François did not refuse Rothschild's request. However, he still said to Rothschild: "Mr. Rothschild, I personally feel that this should not be a problem, we also need your experience and talents." However, as I mentioned earlier, it is possible that we will get no more than five percent of the common stock. This is not a large amount, but it is inherently liquid. So, this part of the shares, I think, does not need to be placed in the name of this company. ”

Rothschild listened, nodded and said, "This is completely understandable. There is no need for this. ”

Rothschild understood that, in any case, the common stock of such a promising enterprise as "Bonaparte General Electric", even if it was only 51 percent, was still very precious, and it represented not only money, but even a certain amount of power. If François really needed cash and needed to sell some of their shares for money, they would have preferred to sell preferred shares rather than common shares. If the ownership of the common shares is also recorded in the name of the new company, then when the shares of the company are sold, is it not time to sell a portion of those common shares? Moreover, although Rothschild came up with such an idea for them, it was already very worthy of him to allow him to participate in the preferred shares.

The two men exchanged a few more casual words, and François got up to take his leave. When he returned to his lodgings, he wrote a letter about these things and sent them to China quickly, and then waited here for news and authorization from China.

As for the French, they are not in a hurry, because for the French, especially for Napoleon, they are really not on the top of the list.

Today, Napoleon's main concern is first and foremost the advancement of the "City That Never Sleeps" project. The second is the experiment of the world's first steam locomotive.

More than half a year ago, Joseph personally reached an agreement with Watt to jointly develop a steam locomotive, and since then this research project has progressed quite smoothly. This was a natural thing, and although Joseph did not make much effort in this study due to other things, he still played a very crucial role - he quickly eliminated more than a dozen design proposals with great efficiency and amazing intuition, leaving only two.

This is actually nothing special, because when Joseph was born a little later, although he was born a little late, he no longer had the opportunity to see the steam locomotive spewing smoke on the railway line, (in fact, the steam locomotive in the Red Rabbit Country was retired very late, and even used it until about 2016 in some places.) It is said that many times, Hollywood or something wants to make a movie, involving the footage of steam trains, often go to the country of Chitu to find props, because the country of Chitu is almost the country in the world with the most steam locomotives that can continue to run as long as they are repaired. But in most places, Joseph really didn't see a steam locomotive that could run. But in his previous life, in various movies and television, and in parks everywhere, Joseph did not know how many steam locomotives he had seen. So just looking at the appearance, Joseph was able to rule out many solutions that did not meet the needs of the future.

And these two schemes, in fact, are very similar in most places. The only difference is that the transmission mechanism is not the same.

The first option, called the British model, uses Watt's planetary gear system entirely to transmit power, while the second option, called the Continental model, uses a simpler crankshaft drive in many places – because the patented technology for crankshaft transmission has expired.

So these two schemes are not too different in nature, they are almost the same scheme. The reason why these two plans came up was entirely because of Watt's insistence. Although the patent for crankshaft transmission had expired, Watt insisted that he did not want to use crankshaft technology.

However, in some places, there were significant cost savings by using a simple crankshaft, so although Watt hated the crankshaft, the French insisted on using a lower cost crankshaft. As a result of the dispute, two models of steam locomotives appeared.

In addition to this, the Watt Band made a special point of emphasizing that the British model must be tested first and must become the world's first steam locomotive. In this regard, Napoleon was actually very reluctant, but Joseph felt that it was nothing, anyway, although the first experiment was carried out on the British model, the location of the experiment was still in France.

Compared to the steam locomotives that Joseph had seen in later film and television programs, the first steam locomotive parked on the test track today was significantly smaller. This was the result of Joseph shooting a lot of small steam engines that were only going to fit a steam locomotive with five to ten horsepower—in the beginning, some guys just wanted to get a steam-powered wagon. This level is simply inferior to even Stephenson's travelers.

Naturally, such a plan could not be passed by Joseph, and at a meeting of the design department, Joseph suddenly appeared, and then, quoting Danton's famous quote, shouted to the engineers: "Bold, bold, always bold, your design can pass with me!" ”

So the engineers got the courage to prepare a large steam engine for the steam locomotive, and designed a monster-like thing around the huge steam engine. They originally thought that this plan would definitely be shot by Joseph, but after Joseph saw it, he still thought that this thing was a little small.

But Joseph also knew that he couldn't take too big a step, lest he get into something. So although this thing is still a little smaller in his opinion, it is far less spectacular than the "forward" steam locomotive driven by the Japanese in various anti-Japanese dramas, or the slightly smaller "upstream" steam locomotive, but at least it is no longer like the "Voyager", it looks like a Dongfanghong tractor.

According to this scheme, the locomotive was huge at the front, at least as it was seen at the time, with a cylindrical boiler lying horizontally with a high chimney on it, behind the boiler was a wide cab, and behind it was a coal water wheel. The whole locomotive has five pairs of large and small wheels underneath, although in Joseph's opinion, this is still a little smaller, but more or less, it can be regarded as a little "upstream" locomotive.

The plan was thus adopted with some minor modifications in accordance with Joseph's wishes.

Watt was surprised by the radical nature of the plan, but after careful calculations, Watt found that it seemed to be feasible. So he said to his assistant William Murdoch: "William, have you noticed, we are still not used to using the best steel as pig iron......"

Yes, before that, there was more than one person in England who had experimented with steam locomotives, and a large part of the reason why they kept failing was that they couldn't use steel in this way. Even in the original history, the reason why Stephenson's first practical steam locomotive, the Voyager, was so small was largely limited by the performance of the material. Not to mention anything else, his train only had wooden tracks wrapped in wrought iron, which was like the wealthy French, who directly planned to make steel rails. Just one meter of track will use 20 kilograms of steel, which is simply ......

After the adoption of the plan, it took another half a year to build a six-kilometer experimental track and two experimental locomotives built by the newly established "Bonaparte-Watt Company", which was completed in Lorraine. Because Watt was also going to take part in the first experiment, Joseph also left everything at hand to the students and rushed to Lorraine with Napoleon.

On the carriage to Lorraine, Joseph asked, "Napoleon, why are you so interested in this thing?" ”

"Ah, it's nothing, it's just that I came to your office to look for you that day, and you happened to be away." Napoleon said, "I was bored of waiting, looking for something on your desk, and then I saw what you drew an 'imaginary picture of an armored train,' well, although your drawing skills are far from Lucien's, but I have to admit that it is very interesting, it is simply a battleship on land." In the future, if he really gets it out, let's call him a land battleship. ”

"Phew!" Joseph said, "What land battleships, land cruisers, don't sound good at all. Also, the other day I heard you say that Lucien's painting level is poor? ”

"Lucien's level is not high, but it also depends on who he compares with. At the very least, Lucien wouldn't have misproportioned a woman and drawn her eyes the size of a third of a face...... Ah, by the way, and the train cannon you drew, can that thing really be made? Speaking of this, Napoleon's eyes sparkled, "That thing really looks more majestic than the urban cannon, full of evil beauty, it's really good, can this thing be made?" Also, why do you call him Gustav? His Majesty Gustav was very good at using cannons, but his best use was always a small 3-pound object. I think we should change the name to the Augustan Cannon......"

"Don't worry, Napoleon, that land battleship of yours will soon be able to get out. As for the 'Gustav' cannon, well, that thing I drew and played with. Of course, the theory is not completely impossible, but if you really want to figure it out, I'm afraid it will really be in your lifetime...... Besides, if this thing is really made, it doesn't seem to be of much use. ”

"It's useless." Napoleon nodded, "There's nothing to fight with it, but it's a spectacle......"