Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 600 Overwhelmed
In the eastern suburbs of Xiangyang, in front of the dilapidated Xi family manor.

Liu Qi rode here on a trembling steam bicycle and took a look at the blackened, collapsed door lintel and valves.

Just twist the handle and turn the car around.

He learned how to ride in half a day and liked the gift given to him by the black bear very much.

Every time he rode, he was guarded by a hundred riders, attracting officials and civilians nearby to come and watch.

The officials and people of Jingxiang were very familiar with Liu Qi. They basically watched Liu Qi grow up here. In their eyes, it was Liu Qi who protected Xiangyang.

The war destroyed the original order of Xiangyang, and as a result, the surrounding people generally owned new land.

Xu Si drove behind Liu Qi, and had to pull the reins from time to time to control the speed so as not to get too close and affect Liu Qi's driving.

This is not just a cycling trip, but also a way to show off and demonstrate Liu Qi's special status.

In the crowd on the roadside, Pang Tong was wearing a bamboo hat, a coarse cloth short coat, his trouser legs rolled up and he was barefoot. The mud on his calves had dried and fallen off, leaving traces of mud.

He rubbed the dark green grass juice and dirt on his hands, squinted his eyes and stood behind a farmer, observing the steam bicycle under Liu Qi through the farmer's shoulder.

It was not until Liu Qi passed by that Xi Zhen beside him pulled his arm. Pang Tong understood and took a few steps back to hide in the crowd.

After Liu Qi's guards drove their horses away, the surrounding farmers chatted and laughed with each other and returned to the nearby paddy fields to continue weeding.

Pang Tong and his companions came to the ridge of the field and sat down. Pang Tong drank water from a bamboo tube and sighed softly: "The exquisiteness of the utensils and the wonder of nature are all like this."

It was already the hottest month of June, and Liu Qi issued an order prohibiting officials and civilians from flying Kongming lanterns.

But those who like to do good things have already tried it out. They can't let it fly, but tying it to a rope and letting it fly in the yard is not considered a violation of the rules.

Xi Zhen took the bamboo tube from Pang Tong and drank the water. His entire family suffered a heavy blow. Xi Zhen, who was as famous as Ma Liang, was also considered to have entered Guanzhong early.

But he was also imprisoned. Like other students from Lumenshan, he could only spend his time in Chang'an University and could not find a way to become an official.

Someone beside him whispered, "Since Zhou Yu returned, the north bank has been strictly guarded. Military advisors are requested not to take risks and evacuate as soon as possible."

"Okay, I understand the importance of this."

Pang Tong glanced at the shadows of the trees on the road and said, "Let's go to the dock at dusk. Is the boat ready?"

"It has been properly arranged. Someone will come to gather the workers later. There will be people to pick up the military advisor after he gets on board."

After saying this, the man put on his clerk's cap, stood up, held a round fan in front of his face, and walked away swaying.

Watching the man leave, Xi Zhen spoke up, "Pei Qian's instigation of the old generals of Jiangdong to rebel has saved the court from harm. No wonder the Grand Commander wanted to withdraw his troops. Perhaps he had already sensed the danger."

Lu Yi proposed an attack, but demanded to control the front line and maintain it on the line of Yicheng and Dangyang, not entering the vicinity of Zhonglu and Xianshan.

The idea was to expand the defense area of ​​the Jingzhou army, divide the troops to create pressure, lure the Nanyang troops across the Han River, and then look for opportunities to fight.

There is no need to fight if there are no fighter planes. Anyway, the troops are stationed near the Yangtze River and it is easy to evacuate.

As a result, the Jingzhou army voluntarily withdrew and reduced the defense range; the Nanyang troops were deployed on the north bank of the Han River, forming a pincer attack with Xiangyang, making it even more impossible to fight.

Due to political considerations, no one dared to withdraw troops voluntarily.

Even if Lu Yi resigned due to illness, it still could not change the court's attitude; if Pei Qian had not been worried about the spread of the epidemic and could not help but instigate a rebellion, how many of the troops who participated in the battle would have been able to return when Black Bear sent troops from Lantian?
So even though Lu Yi has resigned, his personal prestige has skyrocketed.

Even Pang Tong, who stood together with Lu Yi, saw his influence increase.

After all, the Southeastern Court had never suffered a major loss. In a state of war, the priority was political gains and losses, rather than victory or defeat or survival.

Fortunately, we have suffered a loss and dealt with a few stubborn old ministers, which will help us to be much more sober in the subsequent war period.

However, the changing situation made the southeastern court overwhelmed. Guanzhong was developing steam engines, flying plans, and even the ascension of a heavenly master.

Like Yuan Huan, Pang Tong also believed that Zhang Lu had committed a crime and was secretly punished; but for some considerations, the shogunate cooperated with the Tianshi Dao and concealed the matter.

Guanzhong received the auspicious sign of cultivating and becoming immortal, and the Tianshi Dao avoided further suppression from the shogunate and also gained the benefit of rapid preaching.

As for Zhang Lu who was secretly executed, his descendants were all given fiefs. Who would come forward to expose the incident?

If you stand up and expose it, no matter how Guanzhong responds, the Tianshi Dao will not agree.

Now the emergence of steam bicycles has given Pang Tong a headache.

With his wisdom, he naturally knew that after Guanzhong developed this technology and achieved effective results, they would definitely build steam battleships.

Without sails, and even with the deck fully covered with protective plates, the power provided by steam can drive the sturdy warship to collide repeatedly.

Once the enemy's steam warship navy built in the upper reaches of the Han River is completed, the natural barrier of the Yangtze River will no longer exist.

Huang Zu's two giant warships, which were built with all the technical strength of Jingzhou, will also lose their suppressive power and will not be able to continue to blockade Hankou.

Not to mention Jiangdong, once Huang Zu was defeated, based on Pang Tong's understanding of the four counties in southern Jing, these four counties would rebel and regard Jian'an as the legitimate dynasty.

There was no movement from Yizhou for a long time, and those people were waiting for the right opportunity. Perhaps while they were waiting, they would form a large navy and go downstream to join the battle for Jingzhou.

Time is running out, and only by getting the steam prototype can he accurately predict the power of this thing.

Is it a toy like the bicycle in Liu Qi's hand, or is it really a military weapon?

As for the flying plan, Pang Tong didn't take it seriously at all.

As Pang Tong and Xi Zhen were talking in low voices, they caught a glimpse of a small inspector walking along the ridge of the field. Like other lazy tenants and hired workers, they jumped into the paddy field and trudged deep into the field. Wuyuan County, Heyin Camp.

After a light rain at night, a thin river fog filled the air in the early morning.

As the sun set, mushrooms appeared everywhere in the camp, and men and women in the camp went out to pick mushrooms with baskets or cloth bags.

Black Bear also led Zhen Mi out to pick mushrooms. Their identities meant that they could not secretly attend the June festivals of the Xiongnu tribes or the Xianbei.

If Zhen Mi was not pregnant, Black Bear would not dare to take her on adventures. Now he could only pick some mushrooms nearby.

Black Bear was quite picky and only kept the straw mushrooms with a strong mushroom smell. Inside a simple layer of curtain, he sat cross-legged on a felt carpet and grilled steak, with mushroom soup in a hanging pot beside him.

Zhen Mi lay on her side on several layers of leather cushions, looking at the vast blue sky with a calm expression, and talked about the little inventions made in Dongxiang during this period.

The main thing is that Huang Yueying improved the flying device. The performance of paper is limited, so Huang Yueying now uses double-layer silk. The fine silk is painted on both sides and glued together. The inside is woven into a basket with fine bamboo strips, and then the slightly hard double-layer silk is glued together and sewn to fix.

The bamboo basket simply serves to support and shape the silk, facilitating the influx of hot air. Once the hot air flows in, it will naturally prop up the double layer of silk, causing it to swell.

After swelling, continue to paint the surface to allow for deeper shaping.

Maybe it was because there was too much paint, and after removing part of the bamboo basket, only the dog was hanging in the air.

Black Bear listened carefully and said, "It's still a little small. The weavers from Shu have gradually moved into Shanglin Garden. I have appointed Qin Mi to be in charge of this weaving commandant's office. They need to improve the loom and weave several layers of silk so that the texture is denser and can hold water without leaking."

It is better for things like Shu brocade to remain in Shu.

He also had no intention of plundering or irritating the fragile hearts of the people in Shu. If he really wanted to move the Shu brocade base to Guanzhong, the wealthy merchants with their large fortunes would be reluctant to let go, but the weavers might not necessarily obey.

Therefore, the people whom Qin Mi moved were mainly second-rate weavers and loom workers.

It would not be enough to rely solely on the silkworm seeds from Shuzhong, so he also wrote to Xiahou Dun, asking him to help collect silkworm seeds from Guandong.

Xiahou Dun would definitely not refuse such a small matter.

If Gan Ning had not been on the expedition to You and Ji last year, he would have led his troops to attack Heluo again and plunder the autumn grain.

If Xiahou Dun doesn't perform well this year, he can forget about having a peaceful year.

It's not like he was asked to rebel or sell out any information about Cao's army. It's just some silkworm seeds and mulberry seedlings. Xiahou Dun can definitely do it.

Zhen Mi had no appetite. She watched the black bear eat and asked, "My dear, how big do you think this flying lantern should be so that it can be hung with a hanging basket and carry people to fly?"

"This first requires improving the shape of the flying lantern."

Black Bear knew that she wanted to compete with Huang Yueying in wisdom, so he patiently explained: "First, we have to figure out why Kongming lanterns can fly. It doesn't matter if we can't figure it out for now, as long as we know that the hot air is rising. Then we have to observe the effect of force. Is the air that people blow out a straight line of air, or a group of scattered air?"

Zhen Mi sat cross-legged and tried to blow twice: "My dear, are you saying that the shape of the barrel-shaped flying lantern is not appropriate?"

"Yes, it should be changed into a spherical shape, with the air mass rising up and the upward force evenly distributed throughout the flying lantern."

Black Bear took a sip of the mushroom soup and said, "You guys do your own thing. If you do well, I will reward you. I can even give her the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households. What I want to make is a fish-like airship, more than ten feet wide, fifty or sixty feet from head to tail. It can not only hang a hanging basket to carry people, but also install a steam engine."

Kirov is the romance of men.

If one is not enough, one can be hung on each wing to drive the fan blades to provide steering and forward power.

An airship is a platform that provides suspended power. As long as it flies at low altitude and avoids high-altitude wind layers as much as possible, it can be used in practice.

We don't even want to imagine that an airship can lift an amphibious warship into the air. It would be amazing if it could reduce the weight pressure on the wheels of the amphibious warship.

After all, this is a toy, a prop to stimulate and guide changes in concepts.

It probably played a huge role during the expedition to South China, as there were profound human resources to be tapped deep in South China.

With an airship, you can cross broken terrain and execute a kind of leapfrog tactics. Each transit station is a collection point for regularly harvesting resources.

These transit points used commercial means to encourage and attract nearby mountain tribes to capture enemy populations in exchange for weapons, daily necessities, luxury goods, and the universal household registration.

When the roads are cleared in the future, only cooperative tribes with traditional friendships will remain around.

It would be convenient to expand all the way to the seaside, and a bigger stage and world would be right in front of us.

With its wealth and population, and the close proximity, Sindhu was a natural stopover.

From this perspective, if Yunnan's terrain was easier to travel and the sea route was opened sooner... then the civilization of that continent would be a blood bag for adventurers.

It was the terrain of Yunnan and Myanmar that saved the whole world.

When the road is opened up, there will be no need for any encouragement on our part. Adventurous people chasing wealth will naturally expand this channel and spread and absorb it in all directions through the real South China Sea.

Before the railway line came into being, the benefits of the Western Regions were actually quite limited.

The real way out for future empires and civilizations lies in the south-central direction.

As for the East China Sea, it is a place to relieve pressure. Let Cao Cao and Liu Bei deal with it. It will be used as a reference sample, which will also facilitate their own research and adjustments.

It's always a good idea to keep more backups.

If you mess up beyond repair, you can still be reborn by parasitizing or using a shell company.

(End of this chapter)