It will take some time for the British steam warships to be put into practical use, so Joseph has not yet had time to feel the pressure brought by the world's first science and technology in the United Kingdom at this time. He was busy getting his hands on the iron mines of Lorraine and the mines of the Saar, as well as the mines of the Ruhr.

In fact, the iron ore in Lorraine has almost no advantages except for the larger reserves, and the iron content of this iron ore is generally only about 30 percent, compared with those iron ores in Australia and Brazil, it is completely slag. What's worse is that the iron ore in Lorraine is a high-phosphate iron ore, and the phosphorus content in the iron ore is even as high as one percent.

Phosphorus is a harmful ingredient in steel most of the time. The increase in phosphorus content will reduce the plasticity and toughness of the steel (especially the impact toughness), making the steel "cold brittle". In addition, phosphorus can reduce the weldability of steel. Generally speaking, the phosphorus content of commonly used steel should not exceed 0.045%, and the steel made from the ore of Lorraine iron ore, if not treated with special treatment, the phosphorus content can really break through the sky.

However, for a long time, human beings have not mastered the technology to effectively remove impurities phosphorus, and the phosphorus content in the final steel products can only depend on what kind of iron ore God has given it. As a result, the steel produced in Lorraine has always been known for its poor quality. It is said that one of the reasons for the sinking of the Titanic, which was loaded with icebergs on its maiden voyage, was the cold brittle steel made from Lorraine's iron ore.

Even though this kind of technology has gradually been developed later, phosphorus removal is still a headache. If there is a low-phosphorus, low-sulfur and high-grade iron ore like Australia and Brazil, who would want to use the iron ore of Lorraine, but at present, there is indeed no other better iron ore in Joseph's hands, and in the entire Western European continent, there is no better iron ore by the standards of the future.

The iron ore mines of Lorraine have long been discovered, and before the Revolution, most of these mines were in the hands of the nobles, who either went to the guillotine or went into exile after the Revolution began.

According to the decree of the revolutionary government, the property of the nobles who had been guillotined or had gone into exile was confiscated. During the Jacobin period, these mines were largely state-owned, but most of them were in a state of abandonment. By the time of the Misty Moon Sect, these iron ores gradually fell into the hands of the Misty Moon Sect, and now, Joseph was going to get these mines from the hands of those original owners.

This is not a difficult thing, in this era, when there has not been a breakthrough in steelmaking and the industrial revolution has not begun, iron ore is not particularly profitable. Due to the limited use of pig iron, wrought iron and steel production are difficult, so the demand for iron ore is not particularly large. In addition, some mine owners also wanted to curry favor with the Bonaparte family and get in touch with the First Consuls, and some mines even had the taste of half-selling, half-giveaway. So Joseph didn't spend much money and basically controlled this large mining area.

As for the Saar coal mine, it was also done by similar means. As for the Ruhr mine, it's even simpler. This area was a newly conquered area, and although it was not under the direct jurisdiction of France, who among the small states of the Rhine Free State was not in a hurry to find an opportunity to curry favor with the Bonapartes? Although the Ruhr coal mines are basically fertile land, they are nothing more than a few farmers, and where is it more important than currying favor with the liberators of Europe?

Besides, Joseph didn't fail to give money, and of course it was not Joseph's business to drive the poor farmers out of the land they had cultivated for generations.

Compared to the iron ore mines in Lorraine, the coal mines in the Ruhr are really much better in terms of quality. The Ruhr coalfield is dominated by high-quality hard coal, and all kinds of coal are complete, especially for smelting and power are very valuable fat coal (a kind of bituminous coal, suitable for coking and as thermal coal) occupies most of the reserves, coupled with the shallow burial of coal seams, in many places, only need to dig the most surface layer of soil, can be open-pit mining, mining is also very convenient. Coupled with the fact that the coal field is located on the Rhine River, which is definitely the best river in Western Europe for navigation, and the transportation conditions are also very good, this is really the best industrial area.

But such good conditions brought Joseph a big problem: should the future coal and iron industrial base be placed in Lorraine or in the Ruhr?

Later, after defeating France in the Franco-Prussian War and capturing Lorraine, the Prussians chose to place the industrial base on the Ruhr side. This is easy to understand, the Ruhr is easily accessible and relatively stable as it is the core area of the Germans. Of course they're going to put something like that in there.

Now that France has changed, it seems that the industrial base should also be located in Lorraine - after all, it is more reassuring to be close to home. However, considering the direction of the Rhine, it seems that it is better to send the iron ore from Lorraine to the Ruhr downstream, and to transport the coal mines from the Ruhr to Lorraine upstream.

So for a moment Joseph was a little hesitant.

However, Lucien quickly made a judgment on this issue.

"Isn't there enough coal for Saar?"

"Ah, it should be enough for a while." Joseph said.

"How long is this period?" Lucien asked.

"It should be quite long, at least ten years, if not decades."

"So, would it be cheaper to transport iron ore to the Ruhr region and mine coal in the Ruhr than to mine coal in the Saar and then send it to Lorraine or vice versa?" Lucien asked again.

"It doesn't seem to be."

"Then why are you hesitating?" Lucien asked.

"Ah......" Joseph suddenly found that he seemed to be really disturbed by some information from his descendants, thinking about the future generations, Joseph's country, in the case of trying to reduce steel production, can easily make nearly a billion tons of steel a year, casually a large steel base is tens of millions of tons or even close to 100 million tons of steel output, so that the capital knows that I came to Hebei Province, the steel mill is so good.

If the site selection is considered according to that standard, the production of the Saar coalfield is really not enough, but today's New Rome is still hundreds of years away from that steel kingdom. As far as the coal of the Saar and the iron ore of Lorraine are concerned, they should be enough for the French in a hundred years.

"What's wrong?" Lucien asked, seeing that Joseph seemed stunned.

"It's that I'm overthinking it." "But we've already bought the Ruhr coalfield, and we've spent a lot of money?" If it doesn't come in handy, and the Ruhr piece ,......"

"And most of the Ruhr is coking coal and thermal coal, and there is not much anthracite, so it's not even honeycomb coal...... Joseph thought to himself.

"How much did it cost? There is a big coal mine in hand, and you can always find a way to use it. It's good to bring it back to generate electricity. Lucien said unconcernedly.

"Shipped back? The Rhine waterway is good, but unfortunately the study of our steamship did not go well, otherwise...... It seems that the only thing to think about is the train first. However, this can't be rushed, there must be a lot of steel first, then there can be a train, and then ...... Well, the Ruhr coalfield, it seems that it can only be left for the time being. ”

While Joseph was fretting about the backlog of money on the Ruhr coalfield, Lavoisier was getting complacent. Because just a few days ago, he had just used a modified quartz crucible to fill it with molten pig iron, and used a compressor to blow heated air into the pig iron, and succeeded in obtaining liquid steel.

With the completion of this project, Lavoisier was getting closer and closer to being rewarded with a estate in the Champagne region. The estate was originally the property of the Duke of Orleans, but it was famous for its champagne. Every year it can bring a lot of wealth to the duke. After he lost his head, the estate was confiscated by the revolutionary government and later fell into the hands of the Bonapartes.

Of course, there is a price to pay for receiving this reward. At that time, Joseph asked Lavoisier to choose between the estate and the one-tenth of the patent rights of the steelmaking technology that blew into the air (Lavoisier had become much more savvy, and after many negotiations, he finally reached a cooperation agreement with Joseph that he would give him one-tenth of the patent for the technology obtained for the research project under his direct supervision). Lavoisier, who lacked sufficient imagination for the future, did not hesitate to choose the estate.

It is said that many years later, Lavoisier regretted his choice so much that he even told his niece many times: "Your husband is a big liar, he doesn't know how much money he has taken from us...... but at least for now, Lavoisier still feels that he has taken advantage of it."

In another laboratory, Lavoisier's nemesis, Vercroix, had just completed experiments with new refractories, and according to Joseph's requirement that refractories must be alkaline, he fired refractories that could withstand the high temperatures of steelmaking crucibles, using dolomite as the main material.

He was also a well-known chemist and was once a friend of Lavoisier. But during the Jacobin period, he joined the Marat and Ebel factions, and Lavoisier was hunted down, which he facilitated. If it weren't for Carno's intervention, Lavoisier would have been the object of mourning by others.

It was also this man who single-handedly contributed to the closure of the French Academy of Sciences. It was not until the Fog Moon came to power, and thanks to Joseph's efforts, that this institution was able to reappear.

Because of these things, after the fall of Jacobin, this guy's situation was very bad for a while, but considering that this guy's ability is also very good, Joseph also picked him up.

It's just that he doesn't have the same good treatment as Lavoisier, and he doesn't have a tenth of the patent share. After completing this project, he could only get a prize of six hundred francs. The only consolation is that Joseph has always given bonuses in metal currency.