Empire Rising: Spain - Chapter 330 - 192: Severe Punishment

The formation of the temporary Cabinet Government was entrusted to Duke Serrano and Canovas, while Carlo was particularly concerned with dealing with the rebellious nobles at this moment.

There was nothing much to say about these rebellious nobles; naturally, the perfect procedure was to abolish their titles, confiscate all their property, execute the leaders, and imprison the accessories.

But after all, dealing with nearly a hundred nobles, including high-ranking ones like dukes and marquises, required stabilizing the emotions of the other nobles.

At least, it should not cause panic among the entire noble class, as the subsequent rule of Spain still requires the contribution of the noble class.

It is worth noting that the rebellious nobles used the reason of capital’s exploitation of workers to guide the workers’ march, which also led to further deepening of the conflict between the noble class and the capitalist class.

For Carlo, this was actually good news. The land nobles of Spain would eventually become history, and the upcoming nobles would be more involved in financial and industrial sectors, forming new capital forces.

And after this rebellion, it would be difficult for noble capital and civilian capital to unite. Letting noble capital and civilian capital oppose each other can effectively restrict the power of the capitalist class and allow the Royal Family to become the arbitrator between these forces.

As long as the balance is done well, future nobles and capitalists will become the support of the Royal Family. The Royal Family, as the arbitrator between the two capitals, can further improve its relationship with the workers.

How can a monarchial government supported by the working and farming classes lose such a battle?

At noon on November 7th, the Spanish Government first closed down factories reported to have exploited workers and withheld wages, and allocated funds to fully pay all the workers’ salaries in those factories.

When distributing the salaries, government officials specifically mentioned that the full payment was ordered by Carlo. This move immediately delighted the previously tense workers, filling them with gratitude towards their King, Carlo.

For the workers injured during the march, Carlo also stated that he would provide them with free medical assistance. Although this money was nominally provided by the Royal Family and Government, in fact, the small amount from the confiscated property of nobles and officials was sufficient.

The reason for shouldering the medical expenses of injured workers was also to compensate for the rift between the government and workers caused by armed conflict during the march.

No matter what the initial purpose of the workers’ march was, when they clashed with the police, it was inevitable that a rift and even hatred would arise between them.

Carlo could only try his best to mend such rifts and transfer the workers’ hatred for the government to the capitalists and the rebellious Bourbon family.

While Carlo was appeasing the public sentiment in various ways, the Sun Newspaper and National Daily published the cause of the unrest in the news, attributing the blame to the rebellious Bourbon family and the capitalists who withheld workers’ wages.

The workers also needed a reason to absolve themselves from responsibility. Regardless of their intentions, the large-scale march and armed conflict were indeed caused by them.

In this way, the workers’ hatred was smoothly shifted to the Bourbon family and the capitalists, without much blame directed at the government.

Even the significant conflict between the police and workers was attributed to the Bourbon family’s instigation and the capitalists’ wage withholding.

If the capitalists hadn’t withheld the workers’ wages, if the Bourbon family hadn’t incited this march, none of this would have happened.

Under the guidance of this public opinion force, the Bourbon family quickly became a target of public condemnation in Spain, completely shattering their hopes of restoration.

At least for the next 50 years, the workers and farmers of Spain would firmly remember the harm caused by the Bourbon family’s incitement of the unrest to the Spanish Government and populace.

The combined casualties of nearly a thousand police and workers had most of their hatred shifted onto the Bourbon family.

Of course, some capitalists ultimately became scapegoats as well. Even though they did not partake in this event, their factories suffered significant damage due to the workers’ intense anger.

Regarding all this, Carlo could only apologize internally to them. However, even though they were relatively innocent in this incident, if they had never withheld workers’ wages or exploited them, the workers’ anger wouldn’t have been redirected to them.

After resolving the impact caused by the workers’ march, Carlo immediately began handling the rebellious nobles and officials involved in the event.

To avoid panic within the nobility, it was very necessary to define a scope before cleansing these nobles and officials.

Carlo had already informed Duke Jacopo when he returned to Spain, asking him to notify all the nobles in the Royal Council to attend a meeting to discuss how to handle the rebellious nobles and appease the other nobles.

Duke Jacopo obediently did as he was told, notifying almost all the nobles of the Royal Council that could be informed and requested them to come to Spain as soon as possible for the meeting.

The meeting was scheduled for the morning of November 9th, and any nobles residing in mainland Spain had enough time to attend this meeting.