On 18 September, Carlos' army, which had withdrawn from Lleida, came to the aid of Aragon and engaged local government forces.

However, the Central Army and the Northern Army, which had just experienced a major battle, lacked troops, artillery, and even ammunition, and suffered a large-scale rout within nine hours of fighting.

The government forces then took western Aragon, and the 1st Division, which had arrived to support it, took eastern Aragon at Alfonso's behest, and the two sides faced off across the river.

Due to the exchange of fire between government forces and Carlos wasted time, Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon, came under Catalan control.

At that time, the total number of the first division was less than 10,000 and it lacked heavy equipment, while the number of government troops on the opposite side exceeded 40,000, and the situation was very dangerous.

But until now, Catalonia was still an autonomous region, and it did not recognize the Prim government, and the two sides did not enter a state of war, so the government forces did not launch an offensive in the end, acquiescing to this result.

Catalan's top brass was overjoyed to be able to take control of Zaragoza without a war, which meant that they controlled more than 1 billion tonnes of coal resources in the entire central and eastern part of Aragon, accounting for more than one-sixth of Spain's total coal reserves.

Although it is mostly lignite and bituminous coal, it is not of high quality, but it still injects a strong impetus into Catalonia's industrial production.

As for the operation in Valencia, the local Carlos army, which had occupied only the north, was now separated from the large forces of the northern provinces, and was on the verge of collapse, either fleeing into the mountains or surrendering on the spot and being absorbed.

Without the delay of the war, the government forces grabbed territory very quickly, and soon took most of Valencia, including the city of Valencia, the "pearl of the Mediterranean".

In the end, Catalonia's territory only expanded a small distance downward.

On the other hand, Carlos's army suffered two major defeats in a row under Manuel's command, and the faction impeached him one after another, and Carlos also relieved him of military power.

Later, he made a speech in the Basque Country, saying that he would personally serve as the commander-in-chief of the army, with the rank of marshal, and lead the Spanish people to eliminate the puppet regime of Prim.

But his bold words were quickly thrown into the mud by Prim and he stomped on him twice.

Over the next week, Generalissimo Carlos and Marshal Prim faced off against each other in La Rioja, Basque, Navarra and other regions, all of which ended in Carlos' crushing defeat.

In fact, he is not to blame, Carlos does not have a solid territory and a solid financial source, and the army is fighting less and less, and the equipment is getting less and less. And the morale is also very low because he has never won a war and his military pay is very low.

The absence of a mutiny was considered a respect for the monarchy by the Spanish people.

After a week-long period of abandoning their armor, even counting the untrained militia that had just been recruited from the northern provinces, the Carlos faction had less than 30,000 men left.

Apparently unable to fight in the field, they returned to their old-timers and waged guerrilla warfare in the mountains of Spain, continuing to bleed government troops.

Alfonso is happy to see this happen.

By 25 September, Catalonia's 65,000 men had been mobilized and ready to fight, and it would be good to be able to weaken the opponent before the war.

However, Alfonso never let go of the vision of peaceful reunification, and he exchanged letters with Prim during this time, and he could feel the other party's intentions.

He wanted to leave some time for another conversation.

He didn't know if the other side was stalling for time, and even if it was, it didn't matter, inspired by the Battle of Lleida, Catalonia was urgently building a grenade production line and replenishing other armament lines, and a large-scale national training was also underway.

When it comes to war, the industrial countries that have entered a state of war readiness will only get stronger and stronger, so his current attitude is very tolerant and sincere.

Madrid

Prim, who had just won a few battles in a row, returned to the capital with triumph.

In the past few days, the war has been fighting, and he has not stopped communicating with Alfonso.

If you want him to say, at the level of Carlos, compared with him, the marshal who fought all the way, served as a governor, commanded the Anglo-French-Spanish expedition to Mexico, and made two rebellions (and failed once).

Not to mention that the government has more soldiers, stronger soldiers, better equipment, and more available public opinion, which is simply crushing in all directions.

The two sides fought several times, but the government army was more and more equipped, and the number of artillery and horses was higher than the pre-war level.

If he hadn't had more important things to do, Carlos's guerrilla warfare without popular support would have been unsustainable, and he would have to go into exile in a few days.

"I have spoken to His Majesty Alfonso, and he is willing to publicly pardon us, and he will let me continue to be a marshal, and you will be a member of the cabinet, and the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Industry and Trade, and so on, you can choose." Prim persuaded.

Francisco was a little angry and drank: "This is starting to call Your Majesty?" He promised so much that he was afraid, and we would not be able to do anything in a short time, and after a long time, even if we were not exiled, it would be unacceptable for me to reduce our power.

We almost control the whole country, and with the power of one country, we will win the battle, and in the future, it is not good to find a monarch who has no power to carry out a constitutional monarchy? ”

Seeing the other party's excited look and tough words, Prim was a little confused, isn't he afraid of my army? Now it's so horizontal.

At this point, Prim didn't want to say more to the other party, and said directly: "Then I'm sorry, I'm going to lead Spain on the right path." With that, he prepared to walk out of the room.

Francisco sneered: "Didn't you do anything when I went out to fight this week?"

You are equivalent to giving the fruits of victory to others, and I am not the only one who is unhappy! ”

Francisco clapped his hands and immediately rushed into a group of guards to control Primm, including two guards who had been with him for nearly five years.

They still had blood on their knives and had apparently just killed 4 of their peers.

Prim was so angry that he couldn't even speak for a while.

Francisco was very relieved, he smiled: "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you, give me a few days to hand over the army, and I will naturally let you go." ”

Prim hadn't seen any strong winds and waves, and calmed down in a blink of an eye: "My adjutant won't see me for a long time, I will definitely rush in and ask for someone, can you have a few guards who have fought an army of 100,000?" ”

"It's not hard to find an excuse to delay for a few days." Francisco said lightly: "Each according to his ability, no one has to be you." ”