City of Milan
Marshal Bartolio had been troubled recently. Ever since Sardinia announced its annexation of Lombardy on the 7th of April, a bunch of democrats had come out to protest.
Needless to say, even a marshal like him had no say in national affairs, let alone a bunch of commoners. Naturally, he had to send troops to disperse them.
Luckily, the Austrian army had already suppressed them once. Most of the stubborn people had been killed, and the provisional government had either been bribed or placed under house arrest. The remaining people were just talking trash.
"Marshal, another group of people is petitioning you to send troops to take back Venice!" the attendant whispered.
It wasn't the first time there had been petitions. There were petitions for independence, for autonomy, for more food rations …
Anyway, regardless of whether Bartolio could make the decision, the people of Lombardy seemed to have chosen him. They would go to the marshal whenever they had a problem.
It wasn't easy to be a hero. In order to maintain his glorious image, Bartolio had to act like he was willing to listen to advice.
Other than those who wanted independence, which he had sent troops to expel, he would meet with the representatives of the other petitioners and explain to them the difficulties they faced.
For example, the reason he used the most was that soldiers did not interfere with politics.
After saying so much, Bartolio started to believe it himself. Recently, he rarely interfered with Lombardy's government affairs unless someone from the local government took the initiative to look for him.
"Tell them to send their representatives in!" Bartolio said with a frown.
He had no choice. He couldn't avoid it this time. Sending troops to Venice wasn't just a political issue. It was more of a military issue. He was now in charge of the frontline troops of Sardinia. He had found the right person this time.
Soon, two people who looked like students were brought in. Bartolio's frown deepened. Teenagers were the most troublesome.
"Honorable Marshal, I'm Liam, and this is Townsend. Nice to meet you!"
Looking at the two excited young men, Bartolio replied politely, "I'm glad to see you too. Can I have a look at the petition first?"
"Oh, sure!" Liam quickly replied.
Taking the petition, Badorio quickly scanned through it. This was a letter written in blood. The contents were very hot-blooded, and there were many signatures at the back. He was almost moved.
"I accept this petition and will pass it to the King as soon as possible. However, the date of the attack on Venice is a military secret that I cannot reveal.
Right now, we are preparing for a military attack. Everyone knows about what happened a while ago. Because we didn't make enough preparations, everyone went hungry.
We've learned our lesson this time, so we'll have a longer time to prepare before the war. We can't be forced to stop military operations because of food problems again.
The Austrians have a total of five to six hundred thousand soldiers. Once the war starts in Venice, they will definitely send reinforcements. I don't have enough soldiers on hand.
The reinforcements from the country were still on the way, and the new recruits from Lombardy were still in training. All of this required time.
But don't worry, the final victory will definitely belong to us! "
After listening to Bartolio's explanation, the two young men nodded continuously. They were both military noobs, and there was no internet in this era, so they weren't clear about the internal situation in Austria.
According to normal thinking, Austria was very powerful. If Marshal Bartolio could defeat Austria, he would be the world's number one general. Everything he said must be right.
"The victory will definitely belong to us, Marshal. We all believe in you. You're definitely not a coward like the rumors say. They're just jealous of your talent! "Tang Sen said in a panic.
Bartolio suddenly felt like a bunch of horses had run past him. Can you not be so direct? You won't have any friends if you do that.
Attack Venice? Isn't that bullsh * t? Do you really think Austria is made of paper?
Nominally, he had 150,000 soldiers under his command, which was almost a third more than the Austrians. However, the 150,000 soldiers were too fake. Almost 70,000 of them were recruited locally.
The Government of Vienna had never trusted the Italians, so the Austrian army did not have any reserves. The soldiers that Bartolio had recruited were actually farmers who had just put down their hoes or workers in the cities.
Even the officers at the bottom level were lacking. The Regions of Italy were not the German Region, especially in the heavily commercialized Lombardy. The military literacy of the local nobles had plummeted.
It could be said that this temporarily reorganized army was used to make up the numbers. They didn't even have a gun. They could be used to do logistics and maintain local law and order.
If they were sent to the battlefield, they would be sending their heads to the enemy. The main force of this war was still the Sardinian Army.
80,000 Sardinian Army against 100,000 Austrian Army. No matter how they looked at it, it didn't seem reliable. That was the reason why they stopped attacking.
However, the people didn't know that they were only calculating the total number of troops. Austria only had 100,000 troops in the Regions of Italy. Because of the suppression of the revolution, they had lost a few thousand soldiers.
With the cooperation of the Venetian people, how could the 150,000 Sardinian Army not defeat the 90,000 Austrian Army?
Marshal Bartolio didn't feel too much pressure. The powerful people in Lombardy had just joined the Sardinian Kingdom, so they didn't dare to cause trouble. Now that it was the student representatives, he could still fool them in a short period of time.
King Charles was different. There were all kinds of groups in the Sardinian Kingdom. He only used the war to divert the internal conflicts, but he went too far. Now, the radical nationalists were urging him to send troops to Venice every day.
This was his own fault. In order to relieve the political pressure in the country, King Charles publicized that the Sardinian Army had defeated the Austrians in Lombardy. This made many people mistakenly think that Austria was nothing.
Public opinion was the easiest to go crazy. Charles Albert forgot that going too far was as bad as not going far enough. Or rather, it was useless even if he knew. Public opinion was not under his control.
Now, nationalism was on the rise in the Regions of Italy, and the Sardinian Kingdom was the place with the strongest nationalism in the Regions of Italy. Stimulated by the defeat of the Austrian Army, nationalism was once again on the rise.
At this time, nationalism mixed with patriotism was on the verge of going out of control. People kept reminding them that Venice was still under the rule of the Austrians.
Ever since the Sardinian Kingdom annexed Lombardy, all the people were happy for the unification of Italy. At this time, the Austrian-controlled Venice was an eyesore.
The Sardinian Kingdom was in a difficult position!
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