Primo truly practiced what he preached.
The day after mentioning the abolition of the tithe to Carlo, he had legislators from his own party submit a proposal to abolish the tithe in the House of Representatives.
The current House of Representatives was less a place for public deliberation than a place where Primo deliberated alone. With control over the majority of seats, Primo easily passed the proposal, and the tithe that had plagued Spanish farmers for centuries was abolished just like that.
Before the farmers could even react, Spanish Parliament was completely dumbfounded.
Archbishop Pedro of Toledo, the chief Archbishop of Spanish Parliament, was full of question marks as he stared at the newspaper in his hand in utter disbelief.
The newspaper clearly stated: According to today's vote in the House of Representatives, the tithe would be abolished throughout Spain, effective immediately!
"Damn it! The government has no right to abolish our tithe. This is a rightful power bestowed upon us by God!" Thinking of the enormous amount of income he would lose every year with the abolition of the tithe, Archbishop Pedro glared at the newspaper and gritted his teeth.
"Archbishop, what should we do?" One of Archbishop Pedro's subordinates stepped forward and asked.
"What should we do? What can we do?" Archbishop Pedro shot his subordinate an irritated glance and said with slight displeasure, "Do we have an army? Can we resist Carlo and Primo's rule over Spain?
What we need to do now is wait and see. Once the Carlists and Primo have decided who the victor is, then we can consider our plans."
Although Archbishop Pedro mourned the lost tax revenue, that did not mean he would lose his mind over money.
The tithe had mainly been squeezed from Spanish farmers, and those farmers now wholeheartedly supported Carlo and Primo's government.
The farmers had long been dissatisfied with the Church's collection of tithes. If the Church stepped out to oppose it now, would that not be walking straight into Primo's trap?
Without the tithe, the Church could still secure its income through other means. But if it entered the fray against the Spanish government over the tithe, then once the war was won, would the Church not be the one purged?
As Spain's chief Archbishop, Archbishop Pedro's words carried considerable influence.
Precisely because of that, after the government announced the abolition of the tithe, the Spanish Church made no move at all, acting as though it had nothing to do with them.
Carlo and Primo were both somewhat surprised when they learned the news. Primo had originally prepared to deal with the Church. Who could have expected those greedy bishops to be willing to give up the lion's share of their income?
Naturally, the most excited people in all of Spain were the farmers, who lost at least a tenth of their income each year to the tithe.
The abolition of the tithe benefited all of Spain, except for the Church that directly collected it.
Without that harsh tax weighing them down, Spanish farmers' incomes would see a noticeable increase, and government tax revenues would rise accordingly.
With a little spare money in their hands, farmers would naturally stimulate Spain's economic growth. This would also benefit the future development of Spanish industry, since people would only buy industrial products once they had money in their pockets.
After the tithe was abolished, Spaniards' satisfaction with the government and Carlo rose sharply as well.
Especially after the assassination attempt, Spaniards had truly begun to recognize Carlo and believe in his grand dream of making Spain great.
If Carlo had previously been viewed by Spaniards more as a foreign monarch, then now he had become one of their own in their hearts.
Since everyone was one of their own, it became crystal clear who the outsider was.
Yes, that meant you—the fellow obstructing government reform and harming the incomes of farmers and workers, the false king Carlos VII!
Although the common people were easily swayed by public opinion, that did not mean they could not tell right from wrong.
Under Carlo's rule, the Spanish government was carrying out reforms and cutting taxes, while the lives of farmers were steadily improving.
Although the Carlists kept claiming that reforms would hurt factory profits, causing factories to go bankrupt and workers to lose their jobs.
But were the reforms in Madrid not proceeding perfectly well? Not only had hardly any factories gone bankrupt, workers had also received their full wages for the first time.
Although Spaniards did not know the situation in Catalonia, considering that King Carlos VII, whom the Carlists supported, also came from the House of Bourbon.
There was no need to say more about the House of Bourbon's reputation. It was a demonic family that made Spaniards turn pale at the mere mention of it.
And what sort of people supported the Carlists? Catalans? Basques?
Then look at the orthodox Spaniards living around Madrid. Was it not already obvious who was the scourge of Spain?
For the Spaniards who made up the overwhelming majority of the Spanish population, would they really support those ethnic minorities seeking to split the country apart?
Precisely because of this, the situation in chaotic Spain had long since become clear. Carlo and Primo even hoped that more forces would step forward to support the Carlists, so they could settle everything in one stroke at the end.
The only pity was that the Church had not stepped forward to oppose the government. Otherwise, the vast tracts of land owned by the Church could have been rented cheaply to farmers or awarded to soldiers through grants of land for military merit, raising the government's prestige once again.
After waiting several more days and confirming that the Church truly did not intend to support the Carlists, Primo finally organized the army to march north and suppress the rebellion, though not without regret.
However, to protect Carlo and Madrid, Primo still left behind an army of fewer than ten thousand men. That was more than enough to defend Madrid.
Moreover, the people around Madrid were exceptionally supportive of the government. It was no exaggeration to say that if the Carlists truly reached the outskirts of Madrid, Carlo could raise his arm in a call and organize tens of thousands of militia fighters to join the battle.
Furthermore, Madrid lay at the heart of the region inhabited by Spaniards. For the Carlists to reach Madrid before Spain's main army could react would be no easier than directly crushing the Spanish Army head-on.
While Primo marched north to quell the rebellion, Carlo was not idle in Madrid either.
After purging the factory owners around Madrid, Carlo actually had several million more Pesetas in hand.
The facts proved that those factory owners were not unable to pay their workers' wages. They had more than enough funds to pay every worker in full, but they simply refused to do so.
That worked out well for Carlo. With this unexpected fortune, he could expand his Palace Guard and establish a true Royal Guard.
However, considering the funds at hand and the combat effectiveness of the Guard Army once formed, Carlo only planned to expand the original five-hundred-man Palace Guard into a Guard Regiment of roughly twenty-five hundred men.
The Guard Regiment would consist of two Guard infantry battalions and one Guard cavalry battalion. Each infantry battalion would have roughly one thousand soldiers, while the cavalry battalion would have roughly five hundred.
Although there would be no separate Artillery Battalion establishment, Carlo planned to equip each Guard infantry battalion with two or three cannons to increase the firepower of the entire Guard Regiment.
Once the expansion was complete, the Guard Regiment would be responsible for protecting the royal palace and Carlo, while also serving as Carlo's personal force under his sole command.
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