The opportunity soon came......

Although the previous attack on the Pope was more of a spontaneous act of veterans, it was possible to launch attacks inside and outside the city at the same time, and there must have been a means for them to be connected.

That is, someone was able to bypass the Roman city guards and send the message out.

There are probably only two things Prim can think of, one is that in the section of the city that the Papal States is responsible for defense, there is collusion between the defenders and the outside world.

The second is that the merchants in Rome have negotiated the timing of the attack with the outside world through the opportunity of maritime trade.

Whatever the truth was, it wasn't something Prim could investigate, it wasn't in Spain, and he didn't even know anyone.

Moreover, the top brass of the army and the bishops of the Church did not approve of making a big deal out of it, and the attack on the Pope was of course very annoying to them, but at the moment of the great enemy, they thought that these small things could be put aside.

Just when everyone thought the matter was over, a 16-member special investigation team of the Progressive Guards arrived in Rome.

Their task was to uncover the network of connections without attracting as much attention as possible.

Adolf had ordered the mission, but he didn't want to do anything, and in fact he didn't care about the Pope's life or death.

It's just that he thinks that secretly controlling this information channel may be able to help the war to a certain extent.

The quality of the members of the Progressive Guard is much higher today than it was in Catalonia.

After the Progressive Party became a national party, many young people became interested in the first and only partisan armed force in Spain.

Once its members were mainly peasants around Barcelona, it has now undergone a major change, and the members of the Guard who did not grow quickly have retired to work as police officers in various cities.

Although the layoff rate once exceeded 80%, its number has increased to a full 9,000 people.

9,000 of the elite armies of the royal family, a rather formidable force that can complete 45 palace coups.

Under their influence, Spain's top government was far less liberal than it was under Isabella, and even Parliament was dead in name.

Influence, social status, and the fun and fantasies of the boys allowed the Progressive Guard to have an average level of education in secondary school, and the special investigation teams that came to Rome were all graduates of military schools.

The investigation team was stationed in Rome on October 3, the day the North-South Alliance was established, and did not alarm anyone except Prim.

They secretly received some of the captives from the army, and after three days of torture and pursuit, they locked up a mid-ranking officer of the Pope's Zuaf Legion, Army Major Giorgio Lampedusa.

This man was the deputy commander of a battalion of the Zuaf Regiment and assisted the Spanish in the northern sector of the Roman defensive circle.

As a city defense officer, he can naturally find many opportunities to contact the outside world without arousing too much suspicion.

Lampedusa was not a prominent figure in the Papal States' army, and it is rumored that he became an officer because he was the illegitimate son of a bishop in Rome.

The investigation team carefully ascertained his habits of life - he was a gambler, and the income of the officers and the money given by his father were not enough for him to lose.

Lampedusa often took bribes for this, and he was one of the most corrupt men in the corrupt Papal States' army.

He may have been briefing for purely economic reasons.

After learning the truth, the investigation team did not start, but reported the matter to Adolf, who in turn told Morales and Prim about it.

Morales' first reaction when they heard the news was that the opportunity they had been waiting for had come.

During this time, the decoy fleet attacked the ports of Palermo and Catania in Sicily, Italy, Cagliari in Sardinia, and sank and captured seven Italian civilian transports in the Mediterranean.

There is enough foreshadowing, as long as the wind is released, Morales does not believe that they will not be fooled.

……

On October 6, at the table in the barracks, Lampedusa was very happy.

Due to the war and curfew, the casinos in Rome were closed, and he could only gamble with his colleagues in the barracks these days.

And even the armies of the Papal States forbade gambling, and they had to guard against occasional patrols from their superiors.

Unexpectedly, a Spanish army general came to inspect here today, and happened to find their gambling paraphernalia, but instead of reporting them, he happily sat down to play with them.

And declared that he was a novice, and asked Lampedusa to teach him, teach novices, Lampedusa liked it the most.

Sure enough, the Spanish officer soon lost all the £200 he had with him.

Lampedusa was originally a little worried that the other party would be angry, after all, with the same military rank, the Spanish military has a slightly higher status, not to mention that the opposite side is still a lieutenant colonel.

But the other party was not annoyed at all, and drank with him after losing all the money, which was exactly what Lampedusa wanted, and the two were already friends after three rounds of drinking.

At this time, the Spanish officer drunkenly revealed a message to him: "The next target of the Spanish fleet is the main military port of Italy, the port of Genoa." ”

The port of Genoa was the main station of the Italian Mediterranean Fleet, and its defensive strength and importance were not comparable to those of secondary ports such as the ports of Palermo and Catania.

The officer was ashamed to say: "Just destroy the port of Genoa, and the surrender of Italy will be only a matter of seconds." ”

！

Lampedusa wasn't really a fool, he was all awake by this time.

All this came by coincidence, and your army officer and I were talking about confidential information about the Navy? So perfunctory?

He felt that 80% of the previous events had probably been exposed, and that the news of the attack on the port of Genoa might have been conveyed by Spain through his mouth.

He didn't know what the purpose was, but he knew he had better follow the other person's wishes.

If it wasn't intentional, it would be good, he could still make a lot of money, and there would be more opportunities to make money in the future.

If it was deliberate, his bishopric father would not be able to protect him once he annoyed Spain.

……

On the night of 8 October, the Spanish harassing fleet in Rome set sail on time, and they were stuck at 11 p.m.

Since the route was biased towards the west coast of Italy, there were many Italian distant-water fishing vessels along the way to see the magnificent figure of the fleet, and among them were definitely intelligence officers planted by the Italian government.

Communication was inconvenient, the navy was inferior to man, and Italy had no choice but to use this method to investigate.

Unbeknownst to anyone, three hours after their departure, in the middle of the night, another huge fleet of 11 ironclads had quietly sailed out of the port of Rome.