At this moment Francesco Emilei was encamped near Lugagnano, a few kilometres from Verona, and on hearing of the revolt rapidly marched back to Verona with his troops. On the morning of the 17th the French had doubled their guards on the town gates, but Porta Vescovo was easily captured by Coldogno and (with a little more effort) Nogarola managed to take porta San Giorgio. Emilei took porta San Zeno from outside the city and was able to enter with 2,500 volunteers of the cernide, 600 other troops and 2 cannon, which he divided into 4 corps, posted in different locations in and outside the town: one corps was put outside porta Nuova to block the French escape, and another near bastione dei Riformati. Armed with rifles, pistols, sabres, pitchforks and staffs, the townsfolk rushed through the streets, killing, wounding and capturing several Frenchmen. One of the rebellion's first acts was to release several Austrian troops from their prisons to join with the rebels. In the late afternoon Emilei, who had just taken porta Nuova, decided to leave for Veneice to seek help from the Venetian army. In contrast Iseppo Giovannelli and Alvise Contarini, the Venetian government representatives in the town, thought they could even now turn Verona back to its former Venetian neutrality, and so tried to make a compromise with the French military authorities, interrupting the sound of bells and hoisting a white flag atop torre dei Lamberti. Balland paused the bombardment (even if battle continued around Castel Vecchio, it having been isolated from the castelli on the hills and was thus unable to gain information on the course of events). Negotiations thus began, which Balland wanted to prolong to give more time for French reinforcements to arrive. The negotiations failed and the Venetian governors then sought in vain to calm down the populace. Fearful of how the situation would develop, in the meeting between 17 and 18 April the governors decided to withdraw to Vicenza, and before their departure ordered the troops not to participate in the battle. Hence, on 18 April, Giovannelli and Contarini, according to the plan they had put forward in the meeting, would be directed to Venice, to ask the Senate for help. The order was carried out, at first, by Nogarola, Berettini and Allegri, while Antonio Maria Perez continued military operations. In the meantime the population continued to raid any buildings holding