Chapter 261 Threat
Pure violence is war, and the reason why Freud did not explain the fact that Austria had formed an army and existed in the Papal States is because the Papal States was unilaterally transparent to the Kingdom of Italy.
Contrary to what Pius IX had guessed, the fact is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire's intelligence system in Italy could not be said to be non-existent, but it was basically non-existent.
However, the Kingdom of Italy could easily infiltrate the Papal States and learn about the specific situation of the Papal States. The Papal States is a system of integration of politics and religion. Since it is a religious country, it naturally cannot stop believers from coming to worship. Moreover, the people of the Papal States are also Italians, living deep in the heart of Italy, and it is impossible to block the flow of people and commercial trade.
In this case, the Kingdom of Italy only needs to bribe some people in the Papal States to obtain the information it wants, or simply send some people to the Papal States, as the Papal States have no way to identify the identities of these people.
"Sir Floyd, I roughly know your country's plan. I can only say that your methods are very good, very good! Hahaha." Pius IX, who thought he had got the truth, laughed heartily.
Pius IX's words made Freud very depressed. Did Pius IX guess the existence of the Austro-Hungarian expeditionary force?
Just guess it! It doesn't matter anyway, as long as Pius IX doesn't tell anyone, it won't be a big problem.
Floyd said, "Your Majesty! Just understand. Don't mention this to anyone else. I am still not confident about some people in the Papal States. You just need to prepare the army of the Papal States and fight against the Kingdom of Italy with all your strength. Leave the rest to us."
"No problem. Although the Papal Army's combat effectiveness is not strong, its loyalty is still trustworthy. Next, I will personally call on more knowledgeable people to join the army to fight against the Kingdom of Italy." said Pope Pius IX.
The loyalty of the Papal Army is quite good. At least they will not be polite when it comes to taking ruthless action against Italians. After all, most of their members come from countries and regions outside of Italy.
…
After two days of discussion, the Kingdom of Italy reached a consensus that there could be no further delay and that a strong blow must be struck against the Papal States.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire's interference was seen by the Italian high-ranking officials as a sign that Pius IX was at his wit's end. Pius IX must have taken the initiative to pay the Austro-Hungarian Empire and asked it to interfere in the Italian unification cause.
Once the French left, Pius IX knew that the Papal States could not stop the actions of the Kingdom of Italy, so he was eager to find an alternative country, and there was no better choice than the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Emmanuel II analyzed: "The only threat in this war is Austria-Hungary. If Austria-Hungary intervenes, there are only two directions: one is on land, Venice and Lombardy; the other is on the sea. The eastern part of the country may be bombarded by the Austro-Hungarian navy, so we must be prepared for both situations."
"Although our maritime power is not as strong as that of Austria-Hungary, the difference is not too big. The advantage of Austria-Hungary is that its top warships are more advanced than ours, but we have more ships. By temporarily transferring the western navy to the eastern waters and cooperating with the army, we can effectively defend against the Austro-Hungarian navy's harassment of the east coast." said the Navy Minister.
If possible, the navy would certainly like to get more funds, but the last Battle of Lissa was a complete failure. At that time, the Italian Navy had a clear advantage over the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of ships. This was unacceptable to the Kingdom of Italy, and the finances of the Kingdom of Italy could not withstand such a tossing of the navy.
Army General Raffaele Cadorna said: "The Venice area must be defended as the focus. We only need to prepare 30,000 troops to attack the Papal States. On the Eastern Front, our opponent is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even with Prussia and Russia as a constraint, it is not easy to fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire without 100,000 troops. At the same time, we have only been in control of the Venice area for too short a time, and it has been under the influence of Austria for too long, so we should also be wary of some opponents among the local residents. Therefore, the size of the troops on the Venice and Lombard fronts should be at least 150,000."
This was considered from a defensive perspective. The area bordering Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not very large, and the terrain in the north was relatively rugged due to the presence of the Alps. Only the southern coastal areas were connected by narrow plains, so 150,000 people were enough to deal with the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
"As for the troops to attack the Papal States, our government will provide 25,000 out of 30,000, and Garibaldi will organize volunteers to participate in the rest."
"Well, we can't let Garibaldi control too many troops. This man's mind is very unstable, so we still have to be careful." Emmanuel II affirmed.
Although Garibaldi was very capable, he was not on the same side as the Italian government. He was more inclined towards liberal ideas and was considered a hero fighting for liberalism.
The Kingdom of Italy had never trusted him, and given his personal experience, it was understandable that the Kingdom of Italy did so.
Garibaldi's thinking was indeed very unconventional. As a troublesome enemy of France in history, Garibaldi supported France in the Franco-Prussian War and organized volunteers to join the French army to fight against Prussia.
“Don’t worry, your majesty. The main force of this attack on the Papal States will naturally be led by the kingdom. He will not be allowed to take the lead alone,” said the Minister of the Army.
…
The army of the Kingdom of Italy began to quietly gather towards Venice and Lombardy. The large-scale military changes naturally attracted the attention of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
But the Austro-Hungarian Empire pretended not to see anything and allowed the Italians to carry out all these actions. The Italians also observed the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian troops in the border areas did not take any action as usual.
This emboldened the Kingdom of Italy, and it just verified the speculation that the Austro-Hungarian army was pinned down by Prussia and Tsarist Russia and could not be mobilized. So after the mobilization of troops was completed, the Venice area was almost "solid as a rock". The Italian government believed that it was time to resolve the issue of the Papal States.
Although the Papal States and Austria-Hungary had previously issued a joint statement, the Italians were now certain that Austria-Hungary could not enter the Kingdom of Italy to interfere with Italian unification, so there was nothing more to say.
On August 16, the Kingdom of Italy issued an ultimatum to the Papal States, demanding that the Pope give up resistance and that the Papal States be peacefully incorporated into Italy.
Pope Pius IX, who had the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, flatly refused. At that time, the Papal Army had been expanded by Pope Pius IX to about 15,000 people, and was still capable of fighting.
The threat of the Kingdom of Italy to the Papal States was quickly responded to by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After obtaining authorization from the empire, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador directly threatened in the Italian royal palace: "The Papal States have never belonged to Italy, and Italy has never been a separate country. On the contrary, historically, the Papal States have a much longer history than the Kingdom of Italy, and Italy is just a regional concept. If the Kingdom of Italy is stubborn and is determined to take action against the Papal States, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will definitely not sit idly by."
(End of this chapter)
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