Empire Rise: Spain

Inside the vast and luxurious Madrid Royal Palace, a conversation laden with deep meaning was unfolding.

“Your Majesty, what is Prime Minister Primó trying to do? Is he going to ruin the entire Spanish Church?” Archbishop Pedro displayed his innocence and indignation the moment he saw Carlo, trying to win Carlo’s sympathy.

“What happened? Bishop Pedro.” Carlo certainly understood what had happened to the Church’s people, and Carlo was even one of the planners of the plan to purge the Church.

But at this critical juncture, it was best to pretend not to understand. At least, Archbishop Pedro’s indignation was entirely borne by Prime Minister Primó, and it wouldn’t cause Carlo any loss.

“I know the assassination of Prime Minister Primó is a major matter, but they can’t arrest the Church’s bishops without evidence, right?

Your Majesty, the government has currently arrested more than ten bishops, and the arrest operation is still ongoing. If you don’t stop it, I’m afraid tomorrow I will also be arrested by Prime Minister Primó.” Archbishop Pedro continued.

“It’s not that serious, is it? Bishop Pedro. I approved the citywide search in Madrid. If bishops are arrested, it must be because they are also suspects, right?

If you have any questions, you can go protest to Prime Minister Primó. Marquis Primó is not an arbitrary person. If you can prove those bishops’ innocence, the government will definitely release them.” Carlo would not hinder Primó’s purge of the Church. The best way was to kick the ball to Primó.

Carlo’s meaning was very simple. If Archbishop Pedro possessed sufficient evidence to prove those bishops were innocent, then of course he could pressure Prime Minister Primó to demand the government release the Church personnel.

But the difficulty was precisely here. Although Prime Minister Primó did not have complete evidence to prove the Church’s responsibility, it was still easy to produce some evidence to pin crimes on these Church personnel.

Proving guilt is difficult; proving innocence is even harder.

Archbishop Pedro clearly did not have sufficient evidence to prove those Church members were innocent, which also meant that Prime Minister Primó possessed sufficient evidence to continue detaining those Church personnel.

Seeing that he could not seek any sympathy or protection from Carlo, Archbishop Pedro finally realized that the situation was serious.

Either Carlo truly knew nothing and naively believed that the government’s arrests were all justified.

Or Carlo knew everything, and even this arrest of Church personnel was something agreed upon between Carlo and the government, with the purpose of settling accounts with the Church.

But regardless of which outcome it was, it was not a good thing for the current Church and Archbishop Pedro.

If they could not obtain the king’s support, relying solely on the Church’s strength to confront the current government would truly be like an egg striking a stone.

Just the fact that Primó controlled the army doomed the Church to be unable to contend with the government.

Moreover, Carlo’s words also reminded Archbishop Pedro. Compared to the Church, the government was clearly standing on the side of public opinion.

The prime minister being assassinated leading to a citywide manhunt was reasonable, right? Discovering suspects during the manhunt and arresting them was reasonable, right?

As for why most of those arrested were Church personnel, what responsibility did the government have?