The news that Pri Minister Primó had been assassinated, severely wounded, and fallen into a coma quickly spread through various ans to much of Madrid city and even the entire Spain.
Whether it was the ministers of the Spanish Cabinet Governnt or the mbers of parliant in the House of Representatives, all were greatly shocked.
Since Pri Minister Primó was elected as Pri Minister of Spain after the revolution, Pri Minister Primó had always dominated Spanish politics and was absolutely the governnt’s anchor.
If Pri Minister Primó was there, even in the greatest chaos, the officials had confidence in quelling it under Pri Minister Primó’s leadership.
But now that Pri Minister Primó was severely wounded and in a coma, there was an urgent need for another person with influence who could step forward to stabilize the situation. Who would that person be?
At this ti, the Spanish Governnt swiftly split into two factions. One faction, led by Minister of Transport Ruiz, consisted mostly of mbers of the Progressive Party. They believed that at this mont, parliantary elections should be promoted to elect an acting pri minister to stabilize Spain’s situation until Pri Minister Primó awoke and the acting pri minister’s position was abolished.
The Conservative Party, led by Minister of Industry Cánovas, believed that the most important thing right now was to bring back Carlo from South Morocco and have His Majesty the King issue orders to stabilize the situation.
The Progressive Party was originally the largest party in the Spanish Parliant, but without Pri Minister Primó’s leadership, it ended up in a deadlock with the second largest party, the Conservative Party.
While the parliant was arguing fiercely internally, the rebel nobles had already begun their actions.
Under the malicious incitent of so people, workers’ parades in so regions joined in chaotic and violent elents, turning the original parades into conflicts with local police.
When the conflict began, even workers who originally did not oppose the governnt could not intervene in the conflict’s progression.
The final result was that several streets in Madrid erupted into quite serious conflict incidents, with casualties on both sides among the parading workers and the police maintaining public order.
The conflict incidents changed the pattern of the Spanish Parliant’s quarrels. Minister of Transport Ruiz suddenly gained the support of the Liberal Party and was elected as Acting Pri Minister of Spain with over half the parliantary seats’ support, to fulfill the duties of Pri Minister of Spain during Pri Minister Primó’s wounded coma, with the term automatically ending when Pri Minister Primó ended his coma.
Ruiz, who had overco great difficulties to beco Acting Pri Minister of Spain, was in high spirits. He of course knew that Pri Minister Primó’s injuries were serious and that even if Pri Minister Primó could be saved, his physical condition would deteriorate sharply.
Although his acting pri minister term was nominally only during Pri Minister Primó’s injury period, in reality it was an experience that no one else could obtain.
If Pri Minister Primó retired in the future, who else could take over the pri minister’s authority from Primó? Of course, it would be him, the one who had once beco acting pri minister, which would be very helpful for him to beco the new Pri Minister of Spain and the new leader of the Progressive Party.
And such a small workers’ parade was sothing Ruiz did not take seriously at all.
On the afternoon of November 5, 1875, Ruiz, who had just been elected as Acting Pri Minister of Spain not long ago, imdiately announced an order for the army garrisoned in Toledo to march north to Madrid and declare martial law in Madrid, demanding that the parading workers dissolve their parade and promising to seek justice for the workers.
Although there were also garrisons in Madrid, Ruiz cleverly did not mobilize Madrid’s main army. Why? Because Grand Duke Serrano had also moved his Ministry of Defense office to the Madrid barracks, and Madrid’s army was completely controlled by Grand Duke Serrano—Ruiz was not foolish.
Madrid’s army was of course closer, but it could also more directly threaten his status as acting pri minister. Originally, as a radical reforr, he had ideological differences with the conservative-leaning noble Grand Duke Serrano, and if Grand Duke Serrano staged a military coup, that would be a big problem.
Therefore, even though troops were being mobilized from Toledo dozens of kiloters away, Ruiz was unwilling to mobilize soldiers from the closer Madrid Outskirts barracks.
What Ruiz did not expect was that before the Toledo army arrived, he encountered a new accident.
If these rebel nobles were quite dissatisfied with Pri Minister Primó, then they harbored naked hatred and disgust toward the even more radical reforr Ruiz.
Pri Minister Primó’s reforms would consider the nobles’ opinions and would not exterminate the nobles. But Ruiz’s reforms were extrely radical, and he had even once supported abolishing Spain’s monarchy and establishing a completely republican democratic Spanish Nation.
For the rebel nobles, Ruiz was also an absolute trouble that needed to be removed. If Ruiz gained great power, this guy would definitely seize the opportunity to promote Spain’s republic.
The rebel nobles were still waiting to welco back Queen Isabella and regain noble privileges—they did not want Spain to have already beco a republic before the queen returned.
If that were the case, what use would the queen’s return be? Would she have to get a resident identity card of the Republic of Spain?
While rapidly preparing for the ard rebellion, the rebel nobles also spread various rumors unfavorable to Ruiz.
For example, that Pri Minister Primó was actually sent by Ruiz to commit suicide, with the purpose of controlling Spain’s regi after Pri Minister Primó fell into a coma.
There were also stories that Ruiz had several large factories under him, making him even more hateful than the exposed factory owners, and so on, attempting to sar Ruiz, who had beco acting pri minister.
At this ti, Ruiz was also very troubled. He had just beco acting pri minister and had not enjoyed the power in his hands for long before his reputation suffered such saring.
However, the most important thing right now was to end this workers’ parade that had affected much of Madrid; otherwise, the governnt would not have the capacity to deal with other matters.
To ensure Madrid’s stability, Ruiz issued a new order: police responsible for maintaining public order could use firearms under dangerous conditions to prevent the workers’ parade from turning into ard conflict.
But what he did not expect was that this order instantly ignited the situation of the workers’ parade.
Originally, the police did not intend to proactively fire on the worker groups, but they could not withstand the malicious guidance and fueling from the rebel nobles within the worker groups.
When soone in the chaotic crowd fired at the police, even if the police were reluctant to fire on civilians, they had to use the firearms in their hands for their own personal safety.
The fatal consequence was that in a short ti, several parade sites were ignited, and the cumulative casualties of workers and police quickly reached hundreds.
“What?” Ruiz, who had just learned of the casualty news, showed a shocked expression on his face and asked incredulously: “Who told them to fire first? Didn’t I say to wait until the most dangerous mont to use firearms?”
“Pri Minister, it was not our police who fired first, but soone in the crowd fired and attacked them first,” the Minister of Public Security explained with a bitter smile: “After the shooting, the crowd fell into chaos, and our police suffered heavy casualties.
To maintain stability of the situation, they had no choice but to fire warning shots at the crowd to force back the crowd.”
“Damn it.” Ruiz pounded the table hard twice; his mood at this ti was far from good.
The current situation had reached an even more critical stage; if the workers’ parade was not handled well, it was very likely to evolve into internal strife against the governnt.
“What about our army? How much longer until they arrive in Madrid?” Ruiz asked.
Only by having control of the army in his hands could he ensure Madrid’s stability and secure his position as acting pri minister.
As for whether using the army to suppress the parade would provoke fierce resistance from the workers, that was no longer a problem Ruiz wanted to consider.
After all, only by solving the current workers’ parade could the Spanish Governnt have a chance to consider other issues. If even Madrid’s workers’ parade could not be solved, there was no need to consider other things—the workers would overthrow the governnt themselves.
“The army from Toledo sent news this morning that they have already set out. Based on the distance between Madrid and Toledo, at most half a day more, and they should arrive in Madrid,” the Minister of Public Security replied.
When mobilizing the army, Ruiz did not dare to trouble Grand Duke Serrano but directly contacted the garrison in Toledo in his capacity as acting pri minister.
Although he was only acting in the pri minister’s duties, he had the powers that the pri minister had, including the power to mobilize the army in ergencies.
Hearing the news that the army was about to arrive, Ruiz nodded reassuringly and then instructed: “Once the army arrives in Madrid, imdiately suppress the workers’ parade.
I do not want to see any parade teams on the streets tomorrow; Spain should enter a stable situation tonight.”
“I understand.” The Minister of Public Security nodded.
In the Madrid barracks on the other side, Grand Duke Serrano was communicating with Carlo via telegram.
Grand Duke Serrano detailed the current situation in Madrid and the fact that Minister of Transport Ruiz had beco acting pri minister with the support of the Progressive Party and Liberal Party in parliant.
Carlo’s reply was that since the Spanish Governnt had an acting pri minister, Grand Duke Serrano naturally did not need to rush to step forward.
Originally, Carlo only planned to deal with the rebel nobles and Bourbon remnants in this chaos, but since the Progressive Party and Liberal Party were interfering, it was naturally more important to let them fight each other and watch the spectacle.
As long as Carlo was unwilling, Ruiz could not suppress the workers’ parade. Because Spain’s military power was completely concentrated in Grand Duke Serrano’s hands, and Grand Duke Serrano took orders from Carlo.
Originally, Pri Minister Primó also had great influence over the army, but after he was severely wounded and in a coma, no one could rival Grand Duke Serrano in terms of army influence.
Even though Ruiz had cleverly mobilized the Toledo army, in reality, the commander of the Toledo garrison had already sent a telegram asking for Grand Duke Serrano’s opinion.
If Grand Duke Serrano refused, the Toledo army would not act at all, let alone openly cooperate with Ruiz’s orders.
On the evening of November 5, the rebel nobles, with a small number of troops, attacked Madrid’s police and obtained a batch of weapons and equipnt.
With this batch of weapons and equipnt, the rebel army’s numbers quickly expanded to hundreds. Hundreds coerced several thousand workers to impact the Spanish governnt and parliant, and even attacked several armories set up by the Public Security Departnt in Madrid.
There were also teams that attacked the Royal Palace during this ti, but as early as the mont the workers’ parade began, the Guard Division had already garrisoned around the Royal Palace.
Not to ntion a few hundred ard forces—even tens of thousands of ard forces could not conquer the Royal Palace in a short ti.
The rebel nobles returned without success and could only turn their gaze to other relatively important places, such as Spain’s governnt building, parliant building, and residences of governnt officials.
Due to the elent of surprise, Spain’s parliant building was quickly occupied, and so police and rebel army engaged in fierce fighting around the governnt building.
The Spanish Governnt instead retreated steadily in front of the rebel army; the Toledo army that Ruiz had been yearning for was still advancing slowly south of Madrid.
Carlo’s purpose was to make Madrid’s waters even muddier, so in his reply telegram to the Toledo army, although Grand Duke Serrano did not say it explicitly, he hinted for the Toledo army to delay their advance speed.
The distance between Madrid and Toledo was only 70 kiloters, and the Toledo army’s garrison was even further north of Toledo city, just over 50 kiloters from Madrid.
But even this distance of just over 50 kiloters ant that the Toledo army, from morning to evening, still had a distance of ten or twenty kiloters left.
The Toledo army’s deliberate slowing allowed the Spanish Governnt to have no ans of resistance when facing the rebel army. Although there were many police in Madrid, they were dispersed throughout Madrid to maintain order and prevent the parade teams from causing chaos.
The police protecting the governnt building and parliant building together numbered only a few dozen, which was rather thin in front of hundreds of ard forces with firearms and a group of over a thousand workers united.
“Damn it!” Ruiz inside the governnt building was pale-faced at this ti; he knew he was finished.
The workers’ parade teams had turned into rebel teams, aning that under his hands, Spain had erupted into small-scale internal strife. No matter the outco of this war, with Pri Minister Primó severely wounded and in a coma, he would definitely be the main one to take the bla.
A reputation for causing Spain’s civil war—let alone continuing to run for the next Pri Minister of Spain—being spared from liquidation would already be a good outco.
Moreover, the rebels had already reached the outside of the governnt building; now Ruiz wanted to escape but could not.
The pale-faced Ruiz still wanted to make a final resistance; he asked hoarsely: “What about the Toledo army? Have they arrived in Madrid?”
The Minister of Public Security first shook his head, then the governnt building received a telegram internally.
After reading the full content of the telegram, the Minister of Public Security walked forward with a strange expression and handed the telegram content to Ruiz.
“Acting Pri Minister, you should see it for yourself. The Toledo army has arrived, but they went to the south side of Madrid to report to Grand Duke Serrano.”
Ruiz’s pupils dilated instantly, and then he sat down on the stool with a deathly pale face: “It’s over!”
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