Chapter 872 Adding insult to injury
However, at present, it is impossible for the Kingdom of Sardinia to continue to offend the Austrians, but Carlo Alberto does not want to think about this unjust money.
The Kingdom of Sardinia simply resorted to the procrastination trick again. Yes, they will redeem people, but they need to raise money, so the time is uncertain.
Although it is a bit rogue, it is very reasonable. After all, more than 20 million florins is not a small number.
A large amount of money had been spent to buy Swiss Carlo Alberto, and coupled with the recent publicity and expedition, the treasury of the Kingdom of Sardinia has reached its bottom.
No king or government in the world likes to be in debt. Most of them are in debt out of necessity.
At this time, Carlo Alberto naturally delayed as long as he could.
The Austrian side has no good solution to this problem. It can only send people to negotiate and ask the other party to pay as soon as possible.
But that was only in the normal sense, and Franz was not panicked at all. After all, raising tens of thousands of mouths was not a problem for the Austrian Empire.
Especially after the sea passage to Venice is restored, a large amount of food from the Americas will greatly alleviate the crisis in northern Italy.
However, the Austrian side will not completely follow Austrian standards when calculating the captives' food. After all, this is a domestic supply price. How can the Kingdom of Sardinia enjoy it?
To put it simply, food prices are very expensive in disaster years. If Carlo Alberto does not redeem people early, the late payment fees incurred will be enough to cost him a pot.
This finally caused some heartache for Sardinia, but it was only a symbolic redemption of a group of officers, and the pull between the two sides continued.
After the city of Venice was recovered, most of the rebellions in the Venetian region were immediately eliminated, and the reorganized troops swept away most of the rebellious cities along the way.
In fact, the cities that had been occupied by the rebels welcomed the return of the Austrian troops, and the so-called Italian nationalist enthusiasm did not seem to affect them at all.
In a sense, this is due to Niele Manin. First of all, in order to ensure the capture of Venice, he used almost all the strength and backbone of the entire Venetian rebels.
And almost all of these people were wiped out in the battle of Venice City. They died and escaped. The rebels without a leader were naturally vulnerable.
If Niele Manin did not gather the rebels in one place, but spread them throughout Venetia as before, then Franz would be really difficult to handle.
Even with all the elites in Austria, it would not be easy to pull out such a nail.
Franz was already prepared for this. Over the years, he had cultivated many confidants in Northern Italy. These people had each established an organization to cooperate with the Austrian army in the campaign.
Now Niele Manin's self-confidence helped Franz to get rid of the sting behind his back.
Franz was not in a hurry to execute Fabio and Niele Manin. They did commit heinous crimes, but with them, the rebels in Venice had a target.
If they are all dead, it will be troublesome for the rebels to cause trouble everywhere. Franz gave the rebels two weeks, enough time for another attack.
At the same time, the Austrian army can also complete its deployment along the Po River, which is the most critical to the war situation at this time.
But Franz actually thought too much, because when the news of Fabio and Niele Manin's defeat in Venice City came out, most of the illegal organizations disbanded directly, and some even chose to betray directly.
Repeated horizontal jumping is actually not just a stunt of Carlo Alberto, ordinary Italians also inherit this blood ability.
The rebels and nationalists in the Venetian region suddenly became street rats that everyone shouted to beat.
Compared with uncovering secrets and reporting in cities, it is much more straightforward in the vast rural areas. Farmers and pro-Austrian squires treat them as wild boars and kill them in exchange for money.
Austrian officials are also happy to use this reward and punishment mechanism to further divide the rebels in Venetia.
Garibaldi, who had previously commanded the attack on Verona, was offered a sky-high price of five hundred thousand florins for his head.
Most people thought Franz was making a fuss out of a molehill, but he felt that even one million florins, not to mention half a million, was worth the price of admission.
Others don't understand, because they don't know what a great feat this man wearing a red scarf has accomplished in history.
One thousand versus one hundred thousand, the ultimate battle, the hero of two worlds, the great father of modern guerrilla warfare, the only designated god of war in modern Italy
Even if you don't know the history of later generations, the battle in Venice alone is enough to prove his worth.
With only a few thousand militiamen, they captured three cities in a row and treated the Austrian supreme commander in Venetia, Alois Parffy, and his 50,000 troops like monkeys.
If it weren't for the huge gap in strength between the two sides and bad luck, Garibaldi might have captured Verona. This was not something anyone could do.
You must know that Verona is a fortified city. Although Alois Palfi's resume has elements of god-making and his temperament is very weird, he is by no means completely incompetent.
However, with the arrival of the armies of Franz and Albrecht, Venice was on the verge of collapse. This was not something that Garibaldo could save alone.
Franz's victory in Venice was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the central government of the Austrian Empire.
After the war started, those nationalists and constitutionalists disappeared. After all, if they continued to make trouble, the Austrian government could use their tricks to send them to the battlefield.
However, after the situation stabilized, they were the first people the Vienna government had to deal with. This group of people used to drive up prices and even officials could not guarantee three meals a day and did not dare to add more salt in cooking.
The gangsters dared to ride on top of the secret police and gendarmes. Now that the situation has reversed, it’s no wonder they have taken back their capital and profits.
The group of capitalists who had previously encouraged Solomon Rothschild to become the spokesman for the constitutionalists approached Solomon again.
Solomon was not polite this time. He directly asked the military police to arrest him. After all, the Rothschild family is not a rioter, and taking this opportunity, the family's business has finally developed significantly.
In fact, Solomon's business in Vienna has not been doing well since the food crisis. The Austrian Empire's economy has developed rapidly over the years, but he missed several key opportunities.
Especially the coal and iron mining industry in Bohemia directly allowed a second-rate bank to take off and become an existence on par with him.
So generally speaking, Solomon's status in Austria is constantly declining. This time Metternich stepped down, as a Jew, he was also affected.
The reason is of course that he collaborated with Metternich and betrayed his country. The conscience of heaven and earth is that the Jews obviously have no motherland.
However, this time the Vienna government's counterattack finally satisfied him, and Vienna's financial circle was almost wiped out.
Those former competitors were either directly imprisoned or forced to accept heavy fines. Some with stronger connections and more sophisticated skills had to provide the Austrian government with a long-term low-interest or even interest-free loan.
In fact, this time the Vienna government was much more determined and powerful than before, but it didn't seem obvious to the high-level circles where Solomon hung out.
But the constitutionalists and liberals at the bottom have suffered a devastating blow, but the life and death of these people is not within the scope of consideration at the top.
The reason why Franz had to deal with these "little evils" was not because he bullied the weak and feared the strong, but because he knew that the people at the bottom were the main force of the rebellion.
Those at the top understand the rules of social operation better than those at the bottom, and are deeply involved in the network of interests. In fact, they will be more at ease.
As for those at the bottom who have poor risk resistance, they are the group of people who most hope to change the world. Franz was not against change, he just didn’t want it to become a mere shuffling of cards.
Solomon stood in the right position during this crisis. Not only did he make a lot of money, he even received an honorary citizen medal from the Vienna government.
(At that time, Jews were still not regarded as nationals by most people, so the Honorary Citizen Medal was the highest honor they could receive. Except for those who joined the army)
But Solomon soon got into trouble and even locked himself in his room.
Everything stemmed from a piece of news that the Hungarians were preparing to rebel and their troops were secretly advancing towards Pressburg.
Pressburg was the capital of Hungary at this time, and Budapest was not even one city, but two, connected by the Széchenyi Bridge.
Pressburg is not only the nominal capital of Hungary, but also a symbol of Austrian imperial power.
At this time, the Hungarians were undoubtedly playing for real. Although Austria had successively won great victories in Venice and Lombardy, the threat from the Italian coalition had not dissipated.
At this time, the Hungarian cavalry rebelled, which was undoubtedly the worst case scenario for Austria. In fact, as a member of the famous Rothschild family in the 19th century, he had a wide range of intelligence sources.
The nephew in London also gave Solomon accurate news. The British would participate in the war, but the target was not Austria itself, but the overseas colonies of Austria, just like during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of the Spanish Throne.
Put these two pieces of news together, and Solomon had to reconsider the problem.
Now is it time to add insult to injury, or to provide help in times of need.
The conditions offered by the Hungarians are very attractive. The honorary president of the Hungarian National Bank, Rothschild Bank, will obtain the right to issue currency and give him Hungarian national status.
On the other hand, it provides a large war loan to the Austrian Empire. On the one hand, it can gain national recognition and there will be no shortage of honorary titles and titles.
At the same time, he would be better off in Vienna as a creditor, just as his brother Meyer had been during the Napoleonic Wars.
But at this time another news came that the Czechs in Bohemia had revolted.
"Lars, bring me Mr. Alexander Bach and Mr. Gushan Casse."
The housekeeper was a little puzzled.
"Sir, wouldn't it be bad to get involved with those constitutionalists at this time?"
"What do you know? Today is going to change again!"
Solomon said with emotion, how could the housekeeper not understand and immediately agreed and took his most capable assistant out to do the work.
To be honest, Lars didn't think highly of Alexander Bach and Gushan Kasse, because these two people escaped too quickly.
After they got the news, they fled without caring about the lives of those who followed them. But in Lars's eyes, those so-called followers deserved to die.
But now that Mr. Solomon actually wants to associate with such a person, and it is such a sensitive moment, the streets are full of secret police and military police, he really feels a little uneasy.
The happiest people at this time were the British. Although uprisings began in some parts of Ireland, the Scots were also making trouble, and the constitutionalists in London marched all day long.
But the French Provisional Government played itself to death. They first went to war with Austria and were slapped in the face by the speed of light. Then they tried to suck blood from the colonies to solve the domestic crisis but were rejected by each colony.
The successive uprisings in the country have caused France's national strength to regress, and Palmerston has begun to establish a pro-British government.
Naturally, John Russell could not remain idle. He was preparing to attack the French colonies. Although the French had a large number of troops in North Africa, supplies still relied on domestic and plundering indigenous peoples.
Therefore, as long as the British fleet conducts a naval blockade, it will not be long before the French army in North Africa surrenders.
But there was not-so-good news at this time, that is, the Austrians defeated the rebels in the Kingdom of Sardinia and Venetia at the speed of light.
Moreover, there was no peace treaty between Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia, but a truce. This is worth pondering. The Austrians most likely want to take action against the Kingdom of Sardinia after solving the Italian coalition.
It will be difficult for Britain to intervene by then. If Austria is allowed to gain Genoa, then Britain's strategy of blocking the Adriatic Sea will fail.
Moreover, after acquiring Genoa, Austria's economy will develop faster, and their products will begin to compete with Britain around the world.
In fact, this competition has already begun, with Austrian products appearing in the German Confederation, France, the United States, and even South America and India.
John Russell himself also bought some. These things are indeed advanced and easy to use. The design of each piece seems to have been polished for hundreds of years, so that even the pickiest person can't see any faults.
But this is not what the British want to see, and he must stamp out this tendency. After the expansion of the British Mediterranean Fleet, it can completely suppress the French Great Eastern Fleet, and the excess ships can completely block the Adriatic Sea.
The advantage of this is to ensure that the Austrians will not directly use the sea advantage to land directly in Rome and Naples.
After all, the navy of the Italian coalition is just a bunch of large armed merchant ships. They may not even be able to deal with pirates, so how can they compare with the Austrian navy.
And based on the experience of the British, the Austrian Empire at this time liked to take risks with its troops. If they could not protect them, Archduke Franz would lead a beach landing.
Secondly, John Russell did not believe in the level of the Italian coalition. After all, the Kingdom of Sardinia claimed to have an army of 200,000, but it failed to hold out for a week before it rebelled.
In fact, whether Austria wants to annex the Kingdom of Sardinia or the Kingdom of Sardinia falls to Austria, the situation on the European continent will become uncontrollable for Britain.
Their purpose is that no one family can dominate Europe, whether it is France, Russia, or Austria.
You always need a reason to join the war, but Pius IX had already thought of it for the British. Moreover, Britain has never been afraid of anyone in naval battles. This kind of risk-free business was John Russell's favorite.
It's too late to go home, so I'll make do with it for now and I'll change it later.