I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1359 Secondary Authorization Scheme
The surrounding music softened, and Crown Prince Karl Ludwig of Baden was the first to greet Joseph with a radiant smile: "Your Highness, your arrival is like sunshine illuminating the entire city of Karlsruhe."

Joseph stepped forward, smiled and returned the greeting, and then saw two Baden court officials carrying a small box coming over.

At Karl Ludwig's signal, an official gracefully opened the box.

Joseph saw a rectangular box about 30 centimeters long, made of silver and inlaid with gold, with its corners inlaid with rubies and diamonds.

"This is?"

Karl Ludwig smiled and said, "This is a gift from me to you, a masterpiece by the top master craftsmen of the Iroquois Fine Art Company. I hope you will like it."

Iroquois Treasures Company? Joseph felt the name was familiar, then suddenly remembered—wasn't that the company Charles ran that sold Native American goods?

He picked up the heavy little box and looked at Crown Prince Baden: "You were just saying, a congratulatory gift?"

“Yes, Your Highness.” Ludwig bowed slightly. “Your wedding is next month. This pipe set represents my sincerest blessings to you.”

"Oh, this is just a personal gift from me. The royal family will send a much more lavish gift to Versailles at the wedding."

A pipe… Joseph forced a smile: “This is the best gift ever, I love it so much!”

Ludwig gestured for his men to hand the box to Emman, and smiled at Joseph, saying, "These Indian-style pipes have become quite popular lately. I suppose you enjoy a few puffs in your spare time?"

"Ah, yes..."

Joseph responded politely, but inwardly he was thinking, "My brother's business acumen is quite impressive. I wonder where he learned it from."

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Ludwig, the Prince of Parma approached and warmly presented his brother-in-law with the prepared congratulatory gift—a complete set of banquet jewelry inlaid with a gold iris emblem.

Unlike Ludwig, who had just commissioned a set of pipes, he had to buy some expensive ones from the market.

Next came the royal families or high-ranking officials of major countries such as Bavaria, Hesse, and Milan, who took turns sending gifts. As for smaller countries, they could only give their gifts directly to Emmanuel.

After the gift-giving ceremony concluded, Karl Ludwig, on behalf of everyone, invited Joseph to a banquet at the palace.

Seeing that they were taking the initiative, which saved Joseph a lot of trouble, he said, "I still have a lot to do," and returned to the Baden Palace surrounded by Ludwig and others.

Well, I've already accepted the gift, so how can I refuse their invitation?
King Karl Frederick of Baden personally hosted the banquet, which was attended by seventy or eighty high-ranking officials from various countries, while hundreds more stood outside eagerly awaiting the event.

However, it was Parma's prince, Ludovico, who was in charge of the "frontal battle."

He didn't mention the railway patent licensing, but kept talking about how much Thérèse missed her parents and brother, as well as his previous friendship with Joseph, and occasionally praised French civilization and advanced technology.

Meanwhile, the other guests kept rising to raise their glasses to the French Crown Prince: "To His Majesty, Your Majesty Louis XVI!"

"Homage to the great France!"

"Homage to the Ili-Apennine Common Market!"

In the latter half of the banquet, everyone who could be toasted had been toasted, with some even saying things like "To the grand World Expo" and "To the amazing steam engine."

Joseph seemed to be in a very good mood, accepting almost everything offered, pouring glass after glass of top-quality Bordeaux wine into his mouth.

Ludoviko, holding a wine glass, his face flushed from drinking, said, "Your Highness, Teresa shot a huge wild boar last year while hunting. That guy was over two meters long."

Joseph leaned back in his chair, his eyes still blurry with drunkenness, and said, "My sister is really amazing... her cat... helped her chase away... wild boars, right?"

"You're joking, cats can't do that."

"Oh, yes, yes, those are hunting dogs..."

Ludovico exchanged glances with the others around him and nodded silently. The French Crown Prince was clearly drunk; it was the perfect opportunity to carry out the plan! "Thérèse always says she wants to go back to Versailles to visit you," Ludovico probed, "but as you know, Parma is just too far from Paris."

He disregarded everything for the sake of the railway. According to European custom, women who married into royalty were not allowed to freely return to their home countries.

Joseph swirled his wine glass and slurred, "Far? Oh, it is quite far... Then build a railway, and the train will arrive in three or four days, hehe."

The Prince of Parma, who was struggling to find a way to bring up the railway, was overjoyed and quickly replied, "We do plan to build a railway to Nice, but as you know, we don't have the technology to build railways."

"Then...what should we do...I miss my sister too..."

Ludovico exchanged glances with the Milanese foreign minister and others again, then cautiously asked, "Didn't you have the Ministry of Transport sell railway technology licenses at this World Expo?"

"Oh, right, then isn't that...perfect?"

“You see, even the patents related to laying railway tracks cost tens of millions of francs, which is far beyond our means.”

"Then...what should we do..."

Ludovico took a deep breath: "Could you perhaps ask Mr. Tresagay to lower the licensing fee?"

“Of course…” Joseph nodded drowsily upon hearing this, then exclaimed, “Oh no. That’s… tens of millions of francs…”

Ludovico was immediately disappointed, but he did not give up and continued to play the "emotional card," even bringing up things from Therese's childhood.

After a long while, Joseph, as if tired of being pestered, waved his hand and mumbled, "You...you just need money, don't you?"

He gestured to the crowd at the banquet: "Everyone, pooling our money... will be enough..."

Ludoviko was both amused and exasperated: "Your Highness, patents can only be used by the countries that have been granted the license. They also have to purchase the patents themselves."

Joseph slapped his forehead: "Yes, that's a problem..."

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he pulled his brother-in-law aside, saying, "You two each buy... a portion of the patents, and then license them to each other... wouldn't that work?"

Ludovico realized that getting him too drunk was also problematic, and said helplessly, "Your Highness, where do we get the authorization?"

"No?" Joseph slapped his forehead again. "Then I grant you... the right to secondary authorization."

Ludovico was shocked and asked for confirmation: "You mean, after I buy the patent, I can then license it to countries like Milan and Verona?"

Joseph nodded vigorously: "Yes, that's right. But, it can only be authorized... within the Common Market. And... the authorization fee cannot be reduced..."

Ludovico and his associates were overjoyed and immediately ordered the clerk to draft a document on "secondary authorization of railway patents" as quickly as possible and submit it to Joseph for signature.

Emman kept reminding Joseph, "Your Highness, you've had too much to drink. Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow?"

The latter waved his hand dismissively: "No need, I...I know very well...what I'm...doing."

He pressed the stamp from the ring onto the "secondary authorization" document, then scribbled his name on it before tossing it to his brother-in-law: "Tell my sister... she can come, she's in Paris."

Yes, he wasn't actually drunk; the "secondary authorization" was a plan he had prepared long ago.

The reason for making it so complicated was entirely to make all countries feel that this was a rare opportunity, thereby prompting them to invest funds and begin railway construction as soon as possible.

Everyone is worried: what if the French Crown Prince changes his mind one day? So everything must be confirmed beforehand.

(End of this chapter)