The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 160

Chapter 160: The Irresponsible Director of the Gunpowder Bureau

Reflecting on the idea of standardizing measurements, Joseph could not help but sigh.

The French Academy of Sciences had, under the proposals of several academic luminaries, prepared early on to establish a "Standards Committee" to unify measurement systems. Speaking of which, the French scientific community demonstrated remarkable foresight—this was the earliest initiative for standardized measurements in all of Europe.

However, hampered by the appalling inefficiency of bureaucratic institutions of the time, the funding request for the Academy had languished in discussion for years, and the Standards Committee remained an idea on paper.

Historically, it wasn't until after the Revolution that this matter was implemented with the support of the National Convention.

The efforts of the French Standards Committee later contributed to the establishment of the metric system and paved the way for France's industrialization.

As of now, however, the "Standards Committee" was still merely a concept. Joseph knew that if he didn’t intervene personally, it might take another decade—or even longer—before standardized measurements were realized.

This cursed French bureaucratic system... Joseph shook his head silently. When he had the chance, he must reform the civil administration system as quickly as possible!

It wasn’t until dinner time that Joseph finally managed to convey the basic concept of "standardized production" to two armory supervisors.

Standardized production, something that seemed like common sense to later generations—adhered to even by small rural workshops—was a revolutionary concept in the late 18th century. Naturally, it was not easy for the two supervisors to grasp it quickly.

Joseph also interspersed his explanations with some techniques for enterprise management, further adding to their cognitive load.

By now, Joseph was utterly exhausted. He drank a large glass of water to soothe his throat, strained from overwork. Thinking about how he would need to continue teaching tomorrow gave him a headache.

At the current pace, it would take at least half a month to fully explain the knowledge of standardized production.

After investing so much effort to train just two individuals, Germain and Martinière, Joseph wondered if the cost-effectiveness was far too low.

Since he was already “teaching,” why not educate more people at once?

The thought struck him—perhaps he could directly set up a course on "Industrial Enterprise Management." The efficiency would undoubtedly surpass teaching individuals one by one.

But who should be the first lecturers?

When it came to enterprise management, Joseph immediately thought of Vénio. Having recently completed the potato promotion project, Vénio had stayed in Paris to enjoy Fashion Week and had not yet returned to Bordeaux.

Vénio, as a plantation owner and businessman, was skilled in public speaking, possessed great enthusiasm for work, and was well-suited to disseminate advanced industrial management ideas.

In fact, even his friends from the Girondin Club seemed well-suited for this task.

In the initial stages, they could be sent to the industrial development zones to teach factory executives. Later, courses could be set up at the University of Paris to train professional managers.

This approach was far more scientific than traditional family-style management.

France’s technological and production capacities might still lag behind Britain in the short term, but in management, France could achieve early superiority!

Optimizing management models often brought greater improvements in production efficiency than new technologies.

With this in mind, Joseph summoned Eymond and instructed him, “Please send someone tomorrow to summon Mr. Vénio, the gentleman who helped me promote potatoes in Bordeaux.”

“Yes, Your Highness, I remember Mr. Vénio well.”

“Oh, and also his friend—Jean Sonet, I believe his name is—invite him as well.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Joseph was just about to end the day’s teaching and head to Versailles for dinner when he noticed the armory manager jotting down the quality inspection requirements he had mentioned earlier: every firearm must undergo at least five live-fire tests before leaving the factory.

This reminded Joseph of the progress in producing the copper caps for fire cap guns, so he turned to Martinière and asked, “Mr. Martinière, do you know how the production of copper caps is progressing?”

Martinière hurriedly replied, “Your Highness, I visited the Royal Gunpowder Bureau two days ago. They said it would take three or four months to produce the first batch of fulminate of mercury for the caps.”

The Royal Gunpowder Bureau was France’s dedicated department for gunpowder research and production. Naturally, the production of such explosive materials was entrusted to them.

“Three or four months? That slow?” Joseph frowned upon hearing this.

Martinière explained, “They mentioned having conducted several trial productions, but all have failed.”

“Understood.” Joseph sighed in frustration. Fulminate of mercury was a technology the British had mastered a decade ago, and he had already explained the synthesis method to the Royal Gunpowder Bureau. How could they still not get it right?

The next noon...

In the Crown Prince's reception hall at Versailles, the assistant director and production manager of the Royal Gunpowder Bureau stood uneasily before Joseph, repeatedly explaining themselves with pained expressions.

“Your Highness, you did inform us of the synthesis method, but... the precise ratios of ingredients and specific procedures still require time to refine.”

The gaunt production manager nodded fervently. “Yes, Your Highness. Experiments with such highly explosive materials must be conducted with utmost caution. We even discovered that the process generates toxic gases, though fortunately, no one has been harmed.”

Joseph felt helpless. Fulminate of mercury involved the reaction of mercury with nitric acid, followed by crystallization and cooling—details he knew in theory but had never practiced. After all, in his previous life, manufacturing explosives was a serious crime with severe penalties.

What he hadn’t anticipated was that even with the combined research capabilities of the Gunpowder Bureau, a month of effort had yielded no results.

If it were any other technology, he could simply purchase it from the British. But with fulminate of mercury, a military material, the British would never sell it.

Joseph fixed his stern gaze on the Bureau officials. “Even so, does it really require three or four months to complete the trial production?”

The assistant director responded cautiously, “Your Highness, if our director were present, it would probably take only a month at most.

“You see, all such new explosive experiments were previously overseen by him. However, he has been on leave since the beginning of the year, so…”

On leave since the start of the year? It was almost April now! Was this director shirking his responsibilities?

Joseph’s voice turned icy. “Who is your director? Summon him to see me immediately!”

The production manager stammered, “It... it’s Mr. Lavoisier...”

“Wait!” Joseph raised a hand to stop him. “Did you say Lavoisier? The same Lavoisier who discovered oxygen?”

The two officials exchanged glances and nodded. “Yes, Your Highness, our director indeed discovered oxygen.”

“He also authored Elementary Treatise on Combustion and other monumental works."

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