"Are you talking about the Holy Alliance?"

"That's right."

Metternich sighed, he never dreamed that one day the alliance used to protect Austria would turn Austria into trouble.

Metternich continued.

"The purpose of the Holy Alliance is to maintain the normal order of the world, to oppose the radical democrats, and to unite the kings of Europe to suppress a possible uprising.

It was actually us who wanted to prevent a resurgence of France, but what is happening now in Sicily, if Ferdinando II asks us for help, the Austrian Empire will be embroiled in an unnecessary war.

This reminds me of the past, when the terrain of the Kingdom of France and Spain in the Sicilies was very complicated, and it would be a protracted war.

If we retreat, the so-called Holy Alliance will exist in name only. ”

In fact, the so-called Holy Alliance has long existed in name only, but Napoli's request for help from Austria is really incomprehensible.

Because in addition to the Holy Alliance, there is also the relationship of the Apennine Business Alliance, which is directly related to Austria's grand strategy in the Apennine region.

If you directly refuse to send troops at this moment, then all these years of hard work will be in vain. But sending troops to southern Italy is definitely a bottomless pit, and it will also put Austria under the hat of executioner.

But it's not completely incomprehensible, Franz thought for a moment and said.

"Your Excellency, we can first drag or bribe the ministers of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to prevent the king from writing a letter asking for help."

Metternich was a little confused, this is not the style of Archduke Franz at all, but this is really no way, it is better than being in a dilemma and waiting for death.

Moreover, Prince Metternich knew very well that the politics of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were very corrupt, and that those close ministers had great influence on Ferdinando II, and that the advice of the Grand Duke of Franz was absolutely feasible.

And so it is, it's much more practical than diving headfirst into the mud.

"Grand Duke Franz, you are right. As long as no one asks us for help, we can be invisible. But what if this fire burns brighter and brighter? ”

"The soldiers will block the water and cover the earth."

January 18, 1848.

Before Ferdinando II, who had just arrived at the royal palace of Naples, had time to catch his breath, news of Sicily reached Naples.

As happened a week ago, people took to the streets again, with fifteen thousand royal guards blocking the streets and the people erudging barricades.

At the same time, uprisings broke out in many parts of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and important cities such as Messina, Tacania, and Trabania fell one after another.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies claimed to have an army of 100,000 men, but at this time it was already overstretched, and there were calls for help everywhere, and the news of the defeat piled up on Ferdinando II's desk like snowflakes.

"Damn untouchables! I taught them to read! I'm the one who gave them a good life! Now they're going to rise up against me! This bunch of unconscionable wretchants! ”

The more Ferdinando II thought about it, the more angry he became, he couldn't understand why the people were rebelling against him, and he couldn't understand why his army was so stretched.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is only a small country, and it is not easy to raise an army of 100,000, and the annual military expenditure must account for about half of the financial expenditure to maintain this large army.

Unbeknownst to Ferdinando II, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies never had an army of 100,000 men, and the only people he visited were extras.

The entire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was full of an army of only more than 30,000 people, and it was naturally overstretched in the face of hundreds of thousands of rebel troops.

Ferdinando II hated Austria as a country, but the most sensible thing for him to do was to ask for help and use the Austrians to quell the rebellion at home.

The brilliance of this trick lies in the fact that you don't have to spend a single soldier yourself, nor do you have to bear the infamy of an executioner.

But his close retainer Dozanka apparently had a different view, and the latter was disgusted by the fact that it was ungentlemanly and unseemly, and that what if Austria did not leave in the Two Sicilies?

Ferdinando II nodded in approval of the loyal minister, and then said.

"I don't want to go to the Austrians, but the situation forces us to survive before we can live, or like Louis XVI, then I will be the great sinner of the Bourbons.

As for the Austrians, they did not dare to stay on our territory, because the great powers would force them to go, and the cost of supplies was beyond their means.

When the time comes, we don't need to chase them away at all, and they will leave in disgrace. ”

"Your Majesty, let me lead the troops to rush again! Within three days, I will clear the city of the people! ”

Dozanka Charlotte said it sincerely, and Ferdinando II was greatly moved, but he said it anyway.

"Can you sweep away the rebellion in the city of Naples, can you sweep away the rebellion in the whole country? And there are not many loyal people around me, I want you to keep your life alive."

There was an emotional drama between the kings and courtiers, but in the end, Ferdinando II decided to write to the Holy Alliance for help.

However, the messenger had just walked out of the palace gate when he was stopped by Dozanka Charlotte.

"Your Excellency, you called me?"

The messenger asked, a little confused, and Dozanka Charlotte knew that this person was a henchman of Ferdinando II, and without saying much, he shot the other man in the head.

The guards on the side hurriedly handed over the towels, and Dozanka Charlotte wiped her hands.

"The Courier has been killed by the rebels, and their bodies were found on the outskirts of the city a month later. Do you understand? ”

"Understood, understood."

Dozanka Charlotte nodded, in fact, he didn't want to do this, but the kingdom of the Two Sicilies is so big, how can it be so easy to perish, the rebels just want a constitution.

Dozanka Charlotte didn't care so much, he only knew that a million florins had fallen into his pocket.

And even if the constitution is really promulgated, with his financial resources and influence, he is also the top group of people in this country, so Dozanka Charlotte is not panicked at all.

On January 29, Alexis de Tocqueville addressed the French Chamber of Deputies:

"I believe that at this moment, we are sleeping peacefully in the crater of the volcano...... Don't you instinctively feel that the continent is trembling again? Don't you smell the breath of revolution in the air? ”

Although there have been many uprisings in France in the past year, no one thinks that this behemoth will collapse with a bang.

In fact, this is a delusion, because Paris at this time is the quietest place in the whole of France, and there are so many uprisings and strikes in the provinces that local officials are too lazy to report them.

Tocqueville's warning, however, seemed to the top French bureaucrats to be nothing more than a new trick of sensationalism, in order to inflate their own net worth with alarmism.

In the end, Tocqueville's words were only met with some mockery and sarcasm, and only the liberals saw them as a means of attacking the government.

At the time, even the orthodox and liberal factions who wanted to overthrow the Orleans dynasty did not think that an uprising in Sicily would have any effect on France.

(End of chapter)