Chapter 358: The Great Northwest Has Become a Mess (Monthly Ticket Bonus Chapter)

What the various European nations did not expect was that the greatest impact of the Portuguese civil war was not on Portugal itself, but on Spain and Britain, who were closely monitoring the situation.

Watching as the interior of Portugal was thrown into complete chaos by the Republican Party, and recalling the scene from several years ago when Britain forcibly blocked Portugal's "Pink Map" plan, the British could no longer sit still.

Following this trend, regardless of who emerges victorious in this civil war, the future Portugal will have no connection to Britain whatsoever.

This is absolutely unacceptable to Britain, because Portugal's geographical location dictates that if they do not lean toward Britain, they must lean toward Spain.

If Spain were truly allowed to integrate the Iberian Peninsula, Spain's geographical advantage would be even superior to Britain's.

Spain could likewise isolate itself from the European continent by blockading the Iberian Peninsula, and could also easily intervene in the landscape of the European continent by crossing the Pyrenees.

A unified Iberian Peninsula would naturally set its sights on Gibraltar, which in fact means that even if Britain were to retreat on the issue of Portugal, greater contradictions and conflicts with Spain are destined to occur in the future.

Unless Britain can abandon Gibraltar, there is no hope of reconciling the contradictions between Britain and Spain.

Faced with a Portugal that might lean toward Spain, what did the British government do?

One week after the rebellion broke out, the British government could no longer sit still. They first contacted the Portuguese ambassador to Britain to inquire whether Portugal needed British military support.

The Portuguese ambassador initially refused the British request to send troops, but within a few days, the Portuguese side once again requested that Britain send troops to provide support.

There was no other way; the domestic rebellion could no longer be suppressed.

The reason is also very simple: the Prime Minister trusted by King Carlos I of Portugal, João Franco, pulled a reckless stunt by wantonly arresting Republican Party members in other regions where there was no rebellion, and he did not spare a single one of the opposition parties that participated in the rebellion.

Adhering to the principle of "better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one escape," the Portuguese government arrested thousands of rebels in just a few short days.

Among them were indeed many genuine Republican and opposition members, who launched a powerful counterattack against the Portuguese government's arrests, causing huge casualties to the Portuguese government's army and police.

Seeing this, João Franco immediately ordered the army to carry out even more powerful suppression and to conduct a thorough sweep of the local area.

This rebellion, which was more like resistance, was quickly suppressed, and the number of "rebels" thrown into prison quickly increased from over a thousand to several thousand, with a trend of potentially exceeding ten thousand.

Needless to say, at least half of these rebels arrested by the government were wrongly accused.

Such violent behavior by the government provoked even more intense resistance from the Portuguese; before the rebel army had even made any moves, the regions of Castelo Branco and Guarda had already surrendered at the mere sight of them.

Only then realizing that something was wrong, Carlos I hurriedly contacted the British government, requesting that the British government send troops to aid Portugal.

Although Portugal still possessed a large number of troops in its African colonies, these colonies were much further from the Portuguese mainland than Britain was, and distant water cannot quench a near thirst.

More importantly, the combat effectiveness of the British army was far stronger than that of the Portuguese colonial troops. As long as Britain was willing to help Portugal, suppressing the domestic rebellion would only be a matter of time.

After receiving the request from the Portuguese government, the British government immediately mobilized troops, preparing to help their ally, Portugal, suppress the rebellion.

In the eyes of the British, helping their ally was a matter of course. In this era, it was still very common for one country to help another suppress a rebellion; after all, the royal families of various European countries were all connected by blood, and requesting aid from one's relatives was also very reasonable.

It was just that both the Portuguese government and the British government ignored one thing: the attitude of the Portuguese people toward this rebellion.

In the eyes of the Portuguese government and Carlos I, as long as this rebellion could be quickly suppressed and those Republicans arrested and liquidated, this rebellion would not have too much of an impact on Portugal.

As for the Portuguese public, their dissatisfaction with the government should not be that strong, and the reason they stood up to oppose the government must be due to the instigation of the Republican Party.

Is that really the case?

On May 22, 1892, when the British army set foot on Portuguese soil, the situation in Portugal underwent a earth-shaking change.

The rebel army and the Portuguese army had been fighting back and forth, but when facing the regular British army, that resistance appeared somewhat weak.

The weapons provided to the Republican Party by Spain came from various countries, which led to considerable difficulties in the logistical supply of the insurgent army organized by the Republican Party.

The bullets for weapons from various countries were not interchangeable; to provide bullets for all types of weapons, at least a dozen different calibers were needed.

The Republican Party did not have the ability to maintain such logistical supplies, and Spain could not openly provide weapons and equipment to the Republican Party.

This led to the insurgent army's weapons being constantly restricted, and with more and more Portuguese participating in the uprising, the weapons and equipment showed a trend of becoming increasingly scarce.

The enemies of such an insurgent army were the well-equipped British army and Portuguese army; the outcome of the war was actually quite clear.

On the afternoon of May 23, 2, 00 British soldiers, with the cooperation of nearly 3, 00 Portuguese soldiers, fought a battle lasting three hours against the insurgent army led by the Republican Party in the Portalegre district.

The insurgent army exhausted its ammunition and food, eventually ending the battle with thousands of casualties.

The casualties on the British and Portuguese side were very few, with total casualties adding up to less than a hundred people.

Facts have proven that in front of a real regular army, the combat effectiveness of an insurgent army cobbled together like this is still too poor.

At this time, the insurgent army followed the advice of the Spanish side; they completely abandoned the idea of attacking Lisbon to the west and instead continued north to attack Bragança, Porto, and Vila Real.

As for Portalegre, where the uprising first started, the insurgent army had no choice but to abandon it. Before leaving Portalegre, the insurgent army distributed a batch of supplies to the local people of Portalegre, expressed their apologies to these ordinary people caught in the war, and then headed north toward Castelo Branco without looking back.

The people of Portalegre had just sent off the insurgent army when they immediately turned to face the Portuguese army and the British army.

In order to prevent the existence of any remaining Republican rebel forces hiding in the area, the Portuguese government conducted large-scale searches in the Portalegre region.

Even the food and other supplies distributed by the rebel army to the local people were all collected by the Portuguese government, and some local people were therefore labeled as collaborators.

While the anti-rebellion operations within Portugal were being carried out vigorously, Britain's act of interfering in Portugal's internal affairs so openly aroused widespread discussion throughout Europe.

Several major Spanish newspapers reported extensively on the news of the British army attacking the Republican army, and even published several photos of Portuguese civilians injured or even killed by the British army.

Such news sparked widespread discussion in Spain and even throughout Europe, and the relevant news newspapers were also spread to Portugal.

The Portuguese public could no longer tolerate Carlos I. It would be one thing for their own army to suppress the rebellion, after all, the Republican Party was the side that launched the uprising and rebellion.

But what was the deal with the government inviting the British army to suppress the rebellion? Was it not enough to point their own guns at their own people, but they also had to have others point their guns at their own people?

Most of the Portuguese public had not yet recovered from the previous colonial conflict incident, and now facing the news of the British army injuring Portuguese civilians, they were completely disappointed with Britain and Portugal.

On May 25, 1892, large-scale protests broke out in the northern Portuguese city of Porto. The citizens of Porto strongly condemned the Portuguese government's act of inviting the British army to interfere in their country's internal affairs, and they held up photos of Portuguese people killed or injured by the British army in this conflict, indignantly demanding that the government repatriate the British army.

But it was clear that the situation at this time was no longer something Carlos I could decide.

Portugal could invite the British army, but they could not send the British army away.

What's more, the arrival of the British army did indeed accelerate the speed of suppressing the rebellion. Without the help of the British army, it would have been impossible for Portugal to recapture the Portalegre region so quickly.

At this time, the rebel army had moved north from Castelo Branco to the Guarda region, which was actually only a few dozen kilometers away from Porto, where the protests were breaking out. To prevent the protest groups in the Porto region from joining forces with the insurgent army, Portuguese Prime Minister João Franco issued orders to the municipal governments of Porto, Braga, and Aveiro, requiring them to organize police forces to quickly suppress the local protests and prevent these protest groups from turning from protests into armed uprisings like in Portalegre.

João Franco's worries were still very reasonable. The city of Porto is located in the north of Portugal, too close to the Galicia region of Spain.

More than a year ago, an armed uprising planned by the Republican Party had broken out here, but it was quickly extinguished by the local police.

At that time, the Republican Party had no support from other forces, and the Portuguese public still had a glimmer of hope for the government, so this uprising did not cause any impact on Portugal.

But after all, it was a region where a rebellion had broken out; if not guarded against, it was very likely that the Republicans would coordinate from the inside and outside, leading to the fall of the entire area from Porto to Castelo Branco.

The protests launched by the citizens of Porto had no effect, and their protests soon drew suppression from the local police.

In order to quickly suppress this protest, Braga to the north of Porto and Aveiro to the south were both sending police to assist Porto.

The armed suppression by the police made this protest very chaotic; the protests were mixed with the families of the police, and not all police could open fire on the protest groups.

The police from other cities did effectively stop the protests, but they also triggered conflicts between the police of the other cities and the police of Porto.

The police from other cities killed or injured protesting civilians during the process of suppressing the protests, and many of these civilians were families of the Porto police.

Porto at this time could be described as being in a state of complete chaos. The local police and the police from other cities formed a standoff, and the protesting masses and the police also formed a standoff; everyone could not distinguish who was the enemy and who was the friend.

At this time, the Republican Party also exerted its strength. Theoretically, Porto was within the control range of the Republican Party. The Republican Party had a large number of supporters here, including many local police and police families.

Under the call of the Republican Party, a portion of the Porto police turned to the protest groups, making the situation in Porto even more chaotic.

The initial standoff had not risen to the use of firearms, but as the chaotic situation became even more chaotic, no one knew who fired the first shot, and the standoff between the several forces turned into a chaotic gunfight.

This chaos lasted for several full hours, eventually ending in a total victory for the protest groups.

The protest groups gained the support of the Porto police, while the police sent by the other two cities only numbered a little over a hundred, and they had no way to deal with the massive protest groups.

Although the protest groups won, this protest paid a great price. Because the chaos at the scene lasted for several hours, thousands of people were injured or killed as a result.

Only a few hundred citizens were killed or injured by the police from other cities, but the number of citizens who were injured or killed due to stampedes reached as high as a thousand.

Such a chaotic situation triggered deeper thinking among the citizens of Porto: what was the reason for Portugal becoming like this?

In Spain at this time, major newspapers and media were reporting in detail on the development of the Portuguese civil war.

Among them, the chaotic incident caused by the protests of the citizens of Porto was also reported, and the casualties of the protesting masses and local police were also recorded in detail, which was relished by the Spanish.

The Spanish were very fortunate at this time that they had encountered a king who was young but very capable.

When Carlos became the King of Spain, he was much younger than the current King of Portugal, Carlos I.

But the abilities of the two were not as reflected by their age. Carlos I's Portugal was already in chaos at this time, and even if the civil war ended, it was destined to decline for a long time.

And the Spain under Carlos's rule was thriving; of the two Iberian nations from the colonial era, Portugal had already been left far behind at this time.

Compared to the relish of the Spanish, the Portuguese who had already immigrated to Spain felt somewhat fortunate.

They were glad that they had come to Spain, otherwise they would very likely have been affected by this civil war.

This civil war had already resulted in thousands of civilian casualties so far, which was enough to prove how corrupt and incompetent the Portuguese government was.

It is worth mentioning that since the outbreak of the war, many Portuguese capitalists had chosen to bring their families to Spain.

Especially when the insurgent army controlled the Portalegre region, they opened the railway from Portalegre to Spain, which led to thousands of fleeing Portuguese civilians arriving in Spain within a week.

For these Portuguese who came to Spain to flee, Carlos had the government make proper arrangements.

It just so happened that the population of the Extremadura region was not large, so settling a few thousand Portuguese was easy.

Carlos sent enough emergency living supplies to these Portuguese and had local officials express their condolences to these Portuguese.

Spanish officials swore to these Portuguese that as long as they arrived on Spanish soil, they would not be affected by the war.

The Portuguese who received the promise were naturally grateful; comparing the Spanish government and the Portuguese government, they finally discovered how disastrous the country they originally lived in was.

For these Portuguese who fled, Carlos turned no one away.

The Portuguese were the easiest population to assimilate; the difference between their language and culture and that of Spain was not large. It is no exaggeration to say that the linguistic and cultural differences between two cities in a province of a certain great power in later generations might be greater than the differences between Portugal and Spain.

As long as these Portuguese were made to deeply realize the differences between the two governments and feel Carlos's care for the ordinary people, they would recognize Spain and abandon their Portuguese identity.

As long as they abandoned their Portuguese identity, they could quickly integrate into the big family of Spain. These Portuguese who integrated into Spain were very important to Spain; if Portugal could be annexed in the future, these people would play a good exemplary role, allowing the Portuguese to safely embrace Spain.

This is like buying a horse's bones with a thousand gold pieces. Letting the Portuguese see the benefits of joining Spain, they would naturally not reject the idea of joining Spain.

The reason why Portugal demanded independence after unification in history was actually that the interests of the Portuguese were not respected, coupled with the instigation of local Portuguese nobles and capitalists, which ultimately led to the Portuguese thinking about independence at all times.

What if it were a Portugal where the nobles were abolished after the Republican revolution?

Without the instigation of the nobles, who were the greatest force, the remaining Portuguese capital would not be much in front of Spain. The common people did not value whether they were Spanish or Portuguese that much; what they valued was whether their lives had been improved and whether they could survive in peace and happiness.

If the identity of being Spanish could bring them more benefits, I believe most Portuguese would still choose to become Spanish.

Of course, for those Portuguese who really did not want to join Spain, Carlos would not force them.

Anyway, Spain possessed large African colonies; at worst, these Portuguese could be transferred to the African colonies at that time, allowing them to re-establish a Portugal in Africa.

I believe they will not be ungrateful, as the strength of Portugal is clearly much weaker compared to Spain.

Furthermore, the internal forces of Portugal are not unified. While some people truly do not wish to join Spain, there are also some who hold expectations about joining Spain.

What Yu Kaluo needs to do is to consolidate those Portuguese who have a favorable view of Spain and are willing to join Spain, and through them, control the entirety of Portugal.

A Spain that has integrated Portugal will become incomparably powerful; whether as an enemy to Britain or an enemy to Falanxi, Spain will have the capability to contend with them.

A unified Iberian Peninsula would be as solid as a rock; even for super powers like Britain, Falanxi, and Deguozheng Prefecture, wanting to invade the Iberian Peninsula would require a massive cost.

A 5200-word bonus chapter, thank you all for your monthly votes!

There is still at least one more main text chapter of 4000 words today, with a total update exceeding 9200 words!

(End of this chapter)