The city of Venice.

Franz calculated that the 180,000 troops that could be mobilized at this time accounted for one-third of the total strength of the Austrian Imperial Army.

After cleaning up the interior, he finally got rid of the shackles of the great nobility of the country for the first time.

Albrecht and Friedrich were both great nobles, but they didn't have the idea of being moths, at least for now.

At least a third of the so-called Italian coalition has fled, after all, after losing the banner of the Pope, the appeal of nationalism seems to be less strong.

This was under the premise that Labor adopted strong control methods, and if it were not for the deterrence of harsh punishment, the Italian coalition at this time might have ceased to exist.

However, even so, in the absence of weapons and supplies, their morale was extremely low. Now Labor occupies the dangerous terrain of the pot mouth, so he can barely support it.

In fact, Albrecht had already found a way to break through, but Franz felt that no matter how wonderful the performance was without the audience, there was a little bit of feeling.

Franz was referring to Pius IX, who himself did not understand military affairs, but his advisers told him.

At this time, the terrain occupied by Lapol was like a thermopylae, and the Spartans used only 300 warriors to resist the attack of the Persian army of millions.

This shocked Pius IX, knowing that the traitor Lapol was the most crowded party at this time.

In fact, behind the so-called 300 warriors there were more than 5,000 servant armies and allied armies of other countries, and the Persians were far from a million.

"Dear Archduke Franz. How many men are you going to attack the Bereny Valley? ”

Pius IX pretended to be calm, but his wriggling lips and trembling hands could not deceive anyone.

The Pope's acting skills were too poor, but Franz still had to do his best to cooperate and pretend not to see it.

"Your Majesty, there are still remnants of bandits in the Venetian region at this time. We also need some troops to maintain order. ”

"Dear Grand Duke Franz, I want you to know that the enemy still has more than a hundred thousand of them, and that they occupy favorable terrain.

And the traitors in the city of Rome are persecuting innocent people, and I hope you will soon get it back.

Can you tell me the total number of troops you can mobilize now? ”

It was a little embarrassing for Pius IX to describe and address Franz, a child under the age of eighteen, with respect and respect for you, but he still did it, which shows that he really reached the point of exhaustion.

"Fifty thousand."

Franz replied dryly.

"Isn't it too little?"

This was nothing more than Pius IX had in mind, but he still had in mind the surprise attack on Rome from the sea that Stefan Capella had mentioned.

"Was Austria going to attack Rome from the sea? What about that traitor in Lapol? ”

"No, His Holiness the Pope. The Imperial Austrian Navy will not be involved in this operation, and we will directly break the rebels in Labor and liberate the Holy City. ”

Pius IX and his advisors kept an eye on Franz, hoping it was just a bad joke.

Franz looked serious, however, and they all began to doubt the correctness of their coming to Venice to ask Austria for help.

But in fact, apart from Austria, Pius IX had no place to move troops at this time, and there were only a few Catholic powers on the European continent.

Spain was too busy to take care of itself, and the French Provisional Government came to power, and when they made a revolution, they even cut down their own king, let alone him, a foreign pope.

After excluding France and Spain, Austria became the only option.

In fact, there was originally Naples, but at this time Fernando II also sent troops to participate in the "holy war", and he also formed a liberal government.

Pius IX was afraid that the same thing would happen in Naples as in the Papal States, so he did not go to Naples first, as in history.

Now Austria has sent such a young archduke, although the world thinks highly of him, but in the eyes of Pius IX, this child is also a fool, and he can only lament his bad luck.

The battle of 50,000 against 150,000 in the reverse of Thermopylae, Pius IX really did not know how Austria was going to win this war.

However, when he arrived at the battlefield, he found that everything in front of him was beyond his realization.

Laball's army defended in Hukou terrain, and no matter how many people there were on the attacking side, the number of troops engaged in the battle with the opposing side at the same time could not exceed two thousand.

On the other side of the spout is a fan, which can be used as a defender to deploy several times the attacker's strength and firepower.

No matter how you look at Austria, as the attacking side, it will be crushed by absolute inferiority, even if it is a final victory, then the casualties must be astronomical.

Labor agrees that he is now just hoping that more people will be buried with him.

For some reason, Lapol remembered that there was once a country called Qin in the far east, and the first king of that country had created an underground army for himself.

"Maybe that's what he thinks too."

Lapol muttered to himself, and couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the emperor who was thousands of miles away and a thousand years apart.

"Damn Austria, damn the Pope, damn Italy all go to hell!"

Labor cursed as he whipped the soldiers towards the position.

The ground in the mountains of Central Italy is very hard and not suitable for digging, but Lapol can't do that much, he just wants to dig a trench, and no one can stop him.

It's just that the soldier in front of him suddenly stopped, and even if the whip was whipped on him, he didn't react, just looked straight at the sky.

"Damn! Slacker! ”

Lapole cursed and looked up, his mouth instantly stunned.

A huge oval monster was floating in the sky, it had no wings or feathers, but it could fly in the air, and from time to time it spewed flames from behind its butt.

"Oh my God! My God! What a monster that! ”

At this moment, all the soldiers of the former Italian coalition exclaimed, this was the first time they had seen such a huge flying machine.

When there was no concept of a flying machine before, the shock of seeing an airship for the first time can be imagined.

Some people are scared to poop and urine, some try to bury their heads in the dirt so that they may not be detected by the monsters in the sky, and some people kneel and pray, and they always like to associate the unknown with the gods.

Lapole was also so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, constantly making a cross on his chest, as if someone would come to protect him.

But this novelty can also arouse the curiosity of some people, who find that there is someone in the "belly" of the monster.

"Look! Someone! Someone! That's people! ”

As the first airboat soldiers of the Austrian Empire, they were very proud, especially when they saw the crowd looking up below, they really had a feeling of becoming gods.

It's just that they're playing the role of the god of destruction, and a barrel is pushed off the airship.

Then a loud bang rang out in the valley, splashing sawdust, soot, and minced flesh everywhere.

"This is not Sparta."

(End of chapter)