I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 533: His Majesty's Patent

Joseph continued to read the documents about the verdict of the Paris High Court on Lavoisier, and then he breathed a sigh of relief - fortunately, 15 years in prison, not directly sentenced to death like the Jacobins.

Lavoisier's crime did not meet the standard of beheading. At that time, the French Revolution only had two ways of sentencing: "not guilty" and "death penalty", so the father of chemistry lost his life.

Joseph weighed the pros and cons. Lavoisier could not go to jail now. The soda ash factory and the coal tar refinery were still waiting for him to preside over the work. If he was put in jail, these projects would have to be stopped.

It seems that he can only be granted bail as an exception. Joseph looked at the fine amount of the verdict again, which was as high as 1.2 million francs.

He frowned immediately. After the fine was paid, Lavoisier probably would not be able to come up with enough bail. In this case, he could only ask his father to grant him a special pardon.

This great scholar has a family fortune of more than one million, why would he be greedy for a little more?

At this moment, Emman whispered outside the door: "Your Highness, Baron Breteuil wants to see you."

"Please let him in."

Then, the Minister of Justice pushed the door open, followed by a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

After the salute, Breteuil gestured to the man who came with him and introduced Joseph:

"Your Highness, this is Joseph Ignace Guillotin of the Paris Judicial Prosecutor's Office.

"In fact, he has always been committed to improving the efficiency of execution. After his unremitting efforts, he finally invented this new type of guillotine."

Hearing this, Guillotin hurriedly stepped forward, opened the box he carried with him, took out an exquisite guillotine model from it, and smiled and explained to Joseph attentively:

"Your Highness, our current beheading is very troublesome and inefficient, and the criminals will suffer a lot. At the same time, the executioner's salary is also very high, even close to the municipal commissioner.

"So, I found a German craftsman who had experience in this area, and invented this guillotine with him.

"Oh, these days, a large number of beheadings are being carried out in the Louvre Square, and this new machine can be used. It can increase the efficiency of execution several times.

"Please allow me to show you how it works."

Joseph looked at the "door"-shaped frame on the table, with a sharp blade hanging in the middle of the guillotine, and sighed in his heart that the inertia of history was really stubborn, and what was supposed to come had come.

However, he remembered that in history, Guillotin presented this new invention to Louis XVI, but he didn't expect that it would be sent to him in this life.

This is understandable, after all, Baron Breteuil was promoted by himself, and the entire judicial system was under his management. The judicial system has an epoch-making invention, so it naturally comes to him first.

Yes, in this era when beheadings all over the world rely on executioners and knives, a fully automatic guillotine is simply equivalent to the invention of high-precision CNC machine tools in later generations, and it is an epoch-making high-precision technology. You have to ask for credit from the "big boss".

Guillotin had already skillfully lifted the blade on the model and placed a cucumber on the gap of the wooden yoke to simulate a human head.

Then, he pulled the wrench on the model, and the blade fell down and cut the cucumber with a "click".

However, embarrassingly, the blade got stuck in the cucumber at two-thirds of the cucumber and failed to cut it.

Guillotin wiped his sweat, hurriedly pulled up the blade again, and smiled at Joseph: "Ah! Your Highness, it's just a little accident, please give me another chance..."

Joseph glanced at the blade, which was flat and obviously a version that had not been improved. It was not surprising that it would "get stuck".

He was about to propose an improvement plan for the classic oblique blade to complete the "Da Ge Ming-style guillotine", but he was suddenly stunned when the words came to his lips.

Let's give this opportunity to show up to my father. After all, it was originally his patent, and it can also increase my father's sense of participation in governing the country-there are not many opportunities for him to participate, so don't grab it yourself.

So, he said to Guillotin: "His Majesty has a unique research on mechanical equipment. Perhaps he can give you some useful suggestions for your machine."

It's just right to ask Dad for a pardon from Lavoisier.

More than an hour later.

Louis XVI looked at the guillotine model, rubbed his chin and thought for a long time, and suddenly grabbed a pen and paper and started writing and drawing.

After several revisions, a drawing of an oblique guillotine appeared in front of Guillotin.

The latter was immediately shocked and flattered and complimented His Majesty the King.

In fact, it can't be regarded as flattery. He really admired His Majesty the King.

This is equivalent to a big cow in the future who saw a high-precision CNC lathe for the first time and directly modified a new generation of version for you.

You can't refuse to accept it.

Guillotin also received a grant of 50,000 francs from Louis XVI to manufacture several prototypes of the improved guillotine.

Breteuil immediately said that the prototype could be taken to the Louvre Square for testing.

After the Minister of Justice and Guillotin left excitedly, Louis XVI started chatting with his son whom he hadn't seen for a while:

"Joseph, I heard that you have arrested many illegal tax farmers recently?"

"Yes, father." Joseph was a little surprised that his father, who spent all day in the workshop, still paid attention to current affairs. "These guys are unforgivable and seriously endanger the development and stability of France. You can tell how many bad things they have done from how excited the crowd was when they were beheaded."

He originally thought that Louis XVI wanted to intercede for those big tax collectors. After all, he was a soft-hearted man. If a tax collector could ask for help from him, he would probably find it hard to refuse.

Unexpectedly, Louis XVI patted him on the shoulder hard and said with a very proud expression:

"My Joseph has grown up. He presided over such a big thing as the tax reform and dealt with the evil tax collectors. He really made outstanding contributions to the country and the people. I bet that there is no crown prince in the whole of Europe who can Better than you. You are so proud of me and your mother!”

Although he is not good at handling government affairs and is quite playful, it does not prove that he is a fool. On the contrary, he is very smart. Whether what his son does is beneficial to the country, he can understand it with just a little thought.

He paused and then continued: "Well, my improved guillotine can help you deal with those villains more effectively, so I also contributed to this tax reform."

Joseph smiled quickly and said: "Yes, your invention is of great significance."

He secretly thought in his heart, but it might not play such a big role in history.

After talking about the abolition of the tax farming system for a while, Louis XVI suddenly remembered something, pulled Joseph towards his workshop, and said excitedly:

"I have made a sample of the rifled gun you mentioned before. Now, you can always tell me how to double its rate of fire, right?"