Chapter 150: Golden Mountain

At night, outside the solemn-looking Padmanabhaswamy Temple, several people dressed in dark clothing, carrying various types of equipment, slowly approached the perimeter of the temple.

To avoid attracting attention, they first wandered casually around the temple's perimeter, and only after confirming that no more believers were coming in the dead of night did they gather outside the temple.

This ancient temple, named Padmanabhaswamy Temple, unexpectedly possessed its own defensive force. This increased the difficulty of exploring the temple's internal structure; the personnel involved in the operation not only had to try their best to figure out the structure and layout of the temple to find the most likely place where treasure was buried, but also had to watch out for the patrols of the temple's internal defensive force.

Once discovered, there would be only one final option left: to storm the ancient temple and strip it bare before the British colonial government could react.

But if they were to do this, regardless of whether there was treasure inside the temple or not, the mission to excavate the treasure would be over.

If it were confirmed that there was treasure inside this temple, then the subsequent treasure-hunting plan would have to be very cautious. Because the vast India did not have just this one ancient temple; the number of ancient temples scattered across various regions was very large.

Even if not all temples contained rich treasures, there were always some that hid treasures from hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

If they could dig up a few more, perhaps the debts owed by the Spanish government could almost be paid off.

Although the temple had its own defensive force, these were clearly organized by the temple itself, and compared to the elite soldiers carefully selected by the Spanish government, they were not worth mentioning.

After simply calculating the patrol times of these monks, the agile operatives took advantage of the gap in their patrol schedule and quickly slipped into the temple under the cover of darkness.

This temple had a very long history and occupied a massive area. While called a temple, it was not just a simple shrine, but a vast complex of buildings connected together.

It was precisely because of the temple's large area that it was convenient for the operatives to hide. However, after searching most of the temple, the operatives still had not found a place where treasure might be buried.

The vast majority of the temple's buildings were open to the public and were places that outside believers often came to worship and visit. It was basically impossible for treasure to be buried in these places; if there were any, it would have long since been known by these Indian commoners and reached the ears of the British.

The fact that the British had not discovered the treasure inside the temple to this day proved that if there was treasure, it must be hidden in those inaccessible places, which was the innermost part of the temple.

Sure enough, after a careful search, several operatives finally discovered a very dilapidated building in the innermost part of the temple.

Compared to the buildings outside, this more dilapidated building clearly had a much longer history. The buildings outside had more or less traces of renovation, but this dilapidated building not only had no traces of renovation, but it was also clearly rarely visited.

The area in front of the building was overgrown with weeds, and if placed in the wild, it would look like an abandoned house.

But placed inside the vast temple, it looked somewhat strange. The entire temple was not only large in area, but the buildings were also quite magnificent.

This also showed the influence of religion in India; in a situation where most Indian commoners could not get enough to eat and were barely getting by, these temples were all built to be magnificent, and the contrast could not help but make one think deeply.

"Damn it, it should be here." Because of their agility, Scottie and Waer were successfully selected for the team exploring the temple.

Seeing the dilapidated building in front of them, which stood out in the magnificent temple, Scottie immediately stopped and looked at Waer beside him.

"We might really be about to discover the temple treasure." Waer also nodded, clearly extremely suspicious of this building: "Let's go, let's go in and take a look."

Because it was located in the innermost part of the temple complex and few people came here, it was convenient for the operation team to investigate this dilapidated building.

After circling to the front of the building, the group immediately discovered an even more suspicious situation.

Although the entire temple complex had its own defensive force, the overall defensive force was not large. The patrol teams added up to only about 20 people, and they only patrolled the outer perimeter of the temple; there was no patrol force inside the building complex.

But inside this obviously dilapidated building, there were actually several monks standing guard at the entrance. If this were really just an ordinary dilapidated building, why would there be people standing guard here?

These few people standing guard proved the special nature of this building and made everyone in the operation team immediately firm in their original idea, which was that the temple treasure was highly likely to be inside this building.

In order not to alert the enemy, after exploring most of the temple complex and confirming the location where the treasure was buried, the few people exploring the temple exchanged glances and then, with great tacit understanding, chose to retreat.

The treasure was not something the few of them could move; the plan to excavate the treasure required all the operation personnel to act together.

Besides that, the monks and defensive forces inside the temple also needed to be dealt with so that they could excavate the treasure without restraint.

There was also the need to leave a portion of the force to deal with those believers coming to worship; if a large number of Indians were attracted to watch, even if they excavated the treasure, it would be impossible to take it out of India under the eyes of the public.

It might be relatively cruel to the Indians, but there was no other way; after all, did the temple here not have legendary treasure?

In order not to alert the enemy and attract the attention of the British colonial government, all Indians who approached the temple from then on could not be allowed to leave alive.

This treasure excavation operation was not that simple. To ensure that all operation personnel could safely return to Spain, they had already laid a trap for the British during the process of coming to India from Spain.

These operation personnel basically did not have the characteristics of Spaniards; roughly looking, one could only distinguish that they were Europeans. Some of them even looked more like British and French, which was one of the traps the operation team set for the British.

Besides that, all operation personnel used English and French when communicating with local Indian villagers.

Even if the Indians did not understand English, it did not matter; after all, this was a British colony, and there would certainly be Indians who could understand English.

The third trap was the evacuation route after excavating the treasure. The operation personnel would not evacuate directly to Spain, but would divide the treasure into several batches, heading to the Philippines, Singapore, and Australia respectively.

Then, they would disguise themselves as merchant ships from different countries, and after traveling through winding routes, they would stay in Spain for a short time before sailing to different countries.

Under the confusion of the three major traps, it was impossible for the British to find sufficient evidence to point out that the force excavating the treasure came from Spain.

As long as there was no sufficient evidence, even if the British knew in their hearts that it was done by the Spaniards, they would have no way to deal with it.

After all, the diplomatic level required sufficient evidence to accuse a country. If the British did not have enough evidence, even if they accused the Spanish government, the Spanish government would not panic at all.

Unless the British were willing to go to war with the Spanish government, this kind of accusation without actual evidence would not cause any impact on the Spanish government.

These operatives who had sneaked in returned along the original path and gathered with the main force.

After confirming the specific location of the treasure, the next action was actually very simple.

All operation personnel were divided into two parts: the main force entered the temple to excavate the treasure and used the transport tools already prepared to transfer it to other places.

The remaining small group of people stayed outside the temple to deal with the Indians coming to the temple, buying more time for the operation team inside the temple.

In order not to attract the attention of the Indians and the British colonial government, the treasure-hunting time was at most 24 hours. After more than 24 hours, regardless of whether the treasure had been completely transferred, the operation personnel could not continue to stay in the temple.

It was still that relatively dilapidated building, and the few guards in front of the building who were almost falling asleep.

The formal operation had begun, and the operation personnel would not be polite to these guards and monks inside the temple.

All patrol teams encountered along the way were dealt with by the operation personnel, and not a single living soul was left.

Taking advantage of the night, several operation personnel sneaked behind the guards of the dilapidated building; those guards who were about to fall asleep did not notice the movements of the operation personnel at all.

Taking out daggers and gently slitting their throats, the few guards collapsed like boneless creatures.

Because the interior of the temple had been scouted in advance, there was almost no defensive force in the innermost part except for these few guards.

So after killing these few guards, the operation personnel poured into the dilapidated building to look for the so-called treasure.

An even greater contrast followed. The exterior of this building was very dilapidated, and it even looked as if it were about to collapse.

But entering the interior of the building, one statue after another seemed to be taken care of frequently, and there was basically no dust.

"Separate and check, do not miss any clue. Report the situation immediately if there is any discovery; I think we are not far from discovering the treasure," the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of command ordered.

Everyone nodded slightly and began to disperse to look for traces of the treasure.

The soldiers from the troops summoned by the government clearly had no experience and could only carefully check every floor tile and every crack.

And the intelligence personnel from the Royal Security Intelligence Agency were clearly more experienced; they began to look for possible basement entrances, or even various mechanisms.

Because according to common sense, it was impossible for treasure to be hidden on the ground. It was more likely to be buried underground or in a basement.

Just finding the mechanism or entrance to the basement meant finding the location where the treasure was buried. As for how to dig the treasure out, that was the soldiers' business.

Although they could not carry heavy weapons, micro-explosives could still be carried. If they really could not find the entrance to the treasure, they could only try to find the treasure by blowing up the building.

Anyway, the city closest to the temple was several kilometers away; if they only used micro-explosives, even if they could hear the sound of the explosion, the Indians would not suspect the temple in the first instance.

By the time they investigated the temple, the operation personnel would have already excavated the treasure and fled.

Thump, thump, thump!

Suddenly, an intelligence officer discovered something wrong. Almost all the floor tiles around were solid, and only this floor tile sounded hollow when knocked.

"It might be here!" The intelligence officer signaled in a low voice that he had discovered a clue.

Everyone gathered instantly, and one after another, they looked at the floor tile pointed out by the person who made the sound.

Thump, thump, thump!

The floor tile that sounded hollow made everyone's eyes light up, and the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of command also gave his order: "Pry it open! The treasure is very likely under this floor tile."

With the joint efforts of everyone, the floor tile was quickly pried open.

Under the floor tile was not soil, but a pitch-black staircase leading straight down.

"Treasure! It really is treasure!" Everyone was overjoyed, and everyone realized that what was buried below was very likely the treasure.

There were basically only two things buried underground: either corpses or treasure. If it were a tomb, it would be impossible for anyone to be guarding it here.

Although the entrance to the treasure had been discovered, the Lieutenant Colonel did not rush to give orders, but first threw two torches into the entrance.

After waiting for about a minute and finding that the torches had not gone out, he nodded and ordered: "Two of the thinner ones go down first to see what the situation is."

Following the order, two soldiers who were clearly thinner slowly went down the stairs with torches.

As the two walked further and further, the bright light of the torches became weaker and weaker.

I don't know how long it took, but the two slowly approached the stairs, wiped the sweat on their faces slightly, and reported happily: "Sir, there is a complete corridor below. One side leads to behind the statues in the building, and the other side is a secret chamber deeper inside.

However, these secret chambers have extremely thick stone doors, and the mechanism to open the doors has not been found yet."

In order not to reveal their identities, the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of this operation ordered all operation personnel to call him and the deputy commander sent by the royal family "Sir," instead of any specific rank or name.

The Lieutenant Colonel nodded and did not care about the stone doors of the secret chambers.

If there really was no other good way to open the stone doors, they could also choose to use blasting.

Although there were no electric drills in this era, hand-cranked drills could also play the role of electric drills, but it would take more time.

Just drill a deep hole in the stone door and install micro-explosives in the hole, and a stone door several tens of centimeters thick could be easily blown up.

Considering that the treasure was very likely buried underground and there were likely a large number of stone doors in the underground secret chambers, the operation personnel had brought enough hand-cranked drills and micro-explosives before the operation.

After confirming that there was enough oxygen below the stairs, the Lieutenant Colonel took a portion of the personnel down the stairs to find a way to open the stone doors.

Walking along the pitch-black passage for a while, they discovered several secret chambers blocked by stone doors along the way.

"There are a total of 6 secret chambers; if they are all the so-called temple treasure, I am afraid our operation this time can be successfully completed." The Lieutenant Colonel smiled and nodded, very satisfied with the number of secret chambers below.

The good news was that the stone doors of these six secret chambers had mechanisms. Perhaps the Indians never considered that such a secret chamber would be found by others; the switch for the stone door was next to the stone door, and although it was not conspicuous, it was not hidden either.

The two soldiers who went down to scout the situation might have been excited and did not find the switch next to the stone door, but such a switch could not escape the eyes of the main force.

Returning to the entrance of the first secret chamber, after gently pressing the stone door switch, they only heard a click, and then there was no other reaction.

The Lieutenant Colonel was stunned and tried to push the stone door, only to be surprised to find that the stone door could already be pushed.

Everyone immediately stepped forward and slowly pushed the stone door open. Under the illumination of the torches, the gold in the secret chamber shone with a golden color, illuminating everyone's eyes.

"Gold, it's gold!" All the operation personnel were immediately excited, staring blankly at the mountain of gold and gold products in front of them.

The Lieutenant Colonel in charge of command stepped forward quickly, picked up an ordinary gold ornament on the mountain of gold, and after carefully identifying it, nodded and said: "It should be real gold; this is really a huge fortune."

Looking around, besides the very conspicuous mountain of gold in the middle of the secret chamber, there was also a gold-cast elephant over a meter high on the left, and a large number of gold and silver coins from different periods and several gold crowns inlaid with diamonds piled up on the right.

In other corners, there were countless jewelry ornaments and other metals; all kinds of gold and silver finished products were dazzling, as if they were in a kingdom of gold and silver.

"Good heavens! Just how wealthy are these Indians? It's simply unimaginable. If we could control India as a colony, we would surely be able to build a navy like the Royal Navy." Seeing the countless gold and silver treasures before them, the Lieutenant Colonel couldn't help but exclaim.

The reason Spain had never developed its navy was precisely because of its insufficient financial resources. After losing its colonies in Nanmeizhou, Spain was already struggling just to maintain the size of its existing military, let alone build new ironclad warships every year.

It was also because of this lack of funding that, in the nearly five years since the revolution broke out in 1868, Spain had not built a single ironclad warship.

Yet, facing this mountain of gold before him, what the Lieutenant Colonel saw in his eyes was not just endless wealth, but one magnificent Spanish warship after another.

"Be quick with your hands and feet; don't let a single gold or silver artifact slip by. The more wealth we move out of here today, the more military funding the government will be able to invest in the army tomorrow."

"Also, I don't want anyone to have sticky fingers. Once we transport all these things back to the country, we will naturally receive generous rewards."

"But if anyone thinks they deserve a share of these things for themselves, then don't blame me for being impolite when the time comes."

What lay before them was a genuine mountain of gold and silver; even for soldiers loyal to Spain, there was no absolute guarantee that their hands would remain clean.

To be on the safe side, the soldiers organized by the government and the intelligence personnel sent by the royal family would work in mixed teams to ensure they would not secretly hoard anything from each other.

After all, it was not a large place, and with hundreds of people supervising one another, it could be ensured that the vast majority of these treasures would be safely transported back to Spain.

Even if someone managed to hide a little, they wouldn't be able to hide much. Yu Kaluo and Prime Minister Primo did not intend to investigate deeply, unless someone's greed was too great.

5300-word two-in-one chapter, please support!

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(End of this chapter)