Chapter 366: Chapter 53, Integrity Shattered
Sicily, within a manor, Garibaldi met with local revolutionaries.

“Mr. Garibaldi, our strength has been severely damaged after the last uprising, and we are incapable of launching another armed rebellion anytime soon.”

The local revolutionary leader, Drakes, voiced his objection. The revolutionary organization in Sicily dated back a long time, with the January uprising on the island in 1848 marking the beginning of a major revolution.

However, its influence in Europe was limited, and it was soon suppressed, and the outside world regarded the February Revolution in France as the true start of the great revolution.

In 1860, the Sicilian revolutionaries once again initiated an armed uprising. Upon hearing the news, Garibaldi formed the renowned Red Shirts Army and entered Sicily, kicking off the revolution of the Two Sicilies.

With changes in this timeline, the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860 had fallen into the hands of the French, naturally preventing Garibaldi from organizing the Red Shirts.

Lacking an effective force, the armed uprising on Sicily was once again suppressed, and the local revolutionary organization suffered heavy losses.

Drakes’s opposition to launching an uprising now was a last resort. In recent years, the government of the Two Sicilian Kingdom had been vigilant, forcing the revolutionaries to go underground, devoid of the ability to strengthen their forces.

Garibaldi, unruffled, coaxed, “Mr. Drakes, this is a rare opportunity. Revolutionary organizations throughout Europe will stage uprisings in January, allowing us to minimize the chance of intervention by the major powers.

If we miss this opportunity, we will not only have to contend with the government of the Two Sicilies but also face interference from Austria, France, and Spain.

To speak dishearteningly, facing the meddling of these three major powers, even if our strength were to increase tenfold or a hundredfold, I still don’t believe there would be any hope of victory.

The risk of launching an uprising now is preferable to facing intervention from the three major powers. If we miss this chance, we may never see a successful revolution in our lifetimes.”

Unity in launching uprisings is a fact, but the actual effectiveness is hard to say. Whether the three major powers will intervene or not is completely unknown.

Even Garibaldi himself was not confident, which is why he chose Sicily as the first stop for the revolution. The powers that be are not philanthropists; without substantial benefits, they simply won’t offer help for free.

Unless it becomes clear that the rebellion cannot be quelled, the government of the Two Sicilies will try to suppress it themselves as much as possible, and will not easily seek outside help.

This represents an opportunity; if we can survive the hardest period, even if the major powers intervene later, having gathered some strength, we won’t be crushed as soon as we appear.

Drakes fell into a state of hesitation, for intervention by the major powers had long since been their greatest concern. Some even proposed keeping the king to reduce this risk.

“Mr. Garibaldi, we can coordinate with your actions, but I can only organize a hundred or so people to join the uprising.”

This meant Drakes had given up the leadership of the revolution. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to compete, but without a choice, the number of Sicilian revolutionaries was large, yet few could take part in the uprising.

Not everyone is willing to lay down their lives for the revolution. Most people support it only to the extent of making revolutionary propaganda, providing some financial support, but they draw the line at sacrificing their lives.

In terms of both strength and prestige, Drakes could not compare with Garibaldi; relinquishing the leadership was inevitable.

…

On January 5, 1865, the Italian National Salvation Army, led by Garibaldi in Colleone, staged an armed uprising. Because the rebels wore red shirts as their emblem, they were also called the “Red Shirts Army.”

With the revolution’s curtain drawn, three days later, the Spanish Revolutionary Party launched an uprising in Elda.

Isabella II’s life was filled with scandal, and her reputation among the people was very poor. Due to the early death of her father, she lacked monarchial education, and her performance in politics was notoriously inept.

Faced with endless revolutions and palace conspiracies, she knew only to frequently change governments in response, going through 34 administrations and enacting 7 constitutions during her 25-year reign in Spain.

If not for Spain’s solid foundations, it would have been ruined by the turmoil much earlier. Within such a context, favorable conditions for revolutionary activities were created.

However, as the bastion of the Conservative party, Spain’s traditional forces were very strong. Although they disliked the incompetent and corrupt Isabella II, they hated the rule-breaking revolutionaries even more.

With the Conservatives’ help, Isabella II barely maintained her reign. This support was not without limits; as time passed, the Conservatives became utterly intolerant of her, and in the Glorious Revolution of 1868, Isabella II was forced into exile in France.

In Veneto, after some persuasion, Stephen and others finally organized a revolutionary force, although most of them were unaware they had been recruited into the Revolutionary Party.

The Hungarian Independence Organization disintegrated, and under the disguise of colonial companies from England, France, and Austria, they recruited a large number of Italians in the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Papal State, Lombardy, and the Veneto region, giving them rudimentary military training.

To make the act convincing, these colonial companies really existed; Stephen and the others, using American support, registered them in England and France.

Good at playing roles, they quickly adapted to their own. Hiring armed personnel for colonial companies to establish overseas colonies was also common in Austria.

However, Austrian colonial teams rarely hired Italians, and even when they did, it was mainly as sailors or laborers, with few being used on the battlefield.

The Italians, brimming with Romanticism, are not suited for battle, or so the experience of many years has concluded.

Of course, there will always be those who don’t believe in curses. Although the fighting capabilities of the Italians are often questioned, their affordability is irresistible!

With an overall low combat effectiveness, there are still occasionally a few exceptions, aren’t there? With some luck and careful selection, it’s possible to employ Italians with formidable fighting abilities.

Looking at the large force gathered in his hands, Stephen fell into hesitation, even considering the possibility of genuinely launching an armed uprising—what if it succeeded?

But he soon dismissed the idea. How could the convergence of thousands of armed personnel towards the Veneto region not attract the attention of the local government?

Had it not been for already making connections with the Austrian Intelligence Organization, they probably would have been suppressed long ago. Even now, their situation isn’t much better; if Vienna didn’t intend to eliminate dissidents, they would have no opportunity to make a move.

Lombardy-Venetia has always been one of Austria’s most unstable regions, although this instability does not mean that there are uprisings every day. In fact, since the Great Revolution, there hasn’t been an uprising of more than a hundred people there.

It is mainly because nationalism is awakening in the Italian Area, with many Italian intellectuals, some capitalists, and declining nobility still harboring thoughts of independence.

These people have been secretly connecting in stages yet have not taken any substantial action. As a legal state, Austria naturally cannot convict them simply because they may have tendencies towards independence.

The role of people like Stephen has emerged. They are now visiting the bigwigs of the area, under the guise of being merchants from the Colonial Company.

In a manor outside Milan City, members of the Hungarian Independence Organization gathered in twos and threes. Prudence complained, “I’m exhausted, but the task is finally complete, though I’m not sure if what we’re doing is right or wrong.”

Mariotte sneered, “Since we’ve made the decision, we can’t regret it. Once we’ve played out this act, we’ll be free.”

Once a person abandons their bottom line, there’s nothing they can’t do. To disappear from the list of Austrian political offenders, they had to choose to cooperate.

Stephen said earnestly, “Well, since these people have been targeted, they would be approached by other revolutionary organizations even without us.

Since they’re doomed sooner or later, we might as well make use of them to escape our situation.

We’ve visited everyone in the Lombardy and Veneto regions. The next step is the Hungarian Region, but to avoid any complications, we won’t go there personally.

We’ll hand the list over to our subordinates and let them organize these members to launch an armed uprising. Everyone, go make your arrangements! And remind them carefully not to lose the list. It’s of great importance, the fruit of years of our Independence Organization’s efforts.”

Looking at Stephen’s serious expression, everyone refrained from commenting. Indeed, they were the fruits of years of effort; the list was provided by the Austrian Intelligence Organization, and they were only responsible for coordinating.

No, not coordinating—more accurately, they were dragging these people down.

With Austria’s domestic situation being stable, rebelling at this moment was hopeless. Those deeply influenced by nationalism and wanting independence didn’t dare to cause trouble.

However, their underground promotion of nationalism was something Franz could not tolerate. Open enemies are not fearsome, but secret ones are always the most troublesome.

Based on the principle of striking first, since these people wanted independence, he decided to give them a chance. Conveniently, the Hungarian Independence Organization came knocking on the door, and Franz decided to let them join.

Even if not Hungarians, they could still collude with the Hungarian Independence Organization. In any case, Franz wouldn’t give these people the opportunity to grow stronger.

Stephen and others now had families and businesses, no longer wishing to continue with the revolution. He also needed to give an account to the United States, proving that the money wasn’t taken for nothing over the years; both parties had their needs met.

These few thousand Italian mercenaries were just unlucky. Originally having nothing to do with them, they were now obliviously implicated.

Implicating a large number of rebels at once, how could there not be a big case? And they were the trigger for this major case: the rebellion of thousands of armed individuals was enough to pull everyone involved into the matter.

Mariotte echoed, “Mr. Stephen is right. The Spanish Revolutionary Party and the Italian Revolutionary Party have both launched uprisings; now it’s our turn to revolt.”

Indeed, they were instigating a revolution, only the target of whose revolution had changed. Playing the whole act through, they had fabricated quite a few letters from important figures.

Now they were just one step away from the final act. According to the script, they encountered an unexpected incident and leaked information, were forced to rise up prematurely, then were brutally suppressed, and finally exiled abroad.

Since it was an unexpected incident, naturally, they had no time to destroy these letters. Later, these letters and secret meetings before the outbreak of the rebellion would serve as evidence that these figures supported the rebellion.

Stephen spoke with feigned solemnity, “Now, everyone, go and prepare! According to the agreed time, we will launch an armed uprising precisely at 4:30 a.m. on February 15th, 1865. Make sure the message reaches everyone.”

…