In the South Tyrolean mountains, north of the small town of Nadi, on a tall spruce tree in the woods, a 26-year-old young man, Reyali Monakello, wearing a special camouflage suit and carrying a Manlicia-Calgano M1891 rifle equipped with scopes, peered through the dense foliage into the town at the foot of the mountain and the surrounding army camp. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In response to the Italian government's move to send additional troops to the border areas, Austria-Hungary transferred 12 Austrian infantry regiments, 4 field cannon regiments, 3 mountain artillery regiments and 1 hussar regiment to greatly strengthen the military force in South Tyrol, plus the border guards originally deployed here - including the three Tyrolean chasseur regiments, which are known for their elite, and South Tyrol with an area of less than 400 square kilometers has gathered 30,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers. If we add the troops stationed in North Tyrol, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has nearly 100,000 troops stationed in the Italian-Austrian border area. Austrian troops made up the vast majority of the garrisons in Tyrol, while Germanic troops accounted for only about 40% of the Austrian troops, with the rest being Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Poles, Romanians, and Italians......

In terms of the concept of nationality, Reali-Monakello is an Italian who was born in South Tyrol to an ordinary Italian-speaking family. A citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he had earlier served in the elite Tyrolean Chasseurs until his retirement before traveling to Italy, where he joined the notorious Italian Blackshirts. In the autumn of 1943, when the dispute between Italy and Austria-Hungary over South Tyrol was over the League of Nations, the Blackshirts took the opportunity to initiate the formation of the South Tyrolean Youth Army, recruiting Italian volunteers and Italians in Austria-Hungary to join it, and Monakello returned to his homeland, but what they brought to South Tyrol was by no means the so-called justice and freedom, but endless disasters!

Of the nearly 500,000 inhabitants of South Tyrol, more than 60 percent speak German and only 30 percent speak Italian, so Italy's territorial claims to South Tyrol are unconvincing, but the contradictions between Italy and Austria-Hungary have been going on for a long time. Within Italy, hatred of Austria is an irresolvable national sentiment, and the tyrannical Austrian Empire, which had partitioned Italy, thwarted its unification, and stifled the Italian revolution, and which had territorial disputes between the two countries in Trento, Tyrol, and Dyeste since Italy regained its independence. Even though they were in the same camp of the Allies and joined hands in combat operations against the Allied countries and later against the American and British camps, the two southern European countries have always competed with each other, and in recent years they have even competed to provide military technology and war materials to Japan, and did not hesitate to devalue each other for the sake of their own interests. As long as there is a way to weaken or even collapse the other, both countries will certainly be willing to try.

Back in the small town of Nadi, only fifteen kilometres from the Italian-Austrian border, it guards the road to the city of Bolzano, surrounded by mountains suitable only for goats and lightly armed mountain troops. Thousands of Austro-Hungarian soldiers and at least one battalion of artillery were deployed around the village, who set up tents in the meadows, dug trenches, bunkers and anti-aircraft artillery positions, and placed field guns in the woods. As soon as the Italians attacked from the border, the Austro-Hungarian soldiers could immediately go on the defensive, relying on the terrain to prevent the Italian army from advancing into the heart of South Tyrol.

On the top of the spruce tree, which was more than thirty meters high, Monakello looked tiredly ahead, his original mission was only to spy on the military deployment of Austria-Hungary in this area, and just a few days ago, a message came from the Italian side that a big man from Vienna would be visiting South Tyrol in the next few days. The Supreme Commander of the South Tyrolean Youth Army believed that the attack on this big man would teach Vienna a profound lesson, and that the Austro-Hungarian rulers would face up to the will of the South Tyrolean people and accept their legitimate demands to decide to stay through a referendum. For this reason, the South Tyrolean youth army members were deployed in various places, either lurking into the town or waiting for an opportunity, while others were lying near the road to try to complete the attack by sniping or demolition, and Monakello's group decided to wait for an opportunity near the town of Nadi. If they find a target but are unable to solve it, they report it to the Al-Shabaab command through the radio station equipped by the team, and they decide what to do.

According to the original plan, the team members changed their guards once a day and monitored the Austro-Hungarian army camp in and around the town of Nadi 24 hours a day, but Monakello had been in this position for nearly two days, and there was little food and water left with him, not because the team members suddenly disappeared, but because the Austro-Hungarian troops stationed at the foot of the mountain sent a number of patrols early in the morning to carry out a carpet search of the surrounding area, and arranged a guard post at the commanding heights, Unable to enter the woods, which were only a few kilometers away from the town of Nadi, Monakello's forced evacuation at this time would have a high chance of being discovered, so it would be better to continue hiding there until the Austrian soldiers were on guard. Moreover, the Austro-Hungarian soldiers were so vigilant, and the military planes repeatedly flew over this valley, weren't they just preparing for the arrival of some big man?

In the early afternoon, a convoy appeared at the end of the road, and Monakello's heart was excited, and he hurriedly used the sniper scope on his rifle to observe. There were more than 20 cars in that convoy, and they drove along the road to kick up billowing sand and dust, and the first seven or eight were military vehicles, the middle dozen or so were black cars, and the back seven or eight were military vehicles.

Seeing this scene, Monakello couldn't help but be a little frustrated, that big man was very closely protected, his car was bulletproof ten out of ten, and there must be a lot of people everywhere he went, just with his rifle with an effective range of less than a kilometer, squatting in a position that could not be transferred freely, what else could he do except watch the opportunity slip away?

After more than ten minutes, the convoy approached the small town of Nadi, where heavily armed Austrian soldiers guarded various intersections in the town, including church bell towers and many rooftop balconies. Under such heavy guard, the big man did not linger in the town, let alone speak to any of the inhabitants, and the convoy passed through the town and stopped at the army camp west of Nadi. It was only then that the big man appeared in Monakelo's sight. Because he was several kilometers away, he could not see the man's face clearly, nor could he identify him, but he could only vaguely see that he was wearing a red gold collar badge, which meant that he had the rank of Austro-Hungarian army general or gendarmerie officer, and judging from the pomp and circumstance of this guy's appearance, the former was undoubtedly much more likely.

Accompanied by a group of soldiers, the big man made his rounds of the camp without hurry, inspected the trench bunkers dug by the soldiers with great interest, and then talked for a while with the commander of the camp. Following the commander's gesture, the big man's gaze first turned to the south, where the Austrian artillery was deployed, and then, while talking to the commander, he pointed to the woods where Monakello was located, with its slopes, woods, and snow-capped peaks, a natural beauty that could be used as the material for an oil painting. The two men continued to talk, and after a while, the big man began to walk towards the woods with his hands behind his back, and the officers who accompanied him followed with a cheer.

Seeing this scene, Monakelo's heart almost jumped out of his throat: could it be that God wanted to give him a golden opportunity to become a hero of South Tyrol and even 40 million Italians?

But after the initial excitement, Monakello hesitated. Although he didn't like Austria-Hungary, he loved South Tyrol, the mountains, valleys and streams, which is why he has not applied for Italian citizenship so far, he hopes to return to Italy with South Tyrol, but the reason for the outbreak of the First World War is known to the world, if he shoots that big man today, and whether he can get out of it or not, it may trigger a war between Austria-Hungary and Italy!

There was no way to contact the commander, there was not much time to think about it, seeing the big man walking towards the woods, Monakello's heart beat intensified, his forehead was sweaty, he took a deep breath, put the sniper scope back on the rifle, loaded the bullet with a very gentle movement, and then carefully picked up the rifle, the big man and his many entourage actually stopped outside the range, I don't know whether to take a break or not plan to continue walking.

He is...... Prince Felix!

The moment he saw the big man's face, Monakello's eyes widened. Prince Felix, the third son of Emperor Karl I, currently holds the position of Director of Artillery in the Imperial War Department, as well as the commander of the Carinthian Corps, and is indeed a true figure in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although he hasn't met Prince Felix himself, the portrait on the beautiful postcard is exactly the same as the face in sight, and he can't be wrong!

Monakelo's mind was still fighting fiercely, and the big man continued to walk this way without knowing whether he was alive or dead, and he trusted the Austrian soldiers' abilities so much that he was sure that they had eliminated all the dangers in the vicinity? Or did he never take the rebels of South Tyrol into account, and thought that the Italian-speaking inhabitants were as bold and comical as the Italian army when they took up arms?

Staring at the face with a thick mustache in the sniper scope, Monakelo's hand trembled slightly, he thought very clearly in his heart, as long as he shot himself, the Austro-Hungarian officers who were traveling with Prince Felix and the Austrian soldiers around him would definitely not give themselves a chance to escape, and they might even beat themselves into pigs' heads, but this is not the most terrible, what is terrible is the merciless war, even if the Italian army can win, even if South Tyrol can be included in the Italian territory, the towns, villages and even woods here, The fields may be scorched, and the innocent inhabitants here, who they know and who they don't know, may suffer with it!

Thinking of this, Monakello slowly put down the rifle in his hand, he was an angry young man, not a madman, he returned to South Tyrol to make the Austrian nobles and their hounds retreat by force, but he never wanted to annoy the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire, so that Austria and Hungary were enemies.

More than 100 meters away, under a larch stood three Austrian soldiers on guard, dressed in a "sporty" uniform that was different from the average unit, with a metallic white edelweiss on their hats, the emblem of the Tyrolean Chasseurs. One of the soldiers looked up and saw the tops of the spruce tree where Monakello was moving, and he quickly stabbed his two companions with his elbow, signaling them to pay attention to the tall spruce. After a few moments, the treetops moved again, and as elite hunters who had been operating in the Tyrolean mountains all year round, they knew very well what was the right place to set up a lookout post and what was suitable for an ambush in such a mountainous environment. With a strong sense of mission, they unanimously picked up their rifles, pointed them at the location of their former comrade-in-arms, Realy Monakello, and pulled the trigger......

(End of chapter)