Chapter 38 Confident Carlos

Primo is indeed the pillar of Spain.

With Primo, the Spanish army will not face the risk of splitting. The united Spanish army had a strong desire to fight when facing the Carlos rebels.

On February 17, 1870, the Spanish army led by Primo met the Basque rebels in La Rioja, and the two sides immediately engaged in a fierce exchange of fire.

Although the Spanish army still had many shortcomings compared to the Franco-Prussian army, when facing the Basque rebels who were inferior in number and equipment, it was really like a father beating his son.

It is true that the Basques can gather thousands of muskets, but they can't gather double-digit artillery.

It is better to expect the Spanish army to surrender directly than to rely on line infantry tactics to defeat the Spanish army equipped with a large number of artillery.

But Spain is not Italy, let alone France, and there is no tradition of surrender.

After being bombarded by Italian cannons (cannons made in Italy), the Basques instantly became honest.

This is also the biggest difference between the regular army and the militia hastily formed by civilians, that is, discipline and morale.

As long as someone starts to flee in panic, it will be a heavy blow to the Basque army.

The panic spread like a plague in the Basque army, and soon affected the morale of the entire army.

For a temporary army composed of civilians, the army will be scattered if the morale is lost.

Needless to say, the next scene, after paying hundreds of casualties, this Basque rebel chose to surrender very simply.

Although this is not all Basque rebels, it is tantamount to a blow to the Basque independence elements.

The Basque army they worked hard to form did not even last a day in front of the Spanish army, and it took only one and a half hours to be completely defeated.

The deployment of artillery took more than half an hour, and the actual fighting time of the two armies was not even an hour.

When the news that the Basque vanguard was successfully wiped out by Spain reached the Carlos faction, it was already February 18, a day later.

Although Carlos VII was somewhat surprised at the speed of the Basque army's defeat, he would not regret the loss of the Basques.

Not only would he not regret it, Carlos VII was even a little excited at this time.

Because he thought he had found an opportunity to defeat the Spanish army and found an opportunity to perfectly outflank the Spanish army.

Why did Carlos VII think so?

Because the place where the Spanish army and the Basques encountered was in La Rioja, which is the southern part of the Basque and Navarre regions.

The current Carlos rebels have successfully entered Aragon from Catalonia to the west, but are located southeast of the main Spanish forces.

If the Carlos army can enter the south of La Rioja through Aragon, it can realize the plan of encircling the Spanish army together with the Basque army in the north of La Rioja.

No matter how strong the Spanish army is, as long as they are surrounded on both sides, they are destined to not escape the palm of the Carlos party.

Carlos VII took a map and silently calculated his plan several times in his mind, and finally felt that this was an opportunity that should not be missed.

Several high-ranking military officials in the Catalan army also echoed Carlos VII, which made Carlos VII confident and felt that the military talent of Primo, which the Catalans boasted about, was actually just average.

On February 18, the Carlos rebels marched towards Zaragoza in the Aragon region.

Zaragoza is located in the center of the Aragon region. It can be used to encircle the Spanish army in La Rioja, and it can also be used as the first line of defense to protect the safety of Catalonia.

This is also one of the reasons why Carlos VII is so confident, because he thinks his plan is perfect, taking into account the two possibilities of success and failure of the encirclement, and there are corresponding solutions.

Will Primo not see the problems that Carlos VII can see?

Of course not.

In fact, after the main Spanish army led by Primo entered the Castilla-León region in the south of La Rioja, it immediately split into two groups to deal with the two rebel forces of Basque and Catalonia.

Primo's plan was to eliminate the Basques first, and then go straight to Catalonia through Navarra and northern Aragon to complete the entire counter-insurgency operation.

He led the main force of the Spanish army, about 30,000 troops, north to La Rioja, and finally met the Basque army.

The other small-scale force had only about 10,000 people, but they carried dozens of cannons. The purpose was to organize a line of defense in Aragon before Primo solved the Basques, to prevent the Catalan rebels from taking the opportunity to enter the Castilla-La Mancha region from Aragon and Valencia and threaten Madrid, the heart of Spain.

For the same reason, Zaragoza is located in the center of Aragon, so it is very important for both offense and defense.

The branch force responsible for defending against the Catalan rebels also chose Zaragoza as the focus of defense, and built artillery positions as soon as they arrived in Zaragoza.

From this point of view, Carlos VII actually had a certain military vision.

But the problem was that Carlos VII had no idea that Primo had divided his troops in advance. He thought that the main Spanish troops were all in the La Rioja region.

When the Carlist rebels arrived in Zaragoza with great difficulty, they were greeted by 10,000 Spanish troops and dozens of artillery pieces.

The Carlist rebels also had artillery pieces.

But their artillery pieces were antiques from more than a decade or even decades ago, and were far inferior to the advanced artillery pieces recently purchased by the Spanish army in terms of firing speed, range and accuracy.

The artillery firing on both sides seemed to be very different, and the feelings of the soldiers on both sides were even more different.

The Spanish army could calmly deal with the enemy's artillery bombardment because the enemy was far behind in the number and advancement of artillery.

But for the Carlist rebels, the feeling was not so wonderful.

Even for those Catalan separatists, watching someone being blown into several pieces in front of their eyes was an absolute visual shock.

Just one glance could make the Catalan separatists seriously think about their position.

And for those civilians who were brainwashed into the rebels, the cruel war scene was a huge shock to the soul.

How could ordinary people have seen such a scene? What's more, it seems more like they are the ones who are being bombarded unilaterally.

First update, please support!