Chapter 848 Belgrade's Plan

As soon as this news came out, Europe was in an uproar. Italian nationalists knew that their spring had come.

Riots broke out in Lombardy and Venetia, and even Tuscany, Lucca, and Modena, which were controlled by the Habsburg family's collateral branches, were not spared.

People shouted "Long live Pius IX!", "Long live Italian unity!", and "Long live constitutional freedom!", and flames were set off in Italy.

However, most of these flames were set off in cities, not in the more pious and ignorant rural areas.

Such riots made Carlo Alberto extremely frightened. What he wanted was Italy ruled by the Kingdom of Sardinia, not Italy controlled by charlatans.

Carlo Alberto ordered Count Di Castagneto, who was in charge of intelligence work, to use all available resources to closely monitor the movements in Vienna.

At the same time, he contacted the insurgents in Lombardy and Venetia and promised them high positions and generous salaries. He wanted to get there first. After all, Pius IX was only a pope, not a king, and only the Savoy family could unify Italy.

At this time, the 38-year-old Cavour almost jumped up when he heard the news. He felt that the opportunity for the Kingdom of Sardinia had come and immediately published an article in his own "Reconquista" stating:

"Only the Kingdom of Sardinia can unify Italy, and the king should accept the constitution"

Cavour was an aristocrat and capitalist, so he supported the expansionist war of unification and wanted to put shackles on the king. These two points did not conflict.

As for the so-called nationalism and Mazzini's ideas, he sneered at them all.

After learning the news, Britain publicly expressed its support for the Italian Renaissance movement, and immediately issued a letter urging Austria to return northern Italy to the "Italians" as soon as possible.

The Italians in the British letter are very interesting. They support the emergence of another great power or quasi-great power in Italy.

After all, this is much better than the result of France or Austria completely controlling Italy. In short, the more countries there are on the European continent, the more dispersed the power is, the more it is in the interests of the British.

And the new Italy can only rely on Britain, at least John Russell thinks so.

However, Palmerston does not think so. He thinks that Italy will be a heavy burden. It is better to let only northern Italy be independent, rather than revive the so-called Italy, so as to achieve a real balance.

As the younger brother of the British, the Ottoman Empire naturally chose to follow up directly. But it is unknown whether anyone cares about Magid's letter.

In fact, in recent years, the trade volume between Austria and the Ottoman Empire has been rising year by year, and in terms of profit alone, it has exceeded the trade with the British.

So Magid's decision immediately caused dissatisfaction among domestic business groups. They could not accept the Sultan's stupid decision, and they did not want to lose such a good business partner as Austria.

However, Magid actually had a deeper consideration, because not long ago, the Serbian Grand Duke Miloš Obrenovich came and made a bold suggestion to him.

"Great Sultan, we can take this opportunity to take back Western Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, and even Belgrade."

This statement immediately aroused Magid's interest. Pius IX could take back northern Italy, so why couldn't the Ottoman Empire take back those homelands?

In fact, Western Bosnia, Montenegro, and northern Albania are not very attractive to Magid, but Belgrade is a major water and land transportation route.

As long as we control this place, we will control the door to the Balkans, and then the Ottoman Empire will be able to regain control of the Danube River Basin.

Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia will all be more closely linked to the Ottoman Empire.

Note: At this time, Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia are nominally vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and Wallachia and Moldavia are Russian protectorates.

At the same time, they can choose to go north to seize Vienna to fulfill the glory and dream of the Ottoman Empire.

As for Milos's words about guarding the national gate for the Ottoman Empire, neither of them would take it seriously.

Milosh wanted to use the Ottoman Empire to retake Belgrade, while Mejid wanted to take the opportunity to regain control of the Danube River Basin.

However, they had a common enemy, Austria, which was the basis for their cooperation. Milosh was a local snake and was very familiar with those lands, and he also had internal support in Austria.

And Sultan Mejid was undoubtedly a dragon crossing the river, relying on the strong military and economic strength of the Ottoman Empire and the righteousness of recovering his homeland.

The Russian ambassador was shocked and angry about this matter, but he could only choose to ask His Majesty the Tsar, because the matter was too big and he could not make the decision at all.

Things developed too fast, and Russia's disadvantages in a remote place were infinitely magnified. In fact, it was not entirely, because this trip was too muddy, and Nicholas I also wanted to wait and see.

Prussia and Spain were both in a state of difficulty at this time, but they had their own different judgments and practices.

Spain was deeply mired in civil war, and they wanted to divert the contradictions, so they decided to add insult to injury to Austria.

Moreover, the Spanish did not think that the two sides would really fight. Such a matter would most likely end in nothing. After all, no country would really go to war for the Pope.

Prussia was in chaos, and it was difficult for William IV to leave Berlin. He also believed that the two sides would not really fight.

The reason why the pope succeeded last time was because the Austrians violated the agreement first and went deep into the pope to develop power.

But this time, the conditions proposed by Pius IX were too harsh and provocative, and they trampled on the dignity of Austria as a great power.

If it had been before the 19th century, the Holy City would have been bloodbathed and the pope would have been replaced.

However, the wave of nationalism and revolution swept across Europe, and the matter should have been left unresolved in the end.

Although the Austrians had no way to deal with the Papal States for the time being, they had many tricks to deal with Prussia, which also belonged to the German Confederation.

For example, in the current wave of nationalism, as long as Prussia was labeled a traitor, those fanatical nationalists would most likely really rise up in rebellion.

Even if there was no people's war, William IV could not bear to expel the Hohenzollern family from German nationality.

In fact, the German nationalists had already occupied the Confederation Parliament in Frankfurt at this time, and they were even ready to turn the Confederation into an empire.

Yes, it would be fine to establish the First German Empire or directly rebuild the Holy Roman Empire. Germany should be united under the same flag anyway.

The French would love to see the Austrians expelled from Italy, but they have more important things to deal with right now.

The rally on February 22, 1848 quickly turned into a demonstration, and Louis Philippe did not want to see this.