The shortage of saltpeter has eased, and the peat days of the republican snow month (the republican calendar does not correspond to the months of the usual calendar). It has fewer days in each month – a bit like the Chinese lunar calendar – so that there are only 360 days in 12 months, and the extra five days are used for national celebrations. And it starts at a different time of each month and the usual calendar. That is, on December 21, in the Tourine region of France, a large amount of nitrate was discovered.

It is said that it was discovered, but it is not accurate. In fact, when France was still a kingdom, it was already known and recorded. It's just that the French didn't think of it as a big deal at the time.

Compared with saltpeter from India or Turkey, the quality of the nitrate from Dulan is very average, and the saltpeter from India and Turkey only needs to be slightly purified before it can be used, and even if it is only used to make brown powder that fires bullets and shells, it can be used without purification. However, if the nitrate soil of Dulan is to be used, it needs a lot of purification work. This greatly increased the cost of production, so in the Kingdom era, when there was a supply of saltpeter from long-term allies, the French were stupid to dig up the nitrate of Duran. And after a long time, they simply forgot that Dulan had this thing.

It was only recently that someone finally rediscovered the nitrate of Duran when they were collecting wines from Durand.

Nowadays, not to mention the ready-made nitrate ore, even the toilet pigsty can not let go of the "National Salvation Committee", of course, will not dislike the bad taste of nitrate ore, the high cost of mining and refining, or something. Moreover, the transportation in the Duran area is convenient and transportation is not difficult, so the National Salvation Committee set aside 28 areas in Paris in one go for the construction of nitrate refining plants.

But even so, it is not enough to equip the million-strong army of France with a large number of "little melons" by relying on the nitrate of Dulan alone. And because of the rush to production, various accidents are constantly occurring in the mines of Duran and the refineries in Paris. As a result, the increase in production has been slowed down.

"With nitrate, that's great news! But the bad news is that our enemies are gradually regrouping, and we are not producing fast enough. Moreover, without enough caustic, the 'Republic No. 1' explosives could not be produced in large quantities. Kano said to Joseph, who was reporting to him, "Joseph, do you know how to build ships?" ”

"What?" Joseph was taken aback, "Lazar, I was born by the sea, but I really haven't done this thing about shipbuilding. ”

"I know, I'm just going to the doctor in a hurry. Well, I had this idea because some time ago, you published an article about how to calculate fluid resistance mathematically, right? ”

"yes, but that was a year ago." Joseph said.

"Is there any new progress in this research?"

"No, this research has long been shelved, first the war, then the dynamite, where can I take care of such a purely academic thing?"

"Hell!" "Today, we still have to smuggle caustic to get it. The price demanded by foreign smugglers is too high, and it is not cheap for us to smuggle ourselves, because it is easy to get caught even with people and boats. So we need a kind of clipper, preferably faster than any of the ships of the British and Spaniards! Well...... Well? What can you do now? Damn it! Isn't Lavoisier in charge of explosives? Well, you find some people, take the lead, and see if you can get a faster boat out. As long as the speed is fast, other performance can be sacrificed! ”

"Well, Lazar, I see what you mean." Joseph nodded, "Tomorrow I will give you a list, including the personnel and supplies needed." ”

"It's good to say that the people are good, and the supplies are ......," Kano said, "and to save as much as possible." ”

Joseph's memory of one ship that was relatively suitable for Kano's requirements was the last sail carrier, the clipper. In his previous life, Joseph had accompanied his son to make a model of a clipper ship, so he still has a little understanding of this type of ship that once competed with early steam-powered cargo ships in the Atlantic.

Joseph stood up and prepared to say goodbye and leave. But he suddenly remembered something: "Ah, Kano, is there enough timber for shipbuilding?" stared, but others appropriated them to do something else. ”

"You can get the list out first!" Kano said angrily.

Carnot also had no choice, because Robespierre and they forced the French sailors to run smuggling. And Kano felt that the large number of lost sailors was too distressing. Because the sailors are not those infantrymen, and they can't just spend a few livres and pull one out of the village.

But Robespierre said that unless Kano could do something new, if Kano asked for money, there would really be no money.

Joseph returned to the institute, spent two days working out a plan, and then went back to Kano's office.

After closing the doors and windows, Joseph handed Kano his plan.

"Lazar, look, this is the basic plan." Joseph said.

"Ah, I'll look at ......," Kano looked at earnestly.

Joseph took a turn next to him: "Lazar, where's your coffee here?" ”

"No, the supply of supplies is tight." Kano said without raising his head.

"Alas. I'm going to get back from you. ”

"You've got a lot of rations...... Nowadays, except for scientific researchers, there is no coffee rationing. ”

"Damn, mine let Lavoisier go. I thought I could recoup a little bit of my loss with you......"

"Okay, drink your own water, I'm busy!"

After a few more moments, Kano put down the papers in his hand.

"How?"

"The idea is ok...... But Joseph, we're friends...... Don't you think you're asking for too much money in your idea? ”

"What? I want a lot of money. Lazar, let's speak with a good conscience. Joseph's eyes immediately widened, and he retorted in a spit star, "Look, which of our plans is unnecessary?" Which one is not calculated according to the best price/performance ratio? Well...... The calculations are in the attachment, have you read them? ”

"I did, of course."

"So is there a problem with my calculations? Am I going to miscalculate such a simple math problem? ”

"Of course yes, but ......"

"If that's right, what's the problem?"

"The only problem is...... We can't come up with that much money. Kano said.

"So can you relax the schedule requirements?"

"This ...... How is this possible? Joseph, don't bargain, okay? ”

"Tsk...... Lazar, you just want the horses to run, and you want the horses not to graze! We are people who study science, and we have to talk about science! You can't expect me to say that there is a new technology, and there is a new technology. I'm not God! Technology is a matter of time and money. Got it, Lazar?! ”

"Okay, okay......" Kano made a gesture of retreat, but said again, "But Joseph, when we talk about science, we should also know how much a good scientist can play a role in scientific research." They can drastically reduce the time required for scientific progress and save a lot of money. Joseph, I think, you are such a brilliant scientist that you may even be a great scientist in the future. But you see, with this plan, you're completely treating yourself as an ordinary researcher. That's not going to work, I think with your ability, progress and cost should be at least 50% off! ”

"Do you understand science?" Joseph immediately became anxious, "Scientific things, sometimes inexplicable, there are many, many elements of luck in this. Like Archimedes, if the servant who gave him the bath water didn't put more water, how long do you think it would be before he discovered the law of buoyancy? How can you say such a thing as a 50% discount? If Robespierre and they believe your nonsense, and then my luck is not good enough, the money is spent, and the technology has not been able to come up, how many people do you think will accuse me of sabotage, or even sabotage? ”

"Ah...... Yes...... I understand...... Kano laughed, "Joseph, you are really ...... You're so steady, hahaha...... Well, don't worry, if you're unlucky, I'll help you take it. ”

"! You do everything, who do you think you are? Is it Atlas? (The Titan God who held up the sky in Greek mythology) Do you need to bear this kind of thing too? Joseph said with disdain on his face, "You just throw this plan at them, and give them the pressure first!" ”

"Then they're going to go backwards. Because they really don't have that much money anymore. ”

"At that time, you said, this plan can also be phased in, first verify the most critical, the most likely to succeed of the plan, if it succeeds, then you can get a 5% discount, if it is not successful...... They have also seen the plan, discussed it, and approved it, and we are not responsible, understand! ”

Kano was stunned, and after a while, he nodded and said, "That's not bad, just do it!" Well, where do you think the new shipyard is better? ”

"It's better on the Mediterranean side. Spain is one of our smuggling targets anyway. Moreover, the speed of the boat we envisioned is highlighted, and other performances will definitely suffer. A portion of the seafaring performance is included. First of all, it is relatively safe to use these things in the Mediterranean. ”

……

A day later, at a meeting of the National Salvation Committee, Cano spewed all the misers, including Robespierre, and finally got the National Salvation Committee to approve a new research plan. Immediately afterwards, Joseph received an order to go to Toulon to build a "Naval Technical Division of the Military Technical Institute" there.