The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1318 An unexpected surprise
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.

The leader of the Violet Knights came personally to deliver the letter, which made Franz feel that his intelligence agency was too unprofessional.

There's no need to send the highest-ranking official as a messenger for any kind of intelligence, right?
"Asfold, is there anything so important that you need to come here yourself? Is the work of the Knights so easy during the war?"

Asfold's official identity is a socialite who likes to host art salons. Her figure and appearance are impeccable, and her blonde hair adds a bit of charm to her.

People would subconsciously label such women as big-breasted and brainless, but the woman in front of them was a genius with amazing instant memory and could speak eight languages ​​and twenty-five dialects.

At this time, Asfold was wearing special clothes and spoke in a mixture of lip language and sign language through the thick bulletproof glass.

"We found a lot of gold in Spain. Lots of it!"

In fact, it was impossible for these intelligence personnel to meet Franz directly. They had to be carefully checked before the meeting to prevent them from carrying weapons, poison or explosives.

In addition to strict inspections, you are not allowed to carry anything on your body, including your own clothes, so there are special clothes.

"Gold? A lot?"

Franz felt bored, but he knew that the Spanish Kingdom was in financial difficulties and except for the officers, others might not even get their salaries.

Isabel II did have some money in her private treasury, but not a lot, probably around 10 or 20 million reais.

This amount of money is an astronomical figure for ordinary people, but for the Austrian Empire it may not even be enough for a month's normal expenses.

"Much!"

Asfold continued speaking using a mixture of lip reading and sign language.

"There's no one here you need to be on guard against, so you can just tell me directly. You came all the way here just for such a small amount of gold?"

Asfold looked at Franz's eyes, his face slightly reddened, but he still emphasized.

“Your Majesty, we really found a lot of gold. Under the summer palace abandoned by the Spanish royal family is a huge storage room full of gold.

We cannot calculate the exact number, but a conservative estimate is no less than 600 tons."

Franz immediately thought of the legend. He didn't expect that in the 19th century, the Spaniards were still using this trick.

If Isabella II had used this batch of gold to arm the Spanish army earlier, the Austrian expeditionary force might have encountered some trouble.

If the Spanish government had made good use of the gold, perhaps Spain would not have fallen to its current state.

It’s really your own fault!

"What did you do with the gold?"

"Your Majesty, there was too much gold to transport back with the manpower we had in Spain. So we took advantage of the chaos in Madrid to blow up the closed entrance to the palace and dealt with all the people who knew about it except the branch chief and me."

Asfold was a little agitated, and it seemed that there was some hidden secret.

"Protect the dead. They are all heroes of the empire. Pay more attention to the living. Let them relax. If they still have any regrets after this mission, they can choose to retire early."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I thank you on behalf of the fallen comrades and their families. For the Empire, for you, we are willing to do anything."

Franz knew that Asfold was showing his loyalty, but sometimes it was better to accept it.

"It's getting late, you should stay tonight." Madrid, Spain.

The arrival of Archduke Albrecht boosted the morale of the military and civilians. In addition to his royal status, his military achievements were also worthy of the title of "war hero."

The status of soldiers in the Austrian Empire was gradually improving, and the impression that soldiers were gangsters, bandits, scoundrels, and beggars was gradually changing. Officers had become the most admired group, with war heroes undoubtedly the pinnacle.

However, Archduke Albrecht discovered that the Spaniards admired him even more than the Austrians, and they did so like a candy cart passing by the school gate.

Albrecht had to admit that it wasn't a bad feeling.

But he did not like the position of Field Marshal at this time. As the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Central Army, he always had endless meetings to attend.

In previous war meetings against Spain, Albrecht had always been a proponent of war, but he was sent to Spain only when the war was about to end.

At this time, Albrecht's mission was not to fight, but to carry out a secret mission for Franz.

Probably to dig up some ruins and get the gold inside safely back to Vienna.

Albrecht felt that Franz really liked to make a fuss out of nothing. He had to come in person for such a simple matter and even had to use the Royal Legion for escort.

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I'm afraid my weird brother will laugh at me again.
Although Albrecht was older than Friedrich, the latter became a marshal first, got married first, and had children first.

In fact, Albrecht was supposed to get married, but something went wrong with the woman's pre-marital physical examination and the doctor thought she might be infertile.

The inability to have children was unacceptable to the Habsburg family, which was facing a population shortage at the time, so Albrecht's marriage fell through.

Moreover, Albrecht himself was not interested in these things. What interested him was war and military affairs, the feeling of commanding hundreds of thousands of troops, the thunderous roar of cannons, and the airships that covered the sky.
At this time, the adjutant stumbled in.

"Marshal, so much gold! So much gold!"

Albrecht gently put down the teacup, closed his eyes and savored the bitter and sweet taste.

"It's just gold, isn't it? What's the big deal?"

"There's so much! Gold is everywhere!"

The adjutant was obviously shocked and spoke incoherently.

"It's really strange. Take me to see it."

Albrecht stood up and walked towards the excavation site.

Albrecht was also dumbfounded when he arrived at the ruins of the Summer Palace. The entire excavation site was full of gold and stones, and there was gold under almost every stone.

On the side was the execution ground. Someone saw that the gold could not be controlled and secretly hid it on his body. If he was discovered, the result would be death.

Albrecht's father, Archduke Karl, had always been the richest nobleman in the Austrian Empire. He inherited almost all of the family's property, and the family's annual income was comparable to that of a medium-sized country.

Albrecht felt that he had long been numb to things like gold, but he still couldn't help but gasp at this moment.

"How much is this?"

Albrecht looked around again. Fortunately, he had taken isolation measures before, otherwise the commotion would have been even greater.