Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 194: Chapter 147: Golden Mountain (Part 3)

When they investigated the temple, the operatives had already excavated the treasure and made their escape.

Dong Dong Dong!

Suddenly, an intelligence officer noticed something was amiss. Almost all the surrounding floor tiles were solid, except for this one, which sounded hollow when tapped.

“Possibly here!” The intelligence officer whispered, indicating he had found a clue.

The crowd immediately gathered, all eyes turning to the tile the voice had pointed out.

Dong Dong Dong!

The hollow-sounding tile caught everyone’s attention. The Major in charge gave his order: “Pry it open! The treasure is likely below this tile.”

With combined efforts, the tile was quickly pried open.

Beneath the tile was not dirt, but a pitch-black staircase leading further down.

“Treasure! It’s really treasure!” Everyone was delighted, realizing the treasure was very likely buried below.

Underground, there are generally only two kinds of things buried: corpses or treasure. If it were a tomb, there wouldn’t be guards here.

Though the entrance to the treasure had been found, the Major did not hurry to give orders. Instead, he threw down two torches first.

After waiting about a minute and finding the torches remained lit, he nodded and instructed, “Send two smaller soldiers down first to check out the situation.”

Following the order, two noticeably smaller soldiers descended the stairs with torches.

The further they went, the more the bright torchlight dimmed.

After an indefinite amount of time, they slowly approached the stairs again, wiping sweat from their faces, and excitedly reported, “Sir, below here is a complete corridor. One side leads to a statue inside the building, and the other to deeper secret rooms.

However, these secret rooms have very thick stone doors, and we have not yet found a way to open them.”

To remain anonymous, the Major in command instructed all operatives to refer to him and the deputy commander sent by the Royal Family as “Sir” rather than by specific titles or names.

The Major nodded, unconcerned about the stone doors of the secret rooms.

If there’s really no better way to open the stone doors, blasting them open is an option.

Although there are no electric drills in this era, hand drills can function similarly, albeit taking longer.

Simply drilling a deep hole into the stone door and placing a small explosive inside can easily demolish a stone door several centimeters thick.

Considering the treasure is likely buried underground and that the secret rooms below likely have many stone doors, the operatives carried enough hand drills and small explosives before the operation.

After confirming there was enough oxygen below the staircase, the Major led some men down the stairs to find a way to open the stone doors.

Walking along the dark passage for a while, several secret rooms blocked by stone doors were encountered.

“There are a total of 6 secret rooms. If all are filled with what is called the Temple Treasure, our mission could be successfully completed.” The Major nodded with a smile, very pleased with the number of secret rooms below.

The good news is, these secret rooms’ stone doors all have mechanisms. Perhaps the Indians never anticipated such hidden secret rooms would be discovered by others; the door switches are beside the stone doors, not conspicuous but not hidden either.

The two soldiers who scouted ahead might have missed the door switches due to excitement, but such switches don’t escape the eyes of the main force.

Returning to the first secret room entrance, a gentle press on the stone door switch resulted in a click, followed by no additional reaction.

The Major paused, attempting to push the stone door, surprised to find it movable.

The crowd quickly approached, slowly pushing the stone door open. Under the torchlight, the gold inside the secret room gleamed a golden hue, dazzling everyone’s eyes.

“Gold, it’s gold!” All operatives were immediately ecstatic, staring dazedly at the piled gold and gold artifacts.

The Major in command stepped forward, picking up a common gold ornament from the golden mountain, examined it closely, then nodded, saying, “It should be real gold, this truly is a fortune.”

Looking around, besides the prominent golden mountain in the center of the secret room, on the left stood a more than one-meter-high golden elephant, and on the right were stacks of gold and silver coins from various periods as well as several diamond-studded golden crowns.

In other corners, there were countless jewelry pieces and other metals. The array of gold and silver items dazzled, making one feel as though they were in a kingdom of gold and silver.

“My God! Just how wealthy are these Indians? It’s unimaginable. If we could control India as a colony, we could also build a navy like the Royal Fleet.” The Major spontaneously said, looking at the endless gold and silver treasures.

Spain has never developed a navy because of insufficient finances. After losing the American Colonies, Spain struggles just to maintain its current military size, let alone build new ironclad ships every year.

Because of the financial shortfall, since the revolution of 1868 almost 5 years ago, Spain hasn’t built a single ironclad ship.

Confronted with this golden mountain, the Major saw in his eyes not countless riches, but one impressive Spanish warship after another.

“Be quick, do not miss even a single gold and silver product. The more wealth we remove today, the more budget the government will allocate to the military tomorrow.

Also, I don’t want anyone being dishonest. Once we transport all this back home, we will naturally receive ample rewards.

But if anyone thinks they deserve a share, don’t blame me for being harsh.”

This is a real golden mountain and silver mountain, even the loyal soldiers of Spain cannot completely resist being tempted.

To avoid any accidents, soldiers organized by the government and intelligence officers sent by the Royal Family will collaborate, ensuring they don’t secretly stash anything.

In a relatively small place, with over a hundred people supervising each other, it can be ensured that most of this treasure will be safely transported back to Spain.

Even if someone manages to stash a few items, it will not be much. Carlo and Prime Minister Prim do not intend to investigate deeply unless someone’s greed is excessive.