The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1064 Self-inflicted evil

Front line on the Ticino River.

Although the airship troops of the Austrian Empire move slowly, they are unstoppable at this time.

The shadow cast by the huge airship shrouded the French position, and the soldiers looked at the approaching war beast with horror and fear.

The Austrian airships dropped grenades with ignited fuses into the airship one after another, and explosions brought the French army back to reality. They began to flee frantically to avoid these deadly explosives.

This was the first time for most French soldiers to see a war beast like an airship. Although they did not collapse directly like the original Italian coalition, the fear also caused most of them to lose their combat effectiveness.

The French frontline commanders tried to reorganize the defense line, but their command had no effect. Some people screamed in collapse, some kept making futile counterattacks at the sky, and more people looked like they were headless. Running around like flies.

In fact, these airships shocked the Austrian soldiers no less than the French soldiers, because it was the first time for most of them to see these flying behemoths.

But fortunately, it was our own combat unit and it did not make the soldiers fearful. Coupled with the boasting of the chaplains and officers, they became even more fanatical.

Heavy artillery, rockets, and airships opened the way and tore the French army's carefully arranged defense line on the Ticino River to pieces. In fact, the French army also launched several counterattacks, but the effect was not ideal.

Because the French soldiers were powerless to do anything about it, there was no point in filling the front line with flesh and blood.

If the opponent is just a human being, even if it is several times our own strength, these proud French soldiers may not dare to fight.

However, they first faced the cold weapons of war and the ferocious beasts they had never seen in the sky, and then came the waves of Austrian soldiers.

There was no suspense in the battle. The French army's river beach defense line was completely lost, and the Austrian army advanced across the board.

However, Marshal Radetzky did not completely eliminate this heavy French army group in one go as the staff imagined, but just drove them into a nearby city.

This is just the first step in the plan. At this time, Benedek was recalled to the army by Marshal Radetzki. The former will serve as the frontline commander and continue to besiege the French army, while the latter will lead an elite force of 50,000 people. Go straight to Turin.

On the other hand, the rear battlefield that Bellevue was personally responsible for was reduced to a pulp.

Bellevue has a very bad habit. He directs the momentum of the battle, so he often creates a situation where several groups attack at the same time.

What Bellevue wanted was to attack separately and prevent the enemy from looking at each other, but the reality was that his tactics once again plunged the French army into a quagmire.

In order to completely annihilate the rebels entrenched between Savigliano and Turin, Bellvi decided to let all the cities occupied by the French army send troops to march towards Savigliano.

In this way, all guerrillas and local armed forces along the route can be wiped out, leaving the enemy with nowhere to hide.

As a result, he did it and went to war with all guerrillas, volunteers, and local armed forces in the entire Kingdom of Sardinia.

The desperate forces were forced to go to war with the French army and its servants, and for a while the entire Kingdom of Sardinia was reduced to a mess.

When news of the loss of the Ticino River front line came, the Sardinian Republican Army rebelled one after another, and some French troops also lost their will to resist.

Before Bellvi had time to become furious, another bad news came along with this bad news, that is, Radetzky's main force had already headed straight for the city of Turin.

Bellevue's first thought was to evacuate immediately, because he knew that he could not defeat Radetzky. Although the opponent was just an old man, this was Austria's home court, and the enemies would only fight more and more.

He immediately evacuated the city of Turin and left some troops to block the Austrian pursuers. He could indeed escape.

However, his work in Sardinia for so long was in vain. Even if he returned to France, he would still need to be responsible for the entire war.

If it had been the Orleans Dynasty, he would have been forced to resign, but now in the Second French Republic, with such a major failure, he would have to be guillotined if he could not become Caesar. So Belvi was worried, and he immediately sent an envoy to prepare an alliance with Radetzky under the city.

Until this time, Bellevue still felt that he was qualified to negotiate with the Austrian Empire. He found his Countess Judith in the hope that she could conduct secret negotiations with Radetzky on his behalf.

Countess Judith is 36 years old, but she is still one of the most active ladies in the upper class of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Bellevue's theory was still to divide the Kingdom of Sardinia equally with the Austrian Empire, and at the same time be willing to pay for peace, and even support Austria's unification of Germany.

Although Countess Judith responded, her heart was full of anger and resentment.

Countess Judith was once a staunch republican and an Italian nationalist.

She had looked forward to the arrival of the French and longed for the Republic of Sardinia.

At first, she could attribute the things done by the French to the price that had to be paid to lead to the Republic. At this moment, she finally understood that the Republic of Sardinia was just a pawn in the game between great powers that could be divided and discarded at will.

However, Countess Judith, who had boarded the pirate ship, had no other choice at this time. She could only try her best to please her new master so that he could take her with him when he left Sardinia. Otherwise, she would definitely be attacked by the angry people and nationalism. or torn into pieces.

Countess Judith purchased goods for more than a dozen carriages, and then rented dozens of carriages. She took the ladies and prostitutes in the city to the military camp of the Austrian Empire under the escort of the French army.

This time, the Austrian army did not shut out the negotiating team. She couldn't help but smile when she looked at the soldiers who were carrying goods and peeking at the ladies.

Just this smile stunned the surrounding officers and soldiers, causing some people to lose their focus and fail to catch the goods thrown by their companions, and were knocked over on the spot.

The adjutant who came to contact him raised his voice somewhat displeasedly.

"Gentlemen, if you can capture Turin before tonight, I can promise to buy you a drink on behalf of the marshal."

"real or fake?"

"Red, yellow?"

"Can I use my own cup?"

A soldier raised his wine bottle, which immediately caused a burst of laughter.

The soldiers talked to each other, which broke the awkwardness just now.

"Ma'am, please come this way."

Countess Judith took off her gloves, revealing her delicate hands.

The adjutant beside Marshal Radetzky was obviously not like those ignorant soldiers. He just invited the socialite into the marshal's room according to the standard etiquette among nobles.

When Countess Judith entered the room, the room was filled with mist, and there was a huge sand table in the middle of the room.

The officers seemed to have just finished a meeting. Few of them looked at her twice, but a few young people snorted with disdain.

In the end, only the adjutant, two tall guards, and an old man who looked very shrewd and capable were left.

"Hello, ma'am. How may I help you?"