Badoglio had still underestimated the impact of defeating Austria. For political reasons, King Charles directly granted him the rank of marshal.
To the Italians, defeating Austria in this era was simply too stirring. If victories continued to follow, perhaps every Italian state would grant him the rank of marshal.
With the Kingdom of Sardinia building up the propaganda, Badoglio quickly became a hero of Italy. But being a hero was no easy task; he could not afford to leave any stains on his name.
For instance, the people of Milan could not buy grain now, so naturally they came to him to solve the problem. After all, he had been the one who planned the burning of the grain.
As a hero of Italy, he had to keep his word. He had previously promised to provide everyone with food, and now he had to make good on it.
General Badoglio's political lessons had at least earned a passing grade. No, he should be Marshal Badoglio now. Though he had not yet been formally invested, that was of no consequence.
Lombardy was vast. The Austrian army could not possibly have requisitioned all the grain in such a short time. The grain merchants might have run out, but the noble estates would always have kept some for their own consumption.
While urging the homeland to transport grain over, he also sweet-talked the nobles of Lombardy and managed to obtain some grain from their estates.
Unfortunately, light industry in Lombardy was fairly developed in this era, and most nobles had sold their grain to processing factories. It was also the season of spring plowing, so no one had much grain left on hand.
After scouring the surrounding area, Badoglio helplessly discovered that it was but a cup of water against a cartload of