I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 441 Super Coal Field
In fact, as long as the French side did not say anything, the Ottomans themselves would not know whether the troops who did not return were captured or killed in action, and in the end they would basically be treated as killed in action.

In addition, thanks to the enthusiastic help of the Maori people, the town in New Zealand has been basically built. At the beginning, there are still thousands of Tunisian guards who were sent to work as coolies. If needed, they can be transferred to Donbass at any time.

Generally speaking, the biggest obstacle to developing a barren land like Donbass is manpower, and Joseph happened to have a lot of free labor.

There was no Geneva Convention in those days. Prisoners of war had no human rights at all, and even if they died of exhaustion in Russia, no one cared.

Moreover, the Donbass is a place with hundreds of kilometers of wasteland, surrounded by wild beasts, and without food or water, you can't run away. Even if some coolies possessed by "Bear Grylls" really make it to the town, the Russians will immediately send you back when they hear that you are speaking Turkic or Arabic.

This was also the reason why Talleyrand had the courage to firmly refuse Catherine II to dispatch labor.

Viscount Olivier was discussing the transportation of supplies with several shareholders of the development group when he saw several dirty men running over. Among them was a French scholar who was waving his hands excitedly and shouting, "Coal mine! I found a coal mine! There really is a big coal mine!"

Viscount Olivier and the others were all ecstatic. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was right. The prospecting team had only been out for less than a month when they found a coal mine, and it was a large one at that. Now, at least everyone would not lose all their money!

The geologist came up to the group, jumped off his horse, and motioned for his followers to bring down a small basket of coal. His face was flushed as he said, "Mr. Commander, we conducted a trial mining operation around the Rubernie plot, and we found very high-quality anthracite within a radius of at least 40 kilometers! Look!"

Although Russian explorers found traces of coal and iron ore in the Donbass region a long time ago, no one can guarantee how much reserves there are, let alone the specific quality. If you want to try mining, you have to set up a camp first and then invest a lot of money in detailed exploration.

Viscount Olivier excitedly took a piece of coal from the basket and took a closer look. It was indeed of very high quality. He handed the coal to the shareholders beside him, and they all looked at each other and nodded happily.

If it is anthracite, then more than just recovering the cost can be done. As long as the reserves are high enough, you can definitely make a fortune!
The geologist took out a map and said, "You see, from here to here is a rich mining area, and the burial depth is basically no more than 2 meters. I had people dig at 7 points, with a depth of more than 10 meters, and found that there are still coal seams there!"

Viscount Olivier and others could no longer contain themselves and cheered loudly, throwing their hats into the air or hugging and clapping each other excitedly.

"Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Thank you for the guidance of the Son of God! Thank you for the gift of God!"

"It turned out to be right to listen to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. We are rich, haha!"

"Yes, I'm going to make a fortune! With such a large coal mine, I'm afraid I can earn several million francs!"

If Joseph heard this news, he would not be surprised at all. He had long known that the Donbass region had extremely rich coal and iron resources. The Donbass coalfield even supported more than 70% of the industrial production of the later Red Empire!
In fact, what Viscount Olivier and his team had discovered was only a small part of the total area - the entire South Donbass coalfield covers an area of ​​1.5 square kilometers! And most of them are shallow open-pit coal mines that can be easily mined by hand.

In fact, at this time, the prospecting team sent by the development group to the Krivoy Rog area had discovered high reserves of iron ore, but because the distance there was a little far, trial mining was still being carried out.

Although the quality of the iron ore in Donbass is not high, the reserves are extremely rich, and the proven reserves in later generations exceed 35 billion tons. With the coal here, which costs almost as much as stone, it can be used to refine iron ingots at a very low price, so the mining value is still very high. After the coal and iron ore here are mined in large quantities, the high-quality ones will be shipped back to France, and the unused ones can be sold to Russia on the spot, or sold from the Crimean port to the countries along the Mediterranean coast - the speed of making money is even faster than robbery.

The most important thing is that this coal and iron resource, which was historically controlled by Britain, will no longer have anything to do with the British.

France finally obtained an extremely important source of anthracite during the Industrial Revolution. Before this, France could only buy all its anthracite from Britain, and its own coal mines were all low-quality coal with extremely high sulfur content. This was also one of the important factors that France could not catch up with Britain in the early stages of its industrial development.

Although France seems to have gained huge benefits in Donbass, Russia will be very grateful to France. Not to mention the contribution of developing Donbass to Russia's control of Crimea, Russia will soon enter the start-up stage of industrial development, and the demand for coal and iron ore will increase rapidly. If there were no coal and iron ore mined by the French, they would have to transport coal and iron from the distant Uralsk region to Moscow, and the cost would be at least 30% higher.

As for whether this would speed up Russia's industrialization, Joseph had no worries at all - Russia's social system and technological capabilities were completely incapable of threatening France's industrial position. If Russia's low-end industries developed a little faster and France could make a lot of profit from it, that would be completely acceptable.

Viscount Olivier suddenly thought of something and motioned for everyone to be quiet. Then he said very seriously, "The discovery of the large coal mine must be kept strictly confidential!"

"Yes, Master."

After everyone dispersed, Viscount Olivier immediately took the money and rushed to Kursk.

He is going to buy land.

Previously, Archbishop Talleyrand told him that the Russian Tsar promised the development group that they could buy land in the Donbass region at a price of 1 ruble per Russian acre. He originally did not dare to invest too much, but now it seems that he should definitely listen to the advice of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and directly buy all the places where minerals may be discovered!
……

Vienna.

Schönbrunn Palace.

At the grand ball to welcome the French Crown Prince, the Austrian nobles danced to their heart's content, but the protagonist of the ball, Joseph, had no interest in dancing. Instead, he was talking to Leopold II on the wooden stage next to the band.

"You can fully trust the fighting power of my army." Joseph said, "So, although my plan is a bit risky, it will also enable us to win."

Leopold II looked at him in surprise. He had heard that the French prince had commanded troops in North Africa and the Southern Netherlands, but he thought it was just a teenager playing an adventure game.

After the two of them had just had a detailed discussion about the battle, he discovered that the young man must have actually participated in the battle and was quite familiar with military affairs.

(End of this chapter)