Venice.
Franz calculated that he could muster 180,000 troops at this point, already a third of the Austrian Empire's total army strength.
After completing his purge of internal opposition, he had finally, for the first time, broken free of the great aristocratic families' restraints.
Albrecht and Friedrich were both great nobles, but at least for now, they had no intention of becoming parasites.
At least a third of the so-called Italian Allied Forces had already deserted. After all, without the Pope as their banner, the appeal of nationalism seemed to have weakened.
And that was with Lapol resorting to harsh measures to keep them in line. Without the threat of severe punishments and strict laws, the Italian Allied Forces might already have ceased to exist.
Even so, with weapons and supplies in short supply, their morale was extremely low. Lapol could barely hold out only because he occupied the strategically vital Hukou terrain.
Albrecht had actually found a way to break through long ago, but Franz felt that even the most spectacular performance lacked something without an audience.
The audience Franz had in mind was naturally Pius IX. Though he knew nothing about military affairs, his advisers had told him that—
Lapol's position was like Thermopylae. In ancient times, three hundred Spartan warriors had held off the attack of a million Persians.
This had left Pius IX deeply shaken. After all, the traitor Lapol had more men on his side.
In reality, those so-called three hundred warriors had been backed by more than five thousand servants and allied troops from other states, while the Persians had been nowhere near a million strong.
"Your Highness, Archduke Franz. How many men do you intend to send to attack Bereni Valley?"
Pius IX pretended to be calm, but his twitching lips and trembling