The large exhibition halls in the middle have been arranged almost. Although the exhibition has not officially started at this time, many people have already visited there. Some of these people are interested in the models of the products displayed in these exhibition halls, while others are very concerned about the layout of the exhibition hall itself.

Anyway, things like arranging exhibition halls and placing exhibits don’t require Watt and Bolton to do anything, and they don’t even need them to speak. William Murdoch is already directing others to start arranging exhibition halls.

Since it's okay to stand here, Watt said to little Bolton: "Matthew, let's go and see?"

Little Bolton would naturally not object, so he nodded and said: "Okay, Mr. Watt."

Then he turned his head to Pierre and said, "Ah, boy, I just forgot to ask your name."

"My name is Pierre Abelaire. You can just call me Pierre." Pierre quickly replied.

Little Bolton nodded and said, "Well, Pierre, Mr. Watt and I want to look around, can you be a guide for us?"

"Mr. Bolton, this is not a problem. It is my job to serve you." Pierre quickly replied.

So the two were led by Pierre to the brightest area in the middle.

"Mr. Watt, Mr. Bolton, there are three main exhibition halls here, namely Lorraine Steel, Fort Cement, and Bonaparte Armory. Which exhibition hall shall we go to first?"

"Ah, let's go to Lorraine Steel first." Little Bolton said, this company has a lot of business dealings with them, and they are more familiar with this company. Others did not object to this, so the group went to the booth of Lorraine Steel together.

Lorraine Steel’s booth occupies a large area, and the most conspicuous part of the booth is the frame model of the huge Peace Palace.

The highest part of the entire frame model is more than three meters high, and it is all made of steel bars. Watt watched closely around the model. Because at this time, there is no formal development, so there is no staff responsible for explaining. So Pierre made a cameo as a commentator.

"Mr. Watt, Mr. Bolton, this is the proportional frame model of the Peace Palace. If we remove all the bricks, cement, stones and the like in the entire Peace Palace, then you will be one and the same The model in front of me has exactly the same frame. Just like the human body is supported by bones, the'Peace Palace' also has its bones. The steel buried in the cement is its bones..."

"This kind of structure, this kind of construction method, can be used on other large buildings." Watt said, "Lorraine Steel really makes money."

"At present, only it has low-cost steelmaking technology. With this technology, they can make money even in bed." Little Bolton also exclaimed.

Watt nodded and said: "It's a pity that they don't want to share technology, but if it's us, we don't want fools."

While talking, a few people walked around the huge "Peace Palace" frame model, and then a small model of a bridge appeared in front of them, also supported by a strong steel structure.

"Pierre, where is the bridge?" Watt asked.

"This is one of the plans for a new bridge over the Seine, but now, there is no such bridge in the world." Pierre replied.

"If this bridge becomes real, it will consume more steel, right?" Little Bolton interrupted.

"It should be. So I heard that Lorraine Steel is preparing to build a larger steel plant." Pierre replied.

"Hehe, Matthew, do you know? If we build a bridge like this in London, it will be difficult for your father to sing the song that he likes the most."

In addition to the model of the building frame, various metal blocks were also placed on the booth of Lorraine Steel. These metal blocks are also accompanied by simple technical instructions. Including all kinds of cast iron, all kinds of steel with different properties. These things, Watt and the others had seen before in the transaction with "Lorraine Steel".

From the exhibition hall of Lorraine Steel, Watt and his party went to the exhibition hall of Fort Cement. In the center of the exhibition hall of Fort Cement, there was a large block of cement. There are many pits and pits on this cement block, which are circled with white paint, and a short explanatory text is also attached to the side.

"The twenty-four-pound cannon is a hundred meters away." Little Bolton walked to the cement block and examined a small pit on it. "It's unimaginable. The twenty-four-pound cannon hits at such a distance. , Actually only hit such a small hole. Mr. Watt, do you say this is true?"

"It must be true." Watt replied, "Don't say the twenty-four-pound cannon, it's bigger. It's actually not as powerful as Matthew you think. The wooden planks of battleships can even block them. , And these cements, in the face of shelling, the biggest problem is not the hardness, but whether it will burst. I guess there must be a steel frame in the cement. With this, the artillery does take such a thing, There’s not much. Well, their company’s name is a fort, so this thing is really suitable for building a fort."

Beside this large pitted cement block are smaller cement blocks of various colors and lustre. The text is also accompanied by explanations, but these words are a little smaller, so that Watt needs to put his monocle Take it out.

"Fort Cement's product line is quite rich." After looking down at the introduction text, Watt straightened up, put the monocle in his jacket pocket, and turned to Little Bolton, "I think this thing is really worth talking to them. Let’s talk about it. Even if you can’t get the technical authorization, it’s pretty good to get the agency right.

However, the exhibition has not yet started. The staff in Fort Cement’s showroom are just temporary workers responsible for maintenance. For Watt’s idea that he hopes to meet the company’s top executives does not help much. In fact, they are these. Temporary workers don't even know who the upper management of the company is.

"Matthew, some people make money on their knees, some people are stronger and have better things than others, so they can make money standing up, and some people, such as Lorraine Steel and Fort Cement, have exclusive trades. That's just lying down and making money." Watt couldn't help sighing like this.

"I don't know how the Bonaparte Arsenal over there makes money." Little Bolton said.

"Bonaparte Arsenal" is not the same as the two silly guys who lie down and make money. Although theoretically speaking, the quality of the products of the "Bonaparte Arsenal" has been proven through Napoleon's wars and the practice of "brave people pursuing freedom" everywhere, but their service attitude is the best. of. Even if it has not yet officially started, the staff there are still quite enthusiastic and willing to introduce these essential necessities for "home travel, murder and arson" to any visitor in detail.

And in their exhibits, there are indeed some very interesting things that have never appeared elsewhere before, such as steel rifled guns.

In the middle of their exhibition hall, there is such a steel cannon. Watt noticed that the way the name of this gun was marked was different from that of previous cannons.

The cannons of this era are generally marked with the pounds of the shells, but the marking method used by this gun is caliber. The sign next to this gun reads this text: "Millimeter Cannon."

This is still a front-mounted retreat. This is not because the rear-mounted cannon is technically too difficult. In fact, after the steelmaking technique, the difficulty of rear-mounted is not insurmountable. The main reason why this type of artillery still adopts this model is that the Bonaparte Arsenal, as a technologically advanced enterprise, has the so-called "toothpaste squeeze syndrome" like many other technologically advanced enterprises. That is to say, there will be more advanced technologies tomorrow, but these technologies must be locked in the safe, and first make more money with less advanced things.

The millimeter cannon is a typical toothpaste squeeze product, a typical toothpaste cannon.

Compared with the bronze cannon, this gun is very small, smaller in size than the six-pound bronze gun commonly used by the Army. According to the instructions on the side, although its barrel length is obviously longer than that of a normal six-pound gun, its barrel weight is a bit smaller than that of a six-pound bronze gun. The weight of the gun mount is not small, almost all The weight of the 12-pound gun mount has gone.

"How many pounds of shells did this gun fire?" Little Bolton asked the service staff standing aside.

"This gun is a rifled gun." The service person replied, "The shells of the rifled gun are not spherical, but close to cylindrical. This gun can fire many different purposes, and these shells, Because of their different purposes, their length and weight are not consistent, so this gun is not easy to mark with the weight of the shell. It can only be marked with the muzzle diameter."

"I don't think the caliber of this gun is big, but the marked price is quite high. It can almost match two six-pound bronze guns. Is this too expensive?"

The price of the six-pound bronze gun mentioned by Little Bolton refers to the price after the copper shortage occurred across Europe due to electricity demand. Therefore, this toothpaste gun is indeed very expensive.

"Sir, we can mark such a price, naturally, because this gun is better than two six-pound bronze guns. First of all, because of the use of rifled technology, the shooting accuracy of our gun far exceeds that of ordinary guns. Bronze cannon. For example, the best 12-pound bronze cannon, under the control of the best gunner, can accurately hit a mill about a kilometer away, but with our cannon, just a little more With training, the gunners can accurately hit the window of the mill."

"So, can this artillery be sold to Britain?" Watt asked.

"Why can't? We haven't had a war with Britain, why can't we?" The staff member replied, although in his heart, he didn't think selling weapons to Britain was a good thing. However, a decision has been made to face this issue.

"Anyway, it's a front tooth...a backward weapon with a certain new technology. What's the big deal." Someone said when he persuaded Napoleon to accept the first sale of steel cannons to foreigners.

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