The Sun Never Sets In Spain

Chapter 169: Dismember Italy

After such a small episode by Andrach, the atmosphere of the meeting suddenly became tense. Parliamentarians from various regions of Austria-Hungary were all sitting in jeopardy, ready to fight for the interests of the small country they belonged to.

After Romagna, Venice, and Lombardy were all taken away, the top priority was to deal with the remaining turf.

The economy of Central Italy is not much worse than that of Northern Italy. For a long time, it has been an important trading center in the Mediterranean.

Other areas to be processed at this time include Marche, Tuscany and Umbria.

The economic strength of these areas is not weak, and Marche still has a rare plain on the Italian peninsula.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire is very greedy for it, but if it continues to expand south, the empire’s ethnic proportions will completely lose control.

The annexation of Romagna alone is already quite dangerous, and if you want to annex it again, the number of Italians will approach or even surpass that of Hungarians.

Will it be time to form an unprecedented ternary empire?

Neither Austria nor Hungary would allow this to happen.

Since it cannot be annexed, Emperor Franz's idea is to establish a puppet state under his control.

In the most legitimized Vienna Conference, except for Tuscany, the rest of the region belonged to the Papal State.

So Boist recalled the results of his previous discussions with the emperor, and said:

"Regarding China and Italy, our plan is to carry out a reasonable reconstruction on the basis of the Vienna Conference.

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany will be rebuilt, and Ferdinand IV will be the duke.

Umbria, bordering Rome, will be returned to the Papal State.

As for the Marche region, considering that His Majesty’s main energy is spent on spreading the glory of the Lord, I am afraid that I cannot manage such a large territory.

Therefore I propose to establish a new and independent Duchy of Marche, where the duke will be the younger brother of Emperor Franz, the Honorable Grand Duke Ludwig.

Who is for and who is against? "

The people in the congregation had mixed reactions when they heard these words, and the most violent one was naturally the representatives of the Savoy royal family.

When Boist uttered the word "Vienna Conference", their expressions became quite uncomfortable.

Although from the moment the unconditional surrender was announced, all Italians should be prepared to face a dark future.

But people always have illusions.

But the illusion will eventually be broken. Boist’s plan is tantamount to letting the Kingdom of Sardinia completely lose all its efforts since 1848.

And in exchange for French aid, Savoy and Nice were traded.

It is equivalent to saying that Sardinia's 20 years of prosperous and strong soldiers and hard work have not only failed to make the country's territory bigger, but has shrunk. There is no such reason in this world.

Obviously, there can be no more silence at this time. The Italian Foreign Minister Baron Conrad, who has just been in office for two months, decided to take his last shift:

"I…"

However, he was interrupted mercilessly when he was about to speak. The old prime minister's tone was slow and peaceful, but the content was aggressive:

"Italy surrenders unconditionally and is not qualified to speak. It is to send you a message to ask you to come over.

Don't talk about China, even Sardinia, your attitude is not important! "

The rest of the people who said something were stunned. It is common to use tough words in diplomatic situations, but such remarks are a bit impolite.

This is true even for unrelated people, let alone Baron Conrad and Sir Centro who were directly attacked.

The two immediately rushed to their hearts.

Sir Centro didn't say a word, and left directly, judging from the attitude of the Prime Minister, staying here would be nothing but humiliation.

Conrad originally wanted to leave, but seeing that Centello had already left, he thought about the high hopes King Vittorio had placed on him, and hesitated for a while before sitting back.

Boyst glanced at Conrad calmly and ignored him.

Whether it is tough or peaceful, it is a diplomatic method, and there is no need to be too polite for a loser like Italy.

He turned his head and looked at Alfonso: "Your Majesty, I wonder if you are satisfied with this plan?"

At this time, Alfonso was chatting with the Emperor Franz next to him. The emperor of this period had a relatively happy life, and he had not yet become the lone star of the gods.

Although political skills are mediocre, Habsburg's systematic education has given him a very good level of communication. At least Alfonso and him chatted very happily.

Emperor Franz has just turned 40 now. In Rudolph, Gisela, horse racing and fishing, the two sides found that they have a wide range of hobbies.

Hearing the front of the conversation suddenly turned to his side, Alfonso was startled at first, and then he realized that the other party was asking himself to vote on the issue of the Principality of Marche.

The Papal State is now Spain’s sphere of influence, and there is no representative of the Papal State here, so Spain’s opinions represent the views of the Papal State.

Although there are Andrew and others next to him, they still ask the king's intuition.

Alfonso thought for a while. In fact, he somewhat wanted to propose the establishment of the Marche Republic to facilitate the projection of influence later.

But since it is the title of Habsburg, forget it.

And Franz's younger brother, Grand Duke Ludwig, is notoriously vengeful and irritable, and there is no need to provoke him for trivial matters.

He also nodded directly and said: "Spain has no objection."

Seeing this, Boist was very satisfied, and Spain was very cooperative, so this meeting will probably go smoothly.

Southern Italy will be discussed at the end, because I am afraid that only Abruzzo is relatively stable in the whole of Naples, and the rest are all in one group. Habsburg does not have much interest in it.

The problem of Sardinia must be solved first.

As a kingdom that has unified Italy, it is also the kingdom with the most mature political system and the strongest economic strength in Italy.

Sardinians do not willingly be vassals of others.

None of the parties have the idea of ​​annexing it.

So how to weaken Sardinia as much as possible and prevent the occurrence of the Fourth War of Independence in Italy has become a top priority.

Sardinia is already very pitiful, but it is not pitiful enough for Austria-Hungary. If it weren't for this guy, they didn't need to fight this war.

"Duke Grammon, is France interested in Cuneo and Sampere?" Boist asked, pointing to the map of Italy on the wall.

The places he was referring to were two small cities in Sardinia, close to France.

Baron Conrad has collapsed a bit. Regardless of the fact that these two cities are very close to France, but to cut them off, the French territory will have to expand eastward by at least 2,000 square kilometers, accounting for 3% of the entire kingdom.

Fortunately, Duke Grammon thought for a while, shook his head and rejected the proposal. There were only two small towns. At this time, France itself was still in turmoil, and it was useless to take it.

On the contrary, if you don't take it, you won't make enemies with the Italians, and it will be good for entering the small Italian state market in the future.

It can also improve the international image of French aggressiveness.

In fact, Boist’s cession of land by his old opponents is indeed unkind, but not for the French, but for the Italians.

He was to prevent France and Italy from reuniting.

As long as the surrounding countries have enemies with Sardinia, unless Napoleon is reborn, there will be no possibility of unification in Italy.

Seeing Grammon's refusal, Boist did not insist, and there were many ways to split Sardinia. You know, the full name of Sardinia is Piedmont-Sardinia...

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