His Excellency the Count of Grandet

In the next few days, as the actual host, Charles took a large group of people to visit the textile factory, and then followed the river to the ironworks in Chalon.After seeing that the remaining cinders from the iron-smelting boilers were packed up as raw materials for the machine brick factory, everyone silently shut their mouths——

It really is the best use of everything, not a centimet is wasted!

If there were any doubts about how Shire could make more money with more expenses, they are gone now.

It is true that Shire’s expenditure on fixed equipment and human resources is much higher than that of other factories in the same industry; but he can produce more and better products in the same period of time, which is naturally easier to obtain than other factories. market, and it is easier to sell at a higher price.

In this way, won't the money come back?

More importantly, fixed assets are mostly invested at one time at the beginning.Once the foundation is laid, the profit margin will gradually increase every year in the future.Even if technical reform is needed in the future, according to the technical blueprint planned by Shire, it only needs to dismantle and replace the designed movable parts on the machine, which requires very little funds.Compared with the percentage of this investment, technological reform has far exceeded imagination in terms of improving product quality and output.

The industrialization of large machines is a development trend that is destined to be popular, obviously surpassing those small workshops, and also surpassing those manual labor-intensive factories!

To give a simple example, the average output of one worker in a Shire factory can equal the total output of a hundred workers in some factories.The efficiency is far behind others, so what is the reason not to make more money than others?

"incredible!"

"I thought the first year was already a miracle, but it's only going to get more and more miraculous?"

"Electric motors are the fastest and most valuable inventions I've ever seen!"

The above points have been approved by all.No one is an idiot. The important role played by this is obviously Shire’s precise investment vision and correct grand plan, and the second is undoubtedly the patented inventions that support technological reforms——

By convention, the patent protection period is usually 20 years.Under normal circumstances, considering the time required to find investors, pilot tests, and pay back the capital, it is very good to make money for 15 years; but almost no one can meet this standard.

But here in Shire, it is simply that the patents are directly put into industrialization after a batch of patents!Sufficient liquidity is important, but someone needs to be able to scale them from the laboratory to the factory!

The people who can do it are not nobles or bureaucrats, but the objects that most people in this era will ignore or despise-some people from poor families who have a strong interest in scientific research!

This is why Rothschild set his sights on Faraday.

The senior technicians in the Shire factory have signed a lifetime non-disclosure agreement, and they cannot be dug out under normal circumstances.What's more, Shire is already a very kind boss, and his factory is almost the best in the world, where else can he change jobs?Taking a step back, if you must show the spirit of cutting flesh to pay a large amount of liquidated damages, why not just dig out the smartest gold on the top so that you can be worthy of yourself?

Because of this, the visitors gave enough attention to the technical department for the first time.It's just that Faraday is not good at words, and he slipped away early after knowing that someone was coming to visit. According to his thinking, people like Charles are a minority after all, and people like Rothschild are the mainstream; unfortunately, he It is out of tune with such a mainstream.

"Oh, that's a pity," said the prime minister when he learned that Faraday was away today. "I've heard of this Faraday."

He really wanted to see Faraday's ability, but he didn't know that Rothschild had already ruined his business in advance.Coupled with the reasons for David earlier, he was actually quite guilty when he said that——

What did he offer Faraday?Not a dime.What did Shire offer Faraday?Funds, ideas, connections...almost everything.Then how thick-skinned did he have to be to tell Faraday, I will treat you well when you come back to London?

At this time, I must add that people's national consciousness is generally still very weak, let alone a sense of collective honor.

Because according to tradition, from the king to the common people, they usually only care about their own private property, except that one is the kingdom and the other is the food in the field.In the Middle Ages, it was not uncommon for brothers, uncles and nephews to fight each other for territory and royal power, and even couples had so many cases.

Even siblings can try to put each other to death, not to mention dedicating everything for the country——

Those who can canonize the pope don't do it!

So the Prime Minister finds it difficult, which is reasonable.Like Rothschild, he also thinks that there are people like Faraday in China; but unlike Rothschild, he feels that he has no position to say such things at all.

The 20-year protection period is not long or short.If things were allowed to take their course, the government's financial crisis might not be relieved when he stepped down; but wouldn't it be great if he could persuade Shire to share patents?Just pay a little price, at least solve the urgent need first!

But he alone was not enough to make a final decision.So after visiting the factory, Charles wisely suggested that Louis XVIII ask someone to take the British mission to the edge of the reservoir to have a look at the scenery.Playing is just an excuse, in fact, it is to leave time for the other party to negotiate internally.

As for the French side, several people also discussed behind closed doors.

"I heard that they are divided into many factions," Louis XVIII said after hearing the general situation in the past few days, obviously deliberately ignoring the similar situation in his own country, "You can be sure that they will not come to a conclusion in the end A conclusion against us?"

"You are worried that they will have trouble with gold." Duke Decaz immediately grasped the key point of the answer.He should be the most vocal in this regard, because he has been in London recently. "If it's possible for small money, they will never give up big money—as long as they want to appease domestic dissatisfaction, as long as they want to gain an advantage in the Americas and other overseas regions!"

Everyone looked at each other.The answer to this question is obvious, the British will not give up anywhere!

"Speaking of which, my colleagues spend a lot of money." Duke Richelieu came to such a conclusion. "If I were in his position, I wouldn't be able to sit in that thorn seat!"

Although it was not kind, the ridicule hidden in his words made everyone smile.

"Regarding this aspect, we already have a draft negotiation bottom line." Victor said while handing everyone a document.Sitting around with a large group of people to gain an advantage for himself has always been his forte, so he is responsible for that aspect. "Everyone take a look. If there is no problem, then we will discuss cooperation according to this standard."

Everyone took their share, and in the next period of time raised questions or requests for certain details.But the problem was not very big, so it was solved quickly.

Louis XVIII was very satisfied with this high efficiency. "Very well, I will leave all these matters to you." He scanned the crowd, and his eyes finally fell on Charles: "Dear Charles, if you succeed this time, I think I should give you the duke! This is actually not a matter, but I have already started to worry, how should I reward you this time?"

"Thank you for your majesty's generosity and grace, I am deeply honored." Charles quickly replied, "But I think this is what I should do; when my credit can really overshadow what I have done before, it is okay to think about it again." Very late!"

So Louis XVIII was more and more happy.He couldn't say that he wasn't tempted just now, but Shire's reaction was just as he expected.As for Victor, he has always been indifferent to cabinet positions.

This doesn't seem to matter much, but you must understand that this is the performance of the republican faction's superiority; comparing the two, the deteriorating royalist attitude is still arrogant and domineering...

The king shook his head inwardly.Even if he prefers to enjoy himself or save face, it doesn't mean he doesn't know anything.Now it looks like he's close to making that popular decision...

After the discussion, it was already late at night, and everyone went back to their rooms to rest.Victor rushed into Charles' room without hesitation, and blew out the candles to keep warm.When the two came out of the bathroom one after the other, they could finally start talking about business.

"In fact, Rothschild chose a very correct path," Victor commented after hearing what Charles had said about Faraday, with a very objective attitude. "They just didn't expect that Faraday's thinking is different from ordinary people." He said He snorted again, "If Faraday's resentment is aroused, it's entirely their own fault."

Charles nodded. "Whether it's gold or power, Michael is not interested. Or to be more precise, he strictly requires himself not to touch these two things." This is the excellent character of a great scientist across the ages!

If you want to impress Faraday with a high-ranking official and rich salary, it is better to persuade Faraday's first sentence that national interests are paramount!But with Rothschild's temperament, they never thought about this possibility, right?Or I thought of it, but even if I said it, anyone who knew them a little bit would think it was beyond imaginable hypocrisy...

Victor responded by squinting at Ciel.Really, when did Charles not praise and admire Faraday when he mentioned Faraday?Not to mention that Faraday can see it, can he see it too?But now he also knows that it is completely pointless to compete with Charles in this aspect, because it will be of no use at all.There is undoubtedly one and only one best way, which is to change the subject——

"Do you see what His Majesty means?" He asked, carefully controlling the volume, "I think His Majesty has developed a certain tendency."

It took far less time for Charles to be promoted to the king than Victor, so he was a little surprised at this time.Just a little bit, because he knew that Louis XVIII did have an accurate judgment of the future situation that was rarely seen among nobles. "Do you mean," he mused, "Your Majesty already knows what we want to do and plans to support it?"

"I know for sure. After all, we are in the same situation as that side. Unless you are blind, you can't see it." Victor nodded and shook again. "But the way of support is relatively speaking. The Earl of Artois is His Majesty's younger brother after all."

This is just a scene, because they all know that the Earl of Artois doesn't think so.To put it bluntly, the Count of Artois wished that Louis XVIII would die quickly so that he could become Charles X immediately!

"It doesn't sound like you don't know what you said." Charles said slowly, raising one foot.Emphasizing the brotherly love of the King and the Count of Artois?What about entertaining him?

"It won't be long, will it?" Victor said, as if answering or talking to himself. "But before that," he leaned closer to Shire, blowing into Shire's ear intentionally or unintentionally, "let's solve our problem first?"