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But when the residents and workers saw the machine rumbling to life, weaving fabric at an incredible speed under the noise of steam and gears, their expressions were as though they had witnessed a gypsy breathing fire.
It was simply unbelievable!
With just a bucket of coal and a sufficient supply of raw materials, the machine could weave large swaths of fabric at an astonishing speed, even creating beautifully intricate overlapping patterns!
In the past, it would take craftsmen forty days to grind a sewing needle, but now, it only took four days to complete.
They no longer needed dozens of people working tirelessly day and night. Now, they could simply assign shifts for night watch and still get the work done. And what was produced by these machines was even better than what had been made by hand!
More and more machines were created and promoted, and gradually, mechanical workshops began to flourish even in Milan and Genoa.
Once the March equinox passed, Florence officially established the country's first mechanized factory, employing thousands, with production efficiency twenty times higher than it had been ten years ago.
And just as the townspeople cheered and celebrated, ships filled with death row inmates and forced laborers sailed westward, carried by ocean currents.
Their destination: the Americas.
CHAPTER 32
When the communication lines from Genoa were established, the connection was not very stable.
Although the signal came and went, it was still enough to transmit messages.
It was heard that the number of people researching batteries and electricity at the Florence Academy had tripled in the past year, and the number of related papers published was also quite considerable.
Hedy hadn't paid much attention to this matter at first—after all, it did require time.
That was until the dean of the Faculty of Science came rushing in, overjoyed.
"Your Majesty! It seems we have discovered a completely new substance!"
Two years ago, Hedy had already emphasized the importance of exploring various substances.
Although she couldn't memorize the entire periodic table, she understood that chemistry in this era still had great potential for advancement.
Many experimental processes and testing methods were transmitted from five hundred years in the future, along with clear plans and requirements.
—Any discovery of a new substance and proof of its special properties could result in a large amount of gold!
Before this, many scientists had tried to claim credit and rewards, but it had all turned out to be false alarms.
However, this time, they seemed to have truly found something.
"It has to do with a battery experiment. As the report mentions, we were testing the discharge reactions of different batteries and their combined effects," the professor said, shaking his head."But this young man, using a battery, managed to extract a silvery-white substance from the soil—just like silver!"
Upon hearing this, many of the officials nearby immediately changed their expressions.
Not only were they stunned, but even the Minister of Finance, Machiavelli, was taken aback.
Is this—living alchemy?!
Extracting silver from clay? Does this mean we can now find gold in water?
The student, as if presenting a treasure, eagerly handed the material over to them, along with several magnifying glasses.
Hedy, wearing gloves, carefully picked up a small amount of the silvery substance with tweezers. The more she looked at it, the more it seemed strangely familiar.
Wait a minute... is this... aluminum?
