"The enemy has five divisions." Marshal Bartolio's first thought was that the enemy's reinforcements had arrived, but he quickly changed his mind.
The main force of the Austrian army was in Hungary, and the traffic in Hungary wasn't very good these days. It wasn't easy to send five divisions from Hungary to Trento.
Train? The railway from Hungary hadn't even been completed yet.
Or the cavalry? In terms of time, the cavalry could indeed arrive in a week.
But this didn't make sense in military terms. Unless the Government of Vienna was out of its mind, it wouldn't send five divisions of cavalry to Trento!
Marshal Bartolio suspected that the frontline officer was lying. This was an enemy that could defeat three Sardinian divisions in one night. No matter how he looked at it, the enemy's military strength couldn't be small!
"Has the enemy mobilized a large number of troops?" Marshal Bartolio asked doubtfully.
"No. Other than the 18th of May, when they sent two divisions to reinforce Trento, there hasn't been any other large troop movements." Chief of Staff Otles replied with certainty.
It was impossible to transfer troops from the Venice region. The total Austrian force here was less than a hundred thousand. If they were to transfer five infantry divisions, the defensive line would have been empty. How could this be hidden from their eyes?
After a moment of silence, Marshal Bartolio said with a bitter smile, "I'm afraid the enemy's reinforcements have arrived.
Perhaps the reinforcements from Hungary were just a ruse used by the enemy to lure us into the trap. The real reinforcements came from Austria.
The Republic of Hungary is just a motley crew. If the Government of Austria wanted to suppress the rebellion, they wouldn't need to mobilize so many troops.
I'm afraid the enemy was bluffing from the start. That old fox, Radski, purposely created an illusion of a lack of troops to lure us into a trap.
The troops that Austria sent to Hungary to suppress the revolution didn't even have four hundred thousand soldiers. A large portion of the troops were coming for us. "
Hearing the Marshal's imagination, everyone's expression changed. This was the most reasonable explanation.
They didn't think that three Sardinian divisions couldn't defeat three Austrian regiments. If the difference in strength between the two sides was so great, the war would have been over long ago.
Everyone had political wisdom. Setting up a teammate was the most common diplomatic tactic. It was normal for the Hungarians to not tell them the news in order to get them to attack Venice as soon as possible.
Otles said worriedly, "Marshal, no matter how corrupt Austria is, it is still a large European country. If the Government of Vienna is willing, it would not be a problem to send two to three hundred thousand troops to Venice.
If we can't figure out the number of enemy reinforcements, I'm afraid we'll suffer a great loss in the following battles! "
This was a very real question. How did Austria manage to send their troops to Trento without anyone knowing? How many reinforcements were there?
Weapons, equipment, firepower, these were all things that they needed to figure out immediately.
Marshal Bartolio thought for a moment and said, "Immediately send someone to investigate the enemy's strength. With so many troops, it's impossible for the enemy to hide. They will definitely leave some traces."
Pausing for a moment, he pointed at the unlucky guard who was reporting the military situation and asked unhappily, "Idiot, how are the casualties of our army?"
The unlucky guard who was pointed at stuttered and replied, "Marshal, the three divisions that participated in the battle of Trento have suffered heavy losses. The number of casualties is still being calculated. The initial estimate is that the number of casualties is no less than ten thousand …"
Hearing the exact number of casualties, everyone's faces changed. This meant that the three divisions would lose their combat power for a long time to come.
"Marshal, since the enemy's reinforcements have already arrived, it's almost impossible for us to take Venice. Why don't we stop the attack and protect our gains first?" Major General Mantua braced himself and suggested.
They really did not want to fight anymore. The Austrian army was not as useless as the politicians described them to be. On the contrary, they were very strong.
From the start of the battle of Venice until now, they had not gained much advantage. If the enemy's reinforcements arrived at this time, their advantage in numbers would no longer exist. This battle would be even more impossible to fight.
Marshal Bartolio thought for a moment and said, "Order all troops to stop the attack and turn to defense.
General Mantua, lead the fourth, fifth, and eighth divisions to the Ara region to set up defenses and watch the enemy in Trento.
The deployment of troops in the other regions will not change. Everyone, carry out your duties. I will report the rest to the kingdom. Everyone, wait for orders from the kingdom! "
The Sardinians were completely misled. The Austrian reinforcements had indeed reached the Venice region, but they did not go to Trento. Instead, they went to Vicenza.
In order to avoid responsibility, General Messi lied about the military situation and made the Sardinian command center make the wrong military deployment. They used a large number of mobile troops to defend against the non-existent Austrian main force in Trento.
At this time, Lieutenant General Messi naturally could not care so much. He was busy grabbing strong men to make up for the lack of manpower in his troops.
There was no other way. After being ambushed by the enemy, many of his troops were scattered. Everyone was in a hurry to escape, and no one could care about regrouping the scattered troops.
After running to Bergamo, the combined forces of his three divisions could not even make up a full division. Messi did not dare to report this situation.
In order not to be exposed, Messi had no choice but to pull people to make up the numbers. Anyway, it was a time of war. He could just fight a few battles later and he could make up for the losses.
The Kingdom of Sardinia was not that clean. Messi was a direct descendant of King Charles Albert. As long as it was acceptable, everyone would turn a blind eye to it.
Walking on the streets of Bergamo, César only felt his hair stand on end when he saw the frightened eyes of the people. He braced himself and suggested, "General, the situation here is not right. I'm afraid it's not a place to stay for long!"
Lieutenant General Messi's performance was much better. He sneered and said, "What are you thinking? They're just a bunch of lowly people. What's there to worry about? "
People's hearts? It had long since ceased to exist. The troops had retreated to Bergamo, and military discipline had ceased to exist.
The Sardinian soldiers who were stifled vented here. For example, they warmly greeted the young women in the city and collected a labor fee before leaving.
This was also a European tradition. For thousands of years, the armies of various countries had robbed while fighting. Although the Sardinian army had changed to a modern army, these bad habits were still retained.
For a young noble like César who still had a conscience, it was still a little difficult to accept, but for Messi, who had participated in the war against France, it did not matter at all.
César said awkwardly, "But General, if we do this, will there be trouble when Italy is unified in the future? If those councilors talk about these problems, I'm afraid … "
Messi patted César's shoulder and sighed. "César, you think too much.
Let's not talk about whether we can unify Italy or not. Even if we do, no one will remember these things.
Don't forget that the right to speak will always be in the hands of a few people. We haven't touched any of the nobles or capitalists, as long as they don't hate us! "
There was no doubt that this battle had destroyed Messi's morale, and he had completely lost confidence in this war.
At this time, he was no longer thinking about how to win the war. Instead, he was thinking about how to escape punishment and avoid being punished after the war.
This was a society where money was the most important. There was nothing that money could not solve. Even if there was, it must be because there was not enough money!
General Messi was not the commander-in-chief. Even if they needed a scapegoat for the defeat, he was not qualified. Now, he should first plunder a huge sum of money and take it back to the country to do some activities. It would undoubtedly be the best choice for his own interests.
The people of Bergamo had unfortunately become victims, and they fully felt what "the warmth of the Kingdom of Sardinia" meant.
…
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