The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 520 Flying Corps
Liu Zhaosun glared at the front, facing two 13-foot-long arrows flying towards him. He drew his sword and slashed. The goose-feather sword flashed with a cold light, and the two arrows shot from the crossbow broke into four pieces.

An arrow grazed the armor plate of Emperor Wu Ding, splashing dazzling sparks. With a bang, it knocked a hole as big as a bowl in the floating bridge, splashing dense wood chips. Pei Dahu, who was following behind, was knocked to the ground by the splashing wood chips.

"I am not Xiao Talin, and Pyongyang is not Chanzhou. If you want to shoot me to death, you're overthinking it!"

Emperor Wuding picked up a discarded spear and threw it with all his might without even looking at it.

The twelve-foot-long birch spear flew out of a cave like a dragon, whistling and heading straight for the Seven Star Gate city wall a hundred steps away.

Under the dumbfounded gaze of Pei Dahu and others, the Korean soldiers standing next to the crossbow were stabbed like lamb skewers, with three or four of them being stabbed. The power of the spears did not decrease, and they nailed the dead bodies to the Qixingmen tower.

The top of the Qixingmen city wall immediately fell into panic. The defenders who were just watching the scenery from behind the battlements quickly retracted their heads and fled to the back in a scramble. Jin Yuhou shouted loudly to gather the soldiers.

“Your Majesty is truly brave!!”

Pei Dahu praised sincerely.

When the Qi soldiers on the north bank saw the extraordinary power of Emperor Wu Ding, they shouted "Long live the Emperor!"

Liu Zhaosun looked back at Pei Dahu who had gotten up from the ground and asked with concern, "How are you?"

Pei Dahu said disapprovingly: "It's just a superficial wound, it's nothing serious."

"Well, my new weapon is about to be used, as a surprise for the Pyongyang defenders."

After Emperor Wuding had said this, he took his chief retainer and retreated from the pontoon bridge back to the main formation.

Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of Qi Dynasty soldiers, the two hot air balloons slowly floated over the Taedong River, about three or four hundred meters above the ground. Archers on the top of the Seven Stars Gate raised their bows and shot arrows into the sky. The arrows rose into the air and fell before they reached the hanging basket.

The high priest Francisco spent three years to design and manufacture the Type 32 hot air balloon, which consists of three parts: a balloon, a basket and a heating device.

The balloon skin is made of oil-paper umbrellas and silk linen. It is light, strong and has good airtightness. This is the most suitable material for making hot air balloons that Emperor Wu Ding can provide to the workshop at this time.

The fuel used at first was fish oil, lard, peanut oil, castor oil, and tea oil. However, the supply of these oils was very unstable, so the high priest switched to wood gas. The workshop blacksmiths conducted repeated experiments and finally developed a gas storage tank, a large iron pot with an inlet and an outlet.

This is the simplest vacuum pump. After many failed attempts and repeated experiments, high-pressure wood gas (hydrogen, carbon monoxide) was finally successful.

The hot air balloon fuel is finally available.

Although such a hot air balloon can take people to the sky, it still has certain shortcomings and is still a long way from the steam airship that Emperor Wu Ding wanted. Due to the insufficient fuel energy density, the things that the basket can carry are very limited. Forget about siege weapons such as the Red Cannon, and even the Tiger Crouching Cannon cannot be loaded. The number of people that can be carried into the sky at one time is at most three or four people, and it can only carry some grenades and explosives. Of course, it can also distribute leaflets to the enemy in mid-air.

The first generation of hot air balloons relied entirely on wind direction. On the battlefield, the hot air balloon would float in whichever direction the wind blew, and human power was completely unable to control it.

To control the free movement of the hot air balloon, the workshop and the Ministry of War conducted repeated experiments in Liaodong, using live chickens, sheep, and even captured Jiannu as experimental subjects. After paying a heavy price (according to statistics, one out of every five flights of the Type 32 hot air balloon lost control and crashed or was blown away by the wind), Song Yingxing and Francis Crick, inspired by Emperor Wu Ding, discovered that the direction of airflow varied at different altitudes. They soon gained a new idea:

By controlling the hot air balloon's ascent and descent to reach different altitudes, and using the direction of the airflow at this altitude to control the balloon's forward direction, each change of direction will generally be accompanied by rapid ascent and descent.

The basket is equipped with necessary weapons and food. In order to prevent malfunctions in the air, the hot air balloon also uses a dual power system. The workshop imported a large amount of rubber from Southeast Asia and produced springs that met the requirements, and finally made a pressure valve and a barometer.

When Old Songtou Francisco and others installed the basket, airbag, burner and gas tank onto the basket, Da Qi's first generation of military hot air balloon was finally formed.

On the eve of the Eastern Expedition, Emperor Wu Ding officially issued an edict announcing the establishment of the 11th Corps, also known as the Flying Corps.

The recruitment requirements for the Flying Corps are extremely strict. First, the age must be no less than 17 and no more than 20 years old, and must have received advanced training at the Daqi Academy;
Second: Participate in the imperial examination in the first year of Wuding, and the examination score must reach the level of Jinshi or above in the candidate's province. The flight group recruits pilots in advance of the Xiucai and Jinshi grades.

Third: Requirements for air force qualifications, including height, weight, vision, and color vision. Specifically, the height must be less than seven feet one inch (about two meters) and the weight must not exceed 180 kilograms. Other registration standards required for the recruitment of pilots;
Fourth: The requirement of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism requires that one must pledge allegiance to the Great Qi and swear an oath before the Qi flag (content is as follows)

"I, a native of a certain county in a certain prefecture in a certain province of the Great Qi Empire, now join the Imperial Air Corps and completely renounce my citizenship and loyalty to any foreign prince, monarch, country, or sovereignty I previously held. I will support and defend the laws of the Great Qi Empire's military, safeguard the interests of the Great Qi Empire, and fight all enemies both domestically and internationally. I will sincerely serve the State of Qi. When the law requires, I am willing to take up arms to defend the State of Qi. When the law requires, I will perform non-combat military service for the State of Qi. When the law requires, I will perform important work for the State of Qi under the direction of government officials. I swear this oath freely, without any mental obstacles, excuses, or reservations. May the Great Emperor Zhenwu bless me!"

Fifth: Other requirements include psychological endurance (remaining calm in the face of adversity), quick thinking, coordinated movements, and not being too ugly.

Sixth: Don’t be fat, even if it’s just puffiness
The monthly salary of a combat soldier in the Aviation Corps is three times that of an ordinary combat soldier. The families of the combat soldiers also receive monthly subsidies of sugar, cigarettes, rice and other supplies. One year of service for a combat soldier is equivalent to two years of service for an ordinary combat soldier (mainly in the army). A combat soldier can retire early after five years of service.

The treatment of the Flying Corps was very high. Many recruits heard that there was such a branch of the military and that the food and salary were so generous, so they rushed to request to join. After layers of selection, out of 50,000 people, only 50 people barely met the requirements of Flying Corps.

This is far from the 500-man troop strength of the flying regiment.

The establishment of the Flying Corps marked the beginning of the era of military exploits for the Imperial Air Force.

~~~~
The hot air balloon is tied to a special winch with a rope. There is a basket underneath the hot air balloon, which is where the reconnaissance soldiers live.

Two pilots stood more than 200 meters above the ground, raised their binoculars to survey the situation inside Pyongyang, recorded various data, and corrected the landing points of their own artillery shells.

The pilots communicated with the ground using flag signals. It was impossible to make out what they were saying with the naked eye because it was too far away. The two artillery officers raised their binoculars and craned their necks to look up at the sky.

Han Zhenyi cursed. Ever since the flying corps joined the war, he had to keep his neck tilted back in this position for three or four hours every day. Years of lumbar disc herniation and tenosynovitis were cured without treatment.

"Damn it! Artillery used to be the most valuable, but now it's changed!"

Wang Congzhi had no time to comfort his mentally unbalanced companion. He took a note that fell from the sky and immediately ordered the correction of the artillery position.

"Raise the heavy artillery two inches, the infantry guns one foot back, fire three salvos, fire!"

The Korean people within a radius of more than ten miles saw the two "immortals" rising into the sky. With their knowledge, they had no idea what was happening. They just stood at the edge of the battlefield, looking over here curiously.

The instructor, Sen Ti, suddenly said loudly:

"Dear fellow Koreans, this Emperor Wuding is none other than Yang Gong's son-in-law. Who is Yang Gong's son-in-law? He is not only the emperor of the Han people, but also the Heavenly Khan of the grassland and the great savior of our Korean nation. The food you eat now was taken out of the Daqi army rations by the retired emperor. That damn Korean King Li Jong didn't care about us and moved all the rice in the warehouse of the Hwanghae Province government office to the south, to his Li family granary, and watched us freeze to death and starve to death. Heaven has sent down the retired emperor, the great savior. The retired emperor is here, Korea is saved. The retired emperor is here, and good days for the Koreans are here!"

Bags of food and fodder transported from the military camp were distributed to the hungry Korean refugees and were instantly sold out.

"North Korea still has eight provinces. When will this waste of food and distribution to the poor ever end?"

Xie Yangruo looked up at the two black dots in the distant sky dropping bombs on Pyongyang:
"At this rate, we can only hold onto one or two roads at best. Once the cannon fires, we'll be rich..."

Sen Ti was a little displeased and said coldly:

"The Emperor said that this Eastern Expedition is not only to occupy Korea, but also to win over the people's hearts."

"But winning over people's hearts is the hardest thing, and it costs a lot of money."

Looking at the hungry people rushing forward like a swarm of pupae, Xie Yang became more and more aware that the Korean War was destined to be a long-term war and could not be ended overnight.

(End of this chapter)