Fishing

According to Lucien's later description of the two Britain counterintelligence organizations in his memoirs, neither the Army's Sixth Investigation Section nor the Royal Counterintelligence Investigation Group were particularly professional in how to conduct effective espionage activities—at least initially. Precisely because they were not proficient in how to conduct effective espionage work, they often failed to grasp the key points when counterintelligence was needed.

"These two departments bear too many traces of the police force. Their past experience dealing with petty theft has become a constraint; they are even immersed in their past experiences in this area, making them extremely clumsy when faced with new challenges. And when they try to conduct intelligence work abroad, they often end up benefiting the Ministry of Police Bureau—in fact, the Ministry of Police Bureau has many of the same problems as the Britain ... (The following is a long list of complaints about the Ministry of Police that would take up an entire page)" -- <The Memoirs of Lucien Bonaparte>

Overall, Lucien's assessment of Britain intelligence agencies was relatively objective, at least more reliable than his assessment of the France Ministry of Police. The Britain imagined France spies would sneak into factories to inspect equipment; or disguise themselves as workers to infiltrate and gather intelligence; or even use money and women to corrupt key figures, turning them into traitors to the United Kingdom ... Frankly, the France did indeed do the latter, but it wasn't the Ministry of Truth's primary method of intelligence gathering.

The Ministry of Truth obtains intelligence in a very aboveboard manner. It collects various data through legal means, and then compares and analyzes them. Within the Ministry of Truth, the department with the most personnel and the largest expenditure is the department that does this kind of work.

First, there was information on the procurement and prices of various supplies. The Britain had almost no idea how much the France could glean from this information, so naturally, they couldn't keep it secret. Thus, the Ministry of Truth obtained its first crucial piece of information solely from the procurement of various supplies:

There is no evidence that the Britain purchased any of the materials needed for experiments producing basic refractories; therefore, it can be inferred that the Britain were likely still using acidic refractories.

Furthermore, Ministry of Truth agents obtained some slag from the Langley Ironworks through commercial means. At the time, this slag was often used as waste material for things like road paving. Therefore, steel mills would often sell this slag to companies that needed it. Using this method, Ministry of Truth agents easily obtained some slag from the Langley Ironworks, and through chemical analysis of this slag, almost everything about the Britain steelmaking technology was revealed.

The slag from Britain was sent to the Lorraine Steel laboratory, and a few days later, the results were delivered to the brothers.

"Just as we predicted, the Britain steel furnaces use acidic linings. This means they are very selective about the ore they use. If it were our Lorraine iron ore, they would only produce a huge pile of scrap steel. However, Britain iron ore... well..." Joseph sighed. "The Britain are lucky, though. Britain iron ore has a much lower sulfur content than ours, so they can actually rely on acidic furnaces to produce steel. Judging from this information, their steel won't be of very high quality, but it's usable."

"And what are their steelmaking costs?" Napoleon asked. At this moment, that was the most important question.

"The cost must be quite high," Lucien said. "Based on the amount of steel slag they process, we can infer their output. Their furnaces are too small, resulting in very low output and naturally high costs. Besides, even their pig iron is already incredibly expensive. Given that, I estimate..."

Lucien stated a number, and then Napoleon leaned back against the thick armrest, saying, "What are the Britain up to? This cost is much higher than our earliest experimental furnace, not to mention compared to our open-hearth furnace. This is truly... Hmm, the Britain commercial negotiators should have arrived by now, right?"

"A Britain trade delegation will be arriving in Paris tomorrow. Should we let Talleyrand know a little about this?" Lucien asked.

"You can tell him a little, but not the exact details. Just let him know that we know the Britain can make steel, but their costs are still much higher than ours. And let him know that we hope to dominate the Britain domestic steel market through 'free trade,' so that their steel industry can only be used for military purposes," Napoleon said. "In addition, Lucien, you must keep a close eye on the Britain technological progress. Our basic strategy is that wherever the Britain make a breakthrough, we will put something slightly better into the market, so that their investment will never get a sufficient return in the market."

"And Joseph, what about your task? Britain was able to catch up so quickly and closely follow us in science and technology because they have Cambridge and Oxford. I remember you told me that we could use various means to get people from all over the world, including Britain, with even a little scientific and technological ability to come to France, thereby weakening their research capabilities. Joseph, how's that going?"

"What business is it of yours to concern yourself with my affairs?" Joseph rolled his eyes. "Since when did it become your place to investigate my business?"

Despite saying that, Joseph continued, "The situation in Britain is slightly better now, but other countries... well, the University of Paris has seen an annual increase of over 20% in enrollment in recent years, especially in STEM fields. Where do these students come from? Besides those from France, they come from other Europe countries. The number of international students has been growing at a rate of 40-50% annually in recent years. Because other countries can't provide so many job opportunities for graduates, the vast majority of international students who come to France, especially those studying STEM fields, stay in France."

In addition, our companies also support education in various Europe countries in the name of charity. We have successively established more than 20 universities in Italy, the Rhine Region, Prussia, and Austria. These universities receive our financial support and are thus able to provide full scholarships to talented students from relatively poor families.

Well, this scholarship is even called the 'Napoleon Scholarship.' Poor but talented students can complete their studies without spending a penny, and even get the opportunity to study at the University of Paris, by applying themselves and receiving a teacher's recommendation. Of course, in return, they must work for the companies that funded them for a certain number of years after graduation—currently, we've tentatively set it at five years—taking into account their age upon graduation, during which time they'll likely start families in France. And once they've established families in France, they're practically unable to France. Besides, for those studying science and engineering, leaving France often means their talents will be wasted."

Upon hearing the name of the scholarship, Napoleon was clearly pleased, but then he asked, "Um, Joseph, this scholarship is named after me, why weren't you informed beforehand?"

"I'm busy with work," Joseph said. "Besides, it's just using your name. What does it have to do with you? Do I need to tell you? Is it really necessary to go through all this trouble? If you don't want to, then just change it to Lucien. Lucien, do you have a problem with that?"

"No, no, I have no objection to this at all," Napoleon quickly said, while glaring at Lucien to signal him to shut up.

"That works," Joseph said. "Furthermore, we also plan to award a grand prize, in the name of the French Academy of Sciences, to scientists worldwide who have made outstanding contributions to science. It will be awarded annually, with a prize of 500,000 francs—a rather extravagant sum, but sure to generate huge advertising revenue. We plan to award prizes in four categories: mathematics, physics, chemistry, and medicine. And, well, the prize will be called..."

Napoleon immediately opened his eyes wide and sat up straight.

"Let's call it the 'Prometheus' Prize," Joseph said. "Prometheus brought the flame of civilization to humankind and is a symbol of scientific exploration and the pioneering of civilization, so using his name is most fitting. Hmm, Napoleon, what do you think?"

"I...you ask me if I agree, of course I agree. Well, 'I have made it so that mankind can no longer foresee death, I have placed blind hope in their hearts, and I have also given them fire.'" Napoleon then recited two more lines from the tragedy Prometheus Bound.

"Then it's settled," Joseph said.

Napoleon was slightly resentful, but he knew that if the award were to be named after a person, Joseph was clearly more deserving than him.

"Furthermore, I also created a 'ranking of university scientific achievements,'" Joseph added. "It's basically based on the number of papers published by scholars from various universities in the French Academy of Sciences' journal, Nature, over the years, and the number of citations those papers have received. Because Nature frequently publishes major breakthroughs, and the royalties are extremely high—far exceeding those of journals in other countries—even scholars from foreign universities are willing to publish their findings in Nature. Based on this ranking, the University of Paris naturally has an overwhelming advantage, but the two Britain universities also performed well. This is a good thing, indicating that Nature's authority has been recognized, even by the Britain."

Then we incorporate openness—the number of international students and professors accepted—as a benchmark. This further amplifies the advantage of France universities compared to those in other countries. I'm certain that before long, universities throughout Europe, including those in Britain, will become our breeding ground."

This tactic became very common in later generations. In Joseph's previous life, those Ansar people used this method to rank the University of Melbourne, the University of Singapore, and the University of Hong Kong far ahead of the University of Tokyo, which had 11 Nobel Prize. Then, relying on this, they played a trick of treating other countries like fishponds.

For a considerable period, almost all of the most outstanding students in the Red Hare Kingdom were poached by them. If they hadn't later embarked on the misguided path of deindustrialization, resulting in a lack of jobs to accommodate engineering talent from around the world, this situation would likely have continued. And until Joseph's transmigration, one of the world's largest democracies was still using United States as a fishpond, boasting about how many top-tier employees United States companies had taken from their pond. Therefore, Joseph always harbored a lingering wariness towards those involved in finance, stemming from his past life. But he deeply admired United States's experience in "fishing."

Napoleon listened and nodded. Joseph's plan was quite perfect. Generally speaking, within Joseph's area of expertise, there was indeed nothing he needed to fuss about. It was just that many times, he didn't understand how his brother's brain worked.

"Generally speaking, a person's mental and physical capacity is limited. Especially scientific research, which is so mentally and physically demanding! Look at Joseph's assistant Gauss, that guy was so intelligent that he was almost superhuman. His thinking was so fast that it was practically... But even Gauss almost exhausted his mental capacity in his research work, to the Julien the simplest everyday problems."

But Joseph, this guy wants to do scientific research, military research, business, and political intrigue. What's worse, he excels at each of these to an astonishing degree. In science, he's considered the greatest scientist since Newton; in military affairs, even Napoleon had to admit he changed the face of warfare; in business, he now controls the world's largest conglomerate, his tentacles reaching every corner of the globe; as for intrigue—of course, this scoundrel would never admit to it, shamelessly declaring that he uses only fair and square tactics, like playing chess, never hiding anything, making every move clear to the opponent, leading to their utter checkmate—for example, the move just now had that style. Thankfully, he doesn't actually play chess at that level; this is practically his most obvious flaw. Tell me, how can this guy be so unscientific? Thankfully, he's my older brother, and shares my surname, Bonaparte ..."

Just as Napoleon was idly entertaining these foolish thoughts, Joseph spoke up again.

"Lucien, the inaugural Prometheus Prize selection is about to begin. You need to generate buzz about this, not just in academic circles, and not just within respectable circles, but throughout all of Europe. Everyone should know about it, everyone should be talking about it, even the illiterate who can't read a single word! Can you do that?"

"If you raise the prize money to one million francs, there won't be any problem at all," Lucien said. "Five hundred thousand is also a large number, but compared to one million, the impact is far less."

Lucien's statement certainly makes sense. Indeed, 500,000 is a huge sum of money; most people couldn't accumulate that much in a lifetime, or even several lifetimes. However, when describing someone as wealthy, people still prefer to call them a "millionaire." Who has ever heard of a "500,000 millionaire"? An award can instantly turn someone into a millionaire, which is far more exciting than being a "500,000 millionaire."

"Giving out a prize of four million at once? That's not impossible, but Napoleon, you'll need to allocate more funds to the Academy of Sciences," Joseph said.

"Ah, this problem..." Napoleon felt that when it came to matters involving small sums of money, it was best not to make hasty decisions and to consider them carefully. Hmm, this matter needs to be thought about properly.

"You're all idiots!" Lucien said disdainfully. "Joseph, do you remember the story you told about the India monkey keeper? The one who gave him three apples in the morning and four in the evening, or four in the morning and three in the evening?"

Joseph paused for a moment.

"You should tell me this story. Even India know how to perform monkey tricks, but you can't? We can easily stagger the four awards. This year, we can give out math and physics, next year medicine and chemistry. That way, we only need to give out two prizes each year, and the total prize money is already two million, so isn't that a million-dollar grand prize? And even though it's now a biennial event, we still have awards every year, and there's always buzz. See how great that is! You guys can't even perform monkey tricks, you're so stupid, so..." Lucien immediately became smug.

"Napoleon, Lucien's idea seems quite clever, don't you think?" Joseph asked.

"Lucien's cleverness is limited to this much," Napoleon said dismissively. However, despite his dismissive tone, he did not express any objection. Clearly, Napoleon himself thought it was actually quite a good idea.

Lucien's suggestion was quickly approved. Then, the capable Lucien immediately returned to his office—a luxurious office in the Moulin Rouge —and began to arrange the related matters.