The time soon came to 2 p.m. on the 19th, and the Italian side did not make any response as expected.

The Spanish-Italian War broke out immediately.

At this time, Rome had 50,000 Spanish soldiers and Papal States soldiers, and there were plenty of reservists, each of which could be replenished for each shortage.

On the Italian side, the total number of 110,000 is not twice that of the city, and for the attackers, this manpower advantage is not significant.

But the commander-in-chief of Italy, General Enrique Cialtini, disagreed, believing that the Roman walls were made of stone and could easily collapse.

With no strategic depth in the city of Rome, it only took him half a day to break down the Roman defenses and lead a large army through the gap, at which point, the Spaniards, who did not have enough transport ships, would have no way to retreat, and they would have to surrender in the face of an Italian army twice as many as him.

At that time, Italy will not only be able to return the humiliation suffered by the prisoners of war, but will also be able to make a lot of extra money.

He, Enrique Cialtini, will also be remembered by Italy as a hero.

With this in mind, the Italian army mobilized quickly and prepared to launch the first wave of attacks on the city of Rome one day later.

In addition to them, there was an army to the southeast of the city walls, which was much smaller in number than the regular army in Italy, about 6,000 men, but the military discipline was much stricter.

It was the Italian Volunteer Army led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, the founder of Italy, the defender of the Roman Republic, and the hero of two worlds.

Garibaldi was an Italian military officer with great merit and prestige, but as a staunch fighter for freedom, he always had a strong idea of establishing a Roman Republic.

Even after the destruction of the Roman Republic by the French army, he remained hostile to the Church and Rome.

However, this hostility was untimely, because Rome was now under the protection of France, which had threatened the Italian government that if you tried to conquer Rome again, the war between Italy and France would begin.

In 1861, Italy was initially unified, and everything was waiting to be rebuilt, how dare you brush the tiger whiskers of France? If you can't clean up France, you can only clean up Garibaldi.

In the same year, Garibaldi was captured by the Italians, and although he was pardoned two months later, Garibaldi's battle sequence began to be separated from the authorities.

The Kingdom of Italy summoned him urgently when there was an unwinnable war, and in normal times he recruited troops in the name of the Volunteer Army, doing whatever he wanted—usually coming to trouble the Papal States whenever he had time.

This time was no exception, the two armies of the same kind and with the same goal always maintained a faint alienation.

There is even an implicit rivalry between the two - if Garibaldi's volunteer army is the first to attack Rome, then he will have a greater say, and he will inevitably carry out a series of liberalization and transformation of Rome.

This kind of transformation is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is not always carried out at the behest of the authorities.

Part of the reason is partly due to Chartini's eagerness to prepare for the attack.

Inside the city, Prim is in urgent consultation with Albert Hoffmann, the commander-in-chief of the Papal States, about the next war.

They had made plans for all kinds of situations before, but the plans were just plans, and they always felt that they were not doing well before they really implemented them.

Especially on the opposite side, there is Garibaldi, one of the world's famous generals, although the past few attacks on Rome have ended in vain, but that is because he has too few troops, generally only 3000~4000 troops.

This time 6,000 people were assembled, and apparently he was serious.

Prim is 56 years old, but Garibaldi is 7 years older than him, and there are myths and stories like "Expedition of a Thousand Men", and he is a little nervous.

While the two were discussing the armament, Prim's lieutenant walked up to him and whispered, "The Mediterranean Fleet has arrived in the Roman harbor. ”

"It's good to be in Rome." Prim nodded: "How many came?" ”

Although the port of Rome was large, it also had to take on the role of a commercial port of the city.

Especially after the land route was blocked, the pressure on shipping increased dramatically, and naturally it was impossible to use all of them as military ports, and it was impossible to accommodate the huge Spanish Mediterranean fleet.

"8 ships." The adjutant replied.

Prime's brows furrowed deeply after hearing this: "Why is it so much?" Didn't I remember that there were 38 warships in the Mediterranean Fleet?"

"It's all ironclads."

This time it was Prim's turn to be a little surprised, Spain's economic constraints in the past 10 years, the construction of ironclad ships was not so open.

After the reunification, the construction of several ships was started step by step, but only 3 of them were delivered to the smaller frigate-class ironclad ships.

Eight ships were sent at once, and I am afraid that all the belongings of the Mediterranean Fleet have been moved.

"Let's go and have a look."

This was said to Hoffmann, and it was also intended to let him see the power of Spain, so as not to keep a bitter face there.

In the carriage, Prim did not forget to ask, "Why are they all ironclads?" And what about battleships? ”

He was referring to wooden sail battleships, and the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet now has about 30 sail battleships of the 1st to 3rd class.

The cruisers and frigates below, as well as small and medium-sized ships such as gunboats, are far more numerous.

Due to cost considerations, in the past few years, including military operations in Cuba, wooden ships and ironclad ships have been mixed.

"It is said to be an order from His Majesty the King...... As for why, sorry, I don't know. ”

The adjutant was asked, he was in the army sequence, he had never cooperated with the navy, and he could be said to know nothing about ships.

"......" Prim could not say anything critical because he did not know much as a field marshal.

The port is quickly reached, the length of the city of Rome is only 8 kilometers from east to west, and the distance from the city to the port is not far.

From afar, Prim saw a lot of people around the port, but fortunately there were soldiers to maintain order, so they could only watch from afar.

After the adjutant showed his head, Prim's carriage drove all the way to the heavily guarded military port.

Here they met with the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Morales, a vice admiral.

After a brief greeting, Morales introduced them to the battleship, and he pointed to the battleship floating in the distance, and said, "Victoria, Numancia, Aspiras...... It's all ironclads. ”

It can be seen that the same ironclad ships are also very different from each other, not only the difference in the number of layers of the gun deck, but also the difference between the side chord column gun and the shipside gun room.

8 ironclads! In this era, only a few countries can take it.