As France and Austria dug pits for each other, the Italian rebels enjoyed a string of dazzling victories for a time. Today they ambushed the French army; tomorrow they lay in wait for the Austrian army. The Redshirts began to win fame across the world.
That was only how the newspapers told it. In reality, the Redshirts had already been beaten into fleeing in all directions. A motley crew hastily recruited, short of guns and ammunition, was simply no match for regular troops.
Losing battles did not mean they had no achievements. Even if they had none, there were still people determined to hand them some!
Less than a week after the French and Austrian armies reached the front, Naples was retaken. Within half a month, every city held by the rebels on the Italian Peninsula had fallen, and their main force had been almost completely wiped out.
It was precisely then that the Redshirts' record of achievements suddenly soared, with French and Austrian casualties successively breaking into four digits.
Gaboli, still fleeing from place to place, had no idea he had become famous. In the blink of an eye, he had become an Italian hero, and now he was preparing to flee overseas once more.
It was not that they had failed to try; the enemy was simply too powerful. Even if Italy truly unified, it could not possibly face both France and Austria at once. This was a war that could not be won.
Francesco II was afraid. At first, the French and Austrian armies had merely been digging pits for one another and setting traps, but now things had escalated into large-scale clashes.
Of course, for the sake of friendship between France and Austria, their armies naturally could not fight each other directly.
Before long, both sides