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Chapter 346: The Lives of Soldiers Are Most Precious

"For His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince!"

A cadet from the first intake of the Paris Police Academy, wearing a sergeant's insignia, looked at Joseph, patted his chest, and responded loudly, as if the Crown Prince were conducting a routine inspection at the academy.

"For His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince!"

"For His Majesty, the King!"

"For glory and for France!"

Ignoring their pain, the other wounded immediately joined in the shouts, their voices echoing through the entire field hospital.

In their conventional thinking, given the medical conditions of this era, sustaining an injury was essentially a death sentence.

They anticipated wound infections, and within one to two weeks, they would succumb to the coma induced by fever.

Although Doctor Perna repeatedly assured them that at most two out of ten would die from infection, the soldiers only took it as her trying to comfort them. Thus, they were bravely bidding farewell to the Crown Prince, treating it as their last meeting before death.

For the Guards Corps, the pursuit of honor had become a shared understanding and a habit, making them unwilling to display any weakness.

A General Staff officer following Joseph then publicly read out the list of those who had distinguished themselves and received medals, which immediately drew another round of cheers. It seemed death was not a significant matter in the eyes of these young men.

This drew repeated glances from the surrounding Luxembourgers who were assisting, as they couldn't understand why these dying soldiers were "crazy."

Every time Joseph passed a tent or a farmhouse, this scene would repeat itself.

More than half of these wounded were cadets from the Paris Police Academy; he often saw them there, some he could even call by name.

But seeing the blood-soaked bandages where their limbs were missing now filled his heart with a bitter ache.

In truth, these casualties had already received initial treatment. Just yesterday, many soldiers had been wailing in agony from amputations, their bloodied uniforms discarded everywhere, a sight far more harrowing than what he witnessed now.

These unsung young men, with their blood and youth, upheld France's prosperity and stability. Yet, their remaining lives would be spent grappling with disability.

After leaving the last tent, Joseph turned to Chief of General Staff Berthier, who was following behind him, and quietly instructed, "Increase the casualty pensions by 20%. Injured soldiers should be assigned government jobs whenever possible. The living allowances for the families of fallen or injured soldiers must also be raised accordingly.

"Everyone must know that sacrificing for France is worthwhile, and France will not forget them!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Berthier nodded, making a note, without mentioning the strained military budget.

As Joseph left the field hospital, he was lost in thought, pondering that if he could develop bulletproof vests from a later era, it would significantly reduce soldier casualties.

In fact, primitive bulletproof armor existed in this era: the cuirass.

However, these were crafted from solid iron, and to provide life-saving protection against increasingly advanced Flintlock Muskets, their thickness had to exceed two millimeters.

The problem this posed was that their weight was simply uncontrollable.

A standard cuirass weighed between nine and eleven kilograms. While this might not sound excessive, it was an additional load, added on top of a soldier's firearm and personal gear. Moreover, it had to be worn continuously during battle, making it difficult even for the fittest soldiers to endure for half a day.

Then there was the cost. A common cuirass could cost over 120 Livres, with no upper limit for superior quality ones.

This meant that only certain cavalry units, those involved in direct assault operations, were willing to equip themselves with them—after all, the horses bore the weight, and cavalry gear was already expensive, so the cost of a cuirass wasn't an issue. These were the famed Cuirassiers.

As for infantry, only a very few "superhumans" would wear cuirasses, primarily for their intimidating effect on opposing infantry.

So, could he improve the cuirass using some future technologies?

Joseph quickly shook his head slightly.

Neither alloy smelting nor Kevlar fibers were technologies achievable in this era.

And simply forging steel wouldn't significantly reduce the weight...

Upon returning to his temporary office, Joseph was still at his wits' end. Perhaps improving medical and hygiene standards was a more practical approach.

Just then, he inadvertently glimpsed a Luxembourg soldier—who was actually a policeman maintaining order—standing at the street corner, wearing a uniform with grey squares. His eyes lit up instantly. 'That's it, how did I fall into such a mental trap!'

'Who said you need full armor to withstand bullets?'

Joseph recalled statistics from a later age showing that torso hits accounted for 70% of all soldier casualties. This meant that protecting the torso alone could prevent most injuries and deaths.

This was also a key reason why the cuirass became popular.

Joseph also knew of a simpler, more convenient piece of equipment for protecting the torso: the bulletproof insert.

In later times, a certain online marketplace sold hundreds of millions of these life-saving gadgets to soldiers worldwide, and they proved highly effective on numerous battlefields, from Africa to Eastern Europe.

A bulletproof insert was essentially a thin plate, roughly the size of a tablet computer, designed to be slipped into "pockets" on the chest and abdomen of a military uniform. It was lightweight, highly effective against bullets, and depending on battlefield conditions, a soldier could choose to insert it only in the front, leaving the back unprotected.

This way, the overall weight could generally be kept under 4.5 kilograms.

Joseph recalled the structure of a bulletproof insert: a layer of metal, a layer of Kevlar, a layer of ceramic, and then another layer of Kevlar, all bonded together with a very simple manufacturing process.

Of course, Kevlar certainly didn't exist in this era, but silk could be used as a substitute. Ancient officers used multiple layers of silk clothing to defend against arrows, and because of silk's excellent toughness, the effect was quite good.

While silk wasn't as strong as Kevlar, it only needed to withstand lead bullets fired by black powder, so its strength should be sufficient.

Special ceramic processing would definitely be out of the question, so he'd have to settle for ordinary hard ceramic.

This, too, could be substituted, again due to the limited power of enemy weapons.

As for the adhesive, Joseph felt somewhat uncertain. For that, he would have to ask Lavoisier for help.

If it could be developed, a "youth edition" of such a bulletproof insert would cost no more than 5 Livres apiece. Equipping each soldier with five pieces would come to 25 Livres, a completely affordable amount.

He hurried back to his office, jotted down the concept for the new equipment, and was about to write a letter to Lavoisier when Eman knocked and entered. He bowed slightly and announced, "Your Highness, General Leo wishes to see you."

Leo? Joseph smiled. 'The commander has finally arrived,' he thought, and nodded, gesturing, "Please, show him in."