Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 191: Chapter 146: Disguises and Deception (2)

In the colonial city of India, if an Indian dares to look at a Briton a few times, what awaits them might just be a beating, or they might even be beaten to death directly.

The British wouldn’t face any punishment for killing an Indian, but if an Indian dares to fight back, even their family might not escape British retaliation.

Under such circumstances, unless someone dares to stand up against British colonial rule, no one would pay attention to the actions of these foreigners, preferring to stay as far away as possible.

This situation, instead, facilitated the actions of those dispatched by the Spanish Government. With white skin and European faces, even if these Indians felt puzzled, they wouldn’t dare express the slightest dissatisfaction.

Of course, it could also be that the weapons in the hands of these operatives intimidated the Indians.

It was legal for foreigners in India to carry guns, but illegal for Indians. If these Europeans were dissatisfied with the Indians, they could gift a few bullets, and there would be no reasoning to be had.

So after seeing that these foreigners were of European appearance and carrying firearms, not a single Indian dared to approach foolishly.

“Scotty, is there really any Temple Treasure here?” One of the foreign-looking individuals was slightly doubtful, looking at the muddy road and the emaciated Indians, could hardly believe that astonishing wealth would be buried here.

“Who knows, Val.” The operative named Scotty shook his head with some helplessness, reminding: “But it’s an order, even if there isn’t any, we have to turn over every stone here.”

“Hopefully, we can find it. His Majesty the King has personally promised that if we find the Temple Treasure, everyone involved in the operation will receive rich rewards.”

Rewarding those who participated in the operation was a unanimous decision made by Carlo and Prime Minister Prim without much thought.

Excavating the Temple Treasure under British-controlled India ultimately needs to be kept confidential, as it would offend the British.

If discovered by the British, even if it didn’t lead to a war, there would still be considerable trouble.

The best way to keep it secret is to let everyone involved benefit, essentially buying them off. Although it can’t ensure that everyone will strictly keep quiet, as long as the majority of them keep their mouths shut, there’s no worry about the secret being exposed.

Moreover, those participating in the operation were carefully selected, with blabbermouths who like to brag already eliminated in the first round.

These operatives were either soldiers chosen by Prime Minister Prim, loyal to Spain, or intelligence personnel strictly trained by the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau.

The likelihood of these people leaking information is minimal, and even if someone ultimately leaks the secret, Spain can staunchly deny it, as long as not too many people leak it, it won’t cause too much of an impact.

Although those involved in the operation were puzzled about coming all the way to India to look for the so-called Temple Treasure, they weren’t too dissatisfied.

After all, they were either soldiers or intelligence agents, naturally understanding the necessity of obeying orders.

“How can there be so many so-called temples in this damn place? We’ve already searched more than a dozen temples in the past few days, none of them big enough to house a treasure.” Val continued: ”

The intel these Indians provided, is it reliable or not? We’re looking for a temple, not a dilapidated shrine about to collapse.”

“Let’s wait until we’ve searched the last few.” Scotty shook his head, unconcerned: “I hope these Indians are telling the truth, otherwise I wouldn’t mind killing a few to vent.”

Just a few days ago, the two had obtained a map from local Indian villagers. As for how they obtained it, of course, it was through purchase.

After all, the entire operation needed to be completely secretive, random killings might attract the attention of local natives and subsequently the Indian Colonial Government.

Each year, many tourists come to India, and many are interested in these local culturally-rich places.

Their request didn’t arouse the Indian’s suspicion, especially after they took out a buying fee of 1 Pound.

Pound isn’t a particularly large amount in Europe, but locally in India, it’s quite a bit. These Indian natives might not earn 1 Pound from a year of hard work, so when faced with such a huge sum, they eagerly detailed all nearby temples, large and small, regardless of their age.

There were many teams like Scotty and Val’s, all disguised as different identities.

There were new immigrants to India, mining exploration personnel of European mining companies, employees of trading companies, tourists visiting from afar in Europe, and European nobles hunting, among others.

Regardless of their identity, the Indians did not dare suspect them, nor did they have the right to.

After all, there was an extremely strict caste system on this land, and the British rulers of India, as white people, were placed above the four major castes.

No matter how bizarre this caste system seemed, it facilitated Spanish operations. As white people from Europe, in the areas of the Indian Princely States, no one dared to provoke them.

After several days of investigation, the scattered teams finally targeted a larger local temple, the Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

“If there’s really a so-called Temple Treasure, I think it might very well be hidden in the so-called Padmanabhaswamy Temple.” Scotty said to Val.

“Damn, that’s not good news.” Val was somewhat troubled because the Padmanabhaswamy Temple is located between several Indian indigenous cities, where believers come to worship daily.

This was not like the small temples investigated before, which only had sparse believers from nearby villages. If the treasure really were at the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, stealing it unnoticed would be more challenging than anticipated.

“Let’s rendezvous with the main force first. We must develop a highly detailed action plan to ensure the British don’t find out.” Val pondered for a long time before finally deciding to discuss the action plan after reuniting with the main force.

Before setting off, Carlo and Prime Minister Prim had both repeatedly emphasized the importance of secrecy.

Getting discovered by the British was no big deal, only necessarily having to share with them. But that’s precisely what Spain couldn’t bear because, based on the power comparison between Spain and the British, the lion’s share would certainly go to the British.

Moreover, the Temple Treasure is originally on British-controlled Indian colonial land, if it’s discovered before it’s shipped back to Spain, the British might monopolize the treasure.

With wealth of such significance, the British Government won’t be polite to Spain. Unless it can be safely transported back home and proper arrangements are made thereafter, as long as the British don’t have too much evidence, there’s no need to fear British retaliation.

When the main forces arrived at the so-called Padmanabhaswamy Temple, everyone realized that the investigations over the past few days had been in vain.

If there’s any treasure, it’s definitely in the so-called Padmanabhaswamy Temple. The temple is larger than all the previously investigated ones and even unusually has its own guard force.

If there’s nothing unusual in this temple, that’d be odd, the current biggest problem also shifted from investigating where the temple was to how to steal the treasure from this temple.

The person responsible for leading this operation was a Major from the military, one of Prime Minister Prim’s trusted aides. Royal Security Intelligence Bureau Chief Kadir disguised as one of Carlo’s Guard Officers, acting as deputy commander for this operation.

After the two met and had a brief discussion, they decided to send a few agile individuals to sneak into the temple under the cover of night, first to investigate the temple’s interior structure and potentially treasure-containing buildings.

Since the operation has to be secret, it naturally has to be once and for all. If the burial site of the treasure can be confirmed, the next step is simple.

But if the burial site of the treasure can’t be confirmed, the subsequent operation becomes considerably difficult. To excavate the treasure would certainly involve eliminating these temple guards, and even eliminating everyone inside the temple.

This also means the operation time won’t be long; it must be completed before the local colonial government reacts and transports all the treasures out.