Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Styler was an Italian who had been doing business in England for many years, but his ancestors hailed from Bourges in France, and he had always yearned to return to Bourges, embodying the quintessential spirit of a French person.

Bailly, a close friend of many years, recognized his outstanding business acumen and thus suggested entrusting him with the task of competing for the London gas lamp project.

Mayor Herbert raised his glass with a smile, signaling, "I will discuss the matter of awarding the contract to your company with Mr. Modant as soon as possible."

"That would be most appreciated!"

After the salon concluded, Styler reported the day's events to his manservant in the carriage, who immediately lavished praise upon him, "You have performed exceptionally, Mr. Styler, we have already 'taken the lead' over all the British companies in the London City Hall."

"Next, it will be down to your 'live demonstration.'"

This manservant was none other than the overall person in charge of the "Gas Lamp Project" — Captain Delony from the French Intelligence Bureau.

Styler confidently stated, "Rest assured, I have made ample preparations. Your innovative style of presentation will surely sway the members of parliament."

Delony laughed and waved his hand dismissively, "I don't know anything about presentations; it was invented by a bigshot."

The bigshot he referred to was naturally His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Joseph knew that to secure the entire London gas streetlight project, bribery alone was insufficient; given the project's vast scope, it was necessary to demonstrate overwhelming capability to silence all critics. Therefore, he had the Lightning Company organize a business presentation that would have been impossible in the 18th century.

Three days later.

Baron Modant, a member of the British Upper House, accompanied by numerous MPs and a host of experts and scholars walked on a red carpet, led with great cordiality by Styler, into the doors of the Lightning Coal Company.

Upon entering, Modant was taken aback. Before him stood a rock over one person tall, its one side chiseled flat, inscribed with elegant Roman lettering —

Lightning Coal Company Corporate Culture: Dream without boundaries, continue to explore, create miracles!

Driven by innovation, perpetually breaking new ground, igniting the flame of technology with the spark of innovation...

Pursue excellence, pay attention to every detail, forge world-class products that exceed customer expectations...

Strive ahead with grit, undaunted by difficulties, with unwavering belief and effort, become the most outstanding company...

These clichés that would barely draw a glance in the 21st century now seemed incredibly sophisticated and were viewed as shockingly inspiring slogans and progressive concepts by Modant and others, silencing them completely.

Modant gestured for the servants to provide shoe covers for the MPs, apologetically saying, "Please forgive us, gentlemen, but the company houses extremely delicate instruments, and we must prevent dust from interfering, hence the shoe covers are necessary."

Inside, the company was spotless, walls adorned with various documents and charts, while over 300 employees bustled about, with cries of "Efficiency! Always maintain efficiency!"

"David, I need the data in three minutes!"

"The precision can be further improved; I want only the best products!"

The visiting MPs were completely bewildered by these exclamations.

Styler led them into a very spacious hall, where in the center stood a cylindrical "iron barrel" as tall as two men, with a metallic sheen, connected to a multitude of pipes and gauges.

Before Modant could inquire, Styler began to loudly explain, "Ladies and gentlemen, please look, this is our company's latest coal distillation apparatus. Of course, this is just the prototype; the one used for actual production is much larger than this."

Styler gave a signal to his assistant, who immediately had workers place coal into the "iron barrel," then lit a fire in the furnace underneath.

Soon, light yellow smoke began to billow out of the glass tube on top of the barrel.

"Our machine is 20% more efficient than what the French people are using in Paris," Styler said, pointing toward a large wooden board filled with comparative data, "Look, from furnace temperature to distillation speed to raw material consumption, our technology leads comprehensively.

"This coal will undergo dry distillation here, releasing large volumes of gas, which will travel through these pipes into as many as 18 devices for filtering and decomposing. Oh, right here..."

His speech was fervent, full of passion, and he piled on the technical jargon as if it came without cost. Not just Modant and the other MPs but even the accompanying scholars were left in a haze, yet they dared not object – after all, this was cutting-edge new technology, and it was quite normal not to understand.

Even if they asked questions, Styler had a way to handle it: bury them in even more technical terms and data until they stopped talking.

Of course, this so-called "coal distillation apparatus prototype" was just a model made of iron sheeting, far removed from any actual coal distillation technique that could be used.

However, after meticulous craftsmanship and a refined appearance filled with a sense of technology, and able to demonstrate with fire, it was perfect for making an impression. Its actual cost was merely less than 1,000 francs.

Styler instructed his assistants to distribute beautifully printed promotional brochures to the visitors, "Our company has invested 30,000 British Pounds in developing this technology. This brochure clearly shows that all performances are world-leading!
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"Now, let us move on to another leading-edge technology of our company — the coal crusher."

After inspecting the coal crusher model, the visitors saw models of washing machines, then separators...

With a thick stack of promotional brochures in hand, the MPs could only marvel at the forefront of technology; they were convinced that this company was the most advanced in technology and produced the finest products in all of Europe.

Modant was already resolved; awarding the London gas streetlight project to Lightning Coal Company would surely result in a more exquisite and glorious cityscape than Paris.

And he, leading this project, would gain immense political dividends, already thinking of the slogan — the Father of London Streetlights.

Even aiming for the office of Prime Minister was not out of the question.