Chapter 152: The Value of Treasure and the Great National Integration

"Your Majesty, Mr. Prime Minister, after our four-day count, we have finally determined the full contents of this treasure."

"Gold and finished gold products alone approach 80 tons, along with nearly 3 tons of various precious gems and precious metals, over 500 kilograms of diamonds, and other valuables."

"According to our conservative estimates, calculating only the value of the items themselves and excluding the added value of antiques, the total value of this treasure has reached as high as 900 million pesetas."

"However, it is a pity that only the gold, finished gold products, various gems, pearls, and diamonds can be sold directly. The value of these immediately liquid assets is approximately 620 million pesetas, while nearly 280 million pesetas worth of items will require more time to sell," Royal Steward Luo Lun reported the statistical results of the treasure to Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo with a respectful expression.

Upon hearing that the total value of the treasure exceeded 900 million pesetas, the expressions of both Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo changed quite significantly.

While Prime Minister Primo felt joy and excitement, he was also filled with admiration for Gao Da, who had provided the intelligence.

Although the value of this treasure was high, more importantly, it was Gao Da who provided the clues that gave the Spanish government the opportunity to obtain it.

If not for those clues, this treasure would have remained buried underground, only to be discovered by the British colonial government or the Indians years later.

As things stand, although the government can only receive half of the treasure, it still amounts to nearly 450 million pesetas in value, which is close to the government's total annual fiscal revenue.

This money is even more important to the Spanish government than the 500 million franc loan from the French government; after all, the French loan carries interest, while this treasure requires no interest and does not even need to be repaid.

The only regret is that because many of the finished gold products bear relatively obvious Hindu symbols, they must be forced into being remelted.

This will destroy the value of many finished gold products, turning them from antiques hundreds of years old into ordinary gold products.

But there is no other way. If these gold products with conspicuous Hindu symbols were to flow into Spain or other markets, they would certainly attract the attention of the British.

After all, outside of India, Hinduism is not very popular. Gold products with Hindu symbols would most likely come from India itself, and after the temple was robbed, the British would certainly pay closer attention to the circulation of gold and jewelry in markets around the world.

Since the value of the temple treasure has been roughly determined, the next most important matter is naturally the distribution between the government and the royal family.

Gao Da was also very excited; according to the agreement made with Prime Minister Primo, the royal family could receive half of the treasure, which is about 450 million pesetas worth of assets.

The total value of all the enterprises currently in Gao Da's hands barely exceeds 100 million, which means that just by digging up this treasure, Gao Da has multiplied his personal wealth several times over.

"Prime Minister Primo, since there is a large quantity of pearls, gems, and diamonds in this treasure, how about we allocate those items that do not have Hindu symbols to the royal family?"

"The royal family can take less in terms of gold and finished gold products, which would be beneficial for both the royal family and the government," Gao Da suggested.

For the government, the gold and finished gold products in this treasure are clearly more important. Those gems, pearls, and diamonds, which look priceless, are of little use to the government.

It would be better to allocate these items to the royal family as much as possible; firstly, to increase the royal family's treasure storage, and secondly, to allocate more gold to the government, thereby expanding the Spanish government's gold reserves.

"Of course," Prime Minister Primo nodded, showing no intention of refusing.

He also knew that by doing this, Gao Da was yielding more gold reserves to the government; strictly speaking, the government was profiting.

After a simple distribution by Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo, the final proportions of gold and jewelry for the royal family and the government were successfully determined.

Out of the more than 80 tons of gold and finished gold products, the government received a full 50 tons of gold to increase its gold reserves.

Although the royal family received just over 30 tons of gold, the good news is that out of the total of more than 3. tons of gems, pearls, diamonds, and other valuables, the royal family received a full 3 tons.

The 0. tons received by the government is because these items bear relatively obvious Hindu symbols and are difficult to sell for the time being. The royal family and the government will split these items with Hindu symbols fifty-fifty, waiting for a suitable opportunity in the future to sell them off slowly.

Although it is said to be a fifty-fifty split, the specific allocation could not possibly be detailed down to the unit of a peseta.

Overall, the government got a slightly better deal, but in reality, it was not by much. The total value of this treasure is about 930 million pesetas, and the total value of the assets obtained by the government reached 480 million pesetas.

The royal family received a little less, but still 450 million pesetas, which already satisfied Gao Da's expectations for this treasure-hunting operation.

On the day the specific asset distribution was finalized, Prime Minister Primo sent people to quietly transfer the government's assets to a more secure warehouse.

All gold with obvious Hindu symbols was remelted, and all gold without obvious symbols entered the warehouse as the government's gold reserves.

With this new batch of gold reserves, Spain's Currency Issuance Committee could also prepare to issue new currency.

This is another new gain for the government and the royal family, as there are only two banks in Spain that can legally issue currency: the government-controlled National Bank and the royal-controlled Royal Union Bank.

In fact, if you calculate it this way, Gao Da is the one who profits more. After all, the government does not have shares in the Royal Union Bank, but Gao Da does have shares in the National Bank.

To ensure the stability of Spain's currency, the newly issued currency will certainly not flow into the market rapidly, but will be put into use in batches.

After a brief discussion by the Currency Issuance Committee, it was decided to issue a total of 500 million pesetas of additional currency over the next three years, with 100 million pesetas issued in 1873, and 200 million pesetas each in 1874 and 1875.

If the economic crisis occurs this year, then the next three years will certainly be the time when the impact of the economic crisis is most severe.

The purpose of increasing the issuance of pesetas over these three years is actually very simple: to let Spain catch up while other countries in the world are suffering from the economic crisis, and to narrow the gap with the European powers as much as possible.

When other European powers gradually emerge from the impact of the economic crisis, they will be surprised to find that Spain's industry and economy have grown significantly, and are even approaching the level of the great powers again.

While the government is planning its development for the next three years, Gao Da is also taking stock of the assets the royal family obtained in this treasure-hunting plan and, together with Steward Luo Lun, is formulating more detailed plans for the future development of royal enterprises.

Of the approximately 450 million pesetas in assets obtained by the royal family, less than 300 million pesetas can be easily sold. The remaining 150 million pesetas in assets will need to wait for more suitable opportunities to be sold, and may even have to remain in their hands for the next few years.

However, this does not matter. With as much as 300 million pesetas in liquid assets, it can ensure the future development of royal enterprises, and there will be no shortage of funds at all.

Among all current royal enterprises, the largest in scale is the Royal Union Bank, which has dozens of branches.

The Royal Union Bank currently has over 30 bank branches, and its total number of users has exceeded 400, 00. Currently, the total savings of the Royal Union Bank have officially exceeded 100 million, and it can bring the royal family at least 10 million pesetas in net income every year.

Yes, banking is that profitable. Just by taking these hundreds of millions of pesetas and investing them in industry, the annual income earned is already as high as tens of millions of pesetas.

Not to mention that the bank also handles loans and other businesses, with an annual total income even approaching 20 million pesetas. However, after deducting various other expenses, the net profit has dropped to about 10 million pesetas.

The Royal Union Bank is also the enterprise with the highest annual profit among all the enterprises in which Gao Da holds shares. The National Bank of Spain is second only to the Royal Union Bank, with annual revenue also exceeding 10 million pesetas.

However, after deducting various expenses, the National Bank's profit is only a little over 3 million pesetas. Gao Da's 45% stake earns him 1. million pesetas in income, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the Royal Union Bank.

This is also unavoidable. Compared to the Royal Union Bank, which was established by the royal family and the nobility, the internal affairs of the National Bank are clearly more complex.

Fortunately, Gao Da does not need to worry about the operation of the National Bank; he only needs to wait for the National Bank to finish its annual income and expenditure report and quietly wait for the dividends.

Compared to the two major banks, the income of the various factories is lower. After all, factories do not have branches all over the country like banks; basically, all factories are calculated individually.

But if all the factories are added together, the income is also a figure that cannot be ignored. The total income of all factory enterprises currently controlled by the royal family is actually higher than the income Gao Da receives from the National Bank.

In 1872, the total income of all royal enterprises and factories combined was nearly 20 million pesetas, of which the Royal Union Bank contributed more than 51%, the National Bank contributed 7%, and all factories combined contributed nearly 32%. The remaining less than 10% of income was obtained from various newspapers and the rental of royal land.

The income ratio of royal industries actually proves the eternal truth of this era: the financial industry and real industry are always the most profitable.

Of course, another big reason is that the royal family does not hold much land. Even though they have purchased a lot of land from the nobility and the church, the land owned by the royal family still does not rank high among the various nobles.

However, Gao Da does not care about how much land the royal family has. After all, farming is not very profitable in this era; what is truly profitable is running factories and opening banks.

Because this treasure hunt brought huge gains, Gao Da will not be stingy at all regarding the development of royal enterprises.

After discussing with Steward Luo Lun, Gao Da decided to take out 100 million pesetas in funds to promote the development of royal enterprises.

Considering that it is difficult for the Royal Union Bank to have a large degree of expansion in the future, Gao Da focused his support on the industrial sector.

The supported enterprises are mainly of three types: heavy industry, chemical industry, and military industry.

Military industry goes without saying. Currently, Gao Da has two major military enterprises: the Royal Military Factory and the Royal Guanizo Shipyard.

With sufficient funds, Gao Da's ambition began to grow. Regarding the future development of the Spanish Navy, Gao Da issued a new order to the Royal Guanizo Shipyard: to use the full strength of the shipyard to design the world's most advanced ironclad warship, with higher speed, greater firepower, and stronger armor protection.

After the impact of this economic crisis ends, it will be about time for Spain to develop its navy. According to the current construction costs of ironclad warships in countries around the world, it will cost Spain at least 10 million pesetas to build each ironclad warship.

Coupled with the training of naval soldiers on the warships and the specific training of naval soldiers after the warships are launched, each warship requires at least 15 million pesetas in funds to form combat capability.

Considering that more than half of Spain's existing naval scale consists of sailing warships from decades ago and ironclad warships that are already behind the times, if Spain wants to stabilize its navy as the world's fifth largest, behind Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, it must invest more funds in the Spanish Navy in the future.

Fortunately, the government is truly wealthy after this treasure hunt. Although Gao Da and Prime Minister Primo have not discussed it in detail, it is certain that Spain will develop its navy in the future.

According to Spain's current speed of development, when the Royal Guanizo Shipyard designs a reasonable and powerful warship, it may be the time for Spain to start building ironclad warships again and stabilize its position as the world's fifth-largest naval power.

Whether Spain is a great power is not important. As long as Spain can completely stabilize its position as the world's fifth-largest naval power, the Spanish government can proudly declare that Spain is still a powerful European nation, and no country will express opposition.

The rewards for all personnel involved in the treasure hunt are actually provided by funds from both the government and the royal family.

Gao Da had also considered granting titles to the two commanders of this operation and several personnel who made significant contributions during the operation.

But considering the need for strict confidentiality for this operation, he eventually gave up. However, when Spain conducts large-scale conferrals of titles in the future, they will still be awarded corresponding titles according to their contributions in the operation.

It is just that they will have to be wronged for a period of time, which is also the reason why Gao Da increased the rewards for everyone.

Although the rewards given to these people approached half a ton of gold, because the money was provided jointly by the government and the royal family, the royal family's actual expenditure was less than 500, 00 pesetas.

Of course, the costs of this treasure-hunting operation were not just the rewards for the personnel, but also the transportation costs of the treasure, as well as the costs of disguises and equipment for all personnel.

Adding up all the various expenses, even if only the royal family's portion is counted, it still reached over a million pesetas.

But an expenditure of over a million pesetas is clearly not worth mentioning compared to the income of 450 million pesetas.

The changes brought to the royal family by this batch of treasure are not significant, merely expanding the investment in royal enterprises. But for the government, the effect brought by this treasure is extremely obvious.

The previously mentioned expansion of the Spanish military can now be carried out on a large scale now that they have money. Considering that the Royal Military Factory is unlikely to meet the weapon production requirements for Spain's large-scale military expansion, after comprehensive consideration, the Spanish defense department decided to purchase a batch of cannons from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to reduce the production pressure on the Royal Military Factory.

Rifles still have to be produced by the Royal Military Factory itself; after all, the Italian Vitali rifle is not the same as the Spanish Vitali rifle.

For the convenience of the Spanish army's logistics and supply, it is more cost-effective to use the same type of rifle across the board.

To accelerate the development of Spain's military industry, the Spanish government also decided to organize a group of military technology students to study in countries with relatively advanced military technology, led by Britain and Germany.

When these students complete their studies and return to Spain, they will be able to play a more critical role in the development of Spain's military industry and solve the problem of the shortage of talent in Spain's military industry.

The reason for sending students in this field is also because most of the military talent from the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been divided up by the Royal Military Factory.

This is also unavoidable; for the sake of Spain's military development, it is necessary to foster a large military enterprise as a representative of Spain's military industry.

But doing so is not a good thing for those small-scale military enterprises. To improve the overall development level of the military industry, it is very necessary to send students to other countries to improve their capabilities in the military field.

While formulating future development plans, Prime Minister Primo is also considering how to rapidly promote the great integration of the Spanish nation.

Undoubtedly, this economic crisis is an opportunity for Spain to accelerate national integration.

When the economic crisis breaks out, countries around the world will be too busy to look elsewhere, which is also the best time for Spain to settle internal affairs.

How to promote the great integration of the Spanish nation? In a conversation between Prime Minister Primo and Gao Da, three plans were actually determined.

The first plan is the most moderate, which is to promote the use of the Spanish language in Catalonia and the Basque region through subtle influence, and to build a large number of factories in these areas to promote economic exchanges between the Spanish, Catalans, and Basques.

Judging from the results achieved so far, the first plan may be effective, but the progress is very slow.

If one were to rely entirely on the first plan to promote the great integration of the Spanish nation, it would take at least several decades to unify the small Catalan and Basque populations.

Prime Minister Primo pondered for a long time and finally decided to adopt the more forceful second plan when the economic crisis arrives, to truly promote the integration between the Catalans, Basques, and the Spanish.

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(End of this chapter)