open sea

Chapter 857 Black Pot
From the very beginning of hot air balloons, Ye Mengxiong believed that the marine balloons used for reconnaissance and command could be used for war.

In the 23rd year of Hongwu, Wanhu Tao Chengdao, a firearms expert of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang, proved with his life that 47 rockets could not make people fly. After him, no one can make himself fly.

Now they can, as long as they are pulled by a rope, they can fly up if they want to fly up, and fall down if they want to fall down.

There is no ship or gun in this world that is designed to hit things in the sky. They are invincible at a height of more than thirty feet.

Ye Mengxiong knew at the first sight of the ship that this thing should have weapons.

At the beginning of this year, he tried to mount a long lead palm mine on the ship's lookout ball, and launch an attack on the enemy ship coming against the wind while looking out, but the effect was not as good as he imagined.

The palm mine is difficult to aim in the air, and the flag army in the hot air balloon is not so accurate in calculating the direction. Throwing ten palm mines may eventually land on none of them accurately, especially when attacking slowly moving ships. Accuracy is worse.

However, this blow did not make him discouraged. In spring, Ye Mengxiong took advantage of the east wind and released two hot air balloons that were not tethered. They floated westward for nearly twenty miles, and they landed almost at Tianjin Wei. Come greatly encouraged.

It shows that it can be used not only at sea, but also in land warfare, and the army formation of land warfare is much larger than that of sea warfare. As long as the wind blows well, twenty or thirty hot air balloons filled with thunder palms float over the enemy camp at night, what will happen? What is the situation?

For this reason, Ye Mengxiong, who was born as a Jinshi in the past six months, even compiled a set of books issued internally by Beiyang generals, called "Tianhuolu", which specifically explained issues such as the production of hot air balloons, wind direction identification, and land warfare use.

Later, hot air balloons did not contain thunder in the palm. They were ignited with kerosene in clay pots and thrown downwards. When they hit the deck or the ground and shattered, a sea of ​​flames would explode. If it loses the ability to continue fighting, it will be completely burned if it is not handled well.

After that, the Beiyang Military Government began to work in the direction of materials science, looking for denser, thinner and more heat-resistant fabrics, and looking for fuels that can provide longer-lasting heat.

Then they found an upward gas in the coking plant, coal gas, but Li Shizhen, the person in charge of obtaining this gas, preferred to name it "light gas" because the preparation method is similar to "Compendium of Materia Medica Jinbu Mercury Powder", Mercury powder is also called light powder, and it is also upward.

Then of course there are flying fish.

"No, flying fish can't appear in Dayue's Beijing. Could it be that Xu Weidu didn't see what it looks like?"

This shocking thing appeared in front of Xu Jue's eyes, his first thought was naturally to show the emperor, Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao to please the nobles.

Knowing that it was not a monster, but a weapon created by people, Xu Jue was no longer afraid.

But Ye Mengxiong had a different idea from him. In the official hall of the Beiyang Yamen, Ye Mengxiong flipped his hands and said: "This is not the first flying fish. We released one a month ago. It leaked and ignited when the flag army in the air lit the fuel tank. The whole flying fish exploded, and the Banner Army was burnt to pieces."

Xu Jue could imagine the tragedy just by hearing it, so he paused and said, "I think this one is pretty good. It flies with the wind, burns the warship, and the flag army lands safely. It's pretty good."

The official hall was very quiet. Xu Jue didn't know what he said wrong to make Ye Mengxiong so silent. He saw the important minister of Beiyang raised his hand and pinched the center of his eyebrows, and asked with a worried expression: "Do you think it is a plan to burn the flying fish before landing?" ?”

"It's not a hot air balloon. It should be able to fly for two or three hours. Although no one knows where it will go, it shouldn't fall down so quickly, and it shouldn't be burned. Let it go to Beijing—you think Let it burn Chengtianmen?"

"This... isn't that a plan?"

Xu Jue pursed his lips in embarrassment: "Then, I'm afraid this flying fish will have to be improved before His Majesty can watch it."

"Improvement, Beiyang has a lot to improve, and Ye doesn't have so much energy. Maybe it will be better to equip the flying fish with a rudder next time? Let it swim in the sky."

Another failure made Ye Mengxiong temporarily uninterested in discussing this matter. He sat upright and asked Xu Jue: "The imperial court wants to go to Beijing for a grand review before the third phase?"

Xu Jue hadn't gotten over the novelty brought by the flying fish, so he nodded in response, and continued: "Then the flying fish can carry heavy things to the sky, even as heavy as Xu, can it go up?"

"Xu Weidu looked like he didn't weigh [-] catties."

Ye Mengxiong looked at Xu Jue's roundness and chuckled alone, and said, "Why does Your Majesty want to read?"

"Hey! It's not all caused by King Lu. I heard that it was King Lu who wanted to watch the military parade at first. If the emperor wants to see this matter, he will inevitably be punished. It's different for King Lu. Whoever made him suffer a bit from the Queen Mother Wronged, crying like a wolf, I can't stop."

"Later the Empress Dowager told Her Majesty about this matter, and His Majesty asked the old man and the Secretary of the Ministry of War what they meant during the lecture. His Majesty was young and mature, and thought of the original bad thing as a good thing, thinking that the military parade can boost the morale of the army and honor military virtue .”

"Simply make the military parade a normal one, limited to the consumption of financial resources, so it was initially scheduled to be held once a year, and the Beiyang Army that is about to go to sea is scheduled to be held in February. The five most capable members of the Hundred Household Department and outstanding young generals went to Beijing to review."

While talking, Xu Jue shook his head with emotion, raised his two fingers on the table and counted several times, and said: "Don't look at your majesty's young age, he is very wise, these generals can be summoned by your majesty to participate in the palace banquet after the military parade, and then come to Beiyang, for a three-month study and exchange."

"Your Majesty will come here to have a look at that time. This is to let Beiyang shoulder a heavy responsibility!"

Xu Jue looked at Ye Mengxiong and said, "Both the cabinet and Wang Butang of the Ministry of War think His Majesty's proposal is very good. Now they are making careful arrangements for the military parade. They must use means to make the provincial capitals prepare for each grand parade for three years. Let them Be vigilant at all times, and do not waste your strength."

Ye Mengxiong heard that the emperor was so wise, and he bowed his hands to the sky with an old-fashioned look of comfort. He was also very emotional, and finally shook his head and said: "This King Lu, it is definitely not good for the court to be so favored by the vassal king. You should call him Fan early."

"You see, who says it's not?"

Xu Jue clapped his hands together and said: "You are not the only one who has this idea, Mr. Ye, all the people in the military department and the household department also have this idea. I hope that King Lu will go to Yazhou to become a feudal clan, but I heard that there is still a war there. There is really no other way, I just hope that Chen Shuai will expel Xiyi early, build a prince's mansion for King Lu, and send things away! It's a pity that His Majesty is not happy, and he doesn't know the use of King Lu staying in the palace."

Being able to be a monster like this when I was young, it's probably a disaster when I grow up!

"Yep!"

Xu Jue slapped his head as he said, and said: "There is still a business. I heard that this year, there are many disabled and wounded soldiers in the first phase of Beiyang who are waiting to be resettled. If there are talented candidates, don't forget to give Nanzhen Fusi keeps it, and this department plans to equip Tiqi with pistols, and needs some bird gun instructors."

(End of this chapter)