Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 52 A perfect strategy
"What? Prime Minister Primo was assassinated?" After hearing Loren's report, Carlo lost his sleepiness instantly and asked quickly:

Is the Prime Minister all right? What's going on?"

For Spain at present, it is simply unbearable to lose Prime Minister Primo.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Primo's importance to Spain at this time far exceeds that of King Carlo.

Carlo was too young to bring all the powers of Spain to heel.

Only Primo, who came from the military and possessed great prestige in both the military and political circles, was currently suppressing those forces with ulterior motives.

Serrano is also far behind in this regard.

Although Serrano also came from the military, he also had a certain reputation in politics.

But Serrano leaned towards the conservative side and did not receive support from the reformist and progressive parties.

Perhaps Serrano was more loyal to Carlo personally than Primo, but he was not suitable to be the Prime Minister of Spain. He was more suitable for a military position such as Minister of War.

Primo and Serrano, one a scholar and one a warrior, are the best configuration for Spain at present.

Carlo doesn't want to see any accident happen to anyone.

"Prime Minister Primo was not injured, but when the guards went to chase the assassin, they only found two bodies." Butler Loren said with a strange look on his face.

"Two bodies?" Carlo was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "So they were silenced? Are there any specific clues?"

"Not yet." Butler Loren shook his head and said helplessly, "The guys behind this are obviously well prepared. In addition to the bodies of the two assassins whose identities cannot be ascertained, even the weapons used for the assassination have been picked up."

Carlo nodded. Since Prime Minister Primo was fine, the next thing would be easy.

"Investigate thoroughly, and don't leave any corner of Madrid unchecked. I want to know who wants to assassinate our prime minister and who wants to destroy our reforms and Spain." Carlo said expressionlessly.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Loren nodded and went to convey Carlo's order.

Although there were no clues, Carlo already had a rough idea of ​​who might have assassinated Primo.

The reason for assassinating Primo is probably because of his reforms. The current reforms go against the interests of factory owners, the church and the nobility. These three forces are probably the only ones who can send assassins to assassinate Prime Minister Primo.

But the factory owners don't have the power to do this. Being able to send assassins and making plans to silence people means that they must have loyal enough subordinates.

Currently, the factory owners who have not been liquidated in Madrid are basically small-scale factories. It is impossible for them to have the strength to train loyal killers.

This also means that the most likely force to assassinate Prime Minister Primo is one of the nobles and the church.

Although Carlo gained the support of most nobles through the Royal Parliament, this did not mean that some nobles had no objections to the government's reforms.

What is the best way to stop reform? Of course, it is to kill the person who initiated the reform.

No matter who planned this assassination, it was a serious provocation to the current Spanish government. Whether it was the nobility or the church, it was a good thing for Carlo.

As long as he could obtain certain evidence, Carlo could openly liquidate the nobles or the church.

If Carlo was worried before that the liquidation of some nobles would lead to opposition from the entire aristocratic class, now that he has gained the support of most nobles through the Royal Parliament, as long as he ensures that the interests of the nobles who support him are not harmed, he can basically deal with those nobles who oppose him with confidence.

Not to mention the church. The power of the church is an obstacle to both Carlo and the Spanish government. The sooner it is liquidated, the better it will be for Spain.

Carlo was also quite envious of the large amount of land controlled by the church. Whether it was rented out to civilians at a low price, awarded to soldiers through military merit, or purchased to build a large farm for the royal family, it was much better than continuing to be controlled by the church.

Spain is a Catholic country, and the influence of the church is quite huge.

Only by controlling the entire church can Carlo's influence be effectively increased and the stability of Spain be improved. The brainwashing ability of the church is better than that of the government. One of Carlo's plans is to use the church to promote the concept of a unified Spain and let the civilians in Catalonia and the Basque Country accept the concept that they are Spanish.

Church schools can also promote Spanish. Many newspapers and companies in Catalonia and the Basque region still use local languages, which is why there are many separatist elements in the two regions.

Only by using the same language, Spanish, can the probability of the emergence of independence elements in these two regions be reduced and assimilation be achieved as much as possible.

Late at night, in a manor somewhere.

"What? The plan failed?" Duke Osuna looked at the man called Shadow with some disbelief and asked in surprise.

"Primo's carriage was protected by steel plates, and the weapons of the two killers were not strong enough for the bullets to penetrate the steel plates." Shadow shook his head and said helplessly.

"Damn, is this a thorough preparation?" Upon hearing that the assassin only used two ordinary rifles, Duke Osuna was so angry that he almost laughed.

If the butler had not been silenced long ago, Duke Osuna would have even planned to torture him himself.

"How is it going? No one will find out, right?" Duke Osuna looked at the shadow and asked quickly.

"Everything has been solved. I dismantled the two rifles and discarded them separately. No one will find them." Shadow said.

"That's good. Damn Torres, he ruined my plan. It seems that Primo can only live for a while longer." The Duke of Osuna was still regretting the failure of the assassination and had no sympathy for killing his butler.

In fact, this is normal. As one of the nobles with the most land, how could the Duke of Osuna have only one butler?

Torres was only the manager of some of Madrid's industries and had only been the steward of this estate for a few years. Naturally, he had not yet gained the full trust of the Duke of Osuna.

Since there was no trust, it was only natural that he was silenced after the assassination.

"The government should conduct a thorough investigation into this assassination soon. Your Highness, do you want to hide outside?" Shadow suggested.

The assassination of the Prime Minister is no small matter, and the government's efforts to investigate should be very strong. Especially since Primo is safe and sound, it is estimated that the nobles and the church are among those being screened.

"Not for the time being. Shadow, you have to believe in your ability to deal with the aftermath." Duke Osuna smiled without any panic: "Let Primo check it out. What can he find out about two Italians?

Oh, maybe we'll have something interesting to watch when Primo finds out the assassin is Italian.

Don't forget that the king above us is Italian. Will Primo suspect the king? It's really exciting, haha."

The Duke of Osuna made careful preparations for the assassination.

Both assassins were Italians who entered Spain as laborers and were known to be ordinary people before the assassination.

This manor is one of the many properties of the Duke of Osuna, and not many people know who the butler is.

Especially since Torres only became the steward of this estate a few years ago, very few people knew about this.

Perhaps Primo could turn Madrid upside down and still not find any useful information. By then, would Primo really not suspect Carlo, who is also Italian?

Even if he could not successfully assassinate Primo, the worst that could happen was to sow discord between Carlo and Primo. This was the Duke of Osuna's plan.

As long as the relationship between Carlo and Primo is destroyed, Carlo will not be able to strongly support Primo's reforms, because this will greatly enhance Primo's personal reputation.

This would also achieve the Duke of Osuna's goal, which is to prevent Primo's reforms from happening and ensure that his own interests would not suffer too much damage.

Even if all the plans failed, the Duke of Osuna would not be suspected of anything and could wait for another opportunity to assassinate Primo. This was the so-called foolproof plan.

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(End of this chapter)