Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 605: First Flight to Yan'an
Western part of Shanglinyuan, near Mei County.

In the Weaving Commandery, Qin Mi flipped through a form with red eyes.

The above is a table of cubic numbers, in units of zhang, and the corresponding lift per cubic volume.

He used many tricks to get this watch.

Zhang Song, who was sitting next to him, was not in a much better mental state. Qin Mi was from the Feiyuan School. Although Zhang Song was researching steam engines, he also paid for research on Kongming lanterns. His competition with Huang Yueying was even more intense.

"Fifteen feet square..."

Qin Mi looked at the cubic table and estimated the material consumption and construction period in his mind.

Seeing his expression, Zhang Song said, "It has been five days since the Heavenly Master's Ghost Official Zheng Congzhi and his wife fell to their deaths from Mount Hua, and the Grand Marshal has also set out on his journey back. We don't have much time left."

Qin Mi waved his hand to interrupt Zhang Song: "Zheng Congzhi is courting death, don't bother with him. I am worried that Huang will take the lead, and I am also concerned about the Grand Marshal. Taishi Wengong and others are good at construction, and it is normal for us to lag behind the shogunate."

Qin Mi didn't care at all about Zheng Congzhi who fell to his death. This man said he had wings on his back, and in fact he was carrying a huge flying kite on his back, thinking of jumping off Mount Hua and landing in the Yellow River.

As a result, he was blown sideways by the mountain wind and lost his balance, falling rapidly into the mountain stream, and his body broke into several pieces.

The Tianshi Dao would naturally confer a title to Zheng Congzhi, erect his statue in the Zhaohua Temple, and marry him to Zhang Lu.

However, the shogunate had no reaction to Zheng Congzhi's death from falling, which is normal. It is no different from jumping off a cliff to death.

If even people who died from falling like this would approve of it, then aren't the herbalists and hunters who died from falling in the mountains many years before more qualified?

If there is enough time, Qin Mi also wants to improve the flying lantern.

Time was really too tight, so they could only take the risk of using the flying kite method.

Qin Mi was also aware of Zhang Song's urgency. Getting the honor of being the first to fly was equivalent to a warrant of immunity from death for the Zhang family.

He still stared at the cubic table and said, "Huang wants to make a flying lantern that is fifteen square, so we will make one that is eighteen square."

From the cubic table, we can see that a space of fifteen square meters has more than three thousand cubic meters, while a space of eighteen square meters has nearly six thousand cubic meters.

Twice the space gap, twice the load difference, is enough to succeed in one go.

Through the cubic number table, it is naturally clear that the larger the number, the easier it is to make.

The fixed length of a piece of cloth is ten zhang, and the task of the Weaving Commandery is to weave wider, longer, denser and stronger cloth.

Qin Mi had no idea what Huang Yueying was thinking, but he was very clear about one thing: the internal supporting structure of the flying lantern was also cubic. The larger the structure, the lower the load-bearing ratio it occupied.

Unable to steal more detailed data from Huang Yueying, he could only build it big enough at a time.

As long as it can fly, it doesn't matter if it lags behind by one step. As long as it can fly, it is not a complete failure.

Unlike Zhang Song, he did not have any mental baggage. As long as he could carry people to fly, Qin Mi would be satisfied.

Qin Mi made a decision, and Zhang Song used charcoal to draw the dimensions on the table, still upset: "Is there any way to find out more?"

"If you try to use tricks again, how can Zhuge Ziyu just sit there and watch?"

Qin Mi placed the cubic number table in front of Zhang Song and patted him on the shoulder: "This is a competition encouraged by the Grand Marshal. It gives the Huang family an opportunity, and it also gives us opportunities. It is not appropriate to ask for more."

"Eh……"

Zhang Song sighed. He also understood that if the Grand Marshal wanted to have the whole thing to himself, he would definitely make it first and then announce it, instead of announcing it first.

He had experienced the imitation and improvement of steam engines and knew very well how difficult it was to make steam engines.

In comparison, the flying vehicle is simpler and just takes time to perfect its structure.

Research Institute, late at night.

The air was cool, and the experimental prototype flying lantern slowly rose into the sky again.

Huang Yueying looked up and said to the female guards around her, "That's enough. Come down."

The two female guards worked together to pull the rope and slowly drag the flying lantern down. In the bamboo basket were nine iron ingot weights weighing one pound each.

At noon, this flying lantern can only carry 8.8 catties into the air.

The maids around could also figure out the reason: hot air is light, while cold air is heavy.

The air is warm at noon, so the flying lanterns have low lift; the air is cold and heavy in the early morning and midnight, which further highlights the lightness of the flying lanterns.

Huang Yueying ordered people to store the prototype flying lantern in a warehouse and seal it before returning to the tent and taking notes.

During the period of time she has been in charge, her features and temperament have become more capable, and even her clothing has become more neutral.

He stared blankly at the iron stove in the tent, weighing the issue of success or failure.

The people of Tianshi Dao were fanatical and fearless, but the shogunate did not respond after they fell to their death. This shows that after taking people to the sky, they must land safely, and Zheng Congzhi's death also made her calm down a lot.

But the honor of the first flight could never be given to outsiders, and the young sisters in the tribe were not lacking in courage.

But if someone falls to death after taking off, or encounters strong winds or other extreme disasters, the public pressure behind this will definitely be huge.

She had received a reply from Zhen Mi, and the new flying lantern was based on the outline of the drawing that Zhen Mi gave her.

I’m afraid that Da Sima has some reservations and has a more advanced outline.

She had known Da Sima for a long time, and based on her understanding, she had long concluded that Da Sima had experimented with manned flight before.

And the current encouragement may just be a game to entertain the officials, people and scholars in Guanzhong.

Just as she was thinking about it, on the Qinzhi Road, at the Yan'an Post Station.

Black Bear's hot air balloon has completed the final assembly. The cloth was folded several layers when sewing it, the stitches are dense, and the seams are like reinforced ribs.

Reinforcing bars hang down and are tied to the round ring of the rattan basket.

In the middle of the wicker basket was a very simple stove, so simple that it looked like a chimney.

This is a copper coil furnace with a diameter of one foot and a length of thirteen feet, fixed and set in the middle of the rattan basket.

The bottom is sealed, and there are many air intake holes within three feet above; then there is the combustion chamber.

There is an openable and closable furnace mouth under the combustion chamber. Black Bear watched as Lu Bu handed in the burning match.

The charcoal and coke accumulated in the combustion chamber are quickly ignited. Under the chimney effect, air rushes up along the copper pipe, and fresh air is continuously inhaled from the air holes at the bottom.

The hot air balloon at the top was soft and spread around the simple wooden shed, but as the hot air rose, the inside of the balloon bulged, vibrated, and slowly propped up.

Black Bear took out his notebook and began to record his ideas and suggestions for improvements. At least the natural aspiration of the chimney effect needed to be changed, and a gear structure needed to be added, which would be shaken by puppet soldiers to enhance the air intake strength. This reminded him of the hand-cranked blower used in rural stoves.

As the hot air balloon gradually inflated, the night wind blew, causing the wicker basket to sway gently.

A circle of retainers stood at the edge of the rattan basket. Each of them was very excited and pressed down the basket with trembling arms.

More guards were holding torches outside the wooden shed to illuminate the air. As the hot air balloon inflated, the crude wooden shed that helped with takeoff became a hindrance and was being quickly dismantled by a group of guards.

The wooden shed was dismantled, and Black Bear controlled Lu Bu to throw charcoal and coke into the fuel room.

Fa Zheng began to give orders, assisting the shogunate officials who were holding back the goods to let go and retreat in an orderly manner.

When there were only four people left, the situation became uncontrollable.

The four of them looked at each other, and Fa Zheng shouted, "Let go!"

As a result, the three men let go and stepped back. Wei Kang widened his eyes and gritted his teeth, holding on tightly, with his feet on the edge of the rattan basket.

The hot air balloon, which was about six meters in diameter, was blown southward by the wind. The wicker basket shook violently, and Wei Kang let go in fear and fell off.

There were four ropes connected to the bottom of the rattan basket, and each rope was held by more than a dozen personal soldiers.

They controlled it carefully, looking up at the hot air balloon slowly floating up to a height of seventy or eighty feet in the night sky. There, Lu Bu stood in the middle of the wicker basket, not even holding on to the basket.

The rattan basket swayed, and the top of the copper furnace, which was more than ten feet high, gushed out orange flames and heat waves. Under the reflection of this light, the figure of Lu Bu, who was wearing a white robe and a white scarf wrapped around his head and face, also swayed with the rattan basket, but he always stood steadily in the middle.

Wei Kang didn't care about his sore butt. He took out his notebook and pen and quickly wrote down: On the night of July 19th, the 11th year of Jian'an, the Grand Marshal built a hot air balloon at Yan'an Posthouse, with the help of the officials of the shogunate. Sima Qian was the first to board the balloon, which flew more than ten feet into the night sky.

As Lu Bu added fuel again, the middle of the slender copper furnace beside it had already burned red.

Black Bear waved to his bodyguards and slowly released more ropes.

The hemp ropes used to be carried were too heavy, so now we use braided cowhide ropes, which are connected front to back, and each coil is no less than two hundred feet long.

When it rose more than thirty feet, the hot air balloon flew south, and the rope pulled the wicker basket north, with the tilt angle becoming larger and larger.

Seeing this, the black bear knew that he could no longer fly: "Descend!"

The personal soldiers pulled at the leather ropes together, and some retainers came closer to help arrange the ropes.

As the rattan basket was lowered steadily, bags of sand were thrown into it, and it finally stabilized.

Fa Zheng came in front of the black bear and opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out.

Black Bear raised his hand and patted Fa Zheng's shoulder. He knew what he wanted to say, so he said, "Wait until the weather is clear tomorrow and then try flying again. After General Taishi, you can fly again, sir!"

Fa Zheng nodded repeatedly, but his breathing became more rapid.

(End of this chapter)