Prim truly lived up to his reputation as the cornerstone of Spain.
With Prim at the helm, the Spanish army naturally faced no risk of division. The United Spanish army displayed strong combat readiness when facing the Carlist rebels.
On February 17, 1870, the Spanish army led by Prim encountered the Basque rebels in the La Rioja region, and fierce fighting immediately broke out.
Although the Spanish army still had many shortcomings compared to the Franco-Prussian army, when facing the Basque rebels who were inferior in numbers and equipment, it was like a father beating his son – utterly demoralizing.
The Basques could indeed muster thousands of muskets, but they couldn't even gather a double-digit number of cannons.
Hoping to defeat the heavily artillery-equipped Spanish army with linear infantry tactics was less likely than hoping the Spanish army would surrender directly.
But Spain was not Italy, nor was it France; it had no such tradition of surrender.
After being bombarded by Italian cannons (cannons produced in Italy), the Basques instantly became subdued.
This was the biggest difference between a regular army and hastily assembled civilian militias: discipline and morale.
As soon as someone panicked and started to flee, it dealt a heavy blow to the Basque army.
The feeling of panic spread like a plague through the Basque army, quickly affecting the morale of the entire force.
For a temporary army composed entirely of civilians, when morale collapses, the army collapses with it.
The subsequent scene is self-explanatory; after suffering hundreds of casualties, this Basque rebel force decisively chose to surrender.
Although this was not the entire Basque rebel force, for the Basque separatists, it was undoubtedly a heavy blow.
The Basque army they painstakingly assembled couldn't even hold out for a day against the Spanish army, completely collapsing in just an hour and a half.
Over half an hour of that time was spent deploying artillery, so the actual combat time between the two armies was even less than an hour.
By the time the news of the successful annihilation of the Basque vanguard by the Spanish reached the Carlists, it was already the next day, February 18.
Although Carlos VII was somewhat surprised by the speed of the Basque army's collapse, he had no sympathy for the Basques' losses.
In fact, far from feeling regret, Carlos VII was somewhat excited at this moment.
This was because he believed he had found an opportunity to defeat the Spanish army, a chance to perfectly outflank and encircle the Spanish forces.
Why did Carlos VII think this way?
The place where the Spanish army and the Basques encountered each other was in La Rioja, which is south of the Basque Country and Navarre.
The current Carlist rebels had successfully moved west from Catalonia into Aragon, placing them southeast of the main Spanish forces.
If the Carlist army could pass through Aragon into the southern part of La Rioja, they could, along with the Basque army in northern La Rioja, achieve the plan of encircling the Spanish army.
No matter how strong the Spanish army's combat power was, as long as they were surrounded on two sides, they were bound to fall into the Carlists' hands.
Carlos VII picked up a map and silently calculated his plan several times in his mind, finally concluding that this was a golden opportunity not to be missed.
Several high-ranking military officers in the Catalan army also echoed Carlos VII's sentiments, which made Carlos VII full of confidence, believing that the military talent of Prim, boasted about by the Catalans, was actually just average.
On February 18, the Carlist rebels advanced towards Zaragoza in the Aragon region.
Zaragoza is located in the center of the Aragon region; it can advance to encircle the Spanish army in the La Rioja region, and it can also serve as the first line of defense to protect the safety of Catalonia.
This was one of the reasons for Carlos VII's confidence, as he felt his plan was perfect, considering both the possibility of a successful encirclement and failure and having corresponding solutions for both.
Could Prim not see the problems that Carlos VII could see?
Of course not.
In fact, as soon as the main Spanish army led by Prim entered the Castilla-León region south of La Rioja, they immediately split into two forces to deal with the two rebel groups, the Basques and the Catalans.
Prim planned to prioritize eliminating the Basques, and then advance through Navarre and northern Aragon directly into Catalonia to completely quell the entire rebellion.
He led the main force of the Spanish army, approximately thirty thousand men, north towards La Rioja, where they eventually encountered the Basque army.
The other smaller force numbered only about ten thousand men, but they carried dozens of cannons, with the objective of organizing a defensive line in Aragon before Prim dealt with the Basques, to prevent the Catalan rebels from taking advantage of the situation to enter the Castilla-La Mancha region from Aragon and Valencia, and threatening Madrid, the heart of Spain.
For the same reason, Zaragoza was very important for both offense and defense because it was located in the center of Aragon.
The branch force responsible for defending against the Catalan rebels also chose Zaragoza as their main defensive point and immediately set up artillery positions upon arriving in Zaragoza.
From this perspective, Carlos VII had some military foresight.
However, the crucial point was that Carlos VII had no idea that Prim had divided his forces in advance; he still thought that the entire main Spanish army was in the La Rioja region.
By the time the Carlist rebels painstakingly arrived in Zaragoza, they were met by ten thousand well-prepared Spanish troops and dozens of cannons.
The Carlist rebels also had cannons on their side.
But their cannons were old antiques from decades or even decades ago, far inferior to the Spanish army's newly purchased advanced cannons in terms of firing speed, range, and accuracy.
The artillery duel between the two sides showed a significant disparity, and the experience of the soldiers on both sides was vastly different.
The Spanish army could calmly handle the enemy's artillery bombardment because the enemy was far behind in both the number and sophistication of their cannons.
But for the Carlist rebels, the feeling was not so pleasant.
Even for the Catalan separatists, watching someone being blown into several pieces before their eyes was an absolute visual shock.
Just one glance was enough to make the Catalan separatists seriously reconsider their position.
And for the civilians who had been brainwashed into joining the rebels, the brutal scenes of war were a huge blow to their souls.
Ordinary people had never seen such a sight, let alone the fact that it currently looked more like they were unilaterally being bombarded.
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