Consensus at the Paper Mill

The Papermaking mill worker picked up the Paper Frame, which is the "sieve", and placed it on the shelf. Several stoves were placed around it to raise the temperature.

Another half hour passed, and a Craftsman removed the Paper Frame, carefully peeled off the paper, and respectfully presented it to Joseph: "Sir, you see, it's dry."

In fact, the normal drying process would take at least half a day. The high-temperature drying at this point was purely for show, to Mirabeau.

Joseph crumpled the paper in his hand. It was brittle and very thick, with uneven internal texture, making it of rather poor quality. But it was definitely a piece of paper—paper made of Wood.

He handed the paper to Mirabeau, saying with some regret, "This is the first time these Craftsman and I have tried this new technology, so the quality of the finished product isn't very good."

However, he was not in a hurry, as Papermaking technology largely depends on experience.

The amount of additives, the time and temperature for boiling the Wood, the use of Bleach, drying techniques, and so on, all require repeated trials to find the best solution in order to produce qualified Paper.

However, with the right technical theory, it's only a matter of time before a mature process is developed.

Mirabeau looked excitedly at the paper in his hand, fully aware of what it meant— the France Paper market alone was worth millions of Livre.

If exported to all of Europe, it would be a market worth at least tens of millions!

Furthermore, it is foreseeable that the Papermaking technology in any Europe country is currently far more expensive than Wood Paper Making. In other words, it is completely impossible to stop the dumping of Wood Paper.

Seeing his excited expression, Joseph smiled and said, "Using my method to Papermaking, the price can be reduced to one-seventh of the Paper price. Of course, we don't need to reduce it that low; selling it at two-thirds of the market price will suffice, leaving ourselves more profit."

Mirabeau keenly heard the word "we" and immediately looked at the Crown Prince with anticipation.

Joseph deliberately gave him a few seconds of "agony" before saying, "As you can see, it takes a lot of money and a lot of effort to roll out this new technology on a large scale. I can't do it all by myself."

"Therefore, I would like to invite you, and of course your friends, to invest together and build a large number of Paper Mill as quickly as possible to seize the market. This Papermaking technology will serve as my equity."

"That's wonderful!" Mirabeau's eyes shone with joy as he stroked the end of his cane, pondering, "So, how many shares do you intend to take?"

"20% then." The Papermaking technology was used to win over and divide the Assembly of Notables, so Joseph wouldn't want too many shares.

Mirabeau immediately understood that the Crown Prince was offering a concession, and a bright smile spread across her face, "You are so generous! I think we can arrange a time, along with Viscount Diko and Viscount Pellier, to discuss the investment in Papermaking. Oh, and the Tax Law too."

Joseph smiled and nodded, "I completely agree with your suggestion."

After finalizing the time and place for the meeting, Mirabeau rushed back to Paris to meet with several of his political allies.

Once inside the Carriage, unable to contain his curiosity, he turned and asked, "Your Highness, could you tell me how those Wood were boiled into liquid?"

"We need to add some medicine." Joseph smiled and closed the car door for him.

He certainly wouldn't tell him right now that it was simply Sulfite. But that's how knowledge is; it may seem simple when explained, but without guidance, it would take half a century for Wood Paper Making technology to emerge.

The next day.

Mirabeau, accompanied by three Nobility, arrived at Joseph's Paper Mill —a small Workshop that Joseph had purchased to prevent leaks.

"Your Highness, this is Viscount Diko. And this is...?"

Following Mirabeau's introduction, the three men bowed to Joseph in turn.

Before long, another Carriage arrived. Archbishop Brienne alighted from the carriage.

And so, in a dilapidated and simple Workshop, the Crown Prince sat on a paper drying rack, the Chief Minister and Earl Mirabeau sat on a Paper -carrying cart, and the others stood with their backs against the workshop shed, beginning a meeting concerning the future of France.

However, the negotiation process went very smoothly.

Brienne pledged to work with the Crown Prince to push for the implementation of laws such as the Company Law Act and the Patent Law, and to further reduce the Stamp Duty duty rate.

Joseph reiterated that he would restart Anglo-French Trade Negotiations within two months and renegotiate the Eden Treaty according to the previously agreed Tariff.

Mirabeau and others assured that they would persuade their own members in the Assembly of Notables to support the Tax Law. Since the powerful Nobility of the Assembly of Notables of Nobles controlled the High Court, this meant that their representatives in the court would no longer obstruct the Tax Law.

The topic that everyone spent the most time on and was most enthusiastic about was the establishment of Papermaking company.

The final agreement was that the five people present, excluding Joseph, would contribute a total of 3.6 Livre to build a large Paper Mill in each of the three locations of Saint-Antoine Town, Lyon, and Bordeaux, with the goal of producing enough paper to meet the entire French Paper demand within six months.

Then, depending on the situation, additional investment was made to expand production capacity and begin exporting, until the entire Europe market was captured.

Joseph provided the technology and held a 20% stake, while the remaining 80% was divided among the others according to their investment amounts.

However, in order to take care of the numerous Paper Mill in France, Joseph specifically required the company to supply Pulp to other Workshop so that they could carry out downstream processing in order to make a living.

After all the matters were discussed, everyone was happy.

Brienne got up to take his leave first. Mirabeau and the others followed him away half an hour later.

A wooden platform, about six or seven meters square, has been erected on the street opposite the Paris High Court.

The wooden platform was surrounded by dark gray curtains. Two or three hundred people crowded below the platform, Grandstand the performance intently.

When the villain, playing the Ottoman Judge, mistakenly eats a poisoned cake due to greed and dies with a agonizing scream, the audience erupts in thunderous cheers.

Someone turned and pointed to the High Court in the distance, shouting:

"See that? This is the end for shameless corrupt officials!"

You should all do the same!

"You bunch of rats and maggots, do you dare to come out?"

In the Conference Hall on the third floor of the High Court, several judges breathed a sigh of relief when the Drama music stopped and turned their attention back to the conference table.

With a disdainful expression, Weijinie tossed the stack of documents in front of him forward and scoffed, "There's nothing to consider! No matter how Brienne changes it, this thing will never be Registration!"

What he threw out was the new version of the Tax Law that Brienne had just submitted this morning.

Dibore exchanged a glance with a judge beside him, a man with a pointed chin and a perpetually surprised expression in his eyes. He slowly opened his copy of the bill and calmly said, "I think we should discuss this further. Perhaps we'll reach a different conclusion?"

Many thanks to reader 20230707210738733 for their generous donation to this book! Tian Hai Shan is deeply grateful!

(End of this chapter)