Chapter 1053 The Man in the Jar

Turin, the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Sitting on the throne, Bellvi threw the war report to the ground and overturned the entire table next to him.

"What are these rubbish doing?"

Of the five armies, only Bellvi was left. It seemed that he had to come in person to revive the glory of France.

The originally imagined win-win situation turned into a lose-lose situation. Not only did they fail to wait for Radetzky to divide his troops, but more and more Austrian troops rushed to the Italian battlefield.

The most fatal thing was that the failure of the Mediterranean naval battle directly led to France's loss of sea control in the Mediterranean, and the original sea route of the French army was completely blocked.

Nearly 300,000 troops instantly became a burden. Land transportation and supply had to cross the Alps, which not only took a long time, but also had low efficiency.

After all, the troops responsible for transportation also needed food and drink, and France, which was in a dual economic and political crisis, did not have the ability to organize a large-scale transport team.

Only sea transportation could theoretically solve the problem of supplying the expeditionary force, but it was just a possibility. Because the finances of the Second French Republic were in a mess at this time, and the debt had reached an exaggerated level.

After all, the purchase price of an old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifle could exceed 100 francs, in addition to military boots worth 80 francs and coffee beans at one sou.

With these sky-high-priced materials emerging one after another, it was almost impossible for the Second French Republic to avoid debt.

The food and clothing expenses of 300,000 troops were not a small amount, and the process of taking over the Kingdom of Sardinia was too easy, so the arrogance of the French soldiers could no longer be contained.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. At this time, the French army could not accept the original poor food.

Bellevue also had to maintain the morale of the army, and he had to leave a way out for himself to return to Paris to stabilize the situation. Naturally, he would not let these soldiers live unhappily, so the people of the Kingdom of Sardinia could only suffer.

Anyway, Bellevue's banner is also to liberate Italy, so we French people go to the front line to fight hard, and it's not too much for you Italians to pay more taxes, give up some things, and give us national sovereignty.

Whether Bellevue wants to return home or negotiate with the Austrians, he needs enough capital. What is the capital in troubled times?

Bellevue thinks it is money and soldiers, so he can only choose to make the Italians in the Kingdom of Sardinia suffer again.

In fact, in the original plan of France and Austria, Genoa is the key to this battle. Food and reinforcements shipped from mainland France will be continuously transported to Turin by rail to support the confrontation between the main forces of both sides along the Ticino River.

The Turin-Genoa Railway is one of the earliest railways in the Kingdom of Sardinia. After all, there are too many passes between Genoa and Piedmont, and it is a new territory, so the Kingdom of Sardinia built this railway in 1845 to consolidate its rule in Genoa.

In addition to transporting troops and supplies, the French army can also attack the rear of the Austrian army through the Ligurian Pass, so Genoa will become the focus of the two sides.

However, the Austrian Imperial Navy's intervention made the layout of both sides meaningless, and also woke up Bellevue, who was still immersed in a beautiful dream.

The Sardinians finally realized a problem, they seemed to be on the wrong side.

However, as the king of standing, the Sardinians quickly changed their position, began to summon the souls of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and tried to drive the French out of Sardinia by marching and demonstrating like the French.

These Sardinians obviously have not read the history of the French Revolution, or they have read a beautified version. Soon the French army set up temporary courts and guillotines in various places, allowing the Sardinian people to experience the most thrilling and exciting part of the French Revolution.

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However, the Kingdom of Sardinia really had nothing at this time. No matter how Bellevue squeezed, it could not produce the strength to crush the Northern Italian Corps of the Austrian Empire.

Radetzky's main force was across the river from the main force of the French army, and Benedek was a commander who lacked ambition.

After he led his army to occupy Genoa, the first thing he did was to build the Genoa Line of Defense. This line of defense mainly used the legacy of the Republic of Genoa. There was not much new, but it was enough.

Facing the iron bucket formation set up by the Austrian side, Bellevue's staff had no good solution. This was not because the graduates of the Saint-Cyr Military Academy were incompetent fools, but because Bellevue valued the chips in his hands too much.

Bellevue, who had power for the first time, liked this feeling too much. He lived like an emperor in the Turin Palace.

In fact, no real emperor lived as luxuriously as Bellevue during this period. He understood that all this was brought to him by the army in his hands.

But how can there be no deaths in war? Moreover, the offensive and defensive battles involving more than 500,000 people were far beyond their common sense.

But in the case of similar forces, the side that defends in a dangerous place must have more advantages.

During this period, the French did advocate offensive tactics, but this tactic mainly relied on rapid advances to quickly bypass the enemy's key defense areas and attack weak points, rather than foolishly attacking those natural barriers with heavy defenses.

Bellevue also thought about going back to be Napoleon, but retreating was more difficult than he imagined. When he came, the Kingdom of Sardinia had no resistance and he could easily cross the Alps.

But now the main force of the French army is confronting the Austrian side. Once they retreat, they may be caught by the enemy and chased and killed, which will turn into a great defeat.

Even if the opponent did not react in time, Austria could use its maritime power to transport a troop to the rear of the French army to slow down the French army's retreat. As long as the Austrian pursuit troops caught up with them, they would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

In fact, after the battle in the Swiss mountains ended, the Austrian Empire sent mountain troops to bypass the French army through Switzerland.

Franz's main purpose in doing this was still to cut off the supply of the French army. After all, for the Austrian Empire, destroying the relationship between France and Sardinia was much more important than destroying hundreds of thousands of French troops.

What was being done here was not the relationship between France and the Sardinian government, but the relationship between the French and the Sardinians.

As for the troops under Bellevue, Franz had no reason to kill them except Bellevue himself.

Again, France's excessive weakness was not good for Austria, but would make Austria the target of public criticism.

After the Mediterranean naval battle, the Austrian navy was almost invincible. Corsica, the largest island of France, surrendered after only three days.

Friedrich hit a snag on the neighboring Sardinia, which had built a large number of fortifications to fight against the Barbary pirates.

These old fortifications were vulnerable to Austria's advanced weapons, but there were too many of them.

The Sardinians built fortifications everywhere, and their fighting will was very firm, and they did not surrender as soon as the cannons were fired.

Finally, at Franz's suggestion, Friedrich gave up directly conquering Sardinia, but instead occupied the island's port and sent Carlo Alberto and his followers to the island.

Sardinians should solve their own problems.