These days, the battle between the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division and the Jinyi Guards was in full swing, and bloodshed often occurred, but Xu Yuan handled it perfectly every time.
When Chen Kan saw this, he completely delegated power to him.
The original intention of Zhu Di asking Chen Kan to establish the Five-City Military and Horse Division was to control the Jinyiwei, and the two departments would supervise all officials at the same time.
When there is a conflict between the Jin Yiwei and hundreds of officials, the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division will jump out to make a fool of themselves and save the innocent officials who fall into the hands of the Jin Yiwei.
Now that the Five Cities Military and Horse Division is gradually on the right track, Chen Kan will no longer interfere too much.
Nowadays, he plays more of a role as the boss behind the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division. His main task is to rely on his own connections to deal with the Sixth Division and Zhu Di.
The day-to-day management of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division is all decided by Xu Yuan.
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, in the depth of winter, the North Country was already a scene of thousands of miles of ice and snow.
Jiangnan has officially entered winter.
Although there is no snow, it is common for lakes to freeze.
It coincided with the Imperial Academy's hiatus, so Chen Kan set the day for the first flight of the hot air balloon as today.
In the jubilant Chen Mansion, red lanterns were hung everywhere and happy words cut from red paper were pasted on them.
Anyone who comes to see it knows that the Chen family's happy event is about to happen.
A thin layer of broken ice formed on the small lake where water was diverted from the Qinhuai River.
Chen Kan was wearing a fox fur cloak and standing on the edge of the small lake, accompanied by Yuncheng. Behind them were many servants of the Chen family who were busy.
Chen Kan's real contribution to making a hot air balloon was just a drawing. The sewing of the entire hot air balloon was completed by the craftsmen invited by Shibafang led by servants in the mansion.
Now, they will also assemble it according to the drawings.
Chen Kan let them do what they wanted. He breathed into the palm of his hand, then squatted down and picked up a thin piece of broken ice from the lake.
Putting the crushed ice into his mouth, a moment later, a chewing sound of "click...click..." came from his mouth.
"The weather is getting colder and colder. This is the first time in all my years that I have seen the Qinhuai River freeze."
Yuncheng felt a little emotional. As a true Jiangnan native, he grew up in a warm climate environment since he was a child.
It is indeed rare for living water to freeze.
Chen Kan wiped his hands on the fox fur and said lightly: "In a few years, it won't be surprising to see heavy snowfall in the south of the Yangtze River."
"Will it snow heavily in Jiangnan?"
Yuncheng was noncommittal about Chen Kan's words. He did not refute, but obviously he would not agree.
Snow in the south of the Yangtze River is not uncommon, but most of it is delicate light snow, which usually melts the next day. It is impossible to have heavy snowfall like in the north for several months.
Seeing that he didn't believe it, Chen Kan didn't say much.
Later historians pushed the start of the Little Ice Age from the Ming Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty. The Mongol people's southward movement is the best evidence.
But in fact, the cold climate really affected the Central Plains Dynasty starting from the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty.
Since the Xuande period, the Ming Dynasty has experienced severe droughts and floods year after year. By the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, even Dongting Lake was covered with a foot of ice.
The small rivers and rivers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are generally frozen, and people walking on the rivers feel like walking on flat ground.
This situation will continue until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. These things are clearly recorded in history books.
The thin layer of ice on the small lake in front of me is just the beginning.
Seeing the hot air balloon being assembled, Chen Kan stopped thinking about those messy things.
It's useless to think about it, it just adds to worries. After all, things like the Little Glacier Natural Disaster cannot be changed by humans, even if he is a time traveler.
Chen Kan walked up to the soft hot air balloon and saw a huge word "happy" on the hot air balloon. He smiled unconsciously at the corner of his mouth.
The servants of the Chen Mansion were very creative. They not only painted the entire hot air balloon red, but also painted many festive patterns on the ball, such as yellow bats and the like.
Although the shape of the balloon is not as exquisite as that of later generations, Chen Kan is still very satisfied.
"Son."
"The hot air balloon has been assembled. Do you want to try the effect?"
"Of course I have to try!"
Facing the craftsman's inquiry, Chen Kan couldn't help but look like a fool.
This is something used to get a wife. If you don’t try the effect, what if something happens to you?
"ignition!"
Chen Kan gave an order, and the servants of Chen Mansion quickly used various tools to open the huge sphere.
The frame underneath the balloon used to carry people is made of thin bamboo strips in order to reduce gravity.
The fuel is kerosene that has been distilled and purified by Chen Kan, and is also equipped with a small blast box. The worry is that the fire is too small and the heat generated is not enough.
The fuel was ignited, and the fire snakes sprang up as if they wanted to devour anyone.
The flames rushed into the sphere, and the originally deflated sphere slowly expanded.
In less than a stick of incense, a huge sphere began to swing into the sky in the backyard of Chen's house. If it weren't for the many sandbags placed in the bamboo basket in advance to increase the weight, it would have left the ground long ago.
The servants looked at the huge sphere suspended in mid-air, their eyes wide open.
This big thing was sewn by them?
Incredible!
Yuncheng, who was standing next to Chen Kan, was also a little stunned.
When Chen Kan told him about the hot air balloon, he only told him that it was a large Kongming Lantern, but... this was too big, right?
He asked suspiciously: "Sir, are you sure this thing can carry people to the sky and won't fly away in a flash?"
Chen Kan said nonchalantly: "There is a traction rope, what are you afraid of!"
The principle of a hot air balloon is no different from that of a Kong Ming Lantern. They both use the physical principle of thermal expansion and contraction to heat the air to make it explode, become lighter in specific gravity and rise upwards.
In future generations, anyone who has studied junior high school physics can create it.
Therefore, Chen Kan didn't feel any sense of accomplishment at all when looking at this primitive and crude hot air balloon 1.0 version.
But in the Ming Dynasty, such a large Kongming Lantern was still very bluffing.
At least Yuncheng and all the Chen family's servants looked at Chen Kan with shock in their eyes.
It's okay for this young master to be in a high position at a young age, and it's no problem for the district princess, but how did he come up with such a thing as a hot air balloon?
Kongming lanterns have been popular in China for thousands of years. Why has no one thought of enlarging the sky lanterns a thousand or ten thousand times to carry people?
Now no one doubts whether this large sky lantern can fly. They are only curious about how their young master's brain grows.
Why couldn't they think of it?
"Okay, take it!"
Chen Kan accepted the adoring gazes of his servants one by one, then opened the bamboo door of the bamboo basket and walked in.
