I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 372 New Artifact
Joseph had no idea that Queen Mary had arranged a new marriage for him, with a very charming little girl.

During the dinner, he was still cautiously preparing to continue dealing with his mother's urging to get married, but the queen just gave him an "I understand" look from time to time and did not mention the matter again. Instead, she talked about the customs and culture of Russia.

At the subsequent ball, Joseph became the focus of all the nobles.

A crown prince who was not even 16 years old personally led his troops to defeat the Prussian and Hanoverian armies on the battlefield, which made the nobles constantly compare him with the Sun King Louis XIV.

Some people even said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will definitely surpass the Sun King."

When Louis XVI said he wanted to build a statue for the Dauphin, some ministers disagreed, after all, the king himself did not have an official statue in public.

After the news of the defeat of Charles II by the Guards reached Paris, no one raised any objections. Artists from all walks of life gathered at the Palace of Versailles, vying to sculpt a statue of the Dauphin.

The ball started with the exciting music "Triumph", and all the way was melodies related to war and victory. The nobles also changed their usual gentle style and danced in a military style.

When the ball was halfway through, a famous poet came to the center of the Hall of Mirrors and loudly recited a hymn to Joseph, which directly brought the atmosphere to its climax.

Joseph looked at the nobles at the ball who were so excited and praised him, and couldn't help but sigh: Sure enough, victory in foreign wars is the best stimulant for a country. The dissatisfaction and opposition caused by the abolition of noble privileges have now been basically calmed down. At least on the surface, the nobles have become extremely supportive of the royal family. I hope this can reduce the resistance to the land redemption policy from the nobles.

The ball lasted until late at night, and Joseph was able to return to his bedroom. All the social engagements made him feel more tired than fighting on the front line for three days.

The next morning.

After a simple breakfast, Joseph dragged his tired body to the Royal Arsenal next to the plane tree forest on the southeast side of the Palace of Versailles.

The British Foreign Secretary will not arrive in Paris for about a week. He needs to take advantage of this gap to develop the bulletproof inserts that he has been planning for a long time.

As soon as he walked out of the palace door, Joseph saw the spacious corridors on both sides filled with gorgeously dressed noble ladies. In an instant, all kinds of bold, graceful, and resentful seductive glances came from all directions, making his scalp numb.

Emman leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Your Highness, most of them have been waiting here since three or four in the morning. Some even stayed here after the dance ended..."

Perna, who had just finished a routine check-up on Joseph, happened to follow out. The eyes of the ladies around her suddenly became cold and murderous, which frightened her so much that she lowered her head and fled back to the imperial physician's office on the second floor.

Joseph ignored the beautiful scenery along the way and walked quickly towards the outside of the Palace of Versailles.

When he arrived at the square, he touched his stubbled chin and gritted his teeth and said to himself: I'll let you guys jump! When my puberty is over, I will definitely pick a few of them and give them a good beating!
Martin Neil, the head of the Royal Ordnance Factory, had obviously expected the Crown Prince to come, and had been waiting at the door with a group of managers early in the morning.

Joseph nodded to the group of people who bowed, and then went straight to the point: "Mr. Martinnier, are all the things I asked you to prepare ready?"

The latter pointed to a shed on the west side and said, "Yes, Your Highness, everything is ready. Just put it there."

When Joseph was in the Southern Netherlands, he wrote a letter to the Royal Ordnance Factory, listing the materials needed to make bulletproof inserts, and attached simple process requirements. After entering the shed, Martinier had boxes of iron sheets, porcelain sheets, silk and other things placed in front of the Crown Prince, and asked for credit: "Your Highness, look, I asked the craftsmen to make iron sheets of different hardness and thickness for you to choose from. The porcelain sheets were custom-made in the two top workshops in Sevres, and Quimper also had a trial batch made."

Sevres is a porcelain-making mecca in the western suburbs of Paris. Most of the nobles who could not afford oriental porcelain and disdained British products would choose the products here. Quimper is the center of painted pottery in Brittany, and its main sales targets are ordinary people, but the workshops here also have many unique firing techniques.

Joseph nodded with satisfaction. After all, the Royal Arsenal was personally under the supervision of his father, so he was quite reliable in getting things done.

He asked the most concerned question again: "What about adhesives? Does Mr. Lavoisier have any suggestions?"

"Yes, your highness." Martinier gestured to a large glass bottle on the table. "Mr. Lavoisier recommended this special casein glue."

"Casein glue?" Joseph looked at the beige viscous liquid in the bottle curiously.

"It is an adhesive made from milk." Martinier said hurriedly, "First, ferment the milk to remove the grease, then add alkali, water glass, slaked lime and other substances to promote coagulation, and filter..."

Joseph had never heard of adhesive made from milk, but for now he had no choice but to trust Lavoisier.

He immediately took out iron sheets, porcelain pieces and other items of different specifications from the wooden box and called the craftsmen to prepare for trial production.

He had seen a documentary about bulletproof inserts before, and immediately instructed the craftsmen: "Please stick the iron sheet, porcelain sheet, silk sheet, and iron sheet together in order. Be careful to compact them as much as possible.

“You put silk on the outside, then iron and porcelain, and finally silk.

"Your outermost layer is made of iron, followed by silk..."

Unsure about the effectiveness of these 18th-century alternative materials, he asked craftsmen to test five combinations in different combinations. At the same time, each combination required the use of different thicknesses of boards and different amounts of adhesive, resulting in a total of more than 5 test samples.

They were busy until around 3 pm, when a craftsman told Joseph that the casein glue that had been processed by heating and drying had dried.

Joseph took the plug, which was about the same size as a later tablet computer, and tried to pull the iron and porcelain pieces apart with force.

It didn't move at all, and it was very solid. He heaved a sigh of relief, it seemed that this adhesive made from milk was basically usable.

He didn't know much about adhesives. In fact, casein glue has the advantages of high viscosity, fast curing speed, and strong bonding strength, and is still widely used in the 21st century.

According to his requirements, Lavoisier specially adjusted the manufacturing process to increase the bonding strength as much as possible, and it would definitely be impossible to break it apart by hand.

(End of this chapter)