From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

In the afternoon, the soldiers in the entire fort had been nervously mobilized.

The serfs who were still lying on the haystacks and dozing off were also angrily called by the governors, and crowded into the open space in the center of the castle in panic and anxiety. The crowded scene was like a big pot of yellow-black burnt porridge.

Everywhere was filled with the furious and nervous shouts of the governors, who kept urging the soldiers to go up the city wall. It seemed that only seeing the dark figures standing on the city wall could slightly alleviate their inner fear.

About four hundred soldiers were forced to squeeze onto the not-so-wide city wall with muskets.

Most soldiers simply did not have suitable shooting holes in front of them, especially for the soldiers guarding inside the city walls. They could only stand with their muskets in hand and their companions around them, silently waiting for the coming fight.

The Wehrmacht's assault on the city had not yet begun, but panic had already spread among the serfs like a plague.

For most of the soldiers present, this was the first time they had faced death.

On weekdays, these honest farmers in Badjiao would only pick up pitchforks and engage in small-scale fights with farmers from neighboring villages. However, due to the power of their masters, almost no serfs dared to kill anyone in these fights.

But now, they were holding muskets with bayonets in their hands and wearing brand-new military uniforms shipped from overseas. They were about to engage in a life-and-death fight with the Corsican regular army in a small, cramped castle.

Such a scene was absolutely unimaginable to these serfs who worked from sunrise to sunset.

The nerves of all the soldiers were tense, even those who did not stand on the city wall and make the first wave of contact with the Wehrmacht.

They felt that their whole bodies were heating up, but their limbs were weakening uncontrollably. The thumping heartbeats drowned out the meaningless murmurs of their companions around them, like ringing the death knell.

"Saint Paul bless St. John bless. Jesus our Lord is above"

Some soldiers had begun to pray in a daze, and some even threw their weapons aside and drew crosses on their chests over and over again. This pious look definitely exceeded any of their prayers in church.

The tense atmosphere in the entire fortress seemed to have condensed to a solid state, just waiting for the sharp blade of the Wehrmacht to penetrate it.

The thin monkey stood on the city wall, staring blankly at the army not far away that kept pressing in.

By this time, his mind went blank and he had completely forgotten the skills and tips taught to him by the instructors on the training ground.

His soul had already drifted away. Long before his body was penetrated by the bullet, his soul had already taken a step forward and drifted towards Propriano.

The thin monkey didn't know why he suddenly thought of Propriano at this time. Maybe it was because of his brother's letter, which made him realize that the world is not all hell, there is also heaven, and that heaven is in Corsica.

"Haha" Thin Monkey laughed at himself, raised his eyebrows and glanced at the National Defense Force troops that were about to approach two hundred yards from the city wall, and laughed contemptuously:

"Damn it, I should have given it a try when I was in Figari yesterday. If I could use my life to take away the life of a dog landlord, then I would still be smiling until I'm buried."

After laughing, he took another look at the tightly formed soldiers of the National Defense Force, and couldn't help but feel a sense of irony.

These soldiers were supposed to be his liberators, but now, he had to fight with them.

"But it might not be a bad idea to die here."

Shouhou suddenly smiled with relief. Even he himself was amused by his own thoughts: If the soldiers of the National Defense Force could continue to attack the town of Figari and wipe out the landlords, Shouhou felt that such an ending would not be bad. .

A gust of late summer noon wind blew by, and the thin monkey's hand holding the musket became slightly looser.

Just as he closed his eyes and prepared to accept his fate calmly, the cry of a soldier beside him suddenly woke him up:

"Wait a minute. Look! They are starting to retreat!"

In the midst of the uproar, Shouhou suddenly opened his eyes, only to see that the National Defense Forces that had been marching towards the city wall had stopped at this moment. The troops at the rear had even begun to retreat backwards, as if they were going back to the previous camp. go.

"Really!"

"Hoo, hoo, hoo, aren't they going to attack?"

"Jesus above, our Lord has appeared!"

"Fortunately, my life was saved."

The soldiers on the city wall watched helplessly as the Wehrmacht soldiers retreated in unison and uniformly.

After a very brief moment of daze, cheers erupted from inside and outside the city wall.

In any case, this upcoming fight will not happen for the time being.

The serfs laughed and hugged each other, rejoicing in the joy of surviving the disaster.

Many people laughed and shed a few tears. They have not recovered from the fear of facing death just now.

After experiencing this kind of fear firsthand, absolutely no one wants to go back to it again.

The tense nerves were finally let go, and some of the soldiers breathed a long sigh of relief as if their souls had been broken, and fell limply in the corner, still feeling lingering fears.

The warlords looked at each other suspiciously. No one knew how to deal with this situation. An experienced foreign instructor frowned and repeated to the warlords over and over in broken Italian: " Feint, this is a feint! Don’t let your guard down!”

While the people inside the fort were celebrating and cheering for the survivors, six or seven hundred yards away, there was a temporary command post located on a high ground.

"Well, to be honest, Your Excellency Bonaparte, the quality of the enemy's performance is lower than I thought."

Major Serurier held up his telescope and squinted his eyes to observe the reaction of the serf conscripts on the city wall. He couldn't help but sigh:

"Now it seems that directly launching a strong attack may also be a feasible option."

Lawrence, who was also observing the changes in the fortress, still shook his head and explained negatively:

"Although their fighting qualities are low, they can still show high fighting spirit in the face of desperate situations. Their fighting spirit must be worn down through waves of feints. A direct attack may be feasible, but it will definitely cause considerable battle losses to our army. ”

"That's it." Major Serurier shrugged, put down the telescope and sighed:

"However, if I were to lead the French army to besiege this fortress, I would definitely carry out a forceful attack, and I would probably pay the price of a thousand casualties at most."

Lawrence also retracted the telescope, and he just smiled and said nothing in response to Major Serulier's words.

After all, the status of the two people is different, and the issues they consider are naturally different.

As a soldier, Major Serurier could do anything to achieve strategic goals. In his opinion, the cost of a thousand casualties was less than the value of the fortress, so a storming was feasible.

But Lawrence is different. The more than 4,000 soldiers of the National Defense Force are not just an army to him, but also the most basic political cornerstone for him as the Governor of Corsica.

He was able to quickly gain the tacit approval of various local forces after launching the coup in Ajaccio. The most important point is that after incorporating the Northern Army, Lawrence firmly held the military power of the entire Corsica.

Lawrence would not shake his political foundation for a small fortress.

Moreover, there was another important reason that made Lawrence begrudge the army, and that was the news about the situation in the Mediterranean that he had learned since leaving Paris.

Whether faced with the British increasing their power in the Mediterranean or intervening in the situation in the Kingdom of Naples, Lawrence needed an army in good condition to feel at ease.

Therefore, if the loss of soldiers can be avoided, Lawrence will definitely avoid it, not to mention that this fortress can be taken down without any blood in Lawrence's plan.

"Inform all ministries that all subsequent feint attacks will be carried out like this one, and artillery strikes will also continue."

After Lawrence gave the order to Major Trifari on the side, he raised his telescope and glanced at the fortress that was still celebrating. He nodded slightly and said to Major Serulier:

"If this continues, we will be able to hang the military flag on the top of that tower, not tomorrow night, but tonight at the earliest."

"Are you sure? The supplies in the castle can last at least more than a month." Major Serurier frowned and questioned. He had no idea how Lawrence came to this conclusion.

After all, the fortress in front of him is well-defended, with sufficient personnel and supplies. Major Serurier does not believe that a half-day siege can capture such a fortress that gives him a headache.

But now that Lawrence had spoken, Major Serulier didn't say much. He just continued to observe the city wall not far away while muttering.

After evening, night falls.

At this moment, the landowners gathered together in the stone building of Justin's house in the center of Figari.

This stone building also rarely held an all-night banquet, but only placed some tea and snacks in the living room for the gentlemen's entertainment at night.

Of course, these frowning and sad-faced gentlemen were not in the mood to sip tea. Bonaparte's army was more than forty miles away, which forced the gentlemen to take seriously this weapon hanging on their necks. The edge of the knife.

Master Justin was holding a white porcelain teacup and looking at the door restlessly, waiting for news from the front line.

Sir Robert next to him had the same expressionless face as usual, and seemed to be from a different world than these landowners. However, judging from his tense hands, he was also very nervous about the anxious war.

There was no conversation in the living room. Everyone was holding their breath and waiting for the situation to develop further.

After a while, with everyone watching expectantly, a steward in a blue robe hurriedly ran into the living room.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, the steward didn't say much and reported loudly in front of everyone:

"My lords, this afternoon, Bonaparte's army began to besiege the ancient fortress in the northwest!"

"Oh?!" Mr. Justin stood up from the chair and asked excitedly, regardless of the tea spilled all over him:

"The other party didn't make a detour and chose to stick to that fortress?"

The steward looked up and thought for a moment, then shook his head twice.

"Okay, okay!" A smile immediately broke out on Mr. Justin's face, and he sat back comfortably.

If Bonaparte chooses to besiege that ancient fortress to the end, it means that he will have more than a month of war preparation time.

Sir Robert couldn't help but relax a lot when he heard the news, and chuckled:

"It seems that Laurence Bonaparte is not as astute as the rumors say. If he is our commander, he will definitely leave some troops to guard the fortress, and the main force will march directly towards here. This is the right decision. Of course, Even if Bonaparte does this, we can still deal with it, after all, his main force will definitely be less than half of ours at that time. "

"Of course, of course, how can that Bonaparte compare to your commander?" Master Justin was in a good mood. While complimenting Sir Robert, he waved to call the servant:

"Come here! Let the kitchen prepare the banquet for us quickly and carry the wine barrels to the banquet hall. Nothing to do tonight hahaha."

And just as the gentlemen began to sing and dance, in the ancient fortress forty miles away.

The thin monkey lay on the hard stone slab and could not sleep for a long time.

This afternoon, the National Defense Forces launched a total of three attacks, but each time they ended in an active retreat.

Despite this, every time they stood on the city wall and watched the black army coming toward them, the soldiers' heartbeats still accelerated uncontrollably, and the fear of death could not be suppressed.

The governors did not dare to be careless. Once they heard the drumbeat of the opponent's attack, they immediately waved their whips and shouted to drive the soldiers to the front line.

After an afternoon of tossing, the soldiers were exhausted and deeply immersed in fear; and they also knew that once the National Defense Forces really launched an attack, this fear would really become a reality.

The thin monkey was lying down, knowing that it must have been past midnight, but the sound of artillery fire not far away continued, and the continuous roar still made many soldiers feel frightened.

There were few snores around, indicating that not many people had fallen asleep safely.

Most people are still awake, and they want to enjoy as much as possible this may be the last night of their lives. After all, tomorrow, no one can say whether the Wehrmacht will actually launch an attack.

However, more people are still thinking about how to prolong their humble life, at least not to let it be explained here.

"Brother, you've survived today, tell me what you're going to do tomorrow." A soldier next to him shook the thin monkey and asked softly uneasily.

The thin monkey propped up half of his body with his arms and turned his head to glance at a few small wooden houses not far away, where the governors and foreign instructors lived.

More than a dozen pairs of eyes around him suddenly looked at Shouhou, expecting the platoon leader to have some good ideas.

"Cough brothers"

The thin monkey glanced and responded to everyone's eyes, then gritted his teeth, looked at the muskets and bayonets casually thrown aside by the soldiers, and said harshly:

"Now it seems there is only one way to go."