Fox of France

"According to the time, they should have made some progress." Joseph was not too surprised by the news. Because he knew that the initial breakthrough in steelmaking technology was actually completed by the British. Although it seemed that the breakthrough in this area was completed later in the original history, since the French had already succeeded in advance, with the advance success Inspired by the French - although Lorraine Iron and Steel has always kept its technical secrets very strictly, the fact that the French can smelt steel quickly and on a large scale using certain technical means cannot be concealed. And this fact will also give the British a huge incentive to invest more resources in research in this area. In this way, a breakthrough is inevitable.

What's more, regarding technology, no matter how closely guarded it is, as long as the product is still on the market, as long as the technology is applied in production, it is inevitable that some information will be leaked out. What's more, Lorraine Steel's workers are very mobile.

The labor intensity of the workers of the Lorraine Iron and Steel Company is quite high. After all, they are all heavy physical labor. Most of the people who do this work are German-speaking people. After they entered the Lorraine Steel Company, they wanted to get enough money for them to immigrate to Louisiana in the shortest possible time.

Of course, the British will also learn about related technologies by buying these workers. Although these workers do not have the opportunity to get in touch with the most core secrets, they at least have the opportunity to see what the steelmaking furnace looks like. By asking a few more people, they can roughly know some technological processes, although the most critical things cannot be obtained. I know, but just these things can already give the British a lot of inspiration. So at this time, the British have made a breakthrough in steelmaking technology, which is completely understandable.

"So which plan are we going to implement now?" Lucien asked.

Since it is highly probable for the British to make a breakthrough in steelmaking technology, a response plan for this situation has naturally been prepared long ago, and more than one set of plans have been prepared. Each scheme has been carefully researched and deduced, and has different advantages and disadvantages. So at this time, which option to choose is very critical.

"Of course, let's look at the follow-up actions of the British. If the British make concessions in the recent trade disputes, then we will reduce the price of steel and even pig iron we export to the UK, relying on our cost crush them, and let them know what it means to buy rather than build," Joseph replied.

"Then what choice do you think they will make?" Lucien asked again.

"I'm not British, how would I know, and even if I were British, I might not know."

"However, let me talk about Joseph, if we take some actions now, we can induce them to develop in a certain direction. For example, if we open a little bit for them in terms of trade policy, I think we should be able to guide them in a certain direction. Continue to maintain the policy of bilateral trade." Lucien said.

"But if we don't ask them to abolish the 'Navigation Act', then under the protection of the Navigation Act, they can sell their iron and steel products in their colonies, and thereby obtain funds to continue to develop their iron industry. said Napoleon.

"In a short period of time, there will not be much demand for steel in the British colonies." Joseph said.

Joseph made this judgment because the demand for steel mainly comes from industrial demand, and one of the national policies of the United Kingdom has always been that the colonies cannot have decent industries. Because once the colonies have these, the balance of power between them and the United Kingdom will change, and then the colonies will have a serious tendency towards independence.

Napoleon nodded, and said: "But in this case, they probably can only rely on the support of the army to survive. But we can also sell military steel to them."

Because of the technological progress over the years, Napoleon had unprecedented confidence in his army, so he didn't mind selling higher-end things to the British.

"It would be great if the British were willing to buy our weapons directly in large quantities." Lucien said.

"Of course that's good," Napoleon said, "but it must be based on accurate information in our hands. Lucien, this is your business. The more accurate the information your people get, the stronger our response will be. .”

Speaking of this, Napoleon paused and said, "However, this time, the British have succeeded in steelmaking, and we actually got the news from the newspaper. Lucien, your performance this time is really disappointing." .”

"Napoleon, you can't say that." As soon as Lucien heard Napoleon's accusation, he immediately retorted, "As early as a month ago, I provided you with a report. In that report, it was mentioned The British metallurgy is about to make a breakthrough."

"Damn! Two months ago, you also provided similar information, and five months ago, you also provided similar information. These information, almost just change the date, there is no difference. Hell, who knows you How fast can the intelligence be, days, months, or years? It consumes a lot of money, a lot of appropriation, but gives me such intelligence, I think, if this kind of thing is handed over to Fouché will do it better than you!"

"That's because Fouche's business scope is limited, and I can devote all my energy here. I have too many things to take care of..." Lucien hated anyone to compare Fouche with him.

"Okay, don't make excuses." Napoleon said, "you have been staring at this matter recently. I need your people to provide us with the latest and most reliable information as soon as possible when making decisions. Information of reference value."

"I'll keep an eye on it," said Lucien.

In the United Kingdom, the executive deputy director of the Sixth Investigation Section of the Army, Essinger Stanton, is assigning tasks to his subordinates.

"Recently, news of the success of the military and the steelmaking furnace project in cooperation between Cambridge University and Landai Iron Works has become widely known. The French will definitely find a way to inquire about our secrets. And for a while, our trade representatives also Going to negotiate with the French on trade issues. The success of the steel mill will be one of our most important bargaining chips in our negotiations. So any news about this is the most important secret. We will accept the After receiving the order, they stationed in Landai Iron Works to help them comprehensively strengthen their secrecy work.

Regarding this operation, there is a principle that I want to tell everyone, that is, the secrets we want to keep include not only how advanced we are, but also how backward we are. Keeping secret means keeping behind! What we know, we can't let the French know; what we don't know, let alone let the French know. Understand! "