Chapter 261 Threat
Pure means of violence is war, and the reason why Freud did not confess the fact that Austria has formed an army and exists in the Pope is because the Pope is unilaterally transparent to the Kingdom of Italy.
Contrary to the facts guessed by Pius IX, the intelligence system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Italy cannot be said to be non-existent, and it is basically non-existent.
However, the Kingdom of Italy can easily infiltrate the Pope State and learn about the specific situation of the Pope State. The Pope State is a state-religious system. Since it is a religious country, it cannot prevent believers from visiting. Moreover, the people of the Pope State are also Italians. Living deep in the hinterland of Italy, it is impossible to block personnel exchanges and commercial trade.
In this case, as long as the Kingdom of Italy buys some people in the Pope's country, it can obtain the information it wants, or simply send some people to the Pope, and the Pope has no way to check the identities of these people. screening.
"Your Excellency Freud, I probably know your country's plan. I can only say that your country's methods are very good, very good! Hahaha." Pius IX, who thought he had got the truth, laughed heartily.
The words of Pius IX made Freud very depressed. Could it be that Pius IX guessed the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Army?
Guess it, guess it! Anyway, it doesn't matter, as long as Pius IX doesn't say anything, there is no big problem.
Floyd said: "Your Majesty! Just understand it. Don't mention this matter to others. I still don't feel at ease with some people in the Pope's country. You just need to prepare the army of the Pope's country first." Well, just fight against the Kingdom of Italy with all your strength, and leave the rest to us.”
"No problem, the Pope's army is not strong, but its loyalty can be trusted. Next, I will personally call on more people of insight to join the army to fight against the Kingdom of Italy." Pius IX said.
The loyalty of the Papal State’s army is good, at least it will not be polite when it comes to brutalizing the Italians. After all, most of the members are from countries and regions other than Italy.
…
After two days of discussions, the Kingdom of Italy has reached a unified opinion that there can be no further delay, and a heavy blow must be taken against the Pope.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire's intervention was completely a sign of Pius IX's lack of skills in the eyes of the high-level Italian Kingdom.
As soon as the French left, Pius IX also knew that the Pope could not stop the actions of the Kingdom of Italy, so he was eager to find a replacement country, and there was no better choice than the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Emmanuel II analyzed: "In this war, the only threat is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If the Austro-Hungarian Empire sends troops to intervene, there will be no more than two directions. One is land, Venice and Lombardy; the other is sea. The eastern land may We were bombarded by the Austro-Hungarian navy, so we had to be prepared."
"Although our strength at sea is not as good as that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the difference is not too great. The advantage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is that the top warships are more advanced than ours, but we have more ships. Temporarily transfer the western navy to the eastern sea area, and cooperate with the army It can effectively defend against the Austro-Hungarian Navy’s raids on the east coast.” Said the Minister of the Navy.
Army general Raffaele Cadorna said: "The Venice area must focus on defense. We only need to prepare 30,000 troops to attack the Pope. On the eastern front, the opponent is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is not easy to fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire without a force of 100,000. At the same time, the time we have acquired the Venice area is too short, and it has been under the influence of Austria for too long, so we should also be vigilant against some opponents among the local residents, so in Venice and On the front line of the Rumba, the troop size should preferably be more than 150,000."
This is based on defensive considerations. The border area between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not very large, and the northern part is relatively steep due to the existence of the Alps. Only the southern coastal area is connected by a narrow plain, so 150,000 people are enough To deal with the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
"As for the troops attacking the Pope, among the 30,000 people, our government will contribute 25,000, and the rest will be joined by Garibaldi's volunteer army."
"Well, Garibaldi cannot be allowed to control too many troops. This person's thinking is very unstable. We still have to be careful." Emmanuel II affirmed.
Although Garibaldi is very capable, he is not the same as the Italian government. He is more inclined to liberalism and can be regarded as a righteous man fighting for liberalism.
The Kingdom of Italy has never trusted him. Judging from his personal experience, it is understandable for the Kingdom of Italy to do so.
Garibaldi's thinking is really out of the ordinary. As a headache enemy of France in history, Garibaldi supported France in the Franco-Prussian War and organized volunteers to join the French army against Prussia.
"Your Majesty, don't worry, the main force to attack the Pope is naturally led by the kingdom, and he won't be the champion," said the Minister of War.
…
The army of the Kingdom of Italy began to quietly gather towards Venice and Lombardy. Large-scale military changes naturally attracted the attention of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
But the Austro-Hungarian Empire pretended not to see it, allowing the Italians to complete all these actions, and the Italians also observed the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire’s troops in the border area were the same as before, without any action.
This made the Kingdom of Italy emboldened, which just verified the speculation that the Austro-Hungarian army was restrained by Prussia and Tsarist Russia and could not be mobilized. Therefore, after the mobilization of troops was completed, the Venice area was almost "rock-solid". The Italian government believed that at this time it was It's time to solve the problem of the Papal State.
Although the Pope and the Austro-Hungarian Empire issued a joint statement before, but now the Italians have determined that the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot enter the Kingdom of Italy to interfere with the unification of Italy, so there is nothing to say.
On August 16, the Kingdom of Italy issued an ultimatum to the Pope, demanding that the Pope give up resistance and that the Pope peacefully merge into Italy.
With the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Pius IX categorically refused. At this time, the Pope's army was expanded by Pius IX, and the number reached about 15,000, which was still strong enough to fight.
The threat of the Kingdom of Italy to the Pope quickly received a response from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After receiving the imperial authorization, the ambassador of the Austro-Hungary Empire directly threatened in the Italian palace: "The Pope has never belonged to Italy, and Italy has never belonged to Italy." As a separate country, historically, the Pope has a much longer history than the Kingdom of Italy, and Italy is only a regional concept. If the Kingdom of Italy is obsessed and wants to attack the Pope, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will definitely not stand idly by. "
(end of this chapter)