At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 402 Kongming Lantern

The meeting continued, and the Ministry of War presented a memorial.

After Zhu Qizhen looked at it, the smile on his face gradually disappeared.

This memorandum was sent by Yu Qian from the Chengdu Mansion, and it mainly said that King Ning was ordered to conquer Uszang, and there were many difficulties.

Although through the railway project, the two sides cooperated and achieved what each could get, but when King Ning asked to lead troops to station, the conflict broke out.

King Ning didn't back down this time, since it couldn't be settled peacefully, he had to fight.

However, the Ming army did not have an advantage in fighting in Uzang.

Although the fighting power of the Ming army was absolutely crushing, the terrain of Uzang was too special.

No matter from which direction to attack, the biggest problem is not the quality of the army, nor the weapons and equipment, or logistical supplies, but the high-altitude anoxic environment.

The air on the plateau is thin. Unless you are a native of Uzbekistan, if you are someone else, you will have to breathe for a long time after walking a few steps, let alone fighting.

King Sangdu of Chanhua relied on the terrain to organize defense lines one after another, making the front lines extremely long in order to block the Ming army's offensive.

King Ning commanded the army to fight a few waves. Once the two sides fought, the Ming army was victorious, but it was difficult to continue to penetrate.

On the one hand, it is difficult to fight on the plateau, and on the other hand, the logistical supplies cannot keep up.

Therefore, when the Ming army attacked, Wu Sizang retreated, and when the Ming army left, he ran out again.

If the Ming army stayed on the plateau for a long time, Wu Sizang would look for opportunities to sneak attack, and would do it suddenly in the middle of the night, making it impossible to guard against.

If things go on like this, King Ning has a headache, but there is nothing he can do.

Regarding this situation, Yu Qian had no good solution, so he had to invite a memorial, hoping that the imperial court would send more troops to capture Uzang in one fell swoop.

Zhu Qizhen said angrily: "It's really unreasonable for the little Wu Sizang to go in after losing so much money and grain, and still be unable to take it down!"

When the officials saw that the emperor was angry, they all calmed down.

Cao Nai looked around, all lowered their heads, stood up and said, "I think... since Wu Sizang is stubbornly resisting, in order to show the might of God, we should send more troops, mobilize money and food, and raise troops to fight for it!"

Zhu Qizhen pondered for a while, and said: "The Qing family is right, we should launch an army to discuss it, and the cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Households will come up with a charter!"

Cao Nai saluted and said, "Yes!"

At the end of the early court, all the officials returned to the yamen to work.

Zhu Qizhen had something on his mind, so he returned to Qianqing Palace with a dark face.

The current Daming is no longer what it used to be, and it is only a matter of time before it wants to destroy Uzang, but King Ning is a good-for-nothing when it comes to making money.

He even wanted to withdraw King Ning's domain and send him overseas.

For Uzang...

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

Wynn ran in in such a panic that he forgot to knock on the door.

Zhu Qizhen frowned and said, "Why are you so flustered?"

"Heaven, heaven..."

Wynn's face was pale, pointing outside, his lips trembling all the time, unable to speak.

"What happened in the sky?"

"In the sky... there is, there is a person!"

"What did you say?"

Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but look out, but saw nothing.

Wynn swallowed, summoned up his courage and said, "Yes, there is... a person..."

Zhu Qizhen put on his clothes, came outside the hall, and asked, "Where is it?"

"In the……"

Wynn stumbled out and pointed upwards, but there was only one cloud.

"This servant really saw someone just now..."

While explaining, Wynn searched confidently, suddenly, his pupils opened wide, and he was stunned.

Zhu Qizhen followed his gaze, and there was indeed a person!

That's not a person, exactly, but a... balloon?
"My grass!"

Shocked, a Chinese quintessence couldn't help blurting out.

The balloon was floating in the sky with the wind, swaying and flying towards the east.

It can be vaguely seen that there seems to be a real person on it!

What is this thing?

Could it be a new invention tinkered with by the Academy of Sciences?

But, I never heard Belin mention it...

"Quick, chase!"

Zhu Qizhen is in a hurry, we can't let him run away!
Wynn ran a few steps after him, then slapped his forehead and said, "Your maidservant, prepare the horse!"

The palace gate opened, Zhu Qizhen ran out on a horse, stared at the balloon in the sky, and chased all the way.

Wynn was not good at riding a horse, and he couldn't keep up before he left the palace gate, so he had to shout loudly: "Your Majesty, slow down, wait for your servant!"

However, Zhu Qizhen was so anxious that he ran away without a trace.

In desperation, Wynn turned his horse's head and came to Beizhen Fusi.

"Commander Yuan... Hurry up, hurry up!"

Yuan Bin rushed over and asked, "Eunuch Huai, what's the matter?"

"The emperor is going to chase the people in the sky, go and protect... escort!"

"what?"

Yuan Bin looked puzzled, and wondered where did he come from in the sky?
"Look over there!"

Wynn stretched out his hand, and Yuan Bin realized that there was really something in the sky.

"You just said... where is the emperor?"

"The emperor is chasing after him on horseback. Our family...our family is not good at riding, so we didn't catch up. Hurry... hurry up and escort him!"

When Yuan Bin heard this, he immediately became nervous, and personally brought a few capable captains, and rode their horses to chase after him.

The sound of horseshoes resounded on the street, and the people ran away one after another. The soldiers and horses of the five cities were patrolling. They saw someone riding a horse and tried to intercept them, but they heard the horseman shouting: "Jin Yiwei is doing business, idlers, etc., quickly evade! "

This time, the people from Wucheng Bingmasi not only stood aside obediently, but also helped to move in when they saw someone whose stall was close to the main road.

Yuan Bin stared at the balloon in the sky, and galloped all the way to Chaoyang Gate.

"I am the commander of Jinyiwei, who is in charge here?"

Immediately, a commander-in-chief came forward and saluted, "The last general, Bai Laoqi, has met Commander-in-Chief!"

Yuan Bin reined in the horse's head and asked, "Did someone ride out of the city just now?"

"My lord, there is indeed a fast horse. I didn't see it clearly..."

"drive!"

Yuan Bin didn't listen to him at all, flicked the rein and walked away.

Bai Laoqi waved his hand to fan the dust in front of him, and said dissatisfiedly: "What happened today, one by one..."

"Boss, look..."

A school lieutenant at the gate of the city suddenly found something in the sky, and his face was very shocked.

Bai Laoqi was also stunned, and murmured: "It's strange, it's strange, what happened today..."

Yuan Bin ran out of the city for several miles, and finally caught up with Zhu Qizhen.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Qizhen turned around and saw Yuan Bin, so he asked, "Why are you here?"

Yuan Bin chased after him and said, "The minister is here to escort you!"

"Come on!"

Zhu Qizhen pulled the reins, the horse neighed and continued to run forward.

"Your Majesty, look!"

Yuan Bin chased after him and found that something was wrong, so he stopped quickly.

Zhu Qizhen also reined in the horse's head and observed carefully. The balloon in the sky seemed to be affected by the wind and started to turn back.

"Chase!"

The monarchs and ministers also turned their horses and chased after them.

The balloons in the sky fluttered erratically, and more and more people began to see them.

The common people talked a lot, and some timid people thought it was a god who came to the world, so they knelt down and kowtowed.

At Chaoyang Gate, Bai Laoqi looked at the balloons that were going back and forth, and asked doubtfully, "What the hell is this? Why did it come back?"

"Drive, drive!"

With the sound of horseshoes in a hurry, Bai Laoqi reacted suddenly, and hurriedly shouted: "Get out of the way!"

Several fast horses galloped past, raising dust along the way.

Bai Laoqi patted his clothes, and said to himself: "What are you doing..."

Eight porters carried a luxurious sedan chair and walked unsteadily on the street.

Inside the sedan chair sat Xiao Weizhen, a scholar of the Imperial Academy of Chapters. It was almost dusk at this time, and he had just returned home from duty, so he squinted his eyes and took a nap on the way.

"master!"

Xiao Weizhen opened his eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"

"There's something..."

"what?"

Xiao Weizhen was a little surprised, and was about to open the curtain to have a look, only to feel his body sinking, as if the sedan chair had been thrown directly on the ground.

This time he threw him hard enough, and couldn't help cursing: "You bastards..."

boom!
The sedan chair was hit by something and scattered in all directions.

Xiao Weizhen was also knocked into the air, this fall made him in a mess, and gold stars appeared in front of his eyes.

The surrounding crowd immediately rushed up to watch the excitement, only to hear the rapid sound of horseshoes behind them, and someone shouted: "Get out of the way, get out of the way, Jin Yiwei handles the case!"

Hearing the words Jin Yiwei, the people onlookers consciously moved out of the way.

Zhu Qizhen reined in the horse's head and stopped at the scene.

I saw a sedan chair on the ground, no, it should be said that it was originally a sedan chair, but now it is broken into pieces of wood.

Among these fragments, it seems that some other parts can be found, including cowhide and rattan. It looks like a huge hot air balloon, with cowhide as the top and rattan as the bottom.

There were two people lying on the ground, their life and death uncertain.

Zhu Qizhen stepped forward to take a look, and one of them was Xiao Weizhen from the Imperial Academy.

And the other one seemed familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.

"Who... oops!"

Xiao Weizhen got up unsteadily, looked around blankly, recalling what happened just now.

Zhu Qizhen curled his lips, this old pedant is really in good health, he survived being struck by lightning at the beginning, today is a sudden disaster, but he once again proved with his actions what it means to be strong when old.

"Emperor...Emperor?"

Xiao Weizhen thought he was dazzled, so he rubbed his eyes, and when he looked again, it was indeed the emperor, so he hurriedly knelt down and saluted.

Zhu Qizhen asked, "Is the Qing family injured?"

Xiao Weizhen touched his head, then his body, and said, "No, I'm not hurt..."

He just didn't know what happened just now.

Why was he knocked out all of a sudden, and even the sedan chair was smashed into pieces.

How come there are people on the ground?

Yuan Bin winked at the captain behind him, and immediately someone came forward, squatted on the ground, touched the other person's breath and heartbeat, and then nodded.

"Cough cough..."

The man suddenly opened his eyes and then coughed.

After a while, he looked around, and then fixed his eyes on Zhu Qizhen.

"Student Mei Chun, long live my emperor!"

It's Mei Chun!
Zhu Qizhen suddenly remembered that this person was the son of Mei Yongzhen, the commander of the Xiaoling Guards. When he left Nanjing, he ordered him to copy ancient books.

"Why are you here? Also, what was that thing you were sitting on just now?"

Mei Chun smiled and said, "It's a Kongming lantern made by the students themselves."

"Is this thing a Kongming lantern?"

"Exactly!"

Mei Chun's face was filled with the joy of success, and said: "The student copied the book in Nanjing, and copied the "Wanbi Shupian" of "Huainanzi". In the egg, there is a strong wind, and it flies because of the lift.' At that time, the minister didn't understand why the egg could fly?"

"Stop talking!"

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said: "Come back to the palace with me, let me check your injuries first, you didn't die after falling from such a height, what a fate!"

Mei Chun saluted and said, "Students obey the order!"

Yuan Bin requisitioned a carriage from nearby, put Zhu Qizhen and Mei Chun in the carriage, and he rode his own horse and escorted them all the way back to the palace.

Xiao Weizhen looked at the chariots and horses going away, and couldn't help but fell into deep thought.

who am I?
where is this?
what happened?
On the carriage, Mei Chun couldn't help telling her story.

He made this Kongming lantern to catch up with the Chunwei exam!

Mei Chunben is the recruiter of Yingtian Mansion and is qualified to participate in this year's Spring Festival.

Just because I missed the exam time by copying the book, I suddenly thought, since the Kongming lantern can fly, why can't I fly there?

Although he knew that this thing flew very high and might fall to his death at any time, he still made it with a fever in his head.

Kongming lanterns are one of the important inventions in ancient China. According to ancient records, they appeared as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties.

What he said just now, "Ai Huo makes chickens fly", means that putting burning Ai Huo into the egg shell can make the egg shell fly.

There are folk rumors that the Kongming Lantern was invented by Zhuge Liang.

At that time, the Shu army was besieged by Sima Yi in Pingyang, and the whole army was helpless. Zhuge Liang came up with a clever plan, pasted white paper into countless lanterns, and then used the upward force of smoke to drive the lanterns into the sky, and small lanterns rose one by one.

When the soldiers in the camp saw it, they shouted: "Mr. Kong Ming is breaking out on a sky lantern!"

After hearing this, Sima Yi believed it to be true, and led his troops to chase in the direction of the sky lantern, and the Shu army was able to escape.

Therefore, later generations called this kind of lantern "Kongming Lantern".

Perhaps it was Zhuge Liang who had seen the records in "Huainanzi", so he was able to invent the Kongming Lantern to help him get out of danger at a critical juncture.

When Mei Chun saw this, she thought about why eggshells can fly?
The ancients did not learn the principles of modern heat. The heated gas expands and discharges downward, pushing objects up.

However, this does not affect the advent of Kongming lanterns.

Therefore, Mei Chun followed the folk-made sky lanterns and made a big one, which is big enough to carry people to the sky.

He had measured the wind direction and speed before, and believed that taking off from Nanjing could land in Beijing.

When he really flew into the sky, he realized that things were not that simple.

Because he can't control the height and direction of flight!
In this way, the huge manned Kongming lantern floated in the clouds for several days along with the air current.

It was a great attempt, and a near-death adventure.

Fortunately, he prepared food and water in advance so that he would not die of starvation and thirst.

In this way, until the lamp oil burned out, finally...landed.

Miraculously, this huge Kongming lantern really floated to the city of Beijing!
It just so happened that Xiao Weizhen's sedan chair helped him withstand the impact of the landing, otherwise, he would definitely not be able to survive...

(End of this chapter)