In the mountains of South Tyrol, north of the small town of Naidi, on a tall spruce tree in the forest, the 26-year-old young man Reale Mona Kello, wearing a specially made camouflage uniform, carried a Manlisha Calgano 1891 rifle equipped with a scope, peeked through the dense branches and leaves of the town at the foot of the mountain and the surrounding military camps.

The South Tyrol dispute has been in trouble for several months. In response to the Italian government's move to send more troops to the border areas, the Austro-Hungarian Empire transferred 12 Austrian infantry regiments, 4 field cannon regiments, 3 mountain artillery regiments and 1 Hussar regiment, greatly strengthening the military force in the South Tyrol region. In addition, the border troops originally deployed here include three Tyrol hunting regiments, which are known for their elites, with an area of ​​less than 400 square meters. A few kilometers south of Tyrol gathered 30,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers. If the troops stationed in Northern Tyrol were added, the Austro-Hungarian Empire stationed nearly 100,000 troops in the border area of ​​Italy and Austria. Among the entire Tyrol region, Austrian troops occupied the vast majority, while the Germans accounted for only about 40 of the Austrian troops, the rest were Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Poles, Romanians and Italians.

As far as national concept is concerned, Realimona Kelo is an Italian. He was born in an ordinary Italian-speaking family in South Tyrol. As a citizen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he had served in the elite Tyrol hunting troops before he retired and traveled to Italy, and joined the infamous Italian Blackshirt Party there. In the autumn of 1943, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a dispute over South Tyrol. The Blackshirt Party took the opportunity to initiate the establishment of the South Tyrol Youth Army, recruiting Italian volunteers and Italians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to join them. Mona Kelo returned to his hometown, but what they brought to South Tyrol was not so-called justice and freedom, but endless disasters!

Among the nearly 500,000 residents in South Tyrol, German-speaking residents account for more than 60% and Italian-speaking only 30%. Therefore, Italy's territorial demands for South Tyrol are unconvincing, but the contradiction between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been a long-standing one. In Italy, hatred of Austria is an indelible national sentiment. The domineering Austrian Empire once divided Italy, obstructed Italy's unification, and strangled the Italian revolution. Italy Since the regaining of the **, the two countries still have territorial disputes in Trento, Tyrol and Ditrieste. Even though they are in the camp of allies and work together to engage in combat operations against the Allies and later against the United States and Britain, the two southern European countries have been competing with each other. In recent years, they have competed to provide Japan with military technology and combat materials, and are willing to devalue each other for their own interests. As long as there is a way to weaken or even destroy each other, both countries will definitely be happy to try.

The sight returned to the small town of Nedi, which is only fifteen kilometers away from the border between Italy and Austria. It guards the necessary path to the city of Polzano. The surrounding mountains are only suitable for goats and light-equipped mountain troops. Now thousands of Austro-Hungarian soldiers and at least one battalion of artillery are deployed around this village and town. They set up camp tents on the grass, dug trenches, bunkers and anti-aircraft artillery positions, and placed field artillery in the woods. Once the Italians launched an attack from the border, these Austro-Hungarian soldiers could immediately turn into defense and rely on the terrain here to block the Italian army into the hinterland of South Tyrol.

On the spruce tree above the top, more than 30 meters high, Monakelo looked ahead with a tired look on his face. His original mission was to spy on the military deployment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in this area. Just a few days ago, an intelligence came from Italy, saying that a big man from Vienna would be a patrolling South Tyrol in the past few days. The supreme commander of the South Tyrol Youth Army believed that attacking this big man could give Vienna a profound lesson, so that the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would face up to the will of the South Tyrol people,

Accepted their reasonable request to decide to stay or leave through a referendum. For this reason, the members of the South Tyrol Youth Army who were hidden everywhere were dispatched one after another, some lurked into towns and waited for an opportunity, while others were ambushed near the road and tried to complete the attack by sniping or blasting. The group where Monakelo decided to wait for an opportunity near the town of Nedi. If they found the target but could not be solved, they would report to the Youth Army Command through the radio station equipped by the group, and they would decide where to go.

According to the original plan, the team members changed posts once a day and monitored the Austro-Hungarian army camps in Nedi and surrounding Austro-Hungarian army camps for 24 hours. However, Monakelo had been in this position for nearly two days, and there was little food and water left. This was not because the team members suddenly disappeared, but because the Austro-Hungarian troops stationed at the foot of the mountain sent several patrols to conduct a carpet-style alert search in the surrounding area early in the morning and arranged a post at the commanding heights, so that the rotation personnel could not enter the woods, which was only a few kilometers away from Nedi. If Monakelo forced to evacuate at this time, the probability of being discovered is very high, it would be better to continue hiding here until the Austrian soldiers were lifted. Furthermore, the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were so alert and military aircraft flew through this valley repeatedly. Isn’t it just to welcome the arrival of a big man?

In the afternoon, a convoy appeared at the end of the road. Monakelo was shocked and quickly observed with a sniper lens on the rifle. The convoy had more than twenty cars, and rolled up sand and dust along the way. The leading seven or eight were military vehicles, with about ten black cars in the middle, and seven or eight were military vehicles behind.

Seeing this scene, Monakelo couldn't help but feel a little depressed. The big man was protected very closely. His car was bulletproof. There must be many people everywhere he went. With his rifle with an effective range of less than 1,000 meters, he squatted in a position where he could not move freely. What else could he do besides watching the opportunity slip away?

More than ten minutes later, the convoy approached the town of Nedi, and the fully armed Austrian soldiers guarded the intersections of the town, with their figures in the church bell tower and many roof balconies. Under such strict guard, the big man did not stay in the town, nor did he talk to any of the residents. The carriage passed by and stopped by the army camp west of Nedi. It was not until then that the big man appeared in Monakelo's sight. Because several kilometers were separated, he could not see the man's face clearly, nor could he recognize his identity. He only vaguely saw him wearing a red gold collar, which meant that he had the ranks of the army general or military police officer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Judging from the appearance of this guy, the possibility of the former was undoubtedly much greater.

Accompanied by a group of soldiers, the big man patrolled the camp without any haste, inspected the trench bunker dug by the soldiers, and then talked to the commander for a while. Following the commander's gesture, the big man's eyes first turned to the south, where the Austrian artillery was deployed. Then, while talking to the commander, he pointed to the woods where Monakelo was located, which had slopes, woods and snow-capped peaks, and a natural beauty that could be used as oil painting materials. The two continued to say something, and after a while, the big man began to walk towards the woods with his hands behind his back, and the officers who accompanied him followed behind him.

Seeing this scene, Monakelo's heart almost popped out of his throat: Could it be that God wants to give himself a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a hero of South Tyrol and even 40 million Italians?

But after the initial excitement, Monakelo hesitated. Although he did not like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he loved South Tyrol, the mountains, valleys and streams here, which was also the reason why he had not applied for Italian nationality so far. He hoped to return to Italy's embrace with South Tyrol, but the reason for the outbreak of World War I was well known. If he shot that big man today, regardless of whether he could escape unscathed, it might trigger a war between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy!

There was no way to contact the commander, and there was not much time to think about it. Seeing the big man walking towards the woods, Monakelo's heartbeat increased and his forehead was sweating. He took a deep breath, put the sniper lens back on the rifle, loaded the bullet with extremely gentle movements, and then carefully picked up the rifle. The big man and his many entourages stopped outside the range, not knowing whether they were taking a break or not planning to move forward.

He is Prince Felix!

The moment he saw the face of the big man clearly, Monakelo couldn't help but widen his eyes. Prince Felix is ​​the third son of O'Neon Carl I. He is currently the artillery director of the Imperial War Department and also serves as the commander of the Kalinghia Legion. He is indeed an absolute big man in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although he has never seen Prince Felix himself, the portrait printed on the exquisite postcard is exactly the same as the face in sight, and he will definitely not be wrong!

Monacrelo's thoughts were still fierce, and the big man continued to walk here without knowing how to live or die. Did he trust the capabilities of Austrian soldiers so much, and he must have eliminated all the dangers nearby? Or did he never take the rebels of South Tyrol seriously, thinking that these Italian-speaking residents were as unscrupulous and ridiculous as the Italian army?

Staring at the face with thick lips and beard in the sniper lens, Monakelo's hand trembled slightly. He thought clearly that as long as he fired himself, the Austro-Hungarian officers who were walking with Prince Felix and the Austrian soldiers around him would never give him a chance to escape, and might even beat him into a pig's head. But this is not the most terrible. What is terrible is the ruthless war. Even if the Italian army can win, even if South Tyrol can be included in the Italian territory, the towns, villages, and even the woods, and fields here may turn into scorched earth. The innocent residents here, who they know and do not know, may suffer!

Thinking of this, Monakelo slowly put down the rifle in his hand. He was an angry young man, not a lunatic. He returned to South Tyrol to make the Austrian nobles and their hunting dogs retreat through force, but he never wanted to annoy the entire Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and let Austria and Hungary share the same hatred.

Three Austrian soldiers who were on the alert mission were standing under a larch tree more than a hundred meters away. They were wearing "sports" uniforms that were different from ordinary troops, and their hats were decorated with a white edelixir flower, which was the symbol of the Tyrol hunting army. One of the soldiers looked up and saw the spruce treetops where Monakelo was moved. He quickly poked two companions with his elbow, indicating that they paid attention to the tall spruce. After a while, the treetops moved again. As elite hunters who have been active in the mountains of Tyrol for many years, they knew very well that in such a mountain environment, where was the suitable position for setting up a lookout and where was the suitable position for ambushing. Out of a strong sense of mission, they all picked up the rifle and pointed the muzzle at their former comrade, Reyalimona Kelo, and then pulled the trigger.
Chapter completed!