Chapter 308: Interests Determine the Truth
Chapter 298 – Interests Determine the Truth
Turin.
Since the French government announced the identity of the murderer, the entire Sardinian government panicked. It was a case of people sitting at home and trouble coming from the sky.
Those who were present counted on one, and they all dared to swear in the name of God that this assassination case had nothing to do with them.
Even if they were to assassinate, they would have gone to assassinate Franz, what was the business of running off to assassinate Napoleon III?
King Vittorio Emanuele eagerly asked, “Prime Minister, has the information on the murderer released by the French been found out?”
Cavour replied with a haggard face, “It has been found out, they are all radical nationalists from the Italian region, and their purpose of assassinating Napoleon III seems to be to provoke a Franco-Austrian conflict.
These four men had joined the New Holy Roman Empire citizenship before their actions, and one of them was even a former public official of the Kingdom of Lombardy.”
There’s a time to plant evidence! If it was during a period of deteriorating Franco-Austrian relations, then whether it was true or not, the Paris government could take it as true.
Obviously these assassins were not professional enough to pick the right time, and provoking the French did the trick.
Unfortunately, France and Austria were not at the point of turning their backs on each other. Under the Vienna system, where did the Paris government get the nerve to start a war?
From the interests of the French seeking to expand in the Italian region is not a day or two. At this time the excuse sent to the door, the Kingdom of Sardinia’s trouble came.
After a few moments of contemplative effort, Vittorio Emanuele said helplessly, “Let’s hope that these fools can hold out and bite the Austrians to death, or else we’ll be in big trouble.”
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to conspire with the French and target Austria together, but the likelihood of that was almost zero.
Historically, after Prime Minister Cavour convinced Napoleon III, for a long time, he himself couldn’t believe it.
Now the situation was even worse, Austria was much stronger than in history. Both the Vienna system, which maintained stability in Europe, and the still solid Russian-Austrian alliance kept the French at bay.
Cavour analyzed, “Your Majesty, neither the British nor the Austrians will watch the French continue to expand, we can turn to them for help.”
There were still a few tired eyebrows, interspersed with thick sorrow. Obviously, for the sake of this assassination case, he spent a lot of energy looking for a way to break the situation.
There are no eternal enemies in politics, only eternal interests. To unify the Italian region, Austria is their biggest enemy; to resist the invasion of the French, Austria has become their ally.
Both France and Austria had the ambition to dominate the Italian region. It was by relying on the mutual restraint of the two countries that the Kingdom of Sardinia was saved.
Under normal circumstances, the Italian region never had the opportunity to unify, and neither France nor Austria would tolerate the unification of the Italian region.
Napoleon III’s jerks achieved Cavour’s greatness. In fact history is a risk, Cavour was betting that France and Austria would not divide the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Now he did not dare to gamble, the international situation had changed and the relationship between France and Austria heated up. Franz in order to stabilize the French, trumped up the two countries to divide the Sardinian kingdom secret treaty, but also hanging over their heads of the sword.
……
Versailles Palace
Napoleon III was in a very bad mood, and there was more to this assassination than just what was announced to the outside world.
Based on the information gathered, it was invariably proven that someone in the country had facilitated the assassin, otherwise it would have been difficult for these few amateurs to get a hold of his whereabouts.
Napoleon III asked, “Has the black hand behind the scenes been dug out yet?”
Police Minister Mopa replied, “Your Majesty, the enemy is very cunning, these few assassins do not yet know that they have been taken advantage of, their information was bought from a person named Sobolev.
This man has disappeared, and their acquaintance was very coincidental, having first met at a tavern in Paris.
We’ve canvassed the people involved and found no suspicious signs. The man Sobolev is probably a false name, and there is no more information on him other than his dealings with the assassin.”
Napoleon III cursed angrily, “Rubbish! Are you just going to tell me that the enemy at home inadvertently came across four fools and then used them as assassins?”
“Your Majesty, that is the truth!” Mopa replied honestly
There are no coincidences, and reality is many times more bizarre than fiction. This assassination case had originally happened by coincidence, and the so-called mastermind behind it was simply improvised.
Napoleon III shook his hand and said, “Keep investigating, I don’t care what methods you use, you must also find out this Sobolev who appeared out of nowhere for me.”
Regardless of whether or not there was a black hand behind the scenes, this leaky Sobolev was a threat. The last thing this world lacked was middle-aged teenagers, Napoleon III didn’t want to be assassinated every day.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Mopar replied.
After calming his anger, Napoleon III was again thinking about how to use this incident to maximize his benefits.
“The assassin is of Austrian nationality, how about if we use this as a reason to hold the government of Vienna accountable?”
Foreign Minister Auvergne objected cryptically, “Your Majesty, what can we ask the Austrians for?”
This was the crux of the matter – interest.
Blackmail should also be divided into objects, if the Vienna government does not buy it, it can’t use this as a reason to fight over it, right?
Unless there is evidence to prove that this assassination case, is planned by the Vienna government, then can also use international pressure to force the Austrians to pay the price.
Obviously, now the evidence is not enough, even if one of the assassins also used to be a public official of the Lombardy Kingdom, which is not enough to testify against the Vienna government.
From the motive of the crime, the suspicion of the Vienna government has been ruled out. To assassinate the emperor of a country for no reason, no one would believe it.
Napoleon III wanted to strike Austria, does not mean that he completely do not consider the consequences. Now the two countries are still cooperation excess contradiction, from the interests of the two sides are not suitable to turn the other cheek.
By the same token, it would not do to target the Kingdom of Prussia, Belgium. There is not enough evidence in hand, only by planting evidence to find fault, in case of wear help will be a big thing.
Should we utilize this opportunity to conduct a major cleansing in the country? This idea has just risen, Napoleon III and put it out.
The economic crisis is still continuing, the domestic situation must maintain stability. Stirring up an internal struggle at this time could easily lead to unforeseen consequences.
After much hesitation, Napoleon III said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a note to the Kingdom of Sardinia, asking them to take responsibility for this incident.”
Pinching a soft target was only one aspect, but more than that, these assassins were all members of Italian radical nationalist groups, and these groups had been funded by the Sardinian government.
It was far-fetched to say that the assassinations were planned by Italian nationalist groups, and the Sardinian government would be to blame. Finding trouble on this basis would not cause countries to intervene.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Foreign Minister Auvergne replied
Interior Minister Persini spoke up, “Your Majesty, it would be best to attach a confession from the culprits to prove that this assassination was orchestrated by an Italian radical group, as well as gather evidence that the Sardinian government provided funding to the radical group.
Giving these things together to the Sardinian government is more convincing.
At the same time, we can also seek international support and use the assassination to resonate with everyone and take the initiative diplomatically.
The Austrians had a promise to support our annexation of the Sardinian Kingdom in the first place, and now it’s time we need them to honor that promise.”
The more sufficient the evidence and the more persuasive it was, the more support it would gain from public opinion, and the more benefits it would be able to get its hands on.
Napoleon III said joyfully, “You mean that the government of Vienna will support our annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia?”
Persini said without hesitation, “No. Times are different nowadays, if it was the time of the German Unification War, in exchange for our support, the Vienna government would naturally not mind letting us annex the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Now that the German region has been divided into three, the Vienna government no longer needs our support, and naturally their promises won’t hold water.
However, they will not oppose our expansion into the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Vienna government even hopes that we will move a little more aggressively so as to intensify the Anglo-French conflict.”
Napoleon III nodded, since the Austro-Saxon War, Austria and the Sardinian Kingdom had been in a political cold war, and there were no longer any Austrian interests in the Sardinian Kingdom.
On the contrary, the British power in the Sardinian Kingdom has expanded dramatically, once France makes a move on the Sardinian Kingdom, the one who will lose the most is the British.
If it was possible to make the British and French turn their backs on each other, what was a mere Sardinian Kingdom worth?
(End of chapter)