When an inconspicuous carriage carrying Prince Metternich, advisor to the Austrian Empire, quietly entered the city of Milan, the entire city of Milan was not aware of his arrival.
Even General Albrecht, who was the Governor of Lombardy and Venice, was the same. Therefore, when Prince Metternich's carriage arrived at the Doge's Palace in Milan, the soldiers guarding the door of the Doge's Palace stopped Prince Metternich's carriage.
Come down and ask Prince Metternich to show relevant documents.
Prince Metternich in the carriage opened the carriage, then took out a Metternich family crest and handed it to the soldier.
"This is..." The soldier who had never seen a clan emblem looked curiously at what Prince Metternich gave him and asked doubtfully.
"You hand this thing over to your Governor Albrecht, and everything will be clear to you!" Prince Mete said in response.
"Please wait a moment!" The soldier immediately responded to Prince Metternich with a respectful attitude, then turned and walked towards the Governor's Palace.
After a while, the soldier quickly returned to the gate of the Governor's Palace, followed behind him by a group of soldiers wearing the light blue military uniforms of the Austrian Empire and wearing various medals on their chests.
When these soldiers arrived at the gate of the Governor's Palace, the leading soldier immediately raised his hand to ask the soldiers behind him to stop. He came to the side of the car door alone and saw Prince Metternich pretending to sleep in the car door through the car window.
Immediately afterwards, the soldier carefully opened the car door and shouted softly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Prince!"
After hearing the call, Prince Metternich slowly opened his eyes. He looked at the soldier standing at the door of the car, with a kind smile on his lips, and said lazily, "It turns out to be Albrecht! You
Why did you come here in person!"
"Your Excellency Prince Metternich, I just had nothing to do in the office, so I came here!" Albrecht Friedrich Rudolf, Governor of Lombardy and Venice, son of Archduke Karl, and a famous general of the Austrian Empire
He responded in a respectful tone to the 85-year-old old prince in front of him.
"It's really hard for you to come here!" Prince Metternich said slowly to Albrecht.
"It's not hard work! It's not hard work!" Albrecht said with a hint of flattery in his tone, "You are the one who really worked hard! Nothing happened along the way!"
"Not at all!" Prince Merter shook his head and responded to Albrecht.
"That's good!" Archduke Albrecht replied with a smile, and then changed the topic and said, "How about we enter the Governor's Palace first and then talk!"
"Okay!" Metternich nodded and continued to squint in sleep.
Albrecht closed the carriage door and immediately gave the carriage driver the order to enter the Governor's Palace.
Driven by the driver, the carriage entered the courtyard of the Governor's Palace.
In this courtyard filled with Renaissance buildings and statues, the driver stopped the carriage again. Upon seeing this, Archduke Albrecht quickly came to the carriage and opened the door for Prince Metternich in the carriage.
Prince Metternich, who was in a state of sleep, slowly opened his eyes that seemed to be able to see through everything in the world, then stood up and walked out of the carriage...
When Prince Metternich stepped into the courtyard, his eyes looked around from time to time. He remembered the scene where he met Marshal Radetzky many years ago, and couldn't help but sigh, "Hey! I didn't expect that time
It’s been so long and nothing has changed here!”
"Yes! Tens and hundreds of years may be a long time to us, but to these buildings, they are just fleeting!" Albrecht also sighed with emotion.
"Forget it! Let's not talk about this!" Prince Metternich's eyes were slightly sad, and he shook his head and responded to Albrecht.
"Stop talking! Stop talking!" Albrecht also noticed that Prince Metternich was in a depressed mood at this time. He guessed that it was due to the scenery in front of him and the death of Marshal Radetzky, so he quickly changed the topic.
, "Let's go! I'll take you in!"
In Albrecht
Under the leadership of Prince Metternich, he walked along the path in the courtyard and soon came to a group of palaces in the Governor's Palace.
Entering the palace hall, Archduke Albrecht quickly introduced Prince Metternich, "Your Excellency, the people behind me now are the members of the Governor's Palace!
This is my chief of staff, Benedek, and this is the commander of the Lombard First Division..."
Grand Duke Albrecht introduced his men to Prince Metternich in turn. Prince Metternich smiled and nodded to the men introduced by Albrecht to show his approval.
After introducing each of his subordinates, Albrecht took Prince Metternich to visit the combat command room of the Governor's Palace.
In the combat command room, Albrecht looked at Prince Metternich with hopeful eyes and asked in a solemn tone, "Your Excellency, have you received the latest instructions from Vienna?"
Prince Metternich smiled slightly, and then nodded slowly to Archduke Albrecht, "Vienna has confirmed the order and I want you to convey the latest instructions!"
After receiving a positive reply from Prince Metternich, Albrecht and the general behind him showed excitement in their eyes. They had worked hard to prepare for this moment in Lombardy for nearly a month.
"Your Excellency, when can we start official operations!" Archduke Albrecht asked Prince Metternich in an excited tone.
Prince Metternich slowly said, "The purpose of my coming here is firstly to give you the final combat instructions, and secondly to deliver an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Sardinia!
In other words, you cannot take any action before the ultimatum reaches the hands of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
When the ultimatum arrives in the hands of the Kingdom of Sardinia, if the Kingdom of Sardinia does not give us a satisfactory answer within the specified time, then you can start taking action!!"
"Understood!" Archduke Albrecht nodded and responded to Prince Richard Metternich. Then he suddenly thought of something and asked again, "By the way, as far as I know, France has not yet agreed with Sardinia.
The Kingdom of Nia has officially severed diplomatic relations. Will this cause unnecessary trouble to our operations?"
Although Albrecht's attitude was very tactful, Prince Metternich understood that Albrecht was worried that the French Empire would interfere with the Kingdom of Sardinia, which might lead to a war between France and the Austrian Empire.…
.
"You can rest assured that the French Empire will not help the Kingdom of Sardinia because of this matter!" Prince Metternich responded to Albrecht with confidence.
Regarding the issue of the Kingdom of Sardinia, neither Prince Metternich nor Count Bauer believed that Jerome Bonaparte would go back on his word.
After all, the Austrian Empire did not completely eliminate the Kingdom of Sardinia, but weakened it.
"In that case, I will prepare immediately!" Archduke Albrecht replied to Prince Metternich.
…
Immediately afterwards, Prince Metternich appointed officers from the Governor's Palace to Turin to deliver the Austrian Empire's ultimatum to the Austrian Empire's ambassador in Sardinia, who then handed it over to Victor Emmanuel II.
in the hands of the world.
The officer followed Prince Metternich's order and set out from Milan. After several hours of hard work, he finally arrived at the border between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia that night.
The Sardinian army on the border hurriedly took a defensive posture after seeing the Austrian imperial officers.
The Austrian officer quickly dismounted and made a gesture of surrender with both hands. Seeing this, the Sardinian officer quickly asked, "What are you here for?"
The Austrian imperial officer hurriedly responded in Lombard, "I am here to deliver a message to His Majesty Franz Joseph of the Austrian Empire!"
"Sending a message? To whom?" the Sardinian king's official asked again.
"Of course it is for your Majesty King Victor Emmanuel of the Kingdom of Sardinia!" the Austrian Imperial Officer then replied.
"I understand! Come here!" The Sardinian Crown Prince waved to the Austrian Imperial Officer
With his hand, the Austrian imperial magistrate was able to enter the territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Immediately afterwards, at the invitation of the Sardinian royal officer, the Austrian imperial officer rested for one night in the military camp in Sardinia, and then set off for Turin again the next morning.
After several hours of train ride, the Austrian imperial officer arrived in Turin.
The Austrian officers who came down from the Turin train station quickly went to the Austrian Imperial Embassy in Sardinia.
After meeting with the ambassador at the embassy, the Austrian imperial official handed Prince Metternich an ultimatum, which he handed to the ambassador in Sardinia.
The ambassador to Sardinia showed a surprised expression on his face after seeing the ultimatum.
As the ambassador of the Austrian Empire to Sardinia, he didn't know about this until now.
To be on the safe side, the ambassador to Sardinia asked with a serious expression, "Is this ultimatum really from Vienna?"
"Your Excellency, Ambassador, this ultimatum was indeed given to me by Prince Metternich!" the Austrian imperial official responded to the ambassador in Sardinia confidently, "If you don't believe it, you can send someone to Milan.
!」
[There is no radio station between Turin and Milan!]
"In that case, I will go to the Turin Palace now!" The ambassador to Sardinia chose to believe the Austrian imperial official.
After all, it’s not like he didn’t know that the Austrian Imperial Army had been frequently mobilized in the border areas recently.
For this reason, Victor Emmanuel II of the Turin Palace asked him several times what the Austrian Empire wanted.
It now appears that the Austrian Empire's previous mobilizations in the border areas were to attack the Kingdom of Sardinia.
