Winds rise in North Africa

Viscount Olivier hesitated for a moment, then said, "Your Highness, but if too many orders are banned from sale, the factory will struggle to survive..."

Joseph smiled and waved his hand, "Please rest assured, the association won't interfere with the vast majority of orders. 💝✌ 🐜💎 Only a few buyers who might endanger national security will be banned, and that might only happen once every few years."

The factory owners breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; if that were the case, it would be practically as if there were no restrictions at all.

Compared to the benefits brought by the new technology—a significant improvement in the quality of Iron Ingot and an increase in the production of refined steel—this is perfectly acceptable.

In fact, none of them paid attention to the "quality assessment" clause. But this is the main means of regulating steel mills.

The so-called quality assessment is conducted on a company; it's equivalent to rating the company.

Everyone knows how powerful the three major Rating Agency in the United States were in later generations—if they didn't like you, they could just give you a low rating and your stock would plummet immediately.

Currently, these factory owners have never witnessed such a practice before. Imagine, all the other steel mills are rated A++, while yours is only rated B—who would buy your products?

From now on, won't these factory owners have to obediently cooperate with His Crown Prince?

Joseph then offered another lure. "Oh, soon the association will also announce a new Iron Smelting technology using new fuels, which will further reduce impurities in Iron Ingot and increase production."

He was referring to Iron Smelting using coke.

After Gas Lamp were put into use, one of the byproducts of distilling Coal Gas was coke.

This substance, used as fuel in Iron Smelting, has advantages such as low impurity content and high calorific value. It is well-suited for development as a supporting industry for Gas Lamp.

This time, it was Mr. Grigore. who couldn't sit still any longer. "Your Highness, the Grigault Brothers Steel Company sincerely hopes to join the Steel Technology Association."

Viscount Olivier and the other factory owners immediately followed suit, "Your Highness, the Silk Steel Company has also applied to join the association!"

"And the Red Furnace Ironworks..."

"And Wilhaury Steel..."

Joseph gestured to Lamo, the development zone manager, to distribute the association's management regulations and application forms that had been prepared beforehand. "After you fill out the application, just submit it to Mr. Lamo. The association will then send technicians to teach you the new smelting technology. This may take a while, as there are quite a few procedures involved."

Actually, there were no formalities involved. Joseph hadn't applied for Patent for "Hot Blast Iron Smelting" yet, and technicians needed to turn his principles into blueprints, which all took time.

The factory owners didn't mind being a few months late, since in this day and age, it's not easy to develop anything new.

Joseph added, "Oh, by the way, you can buy some refractory bricks and Steam Engine to drive the blower; you'll need them later."

The factory owners hurriedly instructed their technicians to take notes.

Joseph spent three days in Nancy, settling all matters related to the development of the industrial enterprise, before heading south to Saint-Etienne.

The newly built Industrial Development Zone there officially opened four months ago—and because it's closer to Paris, it's no smaller than the one in Nancy.

Joseph naturally had to go and take a look there, and at the same time, he also wanted to bring the steel mill there into the "Steel Technology Association".

Joseph's trip to Saint-Etienne- Joseph was similar to that to Nancy. After leaving the development zone there, he prepared to continue eastward to Lyon, the Textile center of France, to promote the newly copied Automatic Loom.

There was no other way; nowadays, he had to first build the framework for all of France's industrial sectors, then lay out advanced concepts, before gradually handing them over to Mirabeau and his team. He was incredibly busy lately.

However, when he arrived in Forez, east of Lyon, he encountered a messenger who was waiting there.

The latter handed him a letter from the Royal Armory. The letter stated that the mass-production Automatic Loom had encountered some problems, mainly due to insufficient precision in the Craftsman's work, requiring Louis XVI to provide individual guidance. This meant that the first batch of ten looms would not be completed until the end of next month.

Joseph reluctantly took out his itinerary, looked down at it, and finally decided to return to Paris first to apply for Patent for "Hot Blast Iron Smelting".

However, before he could even set off, he received another report from the National Intelligence Bureau, which was later upgraded to the Police Intelligence Division.

He opened the secret letter and handed it to Eman along with the Codebook.

The latter decoded quickly and skillfully, then turned to look at Joseph:

"Your Highness, a coup occurred in Tripoli six days ago."

Joseph frowned, took the translated report, and read: On March 18, Ottoman Army Ali Benjiul launched a coup in Tripoli in alliance with Nobility dissatisfied with the Pasha.

Pasha Ali I of Tripoli fled to Egypt. Benjiur declared Tripoli back under Ottoman rule.

There are indications that the United Kingdom were involved in the coup attempt, including that the weapons and funding for the coup plotters largely came from the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom immediately became alert. Joseph United Kingdom would never go to a small Mediterranean Sea country with only a few hundred thousand people to interfere in a coup without a reason; they were most likely after France.

It seems that although he had been very restrained, limiting his sphere of influence in North Africa to the small Tunisia and not directly attacking Algiers as he had done in history, he still attracted the attention of the United Kingdom.

Something's fishy about this; we absolutely cannot be careless.

Joseph picked up the itinerary again, looked at the last line, and sighed:

"It seems necessary to make a trip to Tunisia ahead of schedule."

After the chaos caused by the expulsion of the Guard Corps, Tunisia has largely returned to order after several months of governance. His original purpose in going there was to address some issues and arrange subsequent Development Plan.

He looked at Eman:

"Is the Moulins Legion still in Montpellier?"

The latter recalled for a moment and nodded, saying:

"Yes, Your Highness, they have just completed the reorganization of the Montcalm Legion and should not have returned to Moulins yet."

Joseph immediately wrote a letter, sealed it with Sealing Wax, affixed his personal seal, and handed it to Eman:

"Send someone to Montpellier immediately and hand him over to Lieutenant Colonel Andre."

In his letter, he requested that Andre take two regiments to Toulon immediately, and from there take a ship to Tunisia.

He wrote another letter, instructing Eman: "Send this back to the Versailles Palace and have the General Staff Headquarters issue a supplementary transfer order."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Now, we'll head to Toulon. Oh, and if Her Majesty the Queen asks, just say I'm going to a 'domestic province.'"

Yes, that's absolutely true; Tunisia is now a province of France.