Empire Rising: Spain

The reason why the Carlos Faction refused to cooperate with Queen Isabel is simple: there is a fundamental conflict between the two sides regarding the choice of the throne.

Queen Isabel supports her son Alfonso, while the Carlos Faction supports “Carlos VII.”

After the complete failure of the Carlos Faction, they were also expelled from Spain and fled to France.

However, due to various reasons, the cooperation between Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction was only established in 1875, several years later.

Another major factor that led Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction to cooperate was the impact of Spain’s land rent reduction policy on the Spanish nobility.

The early reforms of Spain did not have much to do with the nobility, but since the start of agricultural reform, the income of the nobility has been greatly affected.

Some chose to accept the government’s reforms and continue to unite under Carlo’s rule. Naturally, some did not accept the government’s reforms and still wanted to return to the previous era of Spain, where the nobility could oppress the common people recklessly.

It was under the influence and contact of this part of the nobility that Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction were completely united to jointly confront Carlo and attempt to restore the Bourbon Dynasty’s rule over Spain.

Their alliance had a good effect, with a small portion of the nobility quickly responding to their call and expressing willingness to help them restore the Bourbon Dynasty.

The restoration of Alfonso XII in history also shows that the influence of the Bourbon Dynasty in Spain was significant. Even in later generations, the family ruling Spain is still the Bourbon Dynasty.

However, in this world, after Carlo successively drove out Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction, he utilized the power of public opinion to strongly promote the destruction of Spain by the Bourbon family, transferring the hatred of Spain’s decline entirely onto the Bourbon family.

Although after Queen Isabel publicly opposed Carlo’s rule, a small number of nobles contacted her, ordinary people still strongly supported Carlo’s rule.

After all, the common people lived at the very bottom of Spain, and they certainly knew the differences during Queen Isabel’s and Carlo’s rule.

Who truly had their best interests at heart and genuinely wanted to make Spain stronger was something they deeply understood.

Moreover, the Spanish common people also didn’t want to see the outbreak of civil war. For them, having a peaceful and stable environment was more important than anything else.

Civil war would only bring misfortune to the Spaniards, causing the pain of broken homes and unnecessary sacrifices. Amidst the turbulent undercurrents within Spain, it was ultimately the Spanish common people who maintained their sanity, under the premise of some noble responses.

Of course, this was also thanks to the public opinion power controlled by Carlo. Although Carlo did not use public opinion to disintegrate Queen Isabel’s conspiracy, Queen Isabel also couldn’t muster momentum through public opinion.

Simply put, Queen Isabel’s actions had lost public support in Spain, which meant that no matter how many nobles supported her, such actions would ultimately fail.

If Spain had not undergone military reform, perhaps Queen Isabel would have had a chance. But after military reform, Spain’s military system was no longer the same as before.

The Spanish Army used to have significant influence from the nobility, but now, in the new Royal Army of Spain, ordinary nobles found it very difficult to insert themselves again.

Only truly powerful nobles could maintain their military positions after the military reforms. For instance, figures like Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano, who still held the military rank of Marshal of the Spanish Army and had significant influence in the military.

However, those nobles supporting Queen Isabel, including Duke Osuna, did not have much influence in the Spanish Army.

Additionally, with the support of the powerful Guard Army, even if Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction united, Carlo was not worried at all.

The undercurrents in Spain also alarmed Prime Minister Prim. Although Spain did not have a corresponding intelligence agency, as the controller of the Spanish Government, some news and changes could not be concealed from him.

Upon learning the news, Prime Minister Prim hurriedly sought out Carlo to discuss countermeasures against Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction.

What amazed Prime Minister Prim was that Carlo’s face showed no sign of panic, but instead was filled with relaxation and smiles.

Prime Minister Prim proposed ways to counter and prevent the Bourbon Remnants from inciting civil war, while Carlo’s proposed method left Prime Minister Prim stunned: to allow the Carlos Faction and Queen Isabel to incite civil war and to suppress it swiftly, taking stock of all rebels, including Queen Isabel.

What was called civil war was more like a small-scale rebellion.

After all, most nobles were rational, and they would assess Spain’s situation; they wouldn’t just rush over at Queen Isabel’s command.

Even if they were dissatisfied with Spain’s reform policies, as long as Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction’s forces couldn’t completely overthrow the Spanish Government, they wouldn’t easily take sides.

Those who quickly sided with the Bourbon family were either trusted aides and loyalists cultivated by the Bourbon family or those who suffered significant losses under Carlo’s rule and believed that opposing Carlo and the current Spanish Government was the only way to save their interests.

In discussions between Carlo and Prime Minister Prim, Carlo expressed not only would he not prevent them from inciting rebellion, but he would actively create opportunities for them to incite a larger-scale rebellion.

Prime Minister Prim and the Spanish Army’s task was to quickly suppress these people after they incited rebellion and to swiftly capture the leaders who initiated the resistance.

Even Queen Isabel and the Carlos Faction in France would face scrutiny from the Spanish Government. If the French Government refused to hand them over, Carlo wouldn’t mind using other means, as the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau’s agent system was already mature.