Luxembourg's steel center
Catherine II's strategic plan was by no means a spur-of-the-moment decision.
The foundation of everything, of course, is the capabilities that France has demonstrated in the past two years. Whether it is the Royal House's control over power or the profound strategies shown in North Africa and the Low Countries, it all makes her believe that France is the best partner.
Meanwhile, Austria, Russia's former ally, was embroiled in the chaos brought about by reforms, and its national strength was declining.
In particular, the unsuccessful suppression of the Brabant Revolution and the bitter fighting in Silesia made her very disappointed with Austria.
Although Prussia, another Germany power, signed a secret treaty with Russia to partition Poland, that was only intended to deal with Poland.
Prussia is now on the same side as the United Kingdom, and on major issues concerning the European Continent order, they will certainly give priority to the United Kingdom opinions.
Moreover, Prussia troops are currently bogged down in Silesia, and who knows when they will be able to break free.
In addition, Catherine II had another important consideration in her decision to join forces with France.
Compared to Russia's targets— Sweden, Poland, and the Black Sea coast— the European Continent powers placed greater emphasis on France's objectives— the Low Countries and the Rhine River basin.
The Low Countries were United Kingdom's exclusive domain, and the Rhine River was Germany's traditional sphere of influence. If France were to actually take action against these two areas, then the attention of all of Europe would immediately fall on him.
Russia could then take the opportunity to feast without worrying about the opinions of other powers.
Of course, if France could withstand the pressure from all of Europe Lower Rhine, Catherine II wouldn't mind sending troops in support. Perhaps with their combined attack from the east and west, they could even swallow up Austria!
The following morning, diplomatic officials presented Count Stroganov's plan for further developing trade between Russia and France to Queen Mary.
Queen Mary opened the document with a hint of exasperation, and after reading a few pages, she began to frown—she really wasn't very good at this kind of thing.
She was about to call Archbishop Brienne when she suddenly remembered that the Crown Prince seemed to be quite knowledgeable in this area.
Didn't Joseph also open a trading company with Count Bobrinsky of Russia? It's said that the business was very successful, increasing the trade volume between France and Russia several times over.
Thinking of this, she summoned a maid and instructed her to send the trade plan to the Crown Prince for processing.
Luxembourg.
Not far from the giant open-pit Iron Mine "Iron Sea", several tower-like Iron Smelting Blast Furnace are under construction in an open area.
Viscount Olivier, owner of the Silk Steel Company, stood on a hillside, watching with satisfaction as his new Ironworks took shape.
He acquired Workshop large Iron Smelting in Luxembourg for less than Livre, and acquired more than 700 skilled workers.
He then began expansion and technological innovation.
Right next to the old Iron Smelting Blast Furnace he had acquired, Craftsman were building two square buildings, each the size of an ordinary house, using refractory bricks.
The two buildings were almost entirely sealed off, connected only by two thick pipes that reached up to an adult's waist, with the ends of the pipes attached to the Blast Furnace.
Next to each square building is a High-Pressure Steam Engine that blows air into the pipes via a mechanical device.
This is the "Hot Blast Iron Smelting" technology that Joseph brought to the France Ironworks.
The principle is actually very simple. When Iron Smelting, the combustion of fuel requires a large amount of Oxygen. Traditional Iron Smelting Blast Furnace draw air directly from the outside, and this air is at room temperature. When it enters the Blast Furnace, which is over a thousand degrees Celsius, the furnace temperature will inevitably drop.
The Blast Furnace of that era could only reach a temperature that was just enough to melt the iron in the Iron Mine, but usually only produced viscous molten iron that flowed out from the bottom of the Blast Furnace.
The quality of such molten iron will certainly not be very high. This is because the melting is incomplete, impurities will be trapped inside, and the slagging agent will not dissolve evenly.
Joseph brought a technology that used a "hot blast chamber" to preheat the air and then pressurize it to "blow" it into the Blast Furnace.
This prevents cold air from lowering the furnace temperature, while pressurized air can increase the amount of Oxygen available for combustion.
This simple measure alone can raise the furnace temperature by nearly 200 degrees Celsius.
Furthermore, by switching to coke with a higher calorific value, the Blast Furnace of France Ironworks are now able to completely melt the iron in the Iron Mine.
Molten iron in its entirety can come into full contact with air, oxidizing a large amount of harmful impurities such as silicon and sulfur. At the same time, the addition of slagging agents further precipitates these impurities.
The molten iron produced in this way can approach the quality of crude steel. By adjusting the carbon content at the end of the Blast Furnace, the Iron Ingot from the Blast Furnace can meet the requirements of most iron products without needing to be smelted in Crucible Steelmaking.
After trial production in the Nancy Industrial Development Zone France, Viscount Olivier's Ironworks produced Iron Ingot that sold for three-quarters the price of fine steel, and demand exceeded supply.
He had previously had it estimated that once the factory built in Luxembourg was fully operational, its annual output would reach 20 million pounds.
His single factory alone produces more steel than France did in the entire previous year!
With the convenience brought by the Seine-Rhine River Trade Agreement, his Iron Ingot and steel could be smoothly sold in many countries in South Germany, without the checkpoints and Taxation officials that were once common when selling goods to Germany.
This factory in Luxembourg will bring him at least Livre in revenue next year!
He will instantly become one of France's top billionaires!
All of this began the moment he decided to invest in building a factory in the Nancy Industrial Development Zone.
He always told people that it was the best decision he had ever made in his life.
Not far away, his old rival, Mr. Grigore, walked over and bowed to him.
"You say the war won't reach here?" Mr. Grigore stopped and looked towards the Ironworks he had invested in on the other side, somewhat worried. "I've put most of my fortune into Luxembourg."
Viscount Olivier smiled. "You should have heard that the government has begun construction of the Wooden Railway from Luxembourg to Verdun."
"The government wouldn't make such a large investment if it weren't very confident."
"You're right. Oh, Mr. Grigore is here too." The General Manager of the Wilhaury Steel appeared out of nowhere, bowed to the two men, and continued, "And I heard that this time it's not Wooden Railway being repaired, but iron tracks."
"My God, how much will that cost?!" Viscount Olivier stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence. "Right, this is Luxembourg. They may lack other things, but they have plenty of iron. The price won't be too high."
His eyes lit up immediately. If the government wanted to build iron tracks, it would definitely buy a lot of Iron Ingot from its own Ironworks!
Alternatively, he could mortgage his Nancy properties and take out a loan to expand his Iron Smelting Blast Furnace in Luxembourg...
This was exactly the effect Joseph's plan aimed to achieve.
By utilizing Luxembourg's inexpensive iron, they could initiate trial production of Iron Rail, train track-laying Craftsman, and significantly increase the sales volume of Ironworks, thereby further reducing their costs.