Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Although Luxembourg is nominally still Austrian territory, this does not prevent French businessmen from conducting some normal trade there.

The Austrian officials in Luxembourg had already heard the rumors that His Majesty the Emperor was preparing to give Luxembourg to France as a reward for the latter's deployment of troops against Prussia, so they did not interfere with these "commercial activities".

Moreover, on this speck of land, not even a quarter the size of Corsica, twenty thousand French Army soldiers were stationed, so even if the officials had opinions, they could only grumble to acquaintances in salons at most.

In Tom Square of Luxembourg City, the Secretary-General of the French Steel Technology Association was smiling as he passed the agreements he had signed one by one to the Luxembourg mine owners sitting opposite him.

The mine owners immediately grabbed pens, signed the agreements, and affixed their seals, as if afraid that the French would change their minds.

After the agreements were signed, the notary and lawyer declared them effective, and that was when the mine owners finally showed relaxed smiles and whispered to each other:

"Now we don't have to worry about the war destroying everything."

"I never imagined the French would be willing to take over these iron mines..."

"Indeed, although thirty thousand livres is not a lot, it's enough for a family to live comfortably in Vienna."

"Oh, I'm thinking of going to Brussels, of course, after the rebellion there is quelled..."

Indeed, the entire region of Luxembourg was under the cloud of war, especially since the Prussian Soldiers had relatively lax military discipline, which caused great distress among the local businessmen.

There were persistent rumors among civilians that the large armies of Prussia and Hanover would engage in a decisive battle with the French Army in Luxembourg. Such a tiny place could hardly withstand the devastation of a battle involving seventy to eighty thousand soldiers from both sides; the aftermath was bound to be scorched earth.

So all Luxembourg People were eager to sell their assets, and high-quality open-pit iron mines that used to be hard to buy even for hundreds of thousands of livres were now going for one less zero and still required pleading with buyers to make a sale.

In the center of the VIP section at the front, Joseph's face was also adorned with a satisfied smile. He had spent less than eight hundred thousand livres to buy all of these top-quality iron mines in Europe, which was practically a bargain.

It should be noted that Luxembourg's steel production could almost satisfy the entire demand of Western Europe in the future. With these mines, France's industrial revolution would receive a powerful boost.
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If one were to wait until the industrial revolutions of all European countries reached a period of high-speed development and the demand for coal and iron soared, the value of these mines would likely surpass one hundred million livres!

As for the war, even if it meant deploying half of France's military force to Luxembourg, Joseph would not let it be affected by the conflict.

Because of his absolute confidence in regional stability, he had even taken advantage of the selling wave to buy quite a few craft workshops and high-quality land.

The former would provide a large number of skilled smelting and mining workers, and the latter were for the construction of iron smelting plants.

In fact, including the Gregoire Brothers Steel Company, Hilker Steel Company, and several other French steel companies that had grown most rapidly recently, had already arrived in Luxembourg City, waiting to expand their new factories here.

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They had long been fed up with the low output and mediocre quality of the iron ore from France and had previously been forced to import substantial quantities of iron ore from Russia, or purchase coarse iron ingots from Luxembourg at very high costs.

Now, their smelters could be built right beside the iron mines, and, with exceedingly favorable ore prices, their production of iron ingots could see significant improvements in terms of cost, quality, and output.

This was especially true since they had obtained Joseph's "hot blast ironmaking" technique from the French Steel Technology Association. After almost half a year of experimenting, they had basically mastered it and had completed small-scale pilot production domestically. It was the perfect opportunity to use this new technology to set up a factory in Luxembourg, where the refined iron and fine steel produced could also be conveniently sold to the nearby German states, yielding substantial profits.

For Joseph, as long as he firmly controlled the core resource of the iron mines, there was no reason to worry about these private capitals spiraling out of control.

After all, to develop the entire coal and iron industry of France, royal investment and management simply were not sufficient; it was imperative to encourage private enterprises to participate to the utmost. Joseph could offer them advanced technology and concepts, and assist them in market expansion with state action, ensuring that every livre invested saw a handsome return.

Once these private companies developed, they would contribute substantial tax revenue to support France's finances, eventually leading to an overall enhancement of national power.

This could also be considered the first wave of dividends following France's wartime victory in Luxembourg. Moreover, with its very small size and proximity to France, Luxembourg would not draw too much attention from great powers before its industries developed, making it an ideal choice for France to expand overseas influence.

After the signing ceremony concluded, Joseph, surrounded by a throng of people, read out a congratulatory message. Then, he gestured for the crowd to attend the signing banquet, but in his mind, he was planning how to combine the abundant coal resources of the Walloon Region in the Southern Netherlands with Luxembourg's iron resources in the future, to form the coal and iron heart of French industrial development!

Then, Joseph thought of the security issues in this region, which made him frown.

After all, both the Walloon Region and Luxembourg lay on the very edges of France, and in the event of war, the enemy could easily reach this area, causing immense damage to France's coal and iron core.

"Therefore, it would be best to turn the Walloon Region and Luxembourg into inland provinces so they could have a certain strategic depth..." Mounting his carriage, Joseph looked out the window at the Luxembourg and French businessmen smiling and flocking to the banquet hall, and he sighed to himself. Everyone else enjoyed the fruits directly, while he had to wear his heart out for the whole of France.

...

Paris.

Eden Amusement Park.

"Wow, it's just like flying up into the sky!"

Amidst the childlike cheers, the little girl on the carousel clutched the handle with one hand and raised her other hand high, as if she were cracking a whip, letting her goose yellow dress and pretty braided pigtails flutter in the wind. Excitement and enchantment filled her warm blue eyes.

After the carousel made another round, she turned her chubby little face and shouted toward a man standing outside the fence, who looked utterly bored:

"Uncle Alexei, can you make it 'fly' even faster?"

"Oh, Your Highness Grand Duchess Alexandra, I've told you not to address me that way," Alexei's voice dropped, and he put on a look of disapproval, "There are strangers here."

Still, he gestured to a guard by his side, who immediately ran to ask the amusement park staff, then came back swiftly to whisper a few words to him.

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