The Kingdom of Sardinia had only fifty thousand regular troops, while Austria had at least a hundred and fifty thousand troops in Northern Italy.
At that ratio, if the Kingdom of Sardinia plunged headlong into the Northern Italian theater, it would be sending its men to their deaths.
So Carlo Alberto had to change the conscription system. After all, conscripts were much cheaper than recruited soldiers, and if they died on the battlefield, that would save even more money.
The conscription system offered another advantage for Carlo Alberto: he could use it as an opportunity to get rid of destabilizing elements.
Young Italy, the Carbonari, the Mazzinians, nationalists, university students, unemployed workers, landless peasants, vagrants, radical nobles, Constitutionalists.
Carlo Alberto wasn't going to send all his trusted followers to their deaths like Pius IX. He meant to send everyone who might threaten his rule to the battlefield.
Still, Carlo Alberto wasn't going to ignore the outcome of the war. For that reason, he dispatched his two strongest generals, Lieutenant General Eusebio and Lieutenant General Ettore de Sannazzaro.
Lieutenant General Eusebio had taken part in the War of the Sixth Coalition. He was a veteran with long service, but had little to show in the way of actual victories.
Lieutenant General Ettore de Sannazzaro was a hot-blooded young officer of the Young Faction, fervently devoted to dynastic wars.
Carlo Alberto knew his own abilities were limited, so he brought in two retired French officers to serve as his advisers.
After a lengthy discussion, the three of them agreed that putting all their eggs in one basket was far too risky. They decided to split their forces in two.
One force, led by Lieutenant General Eusebio, would cross the Ticino River and make straight for Milan. The other, led by Lieutenant General