Rise of Empires: Spain

From the time Carlo convened people to discuss the revision of the Spanish flag to the time the Spanish House of Representatives voted to approve the revision of the flag, the whole process actually took less than 40 days.

The process of revising the flag was quite smooth, after all, there were not many changes to the flag itself.

The newly revised flag received unanimous praise in the parliament. After all, the new flag reflects the five important regions of Spain, Castile, León, Navarre, Aragon and Granada, in the shield emblem, and also highlights the ruling status of the Spanish royal family, the Savoy family.

For officials, the difference between the new flag and the original flag is only in the shield emblem. Since the difference between the flags is not big, there is naturally no need to risk offending the king to veto such a proposal.

After all, the proposal to modify the flag was made by a member of the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party naturally would not modify the flag when they were full and had nothing to do. This also means that the instigator behind it is very likely to be Carlo.

Spain's first new flag was unveiled on October 15, 1875. It was also from this day that the Spanish flags hung by the Spanish government, parliament and royal palace were all replaced with new national flags, and the change of the flag was announced to the whole of Spain in the form of government announcements and news.

Because the new flag and the old flag only differ in the shield, the Spanish people accepted the new flag very quickly, and not many people expressed opposition.

It was even welcomed by the people of these regions because of the addition of regional elements such as Granada, Aragon and Navarre.

When the new flag was replaced, the government announcements and news clearly marked the meaning of each part of the shield of the new flag.

What made the Spanish happy was that the Spanish government emphasized its power over both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar through the two Hercules columns on both sides of the shield, and this move was also strongly supported by the Spanish.

As the former empire on which the sun never sets, the Spanish people have a strong sense of pride and identity in Spain, and the Spanish are willing to fight for their country.

Spain's past weakness had little to do with ordinary people, but more with the chaos of the government's top brass and the selfishness of the royal family.

As the famous philosopher José Ortega y Gasset wrote in 1921: "From the monarch to the church, the Spanish authorities have always been selfish. Whether it is the monarch of this country or the church here, when has their heart really beat for Spain? As far as we know, never. They do the opposite. In order to protect their own interests, they deliberately pretend that those goals are beneficial to the country."

Under Carlo's rule, the Spanish once again showed their patriotic side. Even Carlo did not need to use much favorable public opinion propaganda. The Spanish would spontaneously support any action of the government.

Even when the government announced the expansion of the army before, a large number of Spaniards signed up enthusiastically. Although this is also due to the higher income of soldiers, if you really don't want to join the army, who would change their minds because of a little higher income?

Good things are often only short-lived.

A few days after Spain changed its flag, bad news came from France in the north. The former Queen Isabel II of Spain publicly declared that her son Alfonso was the heir to the Spanish throne and the real King of Spain, and Carlo of Savoy was a usurper.

If it was just the deposed queen barking alone, it would be fine, but according to the intelligence of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau, a small number of people in the Spanish aristocracy have begun to secretly contact Queen Isabel, and their purpose is obvious.

It is rare for the nobles to rebel against the king above them.

But considering the development of Spain in the past decade and the impact of various policies issued by the government on the actual income of the nobles, it seems not surprising that such a thing happened.

The Bourbon dynasty ruled Spain for hundreds of years, and Carlo has only been in Spain for more than six years.

Some nobles are unwilling to accept the environment of decreasing income under Carlo's rule. They prefer the period when Queen Isabel was not controlled by people, could exploit civilians unscrupulously, and enjoy their luxurious life.

Since learning this news, Carlo's face has never been good.

Unexpectedly, after the Bourbon family fled north to France, they were still a scourge to Spain. However, this is indeed a good opportunity to completely solve the long-term influence of the Bourbon family on Spain and clear some of the scourge for Spain.

As mentioned before, the main reason for the decline of Spain should be attributed to the Spanish government and royal family, as well as the church and other high-level people. The lower-level people have no responsibility.

Although the Habsburg dynasty is also responsible for the decline of Spain, the main reason is still to be attributed to the Bourbon family, to be precise, Queen Isabel and her father Ferdinand VII.

October 27, Royal Palace of Madrid.

Kadir, director of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, walked into the palace with a serious face. When he saw Carlo, he saluted very respectfully, and then reported the news: "Your Majesty, it has been checked."

Carlo opened his eyes, with a hint of coldness and disdain in his eyes, and said without any emotion: "Tell me, how many of our noble lords participated in this incident?"

"According to our investigation, in the past few days, about 12 nobles have met privately many times and strengthened their contact with Isabel of France.

These 12 nobles are headed by the Duke of Osuna, and this small group seems to have a tendency to expand." Kadir lowered his head slightly and nervously reported the specific news.

"Duke of Osuna?" Carlo smiled faintly and nodded, and the smile that made people feel cold all over did not diminish at all: "Very good. Continue the investigation, but don't alarm the snake. I want to see how many termites there are in our country. Before the final action, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency should not take any action, let them discuss the conspiracy they think they can succeed!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Kadir nodded and retreated respectfully.

"Duke of Osuna?" After Kadir left, the smile on Carlo's face disappeared, and his face was cold and expressionless.

"Carlo, are you okay?" Queen Sophie walked to Carlo's side and looked at Carlo, who was emitting a cold aura at this time, with a worried look.

"Is it serious? Do you need my father's help?" Queen Sophie asked with a worried look.

"No, it hasn't reached that point yet." Carlo shook his head, and his face regained a warm smile, as if nothing had happened: "Okay, let's not talk about this, Sophie.

Where is the little guy? How is he now?"

Speaking of her son, Queen Sophie also showed a gentle smile on her face, and said happily: "The little guy just fell asleep. Carlo, time flies so fast, and the little guy can turn over in a blink of an eye."

Carlo nodded, with a smile on his face: "When the little guy can crawl, we will have a second child. The Spanish royal family is sparsely populated, but it depends on the two of us to expand."

Speaking of having children, Queen Sophie's face flushed slightly, but she still nodded.

After all, she had received aristocratic education, so Queen Sophie certainly knew the importance of nobles spreading their branches. If there were no offspring to inherit the family business, the noble title and property would fall into the hands of the collateral line at best, or even lead to the extinction of the family.

European nobles still attach great importance to family inheritance, so they naturally want to avoid this phenomenon as much as possible.

How to avoid it? Of course, it is to have more children. Especially considering the problem of newborns dying easily in this era, the most important thing for newlywed noble couples in their twenties is to have children.

"Hahaha." Carlo happily embraced his wife in his arms, gently scratched the tip of Queen Sophie's nose, which was dotted with a faint blush, and said with a smile: "I have already thought of the name of the next child.

If it is still a boy, it will be Martin, and if it is a girl, it will be Sophia. What do you think?"

Queen Sophie nodded and had no objection to this.

Starting at the end of October 1875, a dark cloud flowed in the dark of Spain and swept across many areas.

Carlo certainly knew who these people were and what their purpose was. But for Carlo, this is not the time to settle accounts with them.

Let them win over more people who may rebel, and then catch them all in one fell swoop is Carlo's ultimate goal.

In any case, the Bourbon family has always been a hidden danger in Spain. Only by thoroughly solving this problem can the subsequent development of Spain be considered completely stable.

But soon, the development of things was somewhat beyond Carlo's expectations.

The number of nobles who contacted Queen Isabel soon exceeded 20, and slowly approached 50.

The main reason why so many nobles began to contact the Bourbon family was a piece of news that shocked Carlo, that is, the orthodox Queen Isabel of the Bourbon family and the Carlos faction of the Bourbon family united.

Yes, for the throne of Spain, Queen Isabel chose to unite with the Carlos faction to jointly deal with the Savoy family, which had already become a climate.

This made Carlo wonder. Why didn't Queen Isabel choose to unite with the Carlos faction to fight together when Carlo first succeeded to the throne?

If the two united when Carlo was not yet stable, it might cause more trouble for Carlo. But now, if Carlo had not let it go, I am afraid that the situation caused by Queen Isabel would not have been so serious.

In the end, it was the investigation of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau that gave Carlo the answer.

It is not that Queen Isabel was unwilling to unite with the Carlos faction before Carlo ascended the throne, but that the Carlos faction was unwilling to cooperate with Queen Isabel at that time.

After Queen Isabel was driven out of Spain, in order to keep the throne of the Bourbon family, Queen Isabel announced that she would voluntarily give up the throne and give it to her son Alfonso.

But such a proposal was not agreed by Primo and Serrano and others. After all, they just drove Queen Isabel away. If they support Queen Isabel's son as the new king, doesn't it mean that their revolution has failed in another way?

Perhaps after Alfonso becomes the new king of Spain, those who once promoted the revolution will be liquidated.

The reason why the Carlos faction refused to cooperate with Queen Isabel is also very simple, that is, there is a fundamental conflict between the two sides on the issue of the throne.

Queen Isabel supported her son Alfonso, while the Carlists supported "Carlos VII".

After the complete defeat of the Carlos faction, they were also driven out of Spain and fled to France.

However, due to various reasons, the cooperation between Queen Isabel and the Carlos faction was finally established in 1875 a few years later.

Another major factor that led Queen Isabel and the Carlos faction to cooperate was the impact of the land rent reduction policy promulgated by the Spanish government on the Spanish nobles.

The early reforms in Spain had little to do with the nobles, but since the beginning of the agricultural reform, the income of the nobles has been greatly affected.

Some people chose to accept the government's reforms and continue to unite under Carlo's rule. Naturally, some people did not accept the government's reforms. They still wanted to return to the previous era of Spain, back to the era when the nobles could exploit the common people unscrupulously.

It was under the influence and contact of this part of the nobles that Queen Isabel and the Carlos faction completely united together to deal with Carlo and try to restore the Bourbon dynasty's rule over Spain.

Their union also played a very good effect. A small number of nobles quickly responded to their call and expressed their willingness to help them restore the rule of the Bourbon dynasty.

From the restoration of Alfonso XII in history, we can see that the Bourbon dynasty had a great influence in Spain. Even in later generations, the family that ruled Spain was still the Bourbon dynasty.

It's just that in this world, after Carlo drove away Queen Isabel and the Carlos faction, he used the power of public opinion to vigorously publicize the destruction of the Bourbon family to Spain, so that the people transferred all the hatred of Spain's weakness to the Bourbon family.

Although a small number of nobles contacted Queen Isabel after she publicly opposed Carlo's rule, the common people still supported Carlo's rule.

After all, the people are actually living at the bottom of Spain, and they certainly know the difference between the reigns of Queen Isabel and Carlo.

Who is really good for them and who really wants to make Spain stronger? They definitely understand it deeply.

What's more, the Spanish civilians don't want to see the arrival of civil war. For the people, having a peaceful and stable environment is more important than anything else.

Civil war will only bring misfortune to the Spaniards, the pain of broken families and unnecessary sacrifices. Regarding the dark clouds surging in Spain, under the premise of some nobles responding, it was the Spanish civilians who remained rational.

Of course, this was also due to the power of public opinion controlled by Carlo. Although Carlo did not dismantle Queen Isabel's conspiracy through the power of public opinion, Queen Isabel was also unable to encourage herself through public opinion.

Simply put, Queen Isabel's actions have lost public support in Spain, which also means that no matter how many nobles support her, such actions will eventually fail.

If Spain had not carried out military reforms, Queen Isabel might have had a chance. But after the military reforms were completed, the Spanish military system was no longer what it used to be.

The Spanish military nobles had a greater influence before, but now it is difficult for ordinary nobles to insert their hands into the new Royal Army of Spain.

Only nobles with real strength can continue to maintain their military positions after the military reform. For example, Prime Minister Primo and Archduke Serrano still have the rank of Spanish Army Marshal, and their influence in the army is definitely the top two.

The nobles who supported Queen Isabel, including the Duke of Osuna, had little influence in the Spanish army.

With the help of the powerful Guards, Carlo would not worry at all even if Queen Isabel and the Carlos faction united.

The undercurrent in Spain also alarmed Prime Minister Primo. Although Spain did not have a corresponding intelligence department, Prime Minister Primo, as the controller of the Spanish government, could not hide some news and changes from him.

After learning the news, Prime Minister Primo hurriedly found Carlo and discussed with him the countermeasures to deal with Queen Isabel and the Carlos faction.

What Prime Minister Primo found incredible was that Carlo's face was not only not panicked, but full of ease and smiles.

Prime Minister Primo proposed a way to deal with and prevent the remnants of the Bourbon from provoking a civil war, but Carlo's method surprised Prime Minister Primo, that is, to allow the Carlos and Queen Isabel to provoke a civil war, and to suppress it with lightning speed, and to liquidate all rebels including Queen Isabel.

It is called a civil war, but it is more like a small-scale rebellion.

After all, most nobles still have brains, and they can judge the situation in Spain. It is impossible for them to run over as soon as Queen Isabel waves her hand.

Even if they are dissatisfied with Spain's reform policies, as long as Queen Isabel and the power of the Carlos faction cannot completely overthrow the Spanish government, they will not easily stand on the side.

Those who quickly stand on the side of the Bourbon family are either the confidants and loyal ministers cultivated by the Bourbon family, or they have suffered significant losses under Carlo's rule. They can only save their interests by resisting Carlo and the current Spanish government.

During the discussion between Carlo and Prime Minister Primo, Carlo stated that not only would he not stop them from launching a rebellion, but he would also actively create opportunities for them and help them launch a larger-scale rebellion.

The mission of Prime Minister Primo and the Spanish army is to quickly suppress these people after they start a rebellion, and quickly capture the leaders who instigated the rebellion.

Including Queen Isabel and the Carlos faction far away in France, they will also be liquidated by the Spanish government. If the French government is unwilling to hand them over, Carlo does not mind using other means. After all, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency's agent system is already mature.

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