Peace Palace

Surrounding the towering Pantheon is a spacious plaza. Like the road we came from, the plaza is paved with cement, inlaid with colorful pebbles that form pictures. Most of these pictures depict ancient Greece and Rome themes, such as the Venus and the Nymphs, the shepherd prince and three goddesses, Minerva and the owl, and Augustus and Cleopatra.

In this square, there were many iron frames, each covered with an oiled tarpaulin—these were probably the so-called "semi-open-air" booths. At this time, the exhibition had not yet officially started, but many people were already busy here.

Watt looked around again and saw two small houses at the entrance to the square. The houses had signs on them with the same words written in French, German, Italy, Russian and English: "Exhibitor Reception". However, one house was labeled "Peace Palace" and the other was labeled "Square".

"Mr. Watt, according to the exhibition guidelines, we first need to register at the reception desk over there, and then the relevant staff will lead us to our booth." William Murdoch took out a small notebook, glanced at it, and then put the notebook away as he said this to Watt.

"Alright, let's go." Watt said, waving his cane.

So the group walked together toward the reception area of the Peace Palace. As soon as they reached the door, a waiter came to greet them.

"Gentlemen, are you here to participate in the exhibition?" the waiter asked in French with a fawning smile.

"Yes, we have an invitation," William Murdoch said as he stepped forward. French was a very common language in this era, and William Murdoch could speak it, but his spoken French was not very good; he spoke it somewhat haltingly.

"Sir, which country are you from?" the waiter asked.

"We are from Britain," William Murdoch said.

"On behalf of France, I welcome you all," the waiter immediately replied in English. "Please follow us."

The group followed them into the small room. Inside was a long table, and a clerk sat at the back. The waiter led Murdoch over and said to the clerk, "These are guests from Britain."

Murdoch handed the invitation to the clerk, who glanced at it, nodded, picked up an official seal, stamped it on the invitation, then took out a small bag, stood up, and handed it to Murdoch with a smile, holding it in both hands.

"Your booth is number eight. Here are the exhibition guidelines; please take a look and understand them first," the clerk said in English.

Murdoch took the bag and asked, "Where is our booth? Can I go take a look and make some preparations?"

"Pierre, who brought you here, will take you there. If you have any questions, you can ask him directly," the clerk replied.

"Gentlemen, please follow me," said the waiter named Pierre.

"A clerk, or even a waiter, can speak several languages. That's really..." Watt was quite surprised, so as he followed Pierre, he asked him, "Young man, you must have read quite a few books, right?"

"Mr. Watt," Pierre already knew this gentleman was the famous Watt when they registered, "I'm currently studying at the business school of the University of Paris. Our Bai Nongdu, said, 'Book knowledge alone is far from enough; you must also participate in more economic activities in society to truly succeed.' So he helped us find work here. He said we can broaden our horizons a lot here, which will greatly benefit our future development."

"So the person in charge of registration over there just now did the same thing?" Young Boulton asked.

"Yes, that was one of my classmates," Pierre replied.

"Very good, very good." Watt nodded. His own achievements were mainly gained through various practical experiences, and now, hearing that a professor from the University of Paris valued practical experience in society, he felt he had found a kindred spirit. He smiled at Pierre and asked, "Young man, when will you graduate?"

"Probably next summer," Pierre quickly replied.

Watt then took out a business card and handed it to him, saying, "If you are interested in our company at that time, you can come to our branch in Paris. Our company now has a lot of business in France and needs someone like you."

Pierre quickly accepted the business card with both hands, thanked Watt, and then led Watt and his party to the larger Pantheon, which was named the "Peace Palace".

"Gentlemen, this is the main venue for this grand event—the 'Peace Palace.' As you can all see, it's modeled after the Pantheon, but on a Pantheon larger scale. It's called the 'Peace Palace' because of the inscription on the main entrance lintel—" Pierre pointed to the Latin inscription on the lintel, but explained in English, "'Free trade is the guarantee of world peace.' Yes, those are the words of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte."

"Very good," Watt nodded. "I really like that sentence."

"Mr. Watt," Pierre added with a laugh, "we're the same. No one aspiring to a career in trade dislikes 'free trade.'"

As they chatted and laughed, Pierre led the group into the "Peace Palace." Like the Pantheon, the enormous hall had not a single pillar inside. However, this hall was even larger than the Pantheon's main hall.

Watt himself was an engineer, though not a civil engineer, but he knew how difficult it was in terms of engineering to maintain such a large dome without installing a single column.

Like the Pantheon, there is a large skylight in the center of the dome, only this one is larger and fitted with glass. Because of this skylight, along with the huge floor-to-ceiling windows around the exhibition hall, the lighting inside is exceptionally good, even brighter than most houses.

Watt looked up, observing the dome and the structure that supported it, and mentally calculating its weight.

Generally speaking, there are many precedents in architecture for creating a huge dome without letting it collapse, such as Gothic cathedrals, which are exemplary in this regard. These types of buildings usually use a structure similar to an arch bridge, transferring the weight of the dome to the adjacent load-bearing walls. However, the load-bearing walls in this structure would be under great pressure. Therefore, these buildings often have supporting structures built perpendicular to the main walls on the exterior walls. But when they first entered, they did not see such a structure.

Of course, the Pantheon's dome doesn't use this design; that dome is simply a single piece of concrete made from volcanic ash cement. But this dome is much larger than the Pantheon's. How are they supported? Could it be...?

Seemingly sensing Watt's confusion, Pierre continued, "Mr. Watt, you must have noticed this hall. It's a full sixty meters in diameter, much larger than the famous Pantheon. But like the Pantheon's main hall, it has no pillars. This is because the entire dome utilizes a state-of-the-art construction technique—a reinforced concrete structure. The entire dome is made of high-quality steel welded together as a single unit, then covered with concrete. Both the steel frame and the concrete are thinner and finer towards the center, because steel provides significantly higher strength than other materials, making the entire dome much lighter than other similar structures."

Pierre's explanation confirmed Watt's conjecture—the dome was indeed supported by steel.

"It's not just the dome; the walls and the large columns on the outside are also constructed with reinforced concrete. Although this 'Peace Palace' is a Rome- style building, its core is built with state-of-the-art modern technology," Pierre explained with pride.

"How much good steel will this consume? Wouldn't it be better to sell this steel to me and make it into an advanced steam engine?" Watt couldn't help but think. "But it seems the France have a large steel production."

"Young man, where is our booth?" Although he was called "Young Boulton," he was already fifty years old and had been Pierre's father for over a decade. So he could also call Pierre "young man."

"Ah, please follow me." Inside the hall, small spaces were partitioned off with wooden planks. The spaces closest to the center were the largest and had the best lighting. Watt and his group's seat number eight was slightly off-center, but it was still in a very conspicuous location.

"Right here, Mr. Watt, Mr. Boulton." Pierre led them to their designated spot. "This space belongs to your company during the exhibition. You can arrange it as you wish, but you must not violate the regulations of the Exhibition Rules. The relevant regulations are in the documents I just gave you. Would you gentlemen like me to explain them to you?"

"No, no need." Young Boulton shook his head. "We already have a copy of this document at your embassy in our country. Furthermore, there's an authoritative interpretation of the document in the * London Merchant Daily*. We are already fully aware of it."

After saying that, he looked up and around, then asked, "May I ask which manufacturers own those spaces in the very center?"

"The middle few positions are occupied by several companies in the Military-Industrial Complex, such as Lorraine Steel, Fortress Cement, and Bonaparte Arsenal," Pierre replied.