Holy Roman Empire

Fortunately, the article he is going to publish now is very suitable for the current situation, belittling the Austrians and advocating the heroism of the Sardinian army in different ways.

There have been a lot of articles like this recently, but Cecilio's article is more explicit, and the content in it is more radical, just in line with the appetite of the second-year teenagers.

"Don't worry, just take your time. The nationalism of the Kingdom of Sardinia is somewhat beyond our imagination. Even without our rhythm, public opinion will still force the government to send troops to Venice. Now we just brought this time forward.

Now that the heat has been brought up, it doesn't matter whether we lead it or not.

Now everyone wants to change the way of propaganda and promote the brutal rule of Austria. You can make up the content at will, in short, it is to blacken Austria to the core.

If you can't think of it, take out the black history of the nobles and capitalists of the Kingdom of Sardinia, change it up, and put it all on Austria. "Carmelo nodded.

Speaking of this, Carmelo wanted to laugh.He also set a record. As a spy, he actually deliberately smeared his own motherland. No one would believe it if it spread.

Including his two younger brothers who developed locally, they didn't know that they were serving the Austrian government. Camero had always told them that this was a British secret intelligence organization.

Now encouraging the Kingdom of Sardinia to attack Venice is to cooperate with the strategy of the British Empire and establish a unified Italy.

Under the influence of money + chicken soup for the soul, the two didn't feel that there was anything wrong with their actions at all. They also believed that what they did was working hard for the unification of Italy.

There is no way, this is an order given by the country.In order for the Kingdom of Sardinia to send troops to attack Venice as soon as possible, it is time to stir up their national sentiment and put pressure on the Sardinian government.

There are still many people who carry out this mission, most of them pretend to be British and French intelligence organizations, and some even blatantly mixed into radical groups.

In this era, there is no identity book, and communication is very troublesome. There is no way to verify the identity of a random Italian region.

In addition, the nationalism of the Kingdom of Sardinia is on the rise. As long as you assume the identity of a patriot and your actions are politically correct, even if you find out your identity, the Sardinian government will not dare to arrest people easily.

……

Someone took the rhythm, and the fighting power erupted by the nationalists of the Kingdom of Sardinia was naturally stronger. Facing the pressure of public opinion, King Charles Albert finally couldn't hold on anymore.

You must know that after the outbreak of the February Revolution in France, the revolutionary arrogance of the Kingdom of Sardinia also began to skyrocket. If he hadn't had an idea to declare war on Austria to divert the conflict, it would be a question mark whether he would still be able to keep the throne.

In fact, Charlie Albert had no intention of defeating Austria. Originally, he had only planned to fight a war, so that he could give the country a business deal if he could take advantage of it.

Now that Lombardy is occupied, the task has been overfulfilled. It is too risky to continue to attack the Venice area, and the probability of military success is not high.

"Azelio, where is our ally army?" Charlie Albert asked with concern

Prime Minister Azelio's expression darkened. The Sardinian family had taken all the benefits. Can other countries be expected to contribute?

Moreover, the Italian states were seriously influenced by Austria, and now everyone is forced to participate in this war due to public opinion.

"The 5000 volunteers from Toscana are already on their way and are expected to arrive in the Lombardy region at the end of the month. The 7000 troops from the Papal State have reached the Adige River, and some of the 4 reinforcements from Naples are expected to arrive in May." Azeli Ao replied in embarrassment

"Urge them to hurry up, and continue to ask countries to increase the number of reinforcements. In May, we must launch an attack on the Venice area!" King Charles thought for a while and said

This is his final bottom line, and the public opinion is really unstoppable.At this time, King Charles had already regretted announcing the annexation of Lombardy too early, otherwise he could hang Tuscany by carve up Lombardy.

This idea disappeared in a flash. In the era when public opinion demands great unification, territorial division is very fatal politically.

"Your Majesty, now is not the time for a decisive battle with the Austrians, at least wait until the Austrian civil war escalates and the 4 troops from Naples arrive before the best time to launch an attack!" Li Qi, Minister of War advised

Austria has not yet started to suppress the Hungarian rebellion. At this time, Venice sends troops to stimulate the Vienna government. Maybe the main force of Austria will kill the Italian region.

Charlie Albert explained helplessly: "From a military point of view, this is indeed the case, but politically we can no longer drag on. There is also a financial problem. The expenditure for occupying the Lombardy region is beyond our imagination. "

(Don’t complain about the name, the Minister of War of the Kingdom of Sardinia is indeed called Li Qi in translation, not a Chinese name I made up)

Chapter 66 Getting on board is easy and getting off ship is hard

No money is an embarrassing problem. The Kingdom of Sardinia is located in the northwest of Italy, and it is considered the best developed state in Italy.

It's a pity that this can't change the essence of the Sardinian Kingdom as a poor ghost. The territory is only 7 square kilometers, the population is only 600 million, and there are no resources. The industry has just started.

However, they are poor and ambitious, and they have been fighting for the unification of Italy. Because of their ambition, the Kingdom of Sardinia is even poorer.

To unify Italy, it is natural to rely on fists. The military expenditure of the Kingdom of Sardinia is a little bit larger, so their finances have always been in a deficit.

It was not until 1852 that the legendary Prime Minister Cavour came on the scene, reformed the fiscal and taxation system, increased national revenue, increased the construction of railways, ports, and developed industry and commerce, and a series of measures to get rid of the financial crisis.

Prime Minister Azelio echoed with a frown: "Your Majesty is right, we are indeed out of money, this war came too suddenly, and we were not prepared enough.

To occupy the Lombardy region, we consumed a lot of financial and material resources, which greatly exceeded our budget. So far, we have spent more than 2800 million lire.

(1 lira = 4.5 grams of silver)

Because of the war, the tax revenue in Lombardy this year is hopeless, and it will still be in a state of net expenditure in the second half of the year.

The French suddenly terminated the promised weapon aid, and now we have to squeeze out a sum of money from the limited war funds to buy weapons and equipment. This item alone will cost at least 1700 million lire more.

Adding these two items together, our war funds have been spent nearly 40.00%. We still support nearly 20 troops, and we have to spend at least 100 million lire a day. If we continue to delay, we will go bankrupt within two months at most. "

After hearing the prime minister's explanation, Li Qi, the minister of the army, immediately reacted that it was impossible, and immediately asked: "Your Excellency, why did you spend so much money? According to our plan, this [-] million lire is enough to support us to fight for half a year!"

"Your Excellency Li Qi, do you suspect me of corruption?" Prime Minister Azelio said angrily

corruption?How many officials are not corrupt in this era?But it's better not to expose this well-known secret, otherwise everyone's face will be ugly.

Li Qi quickly explained: "No, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I didn't question your intentions, but I'm just curious about these expenses!"

After hearing Li Qi's answer, Azelio calmed down a little, and explained calmly: "I'll do the rough calculation for you, and let you see where the money was spent.

In the Lombardy region, 865 million lire was spent on buying the Liberal Party, 1053.65 million lire was spent on solving the food problem, 365.7 million lire was spent on relief of war refugees, and 386.23 million lire was spent on establishing administrative institutions...

Because of the continuous emergence of revolutions in Europe, the prices of weapons and equipment in the international market have increased by 30.00%. Seven, your Ministry of the Army has also sent people to participate in the specific situation, so don’t ask me, right?

According to our plan in advance, we did not plan to recruit another 7 troops in the Lombardy region. With so many people added, the cost will naturally go up! "

After listening to the prime minister's explanation, Li Qi had nothing to say.There is no way, who made their army have no confidence in fighting the Austrians?In order to increase their chances of winning, they adopted the simplest method-army expansion.

Before the Industrial Revolution, the mobilization ability of the agricultural society was not high, and it was impossible for the whole people to participate in the war.

The Kingdom of Sardinia mobilized 10,000+ people, basically reaching the limit of mobilization.At this time, the enthusiasm of the Lombard people to join the army is high. There is no reason for the best soldiers to be turned away?

At this time, Li Qi couldn't take care of so much. As the Minister of the Army, he had to stand on the side of the Army and reduce the risk of failure as much as possible.

"Your Excellency, the British support this war, can we not ask the British for a loan?"

Prime Minister Azelio frowned, and said with a wry smile: "It's hard to get loans from the British, and we paid a lot for this 300 million pound loan.

Now that the war has broken out, if you ask them for a loan again, the conditions will not be so simple! "

(1 pound ≈ 25 lire)

There is no way, this is almost a routine that the British have tried a lot, first give a loan to lure people on board.But "it's easy to get on the boat and hard to get off the boat", so when they reach the middle of the river, they can only let them drive.

"Then what about the French? Don't they want us to expel the Austrians from Italy? Don't they show any signs of it now?" Li Qi asked unwillingly

Charlie Albert sneered and said, "Hmph! The French are a bunch of dishonest bastards. They don't even have the promised weapons and equipment aid. Do you think they can still count on it?"

Everyone didn't take up this topic. Originally, there was assistance from the French, but when they learned that the Kingdom of Sardinia had annexed Lombardy, the matter fell through.

According to the requirements of the French, the Lombardy region must establish an independent country, which is undoubtedly unacceptable to them.

Independence is easy, but reunification is difficult. If the current opportunity is missed, will the Kingdom of Sardinia still have a chance to annex Lombardy?

Li Qi made some calculations and said: "Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, it is the old fox, the famous Austrian general Radkis, who is guarding the Venice area. He suffered a loss once, and he cannot be fooled a second time.

If the Austrian army only defends the city and does not engage us in a decisive battle, we will not be able to end the war in two months.

If the Austrians are unwilling to end the war, the war will continue even if we conquer Venice, so we still have to think about ways to fund the war. "

He is showing his cards. If he wants to end the war, it is not just their decision, unless the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia can fight all the way to Vienna and force the Austrian government to surrender.

This is obviously impossible. Everyone is a rational politician. No matter how confident they are in the army of the Sardinian Kingdom, no one thinks that this step can be achieved.

That being the case, in order to win the war, the government must find a way to raise military expenses for them, otherwise it is not the responsibility of the Ministry of War to lose the war because of lack of money.

Prime Minister Azelio said with a wry smile: "Okay, Mr. Li Qi, we will find a way to solve the military expenditure problem, but you must also ensure victory. We cannot afford to lose this war!"

"Your Excellency, please rest assured. The commander of this war is Marshal Badolio. He has already defeated the Austrians once, and it is easy to deal with a group of defeated opponents!" Li Qi quickly assured

Charlie Albert, who didn't speak for a while, suddenly asked: "Prime Minister, how are you going to solve the funding gap?"

Chapter 67 Machinations

Prime Minister Azelio felt a chill in his heart, and he realized that he expressed his position too quickly just now, without asking the king's opinion first, which caused Charlie Albert's dissatisfaction.

Politics is so delicate, and the Kingdom of Sardinia is also a constitutional monarchy. In this case, the prime minister bypasses the king to make decisions. If Charlie Albert does not respond, it is estimated that he will be suspended in a short time.

Obviously, Charlie Albert is not a political novice like Louis XVI, and his political level is at least 90 points, and he will start beating him immediately.

After thinking about all this, Prime Minister Azelio said with trepidation: "Your Majesty, right now we only have two ways to solve the financial problem, either levy a war tax or borrow money from an international consortium."

Charlie Albert glared at him fiercely, cursing inwardly, "Old slippery man".

Prime Minister Azelio only said half of what he said, "to levy a war tax" - from whom to levy, there must be a scope, right?

The old territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia has been expropriated long ago. Is the expropriation targeting Lombardy now, or is it being collected nationwide?

This is an errand that offends people. Ordinary people are poor, and it is obviously a drop in the bucket to just squeeze them, so they can only reach out to capitalists and nobles.

Don't look at the nobles and capitalists in the Kingdom of Sardinia who seem to be very patriotic and actively donate money. If you really want them to pay, you will find that things are not the same.

Fraudulent donations still exist in the era of highly developed Internet in the 21st century, let alone this era?

Who can't put on a show?They can do even more. It is not uncommon for them to donate [-] lire and earn back [-] to [-] lire back.

Borrow from an international consortium?Who is willing to lend money to the Kingdom of Sardinia now?Apart from the British, is there any other country that lends money to them now?

International loans are all high-risk and high-yield. Without government participation, who can guarantee the repayment?In case the Kingdom of Sardinia was defeated, who would they ask for money?

If you ask the British for a loan, you will inevitably be ripped off, and you don’t know how many traitorous treaties you need to sign. No one wants to do this kind of business that will last forever.

"Oh, since the Prime Minister has already figured it out, let's implement it as soon as possible!"

Charlie Albert finalized the result without hesitation.

Isn't constitutional monarchy just letting the king delegate power?Now he's letting go.In short, this matter has nothing to do with the king, and it is all the responsibility of the cabinet.

Taking the blame for the boss, Prime Minister Azelio still has this awareness.However, you can't take the blame by yourself. Azelio is not stupid, so of course he will drag people into the water.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I will hold a government meeting to discuss this matter when I get back, and implement this matter as soon as possible!"

Charlie Albert nodded in satisfaction, and the prime minister took over the responsibility. It doesn't matter whether he was responsible for the blame or whether the officials below were responsible for the resistance.As long as it doesn't make it difficult for him to be a king, he is a good courtier.

"Well, the cabinet is responsible for solving the problem of military expenditure, but the military operation to attack Venice cannot be delayed. The Ministry of War must prepare for war as soon as possible!" Charlie Albert added

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister of War Li Qi quickly replied

He already understood the meaning of the king. No matter how difficult it is, the battle to attack Venice must be fought first. This is political correctness.

As for how to fight, it doesn't matter. You can concentrate on attacking, or send a small group of troops to attack tentatively. You must let the outside world see the determination of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Li Qi was already satisfied, and he fought for the frontline army for a while. The tentative attack in the early stage, dragging on for ten days and a half months, is not a problem, right?

Adding up the preparation time before and after, the date of the decisive battle can almost be postponed to June, and the training of recruits is basically over.

……

The Kingdom of Sardinia is preparing, and the Austrian side is not idle. After Marshal Radkis retreated to the Venice area, he first suppressed the local rebellion.

After the execution of a group of leaders, the Vienna government added more than 7 free laborers. For the sake of the Venice area, these people were immediately picked up by the Austrian government.

Because of the war, the Vienna government did not have time to conduct a careful appraisal of these people, so they all joined the road construction army and worked hard to ensure the logistical supplies of the Austrian army.

After such a toss, the Venice area has also stabilized, but the price is that the economy has almost stagnated.

However, as long as you think that this place will soon become a battlefield, then it doesn't matter. Can you still count on economic development during the war?

"Your Excellency the Marshal, please see Sir Rotes!" the attendant whispered

Marshal Radkis smiled slightly and said, "Let him in!"

……

Rost gave a noble salute to Radkiss, and then said respectfully: "Dear Marshal, Rost Holder is honored to meet you!"

According to the convention, this time should be called the title, but compared to the title, Radkis prefers others to call him Marshal, and Rotes naturally chooses what he likes.

"Me too, why did Mr. Robert come to see me today?" Marshal Radkiss asked with a smile

Rotes replied: "Your Excellency Marshal, I am here today on behalf of the Venice Chamber of Commerce. You know that this rebellion is involved..."

Before he finished speaking, Marshal Radkis interrupted forcefully: "Mr. Roters, the rebels will not be forgiven, if you want to intercede for them, you don't need to say it.

The leaders who were caught were basically killed. If those who were not caught turned themselves in, they could be dealt with leniently! "

Feeling Radkis' aura of calmness and prestige, cold sweat broke out on Rotes' forehead.This is April, and the weather in Venice is not hot.

He couldn't help but rejoice that he had always opposed violent revolution and had not participated in this rebellion. Otherwise, another head would be added to the pillars of Venice.

This time, the Vienna government has put a dead hand on the rebels. Even if they have a good relationship, it is useless. If they are caught and killed, they will not leave time for their activities.