Battlefield Priest's Diary

Chapter 81 Gold and Ravens

The Winter Palace, construction of which began in 1754 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and was fully completed during the reign of Catherine II, became yet another shining artistic symbol in the record of this monarch who swept across Europe.

It cost 2.5 million rubles to build and employed 4000 serfs. The overall construction cost was three times that of the Palace of Versailles.

In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II signed the General Mobilization Order here, and the Winter Palace became the nominal headquarters.

On a snowy morning, a completely black carriage, escorted by soldiers, slowly made its way through the square towards the political center of Russia.

Qin Hao leaned back in the soft carriage seat, opened a corner of the window, and surveyed the magnificent architectural complex before him.

He has been here, or more accurately, he has been here in another world.

He was probably 14 or 5 years old when he and his family visited this place. At that time, it was already part of the "Six Palaces" complex of the Russian State Museum, and only some areas were open to tourists.

At his age, he wasn't really interested in these "old relics," and of the stories the tour guide kept telling him, he probably only remembered two of them.

First, there's Catherine the Great, for a simple reason: she was a formidable woman.

Secondly, there's the famous "mystery of the underground vault" in the Winter Palace. The reason is even simpler: the main subject of the story is a large amount of gold.

He remembered the tour guide saying that during World War I, the Winter Palace's basement stored a total of about 1500 tons of gold.

It contained a large number of gold bars, gold coins, and other royal jewels.

The vault's main entrance was a hydraulically sealed alloy door designed by the German company Krupp, and it was equipped with 3-meter-thick granite walls, which were heavily guarded by the Tsar's Guard.

However, after the Provisional Revolutionary Government took over the Winter Palace in February 1917, a period of administrative vacuum occurred, during which records show that more than 600 tons of gold were transferred to Kazan.

Based on this calculation, there should be at least 800 tons of gold in the Winter Palace's basement.

However, after the October Revolution and the Bolsheviks occupied the Winter Palace, soldiers reported that the underground had been completely looted.

From 800 tons of gold, it all turned into nothing!
The Bolsheviks spent a great deal of effort investigating the matter, but ultimately came up empty-handed. The failure to obtain the gold reserves left the newly formed Soviet treasury depleted, indirectly forcing the regime to sell a large number of artworks to obtain essential supplies.

There have been some speculations about the reasons for the disappearance of the gold.

First, some people believe that the guards stole the coins themselves, because old versions of Russian gold coins later appeared in the Far East and northern China.

Another group believes that the Bolsheviks had already spent the gold, but did not disclose it to the public (speculating that it was used to purchase machine tools and weapons).
The most intriguing theory is the third one: legend has it that there is a "Catherine's Passage" in the Winter Palace, which was used by the Empress to meet her lovers. In late 1916, Nicholas II, feeling that his power was waning, ordered a large amount of gold to be moved to this passage.

Legend has it that this secret passage still exists today, but the location of its entrance is unknown.

The secret passage, the gold, and the staggering figure of 800 tons truly excited Qin Hao, who was just a young lad back then.

Come to think of it, this batch of gold should still be in the basement of the building right now.

Bang~
The carriage jolted, pulling Qin Hao back to reality. He realized that while he was lost in thought, the carriage had already arrived.

“Father Pugin, welcome! This way, please. We have prepared a very nice room for you to rest.” Head Maid Anna, accompanied by her attendants, personally greeted the carriage.

“Miss Anna, it’s a pleasure to see you again. May I ask what His Majesty has to do this time?” The priest in black robes jumped off the carriage alone and asked with a smile.

Upon hearing the way the other person addressed her, the head maid raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, before putting on a formulaic smile.

“It’s just that things were a bit chaotic in the city last night, and His Majesty was worried about your safety, so he asked us to bring you here earlier than planned.” She paused, then added, “In addition, Her Majesty the Empress will be holding a small event soon, and she would like to invite you to attend.”

"I don't think I'm suited to attend any kind of cocktail party," Qin Hao subconsciously declined.

"You're overthinking it. It's not a cocktail party; it's a very private event." The head maid smiled mysteriously and offered no further explanation.

The two entered the Winter Palace one after the other. Qin Hao looked at the head maid's back as she led the way and roughly guessed what Queen Alexandra wanted to do.

This woman, obsessed with mysticism, is about to perform another "spiritual summons."

Perhaps due to the recent tense situation, coupled with Alexei's health problems, her already strained nerves could no longer withstand the strain, so she resorted to the act of communicating with "souls" again.

This kind of thing probably has no practical purpose other than making you more paranoid.

However, none of this concerned him. As long as it didn't affect him, Qin Hao didn't care whether he participated or not.

"Then please rest in your room. I will come to take you to see the Queen later." The head maid opened a door, bowed slightly, and then led her entourage out.

It was a simple guest room, probably for visitors to rest temporarily. After observing it for a while, Qin Hao didn't find anything special.

So he went to the window, opened it with both hands, and tried to find Odin's shadow.

He has recently been trying to teach Odin to speak and has already taught him several words.

Plop!
A black raven with a long tail flew in. Qin Hao was about to give his command when he noticed that the raven's size was slightly different.

This isn't Odin. Confirming he wasn't mistaken, Qin Hao released the raven, and soon another one flew over.

After several repetitions and encountering a few more crows, Qin Hao roughly understood the current situation.

Odin, that sly fellow, actually started doing "labor outsourcing".

Every time it gets food from Qin Hao, it assigns work to the surrounding crows, then skims off the pay, swallowing half of the jerky itself, essentially making the other crows work for it.

The other crows do the work, but when it comes to getting their reward—dried meat—Odin is the one who collects it.

This time, it seems that the location of the dwelling was changed temporarily. Odin did not find his place properly, and the other crows got in first.

what is this?
A capitalist raven? Lord Odin?

Thinking of this, Qin Hao couldn't help but smile slightly.

Thinking of that arrogant fellow, Qin Hao, as the owner, suddenly felt a little like bullying him.

He opened the bedroom window and let the crows that were passing by in one by one, and gave each of them a piece of dried meat.

These little creatures are very clever. After their tiny eyes rolled around, they all flapped their wings and flew away.

Before long, the cawing of crows rose from the branches outside the window, like a grand chorus, as if they were protesting something.

As night fell, the head maid brought a candlestick to the priest in black robes, without any attendants of her own.

“Father, you are a mystical expert even Master Philip admires. Tonight there is a small soul connection ceremony, and His Majesty invites you to participate.”

Faced with this somewhat absurd activity, Qin Hao remained noncommittal, simply standing up and following the head maid through the long corridor.

He planned to act like a wooden figure and a mute tonight, completely invisible.

The candlelight flickered, and the shadows of two people swayed against the wall; the corridors of the Winter Palace were now somewhat eerie.

Walking through the corridor into the spacious courtyard, Queen Alexandra was already waiting there with five or six people.

Looking at the other people dressed in strange costumes, Qin Hao knew that this was probably the Queen's "mysterious master" team.

Upon seeing the priest in black robes, Alexandra gave a slightly pale smile. "Let me introduce you all, this is..."

"Enough!!!" A loud bang rang out, carrying far into the winter night.

An elderly woman with silver hair and dressed in palace attire walked into the courtyard, surrounded by attendants.

"Empress, you're getting deeper and deeper into this mess! You're still doing this pointless thing!" the old man shouted in a stern tone.

Without a doubt, the only person who would dare to speak to the Empress like that in the Winter Palace was the Tsar's mother, the former Danish princess, and the Empress Dowager Maria.

“Mother, it’s not like that, please listen to me, Alexei he…” The Queen stepped forward and tried to explain.

"No, my daughter-in-law, you shouldn't say anything if you still remember your place."

The old woman swept her gaze across the crowd. "Over the years, you've become obsessed with those illusory things and worship these charlatans. And the number of people doing so is only increasing."

“Now even these people of dubious origin are trying to deceive you!” The Empress Dowager said, pointing her finger at the black-robed priest standing to the side.

"Your Majesty, I did not come here..." Qin Hao opened his mouth to explain.

"Shut up! You liars who deceive the monarch! If you want to talk to me, then show me your so-called miracles now!" The Empress Dowager righteously rebuked the black-robed man who was trying to argue.

Faced with this undeserved disaster, Qin Hao shook his head, took a step back, and prepared to simply shut up.

The next second, a sudden change occurred!

Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings came from the woods on the horizon, and a large flock of crows flew out, cawing loudly, one in front and a dozen behind. They chased each other, circling and cawing loudly.

Finally, as the lead crow landed on the head of the black-robed priest, all the other crows landed, standing on the priest's arms and clothes as if draping him in a black feathered robe.

Whether it was the Empress, the Empress Dowager, or the spiritual masters around them, everyone stared in astonishment at what they were seeing.

The Empress Dowager pointed at the creature in front of her, her fingertips trembling as she didn't know what to say.

The next second, something even more terrifying happened.

The raven atop the man in the black robe looked over with its red eyes, opened its long beak, and uttered a single word.

"Quack! Maria!"

(End of this chapter)