Empire Rising: Spain

“It’s truly a delightful show of excitement.” Carlo looked at the contents of the telegram from Spain with a calm smile, seemingly unperturbed.

“Your Majesty, do we need to have the garrison ready?” The Governor of the South Morocco Colony, Earl Anthony, asked with a serious expression.

Although the current chaos in Madrid is limited to workers’ parades, no one can guarantee that these workers, who are furious, won’t do something outrageous.

Moreover, the fact that such a large-scale workers’ parade could form in a short period of time indicates that someone is definitely guiding it from behind the scenes.

From a conspiracy theory perspective, perhaps the workers’ parade in Madrid was only ignited under the planning of certain individuals. Although it’s unclear what these individuals’ ultimate goal is, it’s definitely not good news for the Spanish Government and Carlo.

The reason Earl Anthony is so concerned is his fear that unexpected incidents during the parade could lead to a large-scale conflict between the government and the marchers, or even trigger a rebellion.

Preparing the colonial garrison allows the troops to be transported to Spain at the fastest speed to suppress the rebellion. Although there is also a sizable military presence in Spain, they are neither within Carlo’s sight nor under his control.

“That’s not necessary.” Carlo shook his head, not sharing Earl Anthony’s concerns, maintaining a relaxed smile on his face.

“We need not worry about the marching workers but rather the insurgents hiding among them. Only when these people reveal themselves is it time to close the net.”

Carlo is quite trusting of Earl Anthony. Although he is also a noble, Earl Anthony has very little land, belonging to a fallen nobility.

If not for Carlo’s emphasis on him, Anthony and his family might have already faced bankruptcy. When he gained Carlo’s favor, Anthony showed his loyalty by selling his land to the Royal Family at a low price from the outset.

Currently, Earl Anthony doesn’t own much land, and his family’s business has shifted to finance and industry. He is also a member of the Royal Council.

He has no reason to betray Carlo; after all, he has been highly favored, serving as the Governor of the South Morocco Colony, one of Spain’s four major colonies.

As long as Earl Anthony completes his duties conscientiously during his tenure as Governor of the South Morocco Colony, accumulating merits, achieving a dukedom in the future is not impossible.

Under such promising prospects, it would make no sense for Earl Anthony to betray Carlo.

Of course, even if Earl Anthony betrayed Carlo, it would not affect Carlo’s plan to lure the snake out of the hole.

The rebellious nobles and the Bourbon family are already at the point of no return. Even if news is sent back from the South Morocco Colony, by the time the rebellious nobles receive it, their insurrection will already have been launched.

Moreover, rebellion is certainly not child’s play, not something that can be canceled on a whim. In the current situation, the rebellious nobles have no choice but to either find a ray of hope in the rebellion or to face fate’s judgment passively.

This is not a small-scale operation; the probability that Carlo will forgive them is extremely low. And for this reason, even knowing the slim chances of success, the rebellious nobles will persist in their gamble for their families’ futures.

In this era, message transmission still has a time delay. By the time news reaches the South Morocco Colony via telegraph, the situation in Madrid has further developed.

The rebellious nobles and the Bourbon family also realize that merely relying on workers’ parades cannot shake the Spanish Government. It’s even acknowledged that the purpose of these parades isn’t to overthrow the government but to protest the capitalist exploitation.

Simply put, the workers still have faith in the government. As long as the government makes a promise and gives workers some hope, the parade will quickly be subdued.

But that no longer matters. The purpose of initiating the workers’ parade by the rebellious nobles was to attract the attention of the Spanish Government.

The rebellious nobles first used the large scale of the workers’ parade to raid several police stations in Madrid, making it difficult for the security departments to control the city’s situation shortly.

Afterward, the assassins lay in wait along the route between Prime Minister Prim’s frequent travels to the government building and the Prime Minister’s Residence, looking for an opportunity to assassinate him.

Indeed, they found an opportunity.

Although Prime Minister Prim had enhanced his security forces after the last assassination attempt, the distance between the government building and the Prime Minister’s Residence is not long, only a few hundred meters, so not many guards follow closely alongside him.

This indeed gave the assassins a chance. Drawing from the lessons of the previous failed assassination attempt on Prime Minister Prim, this time they directly employed a small-caliber cannon, planning to first overturn his carriage and then swarm in to gun him down.

Boom!

With the cannon blast reverberating through the street, the shell fell just one meter in front of Prime Minister Prim’s carriage.

“Assassins!” The guard driving the carriage barely had time to shout before being engulfed by the exploding shell, unable to make another sound.