Chapter 901 The Killing Archangel

Chapter 901 The Killing Archangel

Pius IX was very dissatisfied with Franz's unauthorized kidnapping of residents of the Papal State, but Franz did not admit that these people wearing simple military uniforms and holding guns were civilians.

In fact, theoretically speaking, capturing 80,000 prisoners in one day is an impossible task. As Chu Yunfei said, "Even 50,000 pigs cannot be captured in three days!"

But that's just generally speaking, but it obviously doesn't apply to the Italian battlefield at this time.

The vast majority of the Italians in La Boer's army were coerced in, and their blood surged under the stimulation of religion and nationalism.

If La Boer had not been using the toughest means to suppress them, all of these people would have run away long ago, and even the three thousand people would not have died.

Considering the mood of Pius IX, Franz decided to hand over to him all the officers from the original Papal State and the rebels.

Although the Austrian soldiers felt that capturing Lapore and his officers was a great achievement, Franz did reward them.

However, Lapore and the officers of the Italian coalition were just a pile of rubbish in Franz's eyes, and they were of no use to Austria at all.

Rather than these gangsters, Franz wanted to catch Garibaldi or be expelled from Italy.

But these people were different for Pius IX. They were both traitors and followers of the devil. They were also obstacles to his retaking Rome and hidden dangers to stabilizing the situation.

Franz could also clean up the feudal forces in the papacy, which would help Pius IX complete the centralization of power.

In fact, making the Papal States a centralized monarchy would be more conducive to the subsequent operation of the Austrian Empire.

In the Bereni Valley, a huge airship slowly lowered. It wasn't until the last airship landed safely on the ground that Franz and Albrecht breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Due to imperfect technology and backward materials science, the Austrian army only uses soft airships. The advantage of this kind of airship is that it is relatively small and flexible, easy to carry and transport, has a wide range of applicable scenarios, is low-cost, and is easy to use.

That’s right! At this time, the huge sky-curtain beast in front of Pius IX was actually just a small airship. The length of 20 to 30 meters was only one-tenth of the size of the large rigid airships of later generations.

Although soft airships have many advantages, the disadvantages are also not small. For example, safety and stability are not as good as rigid airships.

At the same time, landing is also a big problem. Since there is no frame support, it completely depends on the driver's deflation technology.

When the airship descends, it needs to release air from the tail to tilt the airship downward to adjust its direction.

Once the landing angle is wrong, or the descent speed is too fast, it may cause the boat to crash and kill people. Moreover, it contains a large amount of hydrogen, and if it explodes, the consequences will be disastrous.

But Pius IX didn't know that. He was preparing to meet these sky warriors with great expectations.

Franz could only advise him to wait at a slightly further distance, for whatever reason.

The noble Pope naturally has to be more reserved. How can he step forward to greet ordinary soldiers if he wants to respect his identity?

In fact, this reason should usually work well, but Pius IX was not a pope who was willing to be ordinary.

"Archduke Franz, you are wrong. Although I"

As soon as Pius IX opened his mouth, Franz knew what he was going to say.

"Your Majesty the Pope, mortals need to be in awe. Otherwise, the chaos in Rome will happen again."

At this moment, Franz's fallacy convinced Pius IX. The latter felt that he had opened Pandora's box and released all the prisoners in the Vatican, which was indeed a bit ill-considered.

Pius IX easily connected with his own experiences and came to the wrong conclusion that he was too nice to people.

In fact, His Majesty the Pope made many mistakes, and Franz wouldn't be able to tell them all if he talked about them in detail for three days and three nights.

But allowing it to complete centralization will indeed improve the situation quickly, and it will also be conducive to Austria's continued penetration in the future.

However, this does not mean that Franz will reject the British peace agreement. Although it is only a short-term peace, the external environment is too important for Austria at this time.

Moreover, the development potential of the land of the Papal States, or the mountainous areas of Central Italy, is too limited. Even today, it is one of the poorest places in Italy.

Metternich's previous attempts in Ferrara, Bologna, Ravenna, and Ancona proved that this was a loss-making business.

Investments in Ferrara and Bologna can barely recover the cost, while in Ravenna and Ancona it becomes voluntary poverty alleviation.

If he really wanted to swallow up the Papal State, Franz would have to prepare another sum of money and prepare for a larger-scale war.

Moreover, it will also allow the great powers to focus on themselves, then all their previous efforts will be in vain, and Austria's diplomacy will be in a difficult situation again.

But it was different with the Pope as a shield. Franz could turn the Papal States into a source of cheap labor for Austria, and he could also intervene in many events through the Pope.

For example, during the Armenian Massacre committed by the Ottomans, Franz was able to step in. He could not only save the Armenians, but also find a very reasonable excuse for war.

The airship troops that had just landed were still very excited. This was the first large-scale air raid in modern human history.

Although the actual results were limited, the reputation was achieved. Fifty thousand versus "one million" will leave a mark in human history.

Later historians will repeatedly compare it with the Battle of Thermopylae and rank it as two miracles in human military history.

But the airship soldiers didn't know this yet. They only knew that the Pope and the Crown Prince wanted to see them.

The soldiers acted very agitated and spoke incoherently about their experiences.

Pius IX showed a rare display of great patience and insisted on granting them the title of "Archangel".

Pius IX's intention was very obviously to win over these people. After all, this was the only "heavenly army" he had ever seen.

But what Pius IX didn't know was that the Austrian airship force was far more than this.

There was no other way, because the attrition rate was a bit high, so Franz could only choose to train more. In fact, the Italians encountered this time did not organize a decent counterattack, so it seemed that the airboat troops were overbearing.

In fact, the airship at this time is far less domineering than the Kirov airship, and is rather fragile. As long as you are unlucky enough, one explosive bomb can cause a big explosion.

The power of an airship explosion is much more exaggerated than that of a hydrogen balloon. Its hydrogen content is equivalent to dozens or even hundreds of hydrogen balloons.

As long as there is an explosion, the soldiers above have basically no chance of survival.

In addition, because the technology is still relatively primitive, the airship is still powered by a steam engine. The black smoke was not caused by the rear wing being on fire, but caused by insufficient combustion of fossil fuels.

However, Pius IX's actions earned the Austrian air force the nickname of the Archangel of Killing.