Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Salicin itself cannot cure diseases, but must be converted into salicylic acid through gut flora breakdown within the human body to exert its medicinal effect.

If you take salicylic acid compounds directly, the drug utilization rate will be greatly improved.

Therefore, Joseph had the pharmaceutical factory conduct extensive experiments on the production of salicylic acid years ago. However, it wasn’t until the beginning of this year that a scholar named Antoine de Fucqrua successfully converted salicin into salicylic acid by oxidation.

After testing by the pharmaceutical factory, the efficacy of sodium salicylate is 3 to 5 times higher than that of salicin!

It can be imagined that once this drug is put into production, it will surely bring huge profits to the pharmaceutical factory.

The previously cheap “Prince’s Blessing” already yields a profit of over 300,000 francs annually, and the external selling price of the “Enhanced Blessing” has been raised to 2 francs per pill. If sales remain the same, profits will increase to over 1,500,000 francs.

Usually, the sales volume of drugs with better efficacy is bound to be much higher than that of old products.

At the same time, “Enhanced Blessing” is also an excellent advertisement for French medicines—previously, the “Prince’s Blessing” and glucose have already brought fame to the Paris Pharmaceutical Factory across Europe, and the enhanced version is bound to further strengthen the brand image.

As a result, mature medicines such as Cinchona Frost, Golden Chamomile Tint, Pain Reliever, and Colchicum Tint, produced by the Paris Pharmaceutical Factory, will also become more popular.

Joseph estimates that once the large-scale drug blind experiments being carried out by the healthcare bureau are completed, some proven effective herbs will be added to the product list.

By then, the market size of the French pharmaceutical industry will also be at the level of tens of millions of francs.

Of course, meals must be eaten one bite at a time.

Currently, sodium salicylate has only completed laboratory synthesis, and there is much work to be done before mass production.

Joseph’s requirement for the pharmaceutical factory is to strive for mass production by the end of this year.

In subsequent meetings, Joseph discussed with officials the development of industries such as textiles, sugar production, carriage manufacturing, cosmetics, and furniture.

The entire meeting lasted until the afternoon of the next day, finally reviewing all industrial projects in France.

Mirabeau looked at the thick stack of “Industrial Development Plan” drafts in his hands, filled with emotion.

Just a few years ago, French industry was nearly on the verge of total collapse under the immense competitive pressure from England and the devastating blow of the “Eden Treaty.”

At that time, he only hoped to find a little space for survival amidst the fierce industrial onslaught from England, which was already very gratifying.

Who knew that today, not only has French industry survived, but it is also thriving strongly.

Even in industries where the British have always been ahead, such as textiles, coal, steel, and mechanical processing, France is gradually catching up.

Meanwhile, France has developed advantageous industries like papermaking, chemicals, furniture, cosmetics, and sugar production, in which Britain cannot even see France’s shadow.

Of course, aside from the sugar industry, the sales revenue of other industries is far less than that of textiles and steel, but the Crown Prince has also established pharmaceutical, medical device, and synthetic dye industries for France.

According to the Crown Prince’s plan, the combined revenue of these industries can nearly reach over half of the textile industry’s!

Mirabeau reviewed the draft of the “Development Plan” one last time:

Coal Industry: Plan to invest 47 million francs within 3 years. Increase annual coal production to over 9 million tons. Main development directions include coking for steel, coal tar gas, steam engine coal, and household fuel (briquettes).

Steel Industry: Plan to invest 68 million francs in 3 to 4 years. Increase annual iron ingot production to over 100,000 tons, with near 10,000 tons of fine steel annually. Main development directions include steam engine manufacturing, iron bridge construction, automatic textile machinery, precision processing machinery, agricultural tools, etc.

Sugar Industry: Plan to invest 3.3 million francs annually. Build 15 new refineries, reduce refining costs by over one-third. Promote triploid beet planting in the Germanic Region to occupy 80% of its total planting area.

Furniture Manufacturing Industry: Plan to invest 1.8 million francs annually. Build two new synthetic board processing plants in the Rhineland region. Construct 4 furniture assembly plants in Southern Germany and Eastern Europe. Build 25 “Livable” furniture stores in major cities…

Chemical Industry: Plan to invest 10 million francs in 4 years. Increase annual production of sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and soda ash by 300%, 450%, and 200% respectively. Increase phenol annual production to 25 tons. Build one new aniline black factory, annual production 8 tons…

Medical Device Manufacturing Industry: Plan to invest 5 million francs in 3 years. Build a new medical device factory. Annual production of 250,000 syringes, 80,000 stethoscopes, 350,000 surgical knives…

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry: Plan to invest 7.5 million francs in 3 years. Expand the Paris Pharmaceutical Factory and build a new factory in Lyon. Annual production of 1,250,000 pills of “Prince’s Blessing,” annual production glucose…

Papermaking Industry: No longer expand capacity. Gradually transfer the production end of crushing and boiling pulp to the Modena and Florence areas.

Fertilizer Industry…

The entire “Industrial Development Plan” is simply a magnificent picture. Mirabeau seems to see a prosperous and powerful France through these pages.

If this plan can be fully implemented, the scale of French industry will completely catch up to England in 4 to 5 years.

This is still under the premise that England can maintain its current development momentum; otherwise, it may not take that long for France to surpass England in industry!

It should be known that France’s agricultural scale far exceeds that of England. For example, France’s annual export of wine to the world can bring a huge profit of sixty to seventy million francs.

In other words, if France’s industrial scale is on par with England, then in terms of overall national power, France would have the upper hand over England.

Joseph took the “Development Plan” draft from Mirabeau’s hand and immediately focused on the investment figures.

In order to develop industry, funding is an insurmountable barrier.

He rubbed his shoulders, which were somewhat sore from continuous meetings, and looked at the new Deputy Minister of Finance, Martin-Michel Charles Godan—in the wake of administrative system reform, Archbishop Brienne will focus on his role as Prime Minister, giving the financial department greater independence. Historically, Godan, the creator of the Bank of France who reformed French banknotes, was recommended by Mirabeau to become the true leader of the current French Ministry of Finance.

“To ensure the industrial plan can be smoothly implemented, we also need to formulate corresponding investment plans.”

Ministers, who thought the meeting was about to conclude and had slightly relaxed, immediately perked up upon hearing this.