I Am the Crown Prince in France

In fact, Joseph had already begun some paving work to promote ready-to-wear before this fashion week.

For example, he will put forward special requirements for the designers at fashion week - asking them to try to avoid the common shape of chest, waist and buttocks with clear latitude and longitude when designing, and switch to a smooth transition model of the waist. near.

Because clothing that emphasizes the chest, waist, and buttocks, especially skirts, has very strict size requirements - two people of similar height and weight, just because there is a slight difference in the distance between the chest and waist, their clothes will not match each other at all. Change.

By changing to a smooth transition style, the same clothing can be made for them in standard sizes.

It also happened that French designers were looking for inspiration for this season's fashion. They greatly appreciated this somewhat "retro" design style - which was slightly similar to the long skirts of ancient Rome - so they turned to designing waists. Smooth transition fashion.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with the fact that the proposer of the design style is the crown prince. After all, European fashion looks to France, French fashion looks to Paris, and Parisian fashion looks to the royal family.

After that, Joseph discussed with people from the Lyon Textile Industry Guild and initially formulated a standard for ready-to-wear sizes - temporarily divided into five sizes: small, small, medium, large and very large according to men's and women's sizes, and announced them Specific requirements for each size for men and women.

After this fashion week is over, Joseph will also ask the Textile Industry Association to continue to refine the size standards and promote them throughout France.

The next step is to find ways to expand the scale of garment production and continuously reduce costs.

When the cost of ready-made clothes is low enough for ordinary people to accept it, there will be many people who are more concerned about style and are not so tight on money, and will be willing to switch from homemade clothes to buying ready-made clothes.

Joseph also knew that this would be a difficult process, and he would need to cooperate with industrial policies, add new textile machines, and be driven by steam engines to make it possible.

It is even necessary to solve the problem of the landed aristocracy, cancel the privileges of feudal lords, and liberate a large number of tenant farmers to provide industrial labor.

"It's difficult..." Joseph sighed with a wry smile.

…

"Congratulations! My dear Mr. Walsh!"

On the east side of the Tuileries Garden, in front of a villa that was one-third full, under the watchful eyes of more than a dozen tall and handsome salespeople, the sales manager solemnly handed a bunch of keys and the deed to Walsh to :

"From this moment on, you have officially become the owner of the distinguished 'Palace Garden'! From now on, your biggest worry may be that there are too many envious looks directed at you."

Immediately, cheerful music sounded all around, and beautiful girls came forward to present flowers to Walsh, and then the priest prayed for the new home...

All in all, the ceremony was full of atmosphere, attracting countless passers-by to stop and watch.

Yes, Mr. Walsh finally failed to withstand the temptation and spent 2,050 pounds to buy a house in the Palace Garden.

The main reason for this is that he learned from his own channels that France will vigorously develop the garment industry, thereby significantly increasing the demand for woolen textiles.

And he happened to be a wool merchant. Buying a house in Paris and doing business in France is perfect.

Of course, another reason is that the prices of houses in the Palace Garden are rising every day!

The house he bought was 50,000 livres, or 2,000 pounds, three days ago. In the blink of an eye, it had risen to 2,050 pounds.

This made him annoyed about his hesitation in the past few days.

When he heard from the salesperson that the price would continue to increase in a few days, he couldn't bear it anymore and immediately decided to buy a house!

And Mrs. Walsh was even more delighted. From the first moment she arrived in Paris, she fell in love with it - the whole city was clean, comfortable, tidy, full of fashion, and there were convenient buses and carriages.

By the way, there is also the extremely reassuring public security environment!

The policemen patrolling the streets of Paris are all very impressive. Not only do they never extort foreigners or vendors, but when they encounter someone committing theft or robbery, they will even rush in immediately to bring them to justice. And if this were in London, the British police would have disappeared long ago, unless the victim was a noble noble.

Of course, she didn't know that just a few months ago, the police in Paris were on the same level as their British counterparts - this was a new phenomenon only after the Dauphin's police reform.

Mrs. Walsh had written a letter to her precious son in London last night, asking him to take his fiancée to Paris for a vacation. After returning, they would be able to brag in social situations for a long time.

…

Frost Moon 19, 1788.

Paris Fashion Week, which shocked the whole of Europe, has finally come to an end. After a great event, memories of endless revelry and the intoxicating luxury of the Tuileries Palace remain.

Immediately, the Paris Fashion Art Exhibition officially opened.

This art exhibition is mainly used to showcase French designers - only by making their names known can the world be more accepting of Parisian fashion.

During the five-day art exhibition, fashion designers from all over Europe will be invited to select the best designers of the year and award them with the "Golden Feather Award".

On the same day, another very important event happened that not many people knew about -

That is, the "Royal French Ordnance Factory" has completed all preparatory work and officially started production.

On the southeast side of the Palace of Versailles Square, outside the plane tree forest, there is a small courtyard 100 meters square, surrounded by a stone wall. There is a crucible furnace for iron-making in the courtyard, as well as a dozen wooden work sheds of various sizes.

At this time, Joseph was standing in front of the main entrance of the small courtyard where the "Royal Ordnance Factory" stone tablet was erected, bowing his head and saluting the departing figure of Louis XVI.

Just now, he accompanied His Majesty the King to attend the opening ceremony of the ordnance factory. Dad was probably too happy. For the first time, he gave a speech of up to five sentences in public, and basically did not stumble.

Of course, after all, this is a factory invested by him to mass-produce the weapons he developed, and even the main craftsmen were trained by him. It is normal to be happy.

After seeing his father off, Joseph turned back and looked at the two core managers of the ordnance factory, ready to get down to business.

"Mr. Garman, what is the current production capacity?"

An old man with a flat nose, two big eyebags on his face, and a pair of small but particularly bright eyes immediately leaned forward and said:

"Your Highness, we can currently make three flash cap guns per day, but this will soon be increased to four."

The Ordnance Factory currently has only one product, the August 1788 percussion cap gun.

Joseph frowned when he heard this - four guns were made every day, 120 guns a month, and the annual output was not enough to equip an infantry regiment...

He did control the scale of this ordnance factory to be relatively small - after his on-site inspection, he found that not to mention the Palace of Versailles, even the entire Paris did not have supporting industries for the production of weapons. For example, iron making, rough wood processing, screws, belts, etc. cannot be supplied. Therefore, he decided to only build a "demonstration factory" near the Palace of Versailles to train craftsmen and conduct small-scale production. A larger ordnance factory is already under construction in Saint-Etienne and should be completed next month.

However, even if it is just a "demonstration factory", the output is a bit too low, right?

He walked into the courtyard with two supervisors, turned his head and asked:

"Mr. Garman, can you increase production in a short period of time? For example... ten pills per day?"

Louis XVI's lock-making teacher and the current technical director of the ordnance factory immediately shook his head and said:

"Your Highness, you see, His Majesty has barely had much rest in the past month, and he has barely allowed four craftsmen to master the manufacturing process of the flash cap gun. Oh, and this includes me."

He participated in the development of the flash cap gun on the spot and did not need training.

"Now the four of us have to teach the apprentices. We work until late at night every day to get out a musket."

He hasn't said yet that the barrel for the flash cap gun is a rough blank custom-made directly from Charleville, otherwise he wouldn't be able to finish even one in a day.

Joseph frowned again and said in surprise:

"Why not let other craftsmen participate in the production, and the four of you will supervise and guide them?"

You know, Louis XVI hired 16 senior gunsmiths from other places for his ordnance factory, and as many as 50 middle and low-level craftsmen. If these people all took action, the production capacity would never be so miserable.

Garman wondered: "Your Highness, the craftsmanship of a flash cap gun is very different from that of a flintlock gun, especially the barrel and bolt. You must master every step of the process and practice repeatedly to make a qualified gun."

Joseph immediately discovered the logical problem in his words: "In other words, except for the barrel and bolt part, the rest is almost the same as a flintlock gun?"

"Well, that's true."

"Then the four of you will be responsible for making the barrel and bolt. Others will make other parts. Then assemble it. Wouldn't this greatly increase the speed?"

"Your Highness, I'm afraid this is impossible." Before Garman could say anything, the little middle-aged man with brown curly hair next to him said, "Each craftsman has very different technical habits and characteristics. parts to fit together perfectly.”

Garman immediately nodded and added:

"Mr. Martinier is right. Even if you are an apprentice of a craftsman, it is difficult to guarantee that the things made by the master will be exactly the same."

Joseph couldn't help but raise his forehead, but he had forgotten that this was still the era of handicraft industry, and there was no such thing as standard parts production. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the concept of standard parts began to appear. It would be another 20 years before it was actually applied in production...

As for the assembly line production model that requires standard parts as front-end technology, it is a no-brainer.

He sighed and looked at the manager and technical director in front of him:

"Then, let's try to change this situation. There is a production method called parts standardization."

The two supervisors looked at each other with confusion on their faces: "Parts standardization?"

"That's right." Joseph nodded, "To put it simply, when the same firearm is produced by different craftsmen, they must strictly abide by the pre-implemented parts standards.

"In terms of shape, materials, size, etc., the tolerance range cannot be exceeded. Oh, I will explain to you what tolerance is.

"This ensures that no matter who makes the parts, they can be interchanged at will."

"How is this possible?!" Garman and Martinier said in unison.

Joseph entered the office with the two of them, motioned for them to sit down, and said seriously:

"This can definitely be done. Of course, some means need to be used. First, a batch of more precise measuring tools must be made."

Garman immediately said: "You mean, something like a spiral micrometer."

Joseph nodded: "That's right. Then you will lead the best craftsmen to formulate the "Production Process Standards", "Product Execution Standards", "Quality Inspection Standards" and other standards for flash cap guns, even the placement of tools, and finally Everything has a unified standard.”

"Oh, I will ask someone to write a detailed document about the meaning of these standards and give it to you later." Joseph continued, "After the standards are formulated, the craftsmen will be uniformly trained.

“When everyone is making parts, they must use the same tools, use the same measurement methods, and operate in strict accordance with various standard documents. It is strictly forbidden to change any step according to their own wishes.

“The completed parts will be handed over to the person responsible for quality inspection for measurement. If the tolerance is exceeded, the part will be scrapped.

"The parts produced in this way are almost identical from material to size. In the end, even if the parts are given to unskilled workers, they can be assembled into a qualified musket."

The two supervisors' eyes widened immediately - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's method may sound unbelievable, but if you think about it carefully, it is very possible to achieve it.

If produced in this way, only a small number of craftsmen who are familiar with all processes are required to formulate standards, and other craftsmen only need to follow the standards step by step.

As you can imagine, the production speed will be greatly increased, and training craftsmen will become much simpler!

How did the crown prince come up with such a wonderful idea? The Son of God is truly worthy of his name!

Joseph gave them a general introduction to concepts such as "tolerance" and "quality inspection", and finally said:

"Artisans may not be so receptive to the new production model. In the early stages of implementation, output may even decrease, but as long as you persist, production efficiency will definitely be greatly improved.

"During this time, I will work with you to set all production standards and help you train craftsmen."

Joseph suddenly thought that perhaps the standardization system should be implemented in factories such as machine tool factories and steam engine factories, and even national-level product standards should be introduced.

However, this again involves the issue of metric standardization.

You know, at present, various units are used to measure length, weight, etc. in various parts of France. Even the same unit "meter" will be measured differently by craftsmen in southern France and northern France.

Of course, this is even more true in other European countries.

If you want to promote industrialization at the national level, unifying measurement standards is the minimum requirement.

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