Wonder

As Britain's most important steam engine manufacturer, Boulton - Watt naturally wouldn't miss such a grand event as the Paris Trade Fair. So, upon learning that France would be hosting the fair, they immediately went to the French Embassy and requested a booth. Because of their extensive business dealings with France, they received special consideration and secured a prominent booth inside the exhibition hall. Many other merchants who applied for booths at the same time were only given so-called "semi-open-air" booths.

After paying the deposit for the exhibition, Boulton sent his son, Young Boulton., to France with Watt. Watt was very knowledgeable about all kinds of machinery, but he didn't particularly enjoy doing business with people. This wasn't because Watt didn't understand business—after partnering with Boulton for so many years and doing so much business, how could he not understand? But he preferred to spend his time studying machinery rather than haggling over prices.

It's said that many machines never seen before will be sold at the Pakistan Trade Fair, and Watt is very interested in them, so he definitely wants to go. As for Boulton, the company always needs someone who can make the final decision. Besides, Boulton is getting old, and if he travels far and catches a cold, gets the flu, and then it turns into pneumonia, well, in those days, we were still a long way from inventing ventilators. There's no way that old man Boulton would live to see the day when Britain has ventilators.

But sending Watt alone wouldn't be enough. Once Watt got there and saw all those different kinds of machinery, he wouldn't care about doing business at all. So Boulton sent his son, Young Boulton., with Watt.

The two men, accompanied by a group of assistants and many samples and models, disembarked in Calais. They spent the night at the "Barcelona Trade Fair Exhibitors' Reception Center" in Calais, and then boarded two horse-drawn carriages arranged for them by the reception center, heading towards Paris.

On his way to Paris, Watt saw more electric water pumps and small workshops using electricity. Most of the various small metal products featured in the * London Merchant Journal* were made in these workshops.

"What secrets do electric motors and generators hold? I really want to see," Watt said to Young Boulton inside the carriage.

"Yes, but the France are very strict about this. These things are basically not allowed to be sold abroad," Young Boulton said, lowering his voice. "A friend of mine told me that the Navy managed to steal an electric motor from here, and quite a few people died because of it..."

"What happened next?" Watt asked.

"After we stole the sample, we first tried connecting it to a battery, but we discovered it had three wires. No matter which two we connected, the motor wouldn't turn. Then, during disassembly, the motor exploded, killing several more people. Now, all we know is that it seems to contain many varnished copper wires wound in some special way. As for why it moves, or how it moves, we have no idea. It's said that the Admiralty and University of Cambridge are working hard on it, but it seems there haven't been any results yet."

"Oh," Watt responded, then added, "Actually, I don't think there's anything wrong with using a small steam engine."

As a businessman who held a large number of steam engine patents, he naturally disliked the heresy of electric motors. Unfortunately, his understanding of electric motors was still too limited to find a compelling reason to attack them. However, Watt was still pleased to know that the Admiralty had made little progress on this issue.

A few days later, Watt and his team arrived in Paris.

Watt's first impression of Paris was its cleanliness. In that era, major Europe cities were generally very dirty, and Paris was no exception. At that time, Europe city residents would even throw excrement directly onto the streets, and over time, the streets became taller than the buildings on either side. As for the smell and the dust, you can imagine for yourself.

The situation changed somewhat after the revolution. Due to the shortage of nitrates caused by the blockade, the revolutionary government also regarded human excrement as an important strategic resource (which could be used to produce nitrates) and forcibly requisitioned these strategic resources in Paris. As a result, dumping excrement and urine directly into the streets became illegal and even criminal (during Robespierre's time).

By the time Napoleon came to power, the problem of saltpeter had been largely solved, but the system of collecting this strategic resource was preserved, albeit for composting. In addition, in order to pave the way for the future creation of the "Roman Empire," the Ministry of Truth had been using various methods to exaggerate the level of civilization of the Roman Empire, piling up reliable, unreliable, and even unfounded ideas on the Roman Empire.

Later, after radio technology was invented, someone made up this joke: One day, Lucien received a report that an archaeological team had discovered copper wire at a Rome site. Lucien was overjoyed, saying, "Great Rome, they've started using electricity!" However, when he rushed to the site, he discovered it was a misunderstanding; the object wasn't copper wire at all. Lucien became even more excited, saying, "Great Rome, they're already using radio!"

One aspect of the Ministry of Truth's boasting about Rome was Rome public health. Thus, as part of the revival of the "Rome spirit," public health was elevated to a very important level. After the discovery of pathogens, this issue received even greater attention. Napoleon seized the opportunity to promote the so-called Paris reformation, calling on the people of Paris to spend half a day each week doing voluntary labor to clean up piles of garbage. The First Consul even personally participated in the voluntary labor every week, shovel in hand, and whenever this happened, shouts of "Long live Napoleon!" would resound throughout the city.

The relatively clean and tidy streets were Watt's first impression of Paris. Watt soon noticed another difference between Paris and London: Paris had far fewer chimneys, even in the industrial areas.

"It must be that damned electric motor." Although the air in Paris, with its little coal smoke, was noticeably sweeter than in London, both Watt Young Boulton now wished they could burn the electric heretics to death, just as the Britain had burned Joan of Arc.

After spending two nights in Paris, Watt visited the University of Paris of University of Paris on the second day, where he chatted with Lavoisier, who happened to be there, about some scientific matters. Watt also very much wanted to meet another great France scientist, Joseph Bonaparte, but Lavoisier told him that Joseph was not in Paris at the time, and that he seemed to have gone south.

"It's probably related to electricity. But he'll be back as soon as possible. You'll definitely see him at the trade fair. After all, many of the deals there are related to him," Lavoisier said.

As Watt was leaving Lavoisier told Watt, "If you go to the meeting tomorrow, pay attention to the road leading to it; it's very interesting."

Because of that sentence, Watt spent the whole night wondering what was so "interesting" about this road.

After daybreak, once his carriage was traveling on the road, Watt immediately noticed its unusual features. The greyish-white road appeared to be paved from a single, perfectly smooth boulder, and the carriage traveled along it with almost no undulations.

Watt then told the driver to stop the carriage. He got out of the carriage, and without regard for his image, he knelt down, took out a monocle from his coat pocket, put it on his right eye, and began to carefully study the road.

"This must be cement," Watt said.

Cement isn't anything particularly rare; it existed in ancient Rome (this is true) with natural volcanic ash cement; the Britain even developed "Rome cement" before. However, "Rome cement" has high requirements for raw materials, so its cost is not low and its price is quite high. How much would it cost to build such a long road using "Rome cement"?

Watt immediately realized that the France must have invented a cheap type of cement.

"It's cement." At this moment, William Murdoch, Watt's assistant who got out of the car with him, also made this judgment.

"Such a wide and long road, how much cement must it have taken? The France really know..." Young Boulton. said.

"Maybe the France have invented cheap cement," Watt said. "Matthew, keep an eye out at the trade fair; if they sell it, it should have a good market. Although we're mainly promoting our own steam engines, we shouldn't miss out on anything good. Of course, it would be best to buy the technology and produce it ourselves."

Young Boulton nodded in agreement. Watt then put his monocle back into his pocket and, together with Young Boulton and his assistant William Murdoch, got back into the carriage.

During the rest of the journey, the group discussed the potential market size for low-cost cement.

An hour later, they arrived at the venue. Several people alighted from the carriage, and a huge Rome- style building came into view.

This building is very similar in design to the Rome Pantheon, with a rectangular colonnade on the front featuring twenty-six massive columns. The interior is not clearly visible from here, but it is definitely a larger building than the original Pantheon.

"Napoleon was first consul only a short time in office. Even if construction had started immediately upon taking office, the fact that such a building could be completed in such a short time is truly astonishing. It is a marvel of our time," Watt said to Young Boulton, his mood inexplicably becoming heavy.