Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 191: Assassination And Trump Cards

“What a lively show this is.” Carlo looked at the content from the telegram sent from the Spanish Mainland, a calm smile on his face, seemingly unaffected.

“Your Majesty, do we need to have the garrison prepare?” Count Antony, the Colonial Governor of the South Morocco Colony, asked with a serious expression.

Although the chaos in Madrid was currently limited to the workers’ parade stage, no one could guarantee that these workers, blinded by anger, wouldn’t do something outrageous.

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

From a conspiracy theory perspective, perhaps the workers’ parade in Madrid had erupted under the planning of certain people. Although their purpose was unknown, it was definitely not good news for the Spanish Government or Carlo.

The reason Count Antony was so worried was that he feared some unexpected event might erupt during the parade, leading to large-scale conflict between the government and the parade, or even rebellion.

Having the colonial garrison prepare would allow the army to be transported to the Spanish Mainland for suppression at the first moment. Although there were large numbers of troops stationed on the Spanish Mainland, they were not in front of Carlo and not within his control.

“No need for that.” Carlo shook his head, without Count Antony’s worries, his smile unchanged, looking very relaxed.

“What we need to worry about is not the workers in the parade, but the rebel elements hidden among the workers. Only when these people step forward on their own is the time for the final sweep.”

Carlo trusted Count Antony quite a bit. Although he was a noble, Count Antony as a count did not have much land, even belonging to the impoverished nobles. Without Carlo’s heavy use, Antony and his family might have faced bankruptcy long ago. When he gained Carlo’s heavy use, Antony, like pledging loyalty, had sold off his lands at low prices to the Royal Family early on.

Now, Count Antony owned little land, and his family’s business had long shifted to finance and industry, and he was also a member of the Royal Council.

He had no reason to betray Carlo; after all, he had already been heavily used and was the Colonial Governor of the South Morocco Colony, one of Spain’s four major colonies.

As long as he dutifully completed his tasks during his tenure as Colonial Governor of the South Morocco Colony, accumulated merits, it was not impossible to gain a ducal title in the future.

With such a bright future, it would be truly unreasonable to say Count Antony had betrayed Carlo.

Of course, even if Count Antony betrayed Carlo, it would not affect Carlo’s lure the snake out of its hole plan at all.

The current rebel nobles and Bourbon family were already arrows on the string, forced to fire. Even if news came back from the South Morocco Colony side, by the time the rebel nobles received it, the rebellion action would have already been formally launched.

Moreover, rebellion was not child’s play; it couldn’t be canceled just by saying so. In the current situation, the rebel nobles had no choice; they either went all the way to the end, seeking a chance of survival in the rebellion, or surrendered and awaited fate’s judgment.

This was not a small-scale action; the probability of Carlo forgiving them was extremely low. And precisely because of this, even knowing the chances of rebellion succeeding were slim, the rebel nobles would still forge ahead, gambling on their own and their family’s future destiny.

Message transmission in this era still had time delays. When the South Morocco Colony received the news via telegram, the situation in Madrid had already developed further.

The rebel nobles and Bourbon family also knew that relying solely on the workers’ parade could not shake the Spanish Government. Even publicly, the purpose of the parade was not to overthrow the government, but to protest the capitalist class’s exploitation.

Simply put, the workers still trusted the government; as long as the government made promises and let the workers see hope, the workers’ parade would soon be dismantled.

But it didn’t matter anymore. The purpose of the rebel nobles launching the workers’ parade was to attract the Spanish Government’s attention.

The rebel nobles first took advantage of the massive scale of the workers’ parade to attack several police stations in Madrid amid the chaos, preventing Spain’s public security department from controlling the situation in Madrid in a short time.

Subsequently, the assassins responsible for the assassination had long ambushed on the road that Prime Minister Primó traveled between the government building and the prime minister’s residence, seeking an opportunity to assassinate Prime Minister Primó.

And sure enough, they really found an opportunity.

Although Prime Minister Primó had strengthened his defensive strength after the last assassination attempt, the distance between the government building and the prime minister’s residence was not far—only a few hundred meters at most—so there wouldn’t be too many guards following Prime Minister Primó.

This indeed gave the assassins an opportunity. Learning from the failure of the last assassination attempt on Prime Minister Primó, this time they directly used a small-caliber cannon, planning to first flip Prime Minister Primó’s carriage, then swarm and shoot him to death with gunfire.

Boom!

With a cannon blast that shook the entire street, the cannonball landed one meter in front of Prime Minister Primó’s carriage.

“Assassins!” The guard driving the carriage ahead only managed to shout one sentence before being hit by the exploding cannonball, unable to make any more sound.

Prime Minister Primó inside the carriage only felt a loud boom, then the carriage was overturned by the blast wave from the cannonball explosion.

“Success! Continue, bomb him to death!” The assassin operating the cannon not far away looked delighted and hurriedly continued loading shells to bombard.

Cannons and cannonballs could not be transported into Spain from France; this cannon and a few shells were obtained by Spanish nobles through painstaking efforts from the army’s logistics and supply.

To avoid attention, the cannon had a very small caliber, and they only obtained three shells.

But so far, it looked very effective; even though Prime Minister Primó’s carriage was specially modified, it couldn’t withstand a few cannonball bombardments.

Boom!

Although the assassins wanted to bombard continuously, this cannon was not the latest product from the Spanish royal arsenal, and its rate of fire was relatively slow.

About ten seconds passed before the second shell was loaded and fired.

Bang!

The accuracy of the second shot was clearly not as good as the first, but the blast wave and shell fragments still shattered the wooden carriage compartment, revealing the embedded steel plate inside.

Even with the steel plate’s protection, the entire carriage compartment was deformed, and describing it as teetering on the brink of collapse was no exaggeration.

“One more shot; best if it kills Primó.” The leader among the assassins ordered.

Killing him directly with bombardment would naturally be the best, allowing them to withdraw safely. If they had to go up for the finishing shots, no one could guarantee if there were still living people in the carriage compartment.

If the enemy counterattacked in their dying moments, perhaps all of them would fall here.

The assassin operating the cannon immediately continued loading, but soon noticed something wrong.

From the far end of the street, Prime Minister Primó’s guards were already rushing over.

Bang! Bang bang!

After vaguely seeing these assassins’ figures, the guards showed no mercy, firing their rifles continuously, forcing the assassins to seek cover and unable to reload.

“Suppress the enemies, protect the Prime Minister!” The leading guard immediately issued the order, while shouting to Prime Minister Primó: “Prime Minister, are you alright?”

“Damn it, what the hell is that idiot Jim doing? Couldn’t even hold off these guards for five minutes?” The leading assassin was clearly caught off guard; their firepower suppression pinned them under cover, not daring to move an inch.

The power of rifles was no joke; if hit, even if they escaped, they would most likely only await death.

Not to mention this era’s technology couldn’t heal gunshot wounds the size of a bowl; even if such medical technology existed, these assassins wouldn’t dare go to the hospital for treatment.

Gunshot wounds were too obvious; going to the hospital was equivalent to walking into a trap. This also meant they had to ensure they weren’t wounded; otherwise, in Spain, they could only wait for death.

Seeing the assassins hunkered down under cover, the leading guard issued a new order: “Thorne, take a team and circle around to their rear. I don’t believe these assassins can fly away. Remember to leave one alive; I want to see which damn bastards dare assassinate the Prime Minister.”

A guard beside him nodded and quietly led a few men away.

“Damn it, we must find a chance to withdraw. If we don’t go now, there won’t be a chance.” The leading assassin also knew their dire situation; the gunfire would definitely attract more reinforcements, making escape even harder then.

“Thomas, Eric, you two cover the rear. The rest follow me to withdraw; head back to the manor in the suburbs first. With two cannonball bombardments, unless Primó is blessed by God, he’s dead for sure.” The leading assassin also issued his orders.

Their mission was indeed to assassinate Prime Minister Primó, but that didn’t mean they were willing to pay with their lives. Moreover, Prime Minister Primó’s carriage had already taken two cannonball hits; the compartment was falling apart, let alone the people inside.

Even if he luckily survived, he would definitely be severely wounded. With this era’s medical technology, severe wounds meant only death, meaning their assassination had a high probability of complete success.

Next, they just needed to consider how to withdraw to perfectly end this assassination mission.

The two assassins called by name had extremely complex expressions. Although they were soldiers carefully cultivated by Queen Isabella, they hadn’t been told at the time that it would cost their lives!

Who could have thought a normally very easy assassination would turn into such a situation? Knowing they would face death staying behind, the two named assassins looked ashen, faces pale.

“I will report to Her Majesty the Queen and ensure your families receive due compensation.” The leading assassin looked at the two named subordinates, showing no pity in his eyes, emotionlessly making his guarantee.

To protect the others’ withdrawal, someone definitely had to sacrifice. These two were just unlucky, but if they didn’t sacrifice, was he, the captain, supposed to?

Assassinating Prime Minister Primó was a great merit; if he could return alive, he would definitely receive substantial rewards, even a nobility title.

The leading assassin wasn’t that stupid; he had to prioritize his own survival—only the living could claim rewards; the dead got nothing.

Hearing their captain say this, the two forced rearguards nodded pale-faced but did not refute.

If they volunteered for the rear, their families might still get compensation. But if they refused and affected the others’ withdrawal, their families wouldn’t just miss compensation—they’d face Her Majesty’s accountability.

Queen Isabella was herself a despotic dictator of a queen, with extremely brutal rule. If disliked by the Queen, their families’ futures would be bleak.

Under the two’s sacrificial rear guard, the other assassins did escape.

But the two’s fates were tragic too—shot to death by furious guards, each with double-digit bullet holes, blood flowing like rivers.

After confirming safety, the guards anxiously searched for Prime Minister Primó.

The good news was Prime Minister Primó wasn’t dead. Under the double protection of the carriage and the guard inside, Prime Minister Primó was only severely wounded and unconscious, with no immediate life threat.

The bad news was Prime Minister Primó’s injuries were not light, with no sign of waking. This meant in the short term, the Spanish Government would be leaderless; without Prime Minister Primó to suppress and mediate, the workers’ rebellion would become even fiercer.

The assassins escaped and spread the news of successfully assassinating Prime Minister Primó.

This news immediately brought wild joy to the rebel nobles and the Queen’s Aide. Amid the delight, they immediately decided on the next plan: full-scale rebellion, seizing control of the Spanish Government during its leaderless period, then using the Spanish Government’s name to quell this workers’ parade and restore stability to Spain.

Worth mentioning was that alongside the assassination of Prime Minister Primó, there was also an assassination attempt on Grand Duke Serrano, the Minister of Defense.

But because Carlo had personally instructed Grand Duke Serrano before coming to the South Morocco Colony to temporarily move the Ministry of Defense’s office to the barracks and not leave the barracks even half a step, awaiting Carlo’s next orders at any time.

Grand Duke Serrano, though surprised by Carlo’s order, nodded immediately after Carlo explained the severity, indicating he understood.

It wasn’t Carlo being overly cautious; history had ample lessons. He had to prepare fully, at least ensuring the army was in his hands before he could relax.

If the rebel nobles really gained part of the military power, this would no longer be a minor rebellion, but another civil war in Spain.

Spain had finally ended its domestic chaos through reforms, ushering in a golden development period.

If these rebel nobles and Bourbon remnants dragged Spain back into the quagmire of civil war, it would be more loss than gain.

Even if the civil war could be won in the future, it would severely impact Spain’s infrastructure construction and industrial economic development. Mildly, it would set Spain’s development back years; severely, it could utterly dash Spain’s hope of becoming one of the hegemons.

Although the previous assassination attempt on Prime Minister Primó had failed, Primó’s historical fate was death by assassination.

To guard against any eventuality, it was necessary to ensure at least one of the two pillars, Prime Minister Primó and Grand Duke Serrano, was safe.

Grand Duke Serrano’s safety was easiest to guarantee. As long as he stayed in the barracks, no one could threaten him.

Prime Minister Primó was different. Under the influence of rebel nobles and the Bourbon family, Spain’s situation was bound to fall into brief chaos.

As the Spanish Government’s Prime Minister, Primó would be extremely busy during this time and have to appear publicly in some occasions.

This would make it easier for enemies to assassinate Prime Minister Primó, which was why Carlo chose to have Grand Duke Serrano ensure his own safety, becoming the final pillar.

So far, the effect was very good. Especially when Grand Duke Serrano learned of Prime Minister Primó’s assassination, severe injury, and coma, he was even more glad he had followed Carlo’s orders and never left the barracks.

In the suburban manor, the rebel nobles and the Queen’s Orderly also learned of the failed assassination on Grand Duke Serrano.

It wasn’t even a failure of assassination; it simply never happened. Grand Duke Serrano had always resided in the barracks; infiltrating the barracks was impossible for the assassins.

They couldn’t just charge into the barracks either; the soldiers there were armed to the teeth, with numerous cannons.

Unless they had numerical superiority, charging in was suicide. Forget assassination—they’d likely be suppressed before even seeing Grand Duke Serrano.

“Everyone, will Grand Duke Serrano still being alive affect our plan?” Duke of Osuna’s face was somewhat ashen; he hadn’t expected an accident in the Serrano assassination link.

“I don’t think it has much impact.” The Queen’s Orderly still stepped forward, voicing his opinion: “

Primó is dead; the Spanish Government is now leaderless. We just need to control the Spanish Government’s situation to control all of Spain.

When we issue orders in the Spanish Government’s name, does Serrano dare refuse? Haha, once we control the Spanish Government, we’ll have more troops.

Then, whether Serrano or Carlo, their fates will be in our hands. Gentlemen, the most important thing now is to quickly control the government’s situation and avoid Parliament’s intervention.

If Parliament elects an acting Prime Minister, it’ll be hard for us to control the Spanish Government again.

Lads, it’s your time to perform. As long as you can control the Spanish Government, Her Majesty the Queen and His Majesty the King can return to Spain.” The Queen’s Orderly said with a smile.

5000-word combined chapter, seeking support! Saw the additional update thread at 300 posts; no less than 3000 words additional update delivered within three days, thanks for the support!