Chapter 801: Louis Philippe's Great Calamity
On top of that, the Liberal Cantons had even more disheartening news: the League of Orthodoxy had already seized the Saint Gotthard Pass, which meant Joseph Loei's blockade plan had failed completely.
Ticino connected the Kingdom of Sardinia to Austria's Lombardy region, meaning both countries could send troops to intervene directly.
But the situation everyone had anticipated never came to pass. Both Austria and Sardinia acted with extreme caution, and could even be called indifferent.
The Austrian officials in Lombardy said they needed to report the matter and await instructions, while the Kingdom of Sardinia demanded that the Swiss prove they were Swiss.
In truth, Joseph Loei's earlier efforts to win over Ticino had been very successful. The rebellion in Ticino had dealt a heavy blow to the Kingdom of Sardinia.
It had turned Sardinia's aid to the League of Orthodoxy into direct assistance to the enemy, and those supplies were Carlo Alberto's biggest bargaining chip.
He knew full well that his country could not compare with Austria or France, so Carlo Alberto had previously signed secret agreements with Constantine Siegwart, the Swiss representative to the Confederation, and with the French.
Carlo Alberto would give the League of Orthodoxy his full support and, before the war began, send Constantine Siegwart a shipment of supplies along with a bribe.
After victory, the League of Orthodoxy had promised to reward him with Ticino. France would also support the Kingdom of Sardinia's demands, in exchange for opposing Austria's excessive expansion.
The British had a hand in this, too. In recent years, Austria had been making one small move after another, and was beginning to look as if it intended to dominate the continent.
Britain was therefore uniting other countries against Austria's minor expansions. But every country had