Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Joseph hurriedly shook his head, driving the fear away.

“Father, the vacant land near the Palace of Versailles is ultimately limited. I think it’s better to build the design institute on the wasteland further west.

“It’s best to move the Royal Armory there as well. After all, the armory will need the design institute’s help to design many weapons in the future.”

Louis XVI immediately wore a bitter expression and said, “But that’s two kilometers away from the Palace of Versailles.”

This wasn’t very friendly to His Majesty, who spent all day in the workshop.

“Lay a wooden track there,” Joseph smiled at his father, “and then set up a few steam engines at both ends to pull the carriages. Sitting on it will only take a few minutes to get there.”

In fact, this type of “traction car” had already been used in England’s mines, but the disadvantage was that the distance couldn’t be too long, and due to the traction rope winding, only one car could travel on the track at a time.

Before the invention of trains, this was

However, this was enough to make Louis XVI’s eyes light up.

“Hmm, it sounds pretty good.”

Louis XVI immediately pulled his son to start planning the steam forging machine. Fortunately, everyone was used to the “disappearing” of the kingdom, until it was time to award the championship of the swordsmanship competition, when Queen Mary hastily sent a maid to find him.

In that afternoon, the father and son had preliminarily determined, the first steam forging machine’s hammer was to be 7 tons—this was the most suitable weight chosen based on the power of the LJ52A. It adopted a movable frame structure. No flywheel design.

At the evening banquet, Joseph instructed Mirabeau about the construction of the engineering design institute, with the sound of his mother’s complaints about her husband’s absence from her own birthday celebration echoing in his ears, surrounded by music and laughter.

Ah, what a relaxed and beautiful day.

…

September 3, 1794.

Denmark.

Copenhagen.

The Amalienborg Palace still appeared somewhat simple.

Yes, the unfortunate Christiansborg Palace burned down in a fire last month. Luckily, the Danish Royal Family all escaped safely; for now, they had to set the royal palace here.

However, the Amalienborg Palace was bustling at the moment.

The square was filled with carriages of representatives from various countries. Hundreds of foreign delegation members conversed with each other as they followed court officials into the palace gates.

Behind them, dozens of flags of different colors and patterns were neatly erected at the east of the square, gently waving in the wind.

Indeed, today was the day of the first full meeting of the “International Ocean Convention Organization.”

At 9 a.m., in the Rococo-style hall, the Danish Regent Fredericks looked at the representatives of various countries entering the venue one after another, pinched the draft of the “International Maritime Law” in his hand, and felt extremely excited.

He originally thought at most 50 countries would come, but unexpectedly, 81 countries expressed their willingness to join the Ocean Convention Organization!

Yes, mainly the Holy Roman states.

Led by Austria and Bavaria, along with various small city-states, a total of over 60 came.

Except for the Pope State, all other countries of Italy came, a total of 10.

Morocco in North Africa, the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, Georgia in the Caucasus, even the Saint Domingue Republic and Jamaica Republic in the Caribbean Sea came.

In short, the scene was indeed grand.

The only thing that disappointed Frederick a bit was that the Americans did not send anyone to participate.

Soon, the melodious music stopped, Frederick proudly came to the front of the hall, slightly bowed to the audience, and loudly said: “Welcome everyone to Copenhagen!

“Today is a moment worth remembering by the whole world, the great ‘International Ocean Convention Organization’ is officially established.”

The representatives of various countries immediately responded with applause, but saw the Danish Regent suddenly extend his hand to the front row: “Now, please welcome the esteemed Archbishop Talleyrand to deliver the opening speech.”

Some representatives were slightly puzzled, but the majority looked towards the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the applause became even more enthusiastic.

Yes, although Denmark was the host, everyone knew that France was the real “master.”

Talleyrand, leaning on his cane, came to the front of the stage, first praising the great spirit of the Roman Era that “the ocean is a common good of the world,” then scolding certain rogue countries for treating this common good as their backyard, wantonly trampling on other countries’ rights to trade and even openly robbing.

The audience immediately echoed with agreement and applause.

Anyway, the British were not here, so they were definitely going to vent some dissatisfaction—a little over 40% of countries here had been “bullied” by the British. The other 60% were landlocked countries without coastlines.

Talleyrand then talked about how the Crown Prince of France, with a spirit of fairness, initiated the Ocean Convention Organization along with His Highness Frederick.

Once again, thunderous applause.

Finally, the Frenchman took a copy of the “International Maritime Law” from Frederick’s hands, held it high above his head: “Now, let us make history together!”

In the first two days, the representatives of various countries jointly agreed on the framework of the International Ocean Convention Organization.

For example, setting headquarters in Copenhagen, establishing an “International Ocean Court,” and a “Council.”

The Ocean Court was responsible for adjudicating cases of violations of maritime law. Judges were elected by all member countries through voting.

And the “Council” was responsible for supervising the operations of the Ocean Court and handling the daily affairs of the convention organization. There were 7 seats in total, to be rotated by all member countries, with a two-year term, rotating on expiration.

From the third day, the crucial phase of voting on the “International Maritime Law” among the countries began.

In fact, the countries that truly had a say were just France, Russia, Spain, Austria, Denmark, and Sweden.

Even the Ottoman Empire didn’t have much say—the Europeans had never really taken the Ottomans seriously.

As for the few Italian countries with significant maritime trade influence, they all closely followed France.

Talleyrand spoke loudly: “Article One, the ocean belongs to all of humanity, and no country has the right to own it…

“In all high seas areas, all countries equally enjoy the freedom to navigate, fish, and salvage, without interference from any country…”

Applause.

All member countries unanimously passed it.

Talleyrand continued: “Article Two, territorial waters of countries refer to areas extending 10 nautical miles outward from the coastline. Countries have complete sovereignty in their territorial waters, and without permission, military forces of other countries must not enter…”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Russian Foreign Minister said in French: “This is unreasonable, Mr. Talleyrand, 10 nautical miles is too much, which would turn many sea areas into ‘private domains,’ not in line with the idea of ‘high seas.’

“I suggest it should be changed to 3 nautical miles.”

The Spanish envoy Valenciano added: “1 nautical mile is more suitable.”

Georgia, Saint Domingue, and other countries immediately protested: “This is too much! Your warships staying in international waters can fire into our territories!”

“Our country supports the 10-nautical-mile territorial waters.”

The Russian Foreign Minister coldly glared at a few people and the protests ceased.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!