This answer made the Marquis of Treville and Edmond Dantès look at each other in astonishment.
The two of them are here to be lobbyists, who cares about coal mines?
However, since this was the marshal's invitation as the master, the two of them had no choice but to obey. After all, they could not afford to offend the marshal.
So, they hastily ended the conversation in the room, and after taking a short rest, led by the marshal and his entourage, they walked out of the house together, and then walked into the mountains near the town.
The mountain road is a bit rugged. The marshal is old and stops to rest from time to time when walking up the mountain road. Edmond Dantès is still young and strong. Although the Marquis de Treville is old, his body is also weak due to his experience in the battlefield. They are very strong, so the two of them appear to be more calm than the marshal. Of course, their bodies are inevitably stained with dirt and weeds.
While walking and stopping, they chatted and admired the surrounding scenery.
It was summer at this time, everything was growing, and there was green everywhere as far as the eye could see. There were also the sounds of birdsong and streams accompanying them. If it weren't for the special status of a few people, this group of people would be like travelers going out for an excursion together. .
But soon, the green scenery was replaced by another scene. When they came to a hillside, Edmund saw a huge hole on the opposite hillside. The hole was reinforced with wooden beams and shelves. It extends all the way to the depths of the hillside, and it is so dark that it is difficult to see the scene inside. The area around the entrance of the cave is bare, with no green plants, only the ugly color of yellow-brown soil and dark-brown soot mixed together. .
Even if the marshal didn't introduce it, the Marquis of Treville and Edmund could certainly tell that this was the marshal's coal mine.
The dark cave entrance did not interest either of them, but the marshal seemed very interested.
"Let's go together and get closer!" The marshal picked up his cane and waved it.
Therefore, the group of people could only go down the slope, and then walked to the entrance of the coal mine on the opposite side.
From a distance, the coal mine looked like a quiet and ugly behemoth, but the closer they got, the more they could feel the noise and restlessness inside. There were various sounds coming from inside, including human voices and mechanical collisions. There was even smoke coming out from inside and outside the cave entrance.
In the smoke, mine cars loaded with coal were constantly being pushed out along the tracks by workers, and then transported to a nearby dumping ground.
Because it was mixed with coal ash, the smoke that spread around showed a light black color, and even had an unpleasant smell when asked. Although the Marquis and Edmund felt very uncomfortable, they did not dare to cover it up in front of the marshal. Mouth and nose, so I could only endure it with force, while in my heart I cursed the marshal secretly for looking for trouble and bringing them here to suffer.
However, perhaps because he had adapted to this environment, the old marshal did not show any discomfort. He stood outside the cave entrance and looked at the busy scene in front of him with interest.
"This is where I invest!" Because the surroundings were very noisy, the marshal raised his voice and said loudly to his two guests, "What do you think?!"
Of course, both of them disagreed in their hearts, but neither of them dared to show it, so they had to compliment the marshal in general terms, saying something like "unique vision to revitalize the country", but in their hearts they just hoped that this trip would end soon.
The marshal patiently listened to the compliments of the two of them, and then suddenly asked the Marquis of Treville.
"Victor, do you know what is the most important thing if you want to run a coal mine?"
This question stumped the Marquis. Although he was well-informed, this was beyond the scope of his knowledge.
"Funds?" he asked tentatively.
The marshal did not reply to the Marquis, but looked at Edmund again, "Earl, what do you think?"
Edmund also looked confused. After hesitating for a moment, he could only ask tentatively, "Reliable manpower?"
"Hahahaha..." Seeing the awkward yet polite expressions of the two of them, the marshal couldn't help laughing, "You are all right, but you are too amateurish. Okay, I won't talk to you anymore.
The answer is drainage."
The Marquis and Edmund looked at each other in confusion again, but this time they didn't need to say anything more, they just needed to wait for the Marshal's "guidance".
"People have been using coal mines for many, many years. They have almost exhausted the good coal mines. The mines are getting deeper and deeper. At this time, we have to consider the issue of drainage. If the water cannot be drained, we cannot dig.
No matter how deep the mine is, it will be filled with water. In the past, the poor miners had to rely on manpower to drain water. They dug wells in the mines and then used buckets to lift the water away... Such work
It's inefficient and dangerous because there can't be many people crammed into the mine."
As the marshal spoke, he walked towards the coal mine, while the Marquis and Edmund could only follow him step by step, "In the last century, someone invented the air compressor, which uses the principle of air pressure to drive the water pump to pump water...
…”
The two of them were still a little confused and couldn't figure out why the once famous marshal was now teaching them like a coal mining expert, but they could only listen silently and follow the marshal.
After they entered the mine, the passage suddenly became narrow, and at this time, the sound inside kept vibrating back and forth in the narrow cave. The rumbling sound made both of them have tinnitus.
"However, the cost of pneumatic presses is too high, so it is difficult to popularize the technology. For nearly a century, people are still unable to develop coal mines and other mineral deposits on a large scale..." the marshal continued to explain to the two guests.
Suddenly, he changed the subject, "However, just a few decades ago, the situation was different. A great inventor appeared in the UK. He creatively applied steam engines to mine drainage, revolutionizing this problem.
!His steam pump can operate at a low cost. It is not only cheap but also fast. It easily solves this problem that has plagued mankind for thousands of years, and also allows our mineral deposits to be developed deeper underground!"
As he spoke, he shouted loudly to the two guests.
"Are you interested in coming and taking a look?"
We have all reached this point, and even if we are not interested, we must be interested now, so the two of them followed the marshal to the shaft in the coal mine, and there was a huge steam pumping machine placed here. This machine was like
It was like a monster nesting in a small space, and then it made huge noises and smoke, and was continuously pumping water up from the well, and then draining it along the channels dug in advance.
The huge sound was extremely uncomfortable to hear. Even the marshal could not help but feel his ears ringing, but even so, he walked to the side of the machine and looked at the giant beast with a complex expression.
"This is the heart of the coal mine, we can't operate without it."
"This is a lesson that impressed me deeply, Marshal!" Marquis Treville complimented the Marshal with polite words.
"No, you are not impressed enough, Victor." The marshal said goodbye to the Marquis, and then shook his head, "You still don't understand what this means. This is a machine I bought from the UK, and asked British engineers to help make it better.
, using their latest technology, you know? The British! All the British, without them, I couldn't build the mine, and almost all the coal mines on their damn island are now using this steam
Mechanical! They can dig deeper than us, dig out more coal, and then use coke to make steel and make more steel than our country. Do you understand? My friend, we are not only in
We lost to the British on the bloody battlefield, and unknowingly, we also lost to them on the silent battlefield and the industrial battlefield!"
The marshal spoke very loudly, with a sense of helplessness and irritability, "We have lost so completely that we don't even know how to regroup. However, at the same time, the lords of Paris are completely unaware of this and are completely dissatisfied."
The same thing, they thought that we were so strong in the past and would be just as strong in the future, but they never thought that we had already been completely defeated!"
Upon hearing the Marshal's words, Edmund and the Marquis of Treville looked at each other again in astonishment.
None of them thought that when the marshal was developing the coal mine, he actually regarded himself as an industrialist, and then felt sad for the British achievements in mining.
They hoped that the Marshal was being alarmist, but the look on the Marshal's face and his image all along made people feel that his words were extremely convincing.
"Is the situation so bad?" Marquis Treville still didn't believe it.
"It's just that bad, my friend." The Marshal shrugged, "We can destroy everything, maybe destroy everything better than the British, but the world does not run by destroying, but by building.
The emperor said that the pen is more powerful than the sword. I can also tell you that in the future world, machines will be more powerful than the pen. But now, unfortunately, the British have the best machines and the best coal.
The future of the world is in their hands. Although I express this judgment with a hundredfold helplessness and unwillingness, we are all smart people. Smart people should not replace reality with fantasy, but should acknowledge reality and then find ways to change it. If
If this continues, the British will enjoy the most powerful industry and the most powerful army in the next few decades or even a century. They can do it, and they have even done it."
The Marquis of Treville knew that the marshal's words were inevitably filled with personal emotions. During the Peninsular War, the marshal was disgraced in front of the Duke of Wellington, so anyone could despise the British army, but he could not. He had to admit the British army's
powerful.
Besides, even the Marquis de Treville himself now has to admit that the British are no longer unbeatable at sea. During the long war, the British continued to fight against powerful enemies from all walks of life, and their powerful navy severely damaged France.
, Spanish, Danish and even Russian fleets, but their own losses were so small that every enemy had to admit that they could no longer defeat them at sea.
"The British fleet was not built overnight. We can also build a fleet that keeps pace with them or even surpasses them. Maybe not in one generation, but in two or three generations. As long as we have such will, one day we will
It’s done!” the Marquis replied loudly.
However, although he spoke impassionedly, if you listen carefully, you will find that this has been guilty for two or three generations. One day, the true meaning of similar words is "We have nothing to do now."
Of course, the marshal could hear the guilty conscience behind the tenacity, so he curled his lips and sneered, "Really? Victor? Can we really do that? If the British can always have better machines than us, they can dig out more
More coal makes more steel, so everything you say is just empty talk, and it will be the same in three generations."
The Marquis of Treville was choked to the point of being speechless.
Whether he was a nobleman of Versailles or a general of Napoleon, he was full of hostility towards Britain and wished he could cross the strait and turn that island country into a sea of fire.
However, his reason told him that the marshal's words were somewhat reasonable, so he did not have much confidence to refute the other party.
"You must be very sad. I didn't expect that the former Marshal Soult turned into a defeatist... Has he been frightened by the British and turned into a coward?" Seeing the Marquis's speechless appearance, he felt guilty.
, the marshal smiled even more happily, "But, Victor, I have never been a triumphalist, nor a defeatist, I am just a realist. The reality is that we not only lost to the British on the battlefield.
, that would be great if it was just on the battlefield. We have a larger population than the British, and it only takes one generation for us to gather a larger army than the British. But what’s the point? If we lose in industry and technology
If it is given to the British, no matter how many soldiers there are, it will just gather sand into a tower. The British can still smash it into pieces with a heavy punch. So, instead of thinking about how to take revenge and how to gather more troops, it is better to think about how to make our country
The country has more powerful machines and industries. When we accumulate more wealth than the British, we will be qualified to truly compete with them. Otherwise, we can just accept our fate and live honestly in the British century.
Under the sun, just admit that you are just a poor nation suppressed by it!"
After speaking, the marshal tapped his cane gently, which also meant that he wanted to leave.
The Marquis and Edmund felt as if they had been granted amnesty. They had long been unable to bear the noisy, humid and hot environment, and hurriedly followed the marshal out of the mine.
Only then did they realize that because they had just been in the steam mist next to the machine, they were all soaked through the soot and mud that were originally on their bodies. At this time, the soot and mud on their bodies had also turned into larger pieces on their clothes through the steam.
The stains are even more ugly.
But Edmund was not in the mood to pay attention to such trivial matters at the moment.
He was still thinking about what the marshal just said.
Unlike the Marquis, he does not have so much arrogance in his heart, so he is more able to look at problems objectively.
"Your Majesty, Marshal, do you want to say these words to His Majesty..." he asked in a low voice.
"Smart man." The marshal smiled and nodded, "Tell that little guy, if he can understand!"