Chapter 53: The Black Cauldron from the Heavens

  Chapter 53: The Black Cauldron That Fell from the Sky

On April 1, 1848, after the Austrian army abandoned the Lombardy region, the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia quickly completed the replacement.

Amidst the cheers of the people, the Kingdom of Sardinia entered the Lombardy region without any bloodshed, as if the good days they had been waiting for were about to come.

Marshal Radetzky helped to publicize them before their departure, and in everyone’s mind, it was as if the Kingdom of Sardinia was able to satisfy the interests of everyone, including the republicans.

The tricolor flag was fluttering in the wind, and the people in the streets were congratulating each other.

“Long live the Republic!”

The word spread throughout Lombardy, and a provisional government was established with Cazzati at its head.

The Austrian army seemed to have left in such a hurry that they didn’t even have time to take the political prisoners from the jails, who became part of the provisional government.

If anyone had paid attention, they would have noticed that the granaries in the city of Milan were empty, and after the declaration of war between the Kingdom of Sardinia and Austria, Marshal Radetzky had requisitioned grain from Lombardy under the pretext of a uniform distribution of food.

Because of the time, the countryside did not have time to implement this, but the grain in the city of Milan was indeed centralized.

The Austrian army secretly transported some of it out of the city, and the rest was naturally taken care of by pouring kerosene on it and adding a fire.

With the food gone, the populace didn’t panic at all, hadn’t the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia already entered the city?

The people didn’t panic at all, hadn’t the army of Sardinia already entered the city?

Before the Austrian army withdrew earlier, there were rumors that King Charles wanted everyone to burn the food in the city to force the Austrians to withdraw their troops, lest they let the city of Milan be destroyed in the fire of war.

So Marshal Radetzky sent his men to burn the vast majority of the grain two days in advance, and the Austrian soldiers called on the people to put out the fires.

Desire for independence of the people of Milan, naturally will not give in, we are very heroic choice to refuse, even if it is made to the poisonous beatings, they still do not give in.

In the end, they won the victory, successfully burned down the granary, forced back the Austrian army, and saved the city of Milan.

The springtime President Cazzati, who had just had a not-so-friendly meeting with General Badorio of the Sardinian Kingdom, had directly lost his good mood.

The cowardly Sardinian Kingdom army actually did not dare to pursue the Austrian army, which was simply a disgrace to the great Italian nation.

This time, unlike in history, the Austrian army withdrew on their own, not driven out by them, and the rebels in the city had long since been eliminated.

The army in the hands of the provisional government of Cazzati is still in the process of formation, and even he himself is just out of prison.

People under the roof, have to bow their heads.

Provisional government has not and Sardinia Kingdom to bargain capital, people do not go after the enemy, Cazati also have no way, anyway, the provisional government is not sent out of the army to chase the enemy.

Ziraya, the new Minister of the Interior, came running over in a hurry and said, “Your Excellency the President, there is no more food in the city, we are not capable of providing food and provisions to the friendly army!”

This was an embarrassing problem, originally they should have realized these problems a long time ago, but unfortunately when they set fire to the grain, all of them were in prison.

Coupled with the fact that they didn’t have any experience in governing, everyone was celebrating their hard-won victories, who remembered to care about the food problem?

Kazati whimsically asked, “What then? I’ve just made a promise to them that I’ll provide the Sardinian Kingdom’s army with food and provisions, can we collect a batch of food from the private sector for emergencies?”

Ziraya explained, “Your Excellency the President, this is impossible, in order to hold the city of Milan, the Austrians have levied the entire city, everyone is to be supplied with food according to the rationing system, and only two days’ worth of food can be issued at a time.

In order to defeat the Austrians, the Kingdom of Sardinia sent spies to burn the grain in the city of Milan, and our people have cooperated with them.

In fact, the Austrian army in the city of Milan was not without a fighting chance, it was because we burned the granaries that they fled in haste!”

Feeling tricked, Kazati’s anger could no longer be suppressed and cursed, “Damn it! The Sardinians did it on purpose, just now they didn’t even mention the burning of the granaries before I promised to provide provisions to the army entering the city!

They are deliberately looking at us to make fun of us! No, things aren’t that simple, just now in the conversation the Sardinians intended to annex Lombardy, this is their plot!”

Hearing this news, Ziraya was scared to death, now the provisional government doesn’t have any leverage left in their hands, if the Sardinians use food as blackmail, they can’t even if they don’t agree.

Hastily said, “Your Excellency the President, we have to take action, when they set the grain on fire, they promised that they would provide us with grain, otherwise our people wouldn’t have cooperated with them!”

Kazati also reacted, this time is not by scolding can solve the problem, even if they want to merge into the Sardinian Kingdom, they have to sell a good price, it is not possible to let the Sardinian Kingdom pick up the bargain so simply.

“You’re right, immediately spread the news and inform our people to be careful and vigilant, I’m worried that the Sardinians will be infuriated and turn on us!”

……

At this time, Sardinian King Charles Albert was still immersed in the joy of having gained Lombardy without bloodshed.

The top management of the Sardinian Kingdom were also celebrating, or else they were thinking about what way to annex the Lombardy region, in short, everyone was very optimistic right now.

In any case, everyone was very optimistic. They didn’t realize that a black pot was falling from the sky, everyone was a politician, and naturally they looked at the problem differently.

Deliberately give up the Lombardy region, this is not a politician can come up with. To know the situation in Austria is not very good, the normal way to open, should be to focus on suppressing the rebellion, to make an example of deterring its ambitious.

Milan city Sardinia Kingdom military camp, now has reached the meal time, but the food promised by President Cazzati is still not in place.

It didn’t matter to the high-ranking officers, they had already been invited to a banquet by the city’s socialites, and no matter how short of food they were, these bigwigs wouldn’t starve.

European nobility is a nest, this sentence is not a problem at all, Milan area nobles and Sardinia Kingdom nobles, that is also a coat of water, bloodline love is cut and cut and cut.

Staying Mangstu colonel even if the headache, to the meal time, the soldiers are looking at him? If we are not all hungry together, it is possible that these soldiers will be angry.

Even so, Colonel Manstu’s days are not easy, one side to calm the military heart let them rest easy, and the other side to send people to urge the provisional government, quickly send food over.

The Austrians withdrew so quickly that they entered the city early without much preparation. Supplies were left in the camp twenty miles outside the city, this time naturally to reach out to the provisional government.

(End of chapter)