Chapter 372 New Artifact
Joseph had no idea that Queen Mary had ordered a new "Mandarin Duck Book" for him, and she was still a very tortured little girl.
During the dinner, he carefully prepared to continue to deal with his mother's urging to marry, but the queen only gave him "I understand" looks from time to time and did not mention the matter again. Instead, she talked about some Russian customs.
At the subsequent ball, Joseph became the center of attention of all the nobles.
A crown prince who was less than 16 years old personally led the troops to defeat the Prussian and Hanoverian armies on the battlefield. This led to nobles constantly comparing him to the Sun King Louis XIV.
Some even said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will surely surpass the Sun King."
When Louis XVI said that he wanted to build a statue for the Dauphin, some ministers did not agree. After all, the king himself did not have a formal statue in public.
After the news of the Guards' defeat of Charles II reached Paris, no one raised any objections. Artists from all walks of life gathered at the Palace of Versailles upon hearing the news, vying to build a statue of the Crown Prince.
The dance started with the passionate music "Triumph", and there were melodies related to war and victory all the way. The nobles also changed their usual gentle style and danced in military style.
When the ball was halfway through, a well-known poet came to the center of the Hall of Mirrors and loudly recited a hymn to Joseph, which directly pushed the atmosphere to the climax.
Joseph looked at the nobles who were extremely excited at the ball and praised him generously. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Sure enough, victory in foreign wars is the best stimulant for a country. The previous dissatisfaction and opposition caused by the abolition of noble privileges have now been basically subsided, and the attitude of the nobles towards the royal family has become extremely supportive, at least on the surface. I hope this will reduce the resistance the land redemption policy encounters from the nobles.
The dance lasted until late at night, and Joseph was able to return to the palace. All kinds of entertainment made him feel more tired than after three days of fighting on the front line.
Early next morning.
Joseph had a simple breakfast and then dragged his tired body to the Royal Ordnance Factory next to the sycamore forest on the southeast side of the Palace of Versailles.
The British Foreign Secretary will not arrive in Paris for another week or so. He wanted to take advantage of this gap and seize the time to get the bulletproof inserts that he had planned for a long time.
As soon as he walked out of the palace door, Joseph saw the spacious corridor lined with elegantly dressed aristocratic ladies standing on both sides. In an instant, all kinds of bold, graceful, and resentful looks came from all directions, making his scalp tingle. Somewhat numb.
Emang leaned into his ear and whispered: "Your Highness, most of them have been waiting here since three or four in the morning. Some even didn't leave after the dance..."
Perna, who had just finished a routine examination for Joseph, happened to follow him. The eyes of the ladies around her suddenly became cold and full of murderous intent. She was so frightened that she hurriedly lowered her head and fled back to the imperial doctor's office on the second floor.
Joseph ignored the beautiful scenery along the way and walked quickly outside the Palace of Versailles.
When he arrived at the square, he groped for his stubbled chin, gritting his teeth and secretly saying: Let you dance! When my puberty is over, I will definitely pick a few and "kill" them!
Martin Neil, the head of the Royal Ordnance Factory, obviously expected that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would come, and was waiting at the door with a group of management personnel early in the morning.
Joseph nodded to the group of people who were bowing, and then went straight to the topic: "Mr. Martinier, are you ready with all the things I asked you to prepare before?"
The latter hurriedly gestured towards a work shed on the west side: "Yes, Your Highness, everything is ready, just put it over there."
When Joseph was in the Southern Netherlands, he wrote a letter listing the materials needed to make bulletproof inserts, and attached simple process requirements, and sent it to the Royal Ordnance Factory. Entering the work shed, Martinier asked people to place boxes of iron pieces, porcelain pieces, silk and other things in front of the crown prince, and asked for credit:
"Your Highness, you see, I asked the craftsmen to make iron sheets of different hardness and thickness for you to choose from. The porcelain pieces were customized in the two top workshops in Sèvres, and I also asked Quimper to make them. Made a trial copy.”
Sèvres 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. Its main sales targets are ordinary families, but the workshops here also have many unique firing techniques.
Joseph nodded with satisfaction. After all, my father personally handled the Royal Ordnance Factory, so it was quite reliable.
He asked the question he was most concerned about:
"What about the adhesive? 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 curiously at the beige viscous liquid in the bottle.
"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 an adhesive made from milk, but for now he had to trust Lavoisier.
He immediately took out iron pieces, porcelain pieces and other objects of different specifications from the wooden box, and summoned the craftsmen to prepare for trial production.
He had watched a documentary introducing bulletproof inserts before, and immediately ordered the craftsmen: "Please stick the iron sheets, porcelain sheets, silk, and iron sheets together in order. Be sure to compact them as much as possible.
"You put the silk on the outer layer, then the iron pieces and porcelain pieces, and finally the silk.
"You use iron as the outermost layer, and then silk..."
Unsure of how well these 18th-century alternative materials would work, he asked craftsmen to try out five combinations of different combinations. At the same time, each combination required using plates of different thicknesses and applying different amounts of adhesives. A total of more than 40 test samples were produced.
It was busy until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when a craftsman told Joseph that the casein glue processed by heating and drying had dried.
Joseph took the insert, which was about the same size as a later tablet computer, and tried to pull the iron and porcelain pieces to both sides.
Not moving at all, very strong. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the 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 adhesion, 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. It would definitely not be able to be broken apart by hand.
(End of chapter)