Chapter 265 Preparation before the war
A few days after the war broke out, Archduke Albrecht was not in a hurry to attack, but he still wanted to do something.
On the frontal battlefield, Albrecht did not intend to let the troops rush directly, because he himself was afraid that Italy would not be able to withstand a charge, so he ordered the Austrian troops outside the Alpine defense line to feint attack from the north, giving the Italians a The Austro-Hungarian Empire planned to break through from the north.
This move works very well. The northern defense line is much longer than the southern defense line, but the road is not easy to walk, and it is not easy to pass people and materials.
But behind the northern defense line is not only Venice, but also Lombardy, while the southern defense line is short and only in the narrow plain area east of Venice, but the aura of Archduke Albrecht's famous general made the Italians We have to pay attention, what if Albrecht really wants to catch Italy off guard from the north!
So when the Austrian army made some moves, Italy began to strengthen its forces in the north. The northern defense line relied on the Alps. In fact, Italy's strengthening of these places also put pressure on its own logistics.
In addition, the advantage of doing this is that it can make the Italian troops more dispersed, so the Kingdom of Italy must mobilize more troops from the rear.
......
About ten kilometers southwest of the outskirts of Rome in the Papal State, this is where the Austro-Hungarian Empire troops are stationed.
Antonio and other Austro-Hungarian soldiers were taking off the Italian country clothes they had worn for more than two months.
In order to facilitate the training of the troops, they used to dress up as Italian farmers. Although this place is already very remote, if someone is discovered, the news is likely to be leaked.
Having just put on the military uniform smuggled from the sea, with the last button fastened, Antonio, the commander of the third regiment of the fourth brigade of the second division of the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force, adjusted his imperial uniform and faced the brigade commander. He complained: "Brigadier, if I don't put on my military uniform, I will doubt whether I will really become an old Italian peasant! Look at my pistol. "Cocoon, the hand that holds the gun has become the hand that holds the farm tools!"
"Haha, as a brigade commander, I am not accompanying you to work in the fields. What is there to talk about, and you are the only one? If real farmers see the way they are farming, they will probably be angry and chase the fool with his shoe soles, who only knows how to use brute force," the fourth brigade commander said to his subordinates.
"You have the nerve to accuse me, brigade commander, but you are not much better. You can't even turn over the soil. Your land is the ugliest in the fields nearby." Antonio retorted.
“Farming itself is not for looking at, but for seeing how many fruits we can harvest. Although we are not good at farming, our value is reflected on the battlefield. Our efforts over the next two months The outcome depends on the record.”
Naturally, it was impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force to conduct serious military training in Italy. They were not even issued guns before. In order to prevent these soldiers from being wasted, General Karl really sent them along with the officers of the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force. The main reason for rushing to work in the fields is to prevent muscle relaxation and mental slackness.
As for gun skills, don’t worry. These are good soldiers selected from the Austro-Hungarian Army, the group with the highest military literacy. Even if they don’t get used to firearms for a few months, they won’t be able to use them. Becoming rusty.
Antonio pretended not to hear what the brigade commander said and muttered: "I don't know if the corn I worked so hard to grow can sprout."
"Don't think about it, those seeds It’s just for show, you really think you can become a farmer after just two days of planting crops.”
……
The number of Austro-Hungarian troops here now reaches more than 10,000, twice as many as two months ago.
In order to hide so many troops in the papal country, the Austro-Hungarian Empire rented a large farm around here. In the previous life, this was the location of a sports center outside Rome, but now it is a large desert beach. , so the price is very cheap. As for the owner of the farm, he is a nobleman living in Rome. The conditions here are actually not too bad. There are some slopes, and the land is much poorer than the surrounding areas. There are no big rivers passing by, and the water source is relatively scarce. You can still grow some food, but the yield is pitifully low, so most of the time it is abandoned. With.
A businessman from Austria paid a lot of money to rent such a large piece of bad land, which made the landowner very happy.
Someone would actually use money to invest in agriculture here. He was definitely out of his mind. However, this did not arouse his suspicion. He speculated that the Austrian businessman might have rented this place inexplicably. After all, he was a foreigner. "Friends" don't know much about the local situation, which makes sense.
Then the farm owner turned around and took the land rent paid by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and went to live in Rome.
“Is everyone here?”
Lieutenant General Karl, the supreme commander of the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force, appeared in front of everyone at this time. His glasses had not yet been taken off, and the back of his hand was on Behind him, he holds this map.
"Report to the commander, the troops have been assembled!"
"Very good, next we will give the Italians a hard knife in their heart. This time we are deep in the heart. Behind enemy lines, the situation is extremely difficult and dangerous, don’t you be afraid?”
"Death for the Empire!"
"Don't say such depressing words, I want you all alive, and I also hope you can go to Florence with me for the military parade!"
"Hahaha... ..." Lieutenant General Karl's words caused everyone to laugh.
After everyone’s laughter finally stopped, Lieutenant General Karl immediately changed his face. His face full of experience said seriously: “Okay, let’s get down to business. According to the intelligence revealed by the Italian high-level officials, the Kingdom of Italy More than 30,000 people from the army are rushing towards the Rome area. Among them is the self-proclaimed hero of the Italians, Garibaldi. Although he is suspected of bragging, his ability is still comparable to that of the officers of the Kingdom of Italy. It is much stronger, so it is an opponent worthy of attention. At present, there is no serious resistance to the Italian Kingdom's army in areas other than Rome, so the enemy will arrive in Rome soon, probably today. At night, if we want to go to Florence for a military parade, we must first defeat this Italian army."
"Commander, are we going to enter the city of Rome to change defenses?"
"No, after the Papal State army fights with the Italian Kingdom army led by Garibaldi and others, we will be responsible for the sneak attack."
"What if the Papal State army surrenders directly?"< br>
“You don’t have to worry about this. The person least likely to surrender in Italy is Pius IX. The Roman army is mainly composed of French, Swiss and other foreigners, so it will not be defeated in one blow. Our people will tell someone to Pius IX to prevent the pre-war news from being leaked."
Raising his left hand and looking at the time on his watch, Lieutenant General Karl said: "It's almost afternoon, let's cook. The class started cooking and took out all the supplies we had stored. Let’s start eating meat today! It’s so good that we caught the Italians off guard at night!”
“Yes, Commander!” the subordinates agreed happily! .
(End of this chapter)