Chapter 54: Chapter 54 – Rank of Field Marshal

President Kazzati, who believed that he had been cheated by the Sardinians, naturally no longer wanted to help them. In fact, even if he wanted he couldn't help them. The ordinary people of Milan were living on crumbs and it wouldn’t be long before they reached out to his government.

Currently, the only ones with food were the nobles and capitalists, and even they most likely didn’t have a lot. Except for the grain traders, who would hoard a pile of food at home? Whatever food they had stored had already been collected by the Austrian army. Austria was already unpopular in Milan, so the Austrian army didn’t need to worry about maintaining a clean reputation and had used rough means.

President Kazzati had not seen or heard from General Franzini or any other senior military officer of the Sardinian army since they began socializing with the local nobles and capitalists, which meant that they didn’t take him or his interim government seriously.

It was no longer a secret within the interim government that the Kingdom of Sardinia wanted to annex Lombardy. Once they reached an agreement with the local nobles and capitalists, the interim government would most likely be dismissed. The interim government was now like a troupe of actors without a script or a stage.

 

***

 

The joy felt by the soldiers after they had entered the city of Milan had long disappeared. If it weren’t for their patriotic enthusiasm, the soldiers of the Sardinian army would have taught the people of Milan why soldiers should not be annoyed. Alas, hunger it was.

Anyway, they wouldn’t die from one missed meal. Soldiers during this era were used to and able to bear plenty of hardship. Two meals a day was the norm in many places, so it was not unusual to sleep hungry at night. And so the first night after the Sardinian occupation of Milan passed.

Early next morning, before dawn, Colonel Farelli was pacing back and forth. He had been able to somehow calm the tired soldiers who had decided that they preferred sleep over mutiny, but he was not sure what would happen after they woke up.

An hour had passed since dawn, but the promised food had still not been delivered which left Colonel Farelli with no choice but to quickly send his lieutenant to visit the senior officers of the army who had stayed overnight after the banquet and have them decide what to do next and how to pacify the soldiers.

An hour later, the senior officers of the Sardinian army who had returned to the Sardinian army camp began interrogating President Kazzati and his interim government. In fact, they had been looking for an excuse to dismiss the interim government in order to smoothly annex Lombardy, but they hadn’t expected that such a good excuse would be delivered to their doorstep.

Unbeknownst to the President Kazzati or General Franzini, they both were walking on Marshal Radetzky’s palms. Everything until now had been a part of his plan. Previously, he had speedily arrested Giovanni Kazzati and his supporters, leaving them with no time to reach an agreement with the Kingdom of Sardinia.

By the time they were released from prison, the Sardinian army had already entered the city of Milan, which had greatly diminished the value of the interim government. In addition, since the interim government didn’t have much power or influence within Milan, the Kingdom of Sardinia could hold a gun to Giovanni Kazzati’s head during the “negotiations.”

Unsurprisingly, Giovanni Kazzati didn’t have the courage to refuse, so he had to accept all the conditions put forward by the Sardinians, no matter how detrimental to the interests of the people of Milan. He was aware that if it wasn’t for Sardinia’s need to cooperate with the local leaders to stabilize Lombardy, he would’ve already been dismissed or worse.

After the “negotiations” ended, General Franzini quickly absorbed the army of the interim government, which really only entailed a local militia. The transfer of power went very smoothly, and the local nobles and capitalists also contributed a part of their own food to resolve the Sardinian army’s urgent need.

However, General Franzini was not happy. The reason was that there was very little food in Milan, and the entire region of Lombardy was short of food. The local people of Milan proudly stated that they had burned down all the granaries in the city to drive away the Austrian army under the request of the Sardinians.

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At the same time, they stated that they were waiting for the Sardinians to fulfill their promise to provide food for them. General Franzini could swear to God that he had never sent anyone to incite the people of Milan to burn their granaries, but unfortunately, he could never say that out loud.

During war, burning the enemy army’s food was usually a good strategy to break them. If burning some grain had allowed him to take the city of Milan without shedding any Sardinian blood, no one would blame him. As a result, for his future, General Franzini took the credit for this achievement, even if it meant fulfilling a promise he had never made.

The Austrians had claimed that he had sent spies to start the fire, and the people of Milan also swore on it, so there was no chance that anybody would find out the truth. After all, if the Austrian army had voluntarily given up Milan and Lombardy, and he had merely taken over an unguarded city, he would naturally receive no military merit.

Therefore, he embraced the lie which had now become the truth: he had sent spies to burn the granaries in Milan and defeated the famous Marshal Radetzky without any bloodshed. This would definitely make him a famous general!

Together with the several Lieutenant Generals and Major Generals in the Sardinian army, General Franzini held a private meeting where they all equally divided the credit for their “military exploits,” in exchange for their silence regarding the truth of the matter. Thus, the name of a new famous general quickly spread in Europe.

After the benefits were divided, they began to consider how to deal with the food shortage. Due to the bad reputation of the Austrian army, the people in Milan had hidden away parts of their food when the initial rationing began, however, later they had burned all of their hidden food themselves. As a result, this problem had to be dealt with quickly.

Although the local capitalists had promised to import food as soon as possible, General Franzini didn’t put all his hopes on their promises. Finally, he decided to leave it to King Charles Albert’s Court. He had already reported the situation to them. As long as the situation in Milan remained stable, the food issue would be other people’s problem.

 

***

 

Turin, Piedmont.

Before he could truly revel in the joy of victory, King Charles Albert had received a report from General Franzini about a food shortage in Milan. 

He understood his country’s affairs very well and he was quite clear about his country’s strength. As a result, only after he had received news that Austria was busy dealing with various revolutions within its lands did he dare to deploy his army to fish in troubled waters. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the pressure from his subjects, he would’ve never dared to attack Austria.

Unexpectedly, the fierce General Franzini had driven out the Austrian army through a scheme. It was definitely praiseworthy that he had occupied Milan, but it brought along the trouble of feeding the 100,000 residents in the city.

The Kingdom of Sardinia was not wealthy nor was its land very fertile. Instead, Milan, which was located in the center of the fertile Po Valley, was the agricultural hub of Italy. However, in order to repel the Austrian army, General Franzini had burned most of the grain stores and warehouses, and even the grain processing plants, within the city.