Iron-Willed Carlos

At this point, the Carlist rebels' chances of victory had already plummeted, and Carlos VII himself understood that perfectly well.

What tormented him was whether he should continue leading the army in meaningless resistance, or seize an opportunity to get away and remain hidden in the shadows while searching for another chance.

Though escaping early was clearly the better choice, for Carlos VII, who had painstakingly waited so long for an opportunity, giving up this time might mean that he would never ascend the Spanish throne in his lifetime.

The Carlists had been born when Queen Isabella ascended the throne, and less than forty years had passed since then.

Yet in those less than forty years, the Carlists had successively gone through four "monarchs": Carlos V, Carlos VI, Juan III, and Carlos VII.

Carlos VII also understood that the reason the Carlists had continued to exist, and had been able to launch three Carlist Wars in less than forty years, was Queen Isabella's muddled rule and the rotten government of the Kingdom of Spain.

The people's growing dissatisfaction with the Queen's rule was the reason the Carlists had endured for so long without fading.

Had there been even a somewhat more normal queen, after three or four decades of lengthy rule, the people would long since have accepted the queen above their heads.

Leaving aside King Carlo's abilities for the moment, he was indeed a master at winning over popular support.

On top of that, Prime Minister Primo was determined to push through reforms. If such a ruler and minister successfully carried out reform, would there still be room for the Carlists in Spain's future?

After all, the Carlists had come into being because the Conservatives had been unwilling to see a queen take the throne, and thus supported Prince Carlos, the male heir.

Now that the King of Spain had long since changed, did that not mean that even the very reason for the Carlists' founding no longer stood?

At that moment, Carlos VII suddenly realized that whether he advanced or retreated, it seemed that both he and the Carlists had only one possible ending: failure.

So, should he throw caution to the wind and fight the government forces to the bitter end, or flee abroad and enjoy his luxurious life?

Carlos VII, who considered himself clever, quickly made his choice, and quietly left the Carlist rebel army that very night.

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

Even unto death, the Catalans had never imagined that before their army had even been defeated, Carlos VII, the king they supported, had already fled.

Carlos VII fled eastward, reentered Catalonia, then followed the coastline all the way into France.

Worth mentioning was that Isabella II, the former Queen of Spain, had also taken refuge in France. After all, the House of Bourbon had come from France.

The House of Bourbon had ruled Spain for nearly one hundred and seventy years. If Queen Isabella had not brought ruin upon herself, and if the Carlists had not truly been nothing but mud that could not be plastered onto a wall, Carlo's rule in Spain likely would not have gone so smoothly.

The war was only half fought, yet the king their side supported had run away.

This was a crushing blow to the Catalan rebels' morale. It also directly marked the final stage of the battle for Zaragoza, with the attackers and defenders switching places.

By the time Primo's army hurried from the Basque Country to Aragon, the Catalan army had nearly completely collapsed.

After suffering heavy casualties, the main force's remaining soldiers chose to surrender.

The Catalan troops on the flanks and farther to the rear scattered in all directions, and the chaotic scene looked like a bustling market fair.

This transformed Primo's original plan of encircling and annihilating the Catalan army into one of sweeping up the remaining troops throughout Aragon.

Though these rebels had successfully scattered and fled, organized small bands of rebels could still have a tremendous impact on public order in Aragon.

If they were not cleared out as thoroughly as possible, anything these rebels did would cause popular support in Aragon to drop another notch.

Fortunately, more than half of the Catalan rebels had already been captured. The cleanup was troublesome, but not especially arduous.

In only a few days, Primo led the Spanish Army in capturing nearly a thousand fleeing Catalan rebels. Most of the tiny number of remaining rebels escaped into the deep mountains, and there was no need to pursue them for the time being.

Leaving part of the army behind to guard the prisoners, Primo took the bulk of his remaining forces to Catalonia for the final cleanup.

Quite a few rebel forces still remained in Catalonia, including Carlists who had not managed to flee in time.

Primo intended to completely eliminate these unstable elements and restore peace to Catalonia.

The good news was that many forces in Catalonia had participated in this rebellion, so Primo could conduct a thorough purge.

Just as in the Basque Country, most common people actually did not have particularly strong feelings about their identity.

Whether they were Basques, Catalans, or Spaniards, they could accept any of them.

As long as farmers could fill their bellies and workers earned enough to support their families, they would not become destabilizing factors.

The true destabilizing factors were the upper echelons among the Basques and Catalans, such as nobles and factory owners, including legislators and churchmen like Enrique.

Some wanted to use Catalonia's autonomy or independence to gain greater power for themselves, while others simply opposed the government's reform policies and wanted to use Catalan separatists to achieve their own ends.

Of course, there were also people like the Carlists, who wanted to seize Spain's throne, but unfortunately, they had failed in three consecutive wars.

The cleanup lasted for more than a week. During that time, Primo carefully screened and executed several hundred Catalan rebels.

Carlists and separatists made up the largest numbers, while factory owners and church personnel were relatively few.

As for the overwhelming majority of the remaining rebel members, they had previously been ordinary farmers and workers, so Primo naturally spared them.

After all, too many people had already died in this rebellion. While holding all rebel leaders accountable, pardoning ordinary rebel members to preserve local stability was also necessary.

To reassure the people of the Basque Country and the Catalonia Region, Primo specially posted notices exempting ordinary citizens from punishment.

At the same time, however, Primo publicly executed the rebel leadership. This was also to make the ordinary people understand that rebellion came at a price, and that before starting one, they needed to think carefully about whether they could bear the cost of failure.

First update—on my knees begging for continued reading!