Versailles is worse than being queen

◎Let you all go to hell◎

For a long time, the Paris Academy of Sciences has two legendary bounties that are the most popular and stubborn, and they have been hanging for centuries.

One of the two longevity rewards is a perpetual motion machine, and the other is a plan for accurately measuring longitude at sea.

The former is because countless people have stepped forward, no matter how exquisite the design is, it always seems to be a little bit worse—it is also the temptation of "only a little bit" that makes more people continue to study.

The latter is because the bounty is the most lucrative, reaching an astonishing 50 livres-after all, this technology is crucial to navigation, and maritime trade can be said to be the most profitable business.

Centuries have passed, and no one has researched the perpetual motion machine, and the record sheet recording the bounty has been changed several times.

However, the marine theodolite was designed, and the designer watchmaker also took part of the bounty.It is a pity that this design has too high requirements for the accuracy of the instrument parts, and there are always more or less errors in actual use.You must know that a little error in the instrument may eventually bring fatal consequences in the endless ocean.

It is precisely because of this that when the Paris Academy of Sciences announces a batch of new rewards and withdraws the invalid rewards almost every year, these two old stubborns have persisted together for centuries-although almost no one submits design applications now, the two This bounty has become more of a symbolic talking point.

Until this lively summer night, one of the bounties was picked.

"Conservation of energy? I don't understand." Ampere muttered in bewilderment, "If energy is conserved, doesn't that mean that perpetual motion machines can exist?"

He just talks to himself subconsciously, which is a habit he plays with himself all day long.

However, he was tapped on the shoulder, "Do you know Newton's first law?"

The little boy turned around and found that it was a dark-haired young man with big eyes who was patting him.The young man squatted down with a smile, and looked at him face to face, "It's the law of motion..."

"Oh, I know!" Ampere proudly puffed out his small chest, "If there is no external force, the object will always move in a straight line at a constant speed or remain still!"

"That's right!" Volt gave him a thumbs up, "You are really amazing, I was still poking ant nests when I was your age."

Ampere touched the corner of his clothes uncomfortably - he also likes poking ant nests now.

Volt didn't notice his little movement, "So, you see, why do moving objects stop eventually?"

Ampere's eyes widened immediately: "Ah——I understand! If energy is conserved, the perpetual motion machine cannot move forever because of the loss of friction."

"You are amazing, I am so proud of you!" Volt hugged Ampere with a smile on his face, and the little boy accepted the hug shyly and awkwardly - as a northerner of France, he was not used to the overzealous personality of Italians .

"Come and meet me, I'm Alessandro Volta from Italy." Volta took his hand.

"I... I am Andre Ampere from France." Ampere shook the young man's big hand tightly like an adult.

……

Watt felt embarrassed, very embarrassed.

He had already made various precautionary preparations before coming—although his first patent had not yet completed the approval process, he applied for patents for almost all steam engine improvements he could think of in one go.

The steam engine should belong to him!Only in this way can he hold the complete patent rights in his hands, and he does not need to share a share with others when it is manufactured and sold on a large scale.

He had always been wary of other competitors, so he believed the rumors of the two French scholars so easily, and foolishly followed them to France.What a shame!

He was originally not qualified to come to this salon, and he was worried that the Paris Academy of Sciences would exclude him as a foreigner. If he explained his purpose in advance, he would hinder him from safeguarding his legitimate rights and interests, so he borrowed Professor Smith, who came with him, as a member of the Royal Society. I applied to the Paris Academy of Sciences in my name, and then I got the admission ticket.

The most respected Professor Smith of the University of Glasgow witnessed his embarrassment on the spot!

Watt was almost ashamed.

He had a fever on his face, and wanted to leave here as unobtrusively as possible, but he was stopped by someone from behind: "Mr. Watt!"

Hiss—Watt felt a toothache.

The voice was so familiar, it sounded like the boy he had mistakenly blamed.What else does he want to do?

He reluctantly turned around and nodded in frustration: "Sorry, I was misled... I didn't mean to..."

"Oh, it doesn't matter." The boy waved his hands indifferently. "Many people don't like me. I believe that if they have the opportunity to drag an innocent person in to slander me, they will definitely do it without hesitation."

God knows, Nicholas actually breathed a sigh of relief.

He did not intend to study steam engines by himself at the beginning—his interest and specialty were in electric current and energy, not power machines.

Five years ago, he tried very hard to find Watt, an English engineer, but he hadn't heard from him for a year or two.A world without radio communication is truly hopeless.

Finally, he couldn't wait any longer and decided to do it himself.

…Unexpectedly, he didn't find Watt, and Watt came to the door himself.

Professional counterpart power mechanical engineer, no need for nothing!

He said solemnly: "These are not important, they are all in the past. I have more important matters to discuss with you - do you want to consider participating in the research and development of internal combustion engines?"

……

Seeing that the scholars in the arena were excitedly discussing the new reward, Antanya went to the salon receptionist of the court concierge.

"Mr. Earl, please help me find out who is the person who came with this Mr. Watt and who is the introducer."

"Oh, wait a minute..." The protocol officer flipped through the record booklet, "The introducers are trainee scholars from the Academy of Sciences Merrell and Hans."

"I see." Louis gritted his teeth on the side, "They must be trying to harm Mr. Tesla!"

Antanya nodded: "It's very possible, but it needs to be confirmed again, so don't wrong the good guy."

The protocol officer hesitated, "However, Your Highness, they are not introducing Watt himself, but Adam Smith, a member of the Royal Society. It was Professor Smith who brought him in... You know, every official guest You can bring someone to attend.”

"Adam Smith?" Antanya asked in surprise.

"Yes, the registered research status is an honorary professor at the University of Glasgow."

Antanya took a breath: "This is really great... Please help me get in touch with his entourage and invite him to the Palace of Versailles."

Louis asked excitedly, "Hey, what does he study?"

The protocol officer took a look: "Philosophy."

"Ah..." The curiosity in Louis' eyes was instantly extinguished, and the disappointment was beyond words.

He turned to Antania: "However, isn't he here now? You can go directly to find him."

"Oh, Louie," Antanya sighed, "it's a long story to talk to him about."

The next afternoon, the 47-year-old British professor Adam Smith was invited to the princess's parlor in the Palace of Versailles.

Although there are constant discords between Britain and France, as long as there is no war, the conflict between the kings will not affect personnel exchanges.

He had been received by King George III of England, but it was the first time he came to the Palace of Versailles in France, and he had no idea what he wanted to talk about when the princess invited him.

After all, he was a professor of philosophy—but would a woman want to talk to him about philosophy?

As a result, as soon as the princess spoke, he realized that he was wrong.

The princess's blue eyes were full of thirst for knowledge: "Mr. Smith, you have made great achievements in the professional field. I have some questions that I hope to ask you for advice."

"Ah," Smith touched the wig on his head with some embarrassment, "this... well... please tell me."

He didn't have the nerve to say it, but he really didn't want to explain it to the woman. The professor of philosophy really didn't know what jewelry and skirt styles would be popular!

"It's like this. If a country encounters serious economic difficulties-so severe that the people can't eat enough to eat, and the army can't pay their troops, what will cause this? And what can be done to solve the problem?"

Centuries spent at Versailles did not do much to increase the knowledge of economics.Antanya still doesn't quite understand why France was so impoverished back then.

To prevent the economic collapse of the previous life in eighteenth-century France, the top scholars are an important resource.After all, in the following centuries, Britain quickly rose to surpass France and become the most powerful country.

"This..." Smith was stunned for a moment.

Did he hear correctly?The little girl in front of him, who is less than 15 years old, the daughter of the richest emperor Franz in continental Europe, and the crown princess of the most powerful French kingdom, is actually asking him what should he do if he is in financial difficulties?

Seeing his expression, the princess immediately added: "Don't worry, I'm just curious. Just treat it as an academic question."

"Oh, okay..." Smith finally came back to his senses.

It was a coincidence.He just started writing his second book this year, and it is also the book he values ​​most after spending many years collecting materials and thinking deeply—he intends to name it "A Study of the Nature and Causes of National Wealth".

This book is actually studying the question raised by the princess.

"The problem you mentioned is quite good. It is not just an academic problem, I think, but also a problem that determines the existence of our countries." Smith said seriously.

"For centuries, people have believed that trade brings wealth. But I want to tell you, it doesn't work that way."

"I hope you will not be bored, in order to answer your question, I need to explain some basic principles - trade only changes the form of wealth, for example, you buy a flock of sheep for a hundred livres, or sell a flock of sheep A hundred livres, and you have the same wealth in your hands—a hundred livres worth of wealth."

"What determines this value is the labor involved in it. You may think it is a bit abstract to say this, but when a person grows a flock of lambs into a flock of big sheep, the wealth he increases in the process is the labor he puts in-this labor is not Refers to his personal labor. After all, he will not set a higher price because he raises sheep harder than others—it is the average labor that all sheep raisers need to put in. Others want to buy their sheep, You need to pay the value of what they put in for it."

"That is to say, through the trade of equivalent exchange, different types of labor can be 'converted' with each other, and there is value."

"I think I have followed your train of thought, please continue." Antanya listened intently.

"On this basis, I can answer your question. Assuming that in this market, everyone works according to the labor they can provide, then when other factors remain unchanged, the total value remains unchanged. "

"In this case, there are only two ways to really increase wealth - the first is to increase the number of productive laborers - these people bring more labor input; also reduce unproductive labor The number of investors—these people just increased capital investment, that is, bought more assets, but did not actually produce wealth.”

"The second is to increase the labor productivity of workers."

Antanya raised her head thoughtfully: "For example... use machines to help humans increase the speed of flour milling and weaving?"

……

Antalia did not keep Professor Smith for long.She has a longer-term plan—

She can provide this economist with the most favorable conditions in Europe, let him study and write here quietly, and at the same time serve as her philosophical advisor-it is a pity that the word economics has not yet been born.

Professor Smith gave this female student a whole afternoon of lectures, which gave him a sense of accomplishment.He said he wanted to think about it first, and Antanya agreed.

After seeing off Smith, Antanya began to study this year's local taxation and grain reports.She may have to start thinking about how to save the French economy from now on.

However, before she read a few pages, Henriette came to her in a hurry: "Your Highness, it's not good!"

"what happened?"

"Our newspaper has received a lot of threatening letters, all because Mr. Goethe killed Werther! Some of them were reprimanded by the church, saying that the ending was too immoral, and many other things were sent by readers..."

"You know, there's a really scary letter with a bloody knife in it and it says 'I love Werther and I'd do anything for him - if he does die I'll send you all to hell! '"

The author says:

1770 Academic Bulletin:

Italian voltage and French current had met, and German resistance had not yet been born.

Adam Smith in England began writing The Wealth of Nations.

Goethe of Germany became the first author to be sent a blade (laughs).

A little corner information about the perpetual motion machine:

In 1775, the French Academy of Sciences announced that "the undergraduate college will no longer review all designs related to perpetual motion machines." In 1861, an engineer in England, Derks, collected a large amount of information and wrote a book called "Perpetual Motion Machines in the 17th and 18th Centuries", warning people not to try to gain fame and good luck from the gift of eternal motion.