Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 846

Chapter 846: Federazione Italiana 4
The actions of the Republic of Venice continued without any hindrance throughout the month. The Italian Peninsula is bordering the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Nominally, most of the Italian Peninsula is under the Spanish Empire, either as a vassal or as a directly ruled colony of the Spanish crown, like the states of Naples or Sicily.

In the early stages of the operation, the neighboring state of Venice, Milan, was attacked relentlessly in full force so as to render Milan, which is a colony of Spain, useless as quickly as possible before the Spanish could act.

Due to things happening quickly, it took too long for the Spanish crown to react. The French, as well as the Romans, got their news much faster, but they did not react immediately either.

The reason being, there was a disagreement between both the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France about who would be sending the troops and who would get the most benefits. For decades, the French and the Romans have been trying to control Italy, the place of Renaissance, in their own hands. But unfortunately, due to the Spanish Empire’s dominance and their chokehold over core regions of the Italian Peninsula, their actions were only political in nature. But now that they got the chance to act when rebellions broke out internally, kicked off by the Republic of Venice, both the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France wanted to be the one who paid the least amount of resources but got the most amount of benefits.

Louis XIV was not willing to send the troops because, first of all, what was happening in Italy was exactly what he wanted. For the longest time, he was trying to encourage rebellion in the regions controlled by the Spanish crown so that the influence of France could increase in Italy. Not to mention that three allied nations of France, England, and the Netherlands had already decided that the Holy Roman Empire would be used as a sword in their hands to deal with the Russians and Italians. Now that he knew that his allies were going to wait till the last moment to act, how could he act so early in the game and lose most of his ammunition?

Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire was also hesitant to launch the attack because he had to get involved in the Russo-Ottoman War in case the Russians tried to extend their borders into the Balkans. He had to make sure that the buffer zone of the Balkans existed between the Holy Roman Empire and the Russian Empire. And he had to make sure that the Russians did not take too many benefits from the Ottomans, and he had to see if he could expand the Holy Roman Empire for the first time in the last few decades.

And all of it required the full efforts of the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire is just beginning to recover from its countless problems. He barely was able to calm down the hearts of the top nobles in the empire who were dissatisfied with their situation. The Russo-Ottoman War was not only his opportunity to solidify his rule over the Holy Roman Empire, but also to stabilize the hearts of the nobles.

Now at this time, several rebellions broke out within the Italian Peninsula at the same time. Normally, he should be very happy with this situation because a chaotic Italy gives the Holy Roman Empire, just like France, a chance to extend and expand its influence beyond the city-states they had influence over. But unfortunately, the rebellion that broke out was not about the individual city-states fighting for their freedom against the Spanish rule. On the contrary, it was about the scheming Republic of Venice laying out a plan to unify Italy into an independent political unit not affected by the external politics of other nations.

This would mean that Europe would suddenly have another superpower that would be on par with the Dutch, the English, the French, the Russians, and Romans. This was something which was very unacceptable to him.

So he had the intent to reinforce the states that were experiencing the brunt of rebellion, but he just did not want to be taken advantage of by the French, English, or the Dutch.

Just because the Holy Roman Empire was in a decline doesn’t mean that it was completely useless. As the saying goes, “A lean camel is bigger than a horse.”

In its heyday, the Holy Roman Empire was the biggest behemoth of the European continent. In its comparison, the rest of the powers who are considered superpowers today can only be considered as second-rate powers. With such rich heritage, how could it not have any hidden intelligence channels that had existed for centuries, passed down from one generation to another like a family inheritance? Having intelligence about other European nations was nothing to be surprised about.

So through various means, Leopold did get to know about the secret alliance and treaty between the French, the English, and the Dutch. He also knew that they wanted to use him as a gun in their plans. They wanted him to do all the grunt work for them while they enjoyed the benefits by sweeping in later.

He was very angry when he learnt of this, but his geographical situation was such that even if he knew what they were planning, he could not stay silent in both Russo-Ottoman War or the Italian rebellion. But he wouldn’t completely obey their plans. At most, he would just drag someone else with him into the game so that the other two players, the English and the Dutch, would have some ideas of their own, thereby causing cracks in the relationship between the three nations.

In such a way, Leopold did not attack for two whole months and let the matter take its course. And as he expected, the French could no longer hold on and had someone contact the Holy Roman Empire. Finally, with the negotiations between court nobles of both the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire, troops would be sent by both countries—30,000 each—and they would act independently by dividing their areas of influence into the western coast of Italy and the eastern coast of Italy.

In the end, benefits would be divided depending on who made the most achievements.

After solving their internal disputes, their attention was finally put back on the Italian Peninsula. Throughout the two months they did not pay attention, they received a lot of news from their intelligence channels: the House of Savoy has joined the so-called Federazione Italiana, Marquee of Ayamonte Antonio de Guzman has been imprisoned, the Papal States have been captured, all the Spanish troops in Naples and Sicily have been killed, Duke Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga encountered the rebellion of five noble houses in the Duchy of Nantua and Montfarrat, the House of Medici officially joined the Federazione Italiana as a member state. The son of revered knight Maria II Della Rovera, who had been killed by the Templar Knights of the Papal State, Francisco Maria III Della Rovera, has rebelled with an army of 20,000 soldiers and re-established the state of Urbino and has officially joined the Federazione Italiana.

The intensity of news coming out of Italy was very high. Several high-profile news cases broke out in a single day, not leaving an opportunity for the French and the Romans to understand what was happening. Since all the pieces of information were simply unbelievable and frankly impossible to happen, the Romans and the French figured out that the Venetians, who had done all the planning, had possibly spread rumors along with truths in order to confuse the nations since their actions couldn’t be hidden anymore.

So when the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France came to the borders of Piedmont and Venice respectively, they were shocked to find that there were over 20,000 to 25,000 troops guarding the borders of Piedmont and Venice behind fortresses equipped with large artillery that was seen for the very first time on the European continent.

The generals taking the lead were shocked, and Leopold I and Louis XIV were dumbfounded. Did they make the wrong decision? they thought to themselves.

Wars in Europe both in recent times and in the past had never been fought like this. This was the first time Europe witnessed the strategy of Blitzkrieg—or in this timeline, the strategy of Vajra Akrama of the Bharatiya Empire—a method of launching a continuous barrage of attacks on all targets at the same time in order to get the most benefits possible, irrespective of the resources invested.

—

Madrid, the Spanish Empire

Balthazar Charles clenched his fist and his face was red. It was already nearing the end of the second month since the rebellion in Italy had broken out. He received a series of news from Italy, both from his subordinates like Antonio de Guzman and the Viceroys he had appointed to manage Naples and Sicily. So far, he could completely confirm that Milan had fallen into the hands of Venice and the Savoy dynasty, and that Naples and Sicily were still not breached. This confirmation came directly from Antonio de Guzman before he sent out a messenger pigeon as a last show of resistance.

Despite getting the confirmation that Naples and Sicily, the most important colonies, were still safe, he was not happy, as apart from this, he heard many other unfavorable news, like the House of Medici joining the so-called Federazione Italiana, noble families in Naples and Sicily launching a rebellion collectively, and many other things. But so far, similar to the troubles facing the French and the Romans, he was unable to decipher which was true and which was false.

Despite being occupied with colonial operations in America, Europe is still the stronghold of Spain, and Italy is still one of the largest assets of Spain. It is because of this asset that, despite having encountered three to four bankruptcies during the reign of his father, the Spanish Empire somehow managed to survive. The benefits brought by directly controlling Naples, Sicily, Milan, and other city-states were not small. So Charles did immediately mobilize his troops and was ready to march into Spain himself, but the hateful French did not allow for a clear passage for the last two months.

He had noticed the unusual moves of the Venetian Republic a few years ago and had made some preparations, since the movements and planning of the Venetians resembled very closely what the Bharatiyas did in their military operations, this made him wary, and he made his own judgments. But unfortunately, his realisation came too late as he was occupied with the affairs of the colonies and ignored his own backyard, leaving the Venetians the chance to take advantage. Now, two months have passed, and the situation has become chaotic.

He could use his navy, but he dared not. The current Venetian Republic is not the Venetian Republic several decades ago. Even the modern navies of the English and the Dutch have to avoid the edge of the Venetian Navy when it comes to the Mediterranean Sea. Even the Ottomans, who have declared war on the Russians as a counter, have not mobilized their navy, fearing Venetian retaliation. This alone shows how strong the Venetian Navy is within the Mediterranean Sea.

This does not mean that the Spanish are helpless—in fact, they have one of the largest navies in the world. But unfortunately, most of the Spanish Navy is scattered around the world—in the Americas, in several islands of the Caribbean, and other places. The navy stationed back at home is only enough to defend against threats, and it was not enough to defeat another first-class navy, not to mention, the Venetian navy, if it comes anywhere else other than the Mediterranean Sea, they could only be considered barely first-class, but in the Mediterranean Sea, they have the might and power to even challenge the big dogs of the world. The 2,000-ton battleships of the Bharatiya Empire, hailed as the most difficult ships to sink and “Undead,” are no joke.

“Damn it!!!”

Balthazar Charles was in a dilemma, not knowing what to do.

P.S. Sorry I have an headache, the edit is ruff