Chapter 1281: Surrender Tide

With the defeat of the Spanish government army and the death of Varna, the governor of Catalonia.

A wave of surrender appeared in Catalonia. In addition to a large number of people who could not survive in the Spanish government-ruled areas, there were also a large number of Spanish government soldiers, as well as Varna's subordinates and confidants who were afraid of being affected.

Theoretically, there should be 50,000 troops in the Catalan military camp, but now there are less than 5,000 people left, and there is almost no one on the streets of Salt.

Farmers outside the city are also fleeing in batches, and the craziest ones should be the Spanish serfs in the large estates.

Due to the constant wars in this life, the Spanish government did not promulgate the "Liberation Law" in order to win over the nobles, so there are still a large number of serfs in the whole of Spain.

And the Spanish Church, at the instruction of Franz, spread the news that escaping to the liberated areas of the Austrian Empire would free the serfs and become free people.

Out of revenge, the Spanish priests even compared Isabella II and her minions to Arabs from the East.

In the past, anyone and anything related to the symbol of Islam in Spain would not have a good ending. After all, when the Spanish saw this symbol, they would think of the years when they were ruled by the Arabs.

The Arab rule was cruel, but it was still not as bad as the records of the Spanish Catholic Church.

However, the church had been promoting it for hundreds of years, and even if it was a lie, the Spanish believed it at that time. Moreover, during the years when Isabel II ruled, the whole of Spain had become a hell on earth.

The facts were in front of them, and the serfs could not help but believe it.

So the serfs connected all this, and now they had to resist the Spanish government for freedom, faith, or survival.

These serfs were oppressed the most on weekdays, so they were the most crazy when they broke out.

They rose up, rushed into the homes of landlords and nobles, nailed the whole family of the masters to the cross, and took them from one manor to another.

The bodies of opponents were everywhere along the way, and some people were even nailed to the cross while they were still alive. The serfs looted villages everywhere, and even some towns that lacked defense became their targets.

The serfs loved to use fire, and there was always thick smoke wherever they passed. The flames illuminated the sky red, and the villages and towns turned to ashes in the flames, leaving only a mess.

The serfs shouted "Freedom! Justice!" at the top of their lungs, and they seemed to have gained some kind of relief in this crazy feast.

However, the price paid by the serfs was also painful. Whether it was the landlords, nobles, or the Spanish government army, they all regarded them as the number one enemy, and some even extended an olive branch to the Austrian Empire to suppress them together.

The crude weapons in the hands of the serfs could not fight against the Spanish landlords, nobles, and the government's united army, and the latter did not intend to let the former go.

So a more bloody scene was staged again, and the serfs could only flee into the forests, mountains, or the distant Austrian Empire.

They could only pray that the "just reckoning" would come one day soon, but fortunately the Austrian Empire's army did not let them wait too long.

The comprehensive transformation of the Austrian Empire in the occupied areas has given the coastal areas of Spain a new look. Farmers have farmland, citizens have jobs, merchants have businesses, and Franz even restored Spain's foreign trade.

Although this cycle has just begun, it has made Spain, a lifeless country, feel alive again.     The people are indescribably happy. They just want to do something to maintain this short-lived hope.

The Spanish are very enthusiastic about joining the army. In less than a month, the Austrian Empire recruited more than 50,000 soldiers from Catalonia.

About one-third of these soldiers have military experience, and there are quite a few deserters from the Spanish government army.

50,000 people is a red line drawn by the Ministry of War based on the actual situation in Catalonia. Once this red line is exceeded, the significance of conscription will no longer exist.

In fact, it does not require more soldiers to control Catalonia. More soldiers will not only fail to speed up the occupation, but will increase the logistical burden.

After all, with the productivity of this era, for every person who leaves work to become a soldier, several or even dozens of people are needed to provide logistical support for him.

Moreover, with the rise and fall of one side, the Spanish government forces in Catalonia will definitely fall into a state of decline.

As the War Department estimated, the Austrian army began a large-scale offensive after clearing the threats in the occupied areas.

The Austrian Empire's offensive did not encounter many obstacles along the way. Most areas chose to surrender, and a few areas that tried to resist were even overthrown by the local Spaniards themselves.

The plan went surprisingly smoothly, which made Gabrenz and Benedek seem a little disappointed. After all, they came for military merit.

As a result, they only fought a not very decent annihilation war under the city of Barcelona.

In fact, Gabrenz and Benedek were both the key training targets of the Austrian Empire at this time. After all, the older generation of generals were too old. In this era of transition, the new generation must grow up quickly.

And the best way for generals to grow is actual combat. Soldiers can only complete their transformation after being baptized by war.

One general's success is the result of the death of thousands of soldiers. This is not a joke, but a bloody fact.

There have indeed been great generals in history who showed extraordinary talent the first time they went to the battlefield. However, most of the great generals in history were honed in actual combat, and behind them were mountains of blood and corpses.

Gabrenz and Benedek were not without talent. In fact, if they were in a different place and at a different time, Gabrenz would have won when he got around to the rear wing of the Spanish government army.

It only takes one cavalry charge to mess up the enemy, but this is Spain, with mountains and hills everywhere, and the Barcelona Legion lacks cavalry.

The conditions for a flank attack are not met at all, and in the end it can only become a clumsy queue shooting.

According to Benedek's idea, shrinking the troops and not giving the enemy a chance to take advantage, and then pursuing the enemy when they retreat, is theoretically a sure-win approach, after all, they have several times the number of troops of the enemy.

The problem is, this is Spain, does anyone really dare to rashly enter the mountains to pursue the enemy?

But making a mistake on the Spanish battlefield now is better than making a mistake on the Austrian battlefield in the future. People like Radetzky, Anton von Puchner, Jelachich, and Prince Windischgrätz will eventually retire.

Franz couldn't go to the front line to command battles every time, not to mention that he didn't think he was very good at commanding operations. He won because of the advantages of numbers and equipment, and the support of the people and the general trend.

These conditions couldn't be met every time, so in order to maintain his record and image, it was better for Franz to go to the battlefield less often.