On the side of Rome, the scene fell into embarrassment after Timothy's speech, and everyone did not expect Italy to give the Pope such a face.

Including the Prussian representatives on the field were shocked, he had had several contacts with Italy before, including their promoters behind Italy's strong mobilization.

But he didn't expect Italy to be so strong, even if there was an idea of turning the Pope into a spiritual leader, it would be better to take it step by step, how could it be brought up from the beginning.

In the end, it was the Duke of Gramont who came out and said that "Italy's demands are naturally justified, but the secular status of the Pope is equally worthy of everyone's respect, and it will take a long discussion." "This barely survived.

Timothy sat down in the eyes of the fools after he finished speaking, he didn't care, this was a trick he had just learned, called advancing and retreating.

King Vittorio's good words before failed to move Pius IX, he felt that he could not be more sincere than the king, so he simply came up as a threat, showing that he wanted to go to war, as long as the other party did not want to go to war, the success rate of his own conditions would be greatly increased.

I have to say that this trick really worked, and everyone was a little worried when they spoke, and they were all afraid that Italy would make another rude request, and then they would have to go to war.

Timothy had his reasons for daring to do so, and while Italy was equally reluctant to go to war, France and the Papal States were even more unwilling.

Needless to say, France ran out of reinforcements when the Franco-Prussian battlefield began. Once the Papal States went to war, it would inevitably become a battlefield for Spain and Italy, and it was difficult to say whether it would win or not, and Rome would definitely suffer heavy losses.

This is a form of blackmail.

Sure enough, France, which was already biased towards Italy, paid more attention to Italy's interests in the next speech, saying that "Rome is geographically part of Italy, and Italy will naturally have the right to claim it after its unification." "The church should pay more attention to religious matters......

However, as soon as the Duke of Gramont finished speaking, Cruze stepped forward and retorted:

"Italy is only a purely geographical term, not a unity, even the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy only occupies a part of the northern part of Italy, and Italy has never been a complete political entity since the Roman Empire.

The Kingdom of Sardinia annexed the two Sicilies, Tuscany, ...... It does not mean that he has the right to annex the Papal States. ”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of all the Italian delegates darkened, this is shaking Italy's national identity, what kind of heart-wrenching words.

Only Spain can speak like this, anyway, the two countries are quasi-hostile countries that have withdrawn their embassies from each other, and relations have fallen beyond degradation.

"As for the Papal States, the Papal States have little to do with the Church, except that the Pope is also the King of the Papal States.

There is no doubt that the Papal States are independent and sovereign States, and I hereby propose that Italy return the territory of that country that it had illegally occupied in 1861. ”

Cruze's statement was quickly received by the Pope, and Pius IX was now in a room across the walls, with reports of what had happened at the meeting.

He was both happy and worried at this time, happy that Spain supported him so strongly, and that he was really relieved to speak, and worried that if he continued like this, it would inevitably lead to the outcome of the Berlin Conference.

The people who were watching the audience were also in the mood of having fun, and the two sides came up to compete with each other, and it seemed that another European war was inevitable.

Who doesn't like to watch other countries go to war? This means not only the market, but also the power of potential adversaries will be weakened.

Unexpectedly, the Italian delegates endured, and although they refuted Cruze's words one by one, their words were not too aggressive.

Neither side wants to fight, and each side offers conditions that the other cannot agree to, which is testing each other.

And to be honest, they were really scared about whether Puyi could win against West France, so they didn't dare to push it too hard.

After both countries took a step back, each side came up with its real conditions.

Italy demanded the partition of east and west, with the Tiber as the boundary, and the Papal States could continue their rule in the western half of Rome, and Italy would promise not to invade it again.

Overall, this scheme is fairly fair, and although Rome west of the Tiber is slightly smaller, it is not much smaller, taking up about 2/5 of the entire Roman area.

The proposal was strongly supported by France, which praised it as "a combination of regional stability and religious harmony". ”

Cruze, however, scoffed at this, and offered Spain's proposal: the Papal States would keep Rome intact and give up all the rest of Lazio, but Italy would have to pay for the lands they had relinquished, and Italy would have to compensate for the territories it had encroached upon in the past.

In addition, a 1-kilometer-diameter territory will be opened in the city of Rome as the nominal capital of Italy, where Italy will be self-governing without the Papal States interfering.

This plan is relatively excessive, and it does not save Italy any face at all.

But since Cruze dared to put it forward, he naturally had his confidence, and there were currently 30,000 Spanish troops and 15,000 Papal States troops in the city of Rome, and with the Roman walls and fixed batteries, they had full confidence to hold the city until they died of old age.

Moreover, the Spanish Mediterranean fleet was also gaining momentum in Valencia, and they did not mind blocking the narrow coastline of Italy if it was not interested.

Italy has no iron or coal, and it is basically unable to be self-sufficient except for food.

The economic pressure of the prolonged lockdown alone was enough to plunge the peninsular country of Italy into collapse.

However, the newly unified Italy had not yet become a naval power like that of later generations, and its naval power did not match their needs for the sea, and it could not be a match for Spain.

Don't talk about them, even if Prussia is not enough for Spain to fight, they don't need the French big brother to shoot.

Cruze proposed this plan based on the actual situation, but the others did not know, and the atmosphere took a turn for the worse, and the talks were about to collapse.

Spain's offer is too far from the Italian side's bottom line, and Timothy and they don't know how to repay the counteroffer.

The Duke of Gramont was immediately caught in a dilemma, he had previously favored Italy in order to prevent Italy from rebelling, so he persuaded Spain and France to make concessions together, but since the two had made up their minds to oppose each other, it was naturally impossible for him to give up his real teammates for the sake of potential teammates.

Judging by past performances, it is clear that Spain has a heavier weight than Italy.

Thinking of this joint, the Duke of Gramont changed his words and said: "The Spanish proposal is relatively more reasonable, and the French side supports it. ”