In fact, the hot air balloon produced by the research institute is much more advanced than Sun Xiangfu imagined, first of all, it is very unexpected in the selection of materials, the textile factory can currently weave the tightest silk, even if it uses a double layer, it is also very light.

Moreover, they brushed animal glue on these tightly woven silk cloths, which not only made them impermeable, but also did not look as hard as brushing shoe soles, and their hanging baskets were also made of hard rattan like later generations, which were not only light, but also mitigated the impact when they fell to the ground.

As for the heating fuel, it uses purified fierce fire oil, which also came into Li Shimin's sight after the Battle of Yanjin, because the unpurified fierce fire oil burned up and the smoke billowed out, Sun Xiangfu first saw this kind of crude oil that was only slightly filtered with sand, and proposed that this thing should have a better form, and then, the research institute began purification research.

In fact, there is not much difficulty in the purification of crude oil, that is, distillation and refining at different temperatures, but the safety is a little difficult to control, but now the demand for this kind of refined fire oil in the society is not large, and only a small amount of heated balloons are used, which is no problem at all.

Then, when the craftsmen made several more labor-saving rope winches at the request of Sun Xiangfu and installed them in the hanging baskets, the people in Shanyang City had a lively look.

Four colorful hot air balloons rose in four directions outside the city, fixed the approximate position by ropes, and the corresponding connected ropes were thrown on the winch, and finally connected with the large hot air balloon that was heated in the north of the city.

The people of the whole city are boiling for the launch of the hot air balloon, like crazy chasing the hot air balloon, everyone has too much curiosity about this kind of thing that can fly in the Tianshan Mountains, and even many people knelt on the street, which is like a miracle for the ancients.

"Well, it looks like we should have said hello to the people of the city in advance."

In the hanging basket, Sun Xiangfu and Yan Liben looked at the hot people under their feet, and kept beating drums in their hearts, on the side of the hanging basket, on a small desk, Sun Xiaomei's eyes were staring at a few small hourglasses, and on the scale of the amount of oil, she needed to calculate the fuel consumption more finely.

"Yes! But don't worry, Shanyang City's security management ability is still very strong. ”

"I mean, you should do a good job of publicity in advance to prevent them from being so superstitious." Sun Xiangfu pointed to the many kneeling people in the city.

"It's the nature of the people to be in awe of the unknown, so that they can maintain the sacredness of the imperial power, does Zhengming think there is anything wrong?"

"Of course not, today they can be confused by a hot air balloon launch, and tomorrow, they will also be confused because of other unknown things, or they will be instigated by others, or deceived by others, we should let them get used to looking at these unknown things rationally."

Yan Lide thought for a moment, and felt that what Sun Xiangfu said was indeed true, during the Three Kingdoms period, there were warlocks from Taiping Dao who instigated the people to rebel, which eventually led to the princes supporting their own troops and the imperial power falling aside, which is also a greater national security risk, so that the people are accustomed to looking at these unknown things rationally, which will make them have a stronger ability to resist religious superstition.

"In that case, after that, let's put up a list and explain it to the people."

"It's not enough to just explain, I think, let the people come up and experience it themselves, it will be better, the research funds of the Ministry of Industry Research Institute can't all rely on the expenditure of the imperial court, like this hot air balloon technology, in fact, it can be used in exchange for a lot of funds, and then use these funds to do other more aspects of technical research. If Shanyang purchases 20 hot air balloons from the research institute and uses them to open them to the people for an aerial sightseeing experience, I believe that many people are willing to pay a high price to take them. ”

Hearing this, Yan Lide's eyes lit up, no matter what department it is, it is easier to do things if you have money in your hands, and the main expenses of the imperial court like the Ministry of Industry have more sources of money, which is naturally better, but there is still a problem, this is set to the technical secrecy, after the joy, Yan Lide frowned again and said, "Your Majesty once said that these new technologies must be kept secret, once they are mastered by the people, I am afraid that there will be a lot of trouble." ”

When Sun Xiangfu heard this, he smiled and said, "There are many people who know the principle of the sky lantern lifting, but why don't people make a hot air balloon like this that can carry people to the sky?"

Because, most of the people do not understand material science, want to understand this, to create this hot air balloon, they need to systematically learn to master some physical knowledge, learn these things more people, will let the Ministry of Industry Research Institute recruit more successor talents, research more complex technology, in the long run, the benefits will definitely outweigh the disadvantages.

Besides, at present, even if the imperial court opens it to the people to experience, but the whole set of things is still in the hands of the imperial court, and within a certain period of time, there is no problem in keeping it secret, and the more it is used, everyone will have a better understanding of its shortcomings, thereby promoting the progress of its manufacturing technology. ”

Since Sun Xiangfu said that the head is the Tao, Yan Lide naturally didn't want to say anything more, and said, "In this case, it is necessary for Zhengming and the old man to play to His Majesty together, in addition, if this matter is successful, I am afraid that I will have to open a factory in Weinan to specialize in production, and the researchers of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry are only responsible for technical research." ”

"These are small problems, I will go back and say hello to my subordinates, I believe that major cities are very willing to develop such a tourism project, and when the time comes, it is necessary to train more ground staff to provide services for hot air balloons."

"Everything will be arranged by Lao Zhengming."

The two of them were in the hanging basket, and the project was finalized, until almost two hours later, when the hanging basket returned to the position of the school field and landed, hundreds of thousands of people had gathered outside the gate of the barracks, looking into the camp.

"Young Master Sun, Your Majesty asks you to explain the matter of this sky lantern to the people clearly."

Hearing this, Sun Xiangfu and Yan Lide looked at each other and smiled, it seems that Li Shimin also saw these things more thoroughly, so Sun Xiangfu asked people to write a notice, and personally explained the general situation of the hot air balloon to the people in front of the barracks, which made the people who understood the truth of the matter sigh.

It turns out that the sky lantern made by someone on the Shangyuan Festival every year can carry people to the sky to fly after some improvements, but the people are more curious about what is in the sky, this thing called a hot air balloon, can go to heaven and see the gods.

For this reason, Sun Xiangfu had to do some popular science for the people on the spot, saying, "There is actually nothing in the sky, only water vapor evaporates and cools, and the clouds are formed." As for the immortals you are talking about, I think that it is only a spiritual belief and does not actually exist, and those who want to go to heaven to see the immortals will probably be disappointed, because after reaching a certain height, people will not be able to survive at all. ”

"This, how is this possible? There are no gods in the sky?······"

"Yes! Where do all the gods we usually worship live······?"

"Buddha, it should be in the Western Heaven Elysium, not in our heaven, so they didn't see ······"

······

Sun Xiangfu couldn't think of his own explanation, it would make the people have more doubts and puzzles, if they explained to them one by one, it is estimated that the explanation will be unclear until next year, and in the end, Sun Xiangfu had to announce in advance, "After a while, this hot air balloon will be open to all the people in many big cities in the Tang Dynasty, if you insist on the existence of gods, you can go to the sky to see for yourself, of course, for these gods and ghosts, later, the court will issue a more detailed notice, Don't blindly believe in these things. ”

Hearing that he might also ride this big ball to the sky, the attention of the people was suddenly diverted, and Sun Xiangfu saw that Wang Deyong was still on the side, so he asked, "Your Majesty has something to call me?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty asks you to take care of this matter and go to the Imperial Study of the Imperial Palace to discuss matters."

Hearing this, Sun Xiangfu didn't say much, and rode to the palace with Wang Deyong and Yan Lide.

After a long time, Sun Xiangfu squeezed out of the crowd and arrived at the Shanyang Palace, and at this time, in the imperial study, the person who spoke was Ma Zhou, who had been on the Western Regions for more than two years.

"Your Majesty, the brigade of the western kingdoms will arrive in Dingxiang in five days, and among them, some of the more important people you may need to pay attention to, the first is the great prince of the Byzantine Empire, Heraclius III.

This Byzantine Empire is very powerful in the West, however, there is another new rising tribal alliance at war with it, this leader called Muhammad, known as the prophet by the local religious believers, has a strong appeal to all people who believe in this *** religion, and the army led by him can even defeat the Byzantine Empire repeatedly.

When we set off and returned, Muhammad was already preparing for the founding of the country, but he was not in good health, and he sent one of his four great sages, Abu Bakr, to establish diplomatic relations with our Datang, who was a cloth merchant before joining their religion, and who had come to our Datang, and they wanted to seek the support of the Tang Dynasty for their support and overthrow the Byzantine Empire in one fell swoop. ”

Ma Zhou took the lead in citing the Arab Empire and the Byzantine Empire, which had not yet been founded, naturally because during this period, these two forces had a pivotal position in the West.

Of course, what he didn't know was that Muhammad had died more than a month ago, and Abu Bakr, who was supposed to succeed him and become the first orthodox caliph in the history of the religion, came to the Tang Dynasty because of the change of history, resulting in another of Muhammad's virtuous Pei Ali, inheriting the position of caliph.

Sun Xiangfu didn't know much about the history of the Tang Dynasty, and even less about the history of the West, after he arrived at the imperial study, although he only heard the second half of what Ma Zhou said, but the instinctive antipathy for religious countries made him frown.

This kind of antipathy, in addition to some of his later cognitions, also stems from what he has just encountered, religious superstition, which is a destabilizing factor that can affect the country.

He didn't know that it was precisely because of his antipathy that Datang maintained a kind of political correctness on the issue of the West, because, with the expansion of the Arab empire established by Muhammad, it would border Datang, and after that, there would naturally be constant friction.

Historically, it was precisely because the Arab Empire defeated the Tang army in Talas that the Tang Dynasty lost control of Central Asia, of course, this is also related to the wrong decision of the Tang army general Gao Xianzhi.

However, due to the butterfly effect, Gao Xianzhi may not appear in history, and from the political perspective of Datang, it is the most beneficial for Datang that no strong country does not appear in the West.