Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 196: Chapter 148: Reward of Half a Ton of Gold (2)

Imagine, after the British learned that there were vast treasures inside the Temple, they would inevitably re-ransack it and would not let the first transportation team escape with the heavier treasures.

Although these heavier treasures weren’t as valuable as gold items, they were still of considerable value.

The total value of the treasures transported by the first convoy, even if not exceeding a million Pounds, definitely surpassed 500,000 Pounds.

This is no small fortune, which could allow the British to construct a most powerful ironclad.

For Indians, this wealth represented the accumulation of local Indian people over hundreds of years. The Temple Treasure was not only the fiscal accumulation of the local Princely State Government over centuries but also the donations of local Hindu devotees to the Temple over hundreds of years.

Although Indians did not know who excavated the Temple Treasure, it was certain that it was the British who gained from the first transportation team’s haul.

At that time, just by spreading a bit of news, all of the Indian people’s hatred could be redirected at the British.

After all, in the Indian Colony controlled by the British, only the British themselves had the capability to excavate treasures on such a large scale and transport them without the Indians knowing.

If this was merely the first move to damage relations between the British Colonial Government and the local Indians, then the British would make the second move themselves.

The so-called second move refers actually to other temples in the Indian Region. If the Padmanabhaswamy Temple could yield such a rich treasure, what about the other temples in the Indian Region? Would they, like the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, have large treasures buried underground?

Even if it were just a possibility, the British would definitely take actual action. Once the British began extensive excavations in Indian temples, it would severely damage the colonial government’s relationship with the local Indians.

India has a very rigid caste system, but at the same time, their devotion to Hinduism is extremely fervent.

Excavating treasures is not only about plundering the wealth that local Indians have accumulated over the years but also about provoking Indian religious beliefs in Hinduism.

Although most Indians would still be weak under British oppressive rule, there would inevitably be some more radical Indians who would choose to resist British colonial rule with even more radical measures.

In fact, leaving some inconvenient-to-transport treasures to tempt both Indians and the British was a strategy that Prime Minister Prim had decided on long before the excavation.

If these cumbersome items were absent, that would be ideal. But if there were some inconvenient items, why not leave them to Indians and the British to sow discord between India and Britain?

Under prior evacuation plans, soldiers and intelligence officers of the first convoy successfully withdrew before being encircled and intercepted by the British.

The Indians left behind, when faced with these idols and highly valuable treasures, didn’t have time to think why these so-called Europeans claiming to be British suddenly disappeared; they only had time to consider how to distribute this unexpected windfall.

When a crowd of Indian civilians was on the brink of conflict over the treasure, the British appeared successfully and decisively determined the ownership of the treasure.

Meanwhile, the second convoy had already successfully loaded the treasures at the port. Due to the vast amount of treasures, they were divided into five ships for transportation.

These five ships were heading to different destinations, with two going to the Philippines, one to Australia, one to Africa, and another directly to Europe.

As these five transport ships successfully departed the port, a telegram was successfully sent from one of the ships: “Report to the President, all is well!”

The telegram indeed was reporting the treasure excavation situation back to Spain, but it also contained information to confuse the enemy.

When Carlo and Prime Minister Prim received the contents of this telegram, it was already a day later.

It was unavoidable because, although there were telegraphs crossing oceans in that era, they relied on the connection of undersea cables.

As a British colony, India was also equipped with cables laid by the British. However, the telegraph transmission was exceedingly slow during that era, and so was the receiving pace.

The distance between Spain and India spanned over tens of thousands of kilometers, so when the telegram was received, about more than 20 hours had already passed.

Nonetheless, the content of the telegram stating all was well provided Prime Minister Prim and Carlo a sigh of relief.

Prime Minister Prim, smiling, anticipated how immense the wealth of the mysterious Temple Treasure could be. Carlo had already been aware that the scale of the Temple Treasure was beyond other people’s imagination.

There were various later rumors about the mysterious Temple Treasure. Some said the total value exceeded one trillion US Dollars, while others said the total value was only several billion or tens of billions of US Dollars.

But just the first chamber revealed to the public in later years, with over a ton of Golden Belts and a Golden Elephant about 1.2 meters high, destined the value of this treasure to not be low.

Moreover, the complete Padmanabhaswamy Temple contains six chambers, with two chambers having not been opened for over 100 years.

These two chambers, unopened for more than 100 years, alone possess endless wealth, combined with the four smaller chambers, altogether forming a treasure certainly at the billion level.