Over the next few days, Alfonso bought several newspapers in Italy in the name of the royal family.

These were the newspapers of the originally small Italian country, which after reunification, struggled to support themselves in front of government-controlled newspapers and were on the verge of bankruptcy, and Alfonso bought them for little money.

The first news in the newspapers revealed that the royal family of Savoy had sent troops to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.

This is not a secret in the upper classes of Europe, but the Italian people do not know much, and at most it is relatively clear near the conscription sites.

Since the newspapers did not report on it at the behest of the government, other regions, especially southern Italy, were said to be ignorant of the matter.

This is also the reason why King Vittorio dared not to redeem people.

However, the truth is about to be revealed.

The newspaper reported the whole process in sections, and on the first day did not say anything about the end of the volunteers, but only mentioned that the royal family had conscripted 28,000 troops in Florence and Milan to rush to Spain for training.

I have to say that this report made the Italians quite happy, there were not many white leftists in this era, and they could intervene in the civil war of another power by force, which happened to poke at their national pride.

Although the outcome of the Spanish Civil War had long been reported, Italians, who could turn their heads a little, knew that nothing good would come out of this volunteer army.

Unfortunately, the last thing that Italy lacks is illiteracy, basically saying what to believe, and not having any derivation ability and foresight.

Therefore, the joint report of these newspapers quickly aroused heated discussions across the country.

The Italian royal family and government were immediately aware of this, but the Italian government was not too strong to shut down these newspapers for no reason, at least not for a short time.

The next day, the newspaper described the defeat of the Italian army by the Spanish and French forces, but did not say that the Italians could not, emphasizing that the reason for this result was that the royal family of Savoy had sent an army with little training to an unfamiliar battlefield for its own selfish gain.

The populace already sensed that something was wrong, and most of them remembered that the liberal government they supported seemed to have lost.

Without time to react, the third report arrived as scheduled, about the defeat of the Free Government and the Italian Volunteers, the capture of 25,000 Italians, and the refusal of the Crown of Savoy to bring them home.

The reaction of the people can be imagined, and the front of the government building was instantly crowded with protesters.

At the same time, angry people from North Italy began to storm the Spanish embassy, but fortunately, the embassy had closed early and did not suffer much damage.

Southern Italy was a different story, with the northerners and southerners themselves at odds with each other, and the 25,000 trapped prisoners of war were not southerners, who gloated over the misfortune of their northern compatriots.

All in all, Spain is of course under some pressure from the Italian people, but the Italian government suffers much more than that, as most people still believe that this is their responsibility.

In Florence, King Vittorio was furious, and they had negotiated with the autonomous community government where the newspaper was located to close down the newspaper immediately, but it was too late, everyone knew about it.

As the first king of Italy, his prestige was not low, but it was far less than that of other normal founding kings, and the French, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Cavour and others shared too much of his glory.

This incident undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the authority of the royal family.

He was tempted to spend money to redeem the soldiers immediately, provided he had money.

He had previously lent Francisco millions of pounds in his private capacity and subscribed to a portion of the national debt, all of which had gone down the drain.

If he fully accepts Spain's terms, he will have to pay at least another £5.5 million, where will he get so much money?

Eight years ago, he was the king of the small kingdom of Sardinia, and he was not a big man in the European royal family.

The modest savings also consumed a considerable part of it in the Italian unification movement.

Queen Isabella went on a rampant expedition and only brought out more than 3 million pounds and 5.5 million pounds before fleeing, and she had to sell the Savoy royal family to make it up.

At the end of the day, it's Spain that is asking too much.

Vittorio ordered it to be publicized in an attempt to shift the blame to Spain.

However, the effect is not destined to be too good, and in the eyes of the public, 200 pounds a person is a little expensive, but it is not too outrageous.

No matter what the price, if you send people out, you have to be responsible for bringing them back, this is the simple thinking of the people.

Vittorio was at a loss and wanted to go back to two months ago, completely cut off contact with Francisco, and then expel his son Amedeo from the house.

Now, taking advantage of the surging public opinion, the idea of going to war with Spain briefly came to his mind.

It's a pity that Italy may not be able to fight, and international and domestic forms do not allow it.

As for borrowing money...... How much he had to mortgage to borrow such a large sum of money, Savoy's royal territory was not much.

Even if he could borrow, it would be difficult for him to repay the interest.

"Is Spain still reluctant to cut prices?" Vittorio asked in a hoarse voice, he had aged much older in just a few days.

Foreign Secretary Timothy hesitated for a moment before replying: "Not only did they not reduce the price, but they also asked for additional money to run the newspaper." ”

"Poof." Vittorio felt the blood churning in his chest, and it took a while for him to regain his composure, and said in a pleading tone:

"What about the government, it's good to just take 4 million pounds, it's not that the government can't take it."

"It's not my business, you should go and talk to the prime minister." Timothy was embarrassed and said: "I'm afraid it's difficult, many people are against the government taking this amount, after all, the amount is too big......

……

In the end, the two sides could not reach a deal, and the royal family of Savoy paid all the money they could, and only redeemed more than 7,000 soldiers, and more prisoners of war were forced to stay in Spain.

Although the ransom of the Savoy royal family saved them a little impression, it still seriously damaged the image of the royal family and the government.

More families of unredeemed prisoners of war, with the support of Spain, protested day and night in front of the government, and from time to time appeared in the newspapers to win sympathy, adding a beautiful landscape to Italy.

In southern Italy in particular, the indifference of the Italian government has planted a seed of suspicion in their hearts.

The Northern Italians hated both the government and Spain, but they simply had doubts about this unified government, after all, they were like this to the Northern Italians, let alone the Southern Italians, who were already unpopular.