I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1168 Prussia's Restless Moment
Western Prussia.

In the brick-red villa south of Stendal, a salon hosted by Mrs. Adenauer is being held.

The theme of the salon was "The Significance of the German Nation".

"Martin Luther's German Bible allows farmers in Hesse and craftsmen in Prussia to read the same proverb, and the bells of Cologne Cathedral and Reifenstein Abbey ring out the same hymn of the Resurrection of Christ!"

A young man, without a wig and dressed in hunting attire, is waving his hands vigorously and giving an impassioned speech: "From Arminius's war cry in the Teutoburg Forest to the iron cavalry of Charlemagne's East Frankish Kingdom, our ancestors irrigated the black soil from the Baltic Sea to the Alps with the same blood!"
"And now, our language, legends, and even songs have been cut into countless fragments!"

"Gentlemen, when foreign enemies attack, only by combining the swords of the Hessians, the spears of the Prussians, and the shields of the Thuringians can we form an iron wall and make all of Europe listen to the voice of Germany..."

To the left rear of the guests' section, a man with a short beard and thinning hair stared at the speaker, then turned to a middle-aged man with powdered face next to him and whispered, "Have you heard? Berlin is going to build two new gun factories, on an unprecedented scale. And one of them will be in Stendal."

"The new factory will definitely purchase a large amount of liners and rivets. If you are willing to join forces with me, no one can compete with us."

The two families ran the largest and third largest copperware workshops in western Prussia.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight again." The middle-aged man sighed first, then nodded and said, "We have to cooperate; business is getting harder and harder these days."

“Isn’t that right?” the short-bearded man echoed. “Since the trade routes to Cologne were disrupted, we’ve received almost no orders along the Rhine.”

"However, this gun factory seems to be very large. If we can secure this deal, it will be enough to get us out of this predicament."

The middle-aged man asked with some doubt, "I know the army has recruited a lot of new soldiers, but at most they can only produce another 40,000 to 50,000 guns, and more than half of them will definitely be manufactured in Berlin. We shouldn't need to build a large-scale factory here, right?"

The short-bearded man leaned close to his ear, covering his mouth with his hand, and said, "I saw my uncle last week, and he told me that the British have provided us with the production technology for a new type of rifle. The General Staff has decided to equip the entire army with it."

The middle-aged man's eyes widened immediately. He knew that Mr. Ramsdorf's cousin was an official under the Foreign Minister and often had access to high-level files.

If what he said is true, this is an outrageously large order—after Prussia implemented universal conscription, its standing army had reached 15 men, plus 6 reservists, who were essentially "accelerated-trained" troops. If all 20-plus men were re-equipped, his family business could expand several times, even ten times!
"Great!" he exclaimed excitedly, slapping his thigh. "The British have done something quite good. By the way, what kind of new gun is it?"

“A percussion cap musket,” Ramsdorf whispered. “The kind of weapon the French used a few years ago. It didn’t have a magazine; you just put a small copper block in front of the bolt and it would fire. The Duke of Brunswick’s army was defeated by one of these.”

"You mean firing it with a copper block?"

“Yes, Mr. Honecker.” Ramsdorf pinched his thumb and forefinger together and gestured, “It’s this big, and it contains some kind of potion that will burst into flames upon impact.”

"Excellent!" Honecker exclaimed with delight. "We absolutely must secure the order to produce these copper blocks. This is a huge business opportunity!"

Ramsdorf hesitated, "I'm afraid we'll have to bring Baron Hahneman along. After all, we're competing with Berlin." "Very well, bring Hahneman. You can try to get some technology from England..."

As Honecker was speaking, a question suddenly occurred to him, and he frowned as he looked at Ramsdorf: "Wait, His Majesty the King wouldn't be paying us with an IOU, would he? As far as I know, our government's financial situation is not optimistic."

"Please rest assured. The British have provided another £80 in special aid this time. Oh, I hear it's £80 a year, in case of war."

Honecker's eyes widened again: "Really?"

“Of course it’s true,” Ramsdorf said with certainty. “The Franco-Spanish forces are besieging Gibraltar. The British are going all out this time.”

"And we also want to take back Heilly. Actually, the most important thing is Cologne. The textiles from Potsdam and Stenberg can only be sold domestically now. Only by forcing France to give up Cologne can our products be sold back to the Rhine River."

The speech was drawing to a close, and the young man was passionately proclaiming, "Northern Germany must first unite, and Prussia has an obligation to lead this..."

Ramsdorf nodded: "He's right. We must drive France out of the Rhineland before we can integrate North Germany. This will be a very large-scale war."

The Rhineland and North Germany partially overlap, and now the North German states, especially those along the Rhine, cannot ignore France's foreign policy.

Honecker then asked, "But what about the sugar beet farmers? I've heard they're very dependent on French seeds."

“That’s why we must defeat France!” Ramsdorf said. “The armistice will include provisions on sugar beet seed cultivation methods. We can’t always be at the mercy of the French.”

What about before the war ends?

"It will probably force some people to switch to growing potatoes. Others will switch to the old beet seeds, which will result in lower yields, but the British will likely raise the purchase price."

Honecker nodded, but his expression became much more serious: "Do you think we can win? Last time, the French defeated the Duke of Brunswick's 6-strong army with less than 10 men."

Ramsdorf seemed very confident: "Of course. Last time our army was using outdated weapons, but now we have percussion caps."

"And now, Sharp signal towers have been built all over the country. You know how important these things are to war. The news of the French fighting in Italy reached the Rhineland in just half a day, while the Duke of Brunswick was still in the dark. This time, we are fighting on level terms."

"Oh, I also heard that the General Staff is working on hot air balloons. That's the French's latest military equipment. The British discovered it while defending Gibraltar."

Civilian hot air balloons appeared seven or eight years ago, and it's not some mysterious technology, but countries haven't thought of using them in the military field yet.

(End of this chapter)