Reincarnated as Napoleon II-Chapter 51: We Need Oil!

"Oil? You mean the black sticky substance?" Napoleon I asked, looking at Napoleon II.

"Yes," Napoleon II replied. "That viscous black liquid used mostly for lubrication. For sealing. For keeping machines from tearing themselves apart under friction."

Girard frowned slightly. "We use it on axles. On presses. On steam pistons when grease fails."

"And that is only the beginning," Napoleon II said.

"Right now," he continued, "oil is treated as a secondary material. Something crude. Something dirty. It stains clothes and floors, so no one wants to think about it beyond its immediate use."

He turned back to them.

"But oil burns," he said plainly.

The room stayed quiet.

Girard did not nod. He did not smile. He leaned back slightly, fingers interlaced, eyes fixed on Napoleon II.

"That is a strong claim," he said. "Coal fires our boilers because it is reliable. Its heat is known. Measured. Oil is inconsistent. Impure. And crude oil, as we know it, smokes and fouls burners."

Several heads around the table inclined subtly. It was a fair challenge.

Napoleon II did not answer at once.

He walked back to the table and rested one hand on its edge.

"Coal burns at a high temperature," he said. "But what matters is not peak heat. It is usable heat per unit mass. Per unit volume. And how fast you can control it."

Girard’s brow tightened. "Control?"

"Yes," Napoleon II replied. "Coal is solid. You shovel it in. It burns when it wants to burn. You can damp it. Smother it. But you cannot meter it precisely in real time."

He tapped the table again.

"Oil is liquid. Liquids can be pumped. Metered. Pressurized. Shut off instantly."

Decrès shifted in his seat. "You’re saying the advantage is not just temperature."

"Exactly," Napoleon II said. "Oil has higher energy density by weight. More importantly, by volume. A bunker filled with oil carries more usable energy than the same space filled with coal."

"And where are you getting this fact? Your Imperial Highness, and I apologize if this might sound rude..."

"It’s fine, but we all know that all of the wonders that France has, steam engines, electricity, machineries, equipment, and appliances, those are all me? So you can say that I am an imaginative inventor," Napoleon II smirked.

Girard did not bristle. If anything, the smirk drew a thin breath of interest from him.

"An inventor," he repeated. "Then indulge us further."

Napoleon II straightened and walked slowly along the table, boots muted against the carpet.

"Coal gives you bulk heat," he said. "It gives you endurance if you have the supply lines for it. But it ties your machines to fixed rhythms. Shovel. Burn. Wait. Adjust. Every response lags behind the command."

He stopped behind Girard.

"Oil removes that delay."

He turned back to the room.

"With oil, combustion is continuous and regulated. You do not wait for a bed of fuel to catch. You inject it. Atomize it. Ignite it. You increase flow, pressure rises. You reduce flow, it drops. Instantly."

Sané’s fingers tapped once on the table.

"That assumes a burner capable of doing that."

"We already build them," Napoleon II said. "For furnaces. For foundries. We just don’t scale them for propulsion yet."

Dupuy de Lôme leaned forward slightly. "And safety? A ship carrying liquid fuel—"

"Is safer than one carrying coal dust," Napoleon II cut in. "Coal dust explodes. Oil does not, unless mishandled. And a ruptured oil tank leaks. A ruptured coal bunker chokes men and engines alike."

Silence followed that.

Napoleon I finally spoke. "And you believe this changes naval balance."

"I know it does," Napoleon II replied. "Oil-fired boilers are smaller for the same output. That frees space. Space becomes armor. Or ammunition. Or range."

He spread his hands.

"A ship that refuels faster stays at sea longer. A fleet that stays at sea controls trade routes. Control trade, you starve your enemy without firing a shot."

Girard exhaled through his nose.

"And the British?" he asked. "They will see this coming."

"They will," Napoleon II said. "But they won’t move quickly."

"Why not?"

"Because their entire infrastructure is built around coal," Napoleon II replied. "Mines. Ports. Contracts. Dockyards. Entire cities depend on it. Changing fuel means changing everything."

Napoleon I’s lips curled faintly.

"Inertia," he said.

"Exactly," Napoleon II replied. "France does not suffer from that problem. We are building new systems, not protecting old ones."

Girard leaned forward now, forearms on the table.

"And the supply?" he asked. "Coal we have. Oil—"

Napoleon II met his eyes.

"Oil exists in abundance," he said. "We just have to own the sources. But securing oil deposits is one thing, refining it is a different matter. Which is why, before we get to actual shipbuilding, we have to invest in the oil refining industry and facilities."

"And where are those places?" Napoleon I asked. "Does France have this oil?"

Napoleon II thought for a moment. Well from his previous life, there were a lot of places where there was an abundance of oil like the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Persia, Wallachia and Ploiești Region, Venezuela, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, Middle-east, and more.

Control all those sources and the French Empire would dominate Europe and the world. But he can’t tell them yet. It has to appear that they accidentally tapped the oil.

"We will send surveyors to different parts of the world, but I do have a general idea on where they might be based on the history of our planet."

"History of the planet?" Napoleon I repeated, his head tilted to the side.

"Father, oil is made up of compressed life," he said that literally.

Napoleon II let the word sit for a moment before continuing.

"Oil is not a mineral," he said. "It is not something forged by heat alone, like iron. It is organic. It comes from plants and microscopic life that lived long before any of us."

"Ancient seas," he went on. "Shallow waters rich with algae and plankton. When those organisms died, they settled on the seabed instead of decomposing fully. Layer upon layer. Century after century."

"As the Earth shifted," Napoleon II continued, "as plates moved and land rose, those organic layers were crushed and cooked. Their structure broke down. Not into ash—but into hydrocarbons. Chains of carbon and hydrogen."

He reached for a piece of chalk resting near a slate board and drew a simple layered diagram. Sea. Sediment. Rock.

"This is why oil is found in specific places," he said. "Old seabeds. Folded terrain. Regions where tectonic movement trapped those fluids beneath impermeable rock."

Girard leaned forward slightly now, interest plain.

"Anticlines," Sané murmured.

"Yes," Napoleon II said, nodding once. "Natural traps. The oil migrates upward because it is lighter than water. It collects where it cannot escape."

Napoleon I watched the diagram in silence.

"So it is not everywhere," he said.

"No," Napoleon II replied. "But where it exists, it exists in quantity."

He set the chalk down.

"Our scientists already study strata," he continued. "They map rock layers for canals, tunnels, foundations. With refinement, the same knowledge points us to oil. Smell. Seepage. Gas bubbles. Soft bitumen near the surface. These are signs."

"Impressive knowledge," Napoleon I said. "But about the reason why we are hear, the building of ships to counter the British."

"Father, I told you to be patient. We need oil to build power ships that will represent France in the seven seas."

"So you are asking me, like a decade ago, to play the long game and wait."

"Father, it won’t even take a decade. Trust me on this, I won’t jeopardize the safety of the Empire."

"In that case, while you find your oil, it is imperative that we commission a coal-powered ships so the British won’t take us too easy."

"It’s going to be a waste. Instead of doing that, invest it in expanding our ports and dockyards that will accommodate the construction of the steel ships."

The meeting went silent after that.

"That’s going to be our play, we will strike oil and construct a ship."