Fox of France

It was just after New Year's Day in 1800, and the streets of London were still lined with thick, grey, dirty snowdrifts. About nine o'clock in the morning a stagecoach stopped not far from the gates of the Bolton \u0026 Watt Company. A big young man got out of the car with his neck shrunk. Because of the cold, he tightened his slightly smaller thin padded jacket with one hand, while he carried a large suitcase with the other hand. His hands were red from the cold because he was not wearing gloves.

The man looked around and saw the signboard of Bolton-Watt Company, so his face flushed with cold showed a smile like a tiger seeing its prey, and then he carried the suitcase and strode towards Bolton-Watt Go to the door of the company.

Bolton-Watt Company, looking at the name, we know that this is the company of James Watt, the improver of the steam engine and the founder of the first industrial revolution. Of course, Mr. Watt is only the second shareholder of this company. The first shareholder is Bolton, who owns two-thirds of the company's shares including patent rights.

The young man walked to the door of Bolton-Watt Company, and in unproficient English with a heavy accent, he said to the waiter who stood outside the door, who was also dressed in thin clothes and had a red nose from the cold: "I'm here to talk to Bolton Watt. Monsieur, and Mr. Watt are discussing a big deal. We have made an appointment in advance. My name is Grandet."

The waiter looked Grandet up and down suspiciously. This morning there will be a visit from a French rich man who is like Grandet. The waiter knew about this. It's just that before that, he had been staring at the luxury four-wheeled carriages with heaters running by on the road, and he hadn't noticed this person who was walking over with a suitcase at all. Now, this guy who looks even more shabby than himself is really the "French rich man" that Mr. Bolton said?

But since this person said that his surname is Grandet, and the other information he said is also correct. Of course the waiter couldn't turn him away just because he was dressed like a Scottish pauper floating in London. So he hesitated slightly and said: "Mr. Grandet, Mr. Bolton and Mr. Watt are waiting for you, please follow me."

As the waiter spoke, he stretched out his hand to open the door, and at the same time he habitually stretched out his hand to help Grandet get the box.

"Ah, the things in this box are very important and a bit heavy, so I'll take them myself." Grandet declined the waiter's help. He followed the waiter into the company.

Then, led by the waiter, walked up the steps to the second floor. When going up the steps, he stomped the steps so loudly that the waiter couldn't help frowning slightly, and by the way, he labeled the Frenchman a "rough" in his heart.

Grandet followed the waiter to a door, and the waiter knocked gently on the door and said, "Mr. Bolton, Mr. Watt, Mr. Grandet is here."

"Come in." A voice came from inside.

So the waiter opened the door, and as soon as the door opened, a gust of warm wind rushed in. Grandet went in and saw two old men getting up from the sofa to welcome him.

"You are Mr. Grandet? Please sit here. This place is closer to the fireplace and warmer." The older man said.

Grandet carried the suitcase, went to the sofa chair near the fireplace and sat down, putting the suitcase at his feet, while the waiter brought him a cup of black tea and placed it on the small coffee table beside him.

"Thank you." Grandet said, then he picked up the black tea and drank it all in one gulp.

"It warms me up. Damn it, it's so cold here in London. I come out of the hotel and I'm suffocating in the blink of an eye. It's so cold here in winter!"

"London is actually okay, and James' hometown is even colder. But it's better for you southerners, and your hometown is always warm." The elder laughed.

Then he introduced himself and another old man.

"I am Bolton, the boss of the firm, and this is Watt, my partner and friend."

So Grandet also introduced himself to them.

"Grandet, one of the shareholders of Lorraine Steel Company in France. I was dispatched by the company's board of directors, hoping to reach some business cooperation with your company. If this cooperation is happy and we all make a lot of money, we also hope Our friendship can last forever."

The three exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then Bolton asked: "Mr. Grandet, as far as I know, your company is part of the military-industrial complex, which has its own steam engine manufacturer. What makes your company The company intends to cooperate with us instead of Bonaparte Steam Power, which also belongs to the military-industrial complex?"

"There are two main reasons for this," Grandet replied. "The steam engine powered by Bonaparte steam was originally designed for the needs of the sea. As far as I know, they have paid a lot of money to achieve extreme performance. The price. Well, I mean, their machines are very good, but the price is too expensive. And it involves a lot of highly confidential technology."

When Grandet said this, he paused for a moment, and then said: "I believe that the two gentlemen, especially a great scientist like Mr. Watt, must be very interested in the steam engine powered by Bonaparte steam, but even if the two, I guess I haven’t seen the actual steam engine of Bonaparte Steam. To be honest, I haven’t seen it either. But I know that the military-industrial complex has used many methods to increase the boiler pressure of that steam engine to the product you sell about 1.5 times as much as that of a ship, so the ships using it are unmatched in speed. And their machines, under the same horsepower, are smaller and save more coal. You know, the space on the ship is limited, and you can take less With coal, you can bring more cargo, sail at a faster speed, and make more round trips, which in itself brings great profits.

But any improvement comes at a price. As far as I know, this kind of steam engine is much higher than the usual steam engine in terms of manufacturing cost, maintenance cost and maintenance time. Only smuggling ships and the navy, which have extremely high profits or have extremely demanding performance requirements for other reasons, are willing to accept such expensive gadgets. However, the current strategy of Bonaparte Steam Power is still clinging to the thighs of sea demand. They are currently unable to provide us with commonly used steam engines with low operating costs like your company. "

Bolton and Watt glanced at each other. If the news that the Frenchman seemed to say inadvertently was more reliable, then Bonaparte Steam Power was obviously not following the principle of General Dynamics, and it was relatively threatening to their enterprise. It has dropped a lot. Of course, what the Frenchman said may not be all true.

"So what kind of steam engines does your company plan to order from us?" Bolton asked again.

"We now need a special oversized steam engine," said Grandet, "much larger than any one you have ever built before."

"How big will it be?" Watt asked.

"It can be as big as it can be. The best one can be 10,000 horsepower." Grandet said.

Grandet's request shocked Watt a lot: "Mr. Grandet, why do you need such a big steam engine? With all due respect, I really can't think of any kind of work that requires such a large power."

"Generating electricity," said Grandet.

The French already had electric motors and began to use them in large quantities in their rural water conservancy construction, and this caused copper prices to skyrocket throughout Europe, and recently the entire European continent, including France, has replaced copper cannons with iron ones, which The British naturally know this kind of thing. It's just that many things related to electricity are not allowed to be exported because they are set as "military technology" by the French, so the British have only heard about this thing, but have not actually used it.

"With electric motors, what used to be solved with small steam engines can now be solved with electric motors. So now we only need to use one or a group of super large steam engines in the place of power generation. Hmm , at present, generator sets and electric motors are still under technical control, and limited by raw materials, they can only be used in a few limited fields in France, but I think they will be extended to more departments and regions sooner or later Therefore, Mr. Watt, in the not-too-distant future, all small and medium-sized steam engines, except those used on ships, will lose their living space. Therefore, I suggest that your company better prepare in advance and put all its power into super In the development of large-scale steam engines. As the driving force for power generation, super-large steam engines that can work continuously for a long time have a future.”

Speaking of this, Grandet took out a document from the suitcase beside him and handed it to them: "This is our technical requirement for this steam engine."

Watt took the document, lowered his head, and read it carefully. After a while, he raised his head and said with a confused and regretful expression: "Your requirements for performance are too high, and requirements for reliability are even higher, and these two requirements are still in conflict. And The price you gave...Although I don't want to say it, I have to admit that we are not capable of accepting such an order, whether it is technically or costly. Moreover, I am sure that there will be no first order in the world. The two manufacturers can accept such an order. So I suggest that your company should reconsider these requirements."

"What if we could supply you with large quantities of low-cost steel?" Grandet said.