Empire Rising: Spain

Although Queen Isabel does not have an army strong enough to confront the Royal Army, if she can resolve the problems of Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano, it would greatly increase the chances of the coup’s success.

With the lingering influence of the Bourbon family, coupled with the efforts of numerous nobles, it might be possible to stabilize the situation within the chaotic Spanish Government after the loss of Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano.

Even if Carlo notices and returns to Spain, it will be difficult for him to regain control of the situation. After all, Carlo is an Italian, and some Spanish nobles still harbor resentment against him.

Moreover, Prime Minister Prim’s agricultural reforms threaten the interests of the nobles, exacerbating their rejection of Carlo.

There are no issues when the Spanish situation is stable, but if Spain falls into chaos, whether the nobles will heed Carlo’s commands is uncertain.

At this moment, if Queen Isabel calls out, many nobles would likely support a return to the Bourbon family’s rule, not just this small group attending the meeting.

“As long as we can deal with the troubles of Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano, the subsequent matters become much simpler.” The duke who advocated caution nodded, relaxing his expression somewhat, and turned with a smile to look at Duke Osuna and the Guard Officer, saying with a smile:

“Why don’t we continue discussing our actions and how to quickly take control of the Spanish Government? Once we control the situation in the Spanish Government, we can more swiftly welcome Queen Isabel and His Majesty King Alfonso, can’t we?”

The nobles present are not fools. If their planned coup succeeds, the Bourbon family will once again control the situation in Spain.

The Bourbon family and Queen Isabel, once like rats crossing the street in Spain, would again become the rulers of this country.

Whoever gains the trust of Queen Isabel would have the opportunity for greater prominence in the future Spanish Government, wouldn’t they?

Their painstaking efforts to overthrow the rule of Prime Minister Prim and Carlo are precisely to secure more prominence for themselves and regain their interests.

These nobles would naturally not miss the opportunity to win Queen Isabel’s favor.

Under the duke’s proposal, the nobles quickly began a detailed discussion on their actions and how to rapidly gain control of the situation in the Spanish Government.

Amid the passionate discussions of the many nobles, a fairly complete and detailed action plan was freshly produced, along with methods for quickly controlling the Spanish Government’s situation after successfully assassinating Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano, as well as drafting a series of temporary policies to stabilize the situation.

The nobles displayed an unimaginable enthusiasm during their discussions, and the leading dukes simply assumed everyone was eager to end Prim’s revolution and restore noble privileges, without any suspicion.

On November 2, 1875, a steam train rumbled from a southern city in France toward Spain. After a series of cumbersome procedures at the Spanish border, the train’s passengers transferred to a brand-new train to continue toward Spain.

Because the track widths in France and Spain differ significantly, French trains cannot travel directly onto Spanish soil.

While this hinders economic exchanges between Spain and the European Continent, it also effectively prevents France from invading Spain during its period of weakness.

During the Napoleon Empire, France did successfully invade Spain, but at that time, France was practically unstoppable in Europe, and Spain’s invasion was inevitable.

After the Napoleon Empire, France could no longer maintain control over Spain, and in subsequent years, France failed to invade Spain again.

Having successfully transferred to the Spanish train, a few strong men gathered once more in the last carriage. The leading man visibly relaxed and even changed his expression to a more relaxed one.

“Captain, do you think our operation will succeed this time?” One of the men glanced around, furtively approached the leading man, and asked in a low voice.

“Of course, no problem.” The man called Captain closed his eyes, pretending to rest, but communicated quietly with his team: “What’s there to worry about? Just get close to the target and fire a shot. We’ve practiced this procedure hundreds of times in France; this time, we only need to do it once.”

The team member nodded, his doubts now dispelled.

With the complete action plan, the rebellious nobles and Bourbon remnants did not hesitate and immediately prepared to launch a large-scale rebellion that day.

The core of successfully completing the coup is the assassination of Prime Minister Prim and Duke Serrano. To ensure no mishaps, the rebellious nobles decided to create some distractions to draw Prime Minister Prim’s attention and lower his defenses.

What sort of distractions?

For instance, the age-old conflict of interests between capitalists and workers.

If the main conflict in a feudal autocratic kingdom is between land nobles and peasants, then in a constitutional monarchy, the main conflict is between the capitalist class and factory workers.

In Spain, though there are labor laws and other legal protections that offer workers a modicum of guarantee, the workers ultimately cannot escape the capitalist’s exploitation and servitude.