Leaving the Academy of Sciences, Lavoisier did not return home, but rode out of Paris in a carriage to a manor house of the Duke of Orleans. The other day, he borrowed a piece of land from the duke for a new scientific experiment.

Perhaps it was because for a long time, His Majesty the King was unable to give birth to a son. (Queen Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first son eleven years after marrying him) made many of the great nobles in the country who were close relatives of the king have the idea that the king may become extinct, and the crown may fall on their heads. The Orleans, a close relative of the king, may not have had a similar idea. A few years ago, after the king underwent an operation, she finally became pregnant and gave birth to two princes in succession. But ambition, once created, is difficult to extinguish naturally. It's as if Macbeth, because of the witch's prophecy, has ambitions for the crown of Scotland. Although the old king has since made it clear that his crown will be given to his son instead of Macbeth, Macbeth's ambition for the crown has not been extinguished, but has become more intense. and eventually drove him on the path of killing kings and seizing the throne. And some of the great nobles, including the House of Orleans, are also like Macbeth, and their ambitions have not disappeared because of the birth of the prince. In addition, the king has a weak personality, and the queen, although her personality is much tougher, but as a woman, she has not received much political education, and she is quite naïve in politics. This made the big nobles feel that "he can take his place".

In order to "take his place", over the years, the great nobles, including the Orleans family, have worked hard to dismantle the king openly and secretly, so that the king cannot do anything. At the same time, he deliberately created public opinion to slander the royal family. Of course, they don't point the finger directly at the king – it's too direct, and it's too easy to expose their ambitions. So they all invariably set their sights on Queen Mary. Queen Mary had a strong personality, but she lacked political wisdom, and she loved vanity and had no concept of money, so they easily let them step into the trap. On the one hand, they befriended Queen Mary, induced her to hold balls of all kinds, and defrauded her of millions of francs of "gifts" every year; On the other hand, he slandered her as "extravagant and wasteful" in society, and even nicknamed her "Mrs. Deficit". The recent bizarre necklace incident has discredited the queen. (A female liar can still get out of a high-security prison after directing such a big drama that traps the queen in it.) If there's a problem here, God knows. ）

Of course, the nobles are still measured, and their propaganda has always insisted on one point, that is, the king is a good man, but his ears are too soft and he is too afraid of his wife, so he ...... In short, "today's saints are holy and bright, but they are only ...... by a few traitors No, I was just led by the nose by a woman."

This kind of propaganda, on the surface, seems to excuse the king, but in terms of its effect, it is actually better than directly attacking the king for greed and cruelty. For a greedy and tyrannical king is hateful, but also terrifying; But a kind and weak "good old man" who is controlled by his wife will be despised.

Machiavelli believed that the weakest and most easily overthrown kings were not tyrants hated by all, but kings who were generally despised by their subjects. Through such propaganda, the great nobles directed the hatred of the people towards the queen, while leaving the most terrible thing - contempt - to the king.

If Louis XVI was a lord, no, he didn't even need to be a lord, but only a tyrant. He can also use stormy means to quell these discussions, or at least make people's contempt for him turn into hatred and fear. Comparatively, the crown of a feared tyrant is also more secure than that of a despised king.

Louis XVI, however, was a man of weak character, and he could not make up his mind to cut the heads of the great nobles to the ground. And his concession made the great nobles, including the Orleans family, feel more and more that the crown of France should be worn on their heads.

Machiavelli also proposed in the theory of kings that the king should also make the people grateful and expected from him by giving a little favor. So while giving the king all sorts of stumbling blocks, the great nobles vied to present themselves as "friends of the people", "enlightened gentlemen", "pioneers of democracy". In the words of the later great teacher, it was: "In order to win over the people, the nobles waved the proletarian begging bag as a banner." Of course, the end result of this must have been that "whenever the people followed them, they found that they had the old feudal coat of arms on their hips, and they laughed and scattered." "But at least for now, these tactics can still get people to their side."

In order to dress up as "friends of the people", "enlightened gentlemen", "pioneers of democracy", the great nobles all made the appearance of loving science, loving the motherland, and loving the people. The more they supported academic research and academic freedom, the more they competed with each other. And supporting the research of Lavoisier, which has become the pride of France, is naturally what a "friend of the people", a "enlightened gentleman", and a "pioneer of democracy" should do.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Phillips happened to be fine, and he was waiting for Lavoisier there. He was also interested in Lavoisier's experiments, so he asked Lavoisier about the content of his experiments.

"Master, you know, I don't mean anything other than pure curiosity. Can you tell me, what experiments are you going to do here? Duke Phillips once asked when he lent the site.

"Oh, Joseph wrote me a letter. The letter mentions that he used concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid in a special method, carefully disposed of glycerin, and obtained a very powerful liquid fire. Medicine. Well, perhaps, as Joseph said, there should be no fire to call . Instead it should be called explosives. There were still a lot of problems with this liquid explosive, but Joseph was now busy with mathematics, and he wasn't particularly proficient in this kind of thing, so he told me about it after only preliminary experiments. I tried it, and it was, as he said, very powerful. It is at least dozens to a hundred times more powerful than brown gunpowder. ”

"So powerful?" Duke Phillips was taken aback.

"Isn't it?" Lavoisier said, "You know, Josephus spoke of the power of that thing like the thunder of Zeus. He advised me not to exceed one gram at a time when I experimented on my own. Then I got a gram and tried it, and it really exploded. And it's far more powerful than I expected. Well, Mr. Duke, this thing is quite dangerous. There is no way to carry out a full-fledged experiment in the city of Paris. ”

"It seems that such a thing should be studied by the military, right?" Duke Phillips said.

"Ah, Your Royal Highness the Duke, you may not know that although this thing is powerful, it is really not suitable for military use, at least not for military purposes for now." Lavoisier looked at Duke Phillips and said, "You may not know, but this thing is very unstable. A little vibration, or light, or a little heat, and this thing will explode. Your Highness, you think that if it is used for military purposes, as long as the wheels of the carriage are bumped in a small pit, the explosives of the entire carriage will explode with a bang, and the power is equivalent to the gunpowder of more than a hundred carriages exploding together. ”

"My God!" Duke Phillips said, "If it's so dangerous, how can this thing be used?" ”

"Military is no longer good." Lavoisier said, "It's not easy to transport, and a lot of times it needs to be made on site. Military, how can it be modulated on the spot on the battlefield? However, for civilian use, for example, for mining, we can prepare this thing directly at the mining site and use it immediately, which is relatively safe. Lord Duke, this thing is actually very useful. For example, mining, such as the excavation of canals, can come in handy, and in many cases even bring revolutionary changes. And the cost of the raw materials used is not too high, if the problem of preparation can be solved, this thing should be able to make a lot of money. Is His Royal Highness the Duke interested? ”

"What if the problem of preparation can be solved? My master, is there still a problem with how this thing can be made? Duke Phillips asked.

"Yes, it can only be made in the laboratory at the moment, and the number of products that can be made at one time is quite limited. If it is to be applied on a large scale, there must be some changes in the way it is prepared. And even when this thing is prepared, it is quite dangerous. In the case of large-scale preparation, the environment is different from that of the laboratory, so careful research is required. Lavoisier explained.

"So, Monsieur Lavoisier, can I take part in this study?" Duke Phillips asked.

"Absolutely, I would welcome you to attend. In the future you can also name this product, in addition. You can also sign your name as the author of the paper in the future. Lavoisier said.

The Duke laughed: "Ah, this is not good, people will say that I am shameless in pursuing my own honor that does not belong to me." Therefore, my name must not be on the position of the author of the paper. But I would be glad if you could mention in your paper that I was a little bit of a contributor to this research. ”

"That's not a problem." Lavoisier laughed, "In addition, this research is dangerous. Therefore, although you can participate, Your Royal Highness, please keep a safe distance when performing some dangerous operations. ”