Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

After the Church’s morning blessing ceremony ended, Paris entered a state of festivity.

Everywhere was filled with loud music, people wearing colorful makeup and dressed in various exaggerated and flamboyant outfits, gathered around carriages adorned with a large number of flowers and ribbons, dancing as they slowly passed through the streets.

And the onlookers on both sides of the road shouted loudly, “May Jesus bless our king.”

“Long live His Majesty the King!”

“Praise ‘The Savior of Sorrows’!”

In recent years, France’s development has been evident to all. Although everyone knows that most of the credit goes to His Highness the Crown Prince, there is also great admiration for His Majesty the King.

Of course, on the other hand, people have a little extra money on hand and are willing to seize the opportunity to “party.”

Well, the “Labor Protection and Safety Law” stipulates that on the King’s birthday, all the factories in the country must take a holiday.

A large number of celebrating groups gradually gathered towards the Palace of Versailles — every year, various program performances are held there, including traditional swordsmanship competitions between nobles and singing and dancing competitions, which are not only very interesting to watch but also allow betting on wins and losses, a major focus of the King’s birthday celebrations.

Another important event is, of course, the national lottery. The prize amount two years ago was raised to 40,000 francs. It’s said that the worker at the dye factory who won the prize later bought the factory he worked at and became the owner.

Of course, the various delicacies displayed in the new area between the old city of Paris and the Palace of Versailles also have great appeal to people.

1 sous for a whirlwind potato skewer, 2 sous for a glass of beet apple juice, 2 sous for a roasted fish, each of which can keep people coming back for more.

And another different aspect of this year’s birthday celebration compared to previous years was that as many as a thousand nobles from various Italian countries came to Paris to participate in this grand event, mainly to become acquainted with the French Royal Family.

Oh, this doesn’t even include the delegations sent by Modena and Parma, which would add another 300 people if counted.

Today’s protagonist, Louis XVI, was quite satisfied with the arrangement of this celebration.

In the past, he had to spend the whole day dealing with envoys from various countries on his birthday, attending several banquets, and making speeches in front of everyone each time.

Now everyone is busy celebrating, so he has quite a bit of leisure time.

In the VIP seats of the swordsmanship competition stand at the Versailles Palace Square, Louis XVI looked at the birthday gift sent by the Crown Prince and was utterly enthralled.

It was the original blueprint of a mechanical design by Da Vinci.

His Majesty the King was already contemplating whether it could be built. It’s said that as long as the thing is blown upon, it can raise its hand and shake its head, very nimble.

While fiddling with Da Vinci’s manuscript, Louis XVI suddenly thought of something and whispered in his son’s ear, “My dear lion, about the design of that new type of firearm you mentioned before, when can you give it to me?”

Ever since Joseph defeated the Duke of Brunswick in Luxembourg, Louis XVI began calling him the lion. Although Joseph found it quite awkward, since his father was happy, he accepted it.

Joseph immediately patted his forehead and said with a helpless smile, “You see, I really have no free time, so I haven’t finished the drawing yet…”

Hmm, actually he had just been too busy to remember.

Although Louis XVI felt a bit disappointed, he remained curious and asked, “But can you at least tell me what kind of gun it is?”

The two types of firearms he designed are now the main equipment of the French Army and have played an unparalleled role in this war against the Anti-French Alliance. So much so that he is now recognized as a master of firearms in Europe.

“Of course.” Joseph nodded, “I call it the revolver—using a revolving structure, it can load 6 rounds at once.

“After firing once, you only need to use your thumb to gently turn the cylinder and pull open the bolt to fire again.

“I’ve calculated that a skilled marksman could shoot 6 rounds in three seconds.”

He was speaking of the world-renowned Colt Walker Revolver—a practical front-loading revolver, which was widely equipped by the American Army half a century later.

In fact, once France could produce fulminate mercury percussion caps, the preliminary technology for this kind of gun was more or less set.

However, the structure of this thing was too complex, and Joseph had only seen sectional drawings a few times in his previous life, so he had never managed to draw it accurately.

Louis XVI, however, was as excited as when seeing a new toy, eagerly asking, “Quick, tell me, what kind of ingenious design could achieve such a high rate of fire!”

Joseph asked his trusted aide behind him for his caplock gun, pointed to the middle of the gun body, and said to his father:

“The basic principle is to hollow out a part here.

“Then install a cylinder structure here. The cylinder has 6 circular holes, which can be loaded with gunpowder and bullets with a percussion cap installed at the back.

“Then you turn the cylinder to align the next hole with the barrel and continue loading ammunition until it is filled.

“When firing…”

Louis XVI’s eyes lit up, suddenly interjecting, “Firing works just in reverse. After firing one round, you align the next hole with the gunpowder with the barrel.

“Jesus, this is simply a miraculous invention!

“Joseph, my lion, you must have received a divine revelation!”

Joseph nodded, thinking to himself that he no longer needed to put on an act since his father was already taking his lines.

Louis XVI was so excited that he was rubbing his hands and said, “You must finish the design drawing as soon as possible. No, you should head to the Royal Workshop tonight, and we will directly make a wooden model…”

Joseph just laughed and shook his head, “Dear father, in fact, I have another brilliant idea that you might like.”

Louis XVI didn’t expect another surprise and quickly asked, “What is it? Oh, tell me quickly!”

“Steam forging machine.”

Unexpectedly, upon hearing these words, Louis XVI was somewhat disappointed and shook his head, “Let’s continue discussing the revolver.”

The water-powered forging machines had been used in Europe for over 300 years, and to him, it seemed like merely replacing the waterwheel with a steam engine, nothing new.

Joseph saw his father’s lack of interest and immediately added, “The steam forging machine I’m talking about can produce an impact force of over 10 tons.”

Louis XVI still showed no reaction. Large water-powered forging machines could barely achieve this level.

Joseph continued, “And it can forge more than 30 times per minute.”

The King’s eyes suddenly widened. A 10-ton class water-powered forging machine could strike once in two minutes, and that was during times of high water flow.

Joseph said, “And the force can be adjusted between 100 kilograms and 10 tons at will, with a margin of error within 1 centimeter.”

Louis XVI could no longer remain calm. He exclaimed, “How is that possible?!”

Yes, this is the miracle brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

In fact, Joseph was being conservative. A mature steam forging machine could adjust output between 10 kilograms and 10 tons with accuracy reaching millimeters.

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