Chapter 140 The Real Killer Weapon (Asking for Double Monthly Tickets)

The current situation in France is that as long as you can pay the interest, you have to thank God for your blessing. As for paying back the principal? Haha, I dare not even think about it in my dreams.

Joseph shook his head with a bitter face, thinking that it would be great if all the banks that lent money to the government suddenly went bankrupt...

In addition to debt interest, another major "bleeding point" in France is taxation.

The French government currently hands over most of the tax collection work to "tax farmers". Tax farmers pay a sum of money to the government every year, and then they can collect taxes.

Later generations estimated that the actual amount of tax collected by tax farmers each year is more than one-eighth more than the fees paid to the government.

According to last year's French tax revenue of 500 million livres, one-eighth is 40 million. All this money fell into the pockets of tax farmers.

In fact, the profits of tax farmers should be more than this. There are also statistics showing that nearly 20% of the taxes are taken by tax farmers.

In other words, if the tax farmer system is abolished, the French government can increase its income by at least 40 million livres each year!

Of course, it is also very difficult to carry out tax reform.

One of the important reasons is that the tax farmers are also creditors of the French government. At the beginning of each year, they will pay the tax fees for the year to the government in one lump sum, and then collect taxes.

If the tax farmer system is suddenly abolished, it means that the French government will have no tax revenue for a year!

Joseph suddenly found that it was not so easy to increase revenue or cut expenditure at the moment...

While thinking, the Square of Versailles Palace had appeared in his sight.

Joseph got off the carriage, and the court official who was summoning Louis XVI came quickly from the car in front, smiling and said: "Your Highness, His Majesty said that he is waiting for you in the royal workshop."

Joseph nodded to thank the latter and walked towards the king's lock workshop.

As soon as he walked around the pillar in front of the stairs, he saw a sad-looking man coming towards him. It was the Minister of Household Registration, Nicolás.

Nicoe looked up and saw that it was the Crown Prince, and he bowed and saluted: "It's been a long time since I last saw you, Your Highness. May God bless you."

Joseph smiled at him and was about to ask about the signing of the Treaty of Eden, but Nicoe left in a listless manner.

Joseph looked at Emman in surprise: "Does he seem to be worried?"

Eman caught up with Nicoe's entourage, asked a few questions in a low voice, and returned to Joseph and said: "Your Highness, it seems that Count Nicoe was not in a good state when negotiating with the British. Archbishop Brian blamed him for this, so he was a little depressed."

Joseph nodded. It seemed that Nicoe really had no diplomatic talent. Fortunately, the content of the Anglo-French trade negotiations was already agreed upon by himself and British Ambassador Hartley, so it would not affect the signing of the treaty.

When Joseph arrived at the door of the Royal Workshop, the door opened from the inside. A middle-aged man in priest clothes, with a round face and thick lips, sighed and limped out.

The priest was slightly startled when he saw Joseph, then immediately put on a bright smile and saluted the prince enthusiastically.

Seeing the prince's puzzled expression, Emman whispered: "Your Highness, this is Abbot Talleyrand of the Abbey of Saint-Denis."

Talleyrand? Joseph blinked. The political tumbler who had been thriving in the great eras of Louis XVI, the National Assembly, Emperor Napoleon, and Louis XVIII?

Talleyrand was the Archbishop of Autun, and later served as the Foreign Minister of Emperor Napoleon and the Prime Minister of Louis XVIII.

It's hard to say anything else, but he is definitely a top-notch expert in diplomacy.

Joseph smiled and nodded to Talleyrand. Before he could say a few words to him, he heard the voice of Louis XVI from the workshop: "Joseph, is that you? Oh, dear, I've been waiting for you for a long time, come in quickly."

Talleyrand bowed and left tactfully. Joseph stepped into the workshop and saluted Louis XVI with his chest.

Before he finished his ceremonial words, the king came over excitedly and grabbed him, almost dragging him to the workbench, pointing at the thing covered with blue cloth, and said mysteriously: "Guess, what is this?"

Joseph guessed that the percussion cap gun might be finished, but he still cooperated with an exaggerated tone and said: "Is it... a pile of jewels?"

Sixteen shook his head proudly: "No, this is something more precious than jewels."

He said, and pulled open the blue cloth with force: "I and my favorite son have researched it together, the best musket in the world!"

Then, two percussion cap guns that were carefully polished and beautiful like handicrafts appeared in front of Joseph.

"Don't you want to try it?" Sixteen gestured to the muskets.

Joseph nodded, reached out and grabbed one of them, and looked at it carefully.

The barrel, trigger and buttstock are basically the same as the Charleville 1776 flintlock, which should be made of mature parts.

The biggest change is the bolt and the ignition chamber.

The bolt has changed from the bird's beak of the flintlock to the hammer shape. The ignition chamber was completely eliminated and replaced with a cylindrical protrusion the size of a date pit.

Joseph pulled the bolt with force. Louis XVI immediately took out a brass "green bean" from a wooden box beside him and stuffed it into his hand.

Joseph looked at the percussion cap in his hand, then looked at the wooden box, where dozens of percussion caps were randomly placed, and thought to himself: The safety awareness is too poor. Fortunately, there was no fire, otherwise it would be a lot of fun...

He stuffed the percussion cap into the fire door. Louis XVI pointed to an empty space in the corner. It seems that he has tried it there many times.

Joseph pointed the muzzle of the gun into the air, pulled the trigger, and there was a "pop" sound. There was no gunpowder in the gun, and only a little smoke from the burning mercury came out of the muzzle.

Joseph could clearly feel from the strength and stability of the gun that there was absolutely nothing wrong with this gun.

The best craftsmen in France will indeed not disappoint, and he will have another killer weapon in his hands in the future!

"Artisan Sixteen" seemed to be not so satisfied with his performance, muttering: "I thought it could be done a month ago, but I didn't expect the air tightness problem to be very complicated."

He gestured toward the Versailles Palace waterwheel system outside the window: "If it hadn't been for the British boring machine you recommended, oh, and the 'spiral micrometer' you invented, which helped a lot, maybe this gun would still be leaking a little. "

"You are the best master in the world!" Joseph raised the gun in his hand and praised, "If it weren't for you, this gun might not have appeared until decades later."

Louis XVI narrowed his eyes with pleasure, and then whispered: "Let's go to the woods east of the square to test shooting. I often go there to test guns."

Joseph smiled and shook his head: "Testing guns in the woods is too boring. Let's go to the shooting range and shoot a few shots!"

】