Chapter 858: The Kingdom of Sardinia Joins the War

March 4, 1848, Milan.

The whole street seemed unusually quiet. According to the intelligence of the informant, today would be the day of the Milan uprising.

Marshal Radetzky announced martial law at the first time, which was actually very painful for him personally, after all, the old marshal loved this land deeply.

In fact, Marshal Radetzky had dismissed quite a number of Lombard officers and soldiers in the previous week.

This was not only the kindness of the old marshal to prevent fratricide, but also to eliminate the unstable factors in the army. After all, the knife stabbed by one's own people is often the deepest.

"Children, take the money and take your family away. At least don't be an enemy of the empire. This is not a request, but a piece of advice."

As a senior elder and the main person in charge in the Lombardy region, Radetzky knew very well what Franz was going to do, and he would resolutely execute the orders of the General Staff.

It's just that he didn't want to destroy this beautiful city unless it was absolutely necessary.

However, as the alarm bells rang and the battle was about to break out, the people began to rush to the city hall and the armory like crazy.

On one side were the people holding simple weapons with tricolor flags, and on the other side were the army that had been prepared for a long time. The battle between the two sides can be imagined.

In just two hours, blood and corpses covered the entire street. The narrow streets greatly limited the number advantage of the rebels, while infinitely magnifying the power of artillery.

No carbon-based creature could withstand the close-range direct fire of artillery. Shotgun shells exploded above the heads of the crowd, and countless small steel balls were embedded in the human body under the urging of gunpowder.

There were endless wails and screams, but this was just the beginning. Solid bullets, shrapnel bullets, and chain bullets completely destroyed the morale of the rebels.

The young soldier began to vomit, and the old soldier comforted the recruits while vomiting.

"If we don't fight back, we will be the ones to die. And I assure you, if they do it, we will be ten thousand times more miserable than those corpses."

Faced with the corpses all over the ground, the insurgents in Milan had internal disagreements. Some thought that they should continue to use powerful forces to crush the enemy, while others thought that they should surrender as soon as possible because the gap between the two sides was too large.

In fact, before the uprising began, the leader of the Republicans, Carlo Cattaneo, opposed the armed uprising because the Austrian troops inside and outside Milan totaled 50,000, and they were well disciplined.

Marshal Radetzky was not a mediocre person, and he had a high status in the minds of the soldiers. In addition, all the commanding heights and traffic arteries in Milan had been occupied by the Austrian army.

The leaders of the insurgents were a group of Jesuit charlatans and a few intellectuals who felt dizzy when they saw blood. The most common thing the insurgents cut with knives was bread. They had no weapons and no qualified leaders.

Carlo Cattaneo felt that it was more reliable to persuade the Austrians with words than to use force.

However, other leaders of the rebel army did not agree with his view. They thought Cattaneo was a capitulator and wanted to lock him up.

In the end, it was the moderate leader Count Casarte who stopped the Republicans from locking up their later leader.

Casarte himself was a traditional aristocrat. He made a bet between the Kingdom of Sardinia and Austria, letting his eldest son serve in the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia and his second son go to Austria to study.

This was not uncommon among traditional aristocrats, but the intrusion of Pius IX and the Republicans did disrupt his plan.

Pius IX wanted to unify Italy, which was a crazy idea for Casarte, and the Republicans wanted independence, which was even crazier for Casarte.

But as an aristocrat, his survival wisdom for thousands of years told him that he should preserve his strength now. This was not only the strength of his own family but also the strength of Lombardy. After all, a family was too insignificant in front of a country.

Casarte's suggestion was peace talks. Although it sounds very naive, in history, Casarte used the opportunity of peace talks to convince Heinrich O'Donnell, the governor of Lombardy, that only by lifting martial law could the rebellion be ended.

When O'Donnell forced Radetzky's army to leave, the Lombards launched a short but effective raid and captured the naive governor.

After O'Donnell signed a series of humiliating treaties, he was imprisoned in a moldy wine cellar by the Lombards.

When the Austrian Empire's army recaptured Milan again, people remembered the unfortunate governor, who had already turned into a mummy.

In fact, O'Donnell cannot be blamed for being too naive. After all, Count Casarte was an Austrian official, an Austrian nobleman, and the mayor of Milan.

There were too many such traitors in the bureaucratic system of northern Italy at this time, but fortunately, the General Staff was established, and Franz directly announced the order to enter the wartime mechanism through Vienna.

This at least ensures that Radetzky's army will not be constrained by internal constraints. Secondly, the continuous internal conflicts between the appointed officials and the local officials also prevented the two sides from joining forces.

So the double-dealing identity of Count Casarte was exposed, and Governor O'Donnell would naturally not be foolish enough to rely on the other party's dispatch.

In fact, Governor O'Donnell still has some integrity and intelligence. After seeing the other party's true face, he scolded the other party and then left.

Governor O'Donnell knew that his ability was limited and he could not deal with the upcoming crisis, so he wisely resigned from the post of governor and prepared to go home to enjoy his old age.

For such aristocrats, it is not realistic to ask them to be loyal to the country. It is already very good if they can not cause trouble to the country or take the opportunity to make war profits.

These people are wealthy and powerful. If they want, no country will refuse to accept them. Early retirement is decent. If Governor O'Donnell makes the same mistake as in history, Franz doesn't mind helping him to be decent.

Franz has planted a large number of insiders in Count O'Donnell's guards. This is not a difficult task for the latter, and the former can't do anything even if he knows.

Without Governor O'Donnell dragging his feet behind, the Austrian army has formed a unilateral crushing of the insurgents in Milan.

However, due to the influence of religion and nationalism, anti-Austrian uprisings have begun to appear in other cities.

Seeing the smoke of war in northern Italy, coupled with the 450,000 Italian coalition forces as a shot of adrenaline, Carlo Alberto felt that it was time.

On March 6, 1848, the Kingdom of Sardinia officially declared war on the Austrian Empire.

Carlo Alberto knew that the Austrian Empire was not a weak opponent. He knew that even though it seemed that the Austrian Empire's rule in northern Italy was already shaky, he had to go all out to have a chance of winning.

But at the same time, as an old scoundrel, he had already found a way out for himself.

Carlo Alberto first supported a naive liberal politician as Prime Minister Giovanni Gronchi, and then directly promulgated a castrated version of the constitution.

The constitution made almost no achievements in anti-authoritarianism, but gave the country the right to levy additional war taxes and universal conscription.