I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 990 French Industrial Development Plan

After waiting for a long time, there was a boiling sound in the reactor.

Lavoisier just watched the technicians busying themselves—he had repeatedly instructed them on the production process—and explained to the Dauphin:

"The solution will soon be distilled and then pumped into another reactor to begin cooling and precipitation.

"Of course, there are other impurities in the product, but they only need to be dealt with simply."

He pointed to the discharge port, where three workers were loading damp, pale yellow powder into sacks.

"After drying, we can get potash fertilizer with a purity of more than 97%. Currently, this factory can produce about 100 bags, or 5 tons, every day if there is enough raw material."

"You did a great job." Joseph nodded in praise, and then asked, "Then, if we want to increase the production capacity by a hundred times, how long do you think it will take?"

150 tons a month may seem like a lot, but given France's fertilizer consumption, it's like adding a spoonful of sugar to a swimming pool.

According to the calculations that Joseph had previously asked the Ministry of Agriculture to conduct, the country needs at least 20 tons of potash fertilizer each year to see obvious results.

Lavoisier was stunned for a moment, then he said, "Your Highness, with such a high output, we must build a factory at the salt mine."

"Yes. I have already had the ground levelled and houses built near the salt mines in the Palatinate. You can come and start the factory any time you want."

Lavoisier was already accustomed to the high efficiency of His Royal Highness the Dauphin, so he continued:

"If we produce 500 tons per day, the reaction and heating equipment will need to be redesigned. Well, we can use the coal there for heating. I remember there are coal mines in the Palatinate.

"The crushing and coarse screening processes must also be improved... Your Highness, I will try to put it into production within a year."

Joseph was about to say "This progress is acceptable", but he heard the father of chemistry say with some difficulty: "Your Highness, it's just that my wife is about to give birth...ah, the doctor said it will be next month after next."

"Congratulations, Baron Lavoisier!" Joseph nodded. "I will send a court nanny to take care of her, and you can go home to visit her at any time. Although this may be a little unkind, the farmers across the country really need you."

Lavoisier sighed and said, "Your Highness, I mean that Marianne is my most important assistant. Without her help, my experiments would be much slower."

"I'm sorry to trouble you." Joseph comforted him, "Don't worry about the progress of your work. There will be many things you need to take care of in the future. Let's wait until the child is older."

Lavoisier bowed and said, "Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness. I think Marianne will be able to come to the Palatinate early next year."

Joseph suddenly thought that as industrialization continued to deepen, labor would become increasingly scarce, and the number of women engaged in industrial production would continue to increase in the future.

In fact, women's participation in production is a progressive thing in the industrial age.

You have to know that women in this era could only work as maids or laundry women. If they could enter factories in large numbers, it would mean that France would have a lot more labor than other countries.

At the same time, social consumption capacity will also increase.

But if a woman becomes a worker, there will be no one to take care of the children at home, or even no one to cook.

Joseph thought to himself that it seemed possible to consider setting up kindergartens and cheap canteens in places where there were large concentrations of workers.

Of course, before that, we must first liberate our minds.

At present, it is still unacceptable for most people for women to go out to work.

Historically, until the 19th century, British female writer Charlotte Bronte, the author of Jane Eyre, had to write novels secretly and publish them under a man's name, because women were prohibited from being writers at that time.

Joseph looked at Lavoisier, thinking that perhaps he could take this opportunity to let Madame Lavoisier set an example.

It would be better to select a few more women from the royal family to lead the trend of women working.

If we promote this approach slowly over seven or eight years, people's perceptions may gradually begin to change.

"Your wife has made outstanding contributions to France," Joseph said. "After the fertilizer plant in the Palatinate goes into production, I think she should be given a title."

Lavoisier's heart was pounding, and he bowed again: "Thank you so much, Your Highness. If Marianne knew this, she would be so excited that she would faint.

"I assure you that the fertilizer plant will be completed on schedule!"

Then, Joseph discussed with Lavoisier the processing of potassium chloride into potassium sulfate, and even further reacting it with "rock fertilizer" phosphate to produce potassium dihydrogen phosphate.

For agricultural production, potassium chloride is not the most suitable potassium fertilizer because after long-term use, chloride ions will cause soil acidification.

Potassium sulfate is a relatively safe potassium fertilizer, but it requires an additional series of reaction processes.

Potassium dihydrogen phosphate can be considered the strongest fertilizer that can be produced under current conditions.

One fertilizer replenishes both phosphorus and potash, cutting farmers’ fertilization process in half and also reducing transportation costs.

Of course, all of this had to be done slowly by Lavoisier later on.

Once chemical fertilizers are fully rolled out in France, food production will be greatly increased.

Including the fallow interval of cultivated land will be greatly increased.

You know, it is thanks to chemical fertilizers that humans have been able to ensure that all social classes have enough to eat.

Increased food production can support a larger population base, which in turn promotes industrial production.

More than an hour later, after inspecting the potash fertilizer plant, Joseph returned to the Palace of Versailles and attended the cabinet meeting without stopping according to the schedule.

Mirabeau first reported the matter of the potash fertilizer plant to the cabinet officials, and then continued: "It will take another year for the large-scale production of potash fertilizer, but our phosphate fertilizer plant in Tunisia has been completed. It is expected to produce 5 tons of phosphate fertilizer every month starting next month."

The production of phosphate fertilizer is relatively simple because the "guano stone" produced in North Africa and Nauru is already very suitable for direct application.

What phosphate fertilizer plants do is just crushing and filtering so that the fertilizer can be better utilized.

With the help of the steam engine, the crushing efficiency is very high, which is why the phosphate fertilizer plant in Tunisia can be put into production quickly.

After Mirabeau finished speaking, Joseph looked at the Minister of Agriculture, Vergniaud, and said, "The main task of the Ministry of Agriculture this year is to promote fertilizers and reclaim arable land in the Rhineland."

The latter had already made detailed plans for these two matters and immediately stood up to report to the Crown Prince.

Then Joseph said to Mirabeau: "Once the grain production in the Rhineland is increased, you will start to promote the mining of coal and iron there."

(End of this chapter)