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Chapter 1405 Physical Ascension 2
When he returned to Beijing to assume his post and was allowed to enter the secret camp of the Warriors Battalion, and witnessed all of this with his own eyes, his spirit, which had never yielded in the face of thousands of troops and the brink of life and death, instantly crumbled, and his legs involuntarily buckled.

If the emperor hadn't been quick enough to grab him by the collar, the dignified Commander-in-Chief of the Western Regions would have been paralyzed with fear in front of a group of eunuchs and imperial horse warriors by a few mere wooden and silk implements.

That's right, the emperor's ability to fly wasn't magic; like a hot air balloon, it relied on equipment. Don't misunderstand, these equipment weren't enchanted either. Just like the hot air balloon, they were made by palace artisans using the most ordinary materials such as wood strips, rattan, linen, silk, fine cotton, and bone glue.

Of course, it wasn't something to be done haphazardly. It had to be made strictly according to the dimensions, weight, angle, and shape given by the emperor; anything less would be unacceptable.

Without those top-secret blueprints for reference, especially the angles and center of gravity calculated using special algorithms, even if the actual object were placed in front of you and copied exactly, it would still most likely crash after taking off. In this respect, the emperor did indeed possess magic, and was truly a divine being.

Glider—that's the name the emperor gave to the device that allowed people to ascend and soar freely through the skies. It doesn't sound particularly imposing, nor does it possess any ethereal quality, but it was effective.

As long as a high place is selected, the wind force and direction are observed, the rising and falling patterns of thermal air currents at different times are mastered, and a few horses and a track several hundred meters long are available, several fully armed soldiers can sit in gliders and soar freely in the sky by controlling the up-down and left-right swinging of the wooden pieces on the edge of the wings.

How far and how high a flight can take depends partly on wind and rising thermals from the ground, and partly on the pilot's skill and luck. To date, the highest flight record for the Eagles Squadron is 42 kilometers, achieved by Falcon 3.

This glider has a wingspan of 17.2 meters, a fuselage length of 8.7 meters, a wing area of ​​35.31 square meters, and an empty weight of 470 kilograms. It looks remarkably like a dragonfly, a type of flying insect commonly found in northern China, which has only one pair of wings!
Its maximum takeoff weight is 650 kg, minimum takeoff speed is 57 km/h (headwind), minimum takeoff distance is 170 m, minimum landing distance is 40 m (headwind), and glide ratio is 16:1.

Of all these parameters, only one is truly useful for flight distance: glide ratio. A 16:1 ratio simply means that, under suitable load and wind conditions, a glider can glide 16 meters further for every meter it descends.

However, this parameter is not fixed and will vary depending on the preconditions. If the load and wind conditions are not suitable, the gliding distance will be less than 16 meters, and vice versa.

For example, if a falcon-type glider starts gliding from an altitude of 1000 meters, with moderate wind and updraft, it can theoretically glide 16000 meters away when it descends to an altitude of 0 meters.

If you start gliding from an altitude of 2000 meters, you can fly to a distance of 32000 meters under the same conditions. In other words, the flight distance of a glider is directly related to its takeoff altitude; the higher the takeoff altitude, the farther the gliding distance.

In later generations, there was a type of racing glider, whose glide ratio was usually above 50:1, and could even exceed 70:1.

In addition to gliding capabilities, it can also use rising thermals to ascend in a spiral. It can easily maintain a flight posture for several hours at a time, flying at an altitude of several thousand meters and covering a distance of several thousand kilometers in one go.

Even if Hong Tao were a genius, he couldn't have created such a powerful glider in the 17th century. Mathematics and aerodynamic design could be developed through memory and the expertise of the Royal Institution, but materials like aluminum alloys, carbon fiber, and synthetic fabrics were nowhere to be found.

Furthermore, gliders are unpowered aircraft; to take off from a certain altitude, they must be towed to a higher altitude by a powered aircraft, or glide off a hillside. Currently, there's nowhere to find an aircraft to tow them, so the only option is to lay tracks on the hillside northeast of Turkestan city, mount the gliders on counterweight vehicles, and rely on gravity to reach takeoff speed.

A suitable hillside for building a takeoff site cannot only be of suitable height; factors such as orientation, wind direction, temperature, and safety must also be taken into account. The royal craftsmen who came secretly spent more than two months searching before they finally found such a hillside, at an altitude of 2100 meters.

Four tracks were built on this slope, running from high to low and facing southeast. Each track was equipped with 10 glider cars, on which the gliders were fixed.

When taking off, the locking device is released, and the scooter slides faster and faster on the track due to its own weight and the slope, eventually rushing down the hillside at the finish line.

At this critical moment, the glider pilot must react quickly, manually activating the release mechanism within one or two seconds to detach the glider from the counterweight and use its speed and airflow to propel it into the sky. Detaching too early may result in incomplete separation, while detaching too late will disrupt the takeoff attitude, both leading to flight disasters with high mortality rates.

Don't assume that everything is fine once you're airborne; you still have to consider wind direction and flight speed. Due to material limitations, gliders at this time were not very strong, and excessive maneuvers could cause the wings or even the fuselage to disintegrate in mid-air, resulting in certain death.

In addition, this takeoff site, located halfway up the mountain, is 8 kilometers away from the city of Turkestan. According to the ideal flight distance, if the enemy appears to the west of the city, the distance from which they can be attacked by gliders cannot exceed 24 kilometers.

In practice, it is best to operate within 12 kilometers, because gliders and pilots are very valuable and mysterious new weapons that cannot be used in one go. Sufficient return distance must be left to ensure the safety of the glider and pilot.

Despite numerous inconveniences and restrictions, Huang Taiji still regarded the glider squadron as a powerful weapon in his hands, and the secrecy work was done very well. Apart from a very few people, even the local garrison commanders were unaware of it.

He believed that this small but special army would definitely have a chance to shine in the great war, and thus lay the foundation for his appointment as the commander of the aerospace force.

Indeed, Huang Taiji was still eyeing the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force that the Emperor had personally promised him. No matter how well he performed in the army, there were still many equally outstanding individuals above and around him, and he might not be able to become the Commander-in-Chief of the Army even if he worked his whole life.

He accepted that he couldn't be emperor, because there were indeed people more capable than him, and by a significant margin. But he was truly resentful that he couldn't excel in the army either. Unfortunately, there were rules to govern him; he couldn't act recklessly for promotion and could only proceed step by step.

However, the Aerospace Force is different. First, it is a new military branch created and named by the emperor, so it will inevitably receive attention after its establishment. Second, there are no precedents to follow, so there are fewer constraints, and whether one can do a good job depends entirely on ability.

To others, this kind of uncertain work is too difficult and risky, not a good way out. But Huang Taiji believes that risk and reward are complementary, especially pioneering work, which is more likely to lead to great success.

(End of this chapter)