The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 271

Chapter 271: Winds Rising in North Africa

Viscount Olivier hesitated slightly and said, “Your Highness, but if there are too many sales restrictions, the factories might struggle to survive…”

Joseph waved his hand with a smile. “Rest assured, the Association will not interfere with the vast majority of orders. Only specific buyers who might pose a threat to national security will be restricted, and such cases might occur only once every few years.”

The gathered factory owners breathed a collective sigh of relief. If that was the case, it was effectively no restriction at all.

Compared to the benefits brought by the new technology—such as significantly improved ingot quality and increased production of refined steel—this was entirely acceptable.

In truth, none of them paid much attention to the “quality assessment” clause. Yet, this was the true means of controlling the steel mills.

Quality assessment, in essence, was a company rating system.

Everyone knew how powerful the three major rating agencies in future America would become—if they disliked you, they could simply lower your rating, causing your stock to plummet instantly.

Currently, these factory owners had no experience with such tactics. Just imagine, if every other steel mill received an A++ rating while yours was stuck at B, who would still purchase your products? In the future, wouldn’t these factory owners have no choice but to obediently cooperate with the Crown Prince?

Joseph then offered another enticing proposition: “Oh, and soon the Association will announce a new iron-smelting technology that uses a novel type of fuel, further reducing impurities in ingots while increasing output.”

He was referring to the use of coke for smelting iron.

With the introduction of gas lighting, one of the byproducts of coal gas distillation was coke.

This material, with its low impurity content and high calorific value, was an ideal fuel for iron smelting and could serve as a complementary industry to gas lighting.

This time, it was Mr. Grégoire who could no longer sit still. “Your Highness, the Grégoire Brothers Steel Company sincerely hopes to join the Steel Technology Association.”

Viscount Olivier and other factory owners quickly followed suit. “Your Highness, Silk Steel Company also applies to join the Association!”

“And so does Red Furnace Ironworks…”

“And Wilhauer Steel…”

Joseph signaled Alexander Lamo, the industrial development zone director beside him, to distribute the prepared association management regulations and application forms to everyone. “Once you have completed the applications, you can submit them to Mr. Lamo. Afterward, the Association will dispatch technicians to teach you the new smelting techniques. This process may take some time due to the necessary formalities.”

In reality, there were no formalities. Joseph had yet to apply for a patent on the “hot blast iron-smelting” process and needed the technicians to translate its principles into schematics, which would take time.

The factory owners didn’t mind waiting a few months. Considering the efficiency of the era, developing something new was never a quick process.

Joseph further instructed, “Oh, and you might want to start purchasing some firebricks and steam engines for powering the blast furnaces. These will come in handy later.”

The factory owners hastily ordered their technicians to take note.

...

After spending three days in Nancy arranging the development of various industrial enterprises, Joseph departed southward for Saint-Étienne.

The newly established industrial development zone there had officially begun operations four months ago. Being closer to Paris, it was no smaller in scale than Nancy’s.

Naturally, Joseph had to visit, bringing the steel mills there into the “Steel Technology Association” as well.

The trip to Saint-Étienne was largely similar to Nancy’s. After leaving the development zone, Joseph prepared to head further east to Lyon, the center of France’s textile industry, to promote the newly reverse-engineered automatic loom.

There was no alternative; he had to establish the framework and instill advanced concepts in every industrial sector in France before gradually handing the reins over to Count Mirabeau and his team. As a result, Joseph had been so busy that he barely had time to rest.

However, upon arriving at Forez, east of Lyon, he encountered a messenger awaiting him.

The messenger handed him a letter from the Royal Arsenal, which reported issues with the mass production of the automatic loom. The primary problem lay in the insufficient machining precision of the craftsmen, requiring Louis XVI’s hands-on guidance. As a result, the first batch of ten looms would not be completed until the end of the following month.

Joseph, helpless, reviewed his itinerary and ultimately decided to return to Paris first to file the patent for “hot blast iron-smelting.”

However, before he could leave, he received another report from the National Intelligence Bureau, now elevated to the Ministry of Intelligence.

He opened the sealed missive and handed the cipher and report to Eymond.

Eymond quickly decoded it and turned to Joseph.

“Your Highness, a coup occurred in Tripoli six days ago.”

Joseph frowned and took the decoded report, which read:

On March 18th, Ottoman officer Ali Benjiul, in collaboration with dissatisfied nobles, staged a coup in Tripoli. The Pasha of Tripoli, Ali I, fled to Egypt. Benjiul announced that Tripoli had returned to Ottoman control.

There are indications that the British were involved in this coup. The rebels’ weaponry and funding largely came from Britain.

The British? Joseph immediately grew alert. The British would never involve themselves in a Mediterranean microstate with just a few hundred thousand inhabitants unless it had something to do with France.

It seemed that, despite his restraint in limiting France’s influence in North Africa to the small territory of Tunis—unlike the historical conquest of Algiers—he still attracted British attention.

There was something suspicious here, and he could not afford to be careless.

Joseph looked at his itinerary again, focused on the final entry, and sighed.

“It seems I need to visit Tunis ahead of schedule.”

...

Following the turmoil caused by expelling the Janissaries, Tunis had regained order over the past few months of governance. Joseph had originally planned to address several issues there and outline subsequent development plans.

He turned to Eymond. “Is the Moulin Corps still in Montpellier?”

Eymond thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes, Your Highness. They have just completed the reorganization of the Montcalm Corps and likely haven’t returned to Moulin yet.”

Joseph immediately drafted a letter, sealed it with wax, stamped it with his private seal, and handed it to Eymond.

“Send someone to Montpellier immediately and deliver this to Lieutenant Colonel André.”

In the letter, he ordered André to take two regiments to Toulon and then board a ship to Tunis.

He then wrote another letter and instructed Eymond, “Send this one to Versailles. Have the General Staff issue a corresponding deployment order.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Now, let us head to Toulon Harbor as well. Oh, if the Queen asks about me, just say I’ve gone to the ‘domestic provinces.’”

Indeed, this was no fabrication. Tunis was now officially a French province.

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