President Casati, who believed he had been swindled, naturally had no intention of indulging the Sardinians' unreasonable fuss. Even if he had been willing to give them food, where was he supposed to get it?
Ordinary people had only a little ration left in their hands, and before long they would be reaching out to the provisional government for help. The only ones still holding grain were some nobles and capitalists, and even their households could not have much food stored away.
No one was in the grain business. Who would stockpile heaps of food at home for no reason?
If they really had it, the Austrian army would have long since come knocking to requisition it. Austria had never won the people's hearts here anyway, so there was no need to worry about any backlash.
In short, President Casati had no way of obtaining that grain. To put it bluntly, the provisional government was merely a makeshift troupe; whether anyone even acknowledged it was another matter altogether.
Hadn't the Sardinian army, upon entering the city, immediately started cozying up to the local nobles and capitalists? They had not taken this provisional government seriously at all.
The Kingdom of Sardinia's desire to annex Lombardy was no secret among the upper ranks. Once they reached an agreement with the local power brokers, this provisional government could simply breathe its last.
With no food in sight for so long, Manstu had no choice but to soothe the troops while sending people to find the leaders who had attended the banquet and demand that they take responsibility.
The joy of entering the city had already vanished without a trace. If not for their patriotic fervor holding them up, the Sardinian army would have shown everyone what a soldier's wrath truly meant.
Hungry was