Charles finished his visit to the steam engine R&D, feeling depressed, and was about to leave when he noticed someone peeking around the door. That distinctive red, rosy nose immediately made Charles recognize the person as Hans, the owner of another ironworks.
"Hans! What are you doing here again?" Greenspan also noticed the figure at the door.
"Ah! Oh, old Greenspan, I'm here to find Charles." Hans heard Greenspan's voice and, instead, boldly walked in.
"Stop! Hans, are you trying to sneak a look at our iron smelting again? Stop, or I'll have the guard kick you out." Greenspan took a few steps forward and, with the guard, blocked Hans.
Charles was initially a bit displeased with Greenspan's tone, but as soon as he heard him mention sneaking a look at iron smelting, he immediately guessed what was going on. This Hans must have suspected that his own workshop's steel output was increasing rapidly, inferred that new technology was being used here, and wanted to secretly learn it.
The concept of patents had been around for a long time, but America was a chaotic place without its own patent laws. Many people didn't take the patent office established by Britain seriously, so naturally, they would try every possible way to secretly learn any technology they could.
"Hans! What are you doing?" Charles walked up to Hans with a stern face.
In Philadelphia, he was just an ordinary Continental Congress Representative, but in Pittsburgh, he was not only a local councilman but also the largest landowner, the de facto controller of the militia, and the protector of over a thousand new immigrants. His authority here was comparable to that of a king.
"Uh…" The usually simple-minded Hans, seeing Charles' stern face, couldn't help but shrink back a step. "Charles! I heard that your workshop now has a new iron smelting method that can increase the output of steel and pig iron, so I wanted to come and see. If it's true, I'm willing to pay for people to come and learn your technology."
While the concept of patents was not well-established, these people were well aware of the common sense that one couldn't get something for nothing.
"Learn technology?" Charles curved his lips. "Hans, when your workshop had superior technology, and we wanted to resume production, you didn't teach us your techniques, did you? Moreover, your workshop's productivity is still stronger than ours. If I teach you the technology, your production will definitely surpass my workshop. What then, if you steal my business?"
"That certainly won't steal your business." Hans chuckled, shaking his head. "We are currently building canals, and you have approved many new projects. Not to mention anything else, just iron picks and nails alone are enough to keep both our workshops continuously producing.
Even with your high steel output now, my business hasn't been affected, and there's still more demand than supply. The reason I still want to learn your technology is to maximize everyone's profits. If I learn your workshop's technology, you benefit, and I also increase my output, and we can meet the canal's steel needs. This is a win-win situation for all parties."
Charles was now certain that this Hans was definitely a smart man.
That night, when he invited them for drinks, Hans must have been deliberately playing dumb. Now, his words sounded good, and if it were someone without a strong sense of patent awareness or a firm stance, they might very well sell their steel technology for a bit of immediate profit.
"Hans! You want to pay for my technology, but that's impossible." Charles smiled and walked directly away, seemingly indifferent to Hans' proposal.
Hans was stunned, about to pull Charles back to say something more, but Greenspan waved his hand, signaling for him to leave.
Charles originally had other plans, but now seeing Greenspan intervene, he felt very frustrated. As a modern man, he understood the benefits of technological monopoly best. There was no way he would simply sell the technology, but it wasn't that there was no room for cooperation.
The best way to cooperate was to sell patent usage rights, and the prerequisite for this was good technical confidentiality. In Charles' opinion, the best confidentiality was to use the other party's workers under his own management, without letting Hans directly participate in the workshop's operations.
Because he anticipated that Hans would not easily agree, he wanted to let him stew for a bit, and then propose it when he became anxious, but he had no intention of provoking him.
"Hans!" Charles turned his head with a smile, comforting the now gloomy-faced Hans. "You were a major helper in my election as Pittsburgh's councilman, and I won't forget your contributions. However, selling technology like this won't work.
I cannot guarantee that your workshop won't leak my technology after acquiring it. Therefore, unless my people are involved in confidentiality management, I might consider sharing the new iron smelting technology."
Upon hearing Charles' proposal, Hans and Greenspan simultaneously showed expressions of astonishment. They never imagined Charles had any intention of sharing the technology. Even without patent awareness, they knew the importance of technological confidentiality.
Hans had originally only wanted to find an opportunity to see if he could sneak a look at the new iron smelting methods; he only had about a three-tenths expectation for actually sharing the technology.
"What, you're unwilling?" Charles pressed.
"Willing! Of course, willing… uh, wait, what do you mean by 'involved in confidentiality management'?" Hans quickly agreed, but after the words left his mouth, he remembered Charles' condition.
"Haha! 'Confidentiality management' means you don't need to participate in the specific management; you just enjoy the dividends." Charles replied with a smile.
Now it depended on whether Hans was a man of his word. If he delivered on his promise, then Charles would treat him like a friend. If he realized the problem and immediately backed out, then they could only be collaborators. But if he backed out after accepting the technology, then Charles would not allow him to coexist under the same sky.
After hearing Charles' clarification, Hans hesitated for a moment, then after a long pause, he said with a wry smile:
"Can you let me think about it?"
After saying this, Hans felt much less energetic.
Charles understood his thoughts; he probably heard Charles' words and thought he intended to annex his workshop. Charles' cooperation with him to share steelmaking technology was, in fact, a disguised annexation of his workshop. However, since he hadn't immediately backed out, Charles could compensate him elsewhere.
"Hans! If you truly agree, then I can let you be responsible for part of the steel marketing for both our workshops. You already have a supply contract with the army in Philadelphia, which saves me from finding other channels. This line can be directly handled by you, and profits will be calculated accordingly. If I find a supply contract for the Continental army in the future, you can also come and help."
In this way, it essentially brought Hans and his workshop into Charles' group. It was estimated that once this cooperation was formally reached, the Pittsburgh Coal Consortium would become the Pittsburgh Coal and Steel Consortium.
If he controlled the Coal and Steel Consortium, what problem would there be in controlling Pittsburgh? If he could expand the Coal and Steel Consortium to the whole of America, then many things in America would be influenced by him.
If he also added the financial industry, controlling several large banks, then no matter what government America had, or what political system it implemented, the entire America would have to heed his wishes. His Godfrey family would be the Rothschild family of the 18th century; if he accidentally sneezed, the entire America would tremble.
"If that's the case, wouldn't it mean my workshop is completely handed over to you?" Hans said with excitement, yet also a hint of reluctance as he rubbed his hands. "Let me think about it again."
"Hans! I have already reached a formal agreement with those wealthy individuals in Philadelphia, who are now the major landowners in Pittsburgh. We will form a Coal Consortium, and from now on, we will take unified action on coal pricing and sales." Charles gently added the last straw.
Hans' expression changed almost instantly.
Although Pittsburgh's iron smelting was very backward before, they knew that Europe was already using coke for iron smelting, but they just didn't know how to make coke from coal, still backwardly using charcoal for iron smelting. The workshops Charles bought, as well as Hans' workshop, all used charcoal for iron smelting previously.
After Charles' new iron smelting workshop was renovated, large amounts of coal were transported to be made into coke, and then used for smelting iron and steel. Although outsiders didn't know the exact technology used, they could somewhat deduce from the cartloads of coal that the new steelmaking technology in the iron smelting workshop required large amounts of coal. Hans himself understood iron smelting, so he could naturally judge this more easily.
Now, Charles' announcement that Pittsburgh's coal would be exclusively managed meant he controlled the potential means of improving iron smelting technology. In fact, Hans' workshop was already heavily using cheap coal in some forging processes. As soon as Charles raised the coal price, the cost of his steel and iron would increase.
So, upon hearing this news, Hans knew he had no other choice. Charles was still willing to give him a position and accept his workshop, which was already giving him a lot of face. If he angered him, whether he could leave Pittsburgh safely would be a problem.