As the Austrian soldiers scattered, crying for their mothers and fathers, they began to cross the barricades. Someone spotted Pierne trapped beneath one of them. After hesitating for about a second, the soldier raised his rifle and put him out of his misery.
Franz walked along streets carpeted with corpses and soaked in blood. He knew this was only the beginning.
The barricades in Venice had caused Franz little trouble. Neither firing by ranks nor taking cover behind shields posed a problem for his troops.
Compared with old muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets, and even flintlock and matchlock firearms, the advantages of the Lever-action Rifle were striking.
The casualty figures on both sides made that clear. More than an hour into the battle, the Austrian Army had suffered fewer than fifty casualties, while the rebels had left over five hundred bodies in a single street.
Word of the fighting on the outskirts quickly reached Daniele Manin at City Hall. The battle in Hôtel de Ville Square had just ended, but that didn't mean he'd won. The loyalist soldiers had merely retreated to their barracks for the time being.
Daniele Manin now faced a difficult choice: continue attacking the remnants of the loyalists, or go and wipe out the fresh enemy force.
There were three forces in Venice loyal to Austria. If they really managed to join up, the uprising would be finished.
Of the three, only Franz's reinforcements lacked the advantage of favorable terrain. And if the intelligence was right, and Franz was with the troops, Daniele Manin thought that capturing the reckless Archduke would end the war.
"Citizens! We are descendants of the conquerors of Rome! We are God's chosen people! Fight for freedom and God! We must never yield!"
"Long live freedom! Long live Pius IX!"
The scattered shouts from