Kingdom of Sardinia

In order to defeat Austria, King Charles Albert was forced to form an alliance with the republicans, whom he absolutely despised, to fight Austria on two different fronts. Unfortunately, before they even had time to celebrate the war between Austria and Hungary, they received an urgent appeal from the Hungarians.

Upon reading the letter from the Hungarians, Charles Albert threw the letter and growled, "Damn these useless Hungarians. The war hasn't even begun and yet they're already asking for our help. Are the 300,000 soldiers in the Hungarian National Defense Force pigs? No, they're worse than pigs. Even if they were pigs, the Austrians couldn't kill 300,000 of them in such a short time! Do these Hungarians have no courage to fight for freedom and independence?"

"Your Majesty, Hungary is a multi-ethnic nation. While the Hungarians were fighting for independence from the Austrians, they were oppressing the other minorities. The Austrians cleverly won over these minorities, which meant that the Hungarian Republic had lost the war before it had even begun," explained a helpless Prime Minister Azeglio.

On the surface, the declaration of independence by Hungary has led to Austria's national strength being reduced by almost 40%. Therefore, on the surface, Sardinia could be considered an equal of Austria. Unexpectedly, the Republic of Hungary, which had been around for just a few months, found that it had lost over two-thirds of its land and most of its population to Austria.

"Useless bastard!" cursed Charles Albert, unbeknownst to anyone whether he was scolding Hungary or his prime minister.

"Minister of War, judging from the current situation, how long can the Hungarians persist?"

Minister of War Ferrere immediately replied, "Your Majesty, it's hard to answer this question. The main reason behind the Austrians' quick progress is that many influential people in Hungary are still inclined to Austria. In fact, it's not so much the Hungarians being defeated by the Austrian army than them avoiding battles and retreating."

Charles Albert's expression quickly changed. If the Hungarian Republic falls, Sardinia's odds in the battle of Venice would plummet since the Austrians would be able to transfer their entire army to the western front.

Normally, in such a situation, Charles Albert could simply fortify the plains of Lombardy and garrison the city of Milan to defend against the imminent Austrian offensive. However, currently, the public opinion in Turin and other parts of Sardinia was already urging the government towards a decisive battle against Austria.

Charles Albert heaved a long sigh before his eyes became firm, indicating that he had finally made up his mind. He then said, "Command Marshal Franzini to speed up his preparations and tell him that, no matter the cost, he must occupy Venice before the fall of the Hungarian Republic!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Frankfurt

The city of Frankfurt, located in the heart of Germany, had been a commercial hub since the early-modern era. Recently, however, the city had been even more bustling since the arrival of representatives from all over Germany. The streets of Frankfurt were filled with blue-eyed, pale-skinned merchants from Sweden to brown-eyed tan-skinned Arab merchants from Morocco and the Ottoman Empire.

Even if the legitimacy of the Frankfurt Parliament still needed to be considered, its popularity was evident as intellectuals from every corner of Europe now roamed the streets of Frankfurt as they debated the feasibility of Kleindeutschland versus Großdeutschland, and vice-versa. Even if neither side could persuade the other side, the people's enthusiasm remained undiminished.

So far, apart from Prussia's public support for this parliament, only a few free cities and small states had expressed support for it. Still, regardless of whether most German states supported this parliament or not, the "people's representatives" from most states had arrived in Frankfurt. These delegates were mainly composed of capitalists or agents of capitalists who longed for the unification of Germany and the creation of a larger market to sell their goods.

* * * * * * * * * *

Residence of the Austrian delegation

Lorentz, an agent of the Agency, had been troubled by a question since morning. He finally decided to ask his superior, "Mr. Adelman, were those people we met this morning truly elected representatives of the workers?"

"They should be..." Adelson, the Frankfurt branch manager of the Agency, replied hesitantly.

"But why did they seem more like thugs than workers?" Lorentz asked again, the frown on his face still present.

Adelson thought for a moment before he smiled and answered, "Perhaps, they were factory foremen. Anyways, don't spare too much thought on them."

Technically, the foreman of a factory was also a worker at the factory, and these foremen tended to be rough men or thugs who could keep regular workers in line. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with the participation of these men, but it  was unlikely that their goal would align with the wishes of a regular worker. The two looked at each other as they bitterly smiled and realized that the Frankfurt Parliament was nothing but a sham.

In fact, this wasn't too surprising. It could even be considered the current social reality. Regardless of whether they were workers or farmers, if they had truly been elected, they wouldn't be able to participate in a meeting as grand as the Frankfurt Parliament.

It was impossible for the capitalists to give up their dominance at such "democratic" conventions. If the Frankfurt Parliament had held strict democratic elections, with the reputation of the capitalists, only fools would elect them or their lackeys. In the 19th century, honest and kind capitalists were more than unicorns in the wild. The few who tried to improve the treatment of workers were usually bankrupted by the cartel of reactionary capitalists.

Suddenly, a man ran into the residence and yelled, "Not good! Not good!"

Adelson quickly walked towards the man and asked, "Stepan, what happened?!"

"It's no good, Mr. Adelson. The organizers informed us that Bohemia, Hungary, Transylvania, Slovakia, Moravia and Croatia are not part of Germany, so their representatives cannot participate in the parliament."

Adelson frowned as his expression quickly fluctuated between anger, doubt and finally joy.

He chuckled and excitedly said, "Since an excuse has come to our door, how can we not make use of it?"

He ordered his two subordinates, "Quickly, leak this news to as many newspapers as possible. Also, describe it a little more seriously by highlighting the arrogance of the organizers."

"Sir, I think we can alter it a little by adding rumors that the Prussians are secretly controlling this parliament and their purpose is to pass a decree at the General Assembly which would allow them to annex other German states!" Lorentz added.

"That being the case, it would be even better to simply add more rumors that the Prussians will also establish Protestantism as the state religion of Germany and that they will ban the practice of Catholicism through law in the constitution!" Stepan quickly added, afraid of being outshined by his colleague.

Since their purpose was to spread rumors, the three didn't worry too much about the effectiveness of this approach. In this era, due to limited communication capabilities, it was too difficult to separate truth from lies. Moreover, it was an open secret that Prussia held some sway over the Frankfurt Parliament, which would make it much easier for most people to accept these new rumors.

In fact, unbeknownst to the three in Frankfurt, in Vienna, Franz had already formed a secret panel to collect information from across Europe to create and spread rumors that were beneficial to Austria and detrimental to its enemies.

-TO BE CONTINUED-