Descending On France 1780
Chapter 186: The Liberator of Milan, the Great Benefactor of Italy

Chapter 186: The Liberator of Milan, the Great Benefactor of Italy

Before the French Army troops entered the city, they halted outside, and Anning gave a pre-entry mobilization speech to the entire army.

"We are the liberators of Italy, not plunderers. We must display our fine discipline and truly live up to what is sung in the military anthems: take not a penny, treat people with courtesy!"

Anning, mounted on horseback, loudly addressed all the troops.

His army included many who had joined after being defeated by Lafayette, and their military discipline was not as strong as that of his original foundation troops.

These troops were prone to looting, and in Diego, Anning had seriously dealt with a few looters, thus enforcing strict discipline.

If possible, Anning wanted to allow only Davout’s division to enter the city, as it was composed of his original troops, who had undergone over a year of training and education, and certainly had much stronger discipline than the conscripted troops.

Anning planned to deploy the Laharpu Division—now Lana Division—towards Mantua Fortress to monitor the movements of the Austrian army.

But after so many consecutive days of fighting, it wouldn’t be reasonable to not allow them to rest in Milan City.

Therefore, Anning could only try to improve the troops’ discipline through his speech.

Although his purpose in Italy was to achieve primitive accumulation, his own troops could not engage in looting.

This felt quite like black humor.

After the speech was over, Anning led the way into the city.

The city’s leading figures in Milan had already received the news and were lined up outside the city to welcome the French Army. Many of Milan’s common folk also ran outside to watch.

From a distance, the large crowd outside the city of Milan reminded Anning of the scene in "Let the Bullets Fly" when arriving in Goose City—except for the lack of a drummer.

Anning placed his female cavalry at the front of the queue entering the city, just behind his staff officers.

This arrangement was made because the female cavalry, after all, were close to the French King’s ceremonial guard, and the girls looked very imposing and attractive, which by association also bolstered his own prestige.

In this manner, Anning led a group of female knights to the Italians waiting to welcome them.

For some reason, many of the Italians who came to welcome Anning were fat men, pot-bellied, and the leader among the fatties stepped forward and shouted loudly as Anning approached: "Long live liberty and equality!"

He spoke in French.

Apparently, in the eyes of these wealthy Italians, revolutionary France epitomized the notion of "freedom and equality."

Anning responded directly in Italian: "Long live the liberation of Italy!"

The Italians looked around at each other in confusion, and then the fatty who had shouted about liberty and equality spoke for everyone: "The liberation of Italy?"

Anning: "Yes, we are here for the liberation of Italy. We will support you to break free from the rule of the Holy Roman Empire!"

Anning made this statement entirely in Italian, causing a stir among the onlooking Italians.

The pot-bellied Italian gentry looked at each other in bewilderment.

Suddenly, a young Italian shouted out: "Does that mean we don’t have to pay taxes to France?"

Anning: "Of course, from this day forward, you are citizens of an independent Italian nation, and you only need to pay taxes to your own government to sustain its operation."

Of course, we will plunder the wealth of Italy in a completely new way, a far more concealed method.

Anning did not voice this part.

The Italians were in uproar, clearly having assumed that the French were here to rule over Italy as well.

And the first to shout "Long live equality!" was a fat man who could not believe it. He stepped forward and asked, "So there will not be another Governor’s Mansion?"

Anning nodded: "Yes, there won’t be. But there will be a National Assembly, just like the one in Paris, France! Next, we will hang the governor of the Holy Roman Empire in Milan, and we will also capture and hang all those who helped him oppress the Italian people!"

The fat man gasped in shock, "This..."

At this moment, a young man among the Italian crowd watching the event shouted: "He is the mayor of Milan for the Holy Roman Empire! An accomplice of the governor! They all are!"

Anning thought to herself, no wonder you are so fat, so this is why.

Anning: "Miss Oliver!"

"I’m here."

Anning: "Take all these gentlemen into custody! But treat them kindly, we as foreigners have no right to dispose of them until they are tried by a court of Italians!"

Anning continued: "Milan will become a Milan for the Italians! A free Milan! The Italians will have their own government, their own parliament, their own army, and police! Until everything gets on the right track, the free French will oversee all of this, maintain order, and fight against the Austrian army!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Italian independence activists mixed in the crowd shouted: "Long live Italy, long live freedom, long live the free French!"

The crowd shouted intermittently, following this small group of Italian independence activists.

Amid these shouts, Miss Oliver and her knights took those fat gentlemen who came to welcome the French Army into custody.

Anning: "Now, please show us the way, we are going to the Governor’s Mansion of the Holy Roman Empire."

Someone in the crowd responded: "The governor has already fled! When the news of Marshal Boliue’s defeat reached him, he ran away!"

As soon as this was said, another person in the crowd asked, "Will you hang the nobles? I heard that after the French Revolution, all the nobles were hanged."

Anning: "Whether we will hang the nobles will be decided by the National Assembly of the revolutionary Italian people! If the assembly votes to hang them, then they will be hanged! The Italians will decide everything themselves!"

After she finished speaking, the citizens of Milan once again shouted for freedom and for France, led by the Italian independence activists.

Then the Italians began to sing a song that tells of the Holy Roman Empire’s oppression of Italy and the longing for Italian independence. Originally a very sorrowful song, it now sounded jubilant.

Beethoven, who witnessed this scene, exclaimed: "The Italians, they have welcomed a true hero, a true liberator! Oh, I am so happy for them!"

**

General Frost’s actions in Milan, Italy, were reported back to Paris.

Brissot, from the Girondists who now controlled the Parliament, was so angry that his nose was crooked. He furiously banged the table in the Girondists’ club: "What is this Frost trying to do! We were counting on Italian taxes to improve our financial situation!"

"I’ve said long ago, he’s a Jacobin! The Jacobins don’t wish us well!" Condorcet complained indignantly, "Such an important matter as dealing with Milan, and he did not even consult the Parliament! He completely disregards the Parliament!"

Brissot: "We must revoke his position as Commander of the Italian Army and make him return to Paris, to pay the price for his actions!"

Condorcet’s face showed difficulty: "After all, he’s won a victory, it’s not quite appropriate to remove him at this time, right? The Jacobins will surely take the opportunity to stir up trouble in the newspapers.

"Right now, what’s important is to have the new King ascend the throne, we must maintain the stability of Paris.

"The Jacobins have a lot of clout among the ’sans-culottes’ in Paris, what if they don’t cooperate and incite a sans-culottes uprising?"

Brissot cursed and pounded the table hard.

At this time, Condorcet added: "And moreover, the father of the new King, the Grand Duke Orleans, has a good relationship with Frost, making it even harder for us to move against him."

Brissot: "Damn it, how did we end up with such a person as King."

"That’s because the other eligible heirs have either been killed or fled the country."