Just after the New Year in 1800, thick, gray and dirty snowdrifts still piled up on both sides of London's streets. At about nine o'clock in the morning, a stagecoach stopped not far from the entrance of Bolton Watt. A big young man got out of the car with his neck curled. Because of the cold, he tightened his slightly smaller padded jacket with one hand, while he carried a large box in his other hand. Because he didn't wear gloves, his hands were red with cold.

The man looked around and saw the Bolton-Watt company's sign, so his face was flushed red with a tiger smile as a prey, and then he carried the suitcase and strode towards Bolton-Watt Walked to the door of the company.

Bolton-Watt Company, look at this name, we know that this is the company of James Watt, the improver of the steam engine and the initiator of the first industrial revolution. Of course, Mr. Watt is only the second shareholder of this company. The first shareholder is Bolton, who owns two-thirds of the company's shares, including patent rights.

The young man walked to the door of Bolton-Watt Company, and stood outside the door in unskilled English with a heavy accent. The same thinly-dressed waiter with his red nose said: "I'm here with Bolton Sir, and Mr. Watt are talking about a big deal. We have made an appointment in advance. My name is Grandet."

The waiter looked up and down Grandet with a skeptical look. This morning there will be a rich French man with a **** Grandet visit. The waiter knew about this. Only before that, he had been staring at the luxury horse-drawn carriages with heaters running on the road, and he hadn't noticed the man walking by himself carrying the box. Now, this guy who looks more shabby than himself is really the "French rich man" Mr. Bolton said?

But since this person said that his surname is Grandet, and the other information he said is also correct. Naturally, the waiter couldn't shut him out because he was dressed like a Scottish pauper floating in London. So he hesitated slightly: "Mr. Grandet, Mr. Bolton, and Mr. Watt are all waiting for you, please come with me."

While talking, the waiter stretched out his hand to open the door, and at the same time habitually stretched out his hand to help Grandet get the box.

"Ah, the contents of this box are very important, and it's a bit heavier, so I should take it myself." Grandet declined the help of the waiter. He followed the waiter into the company.

Then led by the waiter, walked up the steps to the second floor. When he went up the steps, he stepped on the steps so loudly that the waiter couldn't help frowning slightly, and by the way he labelled the Frenchman "rough" in his heart.

Grandet followed the waiter to a door. The waiter knocked gently on the door and said, "Mr. Bolton, Mr. Watt, Mr. Grandet is here."

"Please come in." This sentence came from inside.

So the waiter opened the door, and as soon as the door opened, a gust of warm air blew on his face. Grandet walked in and saw two old people getting up from the sofa to welcome him.

"You are Mr. Grandet? Please sit here. It is closer to the fireplace and warmer." The older man said.

Grandet carrying the suitcase, walked to the sofa chair near the fireplace and sat down, put the suitcase at his feet, and the waiter brought him a cup of black tea and put it on the small coffee table next to him.

"Thank you." Grandet said, and then he picked up the black tea and drank it all in one breath.

"That way I warm up. Damn it, London is too cold. I got out of the hotel in the blink of an eye, and I was so cold that I couldn't breathe. The winter here is so cold!"

"London is actually okay, James' hometown is even colder. But it's better for you southerners, hometown will always be so warm." The elderly smiled.

Then he introduced himself and another old man.

"I am Bolton, the owner of the company, and this is my partner and friend Watt."

So Grandet introduced himself to them.

"Grande, one of the shareholders of the French Lorraine Steel Company. I have been dispatched by the company's board of directors, and I hope to reach some business cooperation with your company. If this cooperation is happy, we will all make a lot of money, and we hope Our friendship can last forever."

The three exchanged a few more words, and then Bolton asked: "Mr. Grandet, as far as I know, your company is part of the military-industrial complex, and the military-industrial complex has its own steam engine manufacturer. What makes it expensive? Does the company intend to cooperate with us instead of with Bonaparte Steam Power, which is also a military-industrial complex?"

"There are two main reasons for this." Grandet replied, "The Bonaparte steam-powered steam engine was originally designed for marine needs. As far as I know, they have paid a lot to achieve extreme performance. The price. Well, what I mean is that although their machines are very good, they are too expensive. And they involve a lot of highly confidential technology."

When Grandet said this, he paused for a while, and then said: "I believe that the two gentlemen, especially big scientists like Mr. Watt, must be very interested in the Bonaparte steam engine, but even if the two, I guess I haven’t seen the actual Bonaparte steam engine. To be honest, I’ve never seen it either. But I know that the military-industrial complex uses many methods to increase the boiler pressure of that steam engine to the product you sell. It’s about 1.5 times higher than that, so the ships using it are unparalleled in speed. And their machines, with the same horsepower, are smaller in size and save more coal. You know, the space on the ship is limited, so you can bring less With coal, you can bring more cargo, and you can sail at a faster speed, and you can go back and forth a few more times, which in itself brings great profits.

But any improvement comes at a price. As far as I know, the manufacturing cost, maintenance cost and maintenance time of this kind of steam engine are much higher than those of ordinary steam engines. Only users like smuggling ships and the Navy who have extremely high profits or have extremely demanding performance requirements for other reasons are willing to accept such expensive things. The current strategy of Bonaparte Steam Power is still to cling to the thighs of marine demand. They currently do not have the ability to provide us with the usual low-cost steam engines like your company. "

Bolton and Watt glanced at each other, and if the French seemed to have unintentionally told the news more reliable, then Bonaparte Steam Power is obviously not following the principles of General Dynamics, and the threat to their business is relatively It has dropped a lot. Of course, what the Frenchman said is not necessarily true.

"So what kind of steam engines does your company plan to order from us?" Bolton asked again.

"We now need a special extra-large steam engine." Grandet said, "it is much larger than any one you have built before."

"How big should it be?" Watt asked.

"It's as big as it can be. It's best to have one 10,000 horsepower." Grandet said.

This request of Grandet shocked Watt: "Mr. Grandet, why do you need such a big steam engine? IMHO, I really can't think of what kind of work needs such a big power."

"Power generation," Grandet said.

The French already had electric motors and began to use them in large quantities in their rural water conservancy construction, which led to the soaring of copper prices throughout Europe, and recently the entire European continent, including France, replaced copper cannons with iron cannons. Such things are naturally known to the British. It's just that many things related to electricity are not exported because they are set by the French as "military technology", so the British have only heard of this thing, but have not actually used it.

"With the electric motor, the things that used to be solved by small steam engines before can be solved by electric motors. So now we only need to use one or a group of super large steam engines in the power generation place~www .lightnovelpub.net~ Well, at present, generator sets and motors are still under technical control, and limited by raw materials, they can only be used in a few limited areas in France, but I think they will be promoted sooner or later. More departments and regions. Therefore, Mr. Watt, in the near future, all small and medium-sized steam engines, except those used on ships, will lose their living space. Therefore, I suggest that your company should prepare in advance. Put all your power into the development of super-large steam engines. Only super-large steam engines that can be used as the driving force for power generation have a future."

Having said this, Grandet took out a document from the suitcase beside him and handed it to them: "This is our relevant technical requirement for this steam engine."

Watt took the document, lowered his head, and looked at it carefully. After a while, he raised his head and said with a face of confusion and regret: "Your requirements for performance are too high, and requirements for reliability are too high, and the two requirements still conflict. The price you gave...Although I don’t want to talk about it, I have to admit that neither technically nor costly, we have the ability to take such an order. Moreover, I’m sure that there will be no one in the world. Two manufacturers can accept such orders. So I suggest that your company better reconsider these requirements."

"What if we can provide you with a large amount of low-cost steel?" Grandet said.