Chapter 65: If we don't fight, we won't have any money left

Late at night.

In a grocery store in a small alley in the city of Turin, three middle-aged men were gathering together and talking in a low voice.

The older man asked, "Amor, how is the situation?"

"The plan went very smoothly. The people's patriotic enthusiasm is very high. Even without our guidance, I am afraid they will spontaneously protest!" Amor replied with a smile.

"You can't be careless. The more you get to this moment, the more careful you have to be."

"You didn't attract the attention of others, did you?" the older man asked with concern

"Don't worry, Carmelo! My current identity is a patriotic little businessman from Venice, and my behavior is the same as my identity. Looking at it purely from the surface, as long as the Sardinian kingdom occupied Venice, I will most likely be rewarded handsomely. In this case, my hostility to Austria is necessary and will not attract attention." explained Amor

For the sake of profit, the capitalists are not one or two people who advocate attacking Venice. At most, Amor is a little more active, which is not a problem.

"Well, it's fine as long as you don't attract attention. The most important thing in our business is to be cautious and complete the task in your hand, and never be greedy. Cecilio, how is your mission going along so far? "The middle-aged man codenamed Carmelo continued to ask.

"It's not very smooth. I'm just an unknown person. There is no shortage of speeches in the big newspapers. At present, my articles can only appear in the street tabloids." Cecilio replied helplessly.

He is only a young writer, and the articles he wrote can only be said to be average. He has not yet reached the point of shocking ghosts and gods. In Italy, where the cultural industry is developed, he has no advantages at all.

Fortunately, the article he is about to publish is very in line with the current situation, in exchange for belittling the Austrians and advocating the heroism of the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

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

"Don't worry, just take it slow. The nationalism in the Kingdom of Sardinia is somewhat beyond our imagination. Even if we don't have the rhythm, public opinion will also force the government to send troops to Venice. Now we simply pushing it ahead of schedule. Now that the spark has been lit, it doesn't matter whether it was guided by us or not. Now everyone needs to change the way of propaganda and promote the brutal rule of Austria. You can make up the content as you like. If you can't think of it, you can bring out the dark history of the nobles and capitalists of the Sardinian Kingdom, make a new face, and put it all on Austria." Carmelo explained while nodding.

Speaking of this, Carmelo wanted to laugh. He also set a record. As a spy, he smeared his own country. It is estimated that no one will believe it.

Including his two little "disciples" who developed locally, they did not know that they were serving the Austrian government. Carmelo always told them that this was a British secret intelligence organization.

Now the Sardinian kingdom is agitated to attack Venice, which 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[1], the two did not feel that their actions were wrong at all, and they also believed that what they did was to strive for the unification of Italy.

There was no other way to do this, this is an order given by the country. In order for the Sardinian kingdom to send troops to attack Venice as soon as possible, it is now necessary to stir up their national emotions and put pressure on the Sardinian government.

There are still many people who carry out this task. Most of them disguised themselves as British and French intelligence organizations, and some of them even blended into radical groups.

In this era, there is no identity account book[2], and communication is also very troublesome. I can simply just make up an identity in the Italian region.

There is simply no way to check. In addition, nationalism in the Kingdom of Sardinia is on the rise. As long as the identity of a patriot is set, what he does is politically correct. Even if the identity is discovered, the Sardinian government will not dare to arrest that person easily.

...

The trend of the people and the fighting power of the nationalists in the Kingdom of Sardinia are becoming stronger and stronger. Facing the pressure of public opinion, King Charles-Albert finally couldn't hold it anymore.

You know, after the outbreak of the February Revolution in France, the revolutionary arrogance of the Sardinian Kingdom also began to soar. If he had not had an idea to declare war on Austria and diverted the problem back at home, whether he could keep the throne would be up for grab.

In fact, Charlie-Albert had no plans to defeat Austria. Originally, he just planned to fight a war, and he could take advantage of the domestic trade.

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

"d'Azeglio[3], where are our allies' troops?" Charlie Albert asked with concern

Prime Minister d'Azeglio's expression darkened, the benefits have been eaten by the people of the Sardinian people, can they still count on other countries to contribute for no benefits?

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

"The 5,000 volunteers from Tuscany are already on their way and are expected to arrive in the Lombardy region at the end of the month. The Papal State's 7,000 troops have reached the Adige River, and the 40,000 reinforcements from Naples are expected to arrive in May," d'Azeglio replied awkwardly.

"Then urge them to hurry up, and to continue to ask all countries to increase the number of reinforcements, we must attack the Venice area in May!" King Charles thought for a while and said.

This was his last bottom line, and public opinion was unstoppable. At this time, King Charles regretted prematurely announcing the annexation of Lombardy, otherwise, he could use the partition of Lombardy to hang Torcana[4].

This idea passed by in a flash. In an era when public opinion demanded great reunification, the territorial division was politically fatal.

"Your Majesty now is not the time for a decisive battle with the Austrians. At least we have to wait for the escalation of the Austrian civil war and the arrival of the 40,000 troops in Naples. That would then be the best time to attack!" Minister Li Qi advised.

Austria has not yet begun to suppress the Hungarian rebellion. At this time, if they were to send troops to Venice to stimulate the Vienna government. The Austrian main force might decide to focus their efforts on the Italy theater.

King Charlie-Albert explained helplessly: "Militarily, that's true, but politically we can't go any further. There's also the financial problem. The cost of occupying Lombardy is beyond our imagination."

Author Note: Don't complain about the name, the army minister's name is really called Li Qi when translated, not a name I made up in Chinese.

[1] literal translation, I don't know what to translate it as.

[2] I honestly can not confer if this is true or not. Passports and/or identification existed before their era but this was before World War I so countries were still in the midst of change as noted how kings, queens, and nobles still held majority power.

[3]Massimo Taparelli, Marquess of Azeglio (24 October 1798 – 15 January 1866), commonly called Massimo d'Azeglio.

[4] 托尔卡纳 Tuō ěr kǎ nà - literally translation is Torcana, unless someone here is a history major, and can correct me this is the best I can do.