I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1133 Provoking War
Carlos Botta appeared at the door shortly afterward.

When he learned that the man in front of him was Count Costantini, who was quite influential in political circles, he hurriedly and politely ushered the latter into the villa.

Costantini sat down on the sofa and asked curiously, "Mr. Botta, it seems someone has angered you just now?"

Upon hearing this, Bota's face immediately turned red again. He turned around, took a book from the study, threw it in front of him, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Look at what these arrogant and ignorant Milanese people are saying."
"They actually claim to be the art center of the Apennines, when there is no real art anywhere else."

"Oh, so they say Tuscan is only spoken by country bumpkins, and Lombard is the truly elegant language. Humph, they just copied a few French words; they're practically linguistic bastards!"

Costantini picked up the book in surprise and saw the words "The Great Milan" printed in gold on the cover.

He opened the book, and from the table of contents, he could tell that it was a book about the history of the Duchy of Milan.

However, the starting date in the catalog is surprisingly 700 AD!
He frowned slightly, and subconsciously said, "The Duchy of Milan was probably established by the Visconti family in the 14th century..."

“You’re right!” Botta exclaimed, as if he had found a kindred spirit. “In the 8th century, Milan was just a few impoverished villages. Yet they dared to claim it as the precursor to the Duchy of Milan!”
"It was also said that at that time, the rest of the Apennines was inhabited only by barbarians."

"That's ridiculous! Everyone knows that Florence has existed since the founding of the Roman Empire and has always been a major metropolis!"
"By the way, this book also says that the Florentines were cowards who always submitted to the powers of southern Italy, which is utter nonsense..."

Costantini frowned again and turned to the side cover of "The Great Milan," which was printed with the name of Rossi Pastori.

This is a famous historian.

How could Mr. Pastori hold such a view?

"Because of arrogance and stupidity!" Botha was clearly furious with the book. "I've decided to write an article refuting this guy as quickly as possible, so he'll come and apologize to me in person!"

Costantini paused for a moment, then said carefully, "But I heard that you are currently writing a history of Italy."

"I'll finish it after I teach those ignorant Milanese a lesson," Bota shook his head. "Right now, I'm not in the mood for anything important."

Costantini had no choice but to join him in cursing the Milanese, agreeing to return in two months, before reluctantly taking his leave.

What he didn't know was that after Bota finished writing his article retaliating against Pastori, someone immediately helped print tens of thousands of copies, which were then sold all over Milan at extremely low prices.

Before Pastori could react, a large group of Milanese writers and thinkers wrote articles to "criticize" Bota.

The best of these counterattacks were printed in large quantities and sold back to Florence at low prices.

Two months later, the war of words between Milan and Fiorentina had reached a fever pitch. If it weren't for government intervention, the two sides might have already organized a brawl.

Yes, that book, "The Great Milan," was written by Baron Joseph Scherer.

As someone who experienced the 21st-century internet age, he knows very well that it is very difficult to get different groups of people to agree, but it is the easiest thing to stir up conflict.

Back then, if those regional slurs were to start up, everyone in the thread would forget what they were originally doing and start attacking each other regionally.

The Youth Italy organization wants to unite countries using the concept of an Italian nation; let's see if it can overcome regional divisions.

The pattern is very simple: create a topic, lavishly praise people from one place, and then criticize another. Those praised will mostly support you enthusiastically, while those criticized will retaliate angrily.

Afterwards, someone from the side that was criticized will start a conversation, praising another place and criticizing the side that criticized them before. The place that was praised then joins the fray.

Before long, the whole of northern Italy will be torn apart. Do you want "brave Milanese" and "cowards" to form a country then?
Do not make jokes.

Even if the topic of regional conflict doesn't gain traction, Joseph has a whole host of other topics in store, such as "language conflict" and "monarchy versus republic."

Then comes the establishment of each country's own identity.

My Milan originated from the Duchy of Milan, and has no relation to your Duchy of Florence, Duchy of Parma, or anything like that.

What do you mean by "we're all Italians"?
How could the great Milanese be like those kinds of people?

In the future, when the Youth Italy organization gives speeches on "Italian unification" in various countries, they will most likely be beaten up by the audience.

In fact, it won't be long before people within their organization get involved in the verbal battles.

After all, what normal person could resist such a thrilling war of words?

……

Republic of Luka.

In the Duke's Palace, the council's meeting place, Consul Alberto Ariosto of Luca stared at Talleyrand in shock, and after a long while, he stammered, "You...you mean to declare war?"

"But our country only has a little over 500 soldiers, otherwise we wouldn't have..."

He originally wanted to say, "We wouldn't be unable to defeat even the rioters and let the goods of the French caravan be burned," but he felt it was too embarrassing, so he changed it to: "We couldn't even handle the army of the province of Naples."

Yes, just now Talleyrand asked him to declare war on Naples on the grounds that "he funded rioters to create trouble and almost started a war between Luxembourg and France."

The security bureau had already arrested more than a dozen mid- to high-ranking members of the Youth Italy organization—guaranteeing solid evidence, and even if not immediately available, Lavalette would have it fabricated. Therefore, the Lucca High Court quickly completed its trials, and most of these individuals were imprisoned on charges such as "violent assault," "robbery," and "embezzlement."

Yes, they will absolutely not bring up charges like "treason" or "incitement to riot," which are clearly political persecution.

The security service then interrogated them slowly, and it was revealed that two of the officers had traveled to Naples to arrange the transport of weapons.

Lavalette immediately sent men, posing as police officers from Luca, to secretly infiltrate Fort Voltuno, where they quickly found crucial evidence, including the source of the weapons and the people involved.

With these items in hand, Luca could declare war on Naples.

Talleyrand smiled and said, "You probably forgot that Luca is a member of the Mediterranean Security Organization."

Ariosto swallowed hard and said, "But the terms of the security organization stipulate that other member states can only be asked to send troops when a member state is invaded."

Talleyrand immediately nodded: "You're right, Neapolitan weapons have appeared in large quantities in Luca, which is clearly an act of invasion!"

(End of this chapter)