After leaving the Academy, Lavoisier did not go home but took a carriage out of Paris to a manor house of the Duke of Orléans. A few days before, he had borrowed a place from the Duke for a new scientific experiment.
Perhaps it was because for a long time His Majesty had been unable to produce a son. ｛Queen Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first son eleven years after her marriage to him, so that many of the country's great nobles who were close to the king had the idea that the king might become extinct and the crown might fall on their heads. The Orleans family, as close relatives of the king, may not have been free from similar thoughts. A few years ago, after the king underwent an operation, he finally became pregnant and gave birth to two princes in quick succession. But ambition is something that, once created, is difficult to extinguish naturally. Just like Macbeth, who became ambitious for the Scottish crown because of the witch's prophecy. Although the old king made it clear that his crown would be given to his son, not Macbeth, Macbeth's ambition for the crown was not extinguished but became more intense. But Macbeth's ambition for the crown was not quenched but became more intense, and eventually drove him to the path of parricide. Like Macbeth, some of the great nobles, including the Orleans family, did not lose their ambition with the birth of the prince. In addition, the king's character was weak, while the queen's character was much stronger, but as a woman, she had not received much political education and was quite naive in politics. This makes those big nobles feel that "they can take over".
To "replace her", the great nobles, including the Orleans family, worked hard overtly and covertly to tear down the king, so that the king could not do anything well. At the same time, they intentionally created public opinion to denigrate the royal family. Of course, they did not point the finger directly at the king - it was too direct and too easy to reveal their ambitions. So they all coincidentally directed their targets at Queen Mary. Queen Mary has a strong character but lacks political wisdom, plus the love of vanity, and no concept of money, so they easily let step into the trap. On the one hand, they flattered Queen Mary, induced her to hold various parties, and cheated her out of millions of francs in "gifts" every year; on the other hand, they denigrated her as "wasteful" and even gave her the nickname of "Lady Deficit". The Queen's reputation has been tarnished by the recent revelation of a bizarre necklace affair. ｛It's amazing that a liar could walk away from a high-security prison after directing a show that trapped the queen. Whether there is a problem here, God knows.}
Of course, the nobles still have a sense of proportion, their propaganda has always insisted on one point, that is, a king is a good man, but too soft-eared, too afraid of his wife, that is why ．．．．．． In short, "the king is the holiest and wise, only by a few traitors ．．．．．． No, just led by a woman's nose".
This kind of propaganda, on the surface, seems to be excusing the king, but in terms of its effect, in fact, better than directly attacking the king's greed and cruelty. Because a greedy and brutal king is certainly hated and feared, but a good and weak "good man" who is controlled by his wife is despised.
Machiavelli believed that the weakest and most easily overthrown kings were not tyrants who were hated by everyone, but kings who were universally despised by their subjects. Through this propaganda, the great nobles directed the hatred of the people toward the queen, while leaving the most terrible thing - contempt - to the king.
If Louis XVI had been a lord, no, not even a lord, but a tyrant. He would have been able to quell these arguments by stormy means, or at least to turn contempt for him into hatred and fear. In contrast, the crown of a feared tyrant was more securely worn than that of a despised king.
Louis XVI, however, was a weak man, who was too forward-looking to cut the heads off of the great nobles. But his concession made the great nobles, including the Orleans family, feel more and more that the crown of France should naturally be worn on their heads.
Machiavelli also suggested in his theory of kings that kings should also give favors to people in a small way so that the people would be grateful and look forward to them. So, while giving the king various stumbling blocks, the great nobles vied with each other to present themselves as "friends of the people," "enlightened gentlemen," and "pioneers of the mínzhǔ. In the words of a later great teacher, "To draw the people together, the nobles waved the begging bags of the proletariat as flags. Of course, the result of this was that "whenever the people followed them, they found them with the old feudal coat of arms on their hips, so they laughed and scattered. But for now, at least, these tactics were able to get the people to come behind them.
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To pretend to be "friends of the people," "enlightened gentlemen," and "pioneers of the Mínzhǔ," the great nobles all acted as if they loved science, loved their country and loved the people. The more they supported academic research and academic freedom, the more these great nobles competed to boast. The support for the research of Lavoisier, who had become the pride of France, was naturally a thing that the "friends of the people", "enlightened gentlemen" and "pioneers of the Mínzhǔ" should do.
His Royal Highness, Duke Phillips, was waiting for Lavoisier. He was interested in his experiments, so he asked him about his experiments.
"Master, you know, I don't mean anything else, I'm just curious. Can you tell me what kind of experiments you are going to do here? Duke Phillips had asked when he lent the space.
"Oh, Joseph wrote me a letter. The letter mentioned that he had carefully treated glycerin with concentrated nitric acid and sulfuric acid in a special way to obtain a very powerful liquid fire. The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you're looking for. The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. The company's main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to its customers. I tried it, and it was just like he said, it was very powerful. The power is at least tens to a hundred times more powerful than brown huǒyào.
"That powerful?" Duke Phillips was taken aback.
"Isn't it?" You know, Joseph made it sound like the thunder of Zeus," Lavoisier said. He advised me not to experiment with more than a gram at a time when I was experimenting on my own. Then I got a gram and tried it, and it exploded. And the power far exceeded my expectations. Well, Mr. Duke, this stuff is quite dangerous. It would be impossible to conduct a full-scale test in the city of Paris.
"It would seem that the military should be the one to study such a thing, wouldn't it?" Duke Phillips said.
"You may not know, Your Highness, that although it is very powerful, it is not suitable for military use, at least not at the moment. Lavoisier looked at Duke Phillips and said, "You probably don't know that this thing is very unstable. With the slightest vibration, or light, or a little heat, this thing will explode. Your Highness, if it is used for military purposes, this thing in transit, as long as the wheels of the carriage in a small hole in the bump, a whole carriage of zhàyào will explode with a bang, the power is equivalent to more than a hundred carriages of huǒyào together.
"My God!" Duke Phillips said, "If it's so dangerous, how can this thing be used?
"Not for military use." Lavoisier said, "It is not easy to transport, and often needs to be prepared on the spot where it is used. How can it be made on the battlefield for military use? The fact is that you can't be able to get a good deal on a lot of these things. Lord Duke, this thing is very useful. For example, mining, such as digging canals and other projects can come in handy, and many times even revolutionary changes. And the cost of the raw materials used is not high, if the problem of preparation can be solved, this thing should be able to make a lot of money. Would Your Highness be interested?
"If the problem can be solved? My master, so there is still a problem with the production of this thing? Duke Phillips asked.
"Yes, it can only be made in the laboratory at the moment, and the amount that can be made at one time is quite limited. If it is to be used on a large scale, there must be some changes in the way it is prepared. And this thing even in the time of preparation, there are also quite dangerous. In the case of large-scale preparation, the environment is different from that of the laboratory, so detailed research is needed. Lavoisier explained.
"So, Mr. Lavoisier, can I participate in this study?" asked Duke Phillips. Duke Phillips asked.
"Of course, you are more than welcome to participate. You can also name the product in the future, in addition. You can also sign your name as the author of the future paper," said Lavoisier. Lavasa said.
The Duke laughed: "Ah, that's no good, people will say I'm shamelessly pursuing my unworthy honor. That's why my name must not be on the paper's authorship. But I would be very happy if you could mention in your paper that I have contributed to this research in a small way.
"That's not a problem." Lavoisier laughed, "Besides, this research is somewhat dangerous. So, Your Highness, you can participate, but please keep a safe distance when performing some dangerous operations.