Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1135

1135: Greek war: Turning tides 1135: Greek war: Turning tides 18th May 1698 The flowers were blooming, the skies were clear and blue, and the weather was turning warmer.

May in the Italian Federation is a very special month, a gentle transition between spring and early summer.

The Italians even refer to it as the days of fioritura, or simply, the days of blooming.

Flowers like the westernia, hailed as one of the most enchanting blossoms of Venice, especially the purple pesteria that cascaded over courtyard walls, pergolas, and archways, looked magnificent and breathtaking in full bloom.

Giving company to the enchanting westernia were the roses, the peonies, the iris, and the foxgloves, each adding its own colour and fragrance to the season.

All of these blooming together gave the capital of the Italian federation, Concordia, a new life.

Initially, Distretto Federale di Concordia, or simply the federal district of Concordia, was supposed to only be the capital of the Italian Federation until the Papal States, which still occupied Rome, were defeated.

But even after the Papal States eventually succumbed to the relentless pressure from the army of Venice and allies from all four sides, waving the white flag while retaining complete control only over Vatican City, the capital was not moved to Rome.

There were a few reasons for this.

For one, Concordia turned out to be an excellent city situated at the junction of several major states, making logistics extremely easy.

Not to mention, Venice was also a northern state, so as the state credited with unifying Italy, its opinions carried significant weight.

Secondly, the southern states like Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia did not want to be too close to the capital, so they supported keeping the federal district in Concordia.

Ever since the capital city was finalised, a lot of resources had been poured into the once barren land to turn it into the shining pearl of the Italian peninsula.

Although it does not have as much heritage as Rome, Sicily, Naples, or other Roman-era cities, what it does have is a superior architectural design that makes it far more modern than the older cities with deeper heritage.

It even has a complete intercity communication network like the Bharatiya Empire, making it, in terms of development, not too far behind the major cities of the Bharatiya Empire.

In such a city, under such lovely, cool weather at the mid-20 Tapans, the Italians were truly enjoying themselves, strolling through avenues lined with blooming flowers, savouring exquisite pastries fresh from bustling cafés, surrounded by imported cars, and embracing life to the fullest with the easy confidence of a people who knew they lived in a rising, modern capital.

But unfortunately, Matteo Molin and Alessandro Gradenigo had worried expressions on their faces as they hurried toward the Emperor’s office.

Matteo had always known something was wrong.

Ever since the death of Giovanni Morosini four years ago, things had started to go awry, or rather, turn strange.

One of the methods used to unify the federation had been propaganda, spreading and romanticising the idea of a united Italian state.

But after unification, that slowly faded.

Yet for the past four years, no, even before that, Matteo wasn’t even sure when; he could only blame himself for being too engrossed in making money and neglecting the bread and butter of his family, the judiciary.

Now, the voice of Italian unity was rising once again, but this time it was different.

It no longer spoke solely of uniting the federation; it spoke of dominating the Mediterranean.

When this happened, Matteo did not think much about it, but as time went on, things became stranger.

The talk among the people eventually became about how Italy can now defeat their coloniser, Spain, by itself, how it has already surpassed the Portuguese, how Italians are the chosen race, and other things.

When he got to know about this three years ago, he felt it was ridiculous.

Italy might occupy an excellent geographic location within Europe, but even it did not dare to claim that it could take on empires like the Spanish, Portuguese, and British.

After all, even though Italy looks bigger on the map and has more people, it cannot fight forever, whereas the other empires, thanks to their colonial support, can.

It was then he was contacted by the head of the Gradenigo family, Alessandro Gradenigo, about his speculation that the federation is secretly preparing for war.

Matteo’s immediate reaction was impossible, but after witnessing so many weird things over the years, he became cautious.  It was then that he finally paid closer attention to the Department of Judiciary, where his family still held considerable power, and tried to dig deeper into the Ministry of Justice, while Alessandro began contacting his family’s connections in the Ministry of Trade to see if he could track the movement of materials.

It would have been all right if Matteo had left it at that, but once he looked into it, he was shocked.

The people in the judiciary were, whether intentionally or not, avoiding him.

Only the older connections bothered to respond; the newer ones acted as if they did not know him at all.

He came to a horrifying realisation: his family was being excluded from many places, such as parliament, public gatherings, and banquets.

Although they were still present at important events, such as the annual Federal Assembly of Rulers or during the Federal Electoral Congress elections, beyond that, there was nothing.

Alessandro observed the same situation.

He and his family were being excluded silently from the power centre of the Italian federation.

But the Molin family and the Gradenigo family are old families of Venice after all, they were one of the founding members of the Italian Federation.

Their influence ran deep, so Matteo and Alessandro were about to use the connections developed secretly, unknown to the other families, and utilised these connections to figure out what was happening.  Just then, their intelligence channels, which they had expanded due to the recent troubles, brought them worrying news.

People apparently started talking about the Bharatiya Empire blocking their path to Mediterranean dominance.

People started to talk about how the Bharatiya Empire has essentially locked Italy within the Mediterranean Sea without a chance to expand.

Matteo’s heartbeat quickened when he heard this news, but worse was yet to come.

When he attended the Federal Electoral Congress following the elections held every five years, he was horrified to see that out of the 120 federal electors, nearly 90 were people who had been in favour of banning labour unions and aggressively pushing for the expansion of the Italian Federation.

Neither Matteo nor Alessandro knew what to do.

Things were going to shit faster than they could comprehend.

One moment, they were making tonnes of money by importing industrial machinery from the Bharatiya Empire and selling it locally and across Europe, but the next moment, they were almost excluded from the power circle, and the federation was no longer recognisable.

The final news that hit the nail on the coffin was that Matteo, from his contacts, learnt that the Armata Federazione Italiana, as well as the Esercito Federazione Italiana, were mobilising in real time and were already prepared to take action.

He knew he could not waste any more time, so without hesitation, he joined Alessandro and set off to confront the Federal Emperor directly.

Emperor’s office, Distretto Federale di Concordia A middle-aged Caucasian man, who looked to be in his early forties, wore a sombre expression as he discussed something with two elderly men.

Both were dressed in military camouflage uniforms, at first glance drawing inspiration from the designs of the Bharatiya Empire.

The Caucasian man with slightly grey-golden hair and light green eyes was none other than Leandro Contarini, the Federal Emperor of the Italian Federation and the new patriarch of the Contarini family, the same family that had been one of the six influential Venetian houses instrumental in establishing the federation, and the same family that had produced the hundredth Doge of Venice.

He was now the successor of Giovanni Morosini, having been elected emperor after Morosini’s death in 1694.

Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Your majesty, senior Matteo Molin of the House of Molin, as well as senior Alessandro Gradenigo of the House of Gradenigo, requested your audience.” The Imperial Guard hesitated and added, “They firmly insist that they get your audience.” Leandro frowned, but a few seconds later, a smile crossed his face.

“Invite them in.” Matteo and Alessandro secretly stared at each other at the corner of their vision.

After they saw the admiral and the martial in the same room with the federal emperor, their speculation became even more certain, so Matteo did not beat around the bush and directly asked the question that was in his heart.

“Your majesty, are we going to war?” As soon as Leandro heard the question, there was pin-drop silence in the room.

Apart from the spinning blades of the mechanical fans, no other sound could be heard.

But to Matteo and Alessandro’s surprise, Leandro did not mince his words and straightforwardly admitted, “Yes!” Matteo was taken aback.

He did not expect Leandro to answer so readily, but that only made the situation even worse, since it meant that there was nothing he could do to change the situation.

Alessandro seemed to understand this as well, and his expression turned grave.

“Can I ask against whom?” As the prominent member of the merchant guild and as the patriarch of a trading family, Alessandro had already guessed the target according to the rumours he had heard for the past few years, but he still wanted to hear the words from the mouth of the emperor.

Leandro stared at his two childhood friends for a while before he let out a sigh, “Haven’t you both already guessed?

Yes, it is as you think.

It is against the Bharatiya Empire, but not directly.” He hesitated when he spoke to this point.

Since the planning for this day had started over five years ago and it was the topmost secret of the federation, only a few people had access to it.

Hiding it deeply had become second nature.

But a wave of clarity washed over him.

“Since it has reached this point, and most people will know in a few days anyway, there is no need to hide it any longer.

Our target is the United Greek Socialist Republics.” Both Matteo and Alessandro were in disbelief.

Everyone in the world knew who had propped up the Greeks and who was providing naval support, so Matteo could not even bring himself to believe that they were after the Greeks.

Wasn’t attacking the Greeks the same as attacking the Bharatiya Empire?

“But why?

Aren’t we allies?

Don’t we have multiple treaties?” As soon as Leandro heard the question, his eyes narrowed.

“Allies?” A visible arc of disdain appeared on his lips, “haha”, “How can we be allies with those Eastern Mongrels?

Humph, if we were really allies, we would have been invited to participate as one of the shareholders in the Suez Canal Company, but were we?

No.” Intense hatred surged in his eyes, “Instead, the so-called Greek Republic, the Mad Dog, was propped up right at our shore.” “And don’t you see how that crappy socialism has poisoned the minds of our people?” “Also, that trade treaty,” even thinking about it made his fists clench, “it made us nothing but a dumping ground for those bastards.

Every year, how much gold and silver is sent to the Bharatiya Empire in exchange for their crappy industrial goods?” “Not to mention the patent exchange is the biggest scam dressed as a treaty.

No matter what patent our businessmen buy from the Bharatiya Empire, they cannot make a product at a lower price than the Bharatiya Empire, but whatever we invent can be easily bought by the Bharatiya Empire, and they make the majority of profits.

How is this **** fair?” A hint of worry appeared in his eyes, “All of this happened despite it taking over a month and a half to travel from India to Italy, but now with the Suez Canal, it can be cut down to only a few weeks.

Can we survive?” His eyes turned sharp, “So I have decided to snatch the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and teach those Bharatiyas a lesson.” Matteo and Alessandro were both stunned speechless, standing in their place without a sound, their eyes widened, and their mouths agape.

Matteo wanted to say that even if everything he said was mostly true, going up against the Bharatiya Empire was extremely irrational, but Leandro did not give him a chance to come back to his senses as he continued.

“It was not an accident that both of your families are being excluded,” Leandro spoke out, his expression returning to normal.

“As the two families with the closest connexions with the Bharatiya Empire, both of you are a liability, and your loyalty is to be proved.

So…” His eyes softened as he took on a negotiating tone, “I’m not speaking to you as the federal emperor of the Italian Federation, but as your friend.

Please listen to my advice and use your contacts within the Bharatiya Empire to provide critical information for the upcoming war.” “If it is proven useful and important enough, not only will you stop being excluded, but you will also be added to the council.” The word council snapped Molin awake, “Are all the other families involved in this?” he uttered in disbelief.

Leandro did not hide and nodded, “Not only the other families, but also the other noble houses, the Savoy’s, the Durai’s, the Canossa’s, the Este’s, the Della Rovere’s, Delli Piane’s, the Medici’s, and even those Knights of Malta under the flag of St John.” Molin’s mind went numb, and he did not know how he got back home.