Chapter 529: 440: Super Coalfield - Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 529: Chapter 440: Super Coalfield

In fact, unless France said something, the Ottoman Empire itself wouldn’t even know whether the troops that hadn’t returned were captured or had perished in battle; in the end, they would basically be treated as though they had died in combat.

Moreover, due to the enthusiastic assistance of the Maori, the town in New Zealand had been essentially completed. Initially, there were still thousands of surviving Tunisian Guards who had been sent to labor, and they could be transferred to the Donbass at any time if needed.

Usually, the greatest barrier to developing a wilderness such as the Donbass was manpower, and Joseph happened to have a lot of free labor at his disposal.

In that era, there was no such thing as the “Geneva Convention”. Prisoners of war had absolutely no rights; even if they died of exhaustion in Russia, no one would really care.

Moreover, for hundreds of kilometers around the godforsaken place that was the Donbass, the land was barren, with wild beasts lurking, and no food or drink; even if one thought of fleeing, escape was impossible. If by some miracle a few “Bear Grylls” embodied laborers made it to a town, the Russians would immediately send them back as soon as they heard them speak Turkic or Arab languages.

This was the confidence underlying Talleyrand’s audacity to firmly refuse Catherine II’s offer to dispatch labor forces.

...

Viscount Olivier was discussing the logistics of transporting supplies with several shareholders of the development team when a few people, filthy with dirt, arrived at a gallop. Among them, a French scholar was excitedly waving his hands and shouting, “Coal mines! I have found coal mines! There really are large coal deposits!”

Viscount Olivier and the others were overjoyed—the Crown Prince of France had been right all along. The survey team had been out for less than a month and had found coal mines, and significant ones at that. Now, at least they wouldn’t lose all their invested capital!

The geologist came before them, dismounted his horse, and gestured for his attendants to take down a small basket of coal. With a glowing face, he said, “Commander sir, we conducted a trial excavation around the Jubenay area and have uncovered high-quality anthracite extending for at least 40 kilometers! Have a look!”

It’s true that long ago, Russian explorers had found traces of coal and iron ore in the Donbass region, but nobody could be sure about the quantity of the reserves or the specific quality. To attempt excavation, one had to first establish a camp and then invest a significant amount of money for detailed exploration.

Viscount Olivier excitedly picked up a lump of coal from the basket and examined it closely; indeed, the quality was very high. He passed the coal to the shareholders nearby, and everyone nodded in delight.

If it were indeed anthracite, then it wasn’t just a matter of recouping some of the costs; as long as the reserves were large enough, they would definitely make a fortune!

The geologist, producing a map, said, “Look, from here to here it’s all rich ore zones, and the deposits are generally no deeper than 2 meters. I had men dig at 7 points, each over 10 meters deep, and found coal seams in all of them!”

Viscount Olivier and the others could no longer contain themselves, cheering loudly and tossing their hats into the air, or embracing and slapping each other excitedly.

“Long live the Crown Prince of France!”

“Thanks to the guidance of the God-blessed child! Thanks to the grace of God!”

“Following the Crown Prince’s word was indeed correct; we’re going to be rich, haha!”

“Yes, rich! With such a large coal mine, we might earn millions of francs!”

If Joseph had heard this news, he would not have been surprised in the slightest. He had long known that the Donbass region was rich in coal and iron resources. The Donbass Coal Field even supported over seventy percent of the industrial production of the later Red Empire!

In fact, what Viscount Olivier and his team had discovered was just the tip of the iceberg—the entire Southern Donbass Coal Field covered an area of 15,000 square kilometers! And most of it consisted of shallow-buried open-pit coal mines, which could be easily mined manually.

At this very moment, the mining team sent by the development group to the Kryvyi Rih area had already discovered iron ore reserves of high volume, but since it was a bit distant, trial mining was still ongoing.

Although the quality of the iron ore in Donbass wasn’t the highest, the reserves were exceedingly rich, with later explorations revealing more than 3.5 billion tons. Paired with coal that cost almost as little as stones in this region, it was possible to smelt iron ingots at an extremely low price, so the mining value was still very high.

In the future, once a large quantity of coal and iron ore was extracted here, the high-quality products would be transported back to France, and the surplus could be sold to Russia on-site or through the Port of Crimea to various Mediterranean countries—earning money at a pace even quicker than robbery.

Most importantly, this coal and iron resource, historically controlled by England, would have absolutely no relation to the British anymore.

France had finally obtained a crucial source of anthracite for the Industrial Revolution. Before this, all of France’s anthracite could only be bought from England; the domestic coal mines were of low quality with high sulfur content. This was one of the significant reasons France couldn’t catch up with England during the initial phase of industrial development historically.

While it seemed like France had gained a great advantage in Donbass, Russia would be very grateful to France. Not to mention the contribution of the development of Donbass to Russia’s control over Crimea, Russia was about to enter the startup phase of industrial development soon, and the demand for coal and iron ore would rapidly increase. Without the coal and iron mined by the French, they would have had to transport it from the distant region of Uralsk to Moscow, with costs at least 30 percent higher.

As for the concern of accelerating Russia’s industrialization process, Joseph wasn’t worried in the slightest—Russia couldn’t pose a threat to France’s industrial status in terms of social system or technical ability. If it meant allowing Russia’s low-end industry to develop a bit faster while France could gain substantial profits, that was entirely acceptable.

Viscount Olivier suddenly thought of something and gestured for everyone to be quiet, then said very seriously, “Regarding the discovery of the large coal mine, this must be kept strictly confidential!”

“Yes, Commander,” they replied.

After everyone dispersed, Viscount Olivier immediately took his money and hurried to Kursk.

He was going to buy land.

Beforehand, Archbishop Talleyrand had told him that the Tsar of Russia promised the development group could buy land in the Donbass region at a price of 1 ruble per Russian acre. He was initially hesitant to invest too much, but now it seemed he should definitely listen to the advice of His Highness the Crown Prince of France and buy up all the land that likely had mineral deposits!

…

Vienna.

Schonbrunn Palace.

At the grand ball welcoming the Crown Prince of France, Austria’s nobility danced with abandon, yet the main character of the ball, Joseph, had no interest in dancing and was instead talking about something with Leopold II on a wooden platform beside the orchestra.

“You can completely trust the combat power of my army,” Joseph said, “so although my plan is somewhat risky, it can also lead us to victory.”

Leopold II looked at him somewhat surprised. He had heard that the Crown Prince of France had commanded troops on the battlefields of North Africa and the Southern Netherlands, but had thought it was just the adventures of a young man.

However, after their detailed discussion on the campaign just now, he realized that this young man must truly have participated in the fighting and was quite familiar with military affairs.