The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1196: Chapter 133: There Are No Secret Police in Gottingen (6K6)_4

Garibaldi sighed: ”It’s all my fault. If only I had thought of these things back then. I was just thinking about getting as many people as possible to support the uprising, without considering so much. And according to our original plan, as long as I shouted those slogans in Genoa, the people living under the oppression of the monarchy would definitely respond enthusiastically, and in their cheers, the police wouldn’t dare to do anything to me.”

The Great Dumas responded: ”Oh! This is because you never lived in London. If you had spent time in London, you would know that even when facing armed citizens, the police still have the courage to shoot.”

Fiona, who had been silently listening on the side, couldn’t hold back and chimed in: ”But the London police were also shot.”

The Great Dumas shook his head: ”Sorry, I forgot about that. Giuseppe, continue, what happened next?”

”What happened next?”

Garibaldi sighed: ”According to the original plan, the night before the uprising I ordered Bonfilius to lead people into the St. Paul District during the uprising, and Lieutenant Christini was to open the door to the armory. I told them everything I could. Like how the insurgents numbered 300, our weapons were simple, with only handguns and 40 rifles. During the uprising, the troops would be divided into five squads to bravely assault the gendarme barracks located at Salzana Square, deploying all living forces to strive to capture the Governor of Genoa, Paulo, and other military and political officials, etc.”

Fiona, hearing this, covered her mouth in shock: ”All 300 people died?”

”No, ma’am, although we were very bad, we weren’t that bad.”

Garibaldi self-deprecatingly said: ”To secretly distinguish between friend and foe, we insurgents had to attach a brightly colored marker to our buttonholes. On the day of the uprising, everything was ready. But, when we started to gather, the army and police also mobilized. As per the plan, I went to the White Dove Inn, only to find a dozen people waiting for me there.

Seeing so few people arrive made my heart sink. I kept running to the door to look out, thinking they had all overslept. As time passed, the numbers still didn’t increase. I didn’t understand why the others hadn’t come to gather. As the day darkened, I could no longer sit still, so I planned to go with Mutlu to see what was going on.

But luckily! Fortune truly smiled upon us! Just as we had left, a squad of police rushed into the inn and seized three people, and the others fled. This raid on the inn also meant that our uprising ended before it even began.

It wasn’t until after that I learned that the enemy used a large force of troops and police to heavily guard the armory, the gendarme barracks, and the city government that day, which objectively alerted our people that something was wrong, and things didn’t look good. So, most people didn’t go to the gathering as planned and dispersed to hide. As for the three unlucky ones who were arrested, they were released by the police the next day due to lack of evidence.”

The Great Dumas widened his eyes, the black chubby man unsure whether to cry or laugh: ”Fortunes do smile on fools. So what did you do later that day?”

Garibaldi somewhat embarrassedly said: ”Once the tension in the city ended, everything returned to normal. At that time, the clueless Mutlu and I strolled through the city with nothing unusual. When the street lamps lit up, we entered a frequently visited dance hall and found many people dancing there. And, among them were quite a few who were supposed to help us launch the uprising.

This struck us as odd, but secretly we guessed there must be something peculiar going on. We hung around the dance hall for a while before returning to the inn to sleep. Mutlu fell asleep quickly, but I couldn’t sleep at all. Before dawn, I got dressed and went to the designated main gathering place, reckoning that they might have gotten the date wrong, so I went there to see what was happening.

But still, like the first day, there was no one in sight. What was I to do? At that time, I surmised that my identity was likely exposed, and returning to the battleship would certainly lead to arrest. So, I turned back to the inn intending to inform Mutlu to escape together. Before I even reached the inn, I saw the clerk running breathlessly towards me, telling me that Mutlu had already been arrested, and that the inn was surrounded by police, urging me to flee quickly.

Thus, I had to go seek out my girlfriend Natalina in Genoa, who ran a fruit store at Salzana Square. If everything had gone according to plan, a fierce battle was to have happened there. But on that day, nothing happened at Salzana Square. I stayed at the fruit store until evening, and once it got dark, I went back to the inn to find my other girlfriend, Talecina. She took advantage of the night to escort me to Caterina’s house, where there was a cellar, a relatively safe hiding place.

Later, several others also came to hide at Caterina’s house. We stayed there for five days, and on the sixth day, Caterina had us change into her old clothes, with pockets stuffed full of bread and cheese, and disguised as peasant women, we escaped the city under the cover of night. We followed the countryside paths, planning to take shortcuts back to my hometown, Nice. But we hadn’t traveled far before we ran into Mr. Nourri on the road.”