Chapter 266 The second recovery of Rome

While the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force was actively preparing for the war, the coalition to liberate Rome, composed of the Italian Army and the Garibaldi Volunteer Army, was heading towards the city of Rome with overwhelming momentum. At this time, they were only more than 20 kilometers away from the city of Rome. distance.

"There was no resistance along the way. It seems that the Italian people and soldiers in the Pope's country also support our actions. With their support, this trip to Rome will definitely solve the final problem easily." General Ca of the Kingdom of Italy Dona said optimistically to Garibaldi.

Garibaldi did not refute, but he clearly knew that he did not encounter decent resistance. It was not because Pius IX was merciful, but because he concentrated all his power on Rome, so he said: "Unification is the common aspiration of the entire Italian nation. , but our real enemy has not yet appeared. Only Rome, where the Pope is located, is the last stumbling block to the unification of Italy. It is also the base of the last remaining remnants on the road to Italian unification. Only by winning Rome can our cause be considered complete!"

"Well, you're right, but our army will easily crush them." Cardona said confidently.

In Italy, a region where fighting power is a mystery, the Kingdom of Sardinia is considered the most powerful, or the unified Italian national governments are too incompetent.

Therefore, facing the Papal State alone, Cardona can be sure that the last piece of the great unification of the Italian Kingdom will be completed by himself today, and he will also be recorded in the history of Italy.

Coincidentally, when Garibaldi and Cardona arrived in Rome on August 30, French Emperor Napoleon III also withdrew to the Sedan area. The Prussian army had already assembled here, and the Hechingen Brigade was about to participate in its campaign in the German area. The last battle of the war, because the Hechingen Brigade had suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, nearly one-fifth of the wounded. After completing the final blow against France, Ernst also planned to withdraw them. What happened next Just leave it to Prussia to finish.

…

Rome.

At this moment, Pius IX was very impatient. He was walking back and forth in his palace because he had received intelligence that the Italian army was about to attack the city.

But as he had expected a few days ago, the war in Italy planned by the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not appear. In other words, except for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's army, which was making no big moves in northeastern Italy, the Papal State was now fighting alone.

Could it be that he had been tricked by the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Thinking back carefully, during the conversation between me and Floyd that day, the Austro-Hungarian special envoy did not say anything about the specific plans of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Could it be that the Austro-Hungarian Empire just wanted to block their guns?

The more he thought about Pius IX, the angrier he became, and at the same time he felt fear. Coupled with the hot weather, Pius IX could no longer calm down, and hurriedly ordered his subordinates: "Go and invite Special Envoy Freud from the Austro-Hungarian Empire! "

Soon, Freud slowly came to the palace of Pius IX. Seeing Floyd, Pius IX seemed to grasp a life-saving straw.

"Sir Floyd! You are finally here!" He excitedly grabbed Floyd's arm and said.

"Your Majesty, why are you here with me?" Freud asked, looking at the anxious Pius IX.

what happened? At this time, I'm still pretending to myself! Pius IX felt like he was being played.

He asked sadly: "Don't you recognize the good things your country has done?"

"?" Freud's face was full of questions.

Pius IX continued: "Why did it not happen that all countries (the nobles of other annexed Italian kingdoms) agreed to boycott the Kingdom of Italy? Didn't you vow a few days ago that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would solve everything, so that I could prepare with peace of mind What? In the end, you, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, just treat us as a casually discarded chess piece. Doesn’t faith have no appeal? The Lord will not let you treacherous people be saved..."

"Ah!" Why does it involve God, the old man? And why are all countries boycotting Italy? I never said that!

Floyd asked confused. "Your Majesty the Pope! What do you mean? What are the other countries? Have you secretly contacted other countries? Is it Spain?"

Pius IX said angrily: "Didn't you, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plan the nobles of various countries who were unwilling to be annexed by the Kingdom of Italy to jointly resist the Kingdom of Italy? Why, are you pretending to be confused with me now?"

"Nothing! Who told you this? Why don't I, the special envoy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, know that the empire has this plan?" Freud asked rhetorically. He suspected that someone pretending to be someone from the Austro-Hungarian Empire deceived Pius IX. .

"That's it, that's it..." Before the word "you" was uttered, Pius IX suddenly paused!

Just at that moment, he suddenly recalled that Freud did not seem to have said these words to him. These were all made up in his mind a few days ago.

The scene was a bit awkward. Pius IX tried to calm down and stammered: "Oh! You see, my temper must have been disturbed by the hot weather, which caused some memory confusion. I'm really sorry, Freud. Sir, I made you laugh."

"It doesn't matter. The situation has been tense recently, and I'm afraid it's also due to this factor. His Majesty the Pope is overworked, so it's understandable that his thoughts will be affected!" Floyd smoothed things over.

After reacting, Pius IX carefully recalled the content of Freud's conversation with him that day, and he still discovered an anomaly.

I was having random thoughts that day, so what was Freud affirming? At that time, he also specifically told not to tell this matter to his subordinates. So what is the Austro-Hungarian Empire's trump card?

"Sir Floyd, I have just received information that the Italian army is about to attack the city of Rome. What is the Austro-Hungarian Empire's trump card that you mentioned a few days ago? Now is the critical moment for the survival of the Papal State. , can you tell me!"

"Ah! Didn't you guess it a few days ago?" Freud asked in surprise.

"Well, I now realize that what I guessed may be a little different from your country..."

"Then, let me give it a try. Your Majesty will know when the war starts, so there is no need to worry yet." At this time, Freud finally knew what was going on. The Pius IX himself was making random guesses about his feelings. Then he beat him with a rake.

Pius IX was anxious: "Your Excellency Freud, the current situation is very critical. The Kingdom of Italy is about to attack the city of Rome. How can you let me feel at ease?..." Just when Pius IX was about to continue.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

The sound of artillery was heard outside the city.

The Italian army began to attack.

"Your Majesty, since you want to know the trump card of our Austro-Hungarian Empire, why don't you go to the front line and take a look like me?" Floyd said.

"Well, forget it then! I still need to handle the affairs in Rome." Pius IX said vaguely.

Freud smiled knowingly and said: "In that case, why not His Majesty the Pope drink a cup of coffee with us here and wait for the outcome of the war together."

Floyd was using himself as a hostage to reassure Pius IX. He was not planning to run away, so he must be prepared.

Looking at Floyd sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai, Pius IX also lowered his guard. If Floyd found an excuse to leave at this time, Pius IX would be sure that he had been tricked by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

…

Inside the city defenses of Rome, the Papal State troops composed of believers from all over the world were exchanging fire with the troops of the Kingdom of Italy outside the city.

Garibaldi and others just tried to use the slogan of Italian unification to awaken the military and civilians in Rome, prompting them to give up resistance and peacefully unify Rome.

However, after Pius IX made a big move, the Papal State army refused to persuade Garibaldi and others to surrender at all, and because of the large number of foreigners, who sympathizes with you about Italy's fate.

Garibaldi responded with a bullet fired by a Dutchman, which almost hit Garibaldi himself. After communication failed, the Kingdom of Italy could only use artillery to influence these unscrupulous Papal State soldiers.

Both sides launched an artillery bombardment. With the help of bunkers and city walls, the relatively small Papal State army fought back and forth with the Italian army.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

Although it was reinforced before the war, the city of Rome, which had not suffered a war for a long time, was still severely damaged, and small gaps were opened in some places.

But Garibaldi and others did not dare to let the soldiers charge directly. Compared with history, the number of people attacking Rome was halved this time in order to deal with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the Kingdom of Italy had to use it sparingly.

"Continue the bombardment, and when there are bigger holes in the city's defenses, our people will rush in again." Garibaldi said to Cardona.

"Well, prepare the artillery!" Cardona ordered the kingdom's artillery troops.

…

The sound of cannons is a signal.

After having had enough wine and food, the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force had already begun to advance towards Rome when Garibaldi and others arrived in Rome. After hearing the sound of cannons, Lieutenant General Karl divided the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force into two groups. , rushing towards the city of Rome from the east and west directions at very high speed.

"Today we will work with the Roman defenders to attack the Italian army from both inside and outside, making it impossible for them to come back." Lieutenant General Karl said fiercely.

At this time, the Italians, who were concentrating on attacking Rome, obviously did not know that a surprise force was coming from the south to outflank them.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire has indeed done a good job in keeping secrets. Even its partner Pius IX did not know that this Austro-Hungarian army existed under his nose.

With the bombardment of artillery fire, the time came to five o'clock in the afternoon. Garibaldi felt that time was almost up, and some parts of the city of Rome had collapsed.

He said to Cardona: "It's time to begin!"

"Attack!" Cardona ordered after receiving Garibaldi's confirmation.

In order to boost morale, Garibaldi personally led the team as usual, with the Italian volunteers as the vanguard, and launched a general attack on the city of Rome.

Many of the Papal State troops on the city were already planning to retreat at this time, but the special features of the Papal State also played a role. As Pius IX said, does faith really have no appeal?

Of course, the devout believers did not intend to retreat with the temporarily hired Italian soldiers. They wanted to protect Rome and fight to the death with the Kingdom of Italy.

The two sides fought bloody battles within city walls and bunkers, but with numerical superiority, the Kingdom of Italy gradually gained the upper hand.

The believers retreated into the city, trying to resist with the help of streets and city buildings, and the Italian army, led by Garibaldi's supporting corps, finally invaded Rome.

At this moment, "the overall situation in Rome has been decided", Garibaldi shouted excitedly: "Fighters fighting for Italian freedom! We are back! This is Rome, the hometown of our Italians."

Just when Garibaldi was about to completely wipe the Papal State off the map of Italy, gunfire suddenly came from behind - the Austro-Hungarian Empire was coming!

…

Before the Italian troops who rushed into the city of Rome could react, they were shot from behind.

Lieutenant General Karl arrived at a critical moment with the rapidly marching Austro-Hungarian Imperial Expeditionary Force, which coincided with the Italian army entering the city from outside the city. In addition, there was still a firefight ahead, and the Italian army did not discover the enemy behind it in time.

However, Garibaldi, who was on the front line, was the first to react. The sound of gunshots and cannons was wrong!

Unfortunately, it was too late. The high-spirited elites of the Austro-Hungarian Empire came from behind. The Italian army was turned into sandwich cookies by the Roman defenders and the Austro-Hungarian expeditionary force, and was trapped in a narrow area and unable to effectively counterattack.

Cardona, who was startled by the Austro-Hungarian army, stumbled to Garibaldi's side.

He shouted with a cry: "It's over, Mr. Garibaldi! It's all over!"

Garibaldi was panting now due to the previous battle, and his chest expanded and contracted greatly with his breathing.

Holding the gun in his hand with resolute hands, he said calmly: "No, it's not over yet. As long as I am still alive, I will fight to the last moment. The enemy can destroy my body, but Italy's free will will never annihilated.”

After that, Garibaldi ignored Cardona. He looked at his teammates who had been following him and said: "Brothers, we fell down today. Are you afraid? Next, we may have to fight with our comrades who died before. Let’s meet!”

"Mr. Garibaldi, we are not afraid, we fight for freedom!"

"Okay, fight for freedom! Let's charge one last time!"

Garibaldi's volunteer regiment ignored the Roman defenders and turned around to charge towards the Austro-Hungarian army. Even though the Papal State army behind them was still attacking, at this moment Garibaldi and his comrades only had in mind the Austro-Hungarian army. The resentment of the empire, the invader.

"Bang...bang...bang..."

The Italian army, which was attacked from the front and back, surrendered directly under the leadership of Cardona, and Garibaldi, the Italian hero, and his comrades fell in a pool of blood.

The city of Rome was captured twice today, first by the Kingdom of Italy, and the second time by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was recovered once for the Kingdom of Italy and once for the Papal State.