I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 441 Super Coalfield

In fact, as long as France does not tell them, Osman himself does not know whether the troops who have not returned were captured or killed in action, and they will basically be treated as dead in the end.

In addition, due to the enthusiastic help of the Maori people in New Zealand, the basic construction of the town has been completed. At the beginning, thousands of Tunisian Guardsmen who were sent to work as coolies still survived, and they could be transferred to Donbas at any time if necessary.

Generally speaking, the biggest obstacle to developing a deserted land like Donbas is manpower, and Joseph happens to have a lot of free labor in his hands.

There was no such thing as the Geneva Convention in this era. Prisoners of war had no human rights at all. Even if they died of exhaustion in Russia, no one would care at all.

Moreover, the hellish place of Donbas is covered with wasteland for hundreds of kilometers, surrounded by wild animals. There is no food or water, and you can't run away even if you want to. Even if a few coolies possessed by "Bei Ye" do persist in the towns, the Russians will immediately send you back as soon as they hear that you are speaking Turkic or Arabic.

This was also the reason why Talleyrand dared not to allow Catherine II to dispatch labor force.

Viscount Olivier was discussing the delivery of supplies with several shareholders of the development group when he saw several dirty people rushing towards him. One of them, a French scholar, was waving his hands excitedly and shouting: "Coal mine! I found the coal mine." ! There is really a big coal mine!”

Viscount Olivier and others were all ecstatic - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was indeed right. The prospecting team had only been out for less than a month and had found a coal mine, and it was a large coal mine. Now, at least everyone won’t lose everything!

The geologist came to a few people, jumped off his horse, and motioned to his followers to bring down a small basket of coal. He said with a bright face: "Mr. Leader, we have conducted trial mining around the land of Joubernet. Very good quality anthracite has been dug out at least 40 kilometers away!”

Although Russian explorers found traces of coal and iron ore in the Donbas region a long time ago, no one can guarantee the extent of the reserves, let alone the specific quality. If you want to try mining, you must first establish a camp and then invest a large amount of money for detailed exploration.

Viscount Olivier excitedly picked up a piece of coal from the basket and took a closer look. Sure enough, it was of extremely high quality. He handed the coal mine to the shareholders beside him, and they all looked at each other happily and nodded——

If it is anthracite coal, it will not only recover some costs, but as long as the reserves are high enough, you can definitely make a lot of money!

The geologist said and took out the map: "You see, there are rich mining areas from here to here, and the burial depth is basically no more than 2 meters. I had people dig 7 points, with a depth of more than 10 meters, and found that there are still Seam!"

Viscount Olivier and others could no longer hold back, cheering loudly and throwing their hats into the air, or hugging and slapping each other excitedly.

"Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Thank you Son of God for your guidance! Thank you for God's gift!"

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is indeed right. We are rich, haha!"

"Yes, I'm rich! I'm afraid I can earn millions of francs from such a large coal mine!"

If Joseph heard this news, he would not be surprised at all. He had known for a long time that the Donbas region was extremely rich in coal and iron resources. The Donbas coalfield even supported more than 70% of the industrial production of the later Red Empire!

In fact, what Viscount Olivier and his colleagues have discovered is only a drop in the bucket - the entire South Donbass coalfield covers an area of ​​15,000 square kilometers! And most of them are extremely shallow open-pit coal mines that can be easily mined manually.

In fact, at this time, the prospecting team sent by the development team to the Krivoy Rog area had discovered high reserves of iron ore, but because it was a little farther away, trial mining was still underway.

Although the quality of the iron ore in Donbas is not high, its reserves are extremely rich, with later proven reserves exceeding 3.5 billion tons. Combined with the coal here, which costs about the same as stone, iron ingots can be refined at extremely low prices, so the mining value is still very high.

In the future, after a large amount of coal and iron ore is mined here, the high-quality ones will be shipped back to France, and the unused ones can be sold to Russia on the spot, or sold to the countries along the Mediterranean through the Crimean port - the speed of making money is simply incredible. Faster than robbery.

The most important thing is that this coal and iron resource, which was historically controlled by the British, will no longer have anything to do with the British.

France finally obtained a source of anthracite coal, which was extremely important in the Industrial Revolution. Prior to this, all anthracite coal in France could only be purchased from the United Kingdom, and its local coal mines were low-quality coal with extremely high sulfur content. This is also one of the important factors historically why France has never been able to catch up with Britain in the early stages of industrial development.

Although France seems to have received huge benefits in Donbas, Russia will also be very grateful to France. Not to mention the contribution of the development of Donbass to Russia's control of Crimea, Russia will soon enter the start-up stage of industrial development, and the demand for coal, iron ore is increasing rapidly. If there were no coal and iron mines mined by the French, they would have to transport coal and iron from the remote Uralsk region to Moscow, and the cost would be at least 30% higher.

As for saying that this would speed up Russia's industrialization process, Joseph was not worried at all - Russia's social system and technical capabilities were completely unable to threaten France's industrial status. It would be perfectly acceptable if Russia's low-end industry was allowed to develop slightly faster and France could make a lot of profits from it.

Viscount Olivier suddenly thought of something, motioned everyone to be quiet, and then said very seriously: "The discovery of the large coal mine must be kept strictly confidential!"

"Yes, Master."

After everyone dispersed, Viscount Olivier immediately took the money and rushed to Kursk.

He was going to buy land.

Before, Archbishop Talleyrand told him that the Russian Tsar promised that the development group could buy land in the Donbass region at a price of 1 ruble per Russian acre. He didn't dare to invest too much at first, but now it seems that he should definitely listen to the advice of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and buy all the places where minerals may be discovered!

...

Vienna.

Schönbrunn Palace.

At the grand ball to welcome the French Crown Prince, the Austrian nobles danced to their heart's content, but the protagonist of the ball, Joseph, had no interest in dancing, but was talking to Leopold II on the wooden stage next to the band.

"You can fully trust the combat effectiveness of my army." Joseph said, "So, although my plan is a bit risky, it can also help us win."

Leopold II looked at him in surprise. He had heard that the French crown prince had commanded troops in North Africa and the Southern Netherlands, but he thought it was just a boy playing an adventure game.

After the two of them had just discussed the battle in detail, he realized that the boy must have really participated in the battle and was quite familiar with military affairs.