I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1176 Preparing for War
three days later.

All of France's cabinet ministers and deputy ministers, high-ranking military officers, and even heads of the police, publishing, and transportation systems gathered in the Grand Chamber of Versailles. Even the corners were packed with people.

Officials at this level had already heard some rumors. At this moment, a solemn atmosphere filled the hall; everyone guessed that this expanded cabinet meeting was likely to be a pre-war mobilization.

Soon, the Crown Prince, the King, and the Queen entered the meeting hall together, and everyone immediately stood up and bowed with their hands on their chests.

Almost no one can remember the last time His Majesty the King attended a cabinet meeting, which shows how important this meeting was.

Joseph and his parents sat down at the head of the conference table, bowed slightly to the two of them, and then turned to the others to get straight to the point:
"As you all know, the British, Prussian, and Austrian armies have begun to assemble. The total force may exceed 60."

A somber look appeared in almost everyone's eyes—this was a war of unprecedented scale.

Joseph looked at Berthier: "According to the General Staff's assessment, war will break out within four to six months. This will be a war that will determine the future of France."

"I don't need to say anything more about this, because everyone knows that we only have one option: to win the war."

"Now begin planning for the war. Baron Bretteau."

The Minister of Justice immediately rose, bowed to the King, and then began to read aloud: "His Majesty the King has signed a decree to implement the Special Wartime Act, effective immediately."

"The main contents include: rules for the control and requisition of domestic grain, horses, vehicles and ships; "
All medical and engineering technicians are required to register;
"All citizens should participate in disaster relief, transportation, counter-espionage, and other operations according to mobilization needs;"
"Wartime Control System for News and Publication";
"Rules for Temporary Authorization by Local Governments..."

The officials in the meeting hall nodded in agreement as they listened—although these decrees were relatively extreme, they could quickly concentrate the nation's resources and manpower on the battlefield, while also better responding to situations where the enemy created chaos and destruction within the country.

Yes, the earliest war mobilization decree in history was issued by Napoleon in the early 19th century, and it immediately demonstrated its enormous power.

It's important to understand that no European country currently has the concept of a state of emergency during wartime. While troops are fighting valiantly on the front lines, unscrupulous merchants are taking advantage of the situation to sell strategic materials, and even collusion with foreign powers is a frequent occurrence.

The Wartime Act is designed to prevent such situations. Furthermore, declaring a national state of emergency instills a sense of urgency about war in the public, making them more adaptable to potential social problems during wartime.

Joseph had instructed the Minister of Justice to begin drafting this Wartime Act after defeating the anti-French coalition last time, so it is ready to be used immediately.

Baron Brettley gave a brief explanation of the terms and then sat back down in his chair.

Joseph then looked at Mirabeau and said, "During this period, the Ministry of Industry has two most important things to do."

"First, replace all the wooden tracks from Paris to Verdun with railway tracks. Build them to the highest standards. At the same time, plan the railway lines from Verdun to Lorraine and then to Strasbourg as soon as possible."

France has nearly ten years of experience in rail transit construction. It not only has a large number of construction teams, but also established engineering standards long ago. It has even laid nearly 100 kilometers of rail in Luxembourg.

It was a task they were very familiar with.

Mirabo asked with some surprise, "Your Highness, is it really necessary to invest so much money in building railway tracks now...?"

Joseph interrupted him with a smile: "Trust me, you will soon understand their purpose. Please do as I say."

According to Joseph's assessment, Trevithick should be able to design a prototype train in about a year. After all, he had previously built a steam locomotive, although its performance was extremely poor, unable to even travel 200 meters, it was still a step from 0 to 1. Improving upon that foundation would certainly be much faster than developing from scratch.

Moreover, the train's performance doesn't need to be too good. As long as it can pull 10 carriages and travel at a "snail's pace" of 25 kilometers per hour, it is already a "powerful weapon" of this era.

Verdun is the gateway to northern France, while Strasbourg connects to Baden, and just a step further lies the easily accessible southern German plateau.

From Strasbourg, a boat trip south along the upper Rhine River takes less than a day to reach Switzerland.

In other words, connecting the Paris-Verdun-Strasbourg railway line would increase France's military and logistical deployment capabilities by dozens of times!
The entire Rhine front was almost indistinguishable from France's rear area.

All of this can be accomplished with just three or four of the most basic trains.

Joseph continued, "Second, we need to double the production capacity of the nation's ordnance factories as soon as possible. In addition, you need to report to me regularly on Dean Cano's research and development progress."

Originally, France's military production capacity was sufficient to meet the army's needs, but once the new iron cannon casting process was finalized, the entire army would have to replace bronze cannons with iron cannons.

Based on current production capacity, this process will take at least ten months. Especially for the navy, a single ship can have seventy or eighty cannons, and without increasing production capacity, the pressure to upgrade will be enormous.

Furthermore, once the breech-loading cannon is developed, the expanded ordnance factory will be able to equip the army with this new weapon in the shortest possible time.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Mirabo nodded first, then hesitated, “Your Highness, the funds required for these two matters will likely be staggering…”

"You don't need to worry about that."

Joseph gestured for him to sit down, then asked the Minister of Agriculture, "Mr. Venio, how is the cannery progressing?"

The latter hurriedly stood up and said, "Your Highness, we completed the trial production using glass bottles last month, and 97% of the canned goods can be kept fresh for more than 40 days—because they have only been stored for that long so far."

"Currently, we can fill and cook 1200 cans of food per day. I mean, in glass jars."

"As for the processing of tin cans... we can only use soldering. The rolling press you requested has not yet been manufactured."

"The factory in the San Antonio district is scheduled to start producing 1 tin cans per day starting the month after next."

Joseph was also somewhat helpless. He had never seen a rolling press before and could only wait for someone to have a flash of inspiration and invent it.

He then instructed, "Then let's focus on glass bottles for now, and increase production to more than 3 bottles per day."

"Also, double the bidding bonus for the coil press."

Although glass jars are a bit of a gimmick, they're better than nothing, and they also allow cannery workers to practice their skills. Once the rim-rolling process for tin cans is perfected, production can be increased significantly.

(End of this chapter)