Chapter 141: Opportunity Everywhere
The father and son exchanged a knowing smile, and with a shared understanding, decided to leave immediately.
Leaving the workshop, Joseph was about to head towards the Marble Courtyard when he saw Louis XVI turn and go into the tea room instead.
He quickly followed, asking in surprise, "Father, aren't we going to the shooting range?"
"Yes," Louis XVI nodded. "While they prepare the carriage, we can have some tea, a few pastries, and change clothes."
Only then did Joseph recall Louis XVI's ultra-luxurious carriage, weighing a massive five tons. With all his accompanying travel gear, it would take at least forty minutes to prepare.
He quickly pulled Louis XVI aside. "My dear father, you're going as a firearms master to test your own creation this time. There's no need for all that ceremonial display. How about you just take my carriage?"
Louis XVI blinked. 'A firearms master? That sounds rather interesting, quite distinguished.'
He readily accepted the advice, quickly changed his clothes, and without further ado, left the Palace of Versailles directly and climbed into his son's grey-black carriage.
The King's Guard, seeing His Majesty's carriage begin to move, exchanged surprised glances, then frantically scrambled onto their horses and galloped after them.
Joseph asked, a little puzzled, "Isn't your carriage bumpy?"
"No, it isn't. My carriage has over a dozen sets of springs installed in its undercarriage." Louis XVI, ever the 'tech enthusiast,' went on to broadly explain his carriage's construction.
'Coil spring suspension?!' Joseph was greatly surprised. He had been planning to invent this very thing, never imagining someone had already created it. "Who made your carriage?"
"The same workshop that builds carriages for the court."
Joseph hastily inquired further and learned that carriages with coil spring suspension had existed for decades.
However, current springs had to be coiled by hand, bit by bit, leading to low production and unreliable quality. A single spring for a carriage cost thirty livres and frequently broke, needing replacement every two or three months at most.
This meant that a carriage equipped with coil spring suspension could easily fetch over a thousand livres. The King's specially customized version was far more expensive.
Naturally, people were reluctant to use such carriages, not only because they were expensive, but also because they were fragile and troublesome to maintain.
'The price is that high?' A smile played on Joseph's lips. 'It's true, opportunity is everywhere if you only pay attention.'
'Why use coil springs when leaf spring suspension could solve the problem so simply?' It seemed he could develop another carriage business.
'If I had known this was so valuable, I should have developed it sooner, saving my rear end months of suffering.'
Southern outskirts of Paris.
At the Police Academy training grounds, all the instructors and cadets were overcome with excitement and agitation, for His Majesty the King had suddenly arrived.
Accompanied by the Police Academy's high-ranking officials, Louis XVI nodded with a kind smile to the cadets, then suddenly turned to Joseph and whispered, "I can hardly believe you've built such a large military academy!"
Joseph quickly corrected him with a smile, "Ah, it's a police academy, for training officers."
Louis XVI gestured towards Berthier's Regiment, lined up neatly in the distance. "Aren't those all soldiers?"
Joseph didn't hide it from his father. "Actually, I've been training an army to test some military reform ideas. They sometimes train here."
"Military reforms?" Louis XVI asked with a smile. "Like those of the Marquis de Louvois?"
The Marquis de Louvois, Louis XIV's Secretary of State for War, had once led military reforms that significantly boosted the French army's combat effectiveness. It could be said that the Sun King's renown was forged by Louvois's army.
However, Louis XVI didn't genuinely believe that the fourteen-year-old Crown Prince could truly implement significant military reforms.
Joseph could only say vaguely, "Ah, something similar, perhaps."
"I'm truly proud of you, my son!"
As Louis XVI spoke, he caught sight of the shooting range not far away. His eyes lit up instantly, and he quickened his pace.
By the time he reached the hundred-meter-wide earthen wall, an instructor had already set up over a dozen human-shaped wooden targets about twenty-six meters away.
The instructor, knowing His Majesty the King was about to shoot, naturally placed them closer to avoid the embarrassment of the King repeatedly missing.
Under everyone's gaze, Louis XVI eagerly took the Percussion Cap Musket and cartridge box from his attendant, immediately took out powder, loaded it, tamped it down, then inserted a lead bullet, tamped it again, pulled back the hammer, and fitted a Percussion Cap onto the flash hole.
His entire sequence of movements was extremely fluid, demonstrating how many times he must have practiced loading and firing in his recent efforts to refine this musket.
With a loud "bang," the bullet shot out, grazing the shoulder of a wooden target.
The surrounding instructors and attendants immediately burst into exclamations of admiration, but Friant and Dubois, among others, had their attention fixed on the strange firearm.
Joseph, seeing their hesitant expressions, smiled at Dubois. "Major Dubois, would you like to compare your shooting speed with His Majesty?"
Having served for over ten years, Dubois was among the fastest marksmen at the Police Academy.
Seeing Louis XVI also looked eager, Dubois immediately bowed, hand on chest, and replied, "As you wish, Your Highness."
He took a Charleville Model 1776 Flintlock Musket and hung his cartridge box at his waist.
Joseph then announced loudly, "Begin!"
Both competitors immediately sprang into action. Dubois's movements were noticeably faster: he poured in the powder, drew the ramrod to tamp it down, and loaded the bullet. Meanwhile, Louis XVI had only just finished loading his powder.
Dubois maintained his lead; by the time he picked up his powder flask to prime the pan, Louis XVI had only just finished tamping down his bullet.
However, as Dubois pulled back his musket's hammer and raised his gun to aim, he heard the King's hammer click 'kachak' from beside him.
His heart instantly lurched. 'This means His Majesty was less than two seconds slower than me!'
He had been practicing loading and firing regularly since he entered military academy, performing the entire sequence for over a decade—he could do it with his eyes closed. Yet, His Majesty the King, who only used a musket occasionally for hunting, with servants often helping him load, was only that little bit slower than him now!
The two muskets fired sequentially, separated by two seconds. Everyone present, except for the King and Crown Prince, widened their eyes in astonishment.
Dubois bowed to Louis XVI, hand on chest, his gaze fixed on the Percussion Cap Musket in the King's hand. "Your Majesty, forgive my presumption, but might I have the honor of examining your musket?"
"Of course," Louis XVI said, handing over the musket and thoughtfully giving him a Percussion Cap. "You'll need this to fire it."
Joseph then picked up another Percussion Cap Musket and began explaining its operation to Dubois.
When Dubois learned that this musket eliminated the step of pouring in priming powder, requiring three fewer actions than operating a Flintlock Musket, his breathing grew shallow with excitement. "Your Majesty, may I try firing it once?"
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