Chapter Summaries

Vigne offered Stone Eagle an Indian Gospel and a church hierarchy governed by Native Americans, prompting Stone Eagle to consider uniting the tribes through the new faith. In Transcaucasia, Agha Mohammad ordered his army to attack Tbilisi, and Persian heavy cavalry broke through the Georgian line.

• Vigne promised Stone Eagle that Native Americans would manage tribal religious affairs and elect their own priests, with the Roman Curia confirming only the Red Chief Priest.
• Stone Eagle recognized that the Indian Gospel could unite the tribes and said he would consult the other high priests.
• Agha Mohammad ordered an assault on Tbilisi after Erekle II refused to become his vassal.
• Agha Mohammad instructed Abol Jalili to slaughter the men of Tbilisi and enslave the women and children after the city fell.
• Persian Turkoman Heavy Cavalry charged through Georgian gunfire and pierced the Georgian line.

Persian forces attacked Tbilisi as Russian troops ambushed them at Kertsis Hill, forcing Agha Mohammad to fight on two fronts. Gudovich encircled the Persians while Russia prepared to push deeper into the region, threatening British interests in India.

• Persian cavalry broke the Georgian defenses at Kertsis Hill and pursued the fleeing Georgians toward Tbilisi.
• Agha Mohammad ordered Bozorg to stop Russian troops after learning that more than five thousand Russians had attacked near the hills.
• Bozorg led the Holy War Knights in two charges against the Russian infantry, but disciplined gunfire and bayonets inflicted heavy losses and kept the cavalry from breaking through.
• Gudovich ordered the 3rd Cavalry Regiment to attack the Persian heavy cavalry and redeployed Russian units to encircle the Persian forces outside Tbilisi.
• The narration explained that Joseph had arranged for Gudovich to accompany the Russian army, which had assembled twenty thousand troops and ambushed the Persians more than half a year earlier than in history.

The Russian Army defeated Agha Mohammad’s forces and secured Transcaucasia as several states sought Russian protection. In France, Joseph directed the Namur Royal Ironworks to begin alloy-steel research while steam-engine development remained stalled by repeated pipe ruptures.

• Russian cavalry attacked the exhausted Persian forces, and the Persian troops trapped near Kertsis Hill surrendered as Agha Mohammad retreated.
• Agha Mohammad ordered Bozorg executed for returning alive after failing to break through the Russian defenses, then withdrew his army toward Tabriz.
• Valerian Zubov occupied territory on the way to Tabriz, and Transcaucasian states, Armenia, and Karabakh sent envoys to Saint Petersburg to seek Russian protection.
• Joseph instructed Vandale to test manganese and nickel additions for alloy steel at the Namur Royal Ironworks.
• Joseph pursued alloy-steel research because converter development remained distant and the United Steam Engine Company’s 100-horsepower engine kept suffering pipe ruptures.

Joseph arranged a secret effort to produce alloy steel and returned to Paris to present the Supreme Louis Prizes. He redirected the Physics Prize to James Watt to boost the Bolton-Watt Company’s publicity, then watched the awards ceremony conclude as his plan to manipulate the company’s share price advanced.

• Joseph instructed Vandale to experiment with producing alloy steel and emphasized that the work had to remain confidential.
• Leroy gave Joseph the final prize-winner list, which named Lebon for Chemistry, Achard for Biomedical Science, and Coulomb for Physics.
• After considering Operation Gunpowder and the Bolton-Watt Company’s preparations for a stock listing, Joseph ordered the Physics Prize awarded to James Watt instead of Coulomb.
• Joseph wrote a plan to raise the company’s rating, orchestrate conflicting assessments from Genoa and Paris, and raise its rating shortly before its listing.
• At the Tuileries Palace ceremony, Leroy announced Wessel as the Mathematics Prize recipient and Robert Burns as the Literature Prize recipient, completing the awards.

After Coulomb lost the physics prize, Joseph offered him the directorship of a secret electrical laboratory as compensation. Coulomb accepted and was assigned to build a stacked battery, with Alessandro Giuseppe Volta joining as his assistant.

• Coulomb left the award ceremony after the physics prize went to an Englishman instead of him.
• Leroy told Coulomb that Joseph wished to summon him the following morning.
• Joseph explained that political reasons had led him to cancel Coulomb's prize eligibility and offered him the directorship of the Royal Third Laboratory with annual funding of 100,000 Francs.
• Joseph described his theory of electric current, which convinced Coulomb to accept the laboratory position despite its secrecy requirements.
• Joseph told Coulomb that Alessandro Giuseppe Volta would become his assistant and instructed him to design and build a stacked battery.

Joseph learned that Russian forces had rapidly conquered territory in Persia, and he urged Russia to continue its campaign and occupy Shiraz. After Bezborodko left, Joseph told Talleyrand to go to Saint Petersburg with more flintlock guns.

• Joseph told Coulomb that he wanted a battery capable of producing a continuous, controllable electric current, and Coulomb hurried to the laboratory.
• Bezborodko arrived in Paris with gifts from the Tsar and reported that Russian forces had captured Khoy and Persia had sought a ceasefire.
• Joseph warned that Agha Mohammad was likely buying time and urged the Tsar to press the offensive and occupy Shiraz.
• Alexandra received Catherine II's letter, teased Bezborodko into promising her two or three hundred sable pelts, and heard about General Zubov's victory.
• After Bezborodko departed for Queen Mary's banquet, Joseph instructed Talleyrand to visit Saint Petersburg and bring the Tsar more flintlock guns.

Joseph encouraged Russia’s southward expansion by revealing Central Asia’s potential for cotton cultivation, while assuring Talleyrand that Afghanistan would defeat any Russian invasion. Bezborodko agreed to recommend that France receive priority rights to buy Russian cotton, and Russia’s next move toward the Eastern Caspian remained pending.

• Joseph told Talleyrand that Russia would never control Afghanistan because the region’s terrain and history made it disastrous for invading empires.
• At the banquet, Bezborodko asked Talleyrand why Joseph was interested in the Middle East and the Eastern Caspian.
• Talleyrand explained that France wanted Russia to defeat Persia before expanding into Khiva, whose cotton-growing potential could rival the United States.
• Talleyrand asked for French priority purchasing rights to cotton from the region to help France compete with British textile mills.
• Bezborodko promised to report the request to the Tsar and recommend granting France priority cotton purchases.

Joseph assessed the threat of falling sugar prices while protecting the Sugarcane Franc, then learned that the United States was preparing attacks in Louisiana and the Creek lands. He began advancing the Louisiana strategy, but a report from Spain revealed that the Kabylia Tribe had rebelled against Algiers.

• Joseph learned that Prussia had bought French Sugar Beet seeds and intended to profit from refining the crop, while Minister Venio warned that expanding sugar supplies could lower prices.
• Joseph considered sugar-production developments in India, Brazil, the Bahamas, and Saint-Domingue, and resolved to keep the Sugarcane Franc stable despite lower prices.
• Lavalette informed Joseph that the United States was preparing another attack on New Orleans and was sending militiamen toward Alabama to attack the Creek Tribe.
• Joseph told Eman to notify Madrid that he would meet Carlos IV, then traveled toward Spain to advance the Louisiana strategy.
• In Soria, Fournier reported that the Kabylia Tribe had rebelled against Algiers, and Joseph learned that Kurulu had already defeated and annexed the M'zab Tribe.

Joseph withheld French support from the Kabylia Tribe while devising a plan to draw Britain into a strategic contest with Russia in Persia. In Madrid, he asked Carlos IV to transfer Louisiana to France, arguing that Spain could not defend it from an impending American attack.

• Kurulu encircled the Kabylia Tribe, and the threatened tribe appealed to the Berbers of Annaba for help.
• Joseph told Fournier to have Lavalette avoid intervening and advised the Kabylia to retreat into the mountains, where they could hold out for a turning point.
• Joseph drafted The Great Game to encourage Britain to focus on competing with Russia in Persia and assigned Irish contacts and South African interests to help deliver and advance the plan.
• Joseph sent his orders and manuscript to Paris, then met Carlos IV in Madrid and demanded that Spain transfer Louisiana to France.
• Carlos IV's ministers objected, but Joseph warned that the United States would attack New Orleans again and that Spain lacked the means to defend Louisiana without endangering its war in Portugal.

Joseph persuaded Spain to consider transferring Louisiana to France as protection against American westward expansion, and French and Spanish ministers negotiated the terms. When Spain requested 3.5 million Escudos in compensation, Joseph offered to replace the payment with a gold mine worth at least 300 million Escudos.

• Joseph warned Spain that American expansion threatened Louisiana and Mexico, then offered France’s protection in exchange for taking over Louisiana.
• Spanish ministers weighed the proposal and agreed that selling Louisiana to France could serve Spain’s interests, while seeking to retain rights at New Orleans and on the Mississippi.
• Count Segur presented Spain’s proposed transfer terms to Joseph, including 3.5 million Escudos in compensation.
• At a meeting with Carlos IV and their ministers, Joseph called the compensation request reasonable and offered a gold mine worth at least 300 million Escudos instead.

Joseph persuaded Spain to trade Louisiana for California gold-mining rights, then secured a French monopoly on supplying mining equipment. He expected France to profit from prospectors’ needs now and negotiate over more efficient mining technology after Mexico gained independence.

• Joseph told Carlos IV and the Spanish ministers that a California gold mine could yield 300 million Escudos and offered Spain exclusive mining rights in exchange for Louisiana.
• Carlos IV agreed to sign the deal, while Count of Floridablanca rejected Joseph’s request for a share in the mine.
• Joseph asked instead for the exclusive right to sell mining equipment in California, and Carlos IV approved.
• Joseph planned to profit by supplying prospectors with tools and other goods, then sell ore-washing machines once France developed powerful Steam Engines.
• Joseph expected Spain to lose California after Mexico gained independence and planned to negotiate with Mexico over the gold mines.

Joseph arranged the transfer of Louisiana and prepared Lyon’s textile industry to profit from California’s gold rush with durable prospectors’ clothing. Meanwhile, Valerian Zubov ordered a Russian assault on Tabriz, whose defenses were weakened by Agha Mohammad’s absence.

• France and Spain signed the Louisiana treaty, giving Joseph land west of the Mississippi and setting conditions for France to take administrative control after Spain confirmed California’s gold deposits.
• General Manager Latremu pushed the Bellet Textile Company to produce reinforced canvas trousers for a large order from Double Company.
• Joseph’s Tough Guy Pants and shirts went into production across Lyon as he planned to sell them to California’s gold prospectors.
• Valerian Zubov ordered General Gudovich to attack Tabriz, with three thousand Georgian Legion soldiers set to join the Russian forces.
• Gudovich broke through Persian defenses in just over ten days and brought his cannons to Tabriz’s walls while Agha Mohammad was away in Khorasan suppressing unrest.

Agha Mohammad was assassinated by Bayezid and Vali after Sadiq Khan helped them, and Persia fragmented as Fath-Ali Shah took power while the Russian army captured Tabriz and advanced toward Zanjan. In Bukhara, Masan Shah Murad refused Count Kozlovsky’s offer to help conquer Khiva, wary of Russian intentions.

• Agha Mohammad ordered Bayezid and Vali executed, but Sadiq Khan spared them because it was Friday.
• Sadiq Khan arranged for Bayezid and Vali to stab Agha Mohammad, then called on Persian troops to return to Shiraz.
• Persian soldiers dispersed after Agha Mohammad’s death, while Fath-Ali Shah succeeded him and ordered troops to keep assembling at Tabriz.
• Gudovich’s Russian army breached Tabriz’s defenses, and Valerian Zubov led the Russian advance toward Tehran.
• Fath-Ali Shah secured support from the Bakhtiari Tribe, whose forces defeated Sadiq Khan’s remaining men.
• Masan Shah Murad declined Count Kozlovsky’s offer of Russian help against Khiva, suspecting Russia had ulterior motives.

Murad agreed to cooperate with Russia after Count Kozlovsky offered to secure him legitimacy as Abu Ghazi Khan’s adopted son. In South Africa, Dr. Darius treated a gravely ill Xhosa priestess, whose tribe offered warriors to the Boers if he could save her.

• Count Kozlovsky told Murad that Abu Ghazi Khan would declare him his descendant when Russian forces entered Khiva City.
• The Russian envoy explained that Nikolai Bakhov’s army and Russia’s recognition of the Middle Horde would weaken Selim Datov’s rebellion.
• Murad accepted the Russian proposal, and Count Kozlovsky left Yak Fort carrying the secret treaty between Russia and Bukhara.
• Xhosa tribespeople brought an unconscious Oku priestess to the French medical facility, where Dr. Darius diagnosed her severe diarrhea.
• Mr. Kanlulu offered ten warriors to fight for the Boers if Dr. Darius cured the priestess, and Darius ordered saline, glucose, and BDP tablets for her.

Darius treated an Oku priestess at Salt River Hospital, whose recovery and praise strengthened the hospital’s reputation among South African tribes. Meanwhile, a Boer resistance force and Xhosa warriors ambushed an English grain convoy near Swellendam, forcing the English to retreat as their flank collapsed.

• Darius treated the Oku priestess with Glucose and Saline injections, and she recovered enough to return home after swearing that ten Xhosa warriors would serve the Boers for three months.
• The priestess praised Darius’s medical skills before leaving Salt River Hospital, which drew patients from communities including the Zulu.
• Boer resistance fighters ambushed more than two hundred English soldiers escorting five wagons of grain from Swellendam.
• More than a hundred Xhosa warriors charged the English flank while the Boers exchanged volleys with the English infantry.
• The Xhosa threw spears and attacked with axes, breaking the English right wing and spreading confusion through their ranks.
• The English commander ordered a retreat south under cavalry cover, unaware that the Xhosa could outrun them.

British ministers debated storing India’s sugar harvest to challenge France’s control of the European sugar trade, while Pitt the Younger proposed expanding British-aligned supplies and stirring Caribbean unrest. The meeting then turned to Russian advances in Persia and Sir Gracie’s warning about Russian expansion toward the Khyber Pass.

• Harry Odell reported that India had produced 400,000 hundredweight of sugar, and Henry Petty proposed reducing sugar subsidies.
• Pitt the Younger urged the government to store the Indian sugar and use future supplies from India, Prussia, and the Bahamas to challenge France’s pricing power.
• Pitt proposed fomenting Caribbean unrest to cut French sugar supplies, and Grenville asked him to submit a detailed report.
• Fox informed Grenville that Russia had occupied Tabriz and was expected to attack Zanjan Fortress.
• Petty explained to Earl Spencer that Sir Gracie’s Great Game report had warned the government to invest in Persia and Afghanistan to counter Russian expansion.

British ministers agreed to fund Persian defenses and use diplomacy to delay Russia, despite Britain’s mounting expenses. In Paris, Eli Whitney’s application to the Talent Committee faltered when his inventions were dismissed or credited to others, but a young reviewer stopped him as he left.

• Fox warned British ministers that Persia’s defeat and Afghanistan’s turmoil could let Russia advance into India, prompting them to shift their meeting to Middle Eastern strategy.
• Jervis proposed supporting Persia or Afghanistan, while Fox and Pitt the Younger opposed a direct conflict with Russia; the ministers settled on arming Persia and delaying Russia through diplomacy.
• Grenville ordered Fox to leave for Saint Petersburg and Jervis to send officers, Flintlock Guns, and cannon to Persia, then told Petty to release sugar and cut subsidies to help fund the effort.
• Eli Whitney presented his cotton gin, Milling Machine concept, and standardized production method to the French Talent Committee, but reviewers noted his patent disputes and said Crown Prince had already introduced standardized production.
• Whitney left the Review Room believing his application was hopeless, but a young reviewer hurried after him and asked him to wait.

Whitney explained his Rotary Milling Machine concept to Vaucanson and earned temporary talent status at the French Academy of Sciences. Though he worried about affording a workshop and the machine’s development, a visit to a French blacksmith’s shop left him amazed by its selection of tools.

• Whitney described his multidirectional, rotating worktable and horizontal cutting tool to Vaucanson, who praised the design.
• Vaucanson granted Whitney temporary talent status for two years and told him to complete the machine or publish an influential paper to qualify for official status.
• Whitney completed his Academy procedures and learned he would receive an annual stipend and a house, then reflected on his past patent troubles and Achard’s success in France.
• Whitney worried that he lacked a workshop and enough money to develop the milling machine before his two-year term expired.
• Whitney went to a blacksmith’s shop for tools and was astonished by the range and craftsmanship of the equipment.

Whitney discovered France’s standardized tools and government research funding, then used a grant and workshop to begin developing a milling machine. He and his assistants built a scaled-down wooden prototype, while bodyguards kept him under watch.

• Whitney bought an inexpensive set of standardized tools and realized the Screw Micrometer could improve machining precision.
• Perret delivered Whitney’s senior talent certification and explained how to apply to the New Technology Promotion Fund.
• Whitney applied for funding to develop a milling machine after learning he could receive government support.
• The Talent Committee approved Whitney’s application, granted him 1,400 Francs, recommended assistants, and helped him rent a workshop.
• Whitney worked with his assistants for just over two months to build the first scaled-down wooden prototype machine.

Whitney secured approval for his research funding and agreed to a deal that could make him wealthy by developing a Rotary Milling Machine for Blythe Steel. Meanwhile, Jacques Lenoir discovered that a discarded steel experiment might be useful for cutting tools, leaving him ready to investigate it further.

• The Talent Committee approved Whitney's first-stage results, granted him another 3,000 francs, and moved his research site to the National Laboratory.
• Perret introduced Whitney to two Blythe Steel shareholders, who offered him shares in exchange for using his Milling Machine in a bid for the French United Steam Engine Company's machining project.
• Whitney accepted the proposal after Perret explained that the Talent Committee would supervise the deal and protect both parties' interests.
• Jacques Lenoir worried that his brother Philippe's Milling Machine research was failing and threatening their family factory.
• Lenoir noticed that a scrap of experimental steel had dented High-manganese steel, traced it to an experiment containing 0.3% manganese, and proposed studying it for cutting tools.