Chapter 266: The Second Restoration of Rome
While the Austro-Hungarian expeditionary force was actively preparing for the war, the coalition force for the liberation of Rome, composed of the Italian Kingdom Army and Garibaldi's volunteers, was marching towards the city of Rome with great momentum. At this time, they were only more than 20 kilometers away from Rome.
"We haven't encountered any resistance along the way. It seems that the Italian people and soldiers in the Pope's country also support our actions. With their support, this trip to Rome will definitely solve the final problem easily." General Cadorna of the Kingdom of Italy said to Garibaldi optimistically.
Garibaldi did not refute, but he clearly knew that the reason he did not encounter any decent resistance was not because of Pius IX's kindness, but because he concentrated all his strength in Rome. So he said: "Unification is the common wish of the entire Italian nation, but our real enemy has not yet appeared. Only Rome, where the Pope is, is the last stumbling block to the unification of Italy. It is also the base of the last remnants on the road to Italian unification. Only by taking Rome can our cause be considered complete!"
"Well, that's true, but our army will easily crush them." Cardona said confidently.
In Italy, a region with a mysterious combat effectiveness, the Kingdom of Sardinia was the most militarily powerful, or perhaps the governments of the unified Italian countries were too incompetent.
So facing the Papal States alone, Cadorna can be sure that the last piece of the great unification of the Kingdom of Italy will be completed by him today, and he will also be recorded in the history of Italy.
Coincidentally, on August 30, the same day Garibaldi and Cadorna arrived in Rome, French Emperor Napoleon III also retreated to the Sedan area, where the Prussian army had already assembled, and the Hechingen Brigade was about to participate in its last war in Germany. Because the Hechingen Brigade had suffered heavy losses in previous battles, with nearly one-fifth of its soldiers wounded, after completing the final blow to France, Ernst also planned to withdraw them, and leave the rest to Prussia.
…
Rome.
At this moment, Pius IX was very anxious. He paced back and forth in his palace because he had received intelligence that the army of the Kingdom of Italy would be at the gates of the city soon.
However, the war in Italy planned by the Austro-Hungarian Empire that he had expected a few days ago did not occur. In other words, except for the Austro-Hungarian army which was not making any major moves in northeastern Italy, the Papal States was now fighting alone.
Could it be that he was fooled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Thinking back carefully, during the conversation between him and Freud that day, the Austro-Hungarian envoy did not tell him the specific plans of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Could it be that the Austro-Hungarian Empire just wanted him to take the blame for them?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. At the same time, he also felt fear. Coupled with the hot weather, Pius IX lost his composure and quickly ordered his subordinates, "Go and invite the Austro-Hungarian envoy Freud over!"
Soon, Freud slowly came to the palace of Pope Pius IX. When he saw Freud, Pope Pius IX seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw.
"Mr. Floyd! You are finally here!" He grabbed Floyd's arm excitedly and said.
"Your Majesty, what do you want from me?" Freud asked the anxious Pope Pius IX.
What's going on? He's still playing dumb at this time! Pius IX felt like he was being played.
He asked sadly: "The good things your country has done? Don't you acknowledge it?"
"?" Floyd's face was full of question marks.
Pope Pius IX went on to say: "Why didn't the agreed upon situation of all countries (other nobles of the annexed Kingdom of Italy) jointly boycotting the Kingdom of Italy happen? Didn't you vow a few days ago that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would solve everything and let me prepare with peace of mind? In the end, you Austro-Hungarian Empire just treated us as a chess piece to be discarded at will. Doesn't faith have any appeal? The Lord will not allow you treacherous people to be saved..."
"Ah!" How did it involve God? And what about the joint boycott of Italy by all countries? I didn't say that!
Floyd asked in confusion. "Your Holiness! What do you mean? And those countries are they? Have you secretly contacted other countries? Is it Spain?"
Pope Pius IX was furious and said, "Didn't you, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plan for the nobles of various countries who were unwilling to be annexed by the Kingdom of Italy to jointly rebel against the Kingdom of Italy? Why, are you playing dumb with me now?"
"No way! Who told you this? Why didn't I, the Austro-Hungarian envoy, know that the Empire had this plan?" Freud asked back. He suspected that someone pretended to be from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and fooled Pius IX.
"That's right, that's right..." Before he could utter the word "you", Pius IX suddenly stopped!
Just a moment ago, he suddenly recalled that Freud did not seem to have said these words to him. These were all made up in his mind a few days ago.
The scene was a little awkward. Pius IX tried to calm himself down and stammered, "Oh! Look at my temper. It must be the hot weather that has disturbed my memory. I'm so sorry, Mr. Floyd, I made you laugh."
"It doesn't matter. The recent tense situation may be a factor. His Holiness the Pope is overworked, so it is understandable that his mind is affected!" Floyd tried to smooth things over.
Pius IX came to his senses and thought carefully about the conversation between Freud and him that day, and he still found something unusual.
I was just daydreaming that day, so what was Freud affirming? At that time, he specifically told his subordinates not to tell this matter, so what was the Austro-Hungarian Empire's trump card?
"Mr. Floyd, I just received intelligence that the Italian army is about to arrive at the gates of Rome. What exactly is the trump card of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that you mentioned a few days ago? Now is a critical moment for the survival of the Papal State. Can you tell me?"
"Ah! Didn't you guess it a few days ago?" Freud asked in surprise.
"Well, I now realize that my guess may be somewhat different from your country..."
"Well, let me keep it a secret for a while. Your Majesty will know once the war breaks out. There is no need to rush for the time being." Freud finally understood what was going on at this time. It turned out that Pius IX had made wild guesses and then turned the tables.
Pope Pius IX was anxious: "Sir Freud, the situation is very critical now. The Kingdom of Italy is about to take action against the city of Rome. How can I feel at ease?..." Just as Pope Pius IX was about to continue speaking.
“Boom…Boom…Boom…”
There was the sound of artillery fire outside the city.
The Italian army began to attack.
"Your Majesty, since you want to know the trump card of our Austro-Hungarian Empire, why don't you go to the front line with me to take a look?" Freud said.
"Well, forget it! I still need to be in charge of the affairs in Rome." Pius IX said vaguely.
Floyd smiled knowingly and said, "In that case, why don't you, His Holiness, have a cup of coffee with us here and wait for the outcome of the war together?"
Freud used himself as a hostage to reassure Pius IX. Since he himself did not intend to run away, he must have made some preparations.
Seeing Freud sitting on the Diaoyutai, Pius IX also let down his guard. If Freud found an excuse to leave at this time, Pius IX would be sure that he had been cheated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
…
Inside the city walls of Rome, the Papal Army, composed of believers from various countries, was exchanging fire with the Italian Kingdom Army outside the city.
Garibaldi and others had just tried to use the slogan of Italian unification to awaken the military and civilians in Rome, urging them to give up resistance and peacefully unify Rome.
However, after Pope Pius IX spent a lot of money, the Papal Army ignored Garibaldi and others' attempts to surrender. Moreover, because there were so many foreigners, no one would sympathize with the fate of Italy.
Garibaldi's response was a bullet fired by a Dutchman, which almost hit Garibaldi himself. After unsuccessful communication, the Kingdom of Italy could only use artillery to influence these ungrateful soldiers of the Papal States.
The two sides launched artillery bombardment, and with the help of bunkers and city walls, the smaller Papal Army fought back and forth with the Italian Kingdom Army.
“Boom…Boom…Boom…”
Although it had been reinforced before the war, the city of Rome, which had not been hit by war for a long time, was still severely damaged, and small gaps were opened in some places.
However, Garibaldi and others did not dare to let the soldiers charge directly. Compared with history, this time the Kingdom of Italy reduced the number of people attacking Rome by half in order to deal with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so they had to use them sparingly.
"Continue the bombardment. When there are bigger loopholes in the city defenses of Rome, our people will rush in," Garibaldi said to Cardona.
"Well, prepare the artillery!" Cardona ordered the kingdom's artillery troops.
…
The sound of cannons is the signal.
After having a good meal and a drink, the Austro-Hungarian expeditionary force had already begun to advance towards Rome when Garibaldi and others arrived in Rome. After hearing the sound of artillery fire, Lieutenant General Karl divided the Austro-Hungarian expeditionary force into two groups and rushed towards the city of Rome at high speed from the east and west.
"Today, we will work together with the Roman defenders to attack the Italian army from both inside and outside, and they will never be able to return." Lieutenant General Karl said fiercely.
At this time, the Italians who were concentrating on attacking Rome obviously did not know that a surprise force was encircling them from the south.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire did a good job in keeping secrets. Even its partner Pope Pius IX was unaware of the existence of an Austro-Hungarian army right under its nose.
As the artillery bombardment continued, the time came to five o'clock in the afternoon. Garibaldi felt that the time was almost up, and some parts of Rome had collapsed.
He said to Cardona, "Let's get started!"
"Attack!" Cardona ordered after getting Garibaldi's confirmation.
In order to boost morale, Garibaldi, as in the past, personally led the team and launched a general attack on the city of Rome with the Italian volunteers as the vanguard.
At this time, many members of the Papal Army on the city walls had already planned to retreat, but the special features of the Papal States also played a role. As Pope Pius IX said, does faith really have no appeal anymore?
Of course there were. The devout believers had no intention of retreating with the temporarily hired Italian soldiers. They wanted to defend Rome and fight to the death with the Kingdom of Italy.
The two sides fought a bloody battle on the city walls and in bunkers, but with the advantage in numbers, the Kingdom of Italy gradually gained the upper hand.
The believers retreated into the city, trying to resist with the help of the streets and buildings, while the Italian army, led by Garibaldi's support legion, finally entered Rome.
At this moment, the situation in Rome was "decided", and Garibaldi shouted excitedly: "Fighters for Italian freedom! We are back! This is Rome, the hometown of us Italians."
Just when Garibaldi was about to completely wipe the Papal States off the map of Italy, the sound of gunfire suddenly came from behind him - the Austro-Hungarian Empire was coming!
…
The Italian Kingdom's army rushed into the city of Rome before they could react and were shot from behind.
Lieutenant General Karl arrived at the critical moment with the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force on a forced march, just as the Italian army was entering the city from outside. In addition, there was still fighting in the front, and the Italian Kingdom Army did not discover the enemy behind it in time.
However, Garibaldi, who was at the front line, was the first to realize that the gunshots and artillery sounds were wrong!
Unfortunately, it was too late. The elite troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who were in high spirits, attacked from behind. The Italian army was sandwiched between the Roman defenders and the Austro-Hungarian expeditionary force, and was trapped in a narrow area and unable to counterattack effectively.
Cardona, who was frightened by the Austro-Hungarian army, staggered to Garibaldi.
He cried out in a sobbing voice: "It's over, Mr. Garibaldi! It's all over!"
Garibaldi was already out of breath from the previous battle, and his chest expanded and contracted greatly with his breathing.
Holding the gun in his hands with firm hands, he said calmly: "No, it's not over yet. As long as I am alive, I must fight to the last moment. The enemy can destroy my body, but the will of Italy's freedom will never be destroyed."
After that, Garibaldi ignored Cardona. He looked at his teammates who had been following him and said, "Brothers, we failed today. Are you afraid? We may meet our comrades who died in the past!"
"Mr. Garibaldi, we are not afraid, we fight for freedom!"
"Okay, let's fight for freedom! Let's make one last charge!"
Garibaldi's volunteer corps ignored the Roman defenders and turned to charge the Austro-Hungarian army. Even though the Papal Army behind them was still attacking, at this moment Garibaldi and his comrades were filled with only hatred towards the Austro-Hungarian invader.
“Bang… bang… bang…”
The Italian Kingdom's army, attacked from both sides, surrendered directly under the leadership of Cadorna, and Garibaldi, the Italian hero, and his comrades fell in a pool of blood.
The city of Rome was captured twice today. The first time was by the Kingdom of Italy, and the second time was by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was a liberation for the Kingdom of Italy and a liberation for the Papal States.
(End of this chapter)
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