The Oueen of the Orient (Version 2.5)
Okay so this is the second time I'm reformatting this TL. Hopefully, it'll be the last. Wish me luck, and may God bless me...
***
The Queen of the Orient
A Philippine History
The Road to Independence
The end of the Napoleonic Wars left Spain a screwed-up nation. With its army battered and its treasury without money, the nation entered its worst chapter in years. Fernando VII badly wanted to fix that problem, and he thought only absolute rule was the right answer. Thus, he abolished the Constitution of 1812, which made the liberals enraged. The Felon King expected the reaction, and have every supporter of the constitution arrested. His iron fist rule would last for almost a decade. The 1820s saw the demise of Spain's possessions in the Americas, as New Spain, New Granada, Peru, and Rio de la Plata succeeded in gaining their independence from the Crown. An effect of this was the increased mistrust of mainland Spaniards, or peninsulars, towards the criollos and mestizos. So, they planned to curb their power and to reassert control over the remaining Spanish colonies. At that time, many peninsular officers and administrators from the New World were left jobless with the fall of the viceroyalties. In response, Madrid reassigned them to Cuba, Africa and the Philippines.
In Manila, the local criollos and mestizos were outraged by the new policy, calling it very discriminatory. They tried to appeal, but the protests were put down by the colonial government. The army was no exception. Many criollo officers were demoted and replaced by peninsulars. This time the government readied a countermeasure, by sendeng the non-peninsular troops to Mindanao. When the order was declared, an army captain decided that it's enough, and began to hatch a plan. That man is Andrés Novales.
On 1 June, Novales defied his orders and marched into the walls of Manila with 800 men. Their arrival caught the city by surprise. In a couple of hours, government buildings and other important structures were seized. But there's one surprising fact: instead of facing opposition from the locals, Novales was cheered by them. This, coupled with shouts of "Long Live the Emperor!" prompted Novales to change his plans. The mutiny is now a full-pledged war of liberation.
But the victory is not yet complete, as Fort Santiago still stands as a Royalist bastion. Novales and his bolstered army marched into the fort to demand its surrender. Antonio Novales, brother of Andrés, refused the demands, and ordered his troops to resist. But Antonio's subordinates switched sides and seized their commander, and the opened the gates of Fort Santiago themselves, effectively joining the growing rebellion.
Novales and his supporters celebrated their victory, and confidently declared the end of Spanish tyranny. But reality speaks otherwise. The Governor General, Juan Antonio Martínez and his lieutenant Mariano Rodríguez de Folgueras escaped to Pampanga, and rallied the Spanish troops for a counterattack. This sets the stage for a new chapter in Philippine history: the War of Independence.
***
PS: I might try to write in a non-linear format. But no promises.