Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 197: Chapter 148: Reward of 0.5 Tons of Gold (Part 3)

As for whether this hundred million is in Pounds, US Dollars, or Pesetas, that depends on the scale in which the treasure is brought back to Spain.

The advance excavation of the Temple Treasure has the greatest impact on the relationship between the Indians and the British Colonial Government. The British will absolutely not miss the Temple Treasure, and they will certainly conduct large-scale excavations of other temples within the United Kingdom.

Carlo also considered whether the British would discover other unknown Temple Treasures that would make the mighty British Empire even stronger.

But considering the various interests involved, and the fact that the Padmanabhaswamy Temple remained the most valuable treasure trove of antiques and precious metals until later generations, Carlo was reassured.

No matter how much the British dig, they will never find a treasure as valuable as the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, but as soon as they begin excavating temples, their relationship with the Indians will become uncontrollable.

Various independence movements in India might even be brought forward, which is actually a good thing for Spain. Only when the British colonial system becomes more fragile does Spain have hopes of reclaiming Gibraltar.

If the British colonial system remains stable, then the United Kingdom is undeniably the strongest country in the world, and Spain would find it very difficult to recover Gibraltar.

For complete secrecy, the time when the five transport ships arrived at Spanish ports was at night, and the ports would be temporarily closed for various reasons on that night.

In the middle of the night, a long-waiting troop would re-box the treasures from the transport ships and transfer them to a new location, finishing the inventory work at the new site.

To ensure the smooth transfer work, the soldiers transporting the treasures were carefully selected from the army. They not only came from different units but were also mixed together to ensure they had no acquaintances around them.

For safety, these treasures will be entirely transported to the Madrid Royal Palace. After counting and inventorying in the palace, the government will remove the part that belongs to them.

The advantage of transporting them to the palace, firstly, is that the palace has enough space to place these treasures. Secondly, as one of the three great palaces of Europe, it is reasonable for the Madrid Royal Palace to house invaluable treasures.

Frequent transportation from the port to the palace can also be explained, after all, besides the Royal Family, there are many servants in the entire palace, and using a transport team for their daily consumables does not seem unusual.

The basement of the Madrid Royal Palace has a large warehouse area, which originally stored the property of the Bourbon Royal Family and was emptied and has been vacant.

It is now just right to place these treasures, especially the larger gold artifacts, in the palace basement, which may be the safest place to store them until a proper handling method is determined.

For complete confidentiality, the task of inventorying these treasures has been assigned to a mixed unit composed of the finance department, army, and Guard Army.

Except for the high officials of the finance department, everyone else was reminded before arriving at the palace that the treasures here are rare pieces buried in the Madrid Royal Palace, only recently discovered by His Majesty the King.

Since those participating in the inventory are either soldiers or from the finance department, there is no concern of them leaking the information. The Royal Security Intelligence Bureau will watch over them to ensure that the Spanish Government’s operations in India will not be exposed in the short term.

When Spain becomes stronger in the future, even if this operation is eventually known by the British, the British Government can only dismiss it as a rumor.

Ultimately, it all depends on the strength of the nation. If Spain becomes truly strong, it wouldn’t need to sneak into India, but could openly seize Kerala and then legitimately plunder the Temple’s treasures.

During the time the treasures are being inventoried, Prime Minister Prim and Carlo personally visited the palace basement and witnessed the mountain of treasures.

Even Carlo, who was well-prepared, couldn’t help but be amazed by the value of the Indian Temple Treasure. Without mentioning other things, just the more than one-meter-high Golden Elephant was dazzling enough.

And that more than one-ton Golden Belt, the value of the gold itself is already considerable, let alone the added value after it has been crafted into a finished product.

In the later market, this Golden Belt’s value could reach ten figures. Coupled with the Golden Elephant, it could fulfill several lifetime goals for ordinary people.

While having the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau supervise those inventorying the treasures, Carlo convened all participants involved in the treasure excavation operation in India and rewarded them according to prior promises.

The value of this batch of treasures is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. That these operatives remembered their original intentions during the excavation process without serious incidents of embezzlement left Carlo very satisfied.

As for minor personal appropriations, Carlo paid little heed. After all, how much could a single person take? At most, an inconspicuous gold ornament, weighing less than 100 grams of gold, worth a mere dozen Pounds.

The rewards Carlo intended to give them exceeded this value, so Carlo had no reason to focus on such minor private appropriations.

As long as it’s not serious, it’s swept aside.

Carlo was generous in rewarding the operatives involved in this mission. Each received a check from the Royal United Bank for 5000 Pesetas.

This reward is quite substantial, roughly equivalent to 192 Pounds, or 1408 grams of gold.

For the two commanders of this operation, Carlo’s reward was even more generous—a check for 10,000 Pesetas.

The rewards alone for these over 100 operatives nearly reached half a ton of gold. However, compared to the gains from this treasure excavation, these rewards were clearly just a drop in the bucket.