The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1295: Disillusionment (Part )

Toledo.

Carlos VI was not satisfied with Cabrera's performance, as the amount of money he paid was not enough to cover the expenses of the kingdom.

To be honest, it was not until this time that Carlos VI realized that the cost of running a country was so high. He dared to say that even if he stayed in the mountains for his whole life, he would not be able to spend so much money.

Money is needed everywhere and for everything. Coupled with the pressure of rebellion and war, Carlos VI was almost driven crazy.

Because of his looting, he had very bad relations with the church and the nobility. Even though he had ascended the throne as Emperor Carlos VI, he did not have the energy and money to manage these relationships.

And he had no intention of repairing these relationships. After all, compared with taxation and borrowing, robbery was not as satisfying.

Although some people still had illusions about Carlos VI, spies from the Austrian Empire could easily change their views.

In fact, it doesn't need to be that complicated. On the one hand, there are the facts before us, what Carlos VI has been doing, and the current economic difficulties in Spain.

On the other hand, Carlos VI had no orthodox imperial education at all, and even Carlos V was the same.

Such emperors who become emperors halfway often do some unorthodox things. Instead of pinning your hopes on such people, it is better to hope for a sage king to descend from heaven.

Carlos VI had more than just money to worry about. Since Isabella II's whereabouts were unknown, many people speculated that the former had secretly executed the latter.

Such rumors caused dissatisfaction among conservatives, who felt that Carlos VI's behavior was too cruel and unconventional.

Carlos VI's actions have touched the bottom line of the conservatives, and the latter will not allow the former to threaten their own interests and security.

The notoriety of the Carlists' cruelty also made some regions afraid to surrender, and they still resisted stubbornly under the banner of loyalty to Isabella II.

Sadly, Carlos VI did not have enough power to eradicate them because the Carlist territory was not stable internally.

The previous looting created a large number of refugees who hated the Carlos government, and the special terrain of Spain caused the Carlist rear to be in ruins.

What Carlos didn't know was that his actions also caused unrest among those businessmen and bankers. No one wanted to live in such a country.

Even within the Carlist faction, there is no monolithic unity. Different factions slander and attack each other. In the final analysis, it is just that the pie is too small.

And Carlos VI was not good at dividing the cake and was unable to use the limited resources at his disposal to satisfy all parties.

Carlos VI was still waiting for a loan from the British, but the British had already begun to cause trouble on the border between the Carlists and the Austrian Empire.

The main purpose of the British government has always been to let Spain hold back the Austrian Empire rather than to provide support to Spain.

If both sides were on high alert or were at peace, it would be difficult for the British to cause trouble. But at this moment the border area was in chaos, and it would be very easy for the British to fabricate some evidence.

At first Cabrera wanted to suppress the matter, but the rebellion soon spread faster than he expected.

Cabrera's troops could only barely retreat to a few large cities. If they wanted to suppress the rebellion, Carlos VI had to continue sending reinforcements.

Of course, it is impossible for Cabrera to admit that he is incompetent, so there must be someone behind the scenes.

It just so happened that his men found a large amount of evidence, and the finger of blame was pointed at the Austrians.

After receiving the evidence and Cabrera's report, Carlos VI was furious. He gave one-third of his troops to Cabrera, but he was trapped in the city by a group of peasants and urgently needed rescue.

"Useless! How could I have such useless people under my command! No wonder my country is declining day by day, it turns out that these idiots are just sitting there doing nothing and wasting food!" "Your Majesty, this is not Marshal Cabrera's fault. It's the Austrians who are too cunning. They actually incited the peasants to revolt and gave them weapons."

"It was strange that the Austrians trained their farmers before, but it turns out they had planned it all along."

Carlos VI's cronies came forward one after another to accuse the Austrian Empire and instigated Carlos VI to go to war.

Needless to say, this is a tactic often used by the British. People around Carlos VI are also willing to be bribed. After all, the benefits of following Carlos VI are really limited, so they have to find ways to generate income.

All parties had a low opinion of Carlos VI, and everyone thought that he would be blinded by anger. Even if he did not immediately declare war on the Austrian Empire, he would make harsh remarks or make some small moves.

However, Carlos VI suppressed his anger.

"Send another 50,000 men to Cabrera. No matter what method he uses, he must suppress the rebellion!"

"As ordered!"

Carlos VI's decisiveness was somewhat unbelievable, but his command was equally unbelievable.

"Your Majesty, we no longer have enough troops."

"No? Then go recruit soldiers! Do you idiots want to piss me off to death?"

“But we don’t have any money.”

The officials said with some embarrassment.

"Idiot! Stupid pig! If you don't have money, go collect taxes! What are you telling me?"

Carlos VI was furious. In fact, he did not want to go to war with the Austrian Empire, but he was very clear about the gap in strength between the two sides.

Given the current situation in the Kingdom of Spain, if war breaks out with the Austrian Empire, the Carlists will most likely have to spend a few more years in the mountains.

Carlos VI was fed up with eating lamb stewed with asparagus. If the British could not lend him money and drive away the Austrians, he would have no choice but to exchange Spain's overseas colonies for the right to rule the homeland.

Carlos VI's newly-born ambitions lasted less than a week before giving way to reality.

If things ended there, Franz would not be unable to accept it. After all, those Spanish colonies were really good for the Austrian Empire.

As for the Austrian Empire's investment in Spain, it can be regarded as a loss-making business. These investments only have temporary intangible returns, but the prospects in the future are still very good.

Secondly, judging from Carlos VI’s previous performance, Franz did not expect that the former could stay sober at the critical moment.

After all, the Austrian Empire did not need a complicated excuse. All it needed was some small moves by the Carlos faction and petitions from the Spanish people.

It was reasonable for Franz to once again raise the banner of liberating Spanish Catholics to deal with Carlos VI.

But the current situation is not bad. We can take away all of Spain's overseas colonies without taking the risk of war, and make the British lose more than they gain.

After all, if the British did not lend money to Carlos VI, then Spain might really turn to the Austrian Empire.

But if the British lent money to Carlos VI, the money would most likely go down the drain. Moreover, Spain's help to Britain was very limited. On the contrary, in order to maintain this relationship, the latter had to provide long-term blood transfusions to the former.

However, in a corner that no one noticed, the French suddenly launched an attack.