The question raised by Cavour was very direct and important. Carlo Alberto, Mazzini and Garibaldi only considered the best development, taking over the Papal States and commanding all Italy, and then going all out to fight Austria and win.
Of.
The premise of all this is that Pius IX cooperated obediently and chose to submit. Carlo Alberto could use this to call on all Catholics in Italy to fight for unity.
But if Pius IX vows not to cooperate, what should be done? Should Pius IX be deposed and a new pope be established?
I'm afraid this option is not that simple. Because although Pius IX was the pope elected by the Catholic Cardinals with the acquiescence of France and Austria, and was regarded as a puppet of the will of the two major powers, this set of procedures is reasonable and legal without any problem.
If Carlo Alberto deposed the pope, let alone whether Austria and France would accept it, even if he succeeded in deposing the pope, the new pope would still have to be selected by the College of Cardinals. Most of the 70 Cardinals
They are all spokespersons of France and Austria. Could they elect a new pope who meets Carlo Alberto's requirements?
Even deposing the Pope is unlikely. This will directly anger Austria and France. Under the influence of these two countries, Catholics across Europe will instead target the rebellious Carlo Alberto.
I am afraid that the all-Italian Catholic united front expected by Carlo Alberto will not be formed at that time, but will instead form a European Catholic united front against the Kingdom of Sardinia. Both France and Austria can reasonably and legally fight to save Pope Tenchu.
Carlo Alberto's slogan. The situation was very embarrassing at that time.
Cavour believed that the latter possibility was more likely, and judged that as long as the Kingdom of Sardinia took action against the Papal States, France and Austria would have sufficient excuses to intervene. With the combined efforts of the two powers, what about Parma, Tuscany, and the Two Sicilies?
Everyone will come together to deal with the Kingdom of Sardinia.
At that time, not only was there no hope of unifying Italy, but the Kingdom of Sardinia was also very likely to be involved.
"The Pope may not be so stubborn, right?" Mazzini asked with some uncertainty.
Cavour smiled bitterly and said: "Then he can choose not to cooperate. As long as he doesn't stand up and call on all Italy, how many believers do you think will respond to you?"
"There should still be a lot, right?" Mazzini was still not so sure. He said with a speculative tone: "Italian reunification is the general trend and what the public wants. The people should respond positively!"
Cavour has heard enough of this kind of speculation. In his opinion, both Mazzini and Carlo Alberto were too optimistic from the beginning, and their estimates of the enemy's and our own strength were seriously insufficient. They clearly didn't have any in hand.
There are many cards to play, but they are optimistic that the enemy is weaker, as if they can defeat the Austrians and unify Italy as long as they take to the streets and raise their arms.
This is so absurd, naive and ridiculous!
Therefore, Cavour was too lazy to talk to Mazzini and Garibaldi. The two people were completely confused by the imaginary beautiful tomorrow and were not willing to see the reality clearly. Continuing to talk about difficulties would only lead to an unhappy separation between the two parties.
, in this case, let’s talk about other issues.
Cavour suddenly asked: "What do you think of the contradiction between France and Russia?"
Mazzini and Garibaldi were both a little confused. Aren't they talking about the unification of Italy? What does it have to do with the Russians? Does this have anything to do with our current mission?
"How come it doesn't matter!"
Cavour was anxious and hated the fact that iron cannot become steel. How come these two guys have no international vision at all. The unification of Italy can only go along with the trend. It must make use of all available favorable conditions and must cooperate among the big powers.
Lian Heng. If the big countries are not in chaos and the old order is as stable as a rock, how can it be possible for weak Italy to unify!
Only when friction and contradiction break out between big countries, preferably a fight, can weak Italy fish in troubled waters. Therefore, we must pay attention to the dynamics between big countries. In the past two years, the discord between France and Russia due to religious issues has been seen in Cavour.
You can take advantage of it.
"If a direct conflict breaks out between France and Russia," Cavour described with a fascinating expression, "If we can find a way to trigger a direct conflict between the two countries, what do you think we should do?"
Mazzini was a little confused and didn't know why he was talking about such nonsense, but after all, Cavour was very influential and he had to respect him.
So he thought for a while and answered naturally: "We should stand with the French. The Russians are conservative and decadent, and they have a bad affinity with Austria, and they frequently make things difficult for us Catholics on the Holy Land issue... If France and Russia
If a conflict breaks out, we should stand on the side of France and fight the Russians!"
Garibaldi also nodded and agreed: "I don't like the Russians either. This autocratic and barbaric country is an ally of the Austrians and our enemy!"
Cavour was speechless again. Is this what he was asking? What he was asking was how to provoke an armed conflict between Russia and France, not how to take sides when the two countries fought. The question of taking sides was also called Ma Zhi.
Are you talking nonsense to Garibaldi? He is not an idiot.
"I'm asking how to intensify the conflict between Russia and France. It's best to let the two countries go to war in the near future!" Cavour emphasized, knocking on the table.
Mazzini and Garibaldi fell into thinking again. They still couldn't figure out why Cavour was so at odds with the Russians, and what was the benefit? Could it be that because Russia and Austria were allies, attacking Russia could implicate Austria?
"Absolutely!" Cavour had to explain patiently, "If a war breaks out between France and Russia, then as a duel between the two European powers, the French will definitely devote themselves to it. Then they will naturally have no spare power to interfere in the affairs of the Apennines.
.At that time we only have to concentrate on dealing with the Austrians!"
Mazzini and Garibaldi looked at each other, and they finally figured out what was going on with Cavour's brain circuit. They thought Cavour's idea was good, but there were two problems:
"First, how can we get France and Russia to go to war directly?" Mazzini asked, "The Russians are not weak. The First Sixth Army in Europe is even stronger than the French. It is unlikely that the French will go to war just because of the Holy Land issue.
Bar?"
"Secondly, although the French are not very good, they are not exactly the same as Austria when it comes to the Italian issue. The possibility of directly interfering with our actions is not high. On the contrary, after France was stumbled by Russia, the Austrians were gone
If you try to restrain them, they will become more unscrupulous! Isn’t this counterproductive!”