Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Godan quickly stood up and said, “Your Highness, given the current state of our national debt, I think we can issue a batch of ‘special government bonds’.

“A scale of 50 million francs, 10 to 20-year term, with an interest rate of 6% to 8%, should attract many subscribers.”

With the prestige established by France’s defeat of the Anti-French Alliance and France’s current momentum, even though the bonds have relatively low interest rates, they will still attract many investors seeking stable income.

Joseph nodded, “But that is still far from enough.”

Currently, the Industrial Development Fund has only 14 million francs on its books, and with the 50 million in bonds, it’s still far from enough for the massive industrial development plan.

Joseph was well aware that this was still without the trains.

Once the train revolution begins, the enormous investment in laying railroads could almost exhaust the nation’s idle funds.

Just like the early 19th-century United States, for the construction of two railroads, it nearly led to national bankruptcy.

Therefore, it is not only necessary to raise funds for the “Industrial Development Plan” but also to strategically plan for future financing channels to anticipate future funding needs.

As a mature financier, Godan immediately added, “Your Highness, we can also sell stocks in companies such as the United Steam Engine Company and the Paris Pharmaceutical Factory.

“Honestly, the Paris Stock Exchange is not currently playing its rightful role.

“Companies with good profitability like these can attract a large number of investors in a short time.”

Yes, due to France’s strict restrictions on the stock market, the Paris Stock Exchange currently has only seven listed companies, and the public’s enthusiasm for stock market investment isn’t high.

Godan’s words reminded Joseph. Indeed, when it comes to industrial investment, the stock market is undoubtedly the most convenient tool.

Not only the Paris Stock Exchange, but it can also be listed on the Dutch Stock Exchange. Although the Netherlands is a small country, its financial capital dares to challenge the British.

Joseph immediately thought that the Italian nobles also had a large amount of idle funds in their hands.

————————

It’s not finished yet, please refresh and check again in an hour. The author deeply apologizes.

The last time, I will definitely update on time tomorrow!

Scheele (K.W. Scheele, 1742–1786), a famous Swedish chemist of the late 18th century, was one of the earliest discoverers of oxygen. In 1773, Scheele produced relatively pure oxygen by two methods. One was by heating compounds containing oxygen such as potassium nitrate, mercuric oxide, or silver carbonate; the other was by co-heating pyrolusite (main component is manganese dioxide) with concentrated sulfuric acid. He found that when a substance combusted with the gas produced by these two methods, the gas would disappear, thus he called it “fire air”. Scheele was born on December 19, 1742, in southern Sweden. His formal profession was a pharmacist, but he always had a strong interest in chemistry, and he repeated all the experiments from the chemical books of that time at a very early age. He lived a poor life but persisted in conducting a large number of chemical experiments in a poorly equipped laboratory. He later died of asthma on May 21, 1786, at the age of only 44. In his short life, Scheele made many other important inventions and discoveries. For instance, in 1714, he was the first to use manganese dioxide and hydrochloric acid to produce chlorine; in 1781, he discovered tungstenite; in 1782, he was the first to produce ether. Additionally, he was the inventor of the famous green pigment “Scheele’s Green”. The now well-known fact that “ashes contain phosphorus” was also first discovered by Scheele. In recognition of Scheele’s significant contributions to chemistry, the Swedish Academy of Sciences erected a statue of Scheele in Stockholm Square.

Priestley (J. Priestley, 1733–1804), a renowned British chemist of the late 18th century, like Scheele, is considered one of the earliest discoverers of oxygen. On August 1, 1774, Priestley placed mercuric oxide in a specially made glass bottle, heated it with a lens, and found that it quickly released gas. He used water displacement to collect the gas produced and placed candles and mice in it. He found that in this gas, the candle burned vigorously, and the mouse lived longer than in air. He then wrote “Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air”. In this book, he was the first in the scientific community to detail the various properties of oxygen. Although Priestley independently discovered oxygen, he named it “dephlogisticated air” and did not recognize it as an important component of air. Compared to other chemists of his time, Priestley used many new experimental techniques in his research, thus enjoying high academic prestige and was even called the “father of gas chemistry”. He had notable contributions in electronics, theology, and other natural sciences. In recognition of him, a full-length statue of Priestley stands in Leeds, England. The American Chemical Society has a Priestley Medal specifically dedicated to him.

Lavoisier (A.L. Lavoisier, 1743–1794), a French Parisian, is the renowned chemist who overturned the phlogiston theory and established the oxygen theory of combustion. In 1773, Scheele first produced oxygen (he called it “fire air”); in 1774, Priestley also produced oxygen (he called it “dephlogisticated air”). However, neither discovered the important role of this gas in combustion. In 1774, Lavoisier conducted a famous metal calcination experiment and noted the following fact: the mass of the retort flask with the reactant and the retort flask with the product had not changed, but the mass of the metal had increased. From this, Lavoisier analyzed that the increase in mass could only result from the combination of the metal with part of the air in the flask. Later experiments validated his supposition. This led Lavoisier to greatly doubt the phlogiston theory and further propose a new hypothesis: the calx of a metal might be a compound of the metal and air. He attempted to decompose air directly from iron calx but was unsuccessful. Later, inspired by Priestley’s mercuric oxide decomposition experiment, he repeated the experiment successfully and officially named the decompose-generated, combustion-supporting, breathing-aiding gas oxygen (oxygene) in 1777. Through this experiment, Lavoisier finally concluded that the combustion of combustibles or the calcination of metals was not a decomposition reaction but a combination with oxygen, completely debunking the phlogiston theory’s notion of “metal – phlogiston = calx” and instead “metal + oxygen = calx (oxide)”. Between 1772 and 1777, Lavoisier conducted numerous combustion experiments and systematically analyzed each product and residual substance, and presented a report titled “On Combustion” to the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1777. Shortly thereafter, experiments on the synthesis and decomposition of water were also successful, leading to the universal acceptance of the oxygen theory of combustion. The establishment of this theory unraveled the long-mysterious nature of combustion, showing that oxygen is a well-defined, measurable, and collectable gaseous substance. The phlogiston theory was completely debunked, marking the beginning of modern chemistry. Consequently, Lavoisier is praised by posterity as the founder of modern chemistry.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!