The hatred of Sampiero to the government of Genoa was doubled by the part it had played in this tragedy of his domestic life. He obtained the permission of the French Queen to undertake the war of Corsica, and formed friendship among the Genoese exiles who shared his views, “especially,” says Osino, “with a Gerolamo Fieschi and Cornelio Fregoso. The latter used every argument and artifice to entice Cosimo to favour the enterprise and even attempt it in his own name and interest.” Cosimo temporized; and Sampiero, little accustomed to count up obstacles or enemies, passed into Corsica with only two ships and a few companions. One asked him:--“In case your ships should be lost, in what could you trust for safety?” Sampiero replied: “I trust only to my sword.” He seized the castle of Istria, routed the Genoese at Corte, and Terra del Commune, opened its gates to his little band. It would be long to recount all the battles which he fought against trained troops, always winning victories. The battles of Vescovado and Pietra di Caccia kindled a general revolution in the island. In the last, the Genoese killed were more than three hundred, and they lost many more as prisoners. Among the latter Sampiero found a Giovanni Battista Fieschi (of the Savignone branch) and, instead of treating him as a conquered enemy, entertained him with friendly courtesy in memory of kindness done him by the Fieschi in France. In fact the Fieschi had never refused him any favour; and when he sent Leonardo da Corte and Anton Padovano da Brando to Paris, in quest of aid, Scipione Fieschi had induced the Queen to give twelve thousand crowns and some troops.