Chapter 148: Cooperating to Dig for Treasure

As a former colonial empire, the gold reserves possessed by Spain were actually not small. But because national strength had already declined, and a large amount of wealth belonged to the former Royal Bourbon family, when the Bourbon family fled north to France, they took away a large amount of gold and other properties.

Currently, the gold reserves under the control of the Spanish government were less than 200 tons, and the gold reserves in Gao Da's hands were even less; combined, they couldn't even scrape together ten tons.

There was no help for it; in the era of the gold standard, gold was simply too unimportant to various countries.

Possessing gold allowed for the printing of currency, and the ratio between gold and currency could not possibly be a fixed 1:1.

Even in some countries with larger gold reserves, the ratio of gold to actually issued currency was as high as 1:10 or more.

What did this mean? Holding gold worth 100 million pounds, the share of paper currency issued externally might be as high as 1 billion pounds or more.

However, printing currency was not without restraint; first, one had to worry about currency devaluation and inflation caused by a large amount of currency flowing into the market, and second, one had to worry that too frequent gold exchanges would lead to a significant decrease in domestic gold reserves, thereby triggering a currency crisis with no gold to exchange.

Actually, to put it plainly, the amount of currency issued was also related to the credibility of the currency. And gold reserves were a major element that could support the credibility of the currency, and also one of the most important methods.

Currency itself did not possess value; it only possessed value with practical significance after being pegged to gold for exchange. If there were no gold, currency would actually be a piece of waste paper, unable to circulate in the market at all.

The Royal Union Bank and the Bank of Spain, as the only two legal currency-issuing banks in Spain, had also accumulated a certain amount of gold reserves in the currency issuance of these few years.

But the gold reserves accumulated by the two major banks combined were only a little over ten tons; although for the banks themselves, this was already a not-so-small gold reserve, for Spain, ten-plus tons of gold was just a drop in the bucket.

The gold reserves in the hands of the Spanish government might be able to deal with this economic crisis, but who would complain about having too little gold?

For every ton of gold in hand, one could create a value of over a million pounds, which was over 30 million pesetas.

Whether it was the Spanish government or the two major official banks, the more gold reserves in hand, the better.

Where could one go to obtain enough gold reserves to deal with this economic crisis?

Gao Da thought of many methods, but most of them were not very reliable, at least for Spain, they were basically impossible to realize.

For example, salvaging treasure from shipwrecks. To say nothing else, during the period when Spain colonized the Americas, multiple ships transporting treasure sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

Although the wealth transported on a single ship was not too much, the sum of all the shipwrecks combined was probably a not-so-small fortune.

But the problem was that the locations of these shipwrecks were not completely fixed. Coupled with the reasons for current salvage technology, even if one could finally find the locations of these shipwrecks, one might not be able to salvage them.

Moreover, the Atlantic Ocean was so vast; wanting to find the locations of shipwrecks was extremely difficult. Current technology was not suitable for salvaging shipwrecks, otherwise, countries with more powerful technology like Britain and France would have done it long ago.

Besides salvaging shipwrecks, another relatively reliable method was to prospect for gold mines and mine them. But doing so, first, required a very long time, and second, existing gold mines that had already been prospected basically had owners, and the time required to prospect for gold mines in other places was too long.

Gao Da indeed knew that many places had large gold mines, but the problem was, how could one ensure that other powers would not interfere and that Spain could exclusively occupy this gold mine?

Moreover, even if Gao Da pointed out the existence of a gold mine in a certain area, it still required a mineral prospecting team to find the location of the gold mine, and a large amount of gold ore had to be mined and refined to extract gold.

Such a long time clearly could not keep up with the pace of the economic crisis, and for the current Spain, it was not a very suitable method.

After thinking back and forth, Gao Da finally set his sights on the Indians. The region of India possessed the world's second-largest population and also possessed a large amount of unknown treasure.

Gao Da was naturally aware of the Indian temple treasures that had various rumors in later generations. Even the Indian temple treasures were not just one; the largest temple treasure contained countless wealth, and smaller treasures also contained many gold and silver treasures; just getting one would allow one to obtain a considerable amount of gold reserves.

But the current problem was that India was the territory of the British, and the relationship between the British and the Spanish was not that good.

Moreover, going to India to dig for temple treasures required keeping it secret throughout the process. With the power Gao Da currently possessed, it was very difficult to complete the entire plan perfectly; after all, this required sending personnel to India to dig for treasure, and keeping it hidden from the entire Indian colonial government and the British government, and transporting the dug-up treasure from India to Spain.

However, giving up on the Indian temple treasures in vain would be a bit too regrettable.

Although the temple treasures in history would not be discovered until more than 100 years later, who could be sure that it wouldn't change?

After all, the progress of the Franco-Prussian War had already been changed; whether future events would be changed was something Gao Da could not determine at all.

Since it could not be determined, the temple treasures should naturally be obtained as early as possible. Whether this rich treasure was left to the British or the future Indians, it was not cost-effective for Spain and Gao Da.

Now was a relatively good opportunity; the market changes before the eruption of the economic crisis would definitely attract the attention of the British government, and this was also the most suitable time to go to India to dig for treasure.

By the time the British attention returned to India, it would not be easy to send personnel to carry out large-scale actions.

After careful consideration, Gao Da finally decided to cooperate with Prime Minister Ma Deli to obtain this batch of treasure through the power of the Spanish government.

Of course, cooperating with the Spanish government meant that this batch of treasure would definitely have to be shared with the Spanish government. Even if Prime Minister Ma Deli were more aggressive, the Spanish government would get the lion's share, and Gao Da would only get the smaller share.

But there was no help for it; after all, the power of the Royal family at this time was too weak, and although those nobles possessed a certain amount of influence, the matter of the temple treasures was of great importance and could not rely entirely on those old-fashioned nobles.

New-style nobles naturally went without saying. The power in their hands all came from the Royal family; Gao Da didn't even have the ability to hide the digging for treasure from the Indian colonial government and the British government, let alone these new-style nobles who had no power at all.

Although cooperating with the Spanish government meant sharing the lion's share with the government, the good news was that the Spanish government indeed possessed sufficient power. Moreover, the Indian temple treasures were not just one; as long as one obtained the gold and other valuable treasures from a few more treasures, the benefits Gao Da finally obtained would still not be small.

Moreover, for Gao Da, it was also beneficial for the Spanish government to obtain these treasures. Although Spain's development was relatively smooth, all of this was premised on loans from the Italian government and the Austro-Hungarian government.

Including France, the loans France provided to Spain reached as high as 500 million francs, and just the interest alone required repaying 100 million francs.

The fiscal pressure on the Spanish government was still very great; if it could obtain a batch of temple treasures to expand gold and capital reserves, it would undoubtedly alleviate a large part of the funding pressure, and development and construction could also increase investment to obtain better results.

Since it had been decided to cooperate with the government, the next things would be easy to handle.

Gao Da only needed to confirm the relevant plan with Prime Minister Ma Deli, and the specific actions could be left to the government to do; at most, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency could provide assistance.

January 15, 1873, inside the Madrid Royal Palace.

"Your Majesty, what is the matter that you summoned me so urgently?" Prime Minister Ma Deli arrived in a hurry, his eyes filled with a bit of curiosity and doubt.

Since Gao Da ascended the throne a few years ago, he had never summoned him so urgently and mysteriously. This also made Prime Minister Ma Deli feel a bit curious, and he rushed over without thinking too much.

"Prime Minister Ma Deli, my subordinates have found a mysterious treasure outside of Europe; the treasure may contain a large amount of gold and silver treasures and other priceless rarities.

But you know, the Royal family does not have many personnel to retrieve this treasure. I wonder if the government is interested? If possible, I am willing to take out 30% of the treasure and hand it over to the government as a reward for the government's participation in this action." Gao Da came straight to the point and proposed his suggestion.

However, Gao Da did not tell the truth about the relatively private organizations like the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, but simply used "subordinates" to summarize.

"A priceless treasure outside of Europe?" Prime Minister Ma Deli was a bit doubtful; this sounded like it wasn't that reliable.

"Your Majesty, where did you hear this news? Please forgive me, but if our action ultimately has no harvest, I am afraid it will not be easy to report to the government." Prime Minister Ma Deli pondered for a few minutes and raised his question.

Although Gao Da was the King of Spain, the Spanish government clearly would not take actual action just because of Gao Da's few words.

The risks involved and the benefits that could be harvested were all things Prime Minister Ma Deli needed to consider; unless it was certain that the government could obtain actual benefits, the Spanish government would not travel thousands of miles outside of Europe to find so-called treasure just because of Gao Da's words.

"The source of the intelligence is nothing to talk about, but what is certain is that the intelligence is very likely true. Even if the intelligence is not true, the Royal family is willing to bear all the expenses of this action.

If the intelligence is true, the specific expenses of this action will be deducted from the share of the treasure obtained. Prime Minister Ma Deli, I hope you can consider my opinion carefully; this is a treasure that must not be missed, and it is a huge wealth for both the Royal family and the government." Gao Da would not be foolish enough to reveal the Royal Security Intelligence Agency he had built.

Although the Royal Security Intelligence Agency might not be able to hide from Prime Minister Ma Deli, he certainly would not know too much about the current development of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency.

As the King of Spain, it was only natural for Gao Da to build his own power. Unless Prime Minister Ma Deli wanted to tear his face off with Gao Da, he would not ask too much about the situation of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency.

The facts were indeed as Gao Da had expected.

Hearing Gao Da indicate that the source of the intelligence could not be revealed, Prime Minister Ma Deli immediately linked this intelligence to the previously rumored intelligence agency Gao Da had established.

Regarding the intelligence agency Gao Da had established, Prime Minister Ma Deli did not have much opposition. After all, the government could not stop the King's actions; although Gao Da did not have much power, the King of Spain was not a mere figurehead.

If he were pushed too hard, it would be of no benefit to either Prime Minister Ma Deli or Gao Da. Maintaining the current balance was the most suitable choice, which would neither delay Prime Minister Ma Deli's reforms to the government and Spain, nor would it delay Gao Da's own power layout.

Regarding the current situation of the Spanish government, Prime Minister Ma Deli and Gao Da naturally knew it in their hearts. The current Prime Minister Ma Deli was the one who had the final say in the Spanish government, and Gao Da's influence was far from being comparable to Prime Minister Ma Deli's.

But such power would still have to be returned to Gao Da in the future; before completing their respective plans, neither Gao Da nor Prime Minister Ma Deli was willing to destroy the relationship with the other.

Since Gao Da had indicated his willingness to bear the expenses of this action, Prime Minister Ma Deli naturally had nothing to say. Even if there was no so-called treasure, at worst, it would be treated as a bit of fun between the government and the young King.

The King did not make many proposals each year, so Prime Minister Ma Deli naturally could not refuse the King's opinions too frequently.

Moreover, such a proposal did not have much loss for the government; it was nothing more than selecting a portion of reliable personnel from the military to cooperate with the King in an action.

"If that is the case, then there is no problem. But Your Majesty, according to the plan you mentioned, the government will be the actual person in charge of this action.

If the share of the treasure is too small, the government will have no harvest. I suggest changing the sharing ratio to 50-50; for both the Royal family and the government, such a distribution is fair." Prime Minister Ma Deli continued: "

The government is willing to cooperate with Your Majesty's action; if there really is this batch of treasure, no matter which country's territory it is on, we can bring this treasure back to Spain."

Gao Da naturally knew that a 30-70 split was impossible, and Prime Minister Ma Deli would absolutely not agree to 30%.

The reason for proposing a 30-70 split was actually to achieve the goal of a 50-50 split. If a 50-50 split had been proposed at the beginning, Prime Minister Ma Deli would have a very high probability of continuing to push it down, and the share the Royal family could obtain would be even lower.

This was just like negotiating business; start by opening with a high price, and then slowly push the price down. Prime Minister Ma Deli naturally also knew that a 30-70 split was not Gao Da's bottom line, and his meaning was also very clear: the government could cooperate with Gao Da's action, but the share had to be a relatively fair number.

A 50-50 split was completely acceptable to Gao Da. The Indian temple treasures were rumored to be miraculous, with some saying they were worth tens of billions, hundreds of billions, or even trillions.

Although Gao Da was not sure how much the specific share of the Indian temple treasures was, the half share obtained by the Royal family would absolutely not be small.

Currently, the total assets of the Royal family combined were only tens of millions of pesetas; if this treasure were obtained, it might directly allow the Royal family's assets to multiply several times.

With such a treasure obtained for free, what was there to be unhappy about? The share obtained by the Spanish government would be used to develop the entire Spain, and the stronger Spain was, the more benefits it would have for Gao Da.

Gao Da pretended to be very hesitant, but finally nodded, saying with some heartache: "Then let it be a 50-50 split, Prime Minister Ma Deli.

But I hope there will be no changes; the Royal family accepts a minimum of a 50-50 split, and I hope our cooperation will be very pleasant."

"That is naturally so, Your Majesty." Having obtained a 50% share, Prime Minister Ma Deli's mood was also quite satisfied. He smiled and nodded, saying to Gao Da as if making a guarantee: "Our cooperation will be very pleasant; I hope to see this treasure soon; I am already a bit impatient."

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 149 =====