It is an embarrassing problem to have no money. The Kingdom of Sardinia is located in the northwest of Italy, and it is regarded as the best developed country in Italy.
It is a pity that this cannot change the essence of the Sardinian Kingdom as a poor ghost. The territory is only 70,000 square kilometers, the population is only five or six million, and there are no resources. The industry has just started.
However, they are poor and ambitious, and they have been fighting for the unification of Italy. Because of their ambition, the Kingdom of Sardinia is even poorer.
To unify Italy, it is natural to rely on fists. The military expenditure of the Kingdom of Sardinia is a little bit larger, so their finances have been in a deficit.
It was not until 1852, when the legendary Prime Minister Cavour came on stage, that he reformed the fiscal and taxation system, increased national income, increased the construction of railways, ports, and developed industry and commerce.
Prime Minister Azelio frowned and echoed: "Your Majesty is right, we are indeed out of money, this war came too suddenly, and we were not fully prepared.
Occupying the Lombardy region, we consumed a lot of financial and material resources, which greatly exceeded our budget. Up to now, we have spent more than 28 million lire.
(1 lire = 4.5 grams of silver)
Because of the war, tax revenue in Lombardy is not expected this year, and it will still be in a state of net expenditure in the second half of the year.
The French abruptly terminated the promised weapons assistance, and now we have to squeeze some money out of the limited war budget to buy weapons and equipment, which will cost at least 17 million liras more.
Adding these two items together, we have spent nearly 45% of our war expenses. We still have nearly 200,000 troops, and we have to spend at least 1 million lire every day. If we continue to delay, we will go bankrupt in at most two months. . "
After listening to the Prime Minister's explanation, the first reaction of Minister of the Army Li Qi was impossible, and immediately asked: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, how can you spend so much money? According to our plan, this 100 million lire is enough to support us in fighting for half a year!"
"Your Excellency Li Qi, do you suspect my corruption?" Prime Minister Azelio said angrily
corruption? How many officials are not corrupt in this era? However, this well-known secret should not be pierced, otherwise everyone's faces will not look good.
Li Qi quickly explained: "No, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I didn't question your intention, I was just curious about these expenses!"
After listening to Li Qi's answer, Azelio's expression softened, and he explained calmly, "I'll give you a rough calculation, so that you can see where the money is spent.
In the Lombardy region, 8.65 million lire was spent on buying the Liberals, 10.5365 million lire was spent on solving the food problem, 3.657 million lire was spent on relief of war refugees, and 3.8623 million lire was spent on establishing administrative institutions…
Because of the endless emergence of revolutions in Europe, the price of weapons and equipment in the international market has risen by 37%. The Ministry of War has also sent people to participate in the specific situation. Don't ask me
According to our prior plan, we did not plan to recruit another 70,000 troops in the Lombardy region. With so many people added, the cost will naturally go up! "
After listening to the Prime Minister's explanation, Li Qi had nothing to say. There is no way, who made their army have no confidence in fighting the Austrians? In order to increase the odds of winning, they adopted the simplest method - expanding the army.
Before the Industrial Revolution, the mobilization ability of an agricultural society was not high, and it was impossible for the whole people to participate in the war.
More than 100,000 people were mobilized within the Kingdom of Sardinia, basically reaching the limit of mobilization. At this time, the enthusiasm of the Lombard people to join the army is high, and there is no reason for the good soldiers to turn away
At this time, Li Qi can't care so much. As the Minister of the Army, he must stand on the army's stand and reduce the risk of failure as much as possible.
"Your Excellency, the British support this war, so can't we ask the British for a loan?"
Prime Minister Azelio frowned and said with a wry smile: "British people's loans are not easy to get, and for this 3 million pounds loan, we have to pay a big price.
Now that the war has broken out, if you ask them for a loan, I am afraid the conditions will not be so simple! "
(£1 ≈ 25 lira)
There is no other way, this is almost the way the British have tried everything, first give a loan to lure people into the boat. However, "it's easy to get on the boat and it's hard to get off the boat", and when they reach the center of the river, they can only let them drive.
"What about the French? Don't they want us to expel the Austrians from Italy? Don't they show any signs now?" Li Qi asked reluctantly.
Charlie Albert said with a sneer: "Huh! The French are a bunch of untrustworthy bastards. They don't even have the promised weapons and equipment assistance now. Do you think they can still count on it?"
Everyone did not take up this topic. Originally, there was assistance from the French, but when they learned that the Sardinian kingdom had annexed Lombardy, the matter fell through.
According to the requirements of the French, the Lombardy region must be established as an independent state, which is undoubtedly unacceptable to them.
Independence is easy, but reunification is difficult. If the current opportunity is missed, will the Sardinian kingdom still have a chance to annex Lombardy
Li Qi thought about it and said: "Your Majesty, from the current situation, the old fox guarding the Venice area is the famous Austrian general Radkis, who has suffered a loss once, and he can't be fooled a second time.
If the Austrian army were only defending the city and did not engage in a decisive battle with us, it would not have been possible for us to end the war in two months.
If the Austrians are unwilling to end the war, the war will continue even if we conquer Venice, so the war funding will still have to find a way. "
He is at a showdown. If he wants to end the war, it is not just their decision, unless the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia can fight all the way to Vienna and force the Austrian government to surrender.
This is obviously impossible. Everyone is a rational politician. Even if they have confidence in the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia, no one thinks they can do this.
In this case, if they want to win the war, the government must find a way to raise military funds for them. Otherwise, if they lose the war because they have no money, it is not the responsibility of the War Department.
Prime Minister Azelio said with a wry smile: "Okay, Mr. Li Qi's military spending problem, we will find a solution, but you must also ensure victory. We cannot afford to lose this war!"
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, please rest assured. Marshal Bardorio is in charge of this war. He has already defeated the Austrians once, and it is no problem to deal with a group of defeated generals!" Li Qi quickly assured
Charlie Albert, who didn't speak for a while, suddenly asked, "Prime Minister, what are you going to do about the funding gap?"