Counting the time, it's time for them to make some progress. Joseph was not too surprised by the news. Because he knew that the first breakthrough in steelmaking technology was actually completed by the British, although it seems that the breakthrough in this area was completed later in the original history, but since the French had succeeded in advance, with the inspiration of the French who succeeded in advance, although Lorraine Steel has always kept the technical secrets very strictly, but the French can use some technical means to smelt steel quickly, on a large scale, this fact itself can not be concealed. And this fact will also give a huge incentive for the British to devote more resources to this research. In this way, a breakthrough is inevitable.

What's more, no matter how tightly confidential the technology is, as long as the product is still on the market, as long as this technology is applied in production, then some information will inevitably be leaked. What's more, the workers of Lorraine Steel are very mobile.

The workers of Lorraine Steel are quite labor-intensive, after all, they are all heavy physical labor. Most of the people who do this work are German-speaking people. When they entered Lorraine Steel, they wanted to get enough money to immigrate to Louisiana in the shortest possible time.

Of course, the British also learned about the technology by buying off these workers. Although none of these workers had access to the most important secrets, they at least had the opportunity to see what the steelmaking furnace looked like, and by asking a few more people, they could roughly know some of the technological processes, although the most critical things could not be known, but these things alone could already give the British a lot of inspiration. So by this time, the British had a breakthrough in steelmaking technology, which is completely understandable.

"So which plan are we going to implement now?" Lucien asked.

Since the breakthrough of the British in steelmaking technology is a high-probability event, it is natural that the response plan for this situation has been prepared for a long time, and more than one set of plans have been prepared. Each solution has been carefully researched and deduced, and each has different advantages and disadvantages. So at this time, it is very important to choose which solution to choose.

"Of course, let's see what the British do next. If the British back down in the recent trade dispute, then we will lower the price of our steel exports to the UK, and even pig iron, and rely on our cost advantage to squeeze them out and let them know what it means to make than to buy. Joseph replied.

"So what choice do you think they'll make?" Lucien asked again.

"I'm not British, how do I know, and even if I'm British, I don't necessarily know."

"But, let me say Joseph, if we take some action now, we can induce them to go in a certain direction. For example, if we give them a little bit of an opening in terms of trade policy, I think we should be able to steer them towards a policy that continues to maintain bilateral trade. Lucien said.

"But if we no longer require them to abolish the 'Navigation Regulations,' then under the protection of the Navigation Regulations, they can sell their steel products in their colonies, and in doing so, obtain funds to continue developing their steel industry." Napoleon said.

"In the short term, there won't be much demand for steel in the British colonies." Joseph said.

Joseph made this judgment because the demand for steel came mainly from the needs of industry, and one of the British national policies was that the colonies could not have decent industry. Because once the colonies had this, the balance of power between them and Britain would change, and then the colonies would have serious independent tendencies.

Napoleon nodded, and added, "But in that case, they will probably have to survive only with the support of the army." But we can also sell them military steel. ”

Because of the technological advances over the years, Napoleon's confidence in his army was unprecedented, so he didn't mind selling more high-end things to the British.

"If only the British were willing to buy our weapons directly in large quantities." Lucien said.

"Of course it is good," said Napoleon, "but it must be based on accurate intelligence in our hands." Lucien, this is your business, and the more accurate the information your men receive, the more powerful our response will be. ”

Speaking of this, Napoleon paused and said, "This time, however, the British have already succeeded in steelmaking, and we actually got the news from the newspapers." Lucien, your performance this time is really disappointing. ”

"Napoleon, you can't say that." As soon as Lucien heard Napoleon's accusations, he immediately retorted, "I gave you a report a month ago, in which it was mentioned that the British would soon have a breakthrough in metallurgy. ”

"Hell! Two months ago, you provided similar information, and five months ago, you provided similar information. This information is almost like changing the date, and it makes no difference. Hell, who knows how fast your intelligence can be, days, months, or years? It has consumed a lot of money and a lot of appropriations, but it has given me such information, and I think that if this kind of thing is handed over to Fouché to do, it will definitely be better than you! ”

"That's because Fouché's business scope is limited, I can put all my energy here, and I have too many things to take care of......" Lucien was the most disdainful of people comparing Fouché to him.

"Alright, don't make excuses." Napoleon said, "You have been staring at this thing for some time now." I need your people to provide us with the most up-to-date, reliable, and valuable information when making decisions as soon as possible. ”

"I'll keep an eye on this." Lucien said.

And in the United Kingdom, in the Army's Sixth Investigation Division, Deputy Director Isenger Stanton is assigning tasks to his men.

"Recently, the news of the success of the army, as well as the successful steelmaking furnace project between the University of Cambridge and Landai Iron Works, has become widely known. The French will find a way to find out our secrets. At this time, our trade representative is also going to negotiate with the French on trade issues. The success of the steel plant will be one of our most important bargaining chips in our negotiations. So any information about this is the most important confidentiality. We have now received an order to station at the Landai Iron Works to help them strengthen their secrecy work in an all-round way.

There is a principle that I want to tell you about this operation, and that is that the secret we want to keep includes not only how advanced we are, but also how backward we are. Confidentiality is to keep behind! What we will be, cannot be known to the French; We will not do anything, let alone let the French know. Do you understand! ”