Chapter 61 No War in the North

June 20, 1836.

Isabella II was formally engaged to Louis Philippe's youngest son Antoine, and they would be married when Isabella II was sixteen years old.

Isabella II's marriage meant that she could personally control the power of the court, so the position of the Queen Regent would no longer be needed.

Although Queen Regent Christiane wanted to keep her position, she had to compromise under the strong pressure from France.

The Northern Corps' bandit suppression work was very smooth, but this corps was not the strongest corps sent by Queen Regent Christiane.

In the early days of the Carlist War, the Queen Regent organized several larger corps.

However, the quality of soldiers and officers was very low. Most officers relied on bribery and suppression of civilians to gain power. Their command could be described as incompetent, and the soldiers were completely legal robbers. They burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil, and wherever they passed, they turned it into scorched earth.

This made the mountain people and guerrillas unite as one, and use their familiarity with the terrain to repeatedly defeat the enemy with fewer troops.

On the contrary, when the government army was fighting smoothly, it was fine. Once it fell into a passive position, internal conflicts immediately broke out. There were many internal conflicts, gunfights, and failure to help others in danger, and even selling out the intelligence of their own comrades in order to attack the opponent and stabilize their position in the government army.

The guerrillas of the Carlos faction, under the command of General Surama, once pushed the front line to Bilbao.

However, due to Carlos's reckless command, General Surama was killed in the battle.

At the same time, the government army of the Queen Regent finally emerged with outstanding generals such as Espartero and Count Sabir.

Espartero was born a civilian, and his father was a carriage repairman.

Espartero participated in the anti-Napoleonic war at the age of fifteen. He performed bravely in the war and was promoted to captain.

After the end of the Napoleonic War, he went to fight in the Spanish colonies.

His experience in South America made Espartero very familiar with guerrilla warfare.

After returning home, Espartero joined the government army, repelled the guerrillas' attacks many times, and successfully ambushed General Surama, the leader of the Carlos faction, in the Battle of Bilbao, causing the latter to be seriously injured and died.

Espartero was also promoted to general for his achievements in this battle.

And now Espartero was promoted by the Queen Regent to the commander-in-chief of the Northern Corps, responsible for cooperating with the French army to completely eliminate the remaining forces of the Carlos faction entrenched in the Pyrenees.

Espartero is an excellent general. Before the action, he had already figured out the details of the Carlos faction and made detailed arrangements.

The Carlos faction army is said to have 20,000, but most of them are untrained farmers and herdsmen. At the same time, there are a large number of speculators and bandits among the Carlos faction, who can be bought with money.

And Carlos himself is a fool. If he had not been incompetent and liked to command recklessly, Surama would definitely be his biggest challenge.

Fortunately, Carlos personally buried this capable and warlike general.

Most of the generals of the Carlists have never been to military school. They only focus on the gains and losses of a city or a place, and have no overall view.

The Northern Corps led by Espartero achieved great success in the early stage of the war and defeated the Carlists.

On the other hand, the French Foreign Legion led by Lieutenant General Pierre also attacked very smoothly and captured several important strongholds of the Carlists in succession.

However, a huge problem has arisen now. Espartero received an order from the Queen Regent to keep his troops in place to preserve his strength, and Lieutenant General Pierre seemed to have a tacit understanding with him and stopped advancing.

Louis Philippe also did not want the French army to suffer losses, and he did not trust the Queen Regent herself, so he needed to weaken the Queen Regent's strength as much as possible and preserve the combat effectiveness of the French army.

So, the two sides started a sit-in competition, but the two leading generals also felt that this was inappropriate.

Then the two sides informed each other of their difficulties, hoping that the other side could advance in advance, and promised that as long as the other side advanced, they would follow.

Espartero

"Although the government army of Her Majesty the Queen Regent has 62,000 soldiers, the cavalry in the mountains cannot play a role. At the same time, they also brought 100 cannons, most of which are old and heavy, which seriously slowed down our march. I had to let my men repair them."

Lieutenant General Pierre

"His Majesty the King sent a foreign legion. They have no experience in mountain warfare, and we also need to cut off the supply lines of the Carlos faction. There are not enough troops to continue moving forward."

In fact, both sides understand that whether it is from the Spanish direction or the French direction, the supply lines have been cut off, and Carlos is already trapped.

As long as they spend two months here, Carlos' army will no longer exist, and those soldiers will become helpless farmers and poor beggars.

However, they did not wait for Carlos's desperate struggle, which made the two generals who are good at fighting feel a little uneasy.

Their premonition was correct. The British found Carlos.

"Your Majesty."

"You call me Your Majesty? Aren't you British trying to persuade me to give up the throne? You've been calling me Sir all along? And you've also given me a pension so I can retire in England."

Carlos was at the end of his rope at this point. His territory was compressed into the mountains, and there was little food left. Several companies had already left without saying goodbye.

The general loyal to Carlos proposed a counterattack to boost morale, but Carlos did not have the courage to fight to the death. He hoped to hide in the mountains as before and wait for the opponent's supplies to run out and retreat.

It's just that this time Carlos's supply line was cut off by the French, and the Spanish government forces had allocated a large amount of supplies in advance, so the initiative was not on his side.

The arrival of the British can be said to be a life-saving straw, but Carlos, who was in anger, did not seem to notice this.

Liaison officer Baron Peter was also very depressed. If there wasn't an order from above to reach an agreement with Carlos, he really wanted to leave immediately and ignore this idiot, but at this time he could only speak patiently.

"At the beginning, it was just a test for you. If you are now willing to accept the conditions and go to the UK, we are now willing to provide you with a pension of 30,000 yuan per year. But now we have seen your ambitions, and our British Empire is willing to fully support you. "

Carlos was still not satisfied. He wanted to say something more, but was blocked by the staff and generals around him.

Baron Pitt continued.

"It is said that as far as we know, there are 70,000 troops of the Queen Regent of France and Spain outside the mountain, but you have less than 20,000 troops, and they are seriously short of supplies.

For your safety, I propose that you take our ship to Portugal, where we will train your army for you. "

"That's impossible!" Carlos replied decisively, "I am here, this is my home, and I want to live and die with my soldiers!"

"With all due respect, your army may be vulnerable. But you insist on doing so, and we are willing to provide you with supplies, mercenaries, and an experienced commander."

Before Baron Peter could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Carlos.

"What are your intentions!"

Carlos didn't believe there was such a good thing. The other party must have an intention. Baron Peter directly stated his purpose.

"We hope that you will refuse to marry the French and promise never to ally with the French."

New York, USA.

A young man dressed as a gentleman said a few words to the teller.

With just a few words, the teller became panicked. He asked the young gentleman to wait, and then quickly ran to the lobby manager's office.

A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest in South America, flapping its wings occasionally, can cause a tornado in Texas two weeks later.

A withdrawal on June 28, 1836 would trigger a global economic crisis a few months later.