Chapter 135 Lugano

A few months ago, two of Europe's conspirators, Napoleon III, and Cavour, prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the most powerful country in Italy, met in Paris and agreed that France would help Sardinian unite Italy. One of the symbols of this secret agreement is the marriage between the two countries.

In January 1859, Prince Jérôme Napoleon of France arrived in Turin, the capital city of Sardinia, with the treaty of alliance, and married the king's eldest daughter, Princess Clotilde, which meant that the oath of Napoleon III came into effect, and Cavour could devote all his energies to planning a war against Austria, the greatest obstacle to the unification of Italy.

Politicians who were well versed in diplomacy saw the dark clouds before the war, and the British made a final peace mediation effort against Austria and Sardinia, with little success, and Austria could not give up the two great treasures of Lombardy and Venexia.

Fortunately, this international event attracted the attention of the world and alleviated the scandal of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and the jury trial of Ruhr was three years in prison, which was later commuted by the Grand Duke to exile in the Belgian colony of Congo in the face of his father, however, there were rumors that the place where Ruhr was exiled was a cannibal tribe, and the Grand Duke was a personal vendetta. Tang Ning had no choice but to laugh at such rumors.

Austrian intelligence showed that the Windsor Military Hospital did not cooperate with France and Sardinia at the request of France, so in order to increase the chances of victory, Luxembourg was drawn to Austria's side, and Austria, an unreliable country that had not seen much of a master of healing output on the battlefield, also threw an olive branch to the Archduke. Downing finally made his offer: make me the governor of the Lombard Kingdom and the Kingdom of Venesia and I will help you win the French and Sardinia alliance.

What a big appetite! It seems that the Grand Duke's ambitions for these two regions have been planned for a long time, and Austria certainly cannot accede to Downing's request. It is easier to please God, and as soon as the fleet of the British East India Company sailed to Venice, no one could drive out the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

However, Austria did not publicize this matter as much as France, and won the favor of the careerist Downing, and maybe Downing would really help Austria.

Italy was the birthplace and center of the Renaissance, and was once known as the teacher of Europe, but the invasion of the Germanic barbarians was like a bull entering a porcelain shop, and the ancient Roman Empire was shattered. Due to the collapse of the papal rule in Italy, external forces had to be introduced, resulting in Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples and the Papal States, none of which could unify Italy, but only brought endless wars and turmoil. In the era of the Great Industrial Revolution, the Apennine Peninsula lagged far behind Britain, France and other countries.

Due to the overall backwardness of its comprehensive national strength and the fact that the great powers were waiting around it, Italy was no longer able to achieve reunification by relying on its own strength, and more and more politicians were inclined to rely on external forces to achieve their own retribution. Which country played a key role in this process had an important impact on the politics and economy of Italy as a whole, and Downing would not let go of this opportunity, and he became one of the great powers like Britain, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia. The status of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg is not a big deal, and the British and Dutch owners of the East India Company are his military capital as a great power.

France was a Catholic country, the main protectorate of the Papal States, and had troops stationed in the Papal States, which was also an important factor for the Great Power Tang to interfere in the political situation in the Apennine Peninsula. Catholicism is a well-organized religion, from birth to baptism, marriage, and funeral, the church has to be managed, it is forced to manage, and Downing's dislike of Catholicism is much deeper than that of Protestantism.

Why did the religious conflicts between foreigners and Chinese occur with French missionaries? This has a lot to do with the fact that the French missionaries are Catholic. Catholicism has a strong exclusivity, and if I believe in it, I can't believe in other gods, or even worship my ancestors. This is too much of a conflict with the traditional Chinese. Chinese worship ancestors are very religious, they think in their hearts that this is the most important god, and the logic can be like this: What does God have to do with me? Why does he bless me? So, the ancestors are still reliable and have a blood relationship with me, if they know about it, maybe they will take care of me.

The high IQ of the Chinese can be seen, you look at foreigners will not think so, there is only one God, that is, God, all people are God's people, there are so many people, so why will God take care of me? Why should you bless me with my promotion and wealth?

The smarter way for Chinese to do everything is to invite a pair of monks, a pair of Taoists, a pair of nuns and a pair of lamas, this is called "four complete", anyway, I have not seen the strange forces and chaos you said, since you can blow it so much, then I believe it all.

In Downing's view, Catholicism is to use a kind of bull ghost and snake god to defeat other cow ghosts and snake gods, and other religions are actually a nest of snakes and rats. It was a good thing that the Qing Dynasty was opened to the country, the worst thing was the legalization of opium, followed by the invasion of religion. As for consular jurisdiction, it is the Qing Dynasty deserved, at every turn to use punishment or disguised punishment, beating people to death, killing people, torturing people abounds, if the Qing Dynasty adopts a fair modern judicial system, this consular jurisdiction can become the third thing in Tangning's opposition to foreign invasion.

Don't go too far, the most important thing for the controversial atheist power at the moment is to fight against the power of Catholicism, and if Lombardy and Venesia can be taken down and a reliable friendly regime can be established, it will be equivalent to giving another friendly country, Switzerland, an access to the sea. Switzerland's policy of neutrality may be a helpless choice, it is only a landlocked country, and it has no access to the sea at all, where does its colonial ambition come from? In case Switzerland has access to the sea, then ...... It's interesting to think about, will it still be neutral?

Downing, a guy who doesn't know Italian, probably has a hard time ruling the territory of Italy directly, and he must find a reliable ally. Prime Minister Cavour was a royalist, and he did not support the unification of Italy under the rule of the King of Sardinia, which was not in line with Downing's political orientation, and the king of Sardinia still had too much power. Europeans want to learn from Britain to establish a constitutional monarchy, but they don't learn it like that. This is also a reason, the first British law to bind the monarch to establish the concept of "the king under the law" was in the thirteenth century, it is too long history, during the long period of competition between the monarch and the nobles and capitalists, before the formation of a tradition, de jure the monarch is still very noble and very powerful, but the real ruling is the prime minister, this strange transition to democracy is not any country can learn, the subtlety of the hypocrite is difficult to control, and it will become a real monarch if it is not done well.

He set his sights on another Italian politician, Giuseppe Mazzini. Mazzini was a staunch republican, he was an idealist, but not a pure fantasist. During the Italian Revolution of 1848, there were two republics in the Apennine Peninsula, the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Rome, of which the Roman Republic was led by Mazzini.

During Mazzini's brief reign, he was a man who ran the country with a surprisingly enlightened and tolerant spirit. Surrounded by sworn enemies inside and outside the city, Mazzini refused to ban the freedom of the press or imprison his political opponents. His government intended to help the more unfortunate of the Pope's former subjects—the urban poor, the shepherds, and the peasants—whose already low standard of living had declined in recent years. The food tax was abolished and other taxes were reduced. The cost of litigation was lower than before, and for the first time, the poor were able to appeal to the courts. The revolutionary councils took over the houses and assets of the Church, distributed the land to the poorer peasants, and in the cities, the program of public works alleviated unemployment. Both government workers and soldiers in the army are paid quite well. The reduction of tariffs has led to a significant improvement in general living standards, but this has been opposed by the middle class, whose wealth depends on economic protection.

These policies are nothing, and even the houses and assets of the church that have been received are nothing, after all, they have to be repaid when they come out to mix, and the gods should pay it back for so long. But the last policy that the Mazzini government should have done was to impose public debt, which would make all the rich insecure. There are two kinds of fairness, one is by head and the other is by assets. Plundering the rich will not only hurt the rich themselves, but also make all those who have the ability to get rich feel uneasy. Such radical populist policies were finally crumbled in Europe in 1849 by the encirclement and suppression of the Great Powers. Thus, the powers of Spain, Austria, and France came, and the Pope was once again supported by the great powers to restore it.

If Mazzini were to come to power again, he would probably learn the lessons of the Roman Republic. He was the best person chosen by Downing to unify Italy, and this time, with the support of the big capitalists, Mazzini and his friends did not have to rush to snatch money from the rich to win the legitimacy of the regime in front of the poor.

As a revolutionary, Mazzini, like thousands of compatriots, went to London to organize movements, and Downing should have returned to London to communicate with Mazzini, but Sissi had already returned to her parents' home, so there was no need for Downing to go back to London, but to meet with Mazzini in Lugano, a Italian-speaking city in Switzerland, which was very close to the center of right and wrong.

Lugano is a city with charming scenery, beautiful mountains and rivers, and boating on it, which makes people feel that they should forget about the mountains and rivers, and not think about the life-and-death disputes in the world.

There were two people on Downing's yacht, an old friend and a new friend, both republicans, but one Frenchman, Hugo, and the other Mazzini.

Both of these are idealists, and it should be said that they are not very suitable for politics, especially Hugo. But they are all republican souls. With the Franco-Sasa League and Austria on the horizon, the French Emperor was in danger of being defeated by Downing's troubles, so he invited Hugo to meet with him and told him of the possibility, so that the Republicans could prepare to take advantage of the chaos to take power from Napoleon III.

Neither of these two was an expert on war, and was suspicious that Downing's troublemaking had such a strong effect, was it to pour all the East India Company troops into the war to help Austria? However, Downing's prestige made the two dare not doubt his judgment, and it was estimated that France and Sardinia would be defeated. With the support of the big tyrants, the Reuters intelligence network is famous all over the world, and if the two people with political positions don't even believe in this, they can't talk about old friends and new friends.

Mazzini: "I beg your pardon for your ignorance, why did you help the Austrians win the war, and we republicans were able to govern in Italy?" I don't understand. ”

Downing: "Because without my help, Austria would have been the loser." The Habsburgs were inferior to even Napoleon III. I will strike at the critical moment, on the condition that the throne of the governor of Lombardy and Venesia is the throne, and the Habsburgs will lose both places anyway, so he will be happy to give away this cheap governor. Then I will turn Lombardy and Venezia into republics, and I will design the system. There will be no more aristocrats. Only the elite group and the mass group, with the upper house and the lower house respectively, are the most reasonable social system in my opinion, which protects both human rights and property rights. ”

Mazzini: "However...... Why would you want to do that? ”

Downing turned the conversation around and asked Hugo: "Victor, I would like to ask, what is your attitude towards religion?" ”

Hugo: "I think Christianity will disappear and Christ will live forever." (http:/／.）。 ”

Downing: "...... What do you mean? ”

Victor Hugo: "The organized religious organizations that restrict people's lives will disappear, but faith is free, and God can continue to exist in people's beliefs, but no longer interfere with the world." ”

Tang Ning laughed: "Well said! Have you heard of my House of Cards plan? My ideals are all in it, there is the European Parliament, the International Court of Justice. Italy was my first major project to shape a new Europe. I have to show others that my European influence is not blown, I can influence the situation. Do you think this is arrogance or arrogance, aren't we idealists so arrogant? Of course, I am different from you, politics has a bloody and dirty side, and in order to get things done, you must endure the darkness of the moment, and someone has a country to be destroyed. This time it was Napoleon III and my old friend Empress Eugenie who were unlucky, and the next time, it might be my brother-in-law, His Majesty the Emperor of Austria. ”

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