175 General Frost asks you to support the cause of Italian independence
The city of Diego is not big, but it looks very prosperous.
After all, this is a city in northern Italy that has accumulated wealth over the years.
In real history, after Massena captured the city of Diego, he immediately launched an army to plunder the city. The extremely poor Italian legionnaires entered the city and their eyes were green, robbing food, money and women.
But Anning's Italian Legion was different. Anning's legion was fed by the property of the church and was relatively stable. In addition, Anning had always strictly restrained the troops and prohibited robbery, so the troops could make no mistakes after entering the city.
When An Ning arrived at the city gate, he saw several Italians wearing liberty caps and holding tricolor flags, welcoming the French army.
These people shouted to the French troops entering the city: "Long live freedom! Hello, liberators!"
An Ning arrived in front of the group of people, pulled up the reins and stopped the horse, and asked curiously: "Gentlemen, how are you?"
"Hello, General!" The Italian leader took off his hat and saluted An Ning, "Salute to free France!"
An Ning: "Salute to you. Who are you?"
"I am Italian and have been fighting for Italian independence all my life!"
It turned out that they were Italian independent elements, and the National Assembly in Paris sent the Italian Legion under the banner of liberating Italy and making Italy independent.
An Ning smiled and said: "So you are Italian revolutionaries. Great, we are here to liberate you! When my chief of staff arrives, he will sell you Italian independence bonds. You can buy them with any kind of silver coins.
!Gold coins are also fine!”
The expression on the face of the member of the Italian independence movement froze.
"Bonds?"
"Yes! Bonds! The French army will fight for your independence! For this you only need to buy independence bonds! Of course, if you don't have money, you can also personally join the war for Italian independence! We will build
The Free Italian Army assists the French army in fighting!"
An Ning said with a smile on his face.
Before he set off, he was raising money for the next step of development, so he had already made plans.
Local tycoons who support Italian independence must purchase Italian independence bonds to express their support for the cause of Italian independence.
In order to give them this channel to express their support for Italian independence, An Ning used precious transportation capacity to transport bonds. Those bonds were printed on kraft paper and were very heavy!
For the local gentry who do not support Italian independence, why bother asking? For such people, lampposts are where they end up!
The French army has the obligation to replace the Italians and punish these traitors!
And their property is naturally used to support the cause of Italian independence!
An Ning was very serious about promoting the cause of Italian independence!
**
News of Marshal Beaulieu's disastrous defeat in the Battle of Diego quickly reached Vienna.
At this time, there was no battle of sufficient scale on the frontal front, and there were only some minor frictions, so everyone's attention was attracted by the news on this secondary battlefield.
Queen Marie in Vienna heard the news and immediately broke a precious cup she had brought from Paris.
"Why is it this Frost again!" Queen Mary cursed as she watched the maid collecting the broken pieces of the cup, "When will I be able to get rid of this cobbler!"
Louis XVI rarely played with his locks today, but drank tea with his wife. He didn't seem to care much: "This shows that our French army still has an advantage over the Austrian army!"
Mary glared at her husband: "How long has it been and you are still proud of the French army! The French army is no longer your army! It is the Austrian army that is fighting for you now!"
Louis XVI's face tightened: "Okay, it's the Austrian army. My fault. But why are you so angry? Italy is only a secondary battlefield. Frost is in Italy, better than being on the front?"
Mary bit her lip: "You are right, it is better for him to win in Italy than to win head-on. But I just think the news of his victory is very annoying! It is because of Frost that we are in this situation!
Think about it!
"It was he who captured the Bastille, who refused to give face to the three estates in Versailles for group discussions, or who forced us to move from the Palace of Versailles to Paris! Living so close to a bunch of damn trousers!"
"I think we should send someone to his hometown to capture his family, and then let him come to Vienna to redeem them!"
Louis XVI frowned: "No, no, it's so unlike a nobleman to do this..."
"The way a nobleman behaves is for a nobleman, he is just a cobbler!"
Louis XVI comforted his wife and said: "Don't do this, it will make those newspapers find out. We already have enough black material."
"Humph, when my nephew puts us back on the throne of France, we will take decisive action and send all those journalists and newspaper publishers to the guillotine! And the Parliament, damn the Parliament! I've had enough of the Parliament!
"With my nephew, I fully feel that this is the way things should be!"
Mary said fiercely.
**
Also in the Schönbrunn Palace, next door to the tea room where Marie and Louis XVI had tea, Francis II was having tea with his third brother, Archduke Charles.
"Beaulieu couldn't beat a cobbler!" The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire shook his head, "He is indeed old!"
Archduke Karl: "Brother, please send me to Italy. I want to fight this Frost!"
"No, no, no!" Franz II shook his head repeatedly, looking down on his sickly brother.
After all, he was not a time traveler who came back from the future. How could he know that this emperor's younger brother was actually a general who fought with Napoleon 55?
Francis II said: "You should stay in Bohemia. That responsibility is also very important! After all, it is related to how much Polish land we can get!"
"As for Italy, Beaulieu's personal letter to me said that he can organize a defense on the Po River. It seems that it is enough to mobilize about 20,000 troops from the country. Let this old commander, on the Po River,
Let’s find our glory in the defensive battle.”
Archduke Karl frowned: "Brother, please believe me..."
"My dear brother, of course I believe in your talents, but you see, you are weak and sick, and the climate of Bohemia is more beneficial to your condition."
Archduke Carl: "I heard that the climate in Italy is also good. Milan not only has a pleasant climate, but also has excellent Italian food."
Franz: "Leave it to Marshal Beaulieu. If that veteran is replaced now, he will always live with the shame of losing to a cobbler."
Archduke Karl hesitated to speak, but finally remained silent.
**
In Paris, the news arrived later than in Vienna.
After all, the journey is quite far, and the news needs to be transferred through Nice, taking a detour.
On the day the news arrived, Marat made an impassioned speech in parliament, strongly advocating that Frost should be transferred back to the Rhine front to preside over the frontal battlefield.
However, this proposal was decisively rejected by the Girondin-dominated Parliament.
Then the Parliament anxiously sent a letter to Dumouriez on the front line, asking him to immediately launch a decisive battle with Austria.