Fox of France

"Ah, indeed, there is another business matter. After the fair, if Mr. Watt is free, I would like to invite Mr. Watt to give a lecture at the University of Paris." Joseph said again.

This is also a high hat, and Watt has no reason not to accept it. Then he said:

"The University of Paris is the most famous university in the world. Being able to give lectures in such a university is the biggest dream of my life (of course, this sentence cannot be taken seriously). Even if I don't have time, I will definitely make time. Because What are other things compared to this?"

Joseph said happily: "Mr. Watt, then we have made a deal. Well, this is really great. Oh, yes, Mr. Watt, now that the official business is over, I still have some private matters to discuss with you. "

Watt lifted his spirits as soon as he heard it. He knew that although the previous official affairs were important, the following private affairs might be more real. Today Joseph Bonaparte is, in a sense, an icon of British science. Countless people who are interested in science regard Joseph as their role model. This is not only because he is almost the most outstanding scientist of our time, but also because he is also the most profitable scientist of our time. Everyone knows that this great scientist is the mastermind of the French monster called "Military-Industrial Complex".

Watt himself is a very profitable scientist, but he thinks that in this regard, the gap between him and Joseph is greater than the gap between them in scientific research. Considering the influence of Dean Bonaparte in the economic circle, I am afraid that he also contributed a lot to this "Pakistan Fair". Now that he is talking about "private matters", Watt feels that most of them have something to do with the Pakistani trade fair, or to put it more clearly, it has something to do with money. So of course public affairs are important, but these private affairs are probably more real.

Watt couldn't help leaning forward, and moved his butt from the sofa to Qian:

"Master Bonaparte, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"Ah, Mr. Watt, I know that you and your partner run a company that produces steam engines. And this company has a very extensive cooperation with the Lorraine Iron and Steel Company. Well, Mr. Lavoisier and I are both An investor of Lorraine Steel. Our Lorraine Steel has a problem now, that is, our steel production has encountered a bottleneck.

Mr. Watt, if you have visited the booth of Lorraine Steel today, I believe you must understand that the demand for Lorraine Steel is huge, and we are almost never worried about sales. In fact, a heat of steel is already ordered by our customers when it is still ore and coal. Although our steel plant has been producing at a high speed, the order list often has to be pushed back several months. "

Watt also nodded. The steel they ordered from Lorraine Steel will also take more than a month to be delivered, and now it seems that this is not the last one.

"Why not build more steel plants? Wouldn't this increase production capacity?" Little Bolt, who was accompanying him, couldn't help asking.

"Mr. Boulter, the problem today is not that there are not enough steelmaking furnaces, nor is it that there is not enough mining capacity, but that we cannot transport enough ore to the steelmaking plant." Joseph replied, "Whether it is iron ore or It is impossible for coal mines to rely entirely on water transportation, and to ship them directly into the factory. There is always a way from the wharf to the factory. Moreover, coal mines and iron ore are not all close to rivers. It is quite difficult to transport these things from the mine to the wharf. A long overland journey.

Mr. Bolt, Mr. Watt, you know that the wagons used to transport ore are all heavy-duty wagons, which require a lot of horses and special tracks. The track is not a problem, but the number of horses is a big problem. Moreover, raising a large number of draft horses also requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and the cost is also very high.

So, I have an idea. Your company has a lot of valuable technologies in steam power and transmission. We hope to develop together with your company a transportation technology based on steam power. To put it more clearly, we hope to cooperate with your company to develop a rail transport vehicle powered by steam to replace mine carts pulled by horses.

Mr. Watt, the steam engine has found much use in the propulsion of ships. In principle, it can also be applied to land vehicles. Even if it is only used to transport ore, it is already of great value. There is no more experienced partner in the world in steam power than your company. So we very much hope to cooperate with your company to develop such a steam car. "

Watt has actually seen similar ideas a long time ago. A similar suggestion had been made to him several years ago. But Watt objected to the suggestion at the time. Because Watt, a steam engine expert, objected, the idea came to an end without a problem.

At the time, Watt objected to the idea for no reason other than "I don't think it's a good idea." However, some people believe that Watt objected because if research in this area was carried out at that time, it would not be conducive to their negotiations with John Steed on the purchase of his crankshaft patent. In the end, because Watt's assistant William Murdoch invented a set of contraptions called planetary gears, he successfully bypassed this patent.

But since then, no one has mentioned that suggestion again.

Now, this suggestion has been brought up again. But this time, the person who made the suggestion was no longer an unknown person, so Watt could no longer dismiss him with "I don't think this is a good idea." He thought for a while, and then asked:

"Dean Bonaparte, as far as I know, military-industrial complexes are actually very researched on steam engines. Especially on steam engines for ships. Since they can be used on ships, it is not impossible to use them on steam vehicles."

"Hey, don't mention those guys. Those guys don't know the price of firewood and rice. They use whatever materials are expensive. The things they make are warships used to fight wars, and there are illegal ships that transport those huge profits. Cargo ships can afford them, and recently they have encountered a series of technical difficulties, and they have been parked there and burned my money for two months, but there is still no progress." Joseph complained.

Joseph didn't lie, those guys were indeed burning money every day, and there was almost no progress for more than two months. However, Joseph was not as dissatisfied with this as he expressed, because the slow progress was completely expected. After all, what they are developing now is the true perfect form of the steam engine - the steam turbine. Because of this, they encountered a lot of difficulties during the ***, but this was originally planned.

And even if the research is successful in the end, steam turbines are more suitable for use in ships or power plants rather than trains.

Of course, it's not that Joseph didn't think about skipping the steam engine or even the internal combustion engine and going directly to the electric locomotive, but there are still a lot of skills that haven't been lit up in time, and it's not just the technology that hasn't been lit up, even science, some The place is not lit yet.

So now, the fastest way is to cooperate with Watt to create the most traditional train based on the reciprocating steam engine, which is also full of steampunk and steampunk flavor. Joseph even imagined that one day in the future, the Austrian barbarians invaded the Roman border, and then Napoleon commanded a long steam-powered armored train with riveted armor, multiple carriages, and multiple turrets to plow the barbarians into the courtyard. Sweep hole...

"That's it." Watt thought for a while and asked, "So in this research, how do we distribute our benefits?"

Now comes the most crucial part. Joseph immediately gathered his spirits and began to bargain with Watt on the related distribution of benefits. At the beginning, Watt hoped to exchange various patents in his hand for the technology of steelmaking or cement firing, but of course this delusion was rejected by Joseph without hesitation-this is a completely unequal exchange, I really think Joseph Is it a fool?

Although he was rejected, Watt was not upset. It is normal to be rejected, and if you are not rejected, you have earned it. Then he made a new proposal and asked for the exclusive rights of Fortress Cement in the UK...

Everyone discussed heatedly there all night, until the sun rose from the east, and a framework agreement was barely reached. Watt and the others used technologies such as steam engines and planetary gears in exchange for the exclusive agency rights of Fortress Cement in the UK, and Lorraine Steel priority purchase rights.

At the same time, if every steam locomotive produced by the military-industrial complex is not used for its own use but is sold in the market, Watt and the others need to pay another three hundred pounds for the patent fee for each locomotive sold.

Finally, when Joseph left the villa where Watt and the others temporarily lived in the sunlight, he couldn't help complaining: "This old man Watt is not cute at all. Mr. Lavoisier is better..."

However, although Watt was much more cunning than Lavoisier, to be honest, Joseph did not suffer. Because he successfully concealed his real goal, with a relatively small price, he obtained a really key patent: the patent of the planetary gear.

Whether it is Watt, the owner of the patent, or William Murdoch, the inventor of the technology, the significance of the planetary gear is underestimated. In their view, this thing is mainly used to bypass the crankshaft patent. But Joseph knew that this thing was the key to the vital shifting system in many future machines.

Therefore, although he was annoyed at not being able to easily take advantage of Mr. Lavoisier, in fact, Joseph was not the one who suffered.