War was imminent, and the streets of Milan were solemn and desolate.
Due to the policies implemented by Anning in Milan, which granted Italians considerable autonomy and promised that the French Army would withdraw from the entire Milan once the Italians had their own armed forces capable of defending their homeland,
most Italians truly regarded the French Army as liberators.
In fact, another historical figure, Napoleon, was initially considered a liberator by the Italian independence activists. However, the republics established by him were nothing but puppet states of France and were soon recognized as such by the Italians.
Therefore, the Italians had already raised a rebellion against Napoleon when he began his attack on Vienna.
But Anning had no intention of doing the same. He was ready to apply a more advanced form of imperialism: using economic power to grasp benefits.
