I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 451 Hot Air Balloon

Be careful.

"Students from the Imperial College gathered to fight?"

Zhu Yijiong asked unexpectedly and with great interest: "What happened?"

Fan Shouyi said: "It is said that it is because of the latest issues of Daming Chaobao and Daming Yuebao."

Zhu Yijiong said: "If I remember correctly, the latest monthly and morning newspapers should be talking about the immigration of Guangnan land reclamation, right?"

Fan Shouyi said: "Exactly."

Zhu Yijiong was silent for a moment and asked: "Who is fighting?"

Fan Shouyi replied: "There are many, but the causes are Wang Hongwei, Kong Jitao and Ma Yu."

Well, they are all acquaintances, especially this Ma Yu, who was admitted to the Imperial College by Zhu Yijiong in an unusual way.

Zhu Yijiong laughed: "It's nothing serious, right?"

Fan Shouyi said: "It's nothing. It's just that some people are not serious about it. It may not look good on the face. But the doctor has seen it and it will subside in half a month at most."

Zhu Yijiong nodded: "Then don't worry about it. They are just a group of young people. They are full of energy. It's not a big deal to stretch their muscles occasionally."

"The minister obeys the order."

Fan Shouyi cupped his hands in response and let out a sigh of relief.

It's good that the emperor doesn't intend to pursue it. Although he is reporting to the emperor, he is also afraid that the emperor will really launch a literary prison because of this and kill the scholars all over the world.

After all, the Nanjing Imperial College was just a simple fight.

The scholars in the other provinces, mainly southern scholars, were about to cause a quarrel because of the emperor's invasion of Guangnan.

These scholars were mainly divided into three groups. One group felt that the emperor and the court were too militaristic, the other group supported the emperor's expansion of territory, and the other group was just outsiders and did not express their opinions.

The three factions are almost the same in number.

Both the rebels and those who supported the emperor held their own opinions, and each had their own reasons. The rebels were frightened and the emperor resorted to militarism, and wars broke out one after another with foreign countries, including Korea, Luzon, Ryukyu, and now Guangnan.

For an agricultural country, if it continues to fight, it is really easy for the country to become corrupt and unable to make ends meet.

Those who support it believe that these territories are Han territories, so how can they not be recovered?
Moreover, war is like this, there is no way to spend money and not kill people. If it is because of looking forward and backward, fearing this and that, then it will be a situation of weak Song Dynasty.

The scholars of the two groups first argued in private, and then began to write poems to each other and exchange insults in the distance. Although generally speaking, they were restrained, but they became more and more intense.

It can be said that the two factions of scholars are not simply targeting Guangnan, this is just a trigger.

It was purely because the emperor treated the gentry too harshly, even more harshly than the Manchus. In addition, the new regulations on the imperial examinations that had been promulgated strictly limited the age for the imperial examinations.

This makes many older literati feel hopeless in life and do not intend to start from the grassroots level.

There are so many scholars who have nothing to do, but they are cynical, feel that the new dynasty is unfair, and are jealous of talents.

Zhu Yijiong doesn't intend to care about this, as long as no one really touches the red line, otherwise it will become a literary prison.

Moreover, these angry young scholars must be given an outlet, and as long as he does not let go, and the Ming army can continue to grow and expand, the number of scholars who support the imperial court's expansion of territory will only increase.

Because young people are so passionate, who is not full of energy when they are young?
Not long after Fan Shouyi retreated, Huang Wu was brought to an audience by a female officer.

Huang Wuyi came in and said: "Your Majesty, the hot-air balloon you mentioned has been made and is ready to be officially launched outside the city in three days."

When Zhu Yijiong heard this, he immediately said with joy: "The hot air balloon was successful. Very good. I will be there in person in three days and leave the time and details to me."

Zhu Yijiong asked Huang Wu to start developing this hot air balloon after he almost solved the steam engine problem. The principle is very simple, similar to the Kongming Lantern, so Huang Wu understood it after just a brief listen.

……

Three days later.

"His Majesty is here!"

Not only did the emperor Zhu Yijiong come, but also the concubines and children, the accompanying cabinet ministers, and the chief officials of various ministries. A huge team came to the experimental site temporarily designated by the Academy of Sciences outside the city.

Outside the venue, there were countless imperial and capital garrison troops and officials maintaining order. People were everywhere nearby after hearing the news and came to watch.

Of course, they didn't know what a hot air balloon was, they just followed the emperor to see it.

After all, the emperor is here, so it must be something extraordinary. "Greetings to Your Majesty!" Huang Wu saw the emperor coming and quickly stepped forward to kowtow and salute.

"Exemption."

Zhu Yijiong waved his hand, and then said with excitement: "Quick, let me see Huang Qing's hot air balloon."

Huang Wu didn't expect His Majesty to be so impatient, but fortunately he didn't keep the Emperor waiting too long.

"Quick, fill up the fuel immediately."

The craftsman in charge was already ready and began to fill and add fuel. They used animal fat, mainly because they were afraid that the flame would be too strong if it burned for too long.

The material of the hot air balloon is linen. Although linen is easy to get damp and is relatively heavy, it is much better than that in Europe.

Because the Europeans first used silk, and the fuel was more powerful. They directly used rotten meat, smelly boots and other rubbish and stinky things, because the inventor believed that these things were too smelly, which was why the hot air balloon was smoked into the sky.

There were three hot air balloon lift-off experiments in total, and the smell was heart-wrenching.

"Check the equipment one last time."

Huang Wu gave a serious order, and the dirty craftsmen followed to check the instruments and equipment.

After checking repeatedly for nearly a quarter of an hour, the onlookers became impatient, and the craftsmen finally completed the inspection.

Huang Wu personally boarded the basket of the hot air balloon and immediately ordered: "Light the fire and take off!"

Several craftsmen quickly lit the fire and ran away quickly. There were also many soldiers below holding on to the ropes, which connected the hot air balloon to the ground hook below.

Although it has been tested before using pigs and sheep, this hot air balloon can bear the weight of an adult and will not rise again after it lifts to a certain height.And when the fuel is exhausted, it will not fall suddenly, but will only land slowly.

But after all, we still need to fly people into the sky, so we must be cautious.

"Fly up! Fly up!"

"Is this a Kongming Lantern? Can a Kongming Lantern bring people along?"

"Your Majesty's high regard for the Academy of Sciences is indeed true. These people are really quite talented."

"..."

The people watching were all exclaiming. In addition to them, the literati who came to watch the excitement were also stunned.

There is actually something that can carry people into the sky, and it reminds them of the Kongming Lantern at first glance.

These academies of science are really all talented people, and they actually thought of using sky lanterns to carry people into the sky.

Not only the onlookers, but also the important cabinet ministers and ministers brought over by Zhu Yijiong, all looked up to the sky at this moment, with extremely shocked expressions on their faces.

Although they don't say it openly, in fact, these people secretly despise these craftsmen of the Academy of Sciences, thinking that they are just playing tricks.

I never thought that there would be such a wonderful thing.

It seems that His Majesty's high regard for this Academy of Sciences is not without reason.Given time, I still don’t know what exquisite things this academy of sciences can create.

The queen and all the concubines were all staring at the hot air balloon, for fear that it would suddenly fall down. The two strong concubines even started talking in their own Zhuang language.

Zhu Yijiong also looked up at the sky, watching the hot air balloon connected by ropes gradually rise into the air. The ropes prepared in advance were continuously extending upwards, and the sergeants below were slowly wrestling with them to prevent the hot air balloon from rising too fast and causing loss of control.

After watching for a moment, Zhu Yijiong's excitement passed, and she felt a little regretful.

A hot air balloon is indeed a hot air balloon, but it must be pulled by a rope when it is lifted into the air, otherwise it will fly away accidentally and it will be impossible to control it freely.

In this way, although the strategic value of this hot air balloon still exists, it is not as great as imagined.As for using it as a bomb launcher or aerial sniper, it is basically a daydream.

Because it is almost impossible to control the direction of a hot air balloon in the air. Even if it can be controlled, the hot air balloon will not be in a hovering state without a rope to pull it. If the bomb is dropped, it is basically a matter of luck.

So if you want to use a hot air balloon to snipe the enemy commander from a distance, or burn down the enemy's granary, you can save it. Bombs can indeed be dropped, but at most they can only be used to scare people, and the actual lethality is definitely not great.

"Father, I also want to fly."

Zhu Yijiong was interrupted by her son's tender voice, and then she picked up her son with a smile: "Let's wait until you grow up to talk about Fei!"

Huang Wu was riding in a hot air balloon. Because it was tied with a rope, it didn't float away. It continued to float in the air for nearly half an hour before it ran out of fuel.

The sergeant below used a telescope to see the hot air balloon descending, and then pulled the balloon down slowly to prevent it from falling into the Yangtze River.

(End of this chapter)