Chapter 31 Huge Profits

"Mr. Envoy Corbett," Dendels looked at several senior Patriot Party leaders beside him and sighed, "After the vote of the Federal Provincial Assembly, we have officially decided to negotiate a truce and peace with the Orange Party. It will be held the day after tomorrow."

The "Orange Party" he called was the royalist party that supported the former Dutch consul William V. It was named after William V's title as Prince of Orange.

Kolbe frowned, stood up, and said in a high-pitched tone:

"Mr. Speaker, what the French cabinet means is that there will be no compromise without peace talks!

"You and your army only need to defeat the enemy once and hold on for at least five days. The great France will handle the rest for you, and you will eventually be able to thwart the Prince of Orange's counterattack!"

Dendels' face turned red, he clenched his fists and said:

"Mr. Special Envoy, we don't want to give in! But you know, Wilhelmina is a cousin and a traitor. She attracted the Prussian army and spread the news everywhere that we had kidnapped her..."

Kolbe coughed lightly, looked away, and said casually:

"As far as my personal opinion is concerned, the Princess of Orange just did her best for what she was supposed to do, and it shouldn't be considered treason."

Dendels was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that the envoy in front of him represented King Louis XVI of France.

He suddenly felt a little ironic. It was another dictator who helped the Dutch people resist the dictator.

Perhaps this is the sadness and helplessness of a small country.

Dendels did not dwell on this episode and continued:

"Now more than 20,000 Prussian troops are in Amsterdam, demanding that we release Wilhelmina. God, she is not in our hands at all!

"And our army only has 7,000 soldiers, and the equipment is far inferior to that of the Prussians."

This was Wilhelmina's plan to help her husband recover - to make a high-profile appearance in The Hague, Netherlands, to attract the rebels to arrest her. Of course, the rebels were afraid of her status as a Prussian princess and quickly released her. However, she claimed that she was still being held by the Patriot Party and asked Prussia to send troops to rescue her. In fact, she quietly ran to the border city of Nijmegen and hid.

Kolbe nodded:

"I am not asking you to defeat the Prussians, just make them aware that they will encounter fierce resistance.

"And I heard that 300 French boys volunteered to help you fight because they sympathized with your plight. They brought more than 2,000 muskets and seemed to have cannons."

"2,000 guns and cannons?" Dendels' situation became less depressed. "This is exactly what we need! Where did you transport the cannons from? But, are 300 people too few?"

Kolbe immediately denied it:

"Perhaps some people stole the cannon from a French warship. Please note that France assisted you with 600,000 livres, but never sent troops.

"Oh, don't think that 300 people are few. Most of them are artillery. You know, a good artilleryman may turn the tide of the entire war. Remember, this may be your only chance to retain power!"

Dendels looked at each other and said to Kolbe:

"Mr. Special Envoy, we still need to discuss this."

"Please."

Only one hour later, the Patriot Party voted to terminate the peace talks, defend the city of Amsterdam, and fight the Prussian army.

Two days later, more than a dozen businessmen, craftsmen and even people dressed as beggars entered the eastern border city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands through different channels, and soon met two French spies.

In a small house on the outskirts of Nijmegen, these people gathered in a circle. Lieutenant Foitou, who was in charge of the operation, pointed to the east side of the Nijmegen map on the table and said:

"Wilhelmina should be hiding in Countess Lipp's manor and rarely goes out.

"You guys should get familiar with the roads and environment in the city in the past few days. We'll do it when she goes to church this Sunday."

...

 Palace of Versailles.

Joseph sat on the deck chair, taking in the sunshine of the winter afternoon, and let out a long yawn.

The tax bill is still going through the process in the High Court. There is no news from the Netherlands for the time being. The police has just started, and there is nothing...

Since he came to this world, he has finally had a rare moment of leisure.

However, Dr. Lamarck seemed to be afraid that he would be too bored, so he sent him the refined salicin he asked for last time.

Joseph hurriedly told him that he would send someone to pick it up in the future, so there was no need to trouble him to go all the way from Paris.

After seeing off Lamarck, Joseph picked up the large bottle of powder that was almost purified into white, opened the bottle cap and smelled it. There was no smell of alcohol at all, it was very pure.

He opened a box in the study room, which contained glycerin, rose essential oil and other accessories that had been prepared, as well as some weighing equipment.

He carefully weighed out 1,000 grams of glycerin, 60 grams of rose essential oil and 22 grams of salicin, and mixed them together in a large glass flask.

At this time, the solution has completely turned pink-purple, exuding the aroma of essential oil, and there is no trace of salicin at all.

Then, Joseph mixed out the first portion of "angel water" according to the ratio of one part mixed solution to three parts water.

He frowned and looked at the large bottle of thin liquid. As a cosmetic, it looked a bit ordinary.

He thought for a while and felt that he should add some thickening agent. He immediately grabbed the candlestick on the table and pulled out a candle made of high-grade beeswax.

The candle powder was blended into the glycerin. As Joseph continued to stir, the solution quickly became viscous and opaque.

"This is a bit like skin care products." He nodded with satisfaction, scraped out a small piece of "angel water" with his fingers, and spread it evenly on the back of his hand. It felt smooth and moist, with a floral fragrance, and was very comfortable.

After waiting for half an hour, there were no adverse reactions such as allergies or irritation. Joseph called his beautician and applied some on his face.

Then, the beautician and his assistant were caught. Under Joseph's command, they put the sticky pink-purple gel into 7-ounce oblong glass bottles, and then put the glass bottles into the hot pot. In a delicate wooden box with "Angel Water" printed on it.

Even though their hands were very nimble, the two of them worked hard until 3 p.m. before they finally finished filling about 50 bottles.

Joseph confirmed that the beautician's skin felt good, so he ordered Eman to send 40 bottles to a more famous luxury store in Paris for consignment, with each bottle selling for 15 livres.

He himself took the remaining 10 bottles to Queen Mary. When it comes to cosmetics, who can be a more suitable spokesperson than her? And it's free endorsement.

In the corridor, Joseph did a simple calculation. A bottle of angel water cost just over 1 livre. Glycerin in this era was refined from olive oil, which was expensive and accounted for 90% of the cost. On the contrary, the main active ingredient salicin has the lowest cost.

A bottle sells for 15 livres. After deducting transportation and sales expenses, you can earn at least 12 livres and 10 sous!

He couldn't help but sigh: It's true that women make the best money!