The Brilliance of Lightning

Just as Napoleon launched his attack on the Prussia army, Joseph, who had already returned to Paris, went to the Ministry of War to return the position of commander of the Army of the North to Carnot. He then had a long talk with Carnot before leaving Paris and heading south by carriage.

When news of Joseph's gunshot wound first broke, a group of researchers, led by Lavoisier, fled Paris for the south. This event was used to fuel the false rumor of Joseph's injury, and many believed it to be a sign that Paris was about to fall and that the "Military-Industrial Consortium" was making a preemptive retreat.

Although Science and Pravda pretended to vehemently deny the rumors at the time, claiming that these personnel transfers were normal "work needs," almost no one believed it. Even Science Truth Daily's own reporters and editors didn't believe it, and there was even a large number of reporters and editors taking leave within the Science Truth Daily's editorial department.

However, while everyone, including those within Science Truth Daily itself, thought they were lying, Science Truth Daily's reports were actually telling the truth—that the technicians, including Lavoisier, went to the south of France for legitimate "work needs."

Many years later, the famous France writer Alexander Dumas quoted one of the confidantes of the Imperial Inspector Lucien Bonaparte in one of his novels: Once, while drinking with Lucien and some of Lucien other girlfriends, she raised this question, "Tell me, what is the most skillful swindler in this world like?"

Then the women burst into laughter, and one by one they began to describe Lucien as "the world's biggest liar who never tells a word of truth."

Finally, Lucien laughed heartily and replied, "You women, how could you possibly know what a truly skillful liar looks like? What you're describing is merely a petty liar, not a true master liar. A real master liar doesn't need to lie. He only speaks the truth, but when he needs you to believe, you certainly will; when he doesn't need your belief, he instantly transforms into a Cassandra (Troy princess, a priestess of Apollo, who was cursed by Apollo for refusing Apollo advances: she possessed the ability to foresee the future, but no one would ever believe her prophecies). The more he emphasizes its truth, the more you'll believe he's a fraud. And when the truth is revealed, you'll find him utterly honest and reliable."

So everyone laughed at Lucien, saying he was making things up. Only young Miss Marguerite said, "Good heavens, isn't this just like the * Science Truth Daily *?"

"Always tell the truth, and cleverly use the truth to deceive people." This is said to be one of the most important principles of the Science Truth Daily.

Lavoisier and his team went south because a major project that Joseph was supposed to be overseeing was now at its most critical stage: the Pauline Hydroelectric Station, a core component of Zeus Plan.

The Pauline Hydroelectric Station is a hydroelectric power station built on a tributary of the Rhône River. This is an obscure tributary that originates on the Alps on the border between France and Italy, flows westward into the Rhône River, and then into the Mediterranean Sea. This small river—or more accurately, a stream—has a limited flow and a large drop, and flows through mostly mountains and valleys, making it unsuitable for navigation or irrigation. So the locals didn't even bother to give it a name.

However, this stream perfectly suited Joseph's needs: a significant drop and a short distance from the road. He chose it as the site for his first hydroelectric power station. A year earlier, engineers and workers had completed the damming of the stream in a valley, creating a small, scenic artificial lake. Joseph had even visited the lake with his family and named it after his sister, Pauline.

Now, after a year of construction, the world's first hydroelectric generator unit has finally been assembled. A supporting artillery factory has also been built in a small, flat basin not far away. It's time for trial production and power generation. Therefore, Joseph needs to go and oversee this epoch-making feat.

In fact, before Joseph arrived, Lavoisier, who was in charge of the work there, had already conducted dozens of "trial runs," resolving several unforeseen technical flaws in the process. Even the supporting artillery factory had produced a considerable number of "prototypes." After all, according to the original plan, the power station should have started generating electricity long ago, but Joseph was stuck in Verdun. He couldn't possibly stop the entire testing process to wait for him alone, could he? Doing so would be a waste of money!

However, presiding over the commissioning of the world's first power plant was a groundbreaking feat, an act destined to be recorded in history. Therefore, Joseph stipulated: all your power generation can only be called small tests, only my power generation can be called formal power generation!

Thus, after generating electricity for more than half a month and ten consecutive days, the "Pauline Hydroelectric Station" finally ushered in the day of "official power generation".

The day before the official power generation ceremony, the "Polina Hydroelectric Power Station" completed its last long "trial power generation" and then spent a whole day carefully inspecting it from top to bottom, replacing all the damaged or potentially damaged parts with new ones, and then waiting for Joseph's arrival.

Since the hydroelectric power station is called "Pauline Hydroelectric Station," the Toulon Saintess naturally had to participate. And since Pauline could come out to play, her other younger siblings naturally had to come out to play too. With so many younger siblings of all ages coming, their mother naturally had to come as well. So, the Bonaparte Family, except for Napoleon who was still at war and Lucien who was still in Paris, all came here.

At 9:00 AM, the "Official Commencement and Power Generation Ceremony" officially began. On the already erected platform, Joseph delivered a speech. He first thanked the workers of the "Military-Industrial Complex" for their hard work, then highly praised the great significance of this work, and then...

Finally, it was 11:30, and Joseph's speech ended on time as planned. According to the plan, Pauline would turn on the power switch, and then the entire generator set would start running, after which everyone could have dinner.

Pauline turned on the switch, but the electric water pump next to her didn't move.

This is normal, because the switch Pauline pushed was just symbolic. In fact, for safety reasons, the switch wasn't connected to any wiring at all; the wires at both ends of the switch were grounded. This means that whether the switch Pauline pushed it or not, there would be no current flowing through it.

However, it's still unreasonable for the electric pump not to move. Because before Pauline closed the fake switch, the power plant was already running. When Pauline closed that switch, someone else should have pushed up a real switch, and then the electric pump would have started running.

But perhaps because Joseph's speech was too long, and the weather was fine and sunny, making it a perfect time to take a nap, the worker responsible for turning on the real power switch actually fell asleep.

Pauline knew that if she pushed the switch, the water pumps on both sides would spray water, creating a water gate on either side of the platform. However, after pushing the switch, nothing happened. Pauline didn't know that she had only pushed a fake switch; Joseph felt that such details didn't need to be told to her.

Pauline froze, and after a long while, she finally came to her senses and hesitantly pulled the switch back on, wanting to start over. However, just as she pulled the switch back on, the guy who had been dozing off over there realized what was happening and quickly pushed the real switch back on, and then water gushed out.

"So the circuit breaker needs to be pushed up and then pulled down to work? That's different from what Joseph told me." Pauline was stunned again.

Electric water pumps are certainly useful for irrigation and agriculture, but electricity has an even greater role in industrial production. In a nearby arsenal, an electric drill started turning, and the first batch of 12-pound cannon barrels for "official production" were being drilled.

In addition to electric drills, there are other electric equipment such as electric forging hammers. The use of these devices has greatly increased the production efficiency of this artillery factory. According to calculations, after fully switching to electricity, the factory's production capacity is expected to increase to five to ten times its original level.

This is just the beginning. The application of electricity is not limited to the military industry; almost all enterprises and all production can benefit from it, whether it is heavy industry or light industry. Just as Joseph said in his lengthy speech, the realization of Zeus Plan will completely change this era.

On the very day the Pauline Hydroelectric Station began generating electricity, Napoleon launched an attack on the Anglo-Prussian Allied Forces in Hanover. At the cost of two thousand casualties, he once again routed the Anglo-Prussian Allied Forces. Marshal von Mollendorf, the commander of the Allied forces, was killed instantly by shrapnel fired from artillery during the battle. The 100,000-strong Anglo-Prussian Allied Forces suffered a complete rout, with countless deaths and injuries, and the French Army successfully occupied Hanover.

After a brief stop in Hanover, Napoleon continued his advance and ten days later, his army was at the gates of Berlin. By this time, Prussia had no troops left to mobilize, so King Frederick William III left envoys to continue suing for peace with Napoleon while retreating towards Borombell.