The Piedmontese set up a rudimentary intelligence service against the Austrians. They had a first line of informants and a code where generals, weapons, and soldiers were designated with the terms of theater managers. Gyulai was the tenor Pigolini, the infantry was the soprano, the cavalry was the contralto, and the artillery was the bass; one thousand francs was one thousand men. This rudimentary code held until the end of March, when it was discovered. There was also a second line of “good spies”: plainclothes carabinieri who employed a novelty learned in the East: carrier pigeons. This last device would be adopted by the French, who would use it up to and including the First World War.
