"What is this?" Wu Tianyuan took the invitation curiously and said confusedly: "The Indian government asked me to help with the treasure hunt?" ”

"No way, boss, your reputation is too loud, even the government has to ask you for help!"

Wang Hong handed the information to Wu Tianyuan and said with a smile: "This is the information they sent, saying that an ancient temple found a treasure, but there was a problem. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

Wu Tianyuan took the information curiously, and after a brief look, he roughly understood that this was the case. Kerala is located in the southwestern part of India, across the sea from Sri Lanka. The Padmanaba Swamy Temple is a famous Hindu temple with a documented history dating back to the 8th century AD, and the temple has been owned by the descendants of the local Varma royal family.

The discovery of the temple's treasure was closely related to a man named Sandalarajan, an intelligence officer during the Gandhi government in the 60s and 80s of the last century, who retired and accompanied his father, who was blind, to live near the Padmanaba Swamy Temple. The old man, a devout Hindu, is now in his seventies, but he still walks into the temple at 2:30 a.m. every day to pray for eight hours.

It has long been rumored that the temple contains a lot of treasure, but no one has actually excavated it. However, when it comes to the hidden treasure, Sandararajan is convinced, and he is increasingly suspicious of the temple administrators.

In 2012, he filed a complaint with the Kerala High Court, arguing that the government should take back the management of the temple and take responsibility for the disposal and prevention of theft of the temple's property.

In January 2015, the Kerala High Court ruled that the state government should take over the temple. In May, India's Supreme Court ordered Kerala to set up a seven-member committee to count the temple's total assets and draw up a detailed list before taking over the temple.

When the inventory began, most of the temples in India contained treasures, but many of them were looted by invaders or tomb robbers after several wars. In contrast, the treasures in the Padmanaba Swami Temple are relatively well preserved.

"So they only found four secret rooms, and two couldn't find them, so they asked me to help?"

Wu Tianyuan pondered for a while, or decided to help, India has red sandalwood resources, this time just through the relationship to open up the local network, the future development of red sandalwood, into the furniture market.

"You are Mr. Wu, the treasure hunter? I've admired the daimyo for a long time, I'm Paitoka and I'm in charge of this treasure hunt. ”

Wu Tianyuan saw the person in charge, and went straight to the point, this treasure hunt does not require money, and hopes that after success, he can have the right to import red sandalwood and cooperate with the government in the red sandalwood trade.

After asking for instructions, Patoka was approved, and Wu Tianyuan was allowed to import 100 tons of red sandalwood raw materials every year, and then took a group of people to the ancient temple site.

"When our staff opened the F secret room, they made full preparations, but it also took a lot of trouble. There is not enough oxygen underground, and in order to prevent suffocation by the staff, a large amount of air is pumped into the ground with a fan. Even the rusty lock took the excavators two and a half hours to open. The door to the chamber opened, and under the light of the bright lights and torches, we nervously and curiously walked inside. But the chamber is almost empty! ”

Patoka said with some regret: "We didn't give up, we removed a few large stones in the secret room and found a secret passage to the depths of the secret room. After walking a short distance along the passage, they were stunned by what they saw, they had indeed found a huge treasure! ”

"Among the treasures found in the F Chamber were more than 1,200 gold chains about 2.7 meters long and weighing 2.5 kilograms, three gold crowns, nearly 1 ton of gold ornaments, diamonds, antique jewelry, and precious stones entwined with silk; 17 kilograms of East India Company period gold coins; 18 coins from the Napoleonic period of the early 19th century; 1 baby elephant made of gold; a three-and-a-half-foot-tall diamond-encrusted statue of Lord Vishnu; A 1-foot-tall humanoid statue weighing about 1 kilogram. ”

Wu Tianyuan was also shocked by the treasures in the secret room, just 1,200 gold chains were worth a fortune, not to mention other jewelry and antiques, but unfortunately he didn't find them!

Paitoka said excitedly: "In addition to the F secret room, the staff also found different amounts of treasures in the other two secret rooms that have been opened. The total value of the treasure that has been found is initially estimated to be more than 500 billion rupees, or about $11 billion! ”

"Local media estimates are even bolder, putting the treasures worth more than 1 trillion rupees, or about $20 billion. According to previous records, the richest temple in India is the Tirubati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, with a property value of only 32,000 crore. The Padmanaba Swami Temple holds treasures worth far beyond this figure, making it the richest temple in India. ”

Wu Tianyuan secretly sighed that he had been busy for more than two years, and in the end it was only 20 billion US dollars, and people would surpass him when he dug an ancient temple, and it seemed that there were still few treasures to be dug up!

Patoka said in a low voice: "Mr. Wu is a big connoisseur of antiques, and he also has an auction house, this is a photo, can you help me take a look?" ”

Wu Tianyuan took the photo and said as he looked at it: "Among the treasures are some Venetian gold coins from the 17th century, which were very popular in the coastal areas at that time, and were often used by the Portuguese, Dutch and British as exchange currency for the spice trade, and their monetary and academic value are difficult to measure directly with modern money." ”

"The artifacts also include 10 lamps made of pure gold, which were presented to the temple by the king of the Pandyya kingdom of South India in the 12th century, and even the top auction houses can hardly accurately value this rare antique, in short, it is worth a fortune!"

"Hey, that's why we're now facing great resistance!"

Paitoka had a headache: "The C secret room that has not yet been opened is the largest of the six secret rooms, and it is rumored to be the one with the largest amount of treasures. Now it's in the spotlight. Some analysts say that if the C secret room is opened, there will be a new breakthrough in the total value of the treasure, and it may even be 10 times the current estimate! ”

"10 times? That's $100 billion? "This number shocked everyone.

"We were going to open the C Chamber on July 8, but we were opposed by many believers. In recent days, a large number of Hindu believers have come from all over the country to sit outside the temple, chanting sutras and praying in protest, hoping that the government will not continue to open the secret room, so as not to invite disaster to the local area. ”

One theory is that opening the B Chamber of Secrets will open the "Pandora's Box", which will bring curse and disaster to the area where the Padmanaba Swami Temple is located, and those who open the Chamber with their own hands will be destroyed.

"There are also believers who warn that there is an underground passage that connects the cChamber of Secrets with the sea. If the chamber is opened, it will provoke the wrath of the gods, and the sea will pour in, flooding the entire city. ”

Someone even dug up a news story from the 30s of the last century that someone tried to open the secret room of the temple in 1908, but was attacked by a group of cobras. According to Hindu legend, sacred places are guarded by cobras, so some believers believe that there must be a large number of cobras in the chamber that have guarded the chamber for hundreds of years, ready to attack those who try to enter. ”

"But these legends are not credible in the face of modern technology, we asked a local snake catcher with 25 years of experience, there is no way to have cobras in the secret room, because there is not enough oxygen there, and there are no rats and other food for snakes to eat, how do they survive?"

Paitoka said helplessly: "These legends may not be worth believing, but the actual difficulty of opening the secret room is really great. The staff tried to open the iron door of the chamber, but found that it was impossible to do so with a key, and the only way was to cut it with a gas cutter. But this idea was quickly rejected, because this kind of rude behavior was really a blasphemy against the temple and the gods. In the end, the government had to take into account the religious feelings of the people, and decided to postpone the opening of the C secret room, and first make an inventory of the treasures that had been found. (To be continued.) )