that here.

one.

Chief of Staff Berthier followed Lawrence at a trot on his horse. He looked at the faintly visible building outlines in the distance and the towering Genoa Lighthouse on the sea, with a very excited expression:

"Ahead is the port of Genoa, a city rich in gold and silver. Legend has it that every citizen of Genoa has gold accessories weighing three ounces."

Lawrence laughed dumbly when he heard this, shook his head and said:

"It's just a legend. The wealth of the Republic of Genoa is concentrated in a very small number of financial families and wealthy families. Although the ordinary citizens there are better off than people in other places, they probably only have enough food and clothing."

"That's true."

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

"How much does Genoa's wealth have anything to do with the people at the bottom? Singing, dancing, and living in extravagance are destined to be the privileges 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 Kingdom of France is not like this. The kingdom itself is so rich and powerful, but there are so many hungry and cold people trembling in the countryside. The country is strong but the people are weak, the country is rich but the people are poor. Everyone knows this strange phenomenon

What is the root cause, but no one can make any changes... A Versailles Palace can burn a quarter of the entire country's fiscal revenue in a year, and there are so many castles and manors, so many bureaucrats and clergy

, how many silver coins of the general public are spent every year?"

"Char!" Berthier was startled. He subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the other members of the Knights. After making sure that no one heard, he lowered his voice and said:

"Be careful, it is not good for someone to hear such rebellious words. No matter how serious the kingdom's financial crisis is, you cannot point the finger at His Majesty the King."

Lawrence sighed lightly, his expression was not as heavy as before, he just shrugged and ended the topic with a smile:

"It doesn't matter, we are all our own people here."

Berthier nodded hesitantly. He didn't know when he had acquiesced that the Privy Knights, which should be directly subordinate to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, were now directly subordinate to His Excellency Laurence Bonaparte.

...

While Lawrence and Berthier were chatting and laughing, the expressions of the Corsican sergeants on the march were not so relaxed.

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

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

And those Corsican people who personally experienced the period of Genoa's rule will never forget how much pain and hatred, how much blood and tears that period was filled with.

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

Genoa's main territory is only this narrow Ligurian coast. This coast itself has almost no agricultural output, let alone meeting the food needs of the citizens of Genoa City.

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

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

Genoese businessmen didn't care about the island and its people at all. They banned the Corsican people from participating in politics and suppressed the island's handicraft industry and commerce, thereby forcing the Corsican people to invest in agricultural production and provide them with

The great and rich city of Genoa was built upon.

The older generation of Corsican tenant farmers once said that when working under the Corsican landowners, their status was the same as pigs and dogs, but when working under the Genoese, their status was inferior to pigs and dogs.

After all, Corsican landowners will treat tenant farmers as their own private property, just like cattle and sheep. No matter how much they beat or scold them, they will not kill them at will.

And the cold-blooded Genoese businessmen don't care at all about the life and death of these mud-legged people.

A tenant farmer who could not pay taxes was stripped naked and hanged in public in the center of the town. Even after the body decomposed for several months, his relatives did not dare to collect the body. His wife and daughter were snatched away by the guards and never heard from again.

, the taxes and debts incurred during his lifetime also fell directly on his younger son, who was under twelve years old, and had to be repaid within one year.

Stories like this were not even news in Corsica in the past.

Under such cruel and exploitative rule, the Corsican people began to rise up one after another 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 two generations of father and son for thirty years to finally achieve de facto independence for Corsica.

and liberation.

Although today's Corsicans are not afraid of the threat of Genoa, for the islanders who experienced that period of terror, this blood feud is definitely a pain that they will never forget in their hearts.

Especially at this moment, those Corsican sergeants who are marching in the ranks, many of them are soldiers who have followed three generations of Corsican leaders starting from Giacinto Paoli.

Nearly half a hundred soldiers and officers have forgotten many things in their lives over the years, but they will never forget why their young selves risked bloodshed on their homeland to join the resistance:

"Tooth for tooth, blood for blood, settle the feud and restore my homeland"

Letting the Genoese drown in a pool of their own blood was the sole purpose of the Corsican Defense Force when it was created.

Today, the city of Genoa is just around the corner.

...

Almost at the same time, the center of power of the Republic of Genoa - the large meeting hall of the Doge's Palace.

On weekdays, this splendid, large and spacious meeting hall will only be used for important events such as the change of governors and the reception of envoys from great powers.

And now, the overcrowded scene in the big meeting hall only shows one thing - the Republic of Genoa is suffering from the biggest crisis in decades, even a century:

The sharp blade of the Corsican army has reached the tip of Genoa City's nose.

Since the Corsican army landed at Valdore, the Genoese military has continued to pay attention to the actions of this army. After all, Valdore is only three days away from Genoa City.

However, many parliamentarians and political commentators have said that there is no need to be too concerned about the Corsican barbarians. This group of arrogant nobles still maintains the stereotype of Corsica thirty years ago, believing that such an army is simple and simple.

It is heading towards the Kingdom of Sardinia, and it will not be long before the entire army is wiped out in Piedmont.

Such remarks were quickly supported by a group of decadent and conservative prominent families in the country. They did not want to be frightened just because the Corsicans landed in Liguria. This would not only affect the prestige of the Republic, but also

It affected the trade flow in the port of Genoa, thereby reducing the gold flowing into their pockets.

After all, merchants know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages best. Once the port of Genoa begins to be fortified, those merchant ship captains with a keen sense of smell will inevitably doubt whether the Republic of Genoa is involved in the turmoil of the Italian war. As a result, the Republic's trade income will inevitably

will drop significantly.

As the governor, Giovanni Battista Cambiaso did not support this argument. The sixty-year-old man believed that we should be wary of any army approaching the Republic itself. After all, the country is small and the population is scarce.

Genoa is not known for its military strength, and the entire country's defense focus is still on the sea, with very little investment in the army.

Over the past hundreds of years, the Republic of Genoa has been more accustomed to protecting itself with flexible diplomacy and a powerful navy, rather than relying on an expensive and useless 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 oligarchy, the power of the Republic of Genoa is basically in the hands of those aristocratic wealthy families and financial families. Although the Governor of Genoa nominally rules the entire country, the short two-year term of each term still limits the power of the Governor.

It is extremely restrictive. In many cases, this position is just a puppet and representative supported by major families and even other countries.

It was not until dawn today, when the top leaders of the Republic learned that an unknown number of troops were approaching Genoa City in a hurry, that the rich and nobles who had been comfortable for a long time rushed to the Governor's Palace in chaos.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! At this moment, not only the famous families of the Republic, but also the middle-class citizens have sent their representatives, and dozens or hundreds of people gathered in the conference hall.

Discussing the next countermeasures:

"The Corsicans are coming? What should we do..."

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

"Ask Spain for help, Carlos III still owes us a favor!"

"Are you kidding? The Corsicans are about to raze this place to the ground. Can the Spaniards catch up?"

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

"Mercenary group...how should the expenses of those mercenaries be divided?"
To be continued...