Better to Buy Than Make
Selling the factory to the United States wasn't a big deal for the France, so the negotiations went smoothly. Of course, ordering steel from France and then having the cannons manufactured in the United States, considering the differences in supporting facilities, scale, and labor wages, meant that the cost of United States -made cannons would obviously be far higher than that of cannons manufactured by the France in Europe.
Moreover, do the owners of those United States arms factories really not care about money because of "patriotism"? If so, why didn't they love their "United Kingdom" as their homeland in the first place? How has the "United Kingdom" oppressed them and violated their freedom? All they did was collect a little more tax from them. If collecting a little more tax makes them want to "give me liberty or give me death," how could they possibly not make money?
Therefore, it is almost certain that the price the United States paid to the United States military for cannons was much higher than the price the France paid for shipping them to North America. It might even have been higher than the price the Britain paid to Native Americans through Canada.
However, this is not something the France need to consider, nor is it something Robert Levitton needs to consider, since he doesn't have to pay for it anyway.
Moreover, perhaps because the United States was far away in the New World and posed little danger to France, and given the long-standing friendship between the two countries, the France were not asking for a high price. Thus, the deal was quickly finalized, and the United States government ordered a steel cannon factory from France to produce two hundred cannons a year, as well as a hydroelectric power plant.
This marks the first time France has exported an entire hydroelectric power plant abroad. However, considering the relevant scientific information has been made public, exporting such a plant is not actually a major problem.
Regarding the price, Joseph explained it this way:
"The United States arms factories import all their raw materials from us, and all their technical personnel depend on us. The same goes for power plants. So in the future, we can recoup our losses through services. If we directly ask for a high price and scare them away, it will be counterproductive."
This is actually a trick that some companies in later generations have overused. Selling machines at a loss, making up for it with consumables; making money on machines but not on maintenance—it's all the same approach. There's even a story in the reader's style that has circulated in later generations:
"At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ford Motor Company in the United States was in a period of rapid development, and workshops and factories were quickly built and put into use."
Customer orders are nearly filling Ford Motor Company's sales offices. Many people are waiting to buy every Ford that rolls off the assembly line.
Suddenly, a motor at Ford Motor Company malfunctioned, bringing almost the entire workshop to a standstill and forcing related production work to a halt.
The company brought in a large number of maintenance workers to repeatedly inspect the equipment, and also invited many experts to come and take a look, but they still couldn't find the problem, let alone repair it.
Ford Motor Company's leadership was furious. Even a one-minute shutdown, let alone a day, would be a huge financial loss for Ford.
At this point, someone suggested asking the famous physicist and electrical engineer Steinmetz for help. Everyone thought it made sense and hurriedly sent someone to invite Steinmetz over.
Steinmetz asked for a mat and laid it next to the motor, listening intently for three days. Then he asked for a ladder, climbing up and down it for a long time. Finally, he drew a line with chalk on a part of the motor and wrote, "The coil here has 16 extra turns."
People did as instructed, and surprisingly, the problem was solved! Production resumed immediately!
When the Ford Motor Company manager asked Steinmetz how much he wanted, Steinmetz replied, "Not much, just $10,000."
$10,000? It was just a simple line drawn! At the time, Ford Motor Company's most famous salary slogan was "$5 a month," which was a very high salary at the time, so much so that many experienced technicians and excellent engineers from all over the United States flocked to the company for this $5 a month.
One line, $10,000—the total income of an average employee over 100 years!
Seeing everyone's confusion, Steinmetz turned around and wrote out a bill, "Drawing a line, $1; Knowing where to draw the line, $9,999."
This story is riddled with flaws and hardly qualifies as a good one. For example, Ford Motor Company was already paying $2 a day at the time; replacing a motor wouldn't have taken nearly as long or cost as much time, and would have saved a significant amount of valuable time; if the problem were simply an over-wound coil, the motor would either not have malfunctioned at all, or it wouldn't have even started turning, and certainly wouldn't have developed a problem after a period of use...
In short, this story reeks of the stupidity and stench characteristic of rumors fabricated by scholars and intellectuals at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries who knew absolutely nothing about science. It bears a striking resemblance to the sophisticated tactics employed by wolf packs on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau—luring the enemy deep into their territory, encircling them from multiple directions, and ambushing reinforcements—which allowed them to wipe out an entire PLA company in one fell swoop. (They don't even consider how the ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau could support a wolf army of hundreds or even thousands of wolves, dozens of times larger than the largest wolf pack in this world.) It also bears a striking resemblance to the story of Nihong, a young boy carrying 20 kilograms of equipment and marching 100 kilometers every day (surpassing the standards of United States special forces).
However, this story does reveal a money-making model: once you use our products, when maintenance is needed, even for something as simple as drawing a line, I can rip you off with a huge sum of money. So this story isn't actually telling you that knowledge is wealth, but rather that there's a good way to make money through after-sales service and technical guidance.
Even more critically, once the United States started using France production equipment, the entire supporting infrastructure and maintenance would have to adhere to France standards. Considering the technological capabilities of the United States at that time, the entire system maintenance would have to avoid France parts. The entire factory itself might be worthless, but the disassembled components would be incredibly valuable. Furthermore, if you dared to use counterfeit parts—for example, a knock-off nut on a drilling machine—the warranty for the entire system, including the power generator, would be void. In other words, if the United States bought these things, they were essentially on a sinking ship, with many opportunities to be exploited in the future.
However, United States at that time were generally too naive and failed to see through Joseph's sinister intentions, even happily believing that they had made a good deal.
After the agreement was signed with the United States, the Austria, whom the three brothers had been eagerly awaiting, finally arrived. However, the Austria surprised the three brothers once again, because the Holy Roman Empire had no intention of following the example of the Eastern Rome and the Green Rome by establishing arms factories and starting an arms race. They simply wanted to understand the production capacity of the Russia and Turkey factories in order to formulate corresponding plans for purchasing or leasing weapons from France.
"Even if Austria could produce these things itself, the output and quality would certainly not be comparable to the original France products. In that case, why bother building factories to manufacture them? However, our country is very interested in your country's power plants and related electric lighting technology. Unlike weapons, these things are truly profitable." Austria Ambassador to France Metternich said this to Napoleon at a ball.
"Mr. Ambassador, do you mean you want to use our technology to produce electric lights and then compete with us for the market?" Napoleon frowned.
"Your Excellency, you have misunderstood us. You see, it's the same principle as when I mentioned making cannons. How could we possibly compete with your factory in other Europe markets? It's just that in some places, such as within Austria and in some regions of the Balkans, your business isn't particularly good there for various reasons. And developing those markets takes time. I think it would be better if you cooperated with us and developed them together. Wouldn't that be more ideal?"
Napoleon considered it for a moment and did not immediately refuse Metternich. He wasn't particularly adept at business and felt it best to consult with Joseph before making a decision. So he said to Metternich, "Mr. Ambassador, I think we need more time to consider this matter, and I cannot give you an immediate answer. However, regarding your earlier mention of temporarily purchasing or renting artillery, as a professional soldier, there is something I might need to remind you of: while cannons can be quickly purchased or rented, soldiers who can use them are not always readily available."
"Ah, that's the problem," Metternich said. "We hope your country can help us train a group of gunners. Of course, it would be even better if your country could provide gunner rental services..."