Chapter 895

At this moment, Milan City had transformed into a military fortress. The bustling city had dispersed, leaving behind only a powerful army.

Since the European War broke out, the Lombardy Kingdom had become the frontline of the Fao's war. Prince Luitbord immediately issued a national mobilization order.

In the late 19th century, the Wittelsbach Family seemed to be cursed. All kinds of misfortune came one after another.

First, the Maximilian II Of Macedon reacted too slowly and chose the wrong side in the international political struggle. They barely managed to retain the throne by political marriage.

However, the price of failure was heavy. They lost Bavaria, which they had been ruling for a long time, and came to Lombardy to rebuild their foundation.

Just as they gained a foothold, the next king, Ludwig II, became mentally ill. It wasn't easy to send Ludwig II away, and the next king, Otto I, was also mentally ill.

The Wittelsbach Family became a laughing stock. The outside world ridiculed them as the "mentally ill royal family." Some unscrupulous people even bet that the next king of the Wittelsbach Family would also be mentally ill.

Not only did the Wittelsbach Family suffer, but the Greek Family also suffered. The same guy named Otto not only lost his bloodline, but also his power was overthrown.

If it wasn't for the intervention of the Government of Vienna, the Wittelsbach Family's rule in Greece would have collapsed.

The good times didn't last long, and now the European War broke out. The Lombardy Kingdom became the frontline, and this was another major challenge for the Wittelsbach Family.

Prince Luitbord was very worried recently. He was afraid that something would happen at the frontline, and the Wittelsbach Family would have to go into exile again.

According to the law of the New Shinra Empire, the king and the emperor had the right to command the army at the same time.

The Lombardy King was mentally ill and couldn't perform his duties. The command of the army fell into the hands of the emperor.

It was easy to give up power, but it was hard to get it back. Based on the situation of the Lombardy Kingdom, if they wanted to get back the command of the army, they could only wait for the next king.

Under such circumstances, Prince Luitbord couldn't help but be anxious. If the Government of Vienna wanted to use the Lombardy Kingdom to kill the Wittelsbach Family, then it would be over.

"Your Highness, General Morkes has arrived in the reception room."

The servant's voice pulled Prince Luitbord out of his thoughts.

"Alright, I'll be right there!"

After tidying up his attire and looking at himself in the mirror to make sure that he would not be rude, Prince Lutterburd strode out.

In the past, Prince Rutbord didn't even care about the Empire's Marshal or the Cabinet Prime Minister, let alone the Admiral.

The laws of the empire stipulated that the Lombard Kingdom was highly autonomous. No matter how powerful these people were, they could not extend their hands into the Lombard Kingdom.

But now was not the time. General Morkes was the commander of the Italian war zone, and the Lombard Kingdom happened to be in his defense zone.

Looking at the big picture, as long as they could win, even if the Kingdom of Lombardy was destroyed, the Government of Vienna would not feel bad.

As a frontline commander, the most important thing was to win. Everything else was a small problem, especially since the enemy was the French this time. Everyone was prepared to pay a heavy price.

Others could think like that, but not Prince Lutterbold. Destroying any city in the Lombardy Kingdom would be a disaster for the Wittelsbach Family.

This would cause their already unstable rule to become even more unstable. From the standpoint of the Wittelsbach family, it was best to keep the enemy outside the country.

…

After exchanging greetings, General Morkes went straight to the point. "Your Highness, I'm here to ask for help.

In order to ensure the logistics of the frontline troops, I hope you can provide 350,000 laborers and requisition all the railways in the Lombard Kingdom. "

He only asked for laborers and not soldiers because the military was not under the control of the local government. It was the same even for the reserves.

Hearing these two requests, Prince Lutterbold frowned. "General, your request is too high.

The Lombard Kingdom has a population of less than 4 million. Currently, there are already 200,000 people serving in the army. If you recruit 350,000 laborers, almost all of our young adults will be mobilized.

Especially if you want to requisition all the railways, the domestic production and life will be disrupted. I'm afraid … "

During the war, the people in the border areas were miserable!

When the war started, the border areas were the first to be mobilized and had to bear the heaviest military and labor. When the enemy attacked, the border areas were the first to suffer.

General Morkes understood Prince Lutterbold's dilemma. If possible, he would not want to do this.

But speed was the most important thing in war. Recruiting laborers from the Lombard Kingdom was the fastest, so it was necessary to requisition the railways.

"Your Royal Highness, I understand your concerns very well. The Empire will compensate the people of the Lombard Kingdom for their sacrifice.

I will report the situation here truthfully and the specific compensation measures. You can talk to the cabinet yourself.

The requisition of the railways is not negotiable. Not only the railways, but also the roads must be given priority to the army. If there is enough transport capacity, we can open it to the people.

In addition, I hope you can requisition some vehicles from the people. Trucks, carriages, ox-carts, donkey carts … all are welcome. "

Before the war broke out, they would never know how inadequate their preparations were.

Austria had prepared the best, but as soon as the war broke out, they found out that it was not the case.

They were indeed well-prepared, but there were many soldiers at the frontline!

Franz did not think that a war with the French needed to mobilize the whole country, but the problem was that others did not see it that way!

Under the repeated persuasion of the people, Franz decisively admitted defeat. It was better to have more people than less. Although the consumption was a little higher, the odds of victory had increased.

In order to defeat the French, the Government of Vienna was determined. The cabinet planned to mobilize five million troops.

There were 1.5 million troops allocated to the southern front alone. The various preparations were not enough at this time.

There was no doubt that this 1.5 million was only a number on paper, or rather, a theoretical value. The Lombard Kingdom's frontline now had a total of 300,000 troops.

No one knew when the follow-up troops would arrive. Everything had to be based on the actual situation at the frontline, and no one knew more or less.

General Morkes only began to prepare in advance to avoid the embarrassing situation of the logistics not being able to keep up when the frontline attacked.

After listening to General Morkes' explanation, Prince Rutbord's expression softened a little. It was good that the central government had compensation. What he was most afraid of was the Lombard Kingdom bearing the losses themselves.

"I remember that after the reform of the Empire's army, they have been equipped with trucks and motorcycles on a large scale. The logistics have achieved semi-mechanization.

Now that we need to requisition so many vehicles, is the general preparing to take the initiative to attack? "

General Morkes laughed. "Your Highness' information is not very accurate! Mechanization is only a concept proposed by the military. It is the future development trend of the army, but not now.

Now we only have a small number of troops that can achieve semi-mechanization. It will be difficult to achieve full semi-mechanization within ten years.

However, the logistics troops are indeed equipped with a large number of trucks and are at the forefront of the road of mechanization. It is just that after the expansion of the army, it will not be enough.

Considering the complex terrain and poor transportation in the Regions of Italy, we must have a variety of means of transportation, in case … "

After getting the answer he wanted, Prince Rutbord breathed a sigh of relief. But then he had a headache. Coordination was a must.

If France attacked, the Lombard Kingdom would be the biggest victim. No matter how excessive the military's request was, as long as it could keep the French out of the country, he would agree.

The problem was that coordination was not easy. Not to mention arguing with the central government for compensation, just the requisition of roads and vehicles was enough to trouble him.

…

Everything had to be compared. If Prince Rutbord knew the problem that the French were facing, he would not have such a headache.

In the command center of the French army in Turin, Marshal Adrian was looking at the map and worrying. According to the plan, he should have launched an attack on the Lombard Kingdom long ago.

However, the Italians made trouble. Anti-war movements broke out in many cities, including Turin, which delayed the army's action.

Of all times, they had waited until the war had broken out to protest. If there was no mastermind behind this, Aradeline would never believe it.

Before this, the Italians still raised the flag of the emperor and asked the government to declare war on the three countries.

Now that things had come to this, Adrian could only think of a way to deal with the aftermath. He couldn't even report back to the country.

Because if the lid was opened, many people would be unlucky. If he offended too many people, he would not be able to survive as a marshal.

"Did you catch the rats?"

Rats were synonymous with Italian independent organizations. Ever since France annexed the Regions of Italy, the bureaucrats had an additional activity to catch rats.

"Marshal, you know that these rats are too timid. They don't even show up …"