Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 147 Cooperation in Treasure Hunting
As a former colonial empire, Spain actually had a lot of gold reserves. However, due to the weakening of its national strength, and the fact that a large amount of wealth belonged to the former royal Bourbon family, the Bourbon family fled north to France and took away a large amount of gold and other property.

Currently, the gold reserves under the control of the Spanish government are less than 200 tons, and the gold reserves in Carlo's hands are even less, which together do not even add up to ten tons.

There is no way. In the era of the gold standard, gold is too unimportant to countries.

If you have gold, you can print money, but the ratio between gold and money cannot be a fixed 1:1.

Even in some countries with large gold reserves, the ratio of gold to currency actually printed is as high as 1 to 10 or more.

What does this mean? With 1 million pounds worth of gold in hand, the amount of paper money printed and issued to the public may be as high as more than 10 billion pounds.

However, printing money cannot be done recklessly. First, we have to worry about currency depreciation and inflation caused by a large amount of money flowing into the market. Secondly, we have to worry that too frequent gold exchanges will lead to a significant reduction in domestic gold reserves, thereby triggering a currency crisis where there is no gold to exchange.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the amount of money issued is also related to the credibility of the currency. And gold reserves are a major factor that can support the credibility of the currency, and it is also one of the most important ways.

The currency itself does not have value, but it has real value after being linked to gold. Without gold, the currency is actually a piece of waste paper and cannot be circulated in the market.

As the only two legal currency issuing banks in Spain, the Royal United Bank and the Spanish National Bank have also accumulated a certain amount of gold reserves during the currency issuance process over the past few years.

But the gold reserves accumulated by the two major banks combined are only a little over ten tons. Although it is a considerable amount of gold reserves for the banks themselves, for Spain, a dozen tons of gold is just a drop in the bucket.

The Spanish government's gold reserves may be able to cope with this economic crisis, but who would complain about having too little gold?

Every extra ton of gold in hand could create millions of pounds, or more than 3000 million pesetas in value.

Whether it is the Spanish government or the two major official banks, the more gold reserves they have, the better.

Where can we get enough gold reserves to cope with this economic crisis?
Carlo thought of many ways, but most of them were not very reliable, at least basically impossible for Spain.

For example, salvaging treasure from sunken ships. During the Spanish colonial period in America, many ships carrying treasures sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

Although the amount of money transported on a single ship is not too much, the sum of all the sunken ships is probably a considerable fortune.

But the problem is that the location of these shipwrecks is not completely unchanged. In addition, due to the current salvage technology, even if the location of these shipwrecks can be found in the end, it is not certain that they can be salvaged.

Moreover, the Atlantic Ocean is so vast that it is extremely difficult to find the location of the shipwreck. Current technology is not suitable for salvaging shipwrecks, otherwise countries with more powerful technology such as Britain and France would have done it long ago.

In addition to salvaging sunken ships, another more reliable way is to explore and mine gold. But this takes a long time, and the existing gold mines that have been discovered are basically owned by someone, and it takes too long to explore gold mines in other places.

Carlo did know that there were large gold mines in many places, but the question was, how could he ensure that other powers would not interfere and that Spain would have exclusive control over the gold mine?

What's more, even if Carlo pointed out the existence of gold mines in a certain area, it would still require a mineral exploration team to find out the location of the gold mine and mine large amounts of gold ore to extract gold.

Such a long period of time obviously cannot keep up with the pace of the economic crisis, and it is not a suitable solution for Spain at present.

After much deliberation, Carlo finally set his sights on the Indians. India has the second largest population in the world and also has a large number of unknown treasures.

Carlo was also aware of the various Indian temple treasures that were rumored in later generations. There was even more than one Indian temple treasure. The largest temple treasure contained countless wealth, and the smaller treasures also contained a lot of gold and silver. Taking any one of them would give him a lot of gold reserves.

But the current problem is that India is British territory, and the relationship between the British and Spain is not so good.

Moreover, the excavation of temple treasures in India requires full confidentiality throughout the process. With the power Carlo currently has, it is difficult to perfect the entire plan. After all, this requires sending people to India to excavate treasures, and hiding it from the entire Indian colonial government and the British government, and transporting the excavated treasures from India to Spain.

But it would be a pity to give up the treasures of the Indian temple in vain.

Although the historical temple treasures may not be discovered until more than 100 years later, who can be sure that nothing will change?
After all, the course of the Franco-Prussian War had been changed, and Carlo had no way of being sure whether future events would be changed.

Since it is uncertain, the sooner the temple treasure is obtained, the better. Whether this valuable treasure is left to the British or future Indians, it is not worthwhile for Spain and Carlo.

Now is a relatively good opportunity. The market changes before the outbreak of the economic crisis will definitely attract the attention of the British government. This is also the best 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 people for large-scale operations.

After careful consideration, Carlo finally decided to cooperate with Prime Minister Primo and obtain the treasure through the power of the Spanish government.

Of course, if they cooperated with the Spanish government, a portion of the treasure would definitely be given to the Spanish government. Even if Prime Minister Primo was more powerful, the Spanish government would get the lion's share, and Carlo would only get a small share.

But there was nothing that could be done about it. After all, the power of the royal family was too weak at that time. Although those nobles had a certain influence, the matter of the temple treasure was of great importance and could not rely entirely on those old-fashioned nobles.

Needless to say, the new aristocrats all had power from the royal family. Carlo was not able to conceal the Indian colonial government and the British government from digging for treasure, let alone these new aristocrats who had no power at all.

Although the Spanish government would have to give the government a large share of the profits if he cooperated with it, the good news was that the Spanish government did have enough power. Besides, there was more than one temple treasure in India. As long as he could get more gold and other valuable treasures from a few more treasures, Carlo would still get a lot of benefits in the end.

Moreover, for Carlo, it would be beneficial for the Spanish government to get these treasures. Although Spain's development was relatively smooth, all this was based on loans from the Italian and Austro-Hungarian governments.

Including France, the loan provided by France to Spain was as high as 5 million francs, and the interest alone would require repayment of 1 million francs.

The Spanish government is still under great financial pressure. If it can obtain a batch of temple treasures to expand its gold and financial reserves, it will undoubtedly alleviate a large part of the financial pressure, increase investment in development and construction, and achieve better results.

Now that the cooperation with the government has been confirmed, the next thing will be easy. Carlo only needs to confirm the relevant plan with Prime Minister Primo, and leave the specific actions to the government. At most, the Royal Security Intelligence Agency can provide assistance.

January 1873, 1, inside the Royal Palace of Madrid.

"Your Majesty, what's the matter that requires you to summon me here so urgently?" Prime Minister Primo hurried over, with a hint of curiosity and confusion in his eyes.

Carlo had never summoned him so urgently and mysteriously since he ascended the throne. This made Prime Minister Primo a little curious, so he hurried over without thinking too much.

“Prime Minister Primo, my men have discovered a mysterious treasure outside of Europe, which may contain a large amount of gold, silver, and other priceless treasures.

But you know, the royal family doesn't have many people to retrieve these treasures. I don't know if the government is interested. If possible, I am willing to give 30% of the treasure to the government as a reward for the government's participation in this operation. "Carlo went straight to the point and put forward his proposal.

However, Carlo did not tell the truth about the more private agencies such as the Royal Security Intelligence Service, but simply summarized it with his hands.

"Is there a priceless treasure outside of Europe?" Prime Minister Primo was a little confused. It didn't sound so reliable.

"Your Majesty, where did you hear this news? Please forgive me, but if our actions ultimately do not yield any results, I'm afraid it will be difficult to report to the government." Prime Minister Primo pondered for a few minutes and raised his question.

Although Carlo is the King of Spain, the Spanish government obviously will not take any actual action just because of Carlo's words.

The risks and benefits involved are all things that Prime Minister Primo needs to consider. Unless the government is sure that it can gain actual benefits, the Spanish government will not travel thousands of miles outside of Europe to look for the so-called treasure just because of Carlo's words.

“There is nothing much to say about the source of the intelligence, but what is certain is that the intelligence is very likely to be true. Even if the intelligence is not true, the royal family is willing to bear all the expenses of this operation.

If the intelligence is true, the specific cost of this operation will be deducted from the share of the treasure. Prime Minister Primo, I hope you can seriously consider my opinion. This is a treasure that cannot be missed. It is a huge fortune for the royal family and the government. "Carlo will not be stupid enough to reveal all the details of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau he established.

Although the Royal Security Intelligence Service may not be able to hide the truth from Prime Minister Primo, he certainly will not be too aware of the current developments of the Royal Security Intelligence Service.

As the king of Spain, it was natural for Carlo to build his own power. Unless Prime Minister Primo wanted to break up with Carlo, he would not ask too much about the Royal Security Intelligence Agency.

The facts turned out to be just as Carlo had expected.

After hearing Carlo say that the source of the intelligence could not be disclosed, Prime Minister Primo immediately linked this intelligence to the intelligence agency that Carlo was rumored to have established.

Prime Minister Primo did not have much objection to the intelligence agency established by Carlo. After all, the government could not stop the king's actions. Although Carlo did not have much power, the king of Spain was not an empty shell.

If they push things too far, it will be bad for both Prime Minister Primo and Carlo. Maintaining the current balance is the most appropriate option, which will neither delay Prime Minister Primo's reforms of the government and Spain, nor will it delay Carlo's own power layout.

Prime Minister Primo and Carlo are naturally aware of the current situation of the Spanish government. Prime Minister Primo is now the one who has the final say in the Spanish government, and Carlo's influence is far less than that of Prime Minister Primo.

But such power will have to be returned to Carlo in the future. Before completing their respective plans, neither Carlo nor Prime Minister Primo is willing to damage their relationship with each other.

Since Carlo was willing to bear the cost of the operation, Prime Minister Primo naturally had nothing to say. Even if there was no so-called treasure, at most it could be regarded as a joke between the government and the young king.

The king does not make many proposals every year, so it is naturally impossible for Prime Minister Primo to reject the king's opinions too frequently.

What's more, such a proposal would not cause much loss to the government. It would only require selecting some reliable personnel from the military to cooperate with the king in carrying out an operation.

“If that’s the case, then there’s no problem. But Your Majesty, according to the plan you mentioned, the government will be the actual person in charge of this operation.

If the share of the treasure is too small, the government will gain nothing. I suggest changing the ratio to 50-50, which is fair for both the royal family and the government. "Primo Prime Minister continued:

The government is willing to cooperate with your Majesty the King. If there is such a treasure, no matter which country it is in, we can bring it back to Spain. "

Of course, Carlo also knew that a 30-70 split was impossible, and Prime Minister Primo would never agree to a 30% distribution.

The reason for proposing a 30-70 split is actually to achieve the goal of a 50-50 split. If a 50-50 split was proposed at the beginning, there is a high probability that Prime Minister Primo will continue to push down the ratio, and the share that the royal family can get will be even lower.

This is like negotiating a business deal, starting with a high price and then slowly lowering it. Prime Minister Primo certainly knew that the 70%-30% split was not Carlo's bottom line, and his meaning was very clear: the government could cooperate with Carlo's actions, but the split must be a fair number.

A fifty-fifty split was completely acceptable to Carlo. The treasures of the Indian temples were said to be worth tens of billions, hundreds of billions, or even trillions.

Although Carlo was not sure about the exact share of the Indian temple treasure, the royal family's half share would definitely not be less.

Currently, the total assets of the royal family only add up to tens of millions of pesetas. If this treasure is obtained, it may be possible to directly multiply the royal family's assets several times.

What's wrong with getting this kind of treasure for free? The share the Spanish government gets will be used to develop the whole of Spain. The stronger Spain is, the more benefits Carlo will get.

Carlo pretended to be very hesitant, but finally nodded and said with some pain, "Then let's split it 50-50, Prime Minister Prim.

But I hope there will be no changes, the royal family will accept at least a 50-50 split, and I hope our cooperation will be pleasant.”

"Of course, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Primo was quite satisfied with the 50% share. He smiled and nodded, and assured Carlo, "Our cooperation will be very pleasant. I hope to see the treasure soon. I can't wait."

(End of this chapter)