Chapter 885 The Plan Twelve Years Ago

In fact, the liberals of the Papal States were not grateful to Pius IX himself, and even hated him a little. After all, the latter was a representative of the old era.

Moreover, the liberal government wanted a constitution, and they felt that this was the best opportunity. Since the troops loyal to Pius IX were no longer around, they had nothing to worry about.

But at this time, Pius IX himself was not aware of the approaching crisis. He was still immersed in the tricolor flags flying in the streets and the shouts of "Long live Italy, long live Pius IX."

Pius IX was the nominal leader of the Italian coalition at this time. In a sense, it was precisely because of him that he could bridge the conflicts between many parties and organize these unrelated or even mutually hostile people together.

In fact, the first propaganda posters of Italian nationalists showed the image of a priest wearing a tricolor wide-brimmed hat and holding a sword.

Many clergy did join this war for one reason or another, and they also played the role of glue like Pius IX.

Without these priests and parish communities, the rebels would never have been able to mobilize such a large team.

But this is not important in the eyes of liberals. What they want is real power and a constitution that can protect their power.

Pius IX's supporters were not without merit, insisted Vincenzo Jobetti, a businessman in the Papal States.

“National sentiment and enthusiasm for war are a sword, a weapon, a powerful army.

Either His Majesty will have it firmly in his grasp, or the opposition will take it away and use it against His Majesty and against the Catholic Church. "

However, Pius IX did not heed Vincenzo Jobetti's warning, but was ostracized because the latter opposed war with Austria.

By this time, however, the liberals had bared their fangs, and the Business Council had drafted a bourgeois constitution to replace the church's theocratic control.

They were sure that this would gain public support, but before that they had to get rid of the biggest trouble - Pius IX himself.

The Liberals first planned an assassination attempt against Count Pellegrino Rossi, Pius IX's chief security adviser.

Count Rossi himself was very talented and very good at handling internal crises. It was because of his presence that large-scale uprisings did not break out within the Papal States.

But as the old saying goes, the liberals in the Papal States don't care about anything else. They only care about whether it is good for themselves.

Then Count Peregrino Rossi was assassinated in public, ambushed on his way home and fled.

But Count Rossi's death still did not awaken Pius IX. He did not even know about Count Rossi's death. After all, this count usually liked the dragon to be invisible.

At the same time, the princes of the Central and Italian states, who were fleeing the war and were forced to flee the war, had gathered in Tyrol.

Franz did not allow these people to gather in Vienna as in history. The reason was firstly for security reasons, and secondly to maintain the face of the Habsburg family.

Franz did not want these monarchs to see the weak and chaotic side of Austria. He wanted them to see an Austria that was safe, strong and full of hope.

Tyrol is just right at this time. Although this city is not as prosperous as Vienna or as rich as Venice, it has not been affected by the storm. It is safe and stable. This is the most important and rare thing at this time. .

At the same time, Franz was just in case. Even if the royal family left Vienna, it would not be a refuge, but a "visiting relatives."

In fact, the monarchs of various states naturally came up with a bold idea after seeing how peaceful and stable Tyrol was.

Entrust the Austrian Imperial Government to help govern their country.

This is nothing new, Franz has made this suggestion since the old emperor was still alive.

It's just that Franz I thought it was Franz's childish words, and Metternich thought it was the old emperor's intention.

Over the years, the entire Central Italian bureaucracy has been almost penetrated by Austria.

Although this crisis temporarily expelled Austrian officials from Central Italy, Franz had already sent people to take them back to Austria in time.

All that was lost was some buildings that could not be moved, and Franz would be able to get these back sooner or later.

For the monarchs who were taking refuge in Tyrol at this time, they actually didn't have much left to bet on.

Rather than letting those domestic liberals and usurpers profit, it would be better to sell their country to the Habsburg family.

And they naturally decided to trade with Franz. After all, Franz would be the future emperor, and he had little political experience and was easy to fool.

Franz was naturally happy to attend the appointment, and even brought them some Venetian specialties, various rare treasures from overseas, and Niele Manin, the Italian nationalist who gave them a lot of headaches. One of the leaders.

Francesco V, Grand Duke of Modena, and Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, were both members of the Este line of the Habsburg family, so Franz was naturally no stranger to them.

Franz was more "joyed" than "surprised" that he could think of leading troops to quell the rebellion in Venice, but for Carlo I, who had just inherited the Duchy of Parma, he was "surprised" more than "joyed".

Francesco V may have been a little ambitious before, but after going through hell, he no longer valued the power in his hands so much.

After all, he couldn't save his life, so what power did he need?

This Francesco V was actually one of Franz's back-up plans to disgust the British.

Under Franz's operation, Francesco V was the legitimate heir to the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland supported by the Jacobites at that time, "Francis I".

It is precisely because of this that Francesco V has been dreaming of uniting Britain.

In his plan, he will also land in Britain like Regent William, and then start his own era.

For this reason, Francesco V also established a navy in preparation for his landing.

However, the rebellion at this time shattered his dream. The so-called Jacobites had no power at all, and he himself was an incompetent and weak person.

Throughout the revolution, Francesco V initially wanted to use those nationalists, then wanted to suppress them, and finally had to flee in a hurry.

Leopold II was a monarch who believed in laissez-faire, and he completely delegated the power in his hands to his bureaucrats.

Like Louis Philippe, Leopold II liked to claim to be an open-minded liberal, but in the turmoil, his bureaucrats and the people drove him out of his country.

At this time, Leopold II just wanted to lie down, he had enough of those shitty things.

Charles I felt that he had the noble blood of the Bourbon family and regarded the Habsburg family as his opponent.

Not long ago, Charles I was still dreaming of the double crown, and he even thought that he would become a springboard for the Bourbon family to dominate Italy.

However, things are unpredictable, and he was driven out by the Parma people before he had time to understand the power of Austria in Parma.