Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 769 Population surge
The hot air balloon slowly lifted into the sky, and Wang Chong was really a little excited.

He held up the binoculars, aimed at the scale bar on the landing platform below, and kept adjusting the focus, his face couldn't help showing excitement.

He has never tried this kind of standard reference object, because there is no cross scale on the previous telescope, and there is no way to accurately measure the size.

They can only barely measure the distance based on their own experience and using a person's height as a reference.

It’s different now. A scale on the telescope coincides with a scale line of one zhang below, so this mark represents about one zhang, and the error will basically not exceed a few inches.

As long as the hot air balloon keeps flying at this altitude, he can use the scale on the telescope to measure the size of other things.

Of course, this height is not enough, and a scale on the telescope can only represent a length of one foot.

Because the two criss-cross dotted lines on the lens of the telescope are ten scales, if one scale only represents one zhang, then the ten scales add up to only ten zhang, which is not enough length at all.

What he wants to detect is a range of hundreds of miles, and he will sweep it by ten feet and ten feet. How long will it take to sweep it.

As the hot air balloon continued to rise, the scale line on the takeoff and landing platform also continued to shrink. Finally, a scale on the telescope coincided with a scale line ten feet below.

This means that the ten scales add up to one hundred feet. If you scan it, it will be more than half a mile, which is basically the same length.

He quickly raised his hand and said, "Okay, just this height."

The head of the Ministry of Industry, who was in charge of controlling the air heater, quickly ordered the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion to turn down the two kerosene lamps, and then ordered another soldier of the Shenwu Battalion to turn on the fans, so that the hot air balloon flew around the landing platform.

Only then did he ask: "Lord Wang, how are you doing now?"

Wang Chong hastily raised the binoculars and aimed at the scale on the take-off and landing platform, then shook his head slightly and said, "No, the size below has become a little smaller, and the hot air balloon seems to be still rising."

The head of the Ministry of Industry personally turned down the kerosene lamp a little bit, and ordered the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion who controlled the altitude to turn the angle of the two wings back and forth, to roughly feel the state of the hot air balloon, and then asked: "My lord, How about now?"

Wang Chong raised his binoculars and took a closer look at the scale on the podium, then said slowly, "The size doesn't seem to have changed much, but it's still a little smaller."

The head of the Ministry of Industry nodded slightly and said: "Well, Mr. Wang, you align with the scale line and don't move. I will order someone to adjust it down. Once the dimension line is aligned, you can shout."

After finishing speaking, he ordered the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion to slowly adjust the angle of the two wings to the downward flying position.

After a while, Wang Chong raised his hand and said, "Okay."

The soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion did not wait for the command, and immediately leveled the two wings.

This time there is no problem.

The hot air balloon flew around the landing platform again, but the size below remained unchanged.

Wang Chong nodded slightly, and then asked, "Master Liao, what is the approximate height?"

The head of the Ministry of Works estimated: "The current height is about one hundred feet."

One hundred feet is enough. There is no mountain over sixty feet here. Even if you add the trees on the top of the mountain, it will not exceed eighty feet. They can fly no matter how they fly.

At this time, Wang Chong said to the guard beside him, "How about it, have you learned it yet?"

The personal guard hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "My lord, this subordinate has almost learned."

Wang Chong nodded slightly and said, "Well, let's take a closer look, and if you don't understand, just ask. You may also come to command and control the hot air balloon in the future."

After speaking, he said to the head of the Ministry of Industry: "Master Liao, let's go to the west to explore first."

Soon, the hot air balloon turned around and flew west.

It is convenient to detect in the sky. After the scale is added to the telescope, it is very simple to measure the length and distance.

For example, for a river, you only need to point the telescope at the river, and roughly count the horizontal scales on the lens to accurately measure the width of the river.

As for measuring the length of the river, let the hot air balloon fly over the river, and then use the vertical scale line to slowly sweep over it. The superposition of one hundred feet and one hundred feet is enough. How fast the hot air balloon can fly is his calculation speed. how fast.

These are nothing.

Standing on a hot air balloon to look for primitive tribes is an easy task. Basically, you only need to scan roughly, and you can tell at a glance whether there are tribes within a radius of tens of miles.

They only flew in the sky for less than half a day, and Wang Chong found dozens of primitive tribes!
Moreover, he has accurately marked the locations of these primitive tribes on the map.

It's a pity that they have to go back at this time.

Because there are five people on the hot air balloon at this moment, the range of the hot air balloon is only about [-] miles.

A hot air balloon can fly about seventy or eighty miles an hour in the absence of wind or light wind.

They had flown about two hundred miles, and if they didn't go back, there might not be enough kerosene for the return journey.

This time they just flew into the sky to try, there is no need to run to the limit distance before returning.

Of course, when they fly back, they can do some more detection.

Because the hot air balloon was traveling in a straight line when it came over, he would probably be able to find tribes within thirty or forty miles around this line.

As long as the heater flies another thirty or forty miles north, he will be able to find other primitive tribes in the north again.

As a result, on the return journey, he found dozens of primitive tribes.

At about [-] o'clock in the afternoon, the hot air balloon finally returned to the sky above Xinma City.

At this time, Taichang, who received the news, was already standing by the landing platform and waiting.

As soon as the hot air balloon came to a complete stop, Wang Chong picked up the map he had drawn and ran over quickly, holding the map in both hands and bowing, "Your Majesty, look, we've found hundreds of tribes in less than a day."

Uh, this speed is really quite astonishing, and there are astonishingly many primitive tribes in this area.

Taichang took the map and looked at it, then couldn't help nodding and said: "Well, very good."

Wang Chong's map is indeed very well drawn. Not only are the locations of the primitive tribes clearly marked on this map, but the rivers, forests, lakes, ponds, etc. are also clearly drawn.

There was no table on the hot air balloon, so Wang Chong could only lie on the wooden board leaning against the back of the gondola for a while to draw. It was really not easy to be able to draw so finely.

Taichang looked at the map carefully again, and then asked: "Can you see the trees below clearly from the hot air balloon?"

Uh, I can see this clearly. After all, a hundred feet is less than one mile, and the telescope in his hand can see five or six miles. Let alone trees, he can see the leaves below clearly. clearly.

The problem, he didn't really know it even after he saw it clearly!
Wang Chong couldn't help but said in embarrassment: "Forgive me, Your Majesty. I don't know much about trees. Even if I can see the leaves clearly, I can't tell the types of trees. Therefore, I simply didn't mark them on the map."

This is actually very simple, if you can see the leaves clearly, it will be easy to handle.

Taichang nodded slightly and said: "Well, after all, you don't specialize in planting trees, and it's normal to only know a few kinds of trees.

How about this, you can borrow a few books from Maozhong that specifically introduce tree types, the ones with illustrations.

Then, you order your subordinates to collect some leaves from all the trees you see, and ask Maozhong to teach you how to identify trees by their leaves.

Remember, this is very important.

You can press and dry the leaves to make specimens, and then paste them on the blank pages of the book, and write a detailed introduction next to them.

This kind of book, you order people to make more, and when the time comes, distribute it to the subordinates who take the hot air balloon to the sky to investigate. "

Wang Chong hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "The general will understand."

In fact, Taichang mainly wanted to find rubber trees.

Brazil was the country with the largest rubber production in later generations. It is a bit strange that no rubber trees have been found here.

Rubber is a very important strategic resource. Especially at this time, the use of rubber is becoming more and more extensive, and the speed of their planting can't keep up with the speed of increasing demand.

At this moment, they are still buying raw rubber frantically with Spain.

It would be great if we can find natural rubber forests in the Amazon River Basin. Daming's rubber production is likely to double in an instant, or even ten times.

He naturally wanted to find such an important item quickly.

Taichang thought for a while, and then said carefully: "Zhongyong, I actually want you to quickly find the rubber tree.

The Amazon jungle is very suitable for the growth of rubber trees, and there will definitely be large rubber forests.

Rubber is a very important material, we must find the rubber forest here.

As for other trees, such as mahogany, teak, etc., you can mark them by the way when you see the ones above the waist thickness.

This time, the main thing is to look for rubber trees, and it doesn't matter if you look for the others slowly.

You have to remember. "

Wang Chong hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "I will remember this at the end."

Taichang looked at the map again, then nodded slightly and said: "Okay, you order people to make ten copies of this map and distribute it to the hundreds of households under him, so that they will take the fleet to contact the primitive tribes here tomorrow.

Remember, bring more delicious food, coax them as much as possible, pull back those who can be pulled back, and send more people to persuade those who cannot be pulled back.

At this moment, less than [-]% of the huge new horse city has been built, which requires a lot of labor.

You have to think of a way to coax all the primitive tribes here. "

This Wang Chong is too good at it.

In the early morning of the next day, he simply asked his subordinate Lao Zheng to fly to the sky to investigate instead of him, while he led more than a thousand chariots, carrying beef and corn cobs, which the primitive tribes love to eat, and went straight to the place where he inspected yesterday. away from the area.

The so-called people depend on food, and the primitive tribes here regard food as the basis of survival.

They brought so many delicious foods for others to taste, and they promised to make them eat all they can eat every day, and there are people from the Juma tribe to help fool them. How can the primitive tribes here resist this temptation? .

Almost all the primitive tribes they came into contact with migrated to Xinma City with them.

On this day, there were at least 100 or 3 people from more than 20 tribes. In less than ten days, they brought back more than [-] people.

The next thing is even more serious, because the hot air balloons on both sides of the Amazon River have been built, and two hot air balloons can be launched into the sky at the same time.

Moreover, because there are more places to replenish kerosene, they can fly in the sky around the clock, and the number of primitive tribes detected is more than doubled.

Later, they basically pull back 8, 10 or even [-] people every day, and the population of Xinma City has also increased dramatically.

In less than a month, the population of Xinma City has soared to more than 100 million!
(End of this chapter)