Major Order from North America

Aside from the Poland order, there aren't many weapons orders yet, especially from the France army. Although Carnot is trying hard to get orders from Joseph and his team, Carnot position is far less powerful than before; he no longer has the final say even on military matters.

However, the original Naval Research Institute, because it was far from Paris and Joseph acted quickly, acquired it before anyone else. As a result, some of the institute's key technologies were not lost. Consequently, at least for now, they are the only ones in all of Europe capable of building clipper ships.

During this period, the advantages of clipper boats in smuggling have become undeniable. Since their introduction, not a single clipper boat has been caught.

Although the clipper ship's carrying capacity was not ideal, after calculating the shorter round-trip time resulting from its higher speed, the conclusion was that this type of cargo ship was actually more efficient than conventional cargo ships of the same size. As a result, more orders for clipper ships poured into Joseph's hands.

Joseph felt deeply that the shipyard attached to the research institute was far from sufficient in terms of production capacity, so the expansion of the shipyard was put on the agenda. However, the shipyard was a large project that required a lot of money, and Joseph did not have enough money on hand.

Of course, at least for now, the Bonaparte Family's financial situation was quite healthy; almost all their businesses were profitable, and Joseph's wealth was steadily increasing. To most people at the time who were accustomed to building up an enterprise slowly over several generations, his pace of making money was already incredibly fast. However, from Joseph's perspective in later years, the speed of expansion was unacceptably slow.

"This era is sorely lacking in reliable financial instruments," Joseph couldn't help but think to himself. Banks in this era could only offer a very limited amount of funds, while the interest rates were outrageously high—20% annually was practically a friendly rate. And what about the average economic growth in this era? Even in peacetime, it might not even reach 1%. Most businesses couldn't support such interest rates. Even though Joseph's business had a good profit margin, having grown accustomed to the interest rates of his future life, he still felt that having such a good project and having to borrow at a 20% interest rate was simply too much of a loss.

If they didn't borrow money, they would have to attract more investors. But that would mean a dispersed shareholding, which Joseph couldn't tolerate either. So, expanding production became a major headache.

"It seems the only option left is to pressure the users." This was the only solution Joseph had for the time being.

Initially, because the clipper boat's performance was excellent, it didn't become widely known. To attract customers, Joseph used installment payments when selling the boats. However, now it seems that this method can be completely changed; well, let's just change it to full payment upfront.

Of course, premium customers can still get certain preferential treatment. For example, Joseph even plans to establish a "Bonaparte Shipping Bank" specifically for providing loans for purchasing ships. Premium customers can get ship purchase loans from him at friendly interest rates.

However, the profits from clipper ships won't last long, because the technology is mostly focused on their external design, making it virtually impossible to keep secret indefinitely. It might not be long before other countries, especially the Britain, master the technology to manufacture clipper ships.

By the end of December, the clipper ship "Black Pearl" had completed a round trip from Marseille to New York in just one month and three days, with an average speed of over ten knots at sea. This round trip speed was more than double that of an ordinary cargo ship, instantly making the ship a legend.

Accompanying the Black Pearl from United States to France were various goods urgently needed by France, as well as several United States.

Upon arriving in Marseille, these United States went straight to the Bonaparte Institute's business development office in Marseille.

The sales office of Bonaparte Institute was quite different from other places. It had a large, L-shaped counter facing the street, displaying various short muskets and related accessories, as well as models of cannons and ships. On the wall behind the counter hung various rifles and strings of Little Melon. Inside the counter, there were usually one or two pretty female clerks and two or three burly men.

Often, when a smuggling boat docks, the merchants on board will leisurely walk over, ask for a few boxes of "Little Melon" and other items, exchange a few jokes with the female shop assistant, then pay decisively and call a few people to pick out the goods and take them aboard the boat.

If the visitor is a big boss buying a boat, a female clerk will lead them to the upstairs meeting room, pour them freshly brewed coffee smuggled from Turkey, and then a manager will come over to discuss things with them at a leisurely pace.

At this moment, the United States walked into the business office and came to the large counter.

"I heard you can order boats here?" asked a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, who was leading the group, in a Bordeaux dialect. He was slightly balding, and his face was dark red, perhaps from frequent sea voyages.

Upon hearing that the customer was a major client intending to order a boat, both female shop assistants stood up.

"Sir, we do indeed accept ship orders, and we can build all kinds of the world's fastest ships. If you have such needs, coming to us is absolutely the right decision. Sir, please come upstairs with us to discuss this in detail."

Two female shop assistants led the France to the upstairs meeting room. One of them poured them coffee, while the other fetched the manager in charge of this type of business, Du Thier.

Du Thié entered the drawing room with a young clerk, and they sat down on the sofa in front of the United States. "Gentlemen," Du Thié said, "I am Du Thié, the manager of the investment department at the Bonaparte Institute. How may I help you?"

The balding middle-aged man glanced at the young Du Thier and said, "I am Stephen Girard, United States trader. We are here from United States, of course, to buy ships—clip ships. I am very interested in these fast merchant ships. If you can meet my requirements, I might buy seven or eight ships at once. But I don't want clippers the size of the current 'Black Pearl.' Ships that size are too limited in their usability; in terms of operating costs, they are only suitable for transporting high-value goods. I need larger clippers, some that can be used to transport ordinary cargo. I wonder how big your clippers can be?"

"Sir, we currently manufacture clipper ships that are slightly larger than the 'Black Pearl.' For example, the 'Flying' class clipper ship has almost twice the cargo capacity of the Black Pearl. I wonder if that meets your needs?" Du Thier asked.

"Only twice the size of the Black Pearl?" Stephen Girard shook his head. "That's still too small. Aren't there any bigger ones? Or can't you build a clipper ship bigger than this?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know the answer to that question, but I think that actually..." Du Thier was trying to figure out how to persuade the United States when the young clerk next to him suddenly interrupted, "We can build even larger clipper ships, even those as big as battleships, without any problem."

Stephen Girard glanced at the clerk with interest and noticed that when the clerk interrupted, Du Thier, as the manager, did not react at all.

"Generally speaking, managers don't like clerks who interrupt during negotiations. But this clerk interrupts at will, and the manager doesn't react at all. It seems this young clerk's identity is not simple."

"Sir, you mean clipper ships can be built very large?" Stephen Girard asked.

"Theoretically, there shouldn't be any problems, at least that's what my brother says. Of course, he's never built such a large clipper ship before, so there might be some technical details that need to be studied. But there shouldn't be any major problems. Well, Joseph said the main problem is that we need money," the young clerk replied.

"Oh, may I ask who your brother is?" Stephen Girard asked.

"Oh, my brother is Joseph Bonaparte —the owner and controller of the Bonaparte Institute, the one who measured the speed of light, and the inventor of the clipper ship and the Little Melon. I am his younger brother, Lucien. It's a pleasure to meet you here."

During this period, Joseph assigned Lucien some social practice tasks, one of which was to go to the investment promotion office and work as a clerk for the manager to gain social experience. It was there that he met Stephen Girard and his group, who were looking to purchase a large clipper boat.

"It's Mr. Bonaparte," Stephen Girard quickly greeted him. "I heard all sorts of stories about your brother when I was in United States. Could you introduce me? I'd like you to talk to your brother about building a large clipper ship."

Lucien thought about it for a moment and felt that there shouldn't be any problem. It wasn't a big secret that clipper ships could be made so big. Moreover, if this United States could really buy seven or eight ships at once, then he would have helped Joseph make a lot of money.

"Well, Joseph should thank me for that," Lucien thought, and replied, "Of course, but you might not know what he's been up to lately. He's been in the lab all day, and I don't know when we'll see him. You might have to wait here for a day or two."

"Thank you. I think the 'Black Pearl' has already saved me a lot of time. Besides, we also need to buy some other things. Waiting a day or two won't be a problem for us."