I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1358 Industrial Standards
Joseph gestured for the Minister of Transportation to get in the car, and asked in bewilderment, "Who are those people who have the power to influence our country's revenue?"

The carriage started moving again. Tresagae glanced to the north and said nervously, "It's officials from various countries, and nobles, Your Highness."

"As you know, almost every country is now planning to purchase our railway patent licenses, but they don't want to spend that much money."

"So they wanted to collectively plead with you to lower the licensing price."

"Your brother-in-law, His Highness Ludovico, is among them; you'll likely find it difficult to refuse them..."

Joseph smiled and said, "Was it Baron Binder who summoned them?"

Binder was Baden's assistant to the Foreign Minister.

Theresa Guerre shook his head: "He just leaked that you were going through Karlsruhe, and then those people got together and started talking about asking you for a discount."

“Well, they are quite quick-witted.” Joseph waved his hand dismissively. “Originally, I wanted Baron Binder to bring them to me.”

The Minister of Transport was taken aback: "You mean, we should proactively lower prices for them? But..."

"That's okay, patent licensing is only a small part of future revenue."

Tressacquer immediately said, “Your Highness, I know that your benevolence makes you want to grant everyone a good life, but this will cause us to lose tens of millions of francs in revenue.”

Speaking of this, he recalled many things that had recently made him feel "uneasy": "You see, during the World Expo, the high-end equipment we sold, such as lathes, fire extinguishers, and cranes, even if the price was tripled, would still attract many buyers."

“I’ve estimated that in just over a week, we’ve lost millions of francs in earnings, and now you’re going to argue about the railway patents…”

Joseph interrupted him with a laugh: "Didn't Count Mirabeau tell you?"

"Huh? He didn't mention anything special."

Joseph nodded: "Thank you for your dedication to protecting the interests of France. And thank you, Count Mirabeau, for your sense of confidentiality."

He looked at the Minister of Transport: "But lowering prices, whether for machinery or railway patents, will actually only increase our revenue."

Teresague's eyes were filled with disbelief.

Since there was nothing else to do on the road, Joseph started chatting with him: "You need to have an industrial-age mindset."

“I… don’t quite understand, Your Highness.”

“Control the market, define market usage habits,” Joseph asked. “How much will our new lathe cost?”

"I remember the lowest price was 20,000 francs."

“Actually, it could be even lower,” Joseph said. “If we raise the price to 6 francs as you suggest, how much do you think sales will decrease?”

"About half, maybe a little more, but the total sales will be much higher."

"That's right. And those buyers who are unwilling to spend that much money will go to the market to look for similar things. This will prompt factories in various countries to desperately copy our machines, and even if the quality is slightly lower, there will still be people who buy them because they are cheap."

"Now, we have completely blocked the profit margin of counterfeit products, and almost all factories with demand will use our equipment."

"Even if someone builds equipment with the same performance in the future, factories will refuse to switch because they are used to our products."

Joseph really wanted to tell him about the shady tactics of that company called Microsoft in later years—they would have given it away for free, let alone lower the price, thus monopolizing the market for decades. "While our equipment is cheaper, we can earn our due profits by continuously selling spare parts, as well as through upgrades and repairs."

"You see, for luxury goods that cannot profit from accessories, we try to raise the price as much as possible."

Teresague's eyes were wide open, feeling that the Crown Prince was truly the world's number one cunning merchant... ah, no, the world's most intelligent person.

He suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "Your Highness, in the railway sector, we have authorized all countries to use the technology for smelting and forging rails, including rail clamps, rail braces, bolts, and so on. This means they don't need to buy our parts at all."

Joseph nodded: "That certainly seems to be the case. So this will drive all countries to invest heavily in railways, once they are authorized."

"However, most countries lack iron ore or coal mines, and they have to import high-quality iron ingots from our country."

"Furthermore, we do not sell steam forging machines. The forging efficiency of this equipment far exceeds that of water-powered forging machines, so the cost of the rails we produce is only a fraction of that of other countries."

"Therefore, apart from countries with abundant iron ore reserves that can be self-sufficient, most of the railway tracks still need to be purchased from our country."

"As for rail braces, bolts, and the like, my country relies on alloy steel and precision machining, and the quality of its products is unmatched, so sales will not be low either."

"Even if every country actually smelted its own steel and laid its own rails, we could still earn tens of millions of francs just by selling steam engines and bearings for trains."

Joseph, seeing Teresague nodding incessantly, added:

"Moreover, the railway has a very wide-ranging impact, not only in terms of profit, but also in terms of our control over industrial standards, which in turn brings enormous technological influence and even diplomatic influence."

Teresague's train of thought was starting to falter: "Industrial standards...can they still be controlled?"

As the Crown Prince briefly explained the importance of controlling industrial standards, Tresagae suddenly frowned: "Your Highness, as you said, although our country controls industrial standards, this process will also accelerate the industrial development of other countries. Perhaps one day, a country will be able to threaten us."

“I understand your concerns,” Joseph nodded, then continued, “Let’s imagine, if you were to invest in opening a shop, would you prefer to open it in Paris or Foix?”

Foix is ​​one of the poorest departments in southern France.

Without hesitation, Tresagat replied, "Paris, of course, Your Highness."

"Tell me your reasons."

"It's obvious that Parisians are wealthier and can make more money by opening a shop there."

“Indeed,” Joseph said. “The same applies to France.”

"We not only need to control as many markets as possible, but also try to make them richer so that they can buy our products in large quantities."

"As for threats, with our country leading the technical standards, it will be difficult for other countries to acquire complete industrial capabilities."

As the two were talking, the faint sound of melodious music drifted from the end of the road.

Joseph pointed to the car door and smiled at the Minister of Transportation, saying, "To avoid arousing suspicion, you'd better get out of the car now."

More than ten minutes later, the convoy slowly came to a stop, and hundreds of officials and nobles from various countries immediately surrounded it, bowing respectfully to Joseph's carriage.

(End of this chapter)