The Paris Trade Fair and How Wonders Ruin Nations
"A model? What do you mean?" Napoleon asked.
"I saw the report about that adorable 'madman'," Joseph said. "It provided enough information. Hmm, it floats underwater at a certain depth, and explodes upon impact... Heh, after reading that description, I roughly know what it is. It's very simple; apart from the idea, there's nothing difficult about it. And the idea is directly reflected in its shape. Anyone who knows what it is will understand just by looking at its appearance. Or, do you have a pen and paper here? I can draw one for you right now."
Napoleon then took out a piece of paper and handed him a charcoal pencil for sketching. Joseph took the pencil and paper, and with a couple of quick strokes, drew a rough sketch.
"It's really ugly!" Napoleon frowned. "When it comes to painting, Lucien is far superior to you. Besides, this thing is ugly enough."
"Napoleon, look, this thing has an anchor chain at the bottom. To keep it submerged at a certain depth in the water, you just need to adjust the length of the anchor chain. The sphere itself is a buoy filled with explosives, and these tentacle-like protrusions are the trigger fuses. Hmm, these fuses are quite simple."
"Quite simple?" Napoleon said. "I remember not long ago you indefinitely postponed the development of the trigger fuse because of the difficulties and poor reliability it faced. Now you're saying the trigger fuse is simple?"
"That's because what we just delayed was the trigger fuse for the shell. Can these two things be the same thing? If this kind of trigger fuse were placed inside the shell, the acceleration during firing alone would be enough to make it explode inside the barrel. Can these be the same thing? I can draw a trigger fuse of this kind in less than a minute."
"Look, this tentacle. Its outer shell is made of lead, which is relatively soft and will bend and deform under a strong impact. Inside the tentacle is a glass bottle filled with sulfuric acid. Below the bottle is a battery without electrolyte, its positive and negative terminals connected to an electric detonator. When the tentacle is impacted, the lead shell bends and deforms, the glass bottle shatters, the sulfuric acid leaks out, the battery generates a current, the current drives the electric detonator, and then an explosion occurs—it's that simple."
Napoleon wasn't surprised that Joseph could come up with such a seemingly flawless solution so quickly. He knew that the Military-Industrial Consortium's research institutes had previously conducted some feasibility studies on the trigger fuse. Although these studies hadn't continued, a series of problematic designs must have been rejected in the process. The fuse design Joseph had sketched out in just a few strokes was likely one of those rejected designs, perhaps with slight modifications.
"Alright, get someone to make that model as soon as possible, and then we'll figure out a way to let the Britain spies see it..." Napoleon said.
"Why go through all that trouble?" Joseph said. "Isn't the Ministry of Foreign Trade organizing the first Paris Import-Export Trade Fair? Just take it there and display it alongside other weapons for sale."
"Hmm, that's a good idea," Napoleon said. "Hopefully, this will calm the Britain down a bit."
"Napoleon," Joseph said, looking at Napoleon in surprise, "I thought you would be very much looking forward to a war."
"War is merely a means to an end, not an end in itself," Napoleon said. "As long as peace brings us glory, I am not necessarily particularly fond of war."
Of course, although Napoleon said this, Joseph knew that Napoleon's current love of peace was entirely due to last year's bumper Napoleon, which had given him wider support among the peasants. And if peace continued this year, with the improvement of the irrigation system, another bumper harvest was entirely expected.
A bountiful harvest improved the lives of farmers and provided urban workers with more and cheaper bread, which was bound to further boost his approval ratings. In France today, more and more people are shouting "Long live Napoleon!" to him. As long as this trend continues, how could Napoleon not love peace?
The Paris Import-Export Trade Fair, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, had been in preparation for several months, with its venue chosen on the outskirts of Paris, on the road to Versailles. This area originally belonged to the nobility, but was confiscated by the revolutionary government during the revolution.
In the original history, in order to become emperor, Napoleon attempted to compromise with these old nobles, allowing them to return home and returning some of their property. However, in this timeline, Napoleon's approach did not require compromise with these people at all, so these lands remained public lands owned by the government.
Napoleon sold those lands at low prices to retired soldiers to gain control over the countryside. Meanwhile, much more land in the area was reserved for future facilities of the "Roman Empire." The site of today's Paris Import-Export Trade Fair was the location of the Civic Square that Napoleon had prepared for the future "Roman Empire."
Just a few months ago, this place was a wasteland. But the introduction of two new technologies has rapidly changed the environment.
The first technology is cement.
Cement technology was not first developed by the France. In 1756, Britain engineer J. Smeaton, while studying the properties of certain limes hardening in water, discovered that to obtain hydraulic lime, limestone containing clay must be burned; and the ideal composition for masonry mortar used in underwater construction was a mixture of hydraulic lime and volcanic ash.
Building on this, in 1796, the Britain J. Parker produced so-called "Rome cement" by firing marl. However, due to the high requirements for marl, it was not widely used.
It wasn't until 1824, when the Britain Joseph Asptin produced what is known as Portland cement (also called silicate cement) using limestone and clay, that cement gained widespread use.
However, now that Joseph is determined to be hated by future generations of students, cement, a technology with limited technical content but a wide range of uses and enormous effects, should naturally be introduced first in France.
Napoleon also had a great fondness for cement, because it could not only be used to build sturdy fortresses, but also to quickly construct wonders at a very low cost.
Every single one of those self-proclaimed "great rulers" or "famous tyrants" with a touch of adolescent angst is a spectacle enthusiast. This transcends race, age, and cultural boundaries. From Khufu of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon; from the Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty to the disastrously incompetent rulers of the Sui Dynasty; from Suryavarman II of the Angkor Empire to Shah Jahan of India —all were enthusiasts of wonders. And, to varying degrees, they all validated the later "famous saying": Your Majesty, wonders ruin a nation!
Although Napoleon was also very fond of wonders, his familiarity with history made him aware of the rule that "wonder can ruin a country." Therefore, he always tried hard to restrain his desire to "let's build a wonder."
During his wars against Britain, Prussia, and Austria, Napoleon captured a considerable number of cannons. He envisioned emulating the Rhodes Napoleon melting down captured enemy weapons and building a spectacle (in the original history, this became the Napoleon Column). However, this idea was ruthlessly thwarted by his elder brother. The captured enemy weapons were indeed melted down, but they were turned into electrical wires or other similar materials.
However, the advent of cement allowed Napoleon to see once again the possibility of building wonders, and at a very low cost. Just think about it: the wonders of Rome were built with huge stones, each of which had to be quarried, cut, transported, and stacked, requiring an unimaginable amount of manpower and resources. But if cement were used instead, it would be much simpler.
The second technology was, of course, steel. With steelmaking came steel bars. And with cement came reinforced concrete. Because the first steel plant was doing very well, the Lorraine Steel Company's second steel plant quickly went into production. Then, as long as the funding kept up, there were a third and a fourth steel plant.
After Joseph and Napoleon mentioned the advantages of reinforced concrete construction technology, Napoleon's dream of building wonders, which had temporarily died, began to rekindle. However, Joseph kept emphasizing that steel could make money and should be used where it could make money, which temporarily suppressed Napoleon's idea of building wonders.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Trade's plan for the Paris Import-Export Trade Fair finally gave Napoleon a legitimate opportunity to create a spectacle.
Napoleon personally spearheaded the project, bringing together a group of artists and architects to design a grand market brimming with Rome style. Without reinforced concrete, Napoleon estimated that the project would have taken decades to complete, but with these materials, he calculated that if the supply of materials could keep up, the first phase could be finished in just a few months. Of course, more importantly, the construction of this grand market received the unanimous approval of Joseph and Lucien.
The first phase of the market is now basically complete, with only some final decorations remaining. The first Paris Import-Export Trade Fair will officially open here in a month.