I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 438 Catherine II's Return
Second floor of the Tuileries Palace.

Joseph couldn't help but smile as he looked at the statistical report on the World Expo that Bai had just compiled.

He originally just wanted to use the World Expo and the opportunity of installing gas street lights in Paris to promote France.

Unexpectedly, before the World Expo ended, the current amount of various business orders had reached more than 6 million francs.

And this is the number of contracts signed in the business hall. According to Bailly's estimation, including private transactions, the total amount should exceed 1 million francs.

Among them, nearly 70% of the orders were from France. After all, France was the host country, the exhibition hall was the most fully prepared, and the product promotion was very successful, so it was not surprising that it attracted a large number of buyers.

Although many of these orders may not be finally completed, as long as 60% to 70% of them can be implemented, it will greatly boost the sales of French industrial products.

You have to know that this is just an exhibition and buyers are still willing to try out the products.

Once these products flow into European markets, gain recognition from local people, and form a stable demand, that will be the time when sales of French industrial products will explode.

Thanks to the Treaty of Eden signed by France and Britain, and the Treaty of Rhine-Seine signed with half of the German countries, these goods will not encounter much hindrance in entering the above-mentioned countries.

After the funds are recovered, a positive cycle of production-sales-funds-R&D will be formed. In addition, with Joseph's guidance for France's industrial development, it can be foreseen that France will have a very high chance of winning the competition in the First Industrial Revolution.

However, Joseph also saw from this expo that other European countries were also paying more and more attention to industrial development. Not to mention Britain, the leader of the Industrial Revolution, both the German countries and the Italian countries had already set their sights on the coal and steel industries and began to get in touch with steam engine technology.

There is no way. The circle of Europe is so small. If someone comes up with something good, other countries will immediately follow suit. Historically, after the Industrial Revolution started in Britain, other major European powers also started the industrialization process. Even Austria, which was the slowest, was only 20 years behind Britain.

Therefore, Joseph did not dare to slack off in promoting the development of French industry.

The world of this era follows the law of the jungle: powerful countries will never show any mercy to weak countries. Especially since the strongest country is Britain, which has stirring up trouble in its genes.

France must be strong enough to deal with the hostility and subversion that the British will inevitably carry out, so the pace of industrialization must be accelerated.

Joseph handed the statistical documents of the World Expo back to the Minister of Commerce and reminded him:

“Please try your best to provide support to the factories of these orders, especially those involved in the textile, steel and chemical industries. If you encounter any difficulties, please report directly to me.”

"Yes, Your Highness."

Baiyi bowed slightly, discussed some things about the closing ceremony of the World Expo with Joseph, then stood up and left.

Berthier and the Minister of Commerce, who had been waiting for a long time, nodded and walked quickly into the Crown Prince's office. They bowed to Joseph and said:
"Your Highness, we received news from Vienna at noon that the Lefebvre Corps has arrived in Brunn. It is expected that all the Royal Guards troops in Silesia will be assembled within 5 days."

Joseph nodded and said, "Please ask the General Staff to convey my order to the Guards Corps. The entire army will temporarily rest in Austria. I will rush to Silesia immediately after the World Expo is over."

Berthier was a little surprised and said:
"Your Highness, are you going to Silesia?"

After all, in his mind, France's battle in Silesia was mainly a gesture to Austria, and there was no need for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to go in person.

"Yes," Joseph nodded, "we're going to have some serious fighting there, so I have to be on the front lines."

Seeing the puzzlement in Berthier's eyes, Joseph smiled and said, "The current border between Prussia and Austria is almost the same as before the war. This way, they can easily negotiate a ceasefire.

"And if Prussia loses part of Silesia, do you think they will accept this result?"

Berthier immediately realized something and said hurriedly:

"Your Highness, in this case, we will have to face 12 Prussian troops."

"You must have confidence in the French soldiers," Joseph said, "Besides, we will face such a war sooner or later, so it is good for the army to accumulate experience as soon as possible."

Joseph knew very well that as long as the German countries could not form a joint force, Britain alone would not be able to pose a serious threat to France on the European continent. Therefore, Silesia, the hot spot, must continue to be hot.

……

Russia.

St. Petersburg.

Catherine II looked at the French Foreign Minister in front of her in surprise:
“You mean that France will invest heavily in Donbass and send people there to develop it?”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Talleyrand bowed and said, "This is a plan personally formulated by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Three companies have confirmed that they will invest, and one of them is the Silk Steel Company, which currently has the highest output in France. You may have heard of it."

Catherine II had not yet received a reply from her ambassador to France on whether France agreed to the Franco-Russian marriage. She originally thought that France would pursue a policy of keeping a certain distance from Russia, but she did not expect that the French Crown Prince would immediately send her a big gift.

Could it be that the French are not satisfied with Alexandra's bloodline, but still want to strengthen relations with us?

She put aside the thoughts in her mind and asked Talleyrand:

"So, what does Your Highness hope to get in return?"

Talleyrand smiled with all his sincerity:
"Your friendship is the greatest reward for France.

"Oh, in fact, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince believes that coal or iron mines are likely to be discovered in the Donbass region, so developing them there will be of great benefit to both our countries."

Joseph knew that real diplomacy could not be like in TV dramas, where you go to someone else's house to buy a piece of wasteland at a low price, quietly dig out the resources, and then secretly transport them back home.

In that case, others will only feel cheated and at the same time covet the huge benefits of resources, which will eventually lead to tearing up the agreement and becoming enemies.

But if I had told Ekaterina from the beginning that I was sure there were coal and iron mines in Donbass, but that it was still a wasteland, I could ask her to name a price and she wouldn't feel like she was at a disadvantage if the resources were really discovered in the future.

The Russian Tsar smiled and nodded:

"I can give His Royal Highness the Crown Prince the mining rights to 2 acres of land in the Donbass region in response to his kindness."

1 dessiatin is more than 1 hectare, so 2 dessiatines is definitely a very vast area.

(End of this chapter)