When Queen Mary walked out of the Canning Workshop, she felt a little dazed.
According to the manager, this factory could produce nearly five million cans of four-kilogram canned fish a year, or six million one hundred thousand cans of the 2.7-kilogram kind.
Two years ago, Saint-Malo had still been a small city of only seven or eight thousand people, living off fishing and smuggling.
Now, France's second-largest Canned Food Factory had been built here, a factory as vast as a city. The canned food produced here alone could satisfy one-tenth of Paris's meat consumption.
This was a marvel she never could have imagined inside Versailles Palace!
She suddenly lifted her chest with pride. Just now, her son had mentioned to her that among the machines producing these cans, several used patents belonging to her husband!
The "old Louis" in her heart seemed to have instantly turned back into the handsome, gentle, and wise man he had been all those years ago.
On Joseph's side, he was discussing production expansion with Delat. "The Brittany railway line should begin construction within five years. After all, this place also has an important shipbuilding industry."
Delat immediately said excitedly, "Your Highness, if there is a railway connecting to Paris, I believe annual output will very soon exceed ten million cans!"
The Speaker of Saint-Malo, however, said with some concern, "By then, I'm afraid the number of workers may not quite be enough..."
"That is precisely one of the greatest advantages of railways, Mr. Regis," Joseph said. "From the villages and towns along the railway, large numbers of young people will come to Saint-Malo to work.
"In a few years, the villages and towns within ten kilometers nearby will gradually become part of Saint-Malo."
As the group spoke, bursts of cursing and crying suddenly