The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 89

Chapter 89: Consensus of the Paper Mill

The papermakers lifted the paper-forming frame, the "sieve," and placed it on the rack. Several stoves were set up around it to raise the temperature.

More than half an hour later, a craftsman took down the frame, carefully peeled off the paper, and respectfully handed it to Joseph: "My lord, here, it’s dry now."

In fact, the normal drying process would have taken at least half a day. At this moment, the high temperature drying was entirely for the purpose of showing off to Mirabeau.

Joseph rubbed the paper in his hand; it was very brittle and quite thick. The texture inside was uneven, making the quality quite poor. But this was definitely paper—made from wood.

He handed the paper to Mirabeau and said with some regret, "This is the first time for both me and these craftsmen trying this new technology, so the quality of the product is not too good."

However, he was not anxious. The paper-making process largely depended on experience.

The amount of additives, the time and temperature for boiling the wood, the use of bleaching agents, the drying techniques, and so on—all needed repeated trial and error to find the best methods before being able to produce qualified paper.

But as long as the correct technical theory was in place, it was only a matter of time before a mature process was found.

Mirabeau looked at the paper in his hands with excitement, clearly understanding what this meant—just in the French paper market alone, it was worth several million livres.

If exported throughout Europe, it would be a market worth at least tens of millions!

And it was foreseeable that the paper-making technology in any European country at present had a much higher cost compared to wood-based paper. This meant that it would be impossible to stop the dumping of wood-based paper.

Joseph smiled as he saw his excited expression and said, "With my method of making paper, the price can be reduced to one-seventh of the current paper price. Of course, we don’t need to drop the price so low. We can sell it for two-thirds of the market price, leaving ourselves some profit."

Mirabeau keenly heard the word "we" and immediately looked at the Crown Prince with great anticipation.

Joseph purposely made him "suffer" for a few seconds before saying, "As you can see, to roll out this new technology on a large scale, it requires considerable investment and effort. I can’t do it alone.

"So, I would like to invite you, and of course your friends, to invest together and set up a large number of paper mills at the fastest pace to dominate the market. And this paper-making technology will serve as my capital."

"This is wonderful!" Mirabeau’s eyes sparkled with joy as he stroked his cane, pondering, "So, how much equity will you require?"

"20%," Joseph replied. The paper-making technology was meant to win over and divide the noble assembly, so he would not ask for too much equity.

Mirabeau could easily understand that this was the Crown Prince giving up some of his own shares. He immediately smiled broadly: "You are too generous! I think we can set a time, and you, Viscount Dicot, Viscount Pellier, and the others, can discuss the paper-making investment together. Oh, and the tax bill."

Joseph nodded with a smile: "I fully agree with your suggestion."

After agreeing on the time and place to meet, Mirabeau eagerly headed back to Paris, ready to meet with his political allies.

Once in the carriage, he could hardly contain his curiosity and turned to ask, "Your Highness, can you tell me, how do you turn wood into liquid?"

"You need to add some chemicals," Joseph smiled and helped him close the carriage door.

He naturally wouldn’t tell him just yet that it was simply adding sodium bisulfite. But knowledge is like that—saying it may sound simple, but without guidance, it would take half a century before the wood-paper technology could emerge.

The next day.

Mirabeau arrived with three nobles at Joseph's paper mill—Joseph had already purchased the small workshop to prevent leaks of information.

"Your Highness, this is Viscount Dicot. This is..."

As Mirabeau introduced the others, the three men bowed to Joseph in turn.

Before long, another carriage arrived. Archbishop Brienne stepped out from it.

Thus, in a shabby and simple workshop, the Crown Prince sat on a drying rack, the Chief Minister and Count Mirabeau sat on a cart of paper, while the others stood leaning against the workshop, starting a meeting that would affect the future of France.

The negotiation process went very smoothly.

Brienne promised to push forward the implementation of the "Corporate Law," "Patent Law," and other bills alongside the Crown Prince, and to reduce certain stamp duties.

Joseph reiterated that he would restart the Anglo-French trade negotiations within two months and re-sign the Eden Treaty with the previously agreed-upon tariffs.

Mirabeau and the others promised to persuade their allies in the noble assembly to support the tax bill. Since the forces controlling the High Court were the great nobles of the assembly, this meant their representatives in the court would no longer hinder the tax bill.

However, the most time-consuming and exciting part of the discussion was about establishing the paper company.

The final outcome of the discussion was as follows: the five people present, excluding Joseph, would collectively invest 3.6 million livres to establish large paper mills in Saint-Antoine, Lyon, and Bordeaux, with the goal of meeting France's paper demand within six months.

Subsequently, additional investments would be made as needed to expand capacity and begin exporting, until they had taken over the entire European market.

Joseph would provide the technology, taking 20% equity, while the others would receive 80% in proportion to their investment.

However, in consideration of the numerous paper mills in France, Joseph specifically requested that the company supply pulp to other mills for downstream processing, so they could sustain their livelihoods.

Once all matters were settled, everyone was in high spirits.

Brienne was the first to rise and take his leave. Half an hour later, Mirabeau and the others also departed.

...

On the street opposite the Paris High Court, a wooden platform, about six or seven meters square, had been set up.

The platform was surrounded by dark gray curtains. Around two to three hundred people crowded beneath it, watching the performance on the stage with rapt attention.

When the villain, playing the Ottoman judge, mistakenly ate a poisoned cake due to greed and died in agony, the audience erupted in thunderous cheers.

Someone turned and pointed to the High Court in the distance, shouting:

"Did you see that? This is the fate of shameless corrupt officials!"

"You should all end up like this!"

"You rats, worms, dare to show your faces?"

In the meeting hall on the third floor of the High Court, several judges, upon hearing the music from the play stop, breathed a sigh of relief and refocused their attention back to the meeting table.

Vezinier, with a disdainful expression, threw a stack of documents in front of him and snorted coldly, "There’s nothing to deliberate! No matter how Brienne changes it, this thing will never be registered!"

What he threw was the new version of the tax bill that Brienne had submitted earlier that morning.

Dibault and a nearby judge, who always wore an expression of surprise, exchanged glances. Slowly, Dibault opened his version of the bill and calmly said, "I think we should discuss it. Perhaps the conclusion will be different?"

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