Liu Zhaosun glared ahead, facing two big arrows flying one foot and three feet. He drew his sword and slashed, the cold light of Yanling sword flashed, and the two big arrows shot by Fuzi's crossbow turned into four pieces.
An arrow scraped against the armor blades of Emperor Wu Ding, splashing out dazzling sparks. With a bang, the pontoon was hit with a large hole as thick as the mouth of a bowl, splashing dense sawdust, and Pei Dahu, who was following behind, was splashed with sawdust. Knocked to the ground.
"I am not Xiao Tarin, and Pyongyang is not Chanzhou. You want to shoot me to death, but you are thinking too much!"
Emperor Wu Ding picked up a forgotten spear and threw it with all his strength without looking at it.
The one-foot-two-foot-long birch spear came out of its cave like a dragon, roaring and flying straight to the Seven Star Gate city a hundred steps away.
Under the stunned gaze of Pei Dahu and others, the Korean soldiers standing next to the bed crossbow were stabbed into three or four people like mutton skewers. The power of the spears was not reduced, and they were nailed to the Seven Star Gate tower with the dead.
The top of the Seven Star Gate city immediately fell into panic. The defenders who were watching the scenery behind the crenellations quickly retracted their heads and scrambled to escape behind. Jin Yuhou shouted orders to gather the soldiers.
"Your Majesty is brave!!"
Pei Dahu praised sincerely.
When the soldiers of the Qi army on the north bank saw Emperor Wu Ding's incredible power, they shouted, "Long live the mountain."
Liu Zhaosun looked back at Pei Dahu who climbed up from the ground, and asked with concern: "How are you?"
Pei Dahu said disapprovingly: "It's just a skin injury, it doesn't matter."
"Okay, my new weapon is about to come on stage. It's a surprise for the Pyongyang defenders."
After Emperor Wu Ding said this, he took his servant leader and returned to the formation from the pontoon.
Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of soldiers from the Qi Dynasty, two hot air balloons slowly floated over the Datong River, about three to four hundred meters above the ground. The archers at the top of the Seven Star Gate raised their bows and shot towards the sky, and their arrows rose into the sky. , and fell down before reaching the hanging basket.
Archpriest Francisco spent three years of hard work to design and manufacture the Type 32 hot air balloon, which consists of three parts: a balloon, a hanging basket and a heating device.
The ball skin is made of oil-paper umbrella and silk linen, which is light, strong and has good airtightness - this is the most suitable material for making hot-air balloons that Emperor Wuding can currently provide to the workshop in this era.
The fuel was initially fish oil, lard, peanut oil, castor oil, and camellia oil. However, the supply of these oils was very unstable. The high priest switched to wood gas. The blacksmiths in the workshop experimented repeatedly and finally developed a gas storage tank. A large iron pot with an inlet and an air outlet.
This is the simplest vacuum pump. After many failed attempts and repeated experiments, high-pressure wood gas (hydrogen, carbon monoxide) finally succeeded.
The hot air balloon fuel is finally ready.
Although such a hot air balloon can take people to the sky, it still has certain shortcomings. It is still far away from the steam airship that Emperor Wu Ding wanted. Due to the insufficient energy density of the fuel, the things that the gondola can carry are very limited. Red Forget about siege weapons such as barbarian artillery. Even the squatting cannon cannot be loaded. Only three or four people can be carried to the sky at one time. They can only carry some grenades and explosives. Of course, they can also Handing out leaflets in mid-air.
The first generation of hot air balloons depended entirely on the direction of the wind. On the battlefield, the hot air balloon would float wherever the wind blew, and there was no way to control it manually.
In order 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 captive slaves as experimental products, but they paid a heavy price (according to statistics, every five times the Type 32 hot air balloon flew, After losing control once, falling or being blown away by the wind), Song Yingxing and Francesik, inspired by Emperor Wu Ding, discovered that the direction of airflow at different heights was different, and they quickly gained new ideas:
By controlling the rise and fall of the hot air balloon to reach different heights, the airflow direction at this height is used to control the forward direction of the hot air balloon. Each change of direction will generally be accompanied by a rapid rise and fall.
The gondola is equipped with necessary weapons and food. In order to prevent malfunctions in the air, the hot air balloon also uses a double power system. The workshop imported a large amount of rubber from Southeast Asia, manufactured qualified springs, and finally made a pressure valve. , barometer.
When Lao Songtou Francisco and others loaded the gondola, air bags, burners, and gas storage tanks into the gondola, the first generation of military hot air balloons in Daqi finally took shape.
On the eve of the Eastern Expedition, Emperor Wu Ding officially issued an edict announcing the establishment of the Eleventh Corps, also known as the Flying Corps.
Recruitment conditions for the Flying Corps are extremely stringent.
First: The age is generally not less than 17 years old, not more than 20 years old, and must have received advanced training from Daqi Academy;
Second: Participate in the scientific examination of the first year of Wuding, and the test scores must reach the Jinshi level or above in the province where the candidate is located. The pilot recruitment method is to admit scholars and Jinshi in advance;
Third: Requirements for air force quality, including height, weight, vision and color vision. Specifically, the height is required to be less than seven feet one inch (about two meters) and the weight must not exceed 180 kilograms. Other registration standards required for pilot recruitment;
Fourth: The requirements for loyalty to the emperor and patriotism require that one must be loyal to Da Qi and swear an oath in front of the national flag of Qi (the content is as follows)
“I, So-and-so of the Daqi Empire, hereby completely renounce my citizenship and allegiance to any foreign prince, monarch, country or sovereignty I have previously sworn to. I will support and defend the laws of the Daqi Empire and safeguard the interests of the Daqi Empire. , against all enemies at home and abroad. I will sincerely loyal to the State of Qi. When required by the law, I am willing to take up arms to defend Da Qi. When required by the law, I will perform non-combatant military services for the State of Qi. When required by law, I will do important work for the State of Qi under the command of government officials. I hereby freely swear without any mental barriers, excuses or reservations, please protect me, Emperor Zhenwu!"
Fifth: Other requirements, including mental endurance (not surprised by changes), quick thinking, coordinated movements, and not too ugly.
Sixth: Don’t be fat.
The monthly salary of the flying corps soldiers is three times that of ordinary combat soldiers. There are also monthly subsidies for sugar, cigarettes, rice and other material supplies for the families of the flying corps. One year of service for the flying corps is equal to two years of service for ordinary combat soldiers (mainly from the army). Soldiers can retire early after serving five years.
Daqi’s treatment of the flying corps is not bad. Many recruits heard that there was a flying corps and that the food and salary were so generous, so they came one after another to ask to join. After layers of selection, only three of the 50,000 people were selected in the end. Barely qualified as a pilot.
This is really far from the 500 troops of the flying regiment.
However, with the establishment of the Flying Corps, the era of the Daqi Air Force came.
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The hot air balloon is tied to a special winch with a rope, and there is a basket under the hot air balloon. This is where the scout soldiers stay.
Two pilots stood at an altitude of more than 200 meters, raising telescopes to survey the situation in North Korea. The soldiers constantly corrected the impact points of their own artillery shells.
The pilots used semaphores, and of course it was impossible to tell what they were saying in mid-air with the naked eye. Several artillery officers raised their binoculars and looked up at the sky with their necks raised.
The pilot tied a heavy object to the note and threw it down the hanging basket.
The artillery regiment launched a more violent attack on Pyongyang City based on the gun position corrected by the hot air balloon colonel.
The Korean people in a radius of more than ten miles saw these two "immortals" ascending to the sky. With their knowledge, they could not understand what happened. They just stood on the edge of the battlefield, looking towards this direction.
The instructor Senti suddenly said loudly:
"Dear common people of North Korea, this Emperor Wuding is none other than the son-in-law of Duke Yang. Who is the son-in-law of Duke Yang? He is not only the emperor of the Han people, but also the Heavenly Khan of the grassland. He is also the emperor of our country. The great savior of the country, the food you are eating now is all taken from the army rations of the Qi Dynasty by the Supreme Emperor. That bastard King Li Zhu of Korea left us alone and moved all the rice in the warehouse of the Huanghai Province government to the south. , moved to his Li family’s granary, and watched us freeze to death and starve to death. The great savior, the Supreme Emperor, descended from the sky. The Supreme Emperor has come, and North Korea can be saved. The Supreme Emperor has come, and the good days of the Korean people are coming!”
Bags of food and grass transported from the military camp were distributed in front of the hungry Korean refugees, and they were all distributed in an instant.
"So many people have no food to eat, and it's just a small Huanghai Road. I heard that there are eight roads in North Korea."
Hou Xun said thoughtfully: "So the Supreme Emperor only occupies the Yellow Sea Road this time. At this rate, we can stabilize one or two roads. Once the cannon is fired, there will be ten thousand taels of gold."
Senti whispered: "The Supreme Emperor said that our Eastern Expedition will not only occupy North Korea, but also win over people's hearts."
The Korean War is destined to be a long-term war that cannot be completed overnight.
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