The management of Indian temples is actually not strict. There are only three people in the temple who are in charge of daily work and guarding. During the day, these three people are also responsible for serving as monks in the temple.
Therefore, the believers are actually very free in the temple, which gives Fang Lang and his companions who are disguised as believers a lot of freedom. After Fang Lang followed the believers through all the public areas, he discovered a very interesting phenomenon.
That was the treasure room of the temple. Actually, it was not hidden in a secret place as he had imagined. Instead, it was openly located in a place specifically responsible for receiving offerings from believers.
Whether it is the three monks in the temple or the believers in these temples, they actually know very well where the offerings in the temple are stored.
However, perhaps because of their beliefs, they did not regard these properties as treasures that could be converted into cash, but instead regarded them as the property of God.
In addition to the treasures of the Travancore royal family, a large part of these treasures were tributes to the gods from believers.
Hindus live a very difficult life, but they would rather exchange the income earned from their hard work into gold and offer it to their gods every year, hoping to be reborn into a wealthy family in the next life.
This is similar to the Buddhist concept of reincarnation, but Hinduism is more cruel than Buddhism. It regards the caste system as its most core doctrine, requiring all believers to strictly abide by the caste system and strengthen the caste hierarchy in India.
The poor people lose their ambition and believe that their current hardship is due to the sins of their previous lives. As long as they believe in God devoutly in this life, they can be reborn as a member of a higher caste in the next life.
...
...
This belief brainwashed all Indian civilians into slaves of the upper castes and gods. They suffered oppression but never thought of resisting. Even India's independence had to be achieved through a unique non-violent method.
This has resulted in the entire Indian nation lacking the most important spiritual core.
Of course, none of this mattered to Fang Lang. He couldn't even feel a trace of sympathy for these Indian people.
"Boss, what do you think?"
While Fang Lang was thinking about the situation of Hinduism, Zhuang Xintian gently touched Fang Lang's arm with his elbow.
Following Zhuang Xintian's gaze, Fang Lang saw two Indian father and son, who looked half-naked, reverently holding up a gold medal less than the size of a palm and respectfully placing it in the monk's hands.
Judging from the weight of the gold medal, it is definitely a huge fortune for the father and son. Considering the income of ordinary Indian people, Fang Lang estimated that the father and son would have to save for at least 20 years to be able to buy such a large gold medal.
The Hindu monk took the gold medal presented by the father and son without showing any surprise, as if everything was so natural. However, this sense of naturalness made Fang Lang feel a chill down his spine.
Both parties solemnly put their hands together and bowed. Then the monk turned around respectfully and threw the gold medal in his hand into a stone basin in front of a statue.
Fang Lang and the others were not far from the statue, and Fang Lang could clearly hear the friction sound of the gold medal sliding down the pipe under the stone basin.
After the gold medal slid for a distance, Fang Lang heard a dull metallic collision sound. Based on the time the gold medal slid, Fang Lang estimated that the secret room where the gold was stored was less than five meters below the temple.
After making this judgment, Fang Lang looked down at Zhuang Xintian beside him and exchanged glances with him. Then the two of them quietly left the group of believers and came to a remote corner.
“I noticed along the way that there seemed to be only two statues with stone basins, which meant that only these two statues were directly connected to the temple’s treasure room.
According to the information I received, this temple has a total of six secret rooms. These secret rooms that store the offerings of believers only account for a small part of the treasure. The real big part is the treasure stored in the temple by the Travancore royal family.
Now we have to find a way to find the entrance to these secret rooms. Otherwise, if we only know the location of the treasure but don’t know the entrance to the secret room, it will be meaningless.”
Fang Lang swept his eyes across the various buildings in the temple, paying attention to the pedestrians around him while observing the possible entrances to secret rooms.
Zhuang Xintian on the side also lowered his head slightly, his eyes constantly observing the surroundings, but this entrance was obviously not a place that could be seen at a glance.
"Do you think the monks in these temples know the entrance to the secret room? Should we control these three guys and force them to tell us the location of the entrance to the secret room?"
Fang Lang hesitated for a moment and then rejected the proposal.
"No, this is the last step. We can't guarantee that they know the location of the entrance to the secret room. If we act on them now, we might alert them.
If they don't know the location of the entrance to the secret room, we can only dig the ground forcibly. The ground of this kind of stone building is very solid, and we may not be able to break the stone slabs without using explosives.
If we use explosives, it will make too much noise. This temple looks a bit dilapidated, and it might even cause the secret room to collapse, which would make it more difficult for us to retrieve the treasure. So, we can’t attack these monks directly until the last minute.”
Zhuang Xintian also felt that what he said made a lot of sense, frowned and nodded slightly:
"It seems that we can only continue to observe."
Fang Lang looked at the crowd around him and smiled slightly.
"Don't worry, we still have time. Today's weather is very bad, and there may be a heavy rainstorm soon. Let's see if we can take advantage of the rainstorm to quietly leave the crowd and walk around the temple."
Before he finished his words, a loud thunder was heard in the sky. The sky in broad daylight began to darken. The believers who were worshipping devoutly in the temple all shrank their necks unconsciously and turned their heads to look at the sky outside.
Fang Lang and Zhuang Xintian looked at each other, their eyes slightly raised. Isn't it better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early? As soon as the voice fell, the sky began to change color. Isn't it that God is helping the two of them?
In fact, Fang Lang guessed that there might be rain based on Captain Amar Snyder’s reminder yesterday.
Now it seems that the captain is really an experienced captain. His weather forecast is very accurate. He said it would rain today, and sure enough, it started to rain heavily.
While everyone was paying attention to the weather outside, Fang Lang and Zhuang Xintian quietly slipped out of the crowd and walked towards the depths of the temple.
The weather in the Indian Ocean changes very quickly in August. Less than ten minutes after the thunder sounded, the sky turned completely dark. Then heavy rain poured down, and the ground of the temple began to rise in an instant.
Although this situation brought certain conveniences to Fang Lang and his companions' concealment, it also brought certain difficulties to their search.
In the dim light, the entrance to the secret room was even more difficult to find, and the heavy rain also restricted the movements of the two men to a certain extent.
But the two did not back down. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, they spent nearly two hours searching the entire temple.
Unfortunately, the search results were not ideal, and neither of them found any useful clues.
Just as the two of them reunited and were about to blend back into the crowd of believers, Fang Lang suddenly noticed the change in the rain on the ground.
The Padmanabhaswamy Temple is located very close to the coastline. Heavy rain should be very common here, so waterproofing was taken into consideration when the temple was built.
The underground secret room hidden in the temple must of course also be waterproofed. The sudden rainstorm made Fang Lang immediately notice the difference in the water accumulation on the ground.
Around the two known statues with secret rooms, the rainwater was discharged very quickly, and in some places it had already reached the calves, but the water accumulation near the statues with secret rooms was less than two centimeters.
This phenomenon made Fang Lang's eyes light up. He immediately observed the area with smooth drainage and found that the two buildings where the statues were located and were known to have secret rooms were actually at the two ends of the same straight line.
There happened to be four similar buildings in the middle of the two buildings. After observation, Fang Lang was sure that the other four secret rooms were in the area between the two secret rooms.
The entrance to the secret room must be nearby. Fang Lang found Zhuang Xintian and told him about his discovery. Zhuang Xintian became excited when he heard it.
Fang Lang thought that the other party had not discovered anything, but after looking around, the boy lowered his voice and leaned close to Fang Lang's ear and said:
"Boss, I found that one of the three monks in the temple seems to have some problems."
Fang Lang was stunned when he heard this, and looked up at the other party in confusion.
Zhuang Xintian smiled and said:
"When I checked just now, I found one of the monks secretly drinking in a room. As far as I know, Hindu monks are not allowed to drink.
More importantly, the alcohol this guy drinks is of very good quality, and it is not the Scotch whisky that the average Indian can afford.
According to my research some time ago, this guy doesn't have such financial strength."
Upon hearing this, Fang Lang immediately understood what this boy meant.
"You mean, this monk knew the entrance to the secret room and secretly stole the treasure from the secret room to exchange for money to buy wine?"
Zhuang Xintian chuckled and said:
"I don't know whether he took out the treasure from the secret room to exchange for wine, but this guy is definitely not a Hindu who follows the rules. I think such a person may be our breakthrough point."
Obviously, Zhuang Xintian wanted to control this undisciplined Hindu monk. Although he did not confirm Fang Lang's guess on the surface, he actually suspected in his heart that this monk knew the entrance to the secret room and secretly took out the treasures inside and exchanged them for wine.
After Fang Lang pondered for a while, he smiled unconsciously, nodded to Zhuang Xintian and whispered:
"Then hurry up and find this guy's flaw."
Zhuang Xintian chuckled when he heard this and nodded seriously.
Soon the rainstorm gradually subsided and the believers in the temple began to leave. The two could only follow the crowd and quietly leave the temple.
After returning to the base, the two conducted a detailed summary and analysis of the intelligence they had obtained today, and Fang Lang finally determined that this was the purpose of his trip.
And began to advance in an organized manner according to the original plan.
Over the next two days, Fang Lang and Qi Qingshan disguised themselves as believers and sneaked into the temple many times to investigate, although they did not accurately find the entrance to the temple's secret room.
But they also narrowed down the entrance location to the rooms where several monks lived, because, apart from the monks' rooms, they searched almost the entire temple and could not find the entrance to the temple.
And Fang Lang's intuition told him that the entrance to the secret room might be in the room where the drinking monk lived.
“Boss, I found the merchant who provided the monks with wine. According to my interrogation, the monks were indeed using gold to pay for the wine.
But he was very careful and did not use a complete piece of gold jewelry. Instead, he smashed it directly into the shape of a gold cake.
So the merchant didn’t know if he had stolen the gold from the temple or if it was his own gold.”
Zhuang Xintian explained the latest investigation results to Fang Lang, and Fang Lang now had a better idea of what was going on.
“Very good, this further confirms my guess. Time is urgent now, and we don’t have time to continue investigating further.
The day after tomorrow is the independence date determined by the British and Indians. All Indians are very excited. We will take action at this special time.
I hope the Indians will enjoy the gift of independence that I have prepared for them.”
After hearing Fang Lang's words, Zhuang Xintian and Qi Qingshan looked at each other and laughed.
"Boss, you are just too polite. Even the independence of a country like India requires a big gift for them."
Qi Qingshan made jokes in a good mood.
Fang Lang also laughed when he heard this, then pretended to be serious and coughed twice and said:
"We Chinese are a nation that values courtesy and reciprocity. Since we gave them a big gift, it is normal for us to get some gifts in return from them!
Therefore, when you take action, don't have any reservations, just act boldly.
If people have objections to giving back gifts, we should teach them a lesson about etiquette, understand?"
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Xintian burst into laughter again.
"Don't worry, boss. Indians have just gained independence and may not understand these etiquettes very well, but we will definitely teach them well. In the future, they will know the etiquette of the international community."
"Haha... Very good, Qingshan, let's check later how the Whip of God's operation to deliver supplies to Suleiman Brom is going and whether it can be completed as planned.
In addition, when will the ship responsible for taking away the Indians' return gifts arrive? "
"Boss, the ship arrived at the designated location last night. Although it was a little late due to the wind and rain, it did not affect our plan. They have arranged a transport boat and are ready to cooperate with our actions at any time.
Mr. Suleiman Brom's supplies were escorted by the Whip of God Company from Hyderabad, India yesterday. We have not received any further intelligence yet. I will send a telegram to inquire about their latest progress later. "
Hearing this, Fang Lang raised his head and looked towards the north in the direction of Hyderabad. He was not worried that there would be any accidents during the escort operation of the Whip of God.
After all, India is still under the control of the British, and the power of the army has not been transferred. I believe that even if the Indian government wants to take any action, it cannot mobilize the regular army.
Although the Whip of God Military Contracting Company is not afraid even if it encounters the regular army, the regular army may attract a steady stream of reinforcements, which is a situation that neither Suleiman Brom nor Fang Lang want to see.
But if it is true as Suleiman Brom said, the bigwigs of the new Indian government will definitely take action to prevent their supplies from being shipped out smoothly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
