Unlike the muddled situation in the Near East, the situation in Spain was much clearer.
Franz's strategy proved extremely effective. Narvaez, O'Donnell, and Espartero—those warlords of the original chaotic age—were now each occupying a region under the banner of liberating Spain.
They tore straight through the Spanish Republic's defensive line, and as for the so-called scorched-earth policy, it became even more of a joke.
If the Spanish Republic wanted to carry out a scorched-earth policy, it had no choice but to face the wrath of the people and those battle-hardened Guerrilla Force fighters. Add to that the fact that Ferrante Duway's government had gone against the tide and lost popular support, and for a time rebellions sprang up everywhere within the Spanish Republic's territory.
The Austrian Empire's expeditionary force gave them no chance to catch their breath either, and soon occupied the vast majority of central Spain. Only a small portion of the Spanish Republic remained, hiding in a few isolated cities.
Madrid and Toledo even saw uprisings break out directly. The furious populace, together with officials who did not want to be buried alongside Ferrante Duway, simply opened the city gates.
While the Austrian Empire's expeditionary force launched a massive frontal assault, rescue operations were also carried out in secret. Several tactical squads were covertly dispatched into Spanish Republic territory.
Only, before that, the Austrian Empire's special operations team had already found the grain. Locating storage sites was not difficult for such experts.
The mountains near Madrid seemed boundless, with no traces to follow, and possible hiding places were everywhere. But taking into account the quantity of grain, transportation, and storage, there were not many places that met the conditions.
Then, by using the spies' previous residences and transaction records, they quickly inferred all possible storage sites. Before long,