On the evening of May 19th, the Royal Palace of Caserta, the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, Rome, Ricgiovanni, Italy. Jolitti and Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff Petro. Admiral Badogglio joins forces to meet with King Vittorio of Italy. Emmanuele II. The Chief of Staff of the Italian Army is directing operations in northern Italy, and most of the Army's affairs are now handled by Deputy Chief of General Staff Petro. Admiral Badoglio was in charge, and the intelligence services were led by Petro. A department under the jurisdiction of Admiral Badoglio!

Although Italy had only been in the war for a year, successive defeats had plunged the entire Italian country into a state of pessimism and disappointment. Not only was it defeated by the German-Austrian forces on the northern front, but the Chinese occupied Sicily, and the entire Apennine Peninsula was threatened by the Chinese. King Vittorio of Italy. Emmanuele II also became much more decadent.

Vittorio. Emmanuele II was originally king of the Kingdom of Sardinia, but after the unification of Italy, he was crowned king of all of Italy, which led to his ambition to recreate the glory of the Roman era. At the beginning, Italy and Germany allied and joined the Central Powers, but because of the contradictions between Italy and Austria-Hungary, coupled with the lure of the Entente, Italy eventually turned its back on the Central Powers and joined the Entente to fight. However, the shape on the battlefield was very unfavorable to Italy, not only Italy suffered heavy defeats on the battlefield, but the situation of the entire Entente seemed to be very difficult! Among the major countries of the Entente, the United States has been destroyed, France is about to be defeated by the Germans, Russia is under siege with Austria-Hungary, Britain is alone, but the British navy has been heavily damaged, and it cannot resist the attack of the Chinese navy at all! It can be seen from this that it is inevitable that the Entente will lose this war, and when the time comes, Italy, which reneges on the Covenant, will definitely be punished most severely by the Central Powers. At the thought of this, Vittorio. Emmanuele II was in a hurry. If I had known, wouldn't Italy have had these problems if it had honestly fulfilled the Covenant and cooperated with the Allies in the war? Maybe after the war is over, Italy, as the victorious country, will be able to share a part of the war dividends! But now, it's all over! If there is a regret medicine in the world, no matter how much it costs, I'm afraid Vittorio. Emmanuele II is willing to exchange!

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, Admiral Badoglio, has something happened?" Vittorio. Emmanuele II asked.

During this time, his will has been relatively depressed, as if he was a prisoner sentenced to death, waiting to be put on the gallows!

"His Majesty the King Xià Petro. Admiral Badoglio has important information to tell you! "Giovanni. Prime Minister Giolitti said!

"Oh? What's going on? Has the front been defeated again? "Vittorio. Emmanuele II struggled to pull himself together and asked!

"Your Majesty, the current battle situation is still relatively stable. Because the main forces of the Central Powers were placed on the French and Russian battlefields, we had no problems with our defense at the moment. However, our intelligence officers received reliable information from Germany that the Chinese were going to attack us! The Chinese have already transferred their troops deployed in North America to Europe, and the target of the attack is likely to be us! Now our land forces are concentrated in the north and south, and the defenses of other areas seem to be somewhat empty! "Petro. Admiral Badoglio said.

"What? Is this true? Are the Chinese really going to attack us? "Vittorio. Emmanuele II asked with some panic.

"Your Majesty, the information should be true. Because this information was deliberately revealed to us by the Germans! Just like the intelligence they gave to the Spaniards before! "Petro. Admiral Badoglio said. Now the reason for the outbreak of war between Spain and China is basically known to all European countries. Everyone also guessed the intentions of the Germans.

"Damn, do the Germans plan to let us stop the Chinese and contain the Chinese military power for them?" Vittorio. Emmanuele II couldn't help but curse!

"If the Chinese really plan to attack us, I'm afraid we have no other way but to do our best to resist the Chinese's attack!" Otherwise, the United States will end up with us today! "Petro. Admiral Badoglio said. Obviously, he is not optimistic about the Italian Army, and he does not think that the Italian Army has the strength to resist the attack of the squadron!

"So, what do we do now? Do you want to draw troops back from the north and south? "Vittorio. Emmanuele II asked with some hesitation. The millions of troops in the north can withstand the attack of the German-Austrian coalition army, if the troops are transferred, I am afraid that there will be a chain reaction, and it is likely to cause the north to lose at that time!

"Your Majesty, I think it's quite possible that this is a German conspiracy. If the Germans deliberately leaked this news to us, let us draw troops from the north and then attack us! In this case, there is a high probability that we will lose the whole North! "Giovanni. Prime Minister Jolitti said. His instincts told him that the Germans were uneasy and well-intentioned this time.

"Your Majesty, there is indeed a possibility! However, the Germans showed that they would immediately withdraw their troops from the north, and the Austro-Hungarian Army was no different! They probably want to withdraw from the Italian battlefield and let us fight to the death with the Chinese! "Petro. Admiral Badoglio said.

Vittorio. Emmanuele II thought for a few minutes, then said: "So be it! Our troops in the northern theater will not be in a hurry to retreat first, and wait until the German-Austrian troops have really withdrawn from Italy, and then return to help! However, the 500,000 men in the south could be reinforced. In addition, order the entire army to enter a state of emergency combat readiness to prevent an attack by the Chinese! "The defeat of the Italian Navy in the Battle of the Ionian Sea made the defenses of Italy, with its long coastline, full of holes and vulnerable to attack by squadrons!

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Petro. Admiral Badoglio nodded, this seemed to be the safest way to go! However, the road from northern Italy to the vicinity of Rome is long, and once Rome is attacked by the Chinese, I am afraid it will be difficult to withdraw troops back in time. And there are only 200,000 people around Rome, and it is almost impossible to resist the Chinese armed to the teeth!

At 5 o'clock in the morning of May 20, when the sky was still gray, the sea twenty kilometers west of Rome was already densely packed with ships. The 7th and 8th armies of the army, escorted by the main forces of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy, have already arrived off the coast of Rome! According to the previously developed battle plan, in half an hour, the 8 capital ships of the Indian Ocean Fleet will launch an artillery bombardment on the western coast of Rome to cover the landing of troops! Thus launching a surprise attack on Rome!

In this battle, time was very important, and it was necessary to surround the Italian king and government dignitaries before they fled Rome, and then arrest these Italian high-ranking officials, and then force Italy to surrender to China, so as to quickly end the war. To this end, units of the 81st Marine Regiment will be tasked with seizing port facilities along the coast in order to speed up the disembarkation of troops as quickly as possible. Moreover, cavalry and armored units will be the first to disembark, and they will take advantage of their speed to raid Rome, about 25 kilometers from the sea!

Yesterday evening, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Italian Army, Petro. Admiral Badoglio had already ordered the troops around Rome to be put into combat readiness. It's just that it is almost impossible for these lax and lazy Italian Army to make them like the German Army or the Chinese Army. In addition, many generals of the Italian army do not believe that China will attack Italy in such a short time, so their defense is almost equal to zero!

Fiumicino and Lido di Rome are the two port cities on the western coast of Rome, the most important access to the sea around Rome, with excellent port facilities! And these two cities have become the main targets of the squadron's attack this time!

At half past five in the morning, eight capital ships of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Navy (the other four were still in Spain) divided into two groups and launched an artillery bombardment of the two cities. The main targets of the shelling were urban areas, and the port area was no longer part of the scope of the shelling. And, at the beginning of the shelling, two battalions of the 81st Marine Regiment had already launched landing operations in the two port cities. They will seize the port before the Italian army destroys it!

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Violent explosions sounded in the cities of Fiumicino and Lido di Rome, and countless Italians who were still asleep were awakened, and people rushed out of the door in panic to find smoke billowing from the entire city.

"War has come upon us! My God! Help us! Many Italians immediately fled inland with their families in tow, and many were killed directly in the heavy shelling of the Chinese navy.

The 14th Infantry Division of the Italian Army, numbering more than 12,000 men, garrisoned Fiumicino and Lido di Rome in two cities less than six kilometers apart. The sudden attack blinded the 14th Infantry Division of the Italian Army, and the division commander, Major General Gasparé, hurriedly ordered the troops to enter the defensive line and at the same time asked Rome for help!