Milan's old walls, full of signs of age, are full of heaviness and once played the role of a guardian of the city's residents.

However, at a time when the development of weapons and equipment is changing with each passing day, the role it can play is becoming more and more limited, but it hinders the further development of the city.

After all, the city walls were built in the early Middle Ages to deal with barbarian invasions, but they couldn't defend against even catapults, let alone modern artillery.

And in the future, its defense capability will only weaken over time, and even large bastions such as Vienna and Paris have been withdrawn from the stage of history.

Of course, this does not mean that the walls are useless, at least not by the ordinary people who live there.

And once this fluke mentality of inertial dependence is not eliminated, it can provide an effective reassurance that the defending side will rely on the city to defend and thus refuse to surrender.

Once the attackers begin to siege a city, it usually means a massacre, at least for the inhabitants of the city.

Given the odds of falling into such a predicament in the future, Franz felt that so many years of development could not be ruined in one fell swoop, so the demolition of the city wall and the widening of the road was the right way to go, after all, the situation of barricades and street fighting was a headache to think about.

Not only Milan, but the traditional big cities of the entire empire had this common problem, so he planned to do a complete transformation.

However, there are still three years before the legendary Spring of Nations, and there is still plenty of time, so there is no need to be too anxious for the time being.

In addition to this, while the demolition work progressed, some important fortresses needed to be repaired, such as the forts of the Four Corners in Northern Italy (Verona, Mantua, Peschiera, and Legnago), and new fortresses and strongholds, as well as storage rooms, were needed in other important strategic locations.

After the plan to tear down the wall and repair the fortress was announced, the gentry from all walks of life in Northern Italy came over with great interest to "offer suggestions" and plan to get a piece of the pie.

To this end, the enlightened Archduke Franz announced to the gang on the spot the duration of a five-year plan; The demolition and construction plan will be completed within five years. As for the wages, the Imperial Government of Vienna would settle them once at the end of the term.

As for whether these people will still be there five years later, there is no way to know. In addition, he did not forget the matter of consoling the army, but the money sent by all walks of life in Milan added up to more than 200,000 florins.

It seems that he really took himself for a fool, and he was going to pull these people up.

However, it didn't matter, and Franz gave out a reward to all soldiers who participated in the crackdown, including a reward equivalent to twenty months' salary.

The officers, on the other hand, were roughly ten months' salary, doubling the wounded and doubling the dead, and in the end Franz gave out a total of 2,300,000 florins.

Franz did this mainly for two purposes, one was to tell the old marshal and his troops that they had done nothing wrong, and that they would continue to work hard next time, and that the enemy would be as cold as winter and as ruthless as a wind.

The other was to publicize the condolences in the newspapers, and at the same time spread the news that the money used by the young archduke to comfort the troops was provided by the local gentry of Milan.

In fact, fake news like this may not be so easily believed, and those who have given gifts will not admit it.

But the information attached to a series of projects contracted to individuals and commercial organizations makes onlookers wonder if there is a behind-the-scenes operation.

Of course, black-box operation is not uncommon in this era, or it is strange that there is no black-box operation.

It's just that this is a big thing in the eyes of some people, after all, they were still plotting together to overthrow the rotten rule of Vienna before, and they turned around and donated money and materials to those "executioners"?

And why can the Austrian army, which has been in ruins, destroy this seamless plan, the blood of the Italian warriors cannot be shed in vain!

In fact, after all, the previous riots had the background of a multifaceted joint organization, and the organization called Youth Lombardy was responsible for recruiting people.

Overseas "friends" are responsible for providing weapons and financial support, and it is the local gentry who are responsible for formulating plans and responses.

They can use the power in their hands to help give the green light, convey intelligence, and by the way, obstruct the Austrian soldiers, and even if they fail, they can "fish people out".

However, this group of "eloquents" who are full of words finally stood by and watched. Not only were the participants in the uprising arrested, but even the organizers of the second riot and the participants who fled when the situation was not good.

It was said that there was only one company of garrison troops, but it turned out to be faced with thousands of soldiers who were waiting for them. Those arrested were impoverished insurgents and foreign friends who offered friendly patronage, but the local leaders were unscathed.

All this has to make people suspicious, after all, while the two parties suffered a devastating blow, the third party was not only fine, but also benefited, how could it not make people blush.

The truth is that the Austrian government did receive a lot of whistleblowing letters, and obtained a lot of information through investigation, but it was precisely because there was too much information that it was difficult to identify the authenticity.

In this case, it is impossible for the authorities to act rashly, let alone arrest all the suspects, although it may not paralyze the Lombardy region, but the impact is definitely worse than indiscriminate arrest.

Instead of guessing like headless flies, it is better to watch them dog-eat-dog with static braking, and wait until they are almost consumed before making a move, whether it is to accept them as dogs or cut a stubble of leeks is a matter of course.

In fact, there is no need for Franz to interfere with it, because there has never been any trust between the three parties; There are different factions within almost every side.

Many of the young Lombardian did not support Mazzini's doctrine, and even they did not want to unify Italy, but to make northern Italy independent, after all, in their eyes, their relatives in the south were too poor and a burden.

Among the "foreign friends" can be described as a group of bright stars, Britain, France, the United States, Prussia, Sardinia, and even the shadow of the Russians and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

As the world's number one-stirring stick, it is normal for Britain to come to the Apennines to get involved, as for France and the United States, one is an old enemy for hundreds of years, and the other is a new power that has offended miserably.

In fact, the grievances between Austria and the United States are not only the Mexican-American War and the former's leading violation of the Monroe Declaration.

Italy and Germany have long been important sources of immigration to the United States, but now thanks to the two customs unions established by the Austrians, the economy of both countries is much better than it was historically.

This greatly reduced the willingness of the natives to emigrate, and the latter united with the German and Italian states to directly intervene in the migration activities.

Another point is the issue of trade, Austria has been reducing the proportion of cotton imports from the United States, although Franz has done a very meticulous job that the total amount has not decreased, and even increased, but it has still been found by people with a heart.

(End of chapter)