[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-40":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2364968,4632,"Chapter 40: The Unpredictability of Human Hearts","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-40",40,"\u003Cp>Primo only nodded slightly upon hearing his subordinate's report, offering no words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at the man with an amused gaze until the man felt flustered under Primo's stare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Prime Minister Primo, Senator Anlike has instructed me to come and report important intelligence to you.\" After swallowing a mouthful of saliva and calming his nerves, the man spoke slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh? What important intelligence is it?\" How could the thoughts of these fellows be hidden from Primo? It was certainly someone within the Basque rebels who had ulterior motives and wanted to clear their name before the Basque rebels were wiped out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Senator Anlike expresses his apologies regarding the situation in the Basque region. But please believe that Senator Anlike has absolutely no intention of betraying Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the rebel leader, Ma Disi Anhatuoer, who used force to threaten the Senator into supporting him, which led to the Basque rebellion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Senator Anlike has always been loyal to Your Majesty and Spain; he is willing to provide you, Prime Minister, with all intelligence on the Basque army and awaits the arrival of the government's pacification forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is a letter written by the Senator himself; please take a look.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Primo looked at the man with a smile, then took the letter and glanced over it roughly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ha, Senator Anlike is truly loyal to the Kingdom!\" Prime Minister Primo chuckled, as if he had already forgiven the traitor who betrayed the country:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go back and tell Senator Anlike that Your Majesty had already instructed me before I arrived that the common people involved in the Basque and Catalonia rebellions would not be held accountable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Senator Anlike can take the initiative to report the enemy's situation, Your Majesty will certainly not pursue the matter.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carlo had indeed spoken about pardoning the Basque and Catalonia civilians involved in the rebellion; after all, most civilians were brainwashed and forced into the rebel army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Primo was not wrong; what did the pardon Carlo spoke of have to do with him, Primo?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Primo was also a Catalonia, what Primo wanted was the strength of all of Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For rebels like Anlike who harmed the unity of Spain, the best way was to send them to meet God.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Primo, who came from a military background, would not have the slightest bit of pity; since the traitors had the guts to launch a rebellion, they should also be prepared for the reckoning after the rebellion was suppressed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank God, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I will convey your words to the Senator, and I wish you an early resolution to the Catalonia rebellion.\" After receiving the reply that Primo was willing to pardon him, the subordinate of Senator Anlike was visibly relieved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The look he gave Primo was filled with fear and gratitude, as if celebrating that he could continue to throw his weight around following the noble Senator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After sending away the troublesome fellow, a smile reappeared on Primo's face, and he called over several generals, saying in a rather good mood: \"Let's move out, Generals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Basque people are already divided; it is time to send all these rebels to meet God.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The letter Anlike gave to Primo not only contained the specific location and size of the rebels in Vitoria-Gasteiz, but even a list of the rebel leadership that looked very detailed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to clear himself of suspicion, Anlike had truly taken great pains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, this list was not that pure either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It certainly contained many high-ranking rebels, but it also included Anlike's rivals for the position of Senator for the Basque region and some fellows he found unpleasant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anlike's plan was also very simple: to provide this list to clear his own name while taking the opportunity to eliminate his rivals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A list that is eighty percent true and twenty percent false is impossible to judge, unless Primo interrogated everyone on the list and aggregated all the intelligence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as the Prime Minister of Spain, would Primo really have the time to screen the list?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if Primo eventually discovered that something was wrong with the list, Anlike had sufficient reasons to excuse himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, he was forced to join the Basque rebels, and the rebels had some precautions against him; it would be reasonable for them to intentionally let him believe more people were in the rebel army, right?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is a pity that Anlike would never imagine that Primo had never chosen to forgive him from the very beginning. For a politician who started as an officer, he had long since mastered the ability to remain cold-blooded toward anyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Primo felt a sense of relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the Basque population was not large, the importance of the two cities in the north and south of the Basque region was still very high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vitoria in the south was the core of the Basque region; if a large number of Basque casualties were caused during the attack, it would undoubtedly accelerate the alienation between the Basque people and Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Bilbao in the north was one of the few industrial cities in Spain, and it was also in the steel industry, which was quite important to industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the factories in Bilbao were destroyed, it would be a catastrophic blow to Spain's already fragile industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that he had the information on the deployment and size of the Basque rebels provided by Anlike, Primo could calmly deal with the remaining Basque rebels and protect the civilians in the two cities of Vitoria and Bilbao from being affected by this war as much as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for whether the situation of the Basque rebels provided by Anlike was true, Primo was still willing to believe it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, Anlike really needed a \"pledge of allegiance\" to atone for his crimes at this time; if even the situation of the Basque rebels was false, wouldn't that mean Anlike had directly become someone who pleased no one?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Basque rebel leader Ma Disi Anhatuoer did not yet know that after experiencing the betrayal of the Catalonia, he was also experiencing the betrayal of Anlike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the two had planned this rebellion together, and Ma Disi Anhatuoer felt that he and Senator Anlike were in a state where they would prosper or perish together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the rebellion failed, neither of them would have a good end, so Anlike should have no reason to betray him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It can only be said that Ma Disi Anhatuoer underestimated human nature, and even more so, he underestimated the bottom line of a senator like Anlike when facing his own life safety and interests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within a few days, the Spanish army arrived in a grand manner at the small mountain range south of Vitoria.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This place was not far from Vitoria, which was just right for a short rest and preparing for the construction of artillery positions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Primo's plan was to create chaos in Vitoria before the Basques could react, and then have the army forcibly enter Vitoria to take control of the situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the specific location of the rebels was already known, as long as the Spanish army successfully entered Vitoria, these rebels would have nowhere to escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything after that would be simple. Place Vitoria under military control, then launch a mass arrest of the rebel leadership, and announce a pardon for all Basque civilians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as it was ensured that the Basque civilians would not start another riot, those rebel leaders who were already on the big list would not be able to stir up any trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First update, asking for support!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of this chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1276,"2026-06-25T09:27:12.995Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","bfc84f376ea7ebf505c78c094e0dba7b0f95508adcda57f133da0429ab6b00b2","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-41","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-39",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]