Naval Research Institute

The shortage of nitrates was alleviated, and on Peat Day of the Nivôse in the Republican Calendar (the Republican Calendar does not correspond one-to-one with the usual calendar. Its months have fewer days—somewhat like the China lunar calendar—so that there are only 360 days in twelve months, with the extra five days used for national celebrations. Moreover, the start time of each month in its calendar is different from that in the usual calendar), that is, December 21, large quantities of nitrates were discovered in the Touraine region of France.

Calling it a discovery isn't entirely accurate. The existence of nitrates in Touraine was already known and documented when France was still a kingdom. It's just that the France didn't consider it a significant resource at the time.

Compared to saltpeter from India or Turkey, the quality of Touraine's saltpeter clay was quite poor. India and Turkey saltpeter only required slight purification before use; in fact, if it was only used to manufacture brown powder for bullets and shells, it could be used without purification. However, Touraine's saltpeter clay required extensive purification before it could be used. This significantly increased production costs. Therefore, during the Kingdom era, when they had saltpeter supplies from long-term allies, the France were foolish enough to mine Touraine's saltpeter clay. Over time, they simply forgot that Touraine had it.

It wasn't until recently that someone rediscovered the nitrate soil of Touraine while collecting wines from Touraine.

Nowadays, the Committee of Public Safety, which wouldn't overlook even the smallest resources, including toilets and pigsties, certainly wouldn't complain about the poor quality or high cost of mining and refining nitrates. Moreover, the Touraine region has convenient transportation, so the Committee of Public Safety designated twenty-eight areas in Paris for the construction of nitrate refining plants.

Even so, relying solely on Touraine's nitrates was insufficient to equip the entire France army of one million with large quantities of "Little Melon." Moreover, the rush to produce led to various accidents at the Touraine mines and the Paris refineries. As a result, production increases were actually slowed down.

"Having nitrate ore is good news! But the bad news is that our enemy is gradually reorganizing, and our current production rate is still not fast enough. Moreover, without enough caustic soda, 'Republic No. 1 Explosive' explosives still cannot be mass-produced." Carnot said to Joseph, who was reporting to him, "Joseph, do you know anything about shipbuilding?"

"What?" Joseph was taken aback. "Lazar, I was born by the sea, but I've never actually built a ship."

"I see, I was just grasping at straws in my desperation. Well, I had this idea because you published an article a while ago about how to calculate fluid resistance mathematically, right?"

"Yes, but that was a year ago," Joseph said.

"Has there been any new developments in this research?"

"No, this research was put on hold long ago. First came the war, then we were working on explosives. Who had time for this kind of purely academic stuff?"

"Damn it!" Carnot said. "We still have to smuggle our caustic soda. Foreign smugglers charge too much, and even if we smuggle it ourselves, it's not cheap, because it's easy to get caught along with the boat. So we need a fast boat, preferably faster than any of the Britain or Spain ships! Hmm...hmm? What could you possibly be doing these days? Damn it! Isn't Lavoisier in charge of the explosives? Hmm, find some people, get in charge, and see if you can build a faster boat. As long as it's fast, all other performance aspects can be sacrificed!"

"Yes, Lazar, I understand what you mean." Joseph nodded. "I'll give you a list tomorrow, including the personnel and supplies needed."

"Personnel are fine, but supplies..." Carnot said, "Let's try to be as economical as possible."

Joseph had a memory of a ship that was relatively suitable for Carnot's requirements: the last of the sailing transport ships—the clipper ship. In his previous life, Joseph had helped his son build a model of a clipper ship, so he had some knowledge of this type of ship that had once competed with early steam-powered freighters on the Atlantic Ocean.

Joseph stood up, ready to say goodbye and leave. But then he suddenly remembered something. "Ah, Carnot, is there enough timber for shipbuilding? We've been keeping an eye on it, but others have used it for other things."

"You should come up with the list first!" Carnot said impatiently.

Carnot was helpless, as Robespierre and his men had forced all the France sailors to engage in smuggling. Carnot felt that the large number of sailors lost was too painful to bear. Sailors were not like infantrymen; they couldn't be easily recruited from the countryside for a few Livre.

But Robespierre stated that unless Carnot comes up with some new solution, if Carnot needs money, then they really don't have any.

Joseph returned to the institute, spent two days developing a plan, and then went to Carnot's office again.

After closing the doors and windows, Joseph handed his proposal to Carnot.

"Lazar, look, this is the basic plan," Joseph said.

"Ah, let me see..." Carnot began to examine it seriously.

Joseph circled around him. "Lazar, where's your coffee?"

"That's all, supplies are tight," Carnot said without even looking up.

"Sigh... I was even planning to take some back with me."

"You've already been given a generous ration... Nowadays, apart from researchers, no one else is even allowed coffee."

"Damn it, Lavoisier took all my stuff. I thought I could salvage something from you..."

"Okay, drink your water, I'm busy!"

After a while, Carnot put down the documents in his hand.

"How about it?"

"The idea is alright... but Joseph, we're friends... don't you think your plan requires too much money?"

"What? I want more money. Lazar, let's speak from the heart." Joseph immediately widened his eyes and retorted, spittle flying everywhere, "Look, which of our plans is unnecessary? Which item wasn't calculated based on the best cost-effectiveness? Hmm... the relevant calculations are in the attachment, have you seen them?"

"I saw it, of course I saw it."

"Is there something wrong with my calculation? How could I possibly get such a simple math problem wrong?"

"Of course that's true, but..."

"If there's nothing wrong, then what's the problem?"

"The only problem is...we don't have that much money," Carnot said.

"Then can we relax the requirements regarding the schedule?"

"This... how is this possible? Joseph, stop haggling, okay?"

"Tsk tsk... Lazar, you're asking for the horse to run but not to eat it! We're scientists, we have to be scientific! You can't expect me to say there's a new technology and suddenly it's there. I'm not God! Technology takes time and money. Understand, Lazar?!"

"Alright, alright..." Carnot made a retreating gesture, but then added, "But Joseph, when we talk about science, we should also know how much a brilliant scientist can contribute to scientific research. They can significantly reduce the time needed for scientific progress and save a lot of money. Joseph, I think you are such a brilliant scientist, and you may even become a great scientist in the future. But look at your plan, you're completely treating yourself like an ordinary researcher. That won't do. I think with your abilities, the progress and costs should be reduced by at least half!"

"Don't you understand science!" Joseph immediately retorted. "Scientific matters are sometimes inexplicable; there's a huge element of luck involved. Take Archimedes, for example. If the servant who prepared his bath hadn't filled it with too much water, how long do you think it would have taken him to discover the law of buoyancy? How can you say something like 'half the price'? If Robespierre and the others believe your nonsense, and then I'm unlucky enough to run out of money and still haven't developed the technology, how many people do you think will accuse me of slacking off or even deliberately sabotaging the project?"

"Ah... ah... I understand..." Carnot burst into laughter. "Joseph, you really are... you're so cautious, hahaha... well, don't worry, if things go wrong, I'll cover for you."

"Bullshit! You take on everything? Who do you think you are? Atlas? (The Titan god who held up the sky in Greece mythology) Do you really need to take on this kind of thing?" Joseph said with a face full of disdain. "Just throw this plan at them and put the pressure on them first!"

"Then they'll definitely back down. Because they really don't have that much money left."

"Back then, you would say, 'This plan can be divided into phases. First, verify the most crucial and most likely successful solution. If it succeeds, then we can reduce the cost by half. If it fails... well, they've already reviewed, discussed, and approved the solution, so we have no responsibility, understand?'"

Carnot was stunned. After a moment, he nodded and said, "That's good, let's do it this way! Hmm, where do you think would be a good place to put the new shipyard?"

"It's better to keep them in the Mediterranean Sea. Spain is one of our smuggling targets anyway. Besides, our envisioned ships emphasize speed, which will definitely affect other performance aspects, including some navigational capabilities. Using these things in the Mediterranean Sea is relatively safer."

A day later, at a meeting of the Committee of Public Safety, Carnot berated all the misers, including Robespierre, and finally got the Committee of Public Safety to approve the new research plan. Immediately afterwards, Joseph received orders to go to Toulon to establish the "Naval Technology Division of the Military Technology Research Institute."