At a time when the Italian government was hotly discussing how to accomplish the great cause of unification, Pius IX of Rome was not at all happy.

Although Austria-Hungary promised to secure and defend the Papal States, the question is where are your Austrian soldiers? You can't just say hello to Italy across the Adriatic Sea!

Although the Adriatic Sea is not wide, and the strength of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is not weak, it is impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Navy to go ashore and fight with the Italian Army.

Since the Battle of Lisa, the Italian navy has been a laughing stock, its budget has been drastically reduced, and it was not until 1877 that the Kingdom of Italy reinvested in the development of the navy, so it can be considered one of the weakest periods in the Italian navy.

The Papal States happened to be surrounded by the territory of the Kingdom of Italy, and theoretically the Papal States could attack the east with the only troops they had, as long as they took back the eastern coastal areas of the original Papal States and provided a landing site for Austria-Hungary, they could welcome the "royal division".

However, when he thought of the strength of the Papal State's army, Pius IX thought it was a whimsical plan.

After the last war, the eastern part of the Papal State was annexed by the Kingdom of Italy, which occupies two-thirds of the Papal State.

Not to mention the confrontation with the entire Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Italy can defeat the Papal State by simply integrating the forces of the Papal States annexed in the east.

In 1868, the Zouaf Legion consisted of 4,592 men, of which more than 1,900 were Dutch, more than 1,300 French, and the rest of the surrounding countries (including Austrians) and even South and North American Catholics came.

Such an army is more complicated than the internal situation of the Austro-Hungarian army, and you can imagine what will happen when you command it.

In addition, there was a Palatine Guard, which was set up by Pope Pius IX to patrol the city of Rome, and they were only volunteers, with no military pay, and only received allowances for the maintenance of military uniforms and ceremonial equipment, and their number was extremely limited.

Prior to this, there was also the French army in the Papal States, which deployed about 4,000 troops, and these 4,000 troops were the main military force to maintain the existence of the Papal States.

After the withdrawal of French troops, a chain reaction was triggered at the same time, and some of the Papal States' own soldiers also resigned. After all, its sources are relatively mixed, and it also has a motherland, so there is no need to accompany the Pope to the funeral, and it is okay to follow the French army before.

The more he thought about this, the more panicked Pius IX became, so he hurriedly asked the Austro-Hungarian envoy Freud to sum.

……

Soon, Freud, who was in the embassy, was invited before Pius IX by a bishop.

"Sigmund Freud! After yesterday's statement, I always felt that something was wrong, and I was very uneasy, because your country has said that you want to guarantee the independence of the Pope State, but you will not just give me verbal support. You must know that the Kingdom of Italy is sharpening its knives, and the military strength of the Papal States cannot defend against the Kingdom of Italy alone. ”

Freud smiled knowingly, he had been waiting for Pius IX to ask this question, and when he met Pius IX yesterday, Pius IX, who was already on the verge of despair, was like grasping at a life-saving straw.

As soon as he made some requests, Pius IX agreed with his mouth, but now that Pius IX has come to his senses, there is no army, and Austria has nothing to do to support the Papal States.

"Your Majesty, you don't have to worry about that." Freud said unhurriedly.

"I ...... I am not too worried, but Rome is a holy place for all believers, and your people are also God's people, and the ambition of the Kingdom of Italy is well known to the world, and I am thinking for all the people whose hearts are devoted to God. ”

As the Pope, although the Papal State is now in decline, he is still theoretically the most noble person in Europe (it would be better if there is no Russian Patriarch), so naturally he can't show a low voice to other countries, in other words, the Pope asks Austria-Hungary to intervene, which is not called a request, but the obligation of Austria-Hungary, a Catholic country, and he should stand and ask for food.

"Your Majesty, in fact, you want to talk about the army! In this regard, I can only say that the conspiracy of the Kingdom of Italy will not succeed, we in Austria-Hungary have already made a plan, and then you just have to act according to the arrangement of our Austria-Hungary. Floyd said.

"Plan ......" Pius IX grasped the key word, but this plan only said that the plot of the Kingdom of Italy would not succeed, and the plot of the Kingdom of Italy refers to the annexation of the Papal State, but it is difficult to say how to operate.

"Sir Freud, how does Austria-Hungary plan to crack the plot of the Kingdom of Italy? If it were only to threaten Italy in Venice and Lombardy, even if you had some success there, the Papal States would probably no longer exist. ”

Pius IX immediately thought of Venice and Lombardy, because Austria-Hungary could only think of a way to intervene in Italy from the east, and if Austria-Hungary won the war, it might allow Italy to spit out the Papal States and complete the goal that Italy could not annex the Papal States.

But in the middle, the papal state is equivalent to the death of the country once, their own safety is not easy to say, their own identity and influence in Italy and the appeal of Europe, the Kingdom of Italy has two ways to deal with it, one is to be imprisoned, this is a better end, the other is to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, after all, now countries do not have much fear of religion, anything can happen during the war, and afterwards the Kingdom of Italy can find a scapegoat to calm public opinion in various countries, anyway, the dead man can't speak, the dead man here is talking about himself, Pius IX didn't want to bet on what the Kingdom of Italy would choose.

"How so! Your Majesty, the reason why we, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, came to you immediately after the French retreat to discuss the security of the Papal State, should have thought that we, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had long anticipated the Franco-Prussian War, and since we contacted you at the first opportunity, we naturally had our own way of maintaining the existence of the Papal State, and I assure you that it is impossible for the Kingdom of Italy to attack Rome, not even once. ”

Hearing Freud say this, Pius IX thought about it, where did the Austro-Hungarian Empire get the news that the French would withdraw, doesn't this mean that any disturbance in Rome is always under the surveillance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

And Freud dared to say so, there must be his confidence, what could it be? Pius IX pondered.

Suddenly, it dawned on Pius IX that since the Austro-Hungarian Empire was so concerned about the Papal States and placed spies here, then there should also be Austro-Hungarian spies in the Kingdom of Italy.

It was only a few years after the unification of Italy, and there were still the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Kingdom of Naples and other countries, would Austria-Hungary be ready to instigate these opponents of the annexation of the Kingdom of Italy to jump out and revolt after the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war with Italy and dismembered the Kingdom of Italy.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was very likely, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been working in Italy for many years, and there were many allies, although the Kingdom of Sardinia had removed these Austro-Hungarian allies from the surface, but the energy they had accumulated over the years could not be underestimated.

Pius IX, who thought that he had figured out the plans of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was finally relieved, this trick was too ruthless, and the Kingdom of Italy had no good way to deal with it at all, unless it was suppressed militarily, but Italy must first defeat the Austro-Constitutional Army, otherwise where to find so many troops to deal with the forces that opposed the unification of Italy, the Kingdom of Italy, which lacked troops, and the army of the Papal State could also deal with it, so naturally it would be worry-free for the time being.

In fact, Pius IX just thought too much, if Austria-Hungary had the ability to instigate those people in Italy, Italy would not be able to unify at all, and the so-called Austro-Hungarian spies imagined by Pius IX were actually Ernst, the spoilers.

This time the Austro-Hungarian Empire's intervention in the Kingdom of Italy was not at all a high-level means, that is, a purely violent solution.

(End of chapter)