Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

North of Saarland, city of Noferden.

Scheller’s carriage stopped in the outskirts, the driver tucked the whip into his waist, looking pitiful, but his tone was rather firm:

“Sir, we agreed at the beginning, you hired my carriage for half a month. You see, we’ve been away from Vienna for seventeen days…”

Scheller sold his family’s carriage to raise money, so he could only hire a carriage to France this time.

If they went from Strasbourg, half a month would have been enough. But because they detoured from Rhineland and the driver got lost, they barely reached the French border at this point.

Oh, now this can be considered the interior of France, the Rhine River is the border.

Scheller sighed helplessly: “I’ll pay you 3 florins more, continue to take us to Reims.”

The driver’s eyes rolled and he shook his head: “You know, Mr. Mezger has reserved my carriage.”

“Oh, please be kind.”

“5 florins. I have to pay Mr. Mezger a penalty fee.”

Scheller haggled with him for a long time, and seeing that he wouldn’t budge, was about to accept the extortion, when suddenly he saw a carriage disappearing at great speed among the buildings of Noferden in the distance.

What surprised him the most was that the carriage was pulled by only one horse, the carriage was twice the size of his, yet it maintained such speed.

Curious, he walked to the end of the road and saw several rows of wooden tracks laid there.

He walked along the tracks a bit farther and saw several of those large carriages he had seen earlier. Someone was holding a wooden sign, shouting: “To Lorraine is only 6 sous, departing in 20 minutes.”

Wooden rail buses? Scheller had seen such things in Palatinate cities, and his heart was moved. He stepped forward and asked the person: “Sir, is there a carriage going to Reims?”

For someone like him, a well-educated noble, French is a mandatory subject.

“Of course, sir.” The driver attracting customers said enthusiastically, “Our carriage can take you all the way to Paris. It’s 1 franc 4 sous to Reims.”

Scheller was overjoyed. He and his wife only needed 2 francs 8 sous to reach Reims.

Equivalent to a little over 1 florin.

He needed money so much now, saving a penny was a penny.

He immediately turned back and waved unceremoniously to the driver:

“Take my luggage down. You can go back to Vienna.”

More than ten minutes later, the Scheller couple sat in a carriage that could carry 6 passengers, setting off westward along the wooden tracks.

An old woman sitting opposite them was complaining to the young man beside her: “It’s better to take the ‘Big Barrel’, ‘Nimble’ is too expensive…”

The young man smiled and said that he had just gotten a raise, enough to pay the fare for “Nimble.”

And the old woman kept on chattering.

Scheller understood quickly.

The so-called “Big Barrel” is a large carriage that can carry 10 people, somewhat cramped, but each person only needed 9 sous to reach Reims.

And the 6-person carriage they took was called “Nimble,” more expensive, but also more comfortable.

He regretted a bit, he should have inquired more just now, he could have saved a bit more money.

The carriage moved fast and steadily on the tracks, reaching Lorraine by noon that same day.

Scheller watched the trees outside the window quickly receding, marveling at the convenience of French transportation.

At this time, the young man opposite said to the old woman: “Grandma, it’s lucky the war is over, otherwise the tracks would have been occupied by the army, and we’d have to hire a carriage to attend my sister’s wedding.”

“Hire what carriage? Too expensive.” The old woman immediately waved her hand, “In that case, of course, we would walk…”

Scheller was stunned upon hearing this.

Yes, this wooden railway transport is not only fast but also cheap, with a transport capacity several times that of ordinary carriages.

If used for transporting military logistics, the efficiency would be incredible!

He couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow; it seemed France’s victory over the Anglo-German-Austrian Alliance wasn’t due to luck.

As a noble, he was required to study military courses, so he knew very well the importance of strong logistical transport capability in war—for instance, only 100 shells reached the front line from the Allied Forces while the French army transported 500, how could the fight continue?

Scheller then had a thought, if His Majesty the Emperor had thoroughly investigated France’s transportation capability, would he have withdrawn the decision to go to war?

As they went deeper into Lorraine, a sour and bitter smell began to appear in the air, and thick black smoke was visible everywhere drifting into the sky.

The old woman opposite covered her mouth with a handkerchief, occasionally coughing.

She stared at a particularly thick smoke column nearby and complained to her grandson: “What on earth are they burning here?”

The young man laughed: “That should be a coke plant, they’re burning coke. That stuff can be used to smelt steel. The very sharp scissors I bought for you early this year were made here.

“Look, the thinner smoke over there comes from the steam engine.

“I heard that Lorraine’s steel mills are already using steam engines for forging. What used to require several days of work by a dozen people can now be done in a morning with a steam engine.”

Scheller’s heart sank again.

My God, blacksmiths in Vienna would be thrilled to have just one forge waterwheel, while the French are using steam engines.

Just this journey, he saw at least five or six steam engines’ black smoke, and this was only a small part of Lorraine.

How much faster must the French steel forging be compared to Austria?

And this equates to the production speed of flintlock guns, knives, sword mounts, carriages, and the like.

He felt a burst of resentment: How could the foolish Emperor and his greedy ministers think France was a pushover?

A day and a half later, the “Nimble” rail carriage had already entered Reims.

This city, which ranks in the top three in France, was quite prosperous, the streets were clean and tidy, with hardly any smell of excrement.

Every few dozen meters on both sides of the road stood a gas lamp of unique design, full of industrial atmosphere.

The streets were crowded with pedestrians, who stopped now and then to inquire about prices from roadside vendors. The newsboys squeezed through the crowd, shouting the news headlines, selling the newspapers in their hands.

Madame Scheller noticed that many pedestrians wore loose-fitting gray crewneck jackets and black flax trousers, which, though simple, looked quite capable.

“Is this the latest fashion trend in France?” she gestured to those people, asking her husband.

The middle-aged lady sitting next to her immediately covered her mouth and laughed lightly, whispering a few words with the man next to her, then laughed even harder.

The man, however, cleared his throat and softly said: “Celine, dear, you’re being a bit rude.”

He then looked at Scheller, amiably saying: “By your accent, you should be from the Rhineland, right?

He indicated outside the window: “Ah, actually, those are factory uniforms.

“According to the ‘Labor Protection and Safety Decree,’ factories with assets over 20,000 francs must provide their workers with a set of uniforms for free.”

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