I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1355 The Light of Technology
The French official standing next to the drilling machine smiled and gestured to the middle-aged man in the crowd: "First of all, please allow me to correct one point, the name of this machine is 'multi-functional integrated lathe'."

"Secondly, if I may be so bold as to ask, where are you from?"

The middle-aged man hurriedly replied, "Munich, I'm from Munich."

The French official immediately gestured elegantly to a row of tables on the north side: "Bavarian has a patent agreement with our country, so you just need to register at the service center over there and pay a deposit to get a production schedule for the new equipment. Oh, the patent for this machine belongs to Namur Royal Machinery Company."

The middle-aged man was overjoyed and was about to turn around when he suddenly stopped in his tracks: "Excuse me, how much does this 'multi-functional...what' thing cost?"

"It depends on the configuration you choose, it will cost between 2 and 4 francs."

Upon hearing the number, the middle-aged man was overjoyed, said "Thank you very much," and rushed towards the service counter.

Yes, the price was much lower than he had expected, considering the steam engine alone would cost six or seven thousand francs. And from the demonstration, he could tell that the machine's processing precision was two orders of magnitude higher than existing equipment.

In other words, the parts that come off the machine can be used directly without having to be hand-polished by craftsmen as before.

He estimated that the workshop could therefore avoid hiring three more highly paid senior technicians. This alone would save them enough money to buy more machines over three or four years.

In addition, the machine's amazing processing efficiency will inevitably increase the workshop's output significantly, and it may be able to recoup its costs in two years.

Inspired by him, several other factory owners engaged in mechanical processing also decided to buy one, since the price was really quite favorable.

This was Joseph's marketing strategy—the company earned less than two thousand francs for every lathe it sold, practically giving it away for free.

However, once the machine is running, drill bits, cutting tools, bearings, and even lubricating oil must be continuously purchased from Royal Machinery Equipment Company, and that's where the real money is made.

If the equipment malfunctions—and there are no warranties these days—replacing just a few parts can cost thousands of francs.

Count Elach stared wide-eyed as the factory owners frantically bought machines worth at least 20,000 francs in the distance, as if they were snapping up discounted bread. For a moment, he felt a sense of unreality.

He only continued walking forward after Dorian urged him on from the side.

The French exhibition area is really huge, almost three times the size of the previously largest Genoa area—which had a real ship crammed into its area.

After bypassing the lathe, Count Elach was blocked by two huge metal canisters.

A French official pointed to the black liquid flowing from the glass tube at the bottom of the left tank and loudly explained: "...After the coal is dry-distilled, the gas is sent into the pipeline to supply the city's gaslights."

"The coal tar produced will be concentrated here, filtered, preheated, and then pressurized and sent to the fractionation tower from there."

"Of course, what you see now is just a scaled-down model; the real fractionation tower is seven or eight times taller than this."

"...After this series of alkalization, cleaning, and reduction reactions, we can obtain a large quantity of phenol used for daily disinfection..."

"Now, Gazprom Paris has also adopted the 'combined processing method,' which involves further processing directly after the coal tar processing equipment to produce 'mystery black' directly."

"That's right. The price of black clothing has become more and more affordable in the past two years, thanks to the improvement of this technology."

The so-called "mystery black" is actually aniline black. To make it more difficult for the British to imitate, the name containing its chemical structure was never made public. Compared to traditional dyes extracted from plants and minerals, industrially mass-produced aniline black costs only about 20% of the original and is less prone to fading. After its emergence, it immediately monopolized the black dye market.

Currently, aniline purple is still being synthesized in the laboratory. If industrial production is completed, the profit will be more than ten times higher than that of black!
Moreover, it's not just profits that will be affected; the entire textile industry landscape will be drastically altered as a result. Currently, purple dye can only be extracted in small quantities from madder roots, making it the most expensive color of the era and wildly sought after by all the nobles.

The French official continued, "The pipeline on this side is another processing facility for the combined processing method, where coal tar 'impurities' will be refined into 'moth repellents'."

He was referring to "naphthalene," which is now widely used as a leather protectant, extending the life of leather and providing excellent mothproofing.

"And this is where they synthesize fragrances..."

Count Elach couldn't understand anything, he only knew that these things were very powerful.

He walked on in a daze and saw a giant steam rail crane—operated by only three workers, it easily moved a huge rock weighing at least tens of thousands of pounds back and forth.

Next came the mysterious medical equipment, some of which were said to instantly restore strength to the dying, others to help doctors avoid massive bleeding during surgery, and still others to provide 100% protection against smallpox…

Well, it's basically just syringes, hemostats, and tools for smallpox vaccination.

After he bought Dorian a hat for over 700 francs and a folding fan for over 1,000 francs at the "Paris Angels" luxury goods booth, it was getting dark.

The crisp sound of bells rang out from all around the exhibition area, and servants lit gas lamps one by one with tinder sticks.

Karlsruhe has not yet installed gas streetlights; the gas is delivered via gas cylinders.

The central part of the exhibition area was now illuminated by the most lights, drawing people's attention there.

Count Elah pulled Dorian along and squeezed into the crowd, where they saw several servants pulling back a huge canvas, gradually revealing the massive, shiny black metal object beneath.

"It's a train!" someone recognized the object.

"I rode in it during the World Cup in Paris, and it felt like riding a dragon at high speed!"

"It's said that this thing can transport more than two thousand people at a time, I wonder if that's true..."

"Absolutely true, I once rode a train with more than two thousand people..."

Count Elach was no stranger to trains, after all, the Bern Parliament had been planning to build a railway, and he had read a lot of news about it.

A band played rousing music nearby, and a French official announced in a booming voice: "Look, everyone! This is the greatest invention of all time, the magic of steel and coal—the train!"
"It is destined to change our world!"

After he gave a detailed explanation of the railway and train information, it was time for dinner.

Just as Count Elach was getting a little bored and was preparing to go to dinner with Dorian, the Frenchman's voice suddenly rose:
"In order to enable everyone to enjoy this great invention and allow trains to take people all over the world on a journey, His Highness the Crown Prince has made a most selfless decision—to make all the technologies related to railway construction, train manufacturing, and operation publicly available to all member states that have signed the Iberian-Apennine Common Market Agreement or the Stuttgart Trade Agreement!"

The thousands of people around, including Count Elah, fell silent instantly, as if by magic.

(End of this chapter)