Having temporarily finalized the future ownership of French firearms, Jerome Bonaparte led a group of Ministry of War members on horseback towards the factory producing Minie rifles... no, to be accurate, it was the hub of the French steel industry.
The industrial cluster was located in a wilderness on the northern outskirts of Paris, where yellowish sulfur-scented smoke drifted from the factory chimneys, quickly reaching the banks of the Seine River less than 2 kilometers away.
The banks of the Seine were bustling at the time, with a British cargo ship loaded with coal docked at the newest berth on the riverside.
"Faster, you guys!" yelled the foreman as workers lifted boxes of coal from the ship and placed them on carts. Once the carts were full, two workers would push the cart to the factory for use.
Every day, this factory consumed large amounts of coal and iron ore, turning them into rails and steel plates before delivering them to the Ministry of Railways.
