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Chapter 690: The Crown Prince Always Stands on the Shoulders of Giants

"Mr. Chappe?"

Joseph felt a flicker of recognition at the name and turned to the nervous young man. "You already have mature equipment? That's wonderful."

Chappe hurried forward, bowing respectfully. "It is an honor to meet Your Royal Highness, the esteemed Crown Prince," he began. "I have indeed designed a device for transmitting letters."

Joseph smiled and nodded. "Could you show it to me?"

"Certainly, of course." Chappe nervously pulled out a large roll of blueprints and spread them on the table. "Your Highness, please see. This is it. I call it 'Distant Writing'."

Chappe pointed to something on the blueprint that resembled a water tower and began to explain. "The main body of the device is built on a tall tower. Ah, it looks a bit like a giant clothesline, but it's actually a rotating beam with a semaphore arm at each end."

Only then did Joseph notice the T-shaped device on top of the "water tower," resembling an antenna.

Chappe grew excited as he spoke. "The two semaphore arms can be rotated to different angles, and in combination, they can form over 90 distinct positions. If we assign each position to a letter, we can string them together to form any message. Several kilometers away, another signal tower would be built. A signalman on it would use a telescope to observe the positions of the arms on the preceding tower, record them, and translate them into letters. This signal tower could then relay the message further. We only need to build a signal tower every 10 kilometers—I've conducted extensive experiments, and this distance is perfectly clear for observing the arm movements—to quickly transmit messages over long distances."

He looked at the Crown Prince, full of anticipation. "Your Highness, I believe this will be dozens of times faster than transmitting letters by horse!"

When Joseph heard "dozens of times faster than horses," he suddenly recalled reading in historical records that Napoleon had once established an efficient optical communication system. After his defeat at Waterloo, the news reached Paris in less than two days, sparking chaos and preventing Emperor Napoleon from returning to Paris to stabilize the political situation. It seemed this must be Mr. Chappe's invention.

Joseph immediately asked, "Are there any completed signal towers? I'd like to see it in action."

Berthier took two steps forward, looking a little embarrassed. "Your Highness, due to the high cost of constructing signal towers, the General Staff Headquarters is still evaluating its feasibility..."

Joseph sighed inwardly. 'He couldn't really blame the General Staff Headquarters; in any era, adopting new innovations was a difficult process, as most of them likely ended up being a waste of funds.'

However, he was certain that Chappe's design was sound and feasible. This was essentially an 18th-century telegraph system. Especially in warfare, information was even more crucial than cannons! If a viable long-distance communication system could be established before the major war with Britain, it would give France a tremendous military advantage.

Joseph looked at Chappe. "How long would it take to build a signal tower?"

The latter mused for a moment, then hesitated. "If funding is sufficient, about twenty days."

"That long?" Joseph frowned slightly. He felt it was just a water tower two or three stories tall with a wooden frame on top; it should be finished in a week.

Chappe, looking somewhat troubled, pointed to the semaphore arms on the blueprint. "Your Highness, the signal frame requires precise pulley systems and bearings, which makes it quite complicated to manufacture. Of course, once mass production begins, the speed will increase significantly."

Joseph glanced at the blueprint and casually asked, "What's the cost of one signal tower?"

"Around two thousand francs, Your Highness."

Joseph couldn't help but gape. 'That expensive? Two thousand francs was almost enough to buy a house in the Parisian suburbs.' He then noticed the complex pulley and semaphore arm system on the signal frame, estimating that half the cost went into that alone.

"Wait," he puzzled, "why use such complex semaphore arms?"

Chappe patiently explained, "Your Highness, we need to transmit 26 letters and 10 numbers. The semaphore arms need to turn at least 45 degrees to be clearly distinguished from a distance. So, we must have a rotatable beam plus two semaphore arms to achieve the more than forty distinct positions required. You see, this arm up, this one to the left, that's 'A'. This one rotated down, the beam angled 45 degrees, that's 'C'..."

Joseph stared at the winch on the blueprint and asked again, "How long does it take to signal one letter like this?"

"After becoming proficient, it's about five to eight seconds, Your Highness." The semaphore arms were over 3 meters long, requiring the signalman to turn the winch a dozen times to make one arm rotate. Turning two arms plus the beam would certainly be time-consuming.

Joseph frowned. "This could be simplified entirely into three fixed vertical rods with retractable tops. Signals could be transmitted using Morse code."

"Fixed vertical rods?" Chappe shook his head repeatedly. "That would require fifteen rods, with each in a retracted or extended state representing a letter. By the way, what is Morse code?"

Joseph remembered that Morse code wouldn't be invented for another forty years. He picked up a pen, drew "— —" on the paper, and explained, "When the top of a rod extends, it represents a 'dash'; when it retracts, it represents a 'dot'. Following this logic, different combinations of dots and dashes can represent different letters. For example, this combination here is 'A'."

Chappe's eyes widened instantly. His mind was very agile, and he immediately realized that the Crown Prince's method was feasible. Using three vertical rods, raising and lowering them twice could create six dots or dashes. For a signalman, this would involve pushing and pulling a handle six times, which would certainly be much faster than desperately cranking a winch. Furthermore, this method would only require three hollow wooden rods, eliminating the need for any pulleys or bearings, and the estimated cost would not exceed 50 francs.

He immediately nodded excitedly. "Your Highness, this is truly astonishing! To solve such a complex problem with such simple means... 'How did I not think of that myself... 'You are simply the greatest inventor I have ever met!"

Joseph felt a little abashed, thinking, 'This is all Mr. Morse's credit; I'm just copying it.'

Chappe quickly rolled up his blueprints. "Your Highness, using your 'Morse code' method—is that the name? I estimate I can build a signal tower in about a week."

"Excellent!" Joseph nodded, then turned to Berthier. "Please provide Mr. Chappe with all the necessary support to complete the tests as quickly as possible."

"Yes, Your Highness."

What Joseph didn't know was that, historically, Chappe had to wait three full years after submitting his report to the French military to receive a grant of 6,000 francs for testing. Another year passed before official construction began. Yet, Joseph had managed to shorten that entire process to a single afternoon.