On January 12, 1731, at about 3 p.m., a merchant ship from the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia (formerly the Kingdom of Savoy) quietly sailed into the port of Lorning (present-day Pula, Croatia).

After disembarking from the ship, the envoy of the kingdom and the Count of Cuneo, Selvato Rossini, got into a luxurious carriage provided by the Qi people, and under the escort of more than a dozen soldiers, he drove straight towards the governor's palace in the city.

"What's going on with the Austrians?"

"Lord Earl, ten days ago, a skirmish broke out between the Austrians and the Qi people near the small city of Koper, which is located in the border area, and it seems that they have suffered a little loss, losing two or three hundred people, and have already returned to Trieste." Emanuele Villareli, a merchant from Turin, replied respectfully: "So far there has been no movement from the Austrians, and there is no sign of any further recruitment. They probably have some ...... for the people of Qi Fearful. Because, the Qi people transferred three naval professional warships, which roamed near the bay of Trieste, forming a certain deterrent to the Austrians. ”

"So, do the Qi people have any plans to invade the territory of the empire?" Count Cuneo's heart moved, and he asked with a look of hope.

"Lord Earl, the people of Qi may not want to tear their faces with the Austrians for the time being." Emanuele Villarelli shook his head and said: "After their army entered the small town of Koper, they ceased all military operations and moved on to restore order to local production and life. Oh, by the way, Lord Count, the Qi people announced the abolition of all taxes in the entire Istrian region, including the original church tithes and lords' annuities, quack taxes, etc., and only a fixed local agricultural tax. Although the rate of this agricultural tax is 15 percent, which seems to be very high, the burden has been reduced to a very low level compared with the various taxes paid by the peasants in the past. ”

"Oh?" Count Cuneo was greatly surprised, "This move of the Qi people must have won them the support of tens of thousands of local people, right?" ”

"Yes, Lord Count." Emanuele Villareli nodded and said, "The Qi people have allocated a large amount of terra nullius to the local population, which has earned them great prestige. I believe that even if the Austrians had dared to rally their troops to invade Istria, they would have met with a resolute resistance from the local population. I have to admit that this policy promulgated by the people of Qi has made them have absolute popular support. …… Well, Lord Count, after two years of tossing, the population of the whole of Istria is no longer tens of thousands, and according to rough estimates, there should be only about 10,000 left, or even less. Too many people have fled the land out of fear of an unknown fate. In addition, the riots instigated by the Austrians also caused a large number of deaths and flights. ”

"So, did the Qi people deliberately slaughter or expel the local residents?"

"Well, I think that in the process of quelling the riots, the Qi people must have killed a lot of armed rebels, and perhaps they were also accidentally injured or affected by local residents. As for the deliberate massacre and expulsion, the Qi people did not do it. I think they probably wanted to develop and build this newly occupied territory well, so they exercised the necessary restraint. Lord Earl, Qi is a civilized country and will not behave as barbaric as the Ottomans. ”

"Oh, civilized country." Count Cuneo snorted coldly, "The Spaniards, the French, and the Austrians all claim to be civilized countries, but what they have done in Italy has the appearance of a civilized country. They are all robbers, shameful thieves, vile villains! ”

“…… Alas! Emanuele Villarelli looked at the Count with an indignant face, his expression was slightly stunned, and then he sighed secretly.

We Italians have a bad fate, like a slim and beautiful girl, who has been chased and played with by the European powers for hundreds of years, and it is inevitable that people will not feel resentment and resentment.

Although our Kingdom of Savoy has learned to ride on the wall, hug the thighs, and are accustomed to the left and right for a long time, it will not be able to escape the humiliation of the great powers.

Before the War of the Spanish Succession, Italy was dominated by Spain, and for more than a hundred years, it was crushed by them like a cash cow of their Spaniards, tossed to death.

Moreover, the Spaniards want not only our Italians with money, but also ours. In order to compete for global hegemony, the Spaniards needed a large number of strong men, soldiers, laborers, and sailors. As a result, Spanish soldiers often inexplicably took Italian peasants or townspeople directly from the fields or farmhouses, shackled them and sent them to their ships.

With the continuous exploitation and exploitation of the Spaniards, the money and wealth accumulated in Italy for hundreds of years were siphoned off, and the local economy remained sluggish. At the same time, the opening of new shipping routes has allowed the Atlantic Ocean to replace the Mediterranean as the main shipping route, and the loss of Italy's status as an overseas trade hub has made the entire region's economy even worse.

The economic recession also caused a large-scale famine, due to lack of food and clothing, desperate Italian men have joined the gang of thieves, to rob homes and even seek money and murder for a living, women have also become a large number of skilled women, so that Italian women once became synonymous with dusty women.

After the War of the Spanish Succession, the owner of Italy became Austria again, but this state of affairs was not stable. This is because the European continent has now entered a period of "rapid expansion", and wars are frequent among countries in order to compete for hegemony and dominance in European affairs. And Italy's scattered state has become more and more frequently the target of great power competition. As a result, Italy's territory changed rapidly, constantly changing from one power to another.

For example, just a few years after the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, Spain, the old master of Italy, was unwilling to give up, and sent troops to Italy twice, defeating Sardinia and Sicily at one time. Later, under the intervention of Britain, France, and the Netherlands, he was forced to vomit again.

However, in a fight between major powers, there must always be a relationship between them. Spain is willing to cede Sardinia and Sicily, so it has to find something to make up for it elsewhere.

As a result, several great powers decided to assign the Duchy of Parma and Tuscany in the middle of the peninsula to the Spanish prince Carlos.

Although, at present, there are still dukes in these two principalities, it doesn't matter, they will be handed over when they die.

This is very unorthodox to the Italians, because Parma and Tuscany are still run by local Italian giants, and they are nominally independent Italian states. This was now given to the Spanish royal family, which was equivalent to dividing the Italian mainland into the name of a foreigner.

But great power politics is all about the jungle, and who will take into account your Italian feelings?

The Pope jumped out in protest a few times, but unfortunately no one took him seriously.

The current Duke of Parma and the Duke of Tuscany also did not dare to let go of a fart, and obediently accepted the unreasonable arrangement of the great powers, just waiting for their own death, and the territory would be owned by the Spaniards.

The unkindness didn't stop there, and the Kingdom of Savoy, which had previously taken advantage of the War of the Succession, was also slaughtered.

The Austrians took this opportunity to say to their kingdom of Savoy: "O little Savoy, let's also change the land." I give you Sardinia and you give me Sicily. Anyway, if I hadn't helped you administer justice, the Spaniards would have to take both islands, and you wouldn't have gained anything. Besides, Sardinia and Sicily are about the same size, and Sardinia is a little closer to your doorstep.

When Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Savoy, heard this, he immediately wanted to cry without tears.

Nima's, although the area of Sardinia is about the same as Sicily, but it is much more barren!

Sicily, although it is farther away from us, is it close to the mainland? Moreover, there is abundant property and a large population, and the difference in taxes that can be collected is several times worse!

What the fuck are you exchanging an apartment building in Yanjiao for a courtyard house in Beijing's Second Ring Road!

Your Majesty, is it appropriate for you to do this? Authentic?

Do you want to face?

But it is not uneven, Savoy is weak and weak, and it can neither provoke Spain nor Austria, so it can only obediently admit it, and change houses with the Austrians in tears, oh no, change territory.

No, our Kingdom of Savoy had to change its name for this reason, and it became the Kingdom of Sardinia.

During this period, the whole pattern of Italy was roughly a three-legged trend, that is, the Italian local power, the Spanish Bourbon royal power and the Austrian Habsburg power.

Among them, the native Italian powers include the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, which occupies northwestern Italy and Sardinia, the Republic of Venice in the northeast, the Duchy of Modena in the north-central region, the Papal States in the center, and the Republic of Genoa, which occupies the west and Corsica.

The Spanish powers included the central Duchy of Parma and the Duchy of Tuscany.

The Austrians included the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily in the south, as well as Milan and Mantua, which were directly under the Holy Roman Empire.

Among the three, Austria, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor, was the real speaker of Italy, not only occupying the golden treasure of Milan and the vast territory of Naples and Sicily, but also the Papal States had to obey its orders, and it could be said that it controlled two-thirds of the territory of the entire Italian region.

The Austrians were so powerful that the Kingdom of Sardinia was afraid and hated them, and they were always thinking of adding some blockage to it, finding something to do, and preferably a great power to cut it down, so as to reduce their influence in Italy.

I still remember that in the War of the Spanish Succession, in order to make them attack France from behind in order to make the Kingdom of Sardinia (which would still be the Kingdom of Savoy) turn against water, the Austrians promised them that once they defeated the French, they would cede half of Milan's territory to them.

Who knows, after the war, the Austrians repented and were reluctant to cede half of Milan to the Kingdom of Sardinia, but only handed over a small territory of Monferrato and the west of Milan to them.

This frustrated the Savoy family's dream of Milan for generations, and made King Vittorio Amedeo II embarrassed.

Coupled with the fact that the Austrians later forcibly exchanged islands with the Kingdom of Sardinia, King Vittorio Amedeo II hated it even more.

However, due to its lack of strength, the Kingdom of Sardinia could only bury all its humiliation and anger in its heart, and while making great efforts to carry out serious reforms in the country, promote the development of industry and agriculture, reduce the privileges of the church and the aristocracy, streamline the administrative structure, and strive to strengthen the kingdom, while waiting for a major change in the situation in the region, so as to find a golden opportunity, or hug the thighs again and give the Austrians a slap in the face.

In the eyes of the Kingdom of Sardinia, none of the big countries around him are reliable, and they all have their own thoughts. Their Kingdom of Sardinia had Milan in their hearts, and the French in the west also had a strong coveting heart for Milan, and even tried to annex their Kingdom of Sardinia.

The Austrians in the east, not to mention, were always thinking of taking advantage of their Kingdom of Sardinia, and out of fear of France, they were always on the guard that they would join the French and attack Milan together, so that the Austrians had amassed a lot of troops in the border areas, and there was a danger of entering the core of their Piedmont proper.

Sandwiched between two great powers, the Kingdom of Sardinia has always been on thin ice, careful to balance as much as possible (jumping left and right), trying to maintain its independence and freedom.

Originally, it was also expected to bring in the power of the old master, the Kingdom of Spain, in order to maintain a delicate balance.

But Spain are real bastards, they fucking know how to grab territory, extort property, and don't care if they live or die in the Kingdom of Sardinia.

I once wondered if I could rely on the two maritime powers, the Netherlands and England, to balance the forces of several sides. But after contact, I found that the Dutch were trying their best to make money in business, and they didn't want to get involved in the things of Italy.

The English, on the other hand, were more zealous, and in order to compete with the Dutch for commercial interests in the Mediterranean, they actively intervened in the affairs of Italy, and intervened in the invasion of Italy by Spain and France several times, which seemed to be a powerful arm to rely on.

But I never expected that five years ago, when the Qi-British War broke out, this "powerful arm that can be relied on" was beaten by the Qi State from thousands of miles away, suffered a humiliating defeat, and was a land cession, a reparation, and a staring at the independence of Ireland, the former colonial territory.

What shocked the Kingdom of Sardinia even more was that after the Qi State cleaned up England, it teamed up with the Ottoman Empire to beat Venice, a maritime republic with a history of thousands of years, to destroy the Venetian navy, and to force Venice to sign a humiliating defeat treaty, which almost destroyed the results of its hundreds of years of expansion.

Oops, this Qi country is really strong!

What is even more surprising is that with the occupation of the Istrian Peninsula by the Qi State, they turned out to be Italy's neighbors.

So, do they have any ideas for intervening in the affairs of the Italian region?

Or, can we bring Qi into Italy and use it as a reinforcement (hug your thighs) to balance the power of Austria, France, and Spain?

Looking at the Istrian region, the Kingdom of Sardinia suddenly had such an idea.

The country of Qi is rich all over the world, its power is spread throughout the Indian Ocean, and it also has the most powerful maritime power in the world, and its strength should not be underestimated. As early as decades ago, they extended their tentacles to Europe, and during the War of the Spanish Succession, they directly intervened in European affairs, beating Spain to the ground.

Now, Qi has defeated England, the most powerful navy in Europe, showing its super overseas combat capability.

If our Kingdom of Sardinia had established some kind of alliance with the mighty Qi State, wouldn't it have been possible to rely on it as an aid against France and Austria?

You know, the Austrians have always been at odds with the Qi people. After Qi acquired the Istrian Peninsula to which Venice belonged, the Austrians secretly incited the local people to rebel against Qi rule, and also funded rebels to launch attacks against Qi people.

If we pull the country of Qi to our side and fight the Austrians together, won't it attract strong foreign aid for our kingdom of Sardinia!

As a result, King Vittorio Amedeo II, after passing the throne to Carlo Emanuele III in August, was free to devote himself to the foreign affairs of the aligned state.

When approaching the country, it is necessary to take into account the feelings of the French and Austrians. Therefore, in order to keep the news secret, the Kingdom of Sardinia decided to send people to Istria first to meet with the local governor of Qi to test the attitude of the Qi people.

If you go to France by land and go directly to visit the minister of Qi, it will inevitably make the French smell the wind in advance, and it will inevitably make unfavorable moves to the kingdom.

On the side of its strong neighbors, the weak kingdom of Sardinia had to be so cautious.

It's so hard!

May the Lord bless us and hope that this trip to Istria will bring very good news to the Kingdom.

The Count of Cuneo sat in the carriage, looking out the window at the slightly desolate streets, and lightly crossed his right hand.

(End of chapter)