The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1914 A Long Night

This even made Garibaldi and his friends feel somewhat ashamed, because unlike the Italian warlords who spent their days scheming and fighting for power, the Austrian Empire was more focused on solving problems than creating them.

In fact, they knew better than anyone what the Austrian Empire was doing, but they were unwilling to believe it was true.

After all, preconceived notions are not so easy to change, and they are even less willing to deny their previous life experiences.

Many people, including Garibaldi, spent the first half of their lives engaging in actions against the Austrian Empire, believing their actions to be just and beyond reproach.

However, what they saw was devastation, widespread suffering, a broken country, and wolves in power. What they opposed was the people living in peace and prosperity, with plenty of food and clothing, and a seemingly thriving society.

Although the Austrian Empire was not exactly peaceful, it was full of vitality and people's lives were more hopeful.

The fervor of the crowd made them feel even more ashamed. In fact, these Italians had no aversion to being Austrians, nor did they have any pride in being Italian.

People have no choice in being born in the Kingdom of Sardinia and becoming its citizens, but given the opportunity, they still want to seek change and live and work in places they perceive as better and safer.

The Austrian Empire's reputation was very useful; the previously disorganized and desperate populace was quickly rallied.

However, the pursuit that Garibaldi feared most did not occur. In fact, only a small number of Sardinian troops and bandits who took advantage of the chaos attempted to pursue the enemy twice.

After realizing they were a tough nut to crack, they decisively chose to give up, since everyone was just looking to make money and there was no need to fight to the death.

As for the French army, they certainly had the strength to wipe out this rabble, but the principles are the same.

If you can eat meat, who would want to gnaw on bones? Why not rob the wealthy dogs in the city instead of running off to fight with a bunch of refugees outside the city?
As night deepened, people's enthusiasm seemed to be suppressed by the heavy darkness.

Without moonlight, the water, which should have been shimmering, was now turbulent with undercurrents, and the damp, cold night wind sent chills down one's spine.

The hunger in their stomachs exacerbated the feeling of cold. The men were required to take turns keeping watch, while the women and children huddled in makeshift tents on the shore.

"Mom, when is the boat coming?"

A child asked a question, but the mother did not answer; she simply tightened her embrace around the child.

The children's father abandoned the family; they were nothing more than forgotten or abandoned trash.

If it weren't for Joseph the Cripple and the Austrian Empire, they would now be living on the streets.

Fortunately, Garibaldi used the Austrian Empire's disaster relief plan at this time, and all human and material resources were concentrated and redistributed.

The Austrian Empire had extensive experience in this area and therefore had a very mature system in place, with regional military and administrative officials having different responsibilities in order to improve efficiency and avoid mutual interference.

Women and children are protected in the middle and do not need to bear too much responsibility, but preferential treatment cannot be exchanged for gratitude or a sense of security. Some are even planning to escape.

In fact, there are not only good rumors about the Austrian Empire, but also a lot of other information, both true and false.

For example, the Austrian Empire seemed to have a particular fondness for capturing people to work in mines or sending them to Eastern Europe to build railways.

Even more terrifying than these things was that the Austrian Empire would send people to Africa, where it is said that the Austrians fed lions, elephants, and crocodiles with human flesh.

I've heard that the Austrian Empire still retains the practice of burning at the stake, and every now and then an innocent priest is sent to the bier.

“I heard from my husband that in the past, the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia would first separate the women and men on Sardinia.”
You know what that means.

Although she had never been to Sardinia and had no husband, that did not prevent her from saying what she wanted or believing what others wanted.

Rumors flew everywhere deep in the camp, causing panic among the people. Some timid people even cried out loud, but dared not cry out loud. Their suppressed sobs were even more unsettling.

In fact, the Austrian Empire would usually place nuns and female civil servants in refugee camps to maintain order, and would even deliberately assign them tasks to distract them and consume too much of their energy.

These are lessons learned from past disaster relief efforts. After all, the Austrian Empire had a complex ethnic composition, a chaotic language system, and numerous internal conflicts.

When large numbers of people gather together, rumors inevitably arise, and sometimes it's just a misunderstanding caused by language barriers.

However, rumors spread very easily in a country like Austria.

Normally, people would probably just laugh it off, but when these rumors are closely related to themselves, their power can be terrifying during a disaster.

However, within the Austrian Empire, the people had a high degree of approval for the empire, and their target was the Jews and Gypsies.

When an illness occurs, or when something is stolen from someone's home, Austrians often first think that it is either a Jewish person poisoning the house or a Gypsy person stealing it.

Of course, some of these claims are not unfounded; after all, the Austrian Empire's police system was restructured and indeed uncovered quite a few related cases.

It can only be said that the existence of stereotypes is supported by certain examples.
As for finding something for the refugees to do, that was based on experience. The high-ranking officials of the Austrian Empire found that people were prone to causing trouble when they were idle, so many elites opposed Franz's holiday policy.

They felt that holidays were increasing social instability, and many people went to the palace to petition.

On one hand, there were the nobles, bureaucrats, and social elites who were speaking out against injustice, and on the other hand, there were the silent masses.

Everyone thought the truth was obvious, but Franz directly refuted it in public.

Humans have a limit to their ability to withstand pressure. Taking proper rest will not lead to decadence or indulgence.

If you don't believe me, you can do some actual tests. Franz often conducts these kinds of stress tests.

The most famous of these are the one-week tour of British factories and the three-month tour of British factories.

There were originally plans for a six-month and a one-year tour, but they had to be cancelled because the chances of death and injury were too high.

In particular, the mortality rate among year-long trips is as high as 92%, with the majority being suicides and a small percentage being deaths from overwork.

Most of the remaining people went insane, and those who didn't were left with lifelong disabilities to varying degrees.

Even the disability and mortality rates during the March tour were higher than on any battlefield or in the most dangerous colonies. At first, they thought it was because the economists and officials were too weak.

However, when the military was replaced by aristocratic soldiers, the disability rate decreased, but the mortality rate increased significantly.

Even if suicide violates religious doctrine, those tough guys will still commit suicide. The aristocratic ladies who participated in the week-long tour, after experiencing the life of female factory workers in Britain, either became nuns or anti-British fighters.

In short, every survivor of this "publicly funded trip" undergoes a drastic personality change.
When Franz made the suggestion, everyone backed down, but he didn't want people to think he was deliberately forcing the issue.

Therefore, Franz asked them to put themselves in his shoes, since their physical and mental health would also be affected if they didn't have time to rest.

However, Franz's move angered many people who felt they were different from ordinary people, that they were superior, God's chosen people, educated and therefore of higher quality, and of better lineage.

Franz was insulting the entire upper class, but he felt he didn't need to deliberately insult them; did he need to elaborate on what those privileged kids did on a daily basis?

If Franz hadn't been truly kind, benevolent, and stood with the aristocracy, they would have been sent to work in the coal mines long ago.

Do those idle second-generation rich kids receive little education? Are their bloodlines not noble enough? Or were they simply born into a bad family?

Franz saw no value in such debates, and he was careful not to hurt the fragile egos of those people.

So Franz decided to let Madame Sophie persuade those guys, and sure enough, he soon stopped hearing any opposition.

However, Garibaldi didn't have that many nuns or female civil servants at his disposal; the only woman he could use was his wife.

As for himself, he was in the military and didn't know much about the administrative aspects.

Sylvia is indeed a heroine, but the problem is that she is more like a combat unit; controlling public opinion and coordinating logistics are clearly not her strengths.

To be honest, Sylvia wished she could tie all those gossipy women's tongues together in a knot and then whip each of them.

"Letting rumors run rampant is simply a way to demoralize the troops!"

Sylvia kicked over the table in front of the cripple Joseph, and the officers in the camp looked at each other in bewilderment.

"A bunch of old women, what can we do? We can't exactly go and beat them up, can we?"

"It's nothing," a seasoned, stubble-faced man said nonchalantly.

Sylvia lashed his buttocks with her whip, causing the burly man to jump up in pain.

"Can't you hit a woman? You've never been lenient when you hit your wife, so what kind of gentleman are you pretending to be now?"

The big man quickly went around to Garibaldi's back.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting! The ship will be here tomorrow, and those Piedmontese cowards won't dare to come over. Why are we so nervous?"

"Ignorant fool! How many battles have you fought? Do you think fighting is about taking care of gangsters and bandits on the streets?"

This isn't a military camp, and the guns those civilians have wouldn't be much more effective than fire pokers in a real fight.

We only have a little over a hundred of our old brothers left. What if the other side attacks?
Do you expect this rabble to outrun bullets?

Garibaldi also frowned. He knew his wife was right, but he really didn't know what to do. If they were in Genoa, he would have just ordered professional officials to handle it.

Fortunately, it only lasted a day, so nothing too serious should happen. But in reality, a somber atmosphere permeated the entire camp, a stark contrast to the previous fervor.

Not to mention the ordinary people, even Garibaldi was somewhat affected by this atmosphere. He seemed to feel the wind getting colder, and waiting was even more of a torment.

The surrounding area was filled with pacing crowds and noisy discussions. Everywhere he looked, there was the air of a defeated army. He was certain that if an enemy force were to launch a surprise attack, there would be no need for a fight; a few shots would be enough to rout them.

What was most agonizing was that some people actually believed the rumors and took their families across the river under cover of night. Garibaldi initially wanted to turn a blind eye.

However, crossing a river at night is no easy feat, let alone with families. As a result, many people drowned along the way, and this time Garibaldi had no choice but to intervene.

Unable to stand by and watch someone die, yet also unable to lower his guard, he had no choice but to organize his trusted men to go into the water to rescue the person.

To be fair, Garibaldi acknowledged the concept of equality for all beings, but at this moment he truly felt that those reckless fools were unworthy of having his brave soldiers risk their lives to save them.

In fact, most of the Po River Guard thought the same way, but they still risked their lives to save him.

But human strength has its limits. They couldn't save everyone; in fact, they lost several lives in the process. They received both gratitude and complaints.

This made those who had lived in the Austrian Empire for a long time feel extremely unbalanced, and when no one was there to protect them, they really couldn't hold on any longer.

In fact, these volunteers who came from afar are essentially a group of ruthless people who kill without blinking an eye. They have survived countless battlefields and naturally have a fierce aura.

The scene at this moment would inevitably ignite their fighting spirit. If it weren't for Garibaldi, a leader with sufficient prestige, they would have made these ungrateful bastards kneel down and beg for mercy in no time, or even buried with their recently deceased brothers.

In fact, Garibaldi was also enduring it. He once thought he was fearless, but now he had to admit that he was afraid that those ignorant people would continue to do some ignorant things.

Having been protected by the Austrian Empire's system in the past, Garibaldi had become accustomed to the identity of the cripple Joseph, and even though his leg had returned to normal, he would still pretend to be a cripple in front of others.

The crippled Joseph didn't need to worry too much; someone else would handle the mess behind the scenes.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out. Garibaldi wasn't the type to hesitate. He knew that a decision had to be made at this moment, otherwise everyone would be buried with that group.

"Anyone who goes into the river without permission will be shot! And you bunch of guys who don't trust us, you can get out of the camp right now!"
I'm giving you only five minutes! If you're not gone by then, you're doing what I say! Otherwise, you're dead!

At this moment, a middle-aged woman shouted loudly.

"This is our camp, you're the ones who should get out!"

The impact of those words was terrifying, but Sylvia didn't give anyone else a chance to echo her. She lashed the middle-aged woman across the face with her whip.

Just as the other party was about to say something, another lash came out. The middle-aged woman was a notorious shrew in the surrounding area; otherwise, she wouldn't have dared to speak so arrogantly in front of a group of soldiers.

She mustered her courage and wanted to fight Sylvia, hoping to get her scoundrel husband's help as well.

However, how could a battle-hardened female warrior with a weapon in hand be dealt with by just any village woman on the roadside?