Fox of France

Joseph did not make Lucien too tired this time. He just asked Lucien to sort out some of the family's current investments. And this job really gave Lucien a more comprehensive understanding of Joseph's strategic vision.

"Joseph, what is this 'Zeus' project? How did it squeeze out so much funds? And it seems that the investment in it will increase further in the future?"

"This plan." Joseph said, "This plan is a revolutionary plan, um, a revolutionary plan that is enough to make us decades ahead of others, and its influence can be compared with Watt's steam engine, and even worse. further."

In this era, Watt had completed his improvement of the steam engine. In 1776, Watt's improved steam engine had already been put into the work of the mine to drive the water pump. At the beginning, in the mine of the Duke of Orleans, there were several Watt steam engines imported from England. Today, Watt's steam engine has been widely used in the textile industry. It has provided considerable help to the dominance of British textiles in the entire world market.

However, the true potential of the steam engine had not yet been exploited, neither trains nor ships had yet appeared. So when Joseph used Watt's steam engine as a metaphor, Lucien curled his lips when he heard it, and said disapprovingly, "Compared to the steam engine, it's nothing too remarkable."

"You are not a real scientist, nor a real industrialist. You can't see the direction of development of things at all." Joseph shook his head, "You know, this thing is extremely important. As long as it succeeds, it will almost All the existing production methods can be sent to their graves—historical museums for people to remember.”

Lucien knew that Joseph was quite reliable academically, and he rarely bragged about such things. So his curiosity was also aroused: "What is this Zeus plan? Tell me about it..."

"Your level of secrecy is enough," Joseph said, "but after you listen, remember that you are not allowed to mention a single letter to anyone else, especially your dubious women!"

"Understood," Lucien said, "I want to brag with those women, and there are some things that can be bragged about. Who talks about academic issues with women? Ah... By the way, there is still one such weird thing in this world... "

"What do you know? You talk to her academically, and she is willing to listen carefully, which proves your charm." Joseph retorted.

"Okay, don't talk about this, for the sake of your self-esteem." Lucien said, "Let's go back to the topic, what is this 'Zeus'?"

"Well!" Joseph said, "just after Mr. Lavoisier figured out the electric detonator, we conducted an underwater explosion test. At that time, someone put a compass next to the wire. I found that when the wire was electrified At that moment, the pointer of the compass suddenly turned. Of course, this may be caused by the wind and waves on the boat at that time. So I repeated this experiment in the laboratory, and I found that when a current flows through the wire , really brought about a change in the magnetic needle."

"So what?" asked Lucien.

"So what?" Joseph smiled. "It's not good. I'll take you to the laboratory this afternoon. You can go and see for yourself. Now let's deal with this problem first..."

"Damn, this question is just cumbersome and not difficult. Although it involves a little secret, Miss Lavoisier should be able to touch this level of secrets. Why do you let me do this kind of thing? Joseph, you are inhuman!"

After lunch, Joseph took Lucien to the new laboratory. The laboratory is a little far from Paris, so they arrived at the laboratory at dusk.

Joseph brought Lucien into a laboratory. On the table in the middle of this laboratory, there are two machines full of wires. One of the machines has a crank handle, and the other machine is connected to a water pump. The two machines are connected by three wires. with.

"Go and shake that handle," Joseph said.

So Lucien stepped forward and shook the handle.

"Shake it faster, haven't you eaten?"

"I really didn't eat, I'm hungry!" Lucien complained while speeding up.

With Lucien's shaking, the machine connected by wires over there also turned, and the water pump also started to run, and water began to flow out of the water pump.

"How is it? Isn't this thing amazing?" Joseph said proudly.

"Well, it's fun." Lucien replied while turning the handle vigorously.

"Do you understand its meaning?" Joseph asked again.

Lucien stopped, thought for a moment, nodded and said, "This thing is better than a steam engine!"

After following Joseph for so long, Lucien certainly knew the value of these two machines. When steam engines are used as industrial power to drive machines, they require complex transmission systems, clutch systems and speed change systems. In order to facilitate the arrangement, people had to place multiple steam engines in places that were not actually suitable for steam engines. For example, in a textile workshop, due to fire prevention considerations, there should not be a steam engine, but because the transmission shaft cannot be too long, as a result, the distance between the textile machine and the steam engine will be less than one meter.

Moreover, different machines required different powers and operating speeds. As a result, either one machine was equipped with a steam engine, or each working machine was equipped with a set of clutch and transmission systems.

As a result, the entire machine system will be very complicated. And the more complex the mechanical system, the more expensive and inefficient it is. But the system demonstrated in the lab to transfer power from one machine to another is clearly much simpler and more efficient. Just this one advantage makes it more suitable for use in more places.

"If we widely use this kind of machine to drive our various machines, our various productions will be greatly improved, and the cost will be reduced to an unimaginable level. No one of our opponents can compete with us at all. Competition... well, Joseph, what the hell is going on with this thing?"

"I discovered the law of mutual conversion between electricity and magnetism." Joseph took the glory that should have belonged to Faraday without any blush, "This discovery, in a sense, is almost comparable to Sir Newton's discovery of gravitation On the same level. But I haven’t made this knowledge public yet. The reason is that Mr. Monge’s descriptive geometry has not been made public. The machine you shake can turn external power into electric current. I call it power generation machine, and the machine on the pump side can convert electrical energy into power output, and I call it an electric motor."

"These two things look alike," Lucien said.

"Physically speaking, these two things are actually the same thing. They are mirror images of each other, and each is the reverse process of the other." Joseph said.

"So are there any major problems with the current plan?" Lucien asked.

"Problems? There are problems everywhere." Joseph said, "First of all, the power source. I can't use you as a power source, can I? Using a steam engine is good, but it requires a lot of fuel. The French coal mines are currently not under our control. And there aren't any particularly good coal mines in France at the moment. I've sent quite a few men out to find mines in our newly acquired territories. If God bless France and let us find such a place, we'll need a lot of money to buy them down these places."

"Well, if there is, the expenditure is indeed worthwhile. We really need to make some financial preparations for this." Lucien thought for a while, nodded and said.

"Of course, I still have a backup plan. You know, in the era when there was no steam engine, textile mills had to be arranged along rivers to drive the looms in order to drive the looms." Joseph continued, "So, by Inspired by this, I proposed to build a dam on a river with a large drop to raise the water level, and then use the water flow to impact a water wheel to provide power, drive the generator, and then use wires to guide the electricity to the required on the motor."

"That's not bad!"

"It's good, but the current also has losses in the wires, which means that the machine still can't be too far away from the power plant. In addition, many things in this are only in the laboratory stage, and it needs to be put into practice. I really don't know how much will come out of it Question, how much more is needed. So... well, Lucien, you see why we need a lot of cash right now, don't you?"

Lucien nodded: "It does cost a lot of money, but if it succeeds, it will be worth it. I understand, damn it, there are so many places that need money... That bastard Napoleon, he just started from Austria got that little money!"

The Austrian reparations went to the government, and Napoleon got little from it. When Napoleon swept across the Austrian countryside, although he also attacked the local tyrants, the Austrian local tyrants had long been prepared. Food and other things would not be transported into the city for a while, but gold, silver and jewelry would not be left in the manor. Therefore, the income from beating local tyrants is actually very limited.

"Austria and Italy are still incomparable." Joseph also sighed, "Especially the Pope, what a wonderful person... So now, we can only rely on ourselves to earn as much money as possible. Damn Peace! Well, have the recent relations with the Irish come to anything?"

"They have a desire to buy weapons. But...the Irish have no money." Lucien spread his hands.

It is true that the Irish cannot have a lot of money. Ever since Henry VIII fell out with the Holy See in order to change his wife, and established a separate Anglican Church, the English have oppressed the Irish who insisted on Catholicism in Ireland. After more than a century of oppression, the Irish are already quite poor. .

"The Irish have the same enemy as us," Joseph said. "The war between France and England is still going on. Shouldn't our government support the struggle of the Irish people without compensation? I think the money for the Irish to buy weapons should be paid by the Irish." The government will bear it!"

"That's right!" said Lucien. "Let the government pay us directly, and we'll give the Irish the arms. And then we can tell the government that our ship is on rocks and storms off Ireland, so the government needs to order more." More weapons. Only then can we effectively support the just struggle of the Irish people."