Primo merely nodded slightly upon hearing his subordinate's report, without saying a word.
He looked at the man with an amused gaze until the man grew flustered under Primo's stare.
"Prime Minister Primo, Councillor Anrique instructed me to come and report important intelligence to you." After swallowing hard and calming himself somewhat, the man slowly spoke.
"Oh? What important intelligence?" How could those fellows' intentions possibly escape Primo? There must have been someone within the Basque rebels harboring other designs, hoping to clear himself before the Basque rebels were crushed.
"Councillor Anrique expresses his apologies regarding the situation in Basque. But please believe that Councillor Anrique absolutely had no intention of betraying Spain.
It was the rebel leader, Matías Anhaator, who used force to threaten the councillor into supporting him, thus bringing about the Basque rebellion.
But Councillor Anrique has always remained loyal to His Majesty and Spain. He is willing to provide you, Prime Minister, with all intelligence regarding the Basque forces and await the arrival of the government troops sent to suppress the rebellion.
This is a letter personally written by the councillor. Please examine it."
Primo looked at the man with a smile, then accepted the letter and gave it a cursory glance.
"Heh, Councillor Anrique truly is devoted heart and soul to the kingdom!" Prime Minister Primo chuckled, seeming to have already forgiven the traitor who had betrayed the nation: "
Go back and tell Councillor Anrique that His Majesty instructed me before I came here that ordinary people involved in the Basque and Catalonia rebellions would not be held accountable for past offenses.
Since Councillor Anrique has taken the initiative to report the enemy's situation, His Majesty certainly will not pursue the matter either."
Carlo had indeed spoken of pardoning the Basque and Catalonia civilians involved in the rebellions. After all, most civilians had been brainwashed or forced into joining the rebels.
And Primo was not wrong either. Carlo's pardon had nothing to do with him, Primo.
Although Primo was also a Catalan, what he wanted was a strong Spain as a whole.
For rebels like Anrique, who endangered Spain's unity, the best course was to send them to meet God.
Primo, with his military background, would not show the slightest mercy. Since traitors had the nerve to launch a rebellion, they had to prepare themselves for the reckoning after it was put down.
"Thank God, Your Excellency the Prime Minister. I will relay your words to the councillor. May you resolve the rebellion in Catalonia soon." Having received Primo's answer that he was willing to grant a pardon, Councillor Anrique's subordinate visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
The way he looked at Primo held both fear and gratitude, as though he were celebrating being able to continue strutting about under the protection of the noble councillor.
After sending away the troublesome fellow, Primo's smile returned. He summoned several generals and said in high spirits, "It is time to set out, gentlemen.
The Basques have already split from within. It is time to send every one of these rebels to meet God."
Anrique's letter to Primo contained not only the exact locations and numbers of the rebel forces in Vitoria-Gasteiz, but even a seemingly detailed list of high-ranking rebel members.
To clear himself of suspicion, Anrique had truly gone to great lengths.
Of course, this list was not entirely pure.
It did indeed contain many high-ranking rebels, but it also included Anrique's rivals for the Basque Region councillor seat and several people he disliked.
Anrique's plan was simple: provide this list to cast off his guilt, while using the opportunity to remove dissidents.
A list that was eighty percent true and twenty percent false could not be judged at all, unless Primo interrogated everyone on the list and collated all the intelligence.
But as Spain's prime minister, did Primo truly have the time to scrutinize the list?
Even if Primo eventually discovered something amiss with it, Anrique had ample reasons to absolve himself.
After all, he had been forced to join the Basque rebels. The rebels had been somewhat wary of him, so was it not perfectly reasonable for them to deliberately make him believe more people were among the rebels?
Unfortunately, Anrique would never have imagined that Primo had never chosen to forgive him from the very beginning. For a politician with an officer's background, he had long since learned to remain cold-blooded toward everyone.
Primo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Basque did not have a large population, its two northern and southern cities were both highly important.
Vitoria in the south was the heart of the Basque Country. If the offensive resulted in heavy Basque casualties, it would undoubtedly hasten the alienation between the Basques and Spain.
And Bilbao in the north was one of Spain's few industrial cities, with an especially vital steel industry.
If Bilbao's factories were damaged, it would deal a catastrophic blow to Spain's already fragile industry.
Now that Anrique had proactively provided the deployment and strength of the Basque rebels, Primo could calmly deal with the remaining rebels while protecting the civilians of Vitoria and Bilbao from the effects of this war as much as possible.
As for whether the information Anrique had provided about the Basque rebels was true, Primo was still willing to believe it.
After all, Anrique truly needed a token of allegiance to atone for his crimes. If even the information on the Basque rebels was false, would that not mean Anrique had directly placed himself in a position where neither side would accept him?
At this moment, Matías Anhaator, leader of the Basque rebels, still did not know that after suffering betrayal from the Catalans, he had now suffered betrayal from Anrique as well.
After all, the two had planned this rebellion together. Matías Anhaator believed that he and Councillor Anrique were bound together in glory and ruin alike.
If the rebellion failed, neither of them would meet a good end. Anrique should have had no reason whatsoever to betray him.
It could only be said that Matías Anhaator had underestimated human nature, and even more so the depths to which councillors like Anrique would sink when faced with their own lives and interests.
Only a few days later, the Spanish Army arrived in mighty ranks at the small mountain range south of Vitoria.
Vitoria was no longer far away. This was just the right place for a brief rest and to prepare the artillery positions.
Primo's plan was to create chaos in Vitoria before the Basques could react, then force the army into the city and seize control of the situation.
Because they already knew the rebels' exact locations, so long as the Spanish Army successfully entered Vitoria, those rebels would have nowhere left to run.
What came afterward would be simple. Place Vitoria under military control, launch mass arrests of the rebel leadership, and declare a pardon for all Basque civilians.
So long as they ensured that Basque civilians would not rise in rebellion again, those high-ranking rebels already listed in the great register would not be able to stir up much of a storm.
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