Chapter 192: Chaos Arises

November 1, 1875, at noon, inside a secret manor on the outskirts of Madrid.

This place was originally a suburban manor where a certain Spanish Marquis kept his mistress, but since late October, it had become a meeting place for certain nobles.

The purpose of the nobles' private meetings was singular: to discuss how to overthrow the existing Spanish government and enthrone Alfonso XII of the House of Bourbon as the new King of Spain.

In the previous period, the meetings were attended by only a few Dukes, but ever since Gao Da publicly inspected the South Morocco colony, the number of Dukes traveling to the suburban manor had increased.

The nobles attending the meeting were currently beaming with joy and possessed considerable enthusiasm for the discussion, with the Duke of Osuna being the most agitated among them.

When it was previously investigated that the Duke of Osuna was the mastermind behind the assassination of Prime Minister Primo, both Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo had chosen to handle the matter with restraint for the sake of Spain's stability, which had allowed the Duke of Osuna to save his own life.

But making mistakes was not without a price. The Duke of Osuna had sold the vast majority of his lands at low prices to the government and the royal family, leaving the historically prestigious Duke of Osuna in the awkward position of having assets that did not even rival those of an ordinary Count.

If one were to name the most radical among these nobles, the one most opposed to Prime Minister Primo and Gao Da, it would likely be the Duke of Osuna.

Only by overthrowing the rule of Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo could the lands that once belonged to the Duke of Osuna be reclaimed. This concerned his own interests and those of his family; for the Duke of Osuna, he had already staked all his chips on the side of Queen Isabella.

There was no help for it; the crime of assassinating Prime Minister Primo alone was enough to exclude him from the core interest circles of Spanish politics.

Coupled with the loss of most of his land and property, if he did not take a gamble at such a time, the title of Duke of Osuna and his family would never have a chance to rise again, and would even be inferior to ordinary ducal families.

"Our King actually chose to head south to South Morocco at a time like this; has no one told him that he is facing a great disaster?" The Duke of Osuna picked up a glass of red wine produced by his own winery, took a small sip, and said quite relaxedly with a mocking smile on his face.

Originally, he had been worried that having Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo both stationed in Madrid would increase the difficulty of their coup. But now that Gao Da had gone to South Morocco, wasn't this actively creating an opportunity for their coup?

It could only be said that Gao Da was still a young man after all, unclear about the shifts in the political situation, and acted without considering the consequences at all.

"Before we have completed our plan, it is best not to be complacent." Another Duke next to the Duke of Osuna stood up and expressed his opinion:

"We must still be cautious and investigate things clearly before formulating an action plan. Our King heading to South Morocco at such a time is somewhat too unbelievable."

"Even if our young King has no such considerations, could it be that that old fellow Primo has no defenses? Our King is vital to his grand reform plan; he would not watch Gao Da meet with trouble."

The attitudes of these two Dukes were roughly the attitudes of all the nobles attending the meeting, which were divided into two types: one was more radical, believing that the best time to overthrow the Primo government had arrived; the other was more cautious, feeling that they still needed to wait for the right moment while determining whether Gao Da heading south to South Morocco at this time was somewhat unusual.

Just as this meeting reached a stalemate, the speech by the representative of the House of Bourbon finally changed the balance between the two factions.

The so-called representative of the House of Bourbon was, in reality, the former bodyguard of Queen Isabella II. As an absolute confidant of Queen Isabella, the words spoken by the bodyguard actually represented the views of Queen Isabella herself.

"Gentlemen, actually it is not that troublesome. Although Queen Isabella was forced to go to Falanxi because of the evil revolution launched by Primo, this does not mean that Her Majesty the Queen will sit still and wait for death."

"In Falanxi, the power of the House of Bourbon is extremely vast. We have trained an elite, small-scale unit, the purpose of which is precisely to realize the great rule of the House of Bourbon once again."

"Regardless of what Gao Da's purpose is in going to South Morocco, in any case, this is indeed our best opportunity. We will deal with Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano; you must prepare to reorganize the government amidst the chaos after the Spanish government loses its Prime Minister and Minister of Defense."

"The moment we control the Spanish government is the moment Queen Isabella and King Alfonso return to Spain. When the rule of the House of Bourbon returns to Spain, its loyal subjects will also receive the glory that belongs to them."

Hearing the words of the Queen's bodyguard, the nobles present all breathed a sigh of relief. If they had to rely solely on their own strength to push for a coup, it would be impossible to succeed even if they thought with their toes.

Prime Minister Primo controlled the government, and he and Grand Duke Serrano possessed lofty prestige in the Spanish military. This point alone destined the current Spanish government to be impeccable.

Unless one could eliminate Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, or have a more powerful and larger army to confront the Spanish Royal Army, a coup would be absolutely impossible.

Although Queen Isabella did not have an army capable of confronting the Royal Army in her hands, if she could solve the two troubles of Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, it would also greatly increase the hope of a successful coup.

Relying on the afterglow of the House of Bourbon, coupled with the efforts of many nobles, perhaps they could stabilize the situation in a chaotic Spanish government that had lost Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano.

In this way, even if Gao Da noticed and returned to Spain, it would be difficult to regain control of the situation. After all, Gao Da was an Italian, and the exclusion of Gao Da by some Spanish nobles still existed.

Coupled with Prime Minister Primo's agricultural reforms threatening the interests of the nobles, the nobles' exclusion of Gao Da became even more severe.

When the situation in Spain was stable, there would be no problems, but if the situation in Spain entered a state of chaos, whether the nobles would listen to Gao Da was not certain.

At this time, if Queen Isabella were to raise her arms and shout, I am afraid there would be many nobles who wanted to return to the period of Bourbon rule, not just the small handful of nobles participating in the meeting now.

"As long as we can solve the trouble of Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, the next things will be much simpler." That Duke who advocated a cautious attitude also nodded, his expression becoming a bit more relaxed, and he looked at the Duke of Osuna and the bodyguard with a full face of smiles, saying with a laugh:

"Then why don't we continue to discuss how to act, and how to quickly control the Spanish government? Only by controlling the situation of the Spanish government can we welcome the arrival of Queen Isabella and King Alfonso more quickly, right?"

The nobles present were not stupid. If the coup they plotted could succeed, then the one controlling the situation in Spain would once again become the House of Bourbon.

The House of Bourbon and Queen Isabella, who were once like rats crossing the street in Spain, would once again become the controllers of this country.

Whoever could gain the trust of Queen Isabella, wouldn't that mean they could receive more important appointments in the future Spanish government?

They went to great lengths to topple the rule of Prime Minister Primo and Gao Da, wasn't it just to get themselves more important appointments and at the same time win back their own interests?

Such an opportunity to curry favor with Queen Isabella, these nobles naturally would not miss.

Under the proposal of this Duke, the various nobles soon launched a detailed discussion on how to act and how to quickly control the situation of the Spanish government.

Under the heated deliberations of the many nobles, a relatively complete and detailed action plan was freshly released, accompanied by methods on how to quickly control the situation of the Spanish government after the successful assassination of Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano, as well as formulating a series of temporary policies to stabilize the situation.

The nobles erupted with unimaginable enthusiasm during the discussion, and the leading Dukes only thought it was everyone's anticipation for ending Primo's revolution and restoring noble privileges, and did not have any suspicions.

November 2, 1875, a steam train rumbled from a city in southern Falanxi toward Spain. After a series of quite troublesome procedures at the Spanish border, the passengers inside the train changed to a brand-new train to continue advancing into Spain.

Because there was a large gap in the width of the train tracks between Falanxi and Spain, the Falanxi trains could not travel directly onto Spanish soil.

Although this hindered the economic exchange between Spain and the European continent, it also effectively prevented Falanxi's invasion of Spain during Spain's period of weakness.

During the Napoleonic Empire, Falanxi did indeed successfully invade Spain, but at that time Falanxi was simply unstoppable in Europe, and Spain being invaded was a matter of course.

After the Napoleonic Empire, Falanxi's control over Spain was already unable to be maintained, and subsequently, Falanxi was unable to invade Spain again.

After successfully transferring to the Spanish train, several strong men in the last carriage gathered together again. The leader of the strong men clearly breathed a sigh of relief, and his expression also became relaxed.

"Captain, do you think our operation this time will succeed?" One of the strong men scanned the surroundings before quietly coming to the man in the lead and asking in a low voice.

"Of course, no problem." The man called Captain closed his eyes, pretending to be resting, while whispering to his team members: "What is there to worry about? Just get close to the target person and fire a shot. We have trained this process and steps hundreds of times in Falanxi; this time we only need to do it once."

That team member nodded, and his heart no longer had any doubts.

The rebellious nobles and the remnants of the Bourbons, who had the entire action plan, did not have the slightest hesitation and prepared to launch a large-scale rebellion that very day.

The main core of completing the coup was to complete the assassination of Prime Minister Primo and Grand Duke Serrano. To ensure nothing went wrong, the rebellious nobles decided to stir up some trouble to attract Prime Minister Primo's attention and lower Prime Minister Primo's guard.

What kind of trouble?

For example, the cliché conflict of interests between capitalists and workers.

If the main contradiction of a feudal autocratic kingdom was the contradiction between land nobles and peasants, then the main contradiction of a constitutional monarchy was the contradiction between the capitalist class and factory workers.

Although there was the protection of labor laws and other laws in Spain, allowing the workers' interests to be guaranteed a little bit, in the end, the workers still could not escape the exploitation and enslavement of the capitalists.

As the saying goes, there are policies above and countermeasures below; the capitalists' enslavement of workers could never be eradicated. The Spanish government's labor law regarding workers' working hours stipulated that workers' working hours must not exceed 11 hours per day and must not exceed 70 hours per week.

But capitalists used all kinds of methods to coerce workers into working overtime, and in the end, the working hours of Spanish workers still exceeded 11 hours.

If it weren't for the fact that government and royal enterprises implemented a ten-hour workday, I am afraid the average working hours of Spanish workers would exceed 12 hours.

Yes, it was just that exaggerated. This was the dark era, and it was also an unavoidable topic for various European countries building industry.

It was not just Spain that was like this; the powerful great powers like England, Falanxi, Germany, Russia, and Austria were also the same.

The industrial rise of Western countries, in addition to colonial exploitation around the world, also included the exploitation of domestic workers and the masses by the rising capitalism.

The industrial history of the West was a history of blood and tears; it was precisely by exploiting tens of millions of people that Europe became the world's pearl of this era, becoming the most developed, most advanced, and most prosperous region in the world.

Of course, with the passage of time, the treatment of workers in various countries also obtained certain guarantees. At least the working hours of Spanish workers would not exceed 12 hours; this was also the bottom line drawn by Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo.

It was permissible for capitalists to exploit the masses within a certain range, but it was not permissible for capitalists not to treat the masses as human beings. As long as it did not exceed the bottom line, the government turned a blind eye to the capitalists' exploitation.

After all, doing so could indeed increase the production efficiency of factories and promote Spain's industrial and economic development.

In the situation where the overall environment in Spain was improving, the contradiction between capital and workers, although intense, was not a powder keg.

However, for these rebellious nobles, there was nothing that could not be utilized. If they could ignite the cliché topic of capital's exploitation of workers, they could make Spain become more chaotic.

Only in muddy water can one catch fish. If a large-scale parade broke out, it would certainly attract the attention of Prime Minister Primo. When Prime Minister Primo focused on the large-scale parade, he would naturally relax his vigilance against the rebellious nobles.

By that time, a surprise assassination would directly make the Spanish political scene even more chaotic. At that time, the nobles would come forward again, gain the favor of the masses and workers by criticizing the capitalist class, and then take over the Spanish government without Primo; everything would be so natural.

On the afternoon of November 2, several Spanish newspapers published articles about capitalist factories excessively exploiting workers, stating that under the premise that the government explicitly ordered that workers' working hours must not exceed 11 hours, they still used various methods to make workers' working hours approach 12 hours.

It seemed as if someone was pushing it; these newspapers were originally small-scale newspapers and did not have the ability to promote newspapers throughout Spain.

But once the news was published that day, the newspapers soon appeared on the major streets of Madrid and several surrounding cities.

Because of the credit of the Spanish government's literacy education, more than half of the Spanish people were literate; at least most of the words in the Spanish language could be understood.

It was precisely because of this that this report caused widespread discussion in Madrid and surrounding cities, inciting further hatred of workers toward capitalists.

The masses were blind followers. Regardless of whether they had been exploited and oppressed by factory owners, when seeing such news reports, they would always involuntarily project themselves into it, and then strengthen their hatred and hostility toward factory owners.

At this time, there were no labor unions in Spain, and the workers' power had no outlet, so it could only ferment in secret.

When such reports appeared in the streets and alleys of Madrid, it immediately attracted the attention of Prime Minister Primo. Prime Minister Primo certainly understood who was playing tricks; after all, capitalists would not be stupid enough to distribute such reports to the streets and alleys of Madrid.

"What a bunch of damn guys! For their own interests, they disregard the national interest." Prime Minister Primo sat in his Prime Minister's office, looking at such news reports with a livid face.

"Perhaps His Majesty is right; such pests, only by sweeping them away can we avoid them harming Spain in the future. The results achieved by Spain's reforms cannot be allowed to be corroded by these pests." Prime Minister Primo sighed, even more admiring of Gao Da's decision.

A young King who had the courage to risk his life to lure the snake out of its hole was enough to make people admire him.

Facing the rebellious nobles, Gao Da seemed to have plenty of room to maneuver, which also made Prime Minister Primo sigh that Gao Da had matured and already possessed the ability to become an excellent King.

"It seems it is time to return power to His Majesty the King." Prime Minister Primo looked at the map of Spanish territory hanging on the wall, couldn't help but stroke every inch of Spain's land, and then seemed to have made up his mind.

Inside the city of Madrid, the workers' anger had nowhere to vent, eventually evolving into gatherings of workers and discussions of dissatisfaction among themselves.

Under the push of a certain force, small-scale parades soon broke out. The parades attracted the attention of another group of workers, subsequently evolving into larger-scale strikes and parades.

In just half a day, more than one-third of the factories around Madrid had workers on strike, and the number of workers participating in the parades exceeded ten thousand.

The workers spontaneously gathered together, holding up self-made, crude slogan signs and banners, and launched a parade in a grand manner on several bustling streets of Madrid.

The large-scale parade soon attracted the attention of the security department, but the police were helpless about this. A parade of ten thousand people was simply not something the police could solve, unless a large number of police could be mobilized to come.

But the current chaotic situation in Madrid meant the security department did not have enough time to mobilize the police; currently, it seemed that only the army could suppress such a large-scale parade.

5000-word two-in-one chapter, seeking support!

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(End of chapter)