Although Victoria was the second-largest city in the Basque Country, it was ultimately only a small city with a population of less than 100,000.
The Spanish army's artillery was a devastating blow to a city like this and coupled with the fact that they already knew the location of the Basque rebels, this offensive battle was fought easily.
After being bombarded by the Spanish army, the Basque rebels quickly lost morale.
Some Basque rebels didn't even understand how they had become rebels when not long ago they were just ordinary factory workers.
"Where is Councillor Enrique? The government troops have reached Victoria, why is there no news?" Matisse Anhatol, the leader of the Basque rebels, looked panicked in the face of the Spanish army's bombardment and ordered someone to find Councillor Enrique.
The original plan was that Matisse Anhatol would temporarily hold his ground, while Enrique would use his connections in the Senate to gather information on the Spanish army, and then decide whether to surrender or continue fighting based on the situation in Zaragoza.
But now that the Spanish army had reached their doorstep, why was there still no news from Councillor Enrique?
About ten minutes later, a soldier reported with a panicked look: "General, Councillor Enrique is gone!"
"What?" Matisse Anhatol's eyes showed seven parts shock and three parts panic. He instantly stood up, ignoring the pain in his thigh from hitting the table, and said in disbelief, "What did you say? Councillor Enrique is gone?"
"Yes, General. We went to Councillor Enrique's residence, and not only was Councillor Enrique gone, but his wife and children were also missing," the messenger soldier replied after catching his breath.
Bang!
Matisse Anhatol slumped back onto the chair, his eyes filled with seven parts despair and three parts resentment: "That damn traitor, it's all over, he ruined the Basque Country, he betrayed us!"
In this situation, how could Matisse Anhatol not see that Councillor Enrique was actually prepared long ago and that the arrival of the Spanish army might even have been Enrique's doing?
Facing the Spanish army's encirclement now, there was no way he could escape.
Also, because of the previous agreement with Enrique to hold their ground, there were over 3,000 Basque soldiers within Victoria.
Once Victoria was occupied by the Spanish army, these more than 3,000 Basque rebels and himself would all fall into the hands of the Spanish army.
"General, what should we do?" His subordinates looked at Matisse Anhatol anxiously, the panic in their eyes visible.
Matisse Anhatol was also hesitating. Should he go all out and fight the government forces to the death, or surrender early and try to gain Prim's forgiveness?
Although the current situation was clearly more suitable for direct surrender, would Prim forgive him?
Thinking about his fate after surrendering, Matisse Anhatol became indecisive, his eyes filled with confusion and regret.
He regretted being blinded by self-interest and agreeing to rebel with Enrique to threaten the government. He regretted even more easily trusting Enrique and not keeping an eye on him, allowing Enrique and his family to escape Victoria.
"General, the government troops have entered the city!" Before Matisse Anhatol could think clearly, a soldier suddenly rushed in, speaking breathlessly.
"What? Where are our troops?" Matisse Anhatol stood up abruptly again, his eyes filled only with despair.
"The government forces seem to know the location of our troops. The outer forces surrendered after a few rounds of shelling, and now the government forces are heading towards us," the soldier continued.
"It's over, everything is over. Damn Enrique, you are a sinner of the Basque Country, you will go to hell!" Matisse Anhatol finished speaking with great resentment, then his whole body seemed to lose strength. He said to the two soldiers in front of him: "Surrender, surrender! God is not on our side, God has abandoned us!"
After the two soldiers received the order and left, Matisse Anhatol's face became calm instead. He looked out the door with empty eyes, then closed the door.
"Enrique, I wish you an early trip to hell! God, please punish the sinner who betrayed the Basque Country!"
Bang!
Thud!
The Basques surrendered, and Prim easily occupied Victoria with his army, capturing all the rebellious Basque soldiers.
After confirming that the Basque rebel leader Matisse Anhatol had committed suicide, Prim left 5,000 soldiers to maintain order in Victoria and look for opportunities to retake Bilbao in the north. He himself led the remaining large force east towards Zaragoza.
Since the Basques had been dealt with, it was now time for a decisive battle with the Catalans.
Prim had participated in the First Carlist War and knew that the existence of the Carlist faction was a disaster for Spain, a source of instability.
Therefore, Prim decided to decisively eliminate the Carlist faction in this war, completely clearing the trouble of civil unrest for Spain.
As the saying goes, one must first settle internal affairs before dealing with external threats. If even the small internal troubles of Spain cannot be resolved, how can Spain talk about achieving revival and returning to the ranks of the European powers?
In Zaragoza, a not-so-intense offensive and defensive battle was underway.
The reason it wasn't intense was that the Catalan army had no great desire to attack, almost like a perfunctory long-married couple.
Of course, it was also because the Spanish army's artillery fire was too fierce.
Facing the enemy's dense artillery bombardment, the morale of the Catalans had long since plummeted from its peak at the start of the rebellion.
Blocked in Zaragoza for such a long time, the Catalan army had not managed to get close to the city.
Within the Carlist faction, discussions about this war had never stopped.
After being blocked in Zaragoza, Carlos VII knew things were going badly.
Originally, the union of Catalonia and the Basque Country could have affected a large part of northern Spain.
But now, the Catalan army was directly blocked in Zaragoza, and the Basques were completely unable to resist the government forces.
With the situation developing like this, victory was impossible, and the countermeasures proposed within the army were more unreliable than the last.
For example, heading south to Valencia, bypassing Zaragoza, and penetrating towards Madrid.
Are the government forces fools? Even if they could Go around Madrid, could they break through the Spanish capital in just a few days?
If they couldn't break through Madrid quickly, the troops in Zaragoza would definitely return to reinforce. At that time, facing a pincer attack from the Madrid defenders and the forces from the Zaragoza direction, they would die even more miserably.
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