Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Mirabeau had begun drafting coal and iron extraction plans for Rhineland upon France’s initial control, per the Crown Prince’s request, and has revised them multiple times by now.

He immediately bowed and said, “Your Highness, the Cologne coal mine has completed share offerings and can commence production at any time. The supporting cleaning, crushing, and transportation equipment has already been procured ahead of time.

“However, Aachen’s coal mine and Hunsrück Mountain’s iron mine have not received sufficient investment, and cannot be extracted in the short term.

“Especially the iron mine. Most domestic investors have chosen to set up ironworks in the Walloon Region or Luxembourg, causing the Palatinate iron mine to have only secured 22% of its shares.”

Joseph couldn’t help but frown slightly.

He had anticipated the possibility of inadequate investment, given that it is a large coal and iron deposit adjacent to the Ruhr District, second in scale only to Westphalia, and the funds needed for extraction are very substantial. But to have only secured one-fifth of the investment is indeed too little.

Mirabeau hurriedly explained, “Your Highness, our country has already put into operation a large number of coal and iron mines in the Walloon and Alsace-Lorraine areas, which has led to coal and iron prices being relatively low, and investors generally do not see profitability in the coal and iron mines in Rhineland.”

Joseph nodded slightly.

It seems that even though we have integrated the Italian and Southern German markets, the coal and iron output from Walloon Region and Alsace-Lorraine alone has already nearly saturated the consumption market before the railroad industry, which consumes substantial iron, is operational.

This is even without thorough extraction in the aforementioned areas.

But he clearly understood that once breakthroughs are made in high-power steam engines, trains can quickly be developed. Then, trains will be built and tracks laid worldwide, consuming any available coal and iron output.

And according to the development progress at the French United Steam Engine Company, the introduction of steam engines over 100 horsepower is merely a matter of the next couple of years.

If the expansion of coal and iron production is left until then, it will not only impede the progress of railroad construction but also cost significantly more than it does now—entering into the train era will undoubtedly lead to a steep increase in prices for all tools, equipment, and even manpower related to coal and iron.

Investing in building factories now and carrying out small-scale production, so that the capacity can be ramped up precisely when necessary, is definitely the best strategy.

Therefore, the current issue focuses on how to solve the saturation in the coal and iron market.

Joseph recalled related cases from later generations and said slowly:

“In that case, we should find ways to increase demand.

“We can plan to build several new iron bridges on the Seine and Loire Rivers.”

Infrastructure has always been a national-level means to stimulate production.

Steel bridges are cutting-edge technology in this era, but over a decade ago, England successfully built the Severn River iron bridge, proving the feasibility of such an engineering project.

Iron bridges outperform traditional wooden bridges in traffic capacity and load-bearing capacity by a large margin, and the construction speed is much faster than stone bridges; they’re an inevitable step in the technology tree.

It is perfectly timed to build a batch of iron bridges while the current price of iron is relatively low, and also familiarize with the engineering technology.

Additionally, steel bridges are visually impressive, and are likely to become new landmark buildings, enhancing France’s soft power.

Mirabeau hastily noted this in his notebook, then softly asked, “Your Highness, what about the funds for building these bridges?”

“The Bank of France Reserve will provide a small portion of the loans to launch the project, then raise funds locally where the bridges are located,” Joseph promptly offered a mature infrastructure plan from later times, “and then repay using the bridge toll.”

As long as the bridge locations are chosen properly, people will surely be willing to pay a small toll to cross the bridge, at least compared to the cost of taking a boat.

Mirabeau and Brian shared a glance and both nodded slightly. The Crown Prince’s proposed model seems simple yet highly operable, and both were greatly impressed.

Yet, the Crown Prince has had so many such ingenious ideas before that they’re already accustomed to it, quickly directing their attention back to the Crown Prince.

Joseph contemplated and continued, “The steam engine market in Italy is very large as well. We can, following the domestic model, cooperate with the Italian Bank to provide loans to Italian rural areas for purchasing water pumps.

“Even farm tools can be bought on credit. Plows and hoes made in Lorraine are of much better quality than local Italian products, so there should be a significant demand.

“Oh, and coal. Hard coal produced in Rhineland can be used as a daily heating fuel for domestic sales.”

Hard coal refers to anthracite.

France has no domestic anthracite mines, causing people to rely on firewood for daily heating and cooking.

Previously, the British coal industry dominated Europe largely because they had anthracite, which common people could use extensively in daily life, thus forming a production and sales virtuous cycle.

Now that France also has anthracite sources, it’s certainly essential to guide domestic people into consuming coal.

Mentioning using coal for heating and cooking, Joseph immediately thought of another “magic tool”—briquettes.

He casually drew a sketch on paper and showed it to Mirabeau: “Crush the coal and mix it with water and clay, then press it into this shape.

“Once dried, it becomes ‘briquette coal,’ suitable for household heating. Place a bread oven on top and it can be used to bake bread, very convenient.

“Oh, this coal also requires a specialized stove.

“I will provide the stove design to you later. The ironworks can immediately start casting them, and their sales can increase significantly.”

Mirabeau nodded somewhat cluelessly.

He hadn’t realized what a powerful invention the Crown Prince drew.

The convenience and ease of use of briquette coal stoves will quickly become popular nationwide, sparking a consumer frenzy.

Joseph put down his pen, feeling that there’s no other area to expand coal and iron demand into, then thought, although the demand market is only so large, attempts can be made to seize the market space of competitors.

The largest competitor in coal and iron production is naturally England.

To be precise, currently the largest coal and iron producing country is England. At least until the production capacities in the Walloon Region and Rhineland are ramped up, France cannot yet shake England’s coal and iron supremacy.

Therefore, it can only surpass English goods in terms of price and quality.

Coal quality cannot be changed, but steel quality can be.

Joseph had previously learned at the ironworks that the mainstream steel production technology is still the Bessemer process invented by the British, with the most being enhanced by the “stirring method.”

Perhaps the technicians at the ironworks could attempt to try converter steelmaking.

Although Joseph only remembers the general principle of converter steelmaking, given that France has so many ironworks, competent technicians can certainly be found to implement this technology.

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