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Chapter 1097: Being Tricked
But the purpose of bringing Descartes to paragliding was not to train the scientist into a special forces soldier, nor to shape his character of being ready to face death with indifference, but to use the sky as bait to fish.

Humans have dreamed of flying in the sky like birds since ancient times. If one day it is proven to be feasible, the intellectual elites of the era will not fall behind. But to achieve this wish, you must cooperate with yourself, even if you disagree with some aspects, you must do your best to be patient.

"Although I know it uses the kite principle, I still wonder if your majesty has magical powers. Can it do it again? How far and how high can it fly?"

With the help of the rising air currents on the lake, the paraglider circled back and forth three times in front of Wengshan Mountain, and it took 40 minutes to land on the parade ground on the north bank of the lake.

It was neither slow nor steady. Descartes did not obey the order completely. He instinctively wanted to stretch his legs and step on the ground, but he ended up using his hips to brake and slid along the ground for several meters. But he was in a good mood. He lay on the ground and started asking questions without waiting for the safety rigging to be untied.

"This thing is just a toy and an experiment at best, it has no practical significance. If humans really want to fly into the sky, instead of passively relying on air currents to rise, there is still a long way to go.

I built a test site on the northern mountain to study how to carry people into the sky. After several tests, the farthest I flew two people was 30 miles, but unfortunately the landing was not successful. "

Faced with a series of questions, Hong Tao still couldn't answer any of them as usual. He could simply explain the basic principles, but he was dumbfounded when he went deeper. And those who were qualified to ask such questions in front of the emperor would not want to go deeper.

But it was different from usual. This time, Hong Tao did not find excuses to slack off. Instead, he continued to imagine the future, paint a grand picture, and even threw out a bigger bait.

"30 miles! Are you sure?" Hearing that the emperor had hidden even more powerful experimental subjects, Descartes was eager to try again.

"If we keep experimenting and improving, we should be able to fly farther and farther and higher. But there is a serious lack of theoretical support, and the experimental process will be very slow and cruel.

Every failed test may result in the loss of one or two lives. Only by understanding why it can fly can we make more precise improvements and make it safer. In this regard, I need your help and the help of more people.

But this project is related to the security of the empire, and we cannot just join it casually. We need to sign a formal confidentiality document and a long-term contract, and be under the close supervision of the military. "

In fact, Sanshili was still being modest. Two years ago, Hong Tao found a small hill in Changping and built a small airport. Yes, it was an airport, with a 400-meter runway, a hangar and simple wind measurement equipment.

There were two planes with long wings and slender fuselages in the hangar. Compared with later aircraft, it looked the same, except that it lacked a power system. It could only run with sixteen horses when the temperature and wind were right, then rush down the man-made slope and glide with the help of rising air.

Hong Tao asked the carpenters in the palace to make two gliders, both with wooden strips as the frame, one with brocade brushed with tung oil as the skin, and the other with whale skin as the skin.

After several tests, it was proven that it could fly, but it was very unsafe. It was easy to dive when encountering a cyclone or vortex, and if it was not operated properly, it would crash into the ground.

It is precisely because the glider technology is not yet mature and very dangerous that Hong Tao gave up the idea of ​​continuing research and development and turned to paragliding. "Long-term contracts are not a problem. I still have several projects to complete in the academy. But I don't quite understand what you mean by national security and military supervision. Can it still be used as a weapon?"

Descartes did not reject the proposal, but he did not agree with the emperor's reasons. If you want to force everyone to sign a long-term contract, just say so directly, why use the big hat of national security to pressure people?

In fact, without very special reasons, European scholars teaching in the Royal Academy would not leave easily. Only Hobbes, the royal physician of England, would return to his hometown in the near future. However, he was not leaving, but going to pick up his wife and children. He would come back soon and had no intention of leaving.

Looking through all the universities in Europe, including royal and church ones, there is no place with academic environment, experimental equipment, research conditions, and salary that can be compared with here. The difference is not even a little bit.

The most important thing is that there is an emperor who also loves science, and there is no Inquisition that always makes a big deal out of things. Any research project can be done, and all research results can be freely published and discussed. Not only is there no personal danger, but if you are noticed by the emperor, you can make a lot of money and become rich instantly, with more than enough money to buy houses and land.

"Of course you can't just rely on paragliding, but have you ever thought about what it would be like if you replaced the silk with a stronger material, made it bigger, carried more weight, and flew higher and farther?
In the near future, in addition to the army and navy, there will probably be a new branch of the military, the air force! People will drive flying machines, shooting and dropping bombs from the sky. By then, any strong city or natural barrier will become history.

Of course, in addition to military uses, it has more attributes, such as flying back to your hometown from here. Without the resistance of water and without crossing mountains and ridges, the flight speed will definitely be faster. It can fly from Asia to Europe in one or two days. If it can be made large enough, it is possible to carry dozens or even hundreds of people at a time. "

Since they believed it, Hong Tao could continue to consolidate his achievements by using the deception method. And what he said was all true, not exaggerated at all, and it was completely achievable. Even if it could not be built immediately, it was feasible in theory.

What these scholars value most is theory. Their thinking is very different from that of ordinary people. They are accustomed to studying the essence of things. As long as they can summarize the correct rules, it will not be difficult to design and build.

Descartes was quite strong, a great philosopher indeed, and he didn't bite the bait right away. But he didn't say it was impossible, but made an excuse, saying that the project was too big and one person alone was not enough, so he had to go back and find a few more people to discuss it, and give an answer next week.

Hong Tao was not in a hurry at all, because he had no intention of making airplanes, let alone building an air force. So he just wanted to show the importance of airplanes and fool Descartes into believing that the real purpose was to promote the development of steam engines.

Are airplanes related to steam engines? Well, certainly not in later times, but in the 17th century, when humans had not yet created any artificial mechanical power, there was a connection.

As long as Descartes and his team agree to sign a long-term contract and start working on the aircraft development, they will soon discover an unavoidable problem: power!

No matter how it is designed, as long as there is no power, except for enhancing the gliding ability, the aircraft cannot soar in the sky for a long time, let alone carry heavy loads and travel between Europe and Asia.

(End of this chapter)