Chapter 42: The Iron-Willed Carlos (Begging for follow-up reading!)

At this moment, the chances of victory for the Carlist rebels had dropped significantly, and Carlos VII himself actually understood this.

What he was struggling with internally was whether to continue leading the army in a meaningless resistance, or to find an opportunity to slip away and continue hiding in the shadows to seek new opportunities.

Although slipping away early was clearly the better choice, for Carlos VII himself, who had painstakingly waited for an opportunity for so long, giving up this time might mean he would never be able to ascend the Spanish throne in his lifetime.

The birth of the Carlists began with the accession of Queen Isabella, and it had been less than 40 years since then.

Yet in these less than 40 years, the Carlists had successively experienced four "monarchs": Carlos V, Carlos VI, Hu An III, and Carlos VII.

Carlos VII also understood that the reason the Carlists could still exist and had launched three Carlist Wars in succession within these less than 40 years was due to the foolish rule of Queen Isabella and the corrupt Spanish Kingdom government.

The public's growing dissatisfaction with the Queen's rule was the reason the Carlists remained enduring.

If it had been any other more normal queen, after a long reign of thirty or forty years, the people would have long since accepted the queen above them.

As for the current Spanish King Carlos, setting aside his ability for the moment, he was indeed quite skilled at winning over the hearts of the people.

Coupled with the fact that Prime Minister Primo was determined to carry out reforms, if such a pair of monarch and minister successfully implemented reforms, would there still be any room for the Carlists in the future of Spain?

After all, the reason the Carlists were born was that the conservative faction did not want to see the Queen take the throne, so they supported the male heir, Prince Carlos.

Now that the Spanish King had long since changed, did this not mean that the very reason for the Carlists' existence was no longer valid?

Thinking of this, Carlos VII suddenly realized that regardless of whether the current situation advanced or retreated, it seemed that both the Carlists and he himself had only one ending: failure.

So, should he fight the government army with everything he had, or flee abroad to enjoy his luxurious life?

Considering himself clever, Carlos VII soon made his choice and quietly left the Carlist rebels that very night.

By the time the Catalans realized something was wrong, it was already noon the next day.

The Catalans never imagined until their deaths that their army had not yet been defeated, but the King they supported, Carlos VII, had already fled.

Carlos VII's escape route headed east; after re-entering Catalonia, he followed the coastline all the way into French territory.

It is worth mentioning that the former Spanish Queen Isabella II was also taking refuge in France—after all, the Bourbon family came from France.

Come to think of it, the Bourbon family had ruled Spain for nearly 170 years. If not for Queen Isabella herself courting disaster, combined with the fact that the Carlists were truly nothing but mud that couldn't be plastered onto a wall, Carlos's rule in Spain likely wouldn't have been so smooth.

Halfway through the war, the king they supported had run away.

This was a heavy blow to the morale of the Catalan rebels and directly signaled that the Battle of Zaragoza had entered its final stage, with the roles of attacker and defender reversed for both sides.

By the time Primo's army hurried from the Basque region to Aragon, the Catalan army had already largely disintegrated.

The main body of the force, after suffering heavy casualties, saw the remaining soldiers choose to surrender.

The Catalan troops on the flanks and in the rear scattered and fled; the chaotic scene was just like a marketplace.

This also turned Primo's plan from an original encirclement and annihilation of the Catalan army into a mopping-up of the remnants in the Aragon region.

Although these rebels had successfully routed, small groups of rebels of a certain scale could still cause great impact on the public order of the Aragon region.

If they were not cleared out as much as possible, any incident these rebels might commit would lower the public sentiment in the Aragon region by a notch.

Fortunately, having captured the majority of the Catalan rebels, the mopping-up work, while troublesome, was not that arduous.

In just a few days, Primo led the Spanish army to capture nearly a thousand fleeing Catalan rebels, and the very few remaining rebels had mostly fled into the deep mountains, with no need to pursue them for the time being.

Leaving a portion of the army to guard the prisoners, Primo took the remaining main force toward Catalonia to carry out the final cleanup work.

Catalonia still had quite a few remaining rebel forces, including some Carlists who hadn't managed to escape in time.

Primo's plan was to completely clear out these unstable elements and return peace to Catalonia.

The good news was that there were many forces participating in the rebellion in Catalonia this time, and Primo could completely carry out a major sweep.

Just like in the Basque region, in fact, most civilians didn't have many thoughts about their own identity.

Whether they were Basques, Catalans, or Spaniards, they could accept it.

As long as the farmers could eat their fill and the workers could earn enough income to support their families, they would not become unstable factors.

The real unstable factors were the high-level figures among the Basques and Catalans, such as nobles and factory owners, including assembly members like Anlike and church personnel.

Among them, some wanted to gain higher power for themselves through Catalan autonomy or independence, while others simply opposed the government's reform policies and wanted to achieve their own goals through the Catalan separatists.

Of course, there were also those like the Carlists, who wanted to obtain the Spanish throne, but unfortunately, they had failed in three consecutive wars.

The cleanup work lasted for more than a week. During this week, Primo carefully screened and executed hundreds of Catalan rebels.

The Carlists and separatists were the most numerous, while factory owners and church personnel were few.

As for the vast majority of the remaining rebel members, they had been ordinary farmers and workers before, so they were naturally spared by Primo.

After all, too many people had already died in this rebellion; on the premise of holding all high-level rebels accountable, it was also necessary to maintain local stability by pardoning ordinary rebel members.

To reassure the public in the Basque and Catalan regions, Primo even specifically posted a proclamation regarding the amnesty of ordinary citizens.

But at the same time, Primo also publicly executed the high-level rebels; this was also to let those ordinary people understand that rebellion comes with a price, and when launching a rebellion, one needs to carefully consider whether they can bear the cost of failure.

First update, begging for follow-up reading!

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(End of chapter)