Chapter 192: Prime Minister for One Day

The news that Prime Minister Primo was assassinated and seriously injured and unconscious quickly spread to most of Madrid and even the whole of Spain through various means.

Whether it was the ministers of the Spanish cabinet government or the members of the House of Representatives, they were all shocked.

Since Prime Minister Primo was elected Prime Minister of Spain after the revolution, he has been in control of Spanish politics and is definitely the stabilizer of the government.

If Prime Minister Primo is there, even if there is a huge chaos, officials have the confidence to calm it under the leadership of Prime Minister Primo.

But now Prime Minister Primo has been seriously injured and unconscious, and urgently needs another person who has influence and can stand up to stabilize the overall situation. Who will this person be?

At this time, the Spanish government quickly split into two factions. One faction is headed by Ruiz, Minister of Transport, and most of its members are members of the Progressive Party. They believe that at this time, they should push the parliament to elect an acting prime minister to stabilize the situation in Spain until Prime Minister Primo wakes up and then cancels the position of acting prime minister.

The Conservative Party, led by Minister of Industry Canovas, believed that the most important thing at present was to bring Carlo back from southern Morocco, and that His Majesty the King should issue an order to stabilize the situation.

The Progressive Party was originally the largest party in the Spanish Parliament, but because it lost the leadership of Prime Minister Primo, it was evenly matched with the second largest party, the Conservative Party.

While the argument within the parliament was heated, the actions of the rebellious nobles had already begun.

Under the malicious instigation of some people, workers' marches in some areas added elements of chaos and violence, and turned the original marches into conflicts with local police.

When the conflict began, even workers who did not oppose the government could not interfere with the conflict.

The final result was that serious conflicts broke out in several streets in Madrid, and both the workers who marched and the police who maintained public order suffered casualties.

The conflict changed the pattern of quarrels in the Spanish Parliament. Minister of Transport Ruiz suddenly won the support of the Liberal Party and was elected as the Acting Prime Minister of Spain with a support rate of more than half of the seats in Parliament. He performed the duties of the Prime Minister of Spain during the period when Prime Minister Primo was injured and in a coma, and his term of office automatically ended when Prime Minister Primo ended his coma.

Ruiz, who overcame all difficulties to become the Acting Prime Minister of Spain, was in high spirits. He certainly knew that Prime Minister Primo's injury was not light, and he also knew that even if Prime Minister Primo could be rescued, his physical condition would deteriorate sharply.

Although his term of office as Prime Minister was nominally only during the period when Prime Minister Primo was injured, it was actually a kind of experience that no one else could get.

If Prime Minister Primo retires in the future, who else can take over the power of Prime Minister from Primo? Of course, it will be him, who has been the Acting Prime Minister, which will be of great help to him in becoming the new Prime Minister of Spain and the new leader of the Progressive Party in the future.

Ruiz did not take such a small workers' march seriously at all.

On the afternoon of November 5, 1875, Ruiz, who had just been elected as the acting prime minister of Spain, immediately announced that he would order the troops stationed in Toledo to go north to Madrid, and declared martial law in Madrid, demanding that the workers on the march disband the march, and promised to seek justice for the workers.

Although there were also troops stationed in Madrid, Ruiz was very smart not to mobilize the main army in Madrid. Why? Because Archduke Serrano also moved his Ministry of Defense office to the military camp in Madrid, and the army in Madrid was completely controlled by Archduke Serrano. Ruiz was not stupid.

The army in Madrid was of course closer, but it could also threaten his position as the acting prime minister. Originally, he, a radical reformer, and the conservative nobles like Archduke Serrano had different ideas. If Archduke Serrano staged a military coup, it would be a lot of fun.

Therefore, even if he mobilized troops from Toledo, which was dozens of kilometers away, Ruiz was unwilling to mobilize troops from the closer military camp in the suburbs of Madrid.

What Ruiz didn't expect was that before Toledo's army arrived, he waited for a new accident.

If these rebellious nobles were quite dissatisfied with Prime Minister Primo, then they had naked hatred and disgust for the more radical reformer Ruiz.

Prime Minister Primo's reforms would also take into account the opinions of the nobles and would not kill all the nobles. But Ruiz's reforms were extremely radical, and he even supported the abolition of the Spanish monarchy and the establishment of a completely republican and democratic Spanish state.

For the rebellious nobles, Ruiz was also a trouble that must be removed. If Ruiz took control of the power, I'm afraid this guy would definitely find an opportunity to promote the Spanish republic.

The rebellious nobles were still waiting to welcome back Queen Isabel and regain their noble privileges. They didn't want Spain to become a republic before the queen came back.

If that was the case, what was the point of the queen coming back? Would she get a Spanish Republic resident ID card?

While quickly preparing for the armed rebellion, the rebellious nobles spread all kinds of rumors that were not favorable to Ruiz.

For example, Prime Minister Primo was actually killed by someone sent by Ruiz, in order to take control of the Spanish government after Prime Minister Primo fell into a coma.

There were also news reports that Ruiz had several large factories under his control and that he was more hateful than the factory owners who were exposed, etc., trying to discredit Ruiz, who became the acting prime minister.

Ruiz was also very troubled at this time. He had just become the acting prime minister and had not enjoyed the power in his hands for long, but his reputation had already been discredited like this.

But the most important thing right now is to end the workers' demonstration that has affected most of Madrid, otherwise the government will not be able to deal with other matters.

In order to ensure stability in Madrid, Ruiz issued a new order, that is, the police responsible for maintaining public security can use firearms under dangerous conditions to prevent workers' demonstrations from turning into armed conflicts.

But what he didn't expect was that this order instantly ignited the workers' demonstration.

Originally, the police did not intend to take the initiative to shoot at the workers, but they could not stand the malicious guidance and fuel of the rebellious nobles on the workers' side.

When someone in the chaotic crowd shoots at the police, even if the police are unwilling to shoot at civilians, they have to use their firearms for their own personal safety.

The fatal consequence of this was that several demonstration sites were ignited in a short period of time, and the cumulative casualties of workers and police quickly reached hundreds.

"What?" Ruiz, who had just learned the news of the casualties, had a shocked look on his face and asked incredulously: "Who asked them to shoot first? Didn't I tell you that you should wait until the most dangerous time to use firearms? ”

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, it was not our police who shot first, but someone in the crowd shot and attacked them first." The Minister of Public Security explained with a wry smile: "After the shooting, the crowd fell into chaos, and our police suffered Massive casualties.

In order to maintain the stability of the situation, they had no choice but to fire warning shots at the crowd and force them to retreat. "

"Damn it." Ruiz slammed the table twice hard, and he was not in a good mood at this time.

The current situation has reached a more critical stage. If the workers' demonstration is not handled well, it is likely to turn into civil strife against the government.

"Where is our army? How long will it take to arrive in Madrid?" Ruiz asked.

Currently, only by having the army in hand can we ensure the stability of Madrid and secure our position as acting prime minister.

As for whether using the military to suppress demonstrations will trigger fierce resistance from workers, this is no longer an issue Ruiz wants to consider.

After all, only by resolving the current workers' demonstration will the Spanish government have the opportunity to consider other issues. If even the workers' demonstration in Madrid cannot be solved, then there is no need to think about other things. The workers themselves will overthrow the government.

"In the morning, news came from the army in Toledo. They have already launched operations. Judging from the distance between Madrid and Toledo, they should be able to arrive in Madrid in half a day at most." The Minister of Public Security replied.

Ruiz did not dare to trouble Grand Duke Serrano when mobilizing the army. Instead, as acting prime minister, he directly contacted the garrison in Toledo.

Although he is acting as prime minister, he also has the powers that the prime minister has, including the power to mobilize the military in emergencies.

After hearing the news that the army was about to arrive, Ruiz nodded with relief, and then ordered: "When the army arrives in Madrid, immediately launch a suppression of the workers' demonstration.

I don't want any parades in the streets tomorrow, Spain should enter a stable situation this evening. "

"I understand." The Minister of Public Security nodded.

In the Madrid military camp on the other side, Justice Serrano was communicating with Carlo through telegraphs.

Grand Duke Serrano reported in detail the current situation in Madrid and the fact that Minister of Transport Ruiz became acting prime minister with the support of the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party in Congress.

Carlo's reply was that since the Spanish government has an acting prime minister, Archduke Serrano is naturally not in a hurry to come forward.

Originally, Carlo only planned to deal with the rebellious nobles and the remnants of the Bourbons in this chaos, but since both the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party interfered, it was naturally more important to let them have fun.

As long as Carlo did not want to, Ruiz would not be able to suppress the workers' demonstration. Because the military power of Spain was completely concentrated in the hands of the Grand Duke Serrano, and the Grand Duke Serrano took orders from Carlo.

Prime Minister Primo originally had a great influence on the army, but after he was seriously injured and fell into coma, no one could compare to Archduke Serrano in terms of influence on the army.

Regardless of Ruiz's cleverness in dispatching Toledo's troops, in fact the commander of the Toledo garrison had already sent a telegram to ask Archduke Serrano for his opinion.

If Grand Duke Serrano refuses, Toledo's army will not take action at all, let alone openly cooperate with Ruiz's orders.

On the evening of November 5, the rebel nobles led a small number of troops to attack the police in Madrid and obtained a batch of weapons and equipment.

With this batch of weapons and equipment, the number of rebel troops quickly expanded to hundreds. Hundreds of people and thousands of workers attacked the Spanish government and parliament, and even attacked several arms warehouses set up by the security department in Madrid.

During this period, teams also attacked the palace, but as early as the moment of the workers' march, the Guards Division had already been stationed around the palace.

Not to mention an armed force of several hundred people, even an armed force of tens of thousands of people would not be able to capture the palace in a short period of time.

The rebel nobles returned without success and could only focus on other more important places, such as Spanish government buildings, parliament buildings and the residences of government officials.

Caught off guard, Spain's parliament building was quickly occupied, and some police and rebel troops fought fiercely outside the government building.

The Spanish government was defeated by the rebel army, and the Toledo army that Ruiz had been thinking about was still advancing slowly in the south of Madrid.

Carlo's goal was to make the water in Madrid even more muddy, so although Archduke Serrano did not say it explicitly in his reply to the Toledo army's telegram, he also hinted that the Toledo army should delay its march.

The distance between Madrid and Toledo is only 70 kilometers, and the Toledo army's base is in the north of Toledo City, just over 50 kilometers away from Madrid City.

But it is this distance of more than 50 kilometers that the Toledo army still has a distance of more than ten or twenty kilometers from morning to evening.

The deliberate slowdown of the Toledo army left the Spanish government with no means of resistance when facing the rebel army. Although there are many policemen in Madrid, they are scattered all over Madrid to maintain order and prevent the marching team from creating chaos.

There were only a few dozen policemen protecting the government building and the parliament building. In front of hundreds of armed forces with guns and thousands of workers united, dozens of policemen were really weak.

"Damn it!" Ruiz in the government building was pale at this time. He knew he was finished.

The workers' parade turned into a rebel team, that is, a small-scale civil war broke out in Spain in his hands. No matter what the outcome of this war is, with Prime Minister Primo seriously injured and unconscious, he must be the main candidate to take the blame.

With such a reputation as the cause of the Spanish Civil War, let alone continuing to run for the next Prime Minister of Spain, it is a good result not to be liquidated.

What's more, the rebels have already fought outside the government building, and Ruiz can't escape now.

The pale Ruiz still wanted to make a final resistance. He asked hoarsely: "Where are the troops in Toledo? Have they arrived in Madrid?"

The Minister of Security shook his head first, and then a telegram was received inside the government building.

After reading the entire content of the telegram, the Minister of Security walked forward with a strange look on his face and handed the contents of the telegram to Ruiz.

"Mr. Acting Prime Minister, you should read it yourself. Toledo's army has arrived, but they went to the south of Madrid to report to Archduke Serrano."

Ruiz's pupils dilated instantly, and then he fell down on the stool with a pale face: "It's over!"