Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 41: Chapter 40: Suppression of the Rebellion

Though Victoria is the second-largest city in the Basque Region, it is ultimately just a small city with a population of less than one hundred thousand.

The artillery of the Spanish Army is a punishment from heaven for such a city, and having already known the position of the Basque Rebel Army, this offensive battle is fought easily.

After the shelling by the Spanish Army, the Basque Rebel Army quickly lost morale.

Some members of the Basque Rebel Army still don’t understand how they became rebels, as not long ago he was just an ordinary factory worker.

“What about Senator Anrique? The government forces have arrived in Victoria, why is there no news coming in?” The leader of the Basque Rebel Army, Mathis Anhatel, faced the Spanish Army’s shelling in panic, ordered people to find Senator Anrique.

Originally agreed upon, Mathis Anhatel would temporarily hold his position while Anrique would use his connections in the Senate to investigate the situation of the Spanish Army, and then decide whether to surrender or continue fighting based on the war condition in Zaragoza.

But now, the Spanish Army is at the doorstep, why there is still no news from Senator Anrique?

About ten minutes later, a soldier came to report with an anxious look: “General, Senator Anrique is missing!”

“What?” Mathis Anhatel’s eyes showed seventy percent shock and thirty percent panic, he immediately stood up, disregarding the pain from his thigh hitting the table, and said incredulously: “What did you say? Senator Anrique is missing?”

“Yes, General. We went to Senator Anrique’s residence, not only is Senator Anrique missing, but his wife and children are also gone.” After taking a couple of breaths, the soldier answered.

Bam!

Mathis Anhatel sat back on the bench, his eyes showing seventy percent despair and thirty percent anger: “Damn traitor, everything is ruined, he destroyed Basque, he betrayed us!”

In the current situation, Mathis Anhatel could tell that Senator Anrique had prepared in advance; it was even possible that the arrival of the Spanish Army was manipulated by Senator Anrique.

Faced with the encirclement of the Spanish Army, it was impossible for him to escape.

Also, due to his prior agreement with Anrique to temporarily hold their position, there were more than 3000 Basque soldiers inside Victoria City.

Once Victoria is captured by the Spanish Army, these 3000 Basque rebels and himself, will fall into the hands of the Spanish Army.

“General, what should we do?” His subordinates looked at Mathis Anhatel anxiously, panic evident in their eyes.

Mathis Anhatel was also hesitating. Should he make a desperate fight against the government forces or surrender early to seek Prim’s forgiveness?

Although the current situation clearly suggested direct surrender, would Prim forgive him?

Thinking of the consequences of surrender, Mathis Anhatel began to feel indecisive, his eyes filled with confusion and regret.

He regretted being blinded by interests, agreeing to join Anrique to start a rebellion to threaten the government. He regretted believing Anrique so easily and not keeping a close watch on him, allowing Anrique and his family to escape Victoria.

“General, the government forces have entered the city!” Before Mathis Anhatel could make up his mind, a soldier suddenly rushed in, gasping for breath.

“What? What about our troops?” Mathis Anhatel stood up abruptly once again, his eyes filled only with despair.

“The government forces seemed to know the position of our troops, the outer troops surrendered after several rounds of shelling, and now the government forces are heading towards us.” The soldier continued.

“It’s over, everything is over. Damn you, Anrique, you are a sinner to Basque, you should go to hell!” Mathis Anhatel said this full of resentment, then suddenly seemed to lose all strength, telling the two soldiers in front of him: “Surrender, surrender! God is not on our side, God has abandoned us!”

After receiving the orders and leaving, Mathis Anhatel’s expression turned calm instead, looking blankly outside the door and then shutting it.

“Anrique, I wish you an early trip to hell! God, please punish the sinners who betrayed Basque!”

Bam!

Knock!

The Basque surrendered, and Prim led the forces to easily capture Victoria, capturing all the rebellious Basque soldiers.

After confirming that the leader of the Basque Rebel Army, Mathis Anhatel, had already committed suicide, Prim left five thousand soldiers to maintain order in Victoria, looking for opportunities to recover the northern Bilbao, while he led the remaining main forces eastward to Zaragoza.

Now that the Basques had been dealt with, it was time for a showdown with the Catalans.

Prim had participated in the First Carlo War, he knew the existence of the Carlos Faction was a scourge and a destabilizing factor for Spain now.

Thus, Prim decided to decisively resolve the Carlos Faction in this war, completely removing the troubles of internal unrest for Spain.

As the saying goes, to deal with external troubles, one must first settle internal conflicts. If Spain’s small internal troubles couldn’t be resolved, how could Spain talk about achieving rejuvenation and returning to the throne of the European Powers?

In Zaragoza, a not-so-fierce offensive and defensive battle was taking place.

The lack of fierceness was due to the Catalan forces lacking aggressive intent, as if they were going through the motions after being married for a long time.

Of course, it’s also due to the Spanish Army’s extremely fierce artillery fire.

The Catalans, facing the enemy’s concentrated artillery bombardment, had dropped their morale long ago from the peak during their initial rebellion to the low point.

Blocked in Zaragoza for such a long time, the Catalan army had never managed to get close to Zaragoza.

Within the Carlos Faction, discussions about the war never ceased.

After being blocked in Zaragoza, Carlos VII knew things were not going well.

Originally, the alliance between the Catalans and Basques was able to influence more than half of the northern Spain.

But now the Catalans were directly blocked in Zaragoza, and the Basques were unable to resist the government forces at all.

With such a development in the situation, victory seemed impossible, while the proposed strategies within the army to cope with it were even more unreliable one after another.

For instance, going south to Valencia, directly bypassing Zaragoza to insert into Madrid.

Would the government forces be idiots? Even if they could bypass to Madrid, could they break through Spain’s capital within a few days?

If Madrid couldn’t be breached in a short time, the forces from Zaragoza would definitely return for backup. Then, facing the pincer from the troops guarding Madrid and the forces from Zaragoza, the loss would be even more miserable.