Chapter 5

Since there was a newspaper as an opinion weapon in hand, the next most important step was to create a popular persona for himself.

If a persona was created well, it could be defaultly considered by the public to be on the side of the majority without Gao Da taking any action.

And as a member of the royal family, a friendly and loving character was also destined to be welcomed.

The public certainly did not want the royal family above their heads to look high and mighty, which was also the reason why monarchs led by the British King in later generations always looked friendly and kind.

Whether it was shown to the Italian public or the European public, rigid and conservative ideas were destined to be unpopular.

Although there were a large number of conservatives in monarchical countries, for Italy and Spain where Gao Da wanted to go, reformists were what the public really wanted to see.

However, although Gao Da wanted to establish the impression of a reformist, he would absolutely not offer any opinions on Italy's reforms.

Reform was reform, but who led this reform was the really important question. Supporting and being optimistic about reform was a weapon in Gao Da's hands, but if he really pointed fingers at the reform, it would be more than worth the loss.

No government would like a king who pointed fingers at all parts of the country. If Gao Da wanted to become the King of Spain, he must first understand how to be a mascot and not point fingers everywhere.

On February 21, 1866, the Italian 24-Hour Sun published an article written by Gao Da, "We Want Bread, Macaroni, and Milk," which successfully fired the first shot in establishing the impression of caring for the people.

In this completely chicken soup article, Gao Da mentioned many times the importance of the bottom-level people in Italy, especially those farmers in southern Italy.

And it also concluded in the article: whether in Italy or Europe, the requirements of the people were actually not complicated, nothing more than eating and dressing warmly.

If the government could put more focus on the bottom-level people, perhaps the lives of the people would be happier.

The whole article did not have any big truths, and even shaped Gao Da into a prince who had nothing to do and was overly loving.

Although many bottom-level people had a good impression of Gao Da because of this report, government officials dismissed it.

Taking care of the lives of the bottom-level people? It sounds so good, isn't it still money from the government?

Not to mention how much fiscal budget is needed to improve the lives of all bottom-level people in Italy, isn't it better to invest this money in places where Italy needs it more, such as military construction and industrial development?

As for those civilians at the bottom of society, it is already very good to ensure that they do not starve to death. Who among the noble masters has the heart to care whether the civilians are full or warm?

Because Gao Da really had no one to use under his command, this report only had a certain influence near Milan and did not even spread to Florence.

But for Gao Da's plan, the first step had been successfully taken. Regardless of what the government and the nobles thought, the first thing to do now was to make the public believe that Gao Da was a prince who cared about the bottom-level people and even had overflowing kindness.

Such a character would absolutely not be hated by the public. After all, the vast majority of a country's population were bottom-level people, which was something that no political system or ideology could change.

It is a pity that Gao Da is too young now, and many layouts cannot be carried out smoothly, and he still needs to spend a lot of time and energy to complete Italy's traditional noble elite education.

Although he is only a prince, the succession order to the throne is ranked third, which is basically impossible.

But Vittorio Emanuele II still paid great attention to Gao Da's education and cultivation. As the youngest son of Vittorio Emanuele II at present, Gao Da undoubtedly received the most love and attention from his father.

Gao Da this year is already close to 15 years old and has basically completed the early elite noble education.

According to Vittorio Emanuele II's plan for Gao Da's cultivation, Gao Da has two choices. One is to choose to study management and economics in depth, so as to properly handle his land and property in the future.

Another choice is to go to a military academy to study and become a glorious Italian officer, dedicating himself to the royal family and the country.

For Gao Da, who already had a plan in his heart, the most suitable choice was naturally to go to a military academy to cultivate his military ability.

More importantly, in the military academy, he might also be able to meet some officers who were not famous but had good military capabilities, accumulating his own connections.

It is a pity that Gao Da is not the first heir to the throne, that is, the Crown Wang Chu. Otherwise, he could fully rely on the status of the Crown Wang Chu to form a palace guard and cultivate his own armed forces from scratch.

Although the unified Italy already had the qualifications to compete with the great powers, the foundation of Italy at this time was still too thin, even in terms of military schools.

There is no Italy in the world's top ten famous military schools in later generations. Even now, there are actually not many military schools in Italy worth choosing.

The most reliable military school choice at present is the Turin Military Academy located in the former capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

This military school is located in Turin, the base camp of the House of Savoy, and is an important institution for the Kingdom of Sardinia to cultivate military backbones.

Vittorio Emanuele II maintained a supportive attitude towards Gao Da's idea of wanting to go to a military academy.

This is very common for Western monarchical countries. For the kings of these monarchical countries, what they can trust most are members of the royal family and nobles.

The Turin Royal Military Academy is mainly responsible for the training of infantry and artillery officers, and the Milan Royal Military Academy is responsible for the training of cavalry officers.

This is also the reason why Gao Da directly chose the Turin Royal Military Academy. After all, first of all, Gao Da does not need to charge into battle himself, and secondly, the cavalry will be eliminated in the next few decades, and the terrain of Spain and Italy is not suitable for large-scale cavalry charges.

In fact, compared to those instructors at the Turin Royal Military Academy, Gao Da admires a legendary Italian name more, one of the three great heroes who unified Italy, the hero of two worlds—Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Simply discussing military ability, Garibaldi is definitely the most outstanding military commander in all of Italy in modern times.

Even historians of later generations only mentioned three meritorious heroes in their description of the entire Italian unification event, which is the so-called three heroes of the founding of Italy.

"The unification of Italy is attributed to Mazzini's ideology, Garibaldi's sword, and Cavour's diplomacy."

From the description of this passage, it is enough to see how excellent Garibaldi's military talent is.

But unfortunately, among the three heroes of the founding of Italy, only Prime Minister Cavour is of the Kingdom of Sardinia faction, and Mazzini, who created the ideology of Italian unification, is a thorough republican and an enemy of the monarchy.

And Garibaldi, whom Gao Da admires extremely, although he did not clearly oppose the monarchy, he has also defected to the republican system many times and is not trusted by the monarchy.

Although Garibaldi was extremely selfless in the process of Italian unification, even after obtaining the territory of the entire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, he resolutely handed it over to the Kingdom of Sardinia for rule.

But Garibaldi's high prestige in the army and his history of serving the republic still made him unable to enter the high level of the new Italy.

Seeking monthly tickets, seeking follow-up reading, seeking collections, seeking recommendation tickets!

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(End of this chapter)