Carlos, the Unyielding Iron Bone (Seeking Follow-up!)

By this point, the Carlist rebels' chances of victory had plummeted dramatically, and Carlos VII himself was well aware of this.

What tormented him inside was whether to continue leading the army in a pointless resistance or to find a way to slip away and lurk in the shadows, waiting for a new opportunity.

While cutting his losses early was clearly the better choice, for Carlos VII, who had painstakingly bided his time for so long, this surrender might mean he would never ascend Spain's throne in his lifetime.

The Carlist movement had been born with Queen Isabella's ascension, spanning less than forty years to the present.

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

Carlos VII also understood that the reason the Carlists had persisted and launched three Carlist Wars in under forty years was Queen Isabella's incompetent rule and the corrupt Spanish government.

The people's growing discontent with the queen's reign was the true reason the Carlists never faded away.

If any normal queen had reigned for thirty or forty years, the populace would have long accepted their sovereign.

As for the current King of Spain, Carlos, setting aside his abilities for now, he was certainly adept at winning people's hearts.

Add to that Prime Minister Primo's determination to push reforms—if this pair of ruler and minister succeeded, would there be any room left for the Carlists in Spain's future?

After all, the Carlists had been born because the Conservatives refused to accept a queen, instead supporting Prince Carlos as the male heir.

Now that the Spanish king had already changed, didn't that mean the very reason for the Carlists' existence had vanished?

Thinking this far, Carlos VII suddenly realized that whether he advanced or retreated, the current situation left only one outcome for the Carlists and himself: failure.

So, should he go all out against the government army, or flee abroad to enjoy his lavish life?

Believing himself clever, Carlos VII quickly made his choice and quietly slipped away from the Carlist rebel camp that very night.

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

The Catalans never imagined, even in death, that their army hadn't yet been defeated, but the king they supported, Carlos VII, had already fled.

Carlos VII's escape route headed east, re-entering Catalonia before following the coastline all the way into France.

It was worth noting that the former Spanish queen, Isabella II, was also taking refuge in France—after all, the Bourbon family hailed from there.

Speaking of which, the Bourbons had ruled Spain for nearly 170 years. If Queen Isabella hadn't brought ruin upon herself, and if the Carlists weren't such utterly hopeless failures, Carlos's rule in Spain probably wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

To have the king they supported run away in the middle of a war.

This dealt a heavy blow to the Catalan rebels' morale and directly signaled that the siege of Zaragoza had entered its final phase, with the roles of attacker and defender reversed.

By the time Primo's army rushed from the Basque Country to Aragon, the Catalan forces had largely scattered.

After suffering heavy casualties, the main body of troops chose to surrender.

The flanking and rear Catalan units fled in all directions, their chaos resembling a market day stampede.

This forced Primo's plan to shift from encircling and annihilating the Catalan army to mopping up remnants in Aragon.

Though the rebels had successfully broken and fled, organized small bands could still severely disrupt public order in Aragon.

If they weren't cleared out as thoroughly as possible, any trouble these rebels caused would erode the people's trust in the region.

Fortunately, most of the Catalan rebels had already been captured, so the cleanup, while troublesome, wasn't overly daunting.

In just a few days, Primo led the Spanish Army to arrest nearly a thousand fleeing Catalan rebels, with the few remaining mostly escaping into the mountains—no need to pursue them for now.

Leaving a portion of troops to guard the prisoners, Primo took the rest of his force to Catalonia for the final mop-up.

Catalonia still harbored considerable rebel remnants, including some Carlists who hadn't managed to flee.

Primo's plan was to completely eliminate these unstable elements and restore peace to Catalonia.

The good news was that many factions had participated in this Catalan rebellion, giving Primo ample opportunity for a thorough purge.

Just like in the Basque Country, most ordinary civilians didn't have strong opinions about their identity.

Whether Basque, Catalan, or Spanish, they could accept it.

As long as farmers had enough to eat and workers earned enough to support their families, they wouldn't become unstable factors.

The real troublemakers were the upper echelons among the Basques and Catalans—nobles, factory owners, and figures like Enrique, the councilman and clergy.

Some sought greater power through Catalan autonomy or independence; others simply opposed the government's reform policies and used Catalan separatists to achieve their goals.

And then there were the Carlists, who wanted the Spanish throne but had failed in three consecutive wars.

The cleanup lasted over a week. During that time, Primo meticulously screened and executed hundreds of Catalan insurgents.

Carlists and separatists made up the largest numbers, while factory owners and clergy were fewer.

As for the vast majority of ordinary rebel soldiers, they had been simple farmers and workers before, so Primo let them off.

After all, too many had already died in this rebellion. While holding all high-ranking rebels accountable, pardoning the common soldiers was necessary to maintain local stability.

To reassure the people of the Basque Country and Catalonia, Primo posted notices explicitly exempting ordinary civilians from punishment.

At the same time, he publicly executed the rebel leaders, making it clear to the common folk that rebellion came with consequences—they needed to think carefully about whether they could bear the cost of failure before rising up.

First chapter update, begging for follows!