I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 533 His Majesty's Patent

Joseph continued to read the document about the Paris High Court's verdict on Lavoisier, and then he breathed a sigh of relief - fortunately, it was only 15 years in prison, and not a direct death sentence like the Jacobins.

Lavoisier's crime did not meet the standard of beheading. At that time, the French Revolution had only two ways of sentencing: "not guilty" and "death penalty", so the father of chemistry lost his life.

Joseph weighed the pros and cons in embarrassment. Lavoisier could not go to jail now because the soda ash factory and the coal tar refinery were still waiting for him to run the factory. If he was put in jail, all these projects would be suspended.

It seemed that he could only be released on bail as an exception. Joseph looked at the fine amount sentenced, which was as high as 120 million francs.

He frowned immediately. After the punishment, Lavoisier probably wouldn't be able to come up with enough bail. In that case, he could only ask his father for a pardon.

This great scholar has a fortune of over a million, why would he be greedy for a little more?
At this moment, Emmanuel whispered outside the door: "Your Highness, Baron Breteuil wants to see you."

"Please let him in."

Then, the Minister of Justice pushed the door open and walked in, followed by a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

After the ceremony, Breteuil motioned to the man who had come with him and introduced Joseph:
"Your Highness, this is Joseph Ignace Guillotin, Attorney General of Paris.

"In fact, he has always been committed to improving the efficiency of executions. After his unremitting efforts, he finally invented this new type of guillotine."

Upon hearing this, Guillotin hurried forward a few steps, opened the box he was carrying, took out an exquisite guillotine model from it, and explained to Joseph with a smile:
"Your Highness, our current beheading is very troublesome and inefficient, and the criminals will suffer a lot. At the same time, the executioner's salary is very high, even close to that of the municipal commissioner.

“So I found a German craftsman who had experience in this area, and together with him I invented this guillotine.

"Oh, there are a lot of executions being carried out in the Louvre Square these days, and this new machine can be used. It can increase the efficiency of executions several times.

"Allow me to show you how it works."

Joseph looked at the "door"-shaped frame on the table, with a guillotine with a sharp blade hanging in the middle, and sighed in his heart that the inertia of history was really stubborn, and what was supposed to come would eventually come.

However, he remembered that in history Guillotin presented this new invention to Louis XVI, but he did not expect that it would be given to him in this life.

This is understandable, after all, Baron Breteuil was promoted by himself, and the entire judicial system is under his management. When the judicial system has an epoch-making invention, it will naturally come to him first.

Yes, in this era when beheadings all over the world depend on the executioner and a knife, a fully automatic guillotine is just like the invention of high-precision CNC machine tools in later generations, and it is a groundbreaking high-precision technology. You have to take credit for it from the "big boss".

Guillotin had already skillfully lifted the blade on the model and placed a cucumber in the gap of the wooden yoke to simulate a human head.

Then he pulled the wrench on the model, and the blade fell and cut the cucumber with a "click".

However, embarrassingly, the blade got stuck two-thirds of the way through the cucumber and failed to cut it.

Guillotin wiped his sweat, hurriedly pulled up the blade again, and said to Joseph with an apologetic smile: "Ah! Your Highness, it's just a little accident, please give me another chance..."

Joseph glanced at the blade. It had a flat edge and was obviously a version that had not been improved yet. It was not surprising that it got stuck.

He was just about to propose an improvement to the classic beveled blade to complete the "Da Ge Ming guillotine", but he was suddenly stunned when the words came to his lips.

It would be better to let Daddy have this opportunity to show his face. After all, it was originally his patent, and it would also increase Daddy's sense of participation in the governance of the country. He didn't have many opportunities to participate, so he shouldn't grab them. So, he said to Guillotin: "His Majesty the King has a unique research on mechanical equipment. Perhaps he can give you some useful suggestions for your machine."

It's a good opportunity to ask my father for a pardon from Lavoisier.

More than an hour later.

Louis XVI looked at the guillotine model, stroking his chin and thinking for a long time, and suddenly grabbed a pen and paper and began to write and draw.

After several revisions, a drawing of a slanted guillotine appeared in front of Guillotin.

The latter's face was immediately filled with shock, and he began to flatter and compliment His Majesty the King.

In fact, it can't be considered flattery. He truly admires His Majesty the King.

This is equivalent to a great guy in the future seeing a high-precision CNC lathe for the first time and directly modifying it into a new generation version for you.

It’s okay not to accept it.

Guillotin also received a grant of 5 francs from Louis XVI to build several prototypes of an improved guillotine.

Breteuil immediately suggested that the prototype could be taken to the Louvre Square for testing.

After the Minister of Justice and Guillotin left excitedly, Louis XVI started chatting with his son whom he hadn't seen for a while:

"Joseph, I heard that you have arrested a lot of illegal tax farmers recently?"

"Yes, father." Joseph was a little surprised that his father, who spent all day in the workshop, still paid attention to current affairs. "These guys are unforgivable and seriously endanger the development and stability of France. You can tell how many bad things they have done from how excited the crowd was when they were beheaded."

He originally thought that Louis XVI wanted to plead for the big tax farmers. After all, he was a soft-hearted man, and if a tax farmer came to him for help, he would most likely find it difficult to refuse.

Unexpectedly, Louis XVI patted him on the shoulder and said proudly:

"My Joseph has grown up. He presided over such a big thing as tax reform and dealt with the evil tax farmers. He has made outstanding contributions to the country and the people. I bet that there is no crown prince in the whole of Europe who is better than you. You are the pride of me and your mother! Thank God!"

Although he is not good at handling government affairs and is more fond of playing, it does not prove that he is a stupid person. On the contrary, he is very smart. He can understand whether his son's work is beneficial to the country with a little thought.

He paused, then continued, "Well, the guillotine I improved can help you deal with those villains more effectively, so I also contributed to the tax reform this time."

Joseph smiled and said, "Yes, your invention is of great significance."

He thought to himself that it might not play such a big role in history.

After talking about abolishing the tax farming system for a while, Louis XVI suddenly remembered something and pulled Joseph towards his own workshop, saying excitedly:

"I have already made a sample of the rifle you mentioned earlier. Now, can you tell me how to double its firing rate?"

(End of this chapter)