Count Costantino nervously recoiled: "You, who exactly are you?"
Wilson said calmly, "I am your most loyal friend."
Count Costantino stared at him for a long ti, finally nodding forcefully, "Alright, I believe you. How many guns can you get?"
"Enough for your use." Wilson took a sip of coffee, his eyelids slightly raised, "However, you can only get 100 for now. You know, my boss is a businessman, and he wants to see your strength first before continuing to invest."
Count Costantino’s heart pounded violently. If the organization could really acquire a large number of weapons, then the great cause of Italian unification would be completed at least ten years earlier!
He took a deep breath and said, "How do I need to demonstrate my strength?"
"It’s very simple..."
More than ten days later.
Sir Norris looked at the front page news of the "Milan Morning News" and satisfactorily patted his assistant: "Wilson, you did very well this ti. The affair in Lucca could very well beco the French’s ’Boston Tea Party’."
Printed in the newspaper: hundreds of Lucca protesters surrounded a French caravan heading to the suburbs, shouting "No to French goods," and burned all the furniture worth tens of thousands of francs. When the police arrived, they found these protesters were ard and dared not approach. Eventually, the protesters dispersed shouting slogans.
Wilson was also quite proud, "I initially didn’t think these Italian unification factions would have such great influence."
In fact, protests involving thousands also erupted in places like Bergamo and Pisa, demanding the governnt expel French influence and achieve "Northern Italy unification."
However, none of these protests had the impact of the Lucca incident.
As the news spread, people all over Northern Italy were now discussing whether to imitate the Lucca protesters—except in the monarchies of Parma and Modena, which imdiately sealed off the news, so their countries were unaware of these happenings.
As for Florence, a monarchy, it’s the place where the Young Italy organization is most active.
It’s not that Adrian had any connections with them, but simply because two years ago, he was a poor art dealer who knew nothing about state managent. And Queen Caterina could barely handle daily affairs, helpless against the pervasive nationalist organizations.
Sir Norris nodded, "We can have more flintlock guns sent from Naples."
Naples is the westernmost city of Naples, just a day and a half’s cargo ship journey from Pisa.
King Ferdinand IV of Naples, of the sa lineage as the Spanish Royal Family, ostensibly "followed" the policy of Madrid, implenting a diplomatic policy leaning towards France. But after the entire Northern Italy joined the French-led trade and military systems, Naples, located in Southern Italy, beca very vigilant of France.
At the sa ti, Ferdinand IV’s wife, Maria Carolina, from the Habsburg family, naturally strongly urged her husband to be hostile towards France.
Thus, when the British expressed intentions to "do sothing" in Northern Italy, the Neapolitan governnt imdiately agreed to secretly provide conveniences—the flintlock guns sent to Pisa were directly allocated from the arsenal in Naples.
Sir Norris then instructed his attendant, "Spanno, notify Baron Bruch and the others to cooperate with those lovely ’unity factions’."
"Yes, sir."
"The results this ti were unexpectedly good." Sir Norris poured a glass of wine and handed it to his assistant. "I even feel like we should provide them with a few cannons, haha."
Wilson took the wine glass and laughed along cooperatively, "That is indeed very exciting. However, it seems we don’t need to invest too much because the French will soon send troops to suppress them. Whether it’s those Austrians or the ’unity factions,’ no matter how many weapons given, it’s impossible for them to match the French Army."
The Baron Bruch ntioned earlier by Sir Norris is the pro-Austrian faction of Northern Italy—Austria has governed here for over a century, and they cultivated compradors difficult to eradicate. They are also an important reliance for the British in disrupting Italy.
However, Sir Norris smiled and shook his head, "No, no, this is aningful. When these people have more powerful weapons, they will have more confidence to do what they want to do, and at the sa ti, they can inflict more damage on the French Army.
"And this will further enrage the French, causing them to retaliate against the rioters with greater slaughter.
"In the end, the seeds of hatred will grow rapidly, and we will help the Northern Italians initiate a series of rebellions against France. The French will be forced to station a large number of troops here to maintain stability.
"Think of the dire situation in North Arica back then. Now the French will taste such pain."
He and Wilson exchanged a knowing smile and clinked their glasses lightly.
In recent years, various British sches against France mostly t with failure, but this ti, they have absolute confidence in success.
If France doesn’t send troops to suppress, Northern Italy will erupt in turmoil, expelling French influence, and might even head towards unification in the end.
If France sends troops into Italy, they will be embroiled in an enormous war of attrition. Austria would be very willing to engage in another duel with the French here.
By then, England, in alliance with other countries, will launch an attack from northern France, and the war will end in a short ti.
...
Paris.
Palace of Versailles.
Joseph threw the report just received from Madrid onto the table, rubbing his temples helplessly.
He suddenly began to understand Napoleon’s actions in history—he now very much wanted to send an army into Spain, fire all the less intelligent ministers, and replace them with a half-competent king.
Half a month ago when he received news of Spain suddenly deciding to send troops to Morocco, he was a bit stunned.
At this ti, not to focus forces against the Anglo-Portuguese Army and quickly digest the recently acquired Portuguese territories, but to rashly attack Morocco, it was simply giving the British a halfti break.
However, by that ti, the Spanish expeditionary force had already landed in North Africa, and he couldn’t forcefully order the Spaniards to withdraw, right? Even if he did, the wise ministers of Madrid likely wouldn’t listen.
At that ti, Joseph estimated the war should end in two to three months; after all, in the past, Moro led a group of barely trained young noblen and could contend with the Moroccan Imperial Guard several tis their own, and this ti the Spaniards were up against only tribal ard forces.
Yet the report before him stated that the Spanish expeditionary force commander, Saldano, due to an infantry regint being ambushed by Moroccan tribes, sent over ten thousand soldiers deep into the Rif Mountains to search for those tribes.
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