"Ah, yes, there is one more business, after this meeting, if Mr. Watt is free, I would like to invite Mr. Watt to give a lecture at the University of Paris." Joseph said again.

This is also a certain high hat, and Watt has no reason not to accept it. So he said

"The University of Paris is the most famous university in the world, and it is my greatest dream of life to be able to teach at such an institution (of course, this cannot be taken seriously). Even if I don't have time, I'll definitely make time. Because what is the comparison of other things to this? ”

Joseph said happily, "Mr. Watt, then we will settle it." Well, that's great. Oh, by the way, Mr. Watt, now that business is over, I have some personal matters I would like to discuss with you. ”

Watt lifted his spirits as soon as he heard this, he knew that although the official affairs in front of him were important, the private matters below were probably more real. Today, Joseph Bonaparte is in a sense an icon of British science. Countless aspiring people in science looked to Joseph as their role model. This is not only because he can be considered almost the most outstanding scientist of our time, but also because he is also the most profitable scientist of our time. Everyone knows that the chief scoop of the monster called the "military-industrial complex" in France is this great scientist.

Watt was a very profitable scientist himself, but he asked himself that the gap between him and Joseph was even greater than the gap between them in scientific research. Considering the influence of President Bonaparte in the economic circles, I am afraid that he also made a lot of efforts in this "Pakistani Fair". Now that he talks about "private matters", Watt feels that it is mostly related to Ba, or more clearly, it has something to do with money. So of course official matters are important, but these private matters are probably more realistic.

Watt leaned forward and moved his ass from the couch towards the money

"Dean Bonaparte, if you have anything to say."

"Ah, Mr. Watt, I know that you and your partner run a business that produces steam engines. Moreover, this company has a very extensive cooperation with Lorraine Steel. Well, Mr. Lavoisier and I are both investors in Lorraine. We at Lorraine Steel now have a problem, that is, our steel production has hit a bottleneck.

Mr. Watt, if you have visited the Lorraine Steel booth today, I believe you must understand how much demand for Lorraine Steel is, and we almost never worry about sales. In fact, when a furnace of steel is still ore and coal, it has already been ordered by our customers. Although our steel mills are always producing at a high speed, orders are often pressed back to a few months later. ”

Watt also nodded, the steel they ordered from Lorraine Steel would also be delivered in more than a month, and it seemed that this was not the last thing to be done.

"Why not build a few more steel mills? Wouldn't that increase production capacity? Little Bolt, who was accompanying him on the side, couldn't help but ask.

"Mr. Bolt, the problem today is not that there are not enough furnaces, or that there is not enough mining capacity, but that we can't get enough ore to the steel mills." Joseph replied, "Neither iron ore nor coal mines can be transported directly into the factory by ship by water. There is always a way from the dock to the factory. And the coal and iron mines are not all close to the river. There is also a considerable overland journey from the mine to the wharf.

Mr. Bolt, Mr. Watt, you know that the wagons used to transport ore are heavy-duty wagons that require a lot of horses and special tracks. Tracks are not a problem, but the number of horses is a big problem. Moreover, raising a large number of horses also requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and the cost is also very high.

So, I have an idea. Your company has a lot of valuable technologies in steam power and transmission. Together with you, we would like to be able to develop a steam-powered transport technology. To put it more clearly, we hope to work with your company to develop a steam-powered rail transport vehicle to replace a minecart towed by a horse.

Mr. Watt, the steam engine has been used a lot for the propulsion of ships. In principle, it can also be applied to land vehicles. Even if it's just for transporting ore, it's already very valuable. When it comes to steam power, there is no more experienced partner in this world than your company. So we would love to work with you to develop such a steam car. ”

Watt has actually seen similar ideas for a long time. A similar suggestion had been made to him several years ago. But at the time Watt objected to this proposal. Because Watt, an expert on steam engines, objected, the idea came to an end.

At the time, Watt objected to the idea, and there was no reason for it, other than "I don't think it's a good idea." However, it has also been argued that Watt objected because it would have been detrimental to their negotiations with John Steed on the purchase of his crankshaft patents if such research had been carried out at the time. In the end, Watt's assistant William Murdoch successfully circumvented the patent by inventing a set of gadgets called planetary gears.

But since then, no one has mentioned that suggestion again.

Now, once again, this suggestion has been raised. But this time the person who made the suggestion was no longer a nobody, so Watt couldn't send him away with a "I don't think it's a good idea", he thought for a moment, and then asked

"Dean Bonaparte, as far as I know, the military-industrial complex is actually very well studied on the steam engine. Especially on the steam engine for ships. Since it can be used on ships, it is not impossible to use it on steam cars. ”

"Alas, don't mention those guys, those guys don't know how expensive firewood and rice are expensive, and they use whatever materials are expensive. The things that have been made are only used by warships for war, and by ships that transport illegal goods that are very profitable, and they have recently encountered a series of technical problems, and they have stopped there to burn my money for two months, but there is still no progress. Joseph complained.

Joseph didn't tell a lie, those guys were indeed burning money every day, and there was almost no progress for more than two months. However, Joseph was not as unhappy about this as he appeared, because the progress was slow and expected. After all, what they are developing now is the true perfect form of the steam engine - the steam turbine. Because of this, they encountered a lot of difficulties in China, but this was originally a planned thing.

And even if the research is successful, the steam turbine is still more suitable for use in ships or power plants than in trains.

Of course, Joseph did not think of simply skipping the steam engine or even the internal combustion engine and going straight to the electric locomotive, but there are still a lot of skills that have not had time to be lit, and not only the technology, but even science, some places have not been lit up.

So now, the fastest way is to cooperate with Watt to make a most traditional and most full of steampunk, multi-riveting and steaming trains based on the reciprocating steam engine. Joseph even envisioned that one day in the future, the Austrian barbarians would invade our Roman border, and Napoleon would command a long steam-powered ironclad train with riveted armor, multiple carriages, and multiple turrets, to sweep the barbarians through the plough holes......

"That's it." Watt thought for a moment and asked, "So how are our benefits distributed in this study?" ”

And so comes the most important part. Joseph immediately relented and began to bargain with Watt over the distribution of benefits. At first, Watt hoped to exchange his various patents for steelmaking or cement-firing technology, but of course this delusion was rejected by Joseph without hesitation - this is not an equivalent exchange, do you really think Joseph is a fool?

Although he was rejected, Watt was not annoyed. It's normal to be rejected, and if you don't get rejected, you've earned it. Then he made a new proposal and asked for the exclusive rights of Bastion Cement in the UK......

After a night of heated discussions, it was not until the sun rose in the east that a framework agreement was reached, in which Watt traded the steam engine and planetary gears for the exclusive right of Fortress Cement in England and the right of first refusal to purchase Lorraine Steel.

At the same time, every steam locomotive produced by the military-industrial complex, if not for its own use, but sold on the market, then for each locomotive sold, it was necessary to give Watt another three hundred pounds in royalties.

Finally, when Joseph left the villa where Watt and the others were temporarily living in the sunset, he couldn't help but complain, "Watt, this old man, is not lovely at all. It's still Monsieur Lavoisier......"

However, although Watt was much more cunning than Lavoisier, to be honest, Joseph did not suffer. Because he succeeded in disguising his true goals, at a relatively small cost, he obtained a patent for a truly critical patent, the planetary gear.

The significance of the planetary gear, whether it is Watt, the owner of the patent, or William Murdoch, the inventor of the technology, has underestimated its significance. In their opinion, this thing is mainly used to circumvent the crankshaft patent. But Joseph knew that this thing was the key to the vital shifting system in many machines of the future.

So, although he was annoyed that he could not take advantage of him as easily as he did with Mr. Lavoisier, in fact Joseph was not the one to suffer.

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