In the midst of the dense rainforest, a dirt road full of mud swamps is the most common transportation base in Burma, where there is no modern road or railway, and although the Irrawaddy River is navigable, it is clear that it cannot meet the logistical needs of the army by relying on a single river. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Modern and primitive, this is the inescapable reality of Burma, especially for the First Army of the Nanyang Dispatch Army that entered Burma, compared to the thousands of British and Indian colonial troops guarding here, the real enemy is traffic and tropical diseases, especially traffic, if the problem of transportation cannot be solved, everything is empty talk.

How to ensure the logistical supply of nearly 50,000 troops?

In fact, in the southwest, where transportation is relatively difficult, logistical problems have always restricted the actions of the imperial army in the southwest, and when the rebellion in Yunnan was quelled four years ago, the imperial army had caused a regiment of troops to be almost completely annihilated by the rebels due to logistical supply, and hundreds of officers and soldiers who were captured were all cut throats, and this was also the reason why the imperial army ordered the later imperial army to prohibit the acceptance of the rebels to surrender.

However, it is precisely because of that failure that the military has always paid attention to the logistical support work in Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, and has established a large number of material warehouses here to ensure the logistics supply of the troops. In Yunnan, the army can still rely on military stations, but there are no military stations in Burma, how can the logistics of tens of thousands of troops be guaranteed?

The sun passes past the top of the mountain, and the western sky burns with a bright red sunset. When the sunset dyes the rivers and lakes in the red rainforest, there is silence between the heavens and the earth, and only some birds that return late make a birdsong in the forest.

Suddenly, there was a roar in the air, breaking the silence between heaven and earth, and the birds in the rainforest were startled, and when the startled birds flew through the air, a dark cloud obscured their figures, and the dark cloud moved rapidly in the air, and if anyone looked into the air, they would definitely exclaim, it was not a dark cloud, but a huge spindle-shaped flying object, which actually flew through the air like this.

In the past month, the natives of Burma have adapted to the "spindle" in the air, and some of them have even bowed down to this "spindle" more than once, but for the Imperial Army, this is a new weapon of the Imperial Army, the airship.

As early as six years ago, with the maturity of the process of producing hydrogen by electrolysis of water, it became possible to produce hydrogen at low cost, which led to the emergence of artillery reconnaissance balloons.

Eventually, this dream became a reality three years ago when the electric motor was loaded into a balloon, and although the electric motor requires a lot of batteries, even so, its range is still extremely limited, but at least to a certain extent, the military saw the possibility of developing air power, and began to invest in it to develop airships and related technologies.

And last year, with the maturity of gasoline engine technology, the military immediately improved the four airships that had been produced, so that for the first time, the airship really got rid of the identity of "experiment".

However, even so, due to problems such as cost and reliability of gasoline engines, airships are still not equipped on a large scale, and to this day, the army only has a floating brigade, equipped with thirteen different types of airships.

In the past, the Army has experimented with airship bombing, and even used machine guns to strafe the ground, although the effect is remarkable, but there are still many restrictions on its use. Now, after the Army carried out the Nanyang Operation, in the face of many problems in logistical supply, airships that could provide air transport came into the field of vision of the General Staff, especially the four ships after the FT-9, which were welcomed by the military because of their carrying capacity of as much as five to eight tons.

“…… It may have the least capacity compared to trains or ships, but it is the fastest and flexible to use, without any road dependence......"

In the cockpit of the airship, Cheng Xiji was manipulating the airship while introducing to the drama Huaguo next to him that as a reporter accompanying the army, he was the first reporter to be allowed to board the airship for interviews.

For airships, the vast majority of Chinese people are unfamiliar, and Juhuaguo is no exception, although as a journalist, he is also well-informed, but if it weren't for the widespread use of airships in this war, I'm afraid he wouldn't have noticed airships, after all, in the eyes of many people, airships are more like a kind of "juggling".

In the past few years, there have always been public performances of airships, and many people think of them as more like "toys" that use batteries and electric flights, with advertisements on the hull or parachuting in public. Such "stunt" performances certainly make people curious about airships, but on the other hand, many people think of airships as just "moving balloons".

But the war changed everything – airships could transport tons of supplies to the front in a matter of hours.

"The supplies needed by the army are transported from the military station in Yunnan, then transported by water to Lower Burma, and then airlifted to the areas where they are needed......

Listening to the introduction of Cheng Xiji, the captain, Ju Huaguo recorded it from time to time, and while recording, he looked out of the boat from the porthole, and from his position he could see the propeller driven by the gasoline engine, and the roar of the engine continued to come into his ears.

"Drama reporter, you see, these are these two gasoline engines, if it weren't for them, the airship would not have been able to fly so far!"

Cheng Xiji's distance refers to the airship's 2,000-kilometer range, which is like a miracle compared to the less than 100-kilometer range when using batteries.

"2,000 kilometers, this voyage is even enough to fly from Kunming to the imperial capital, of course, if the imperial capital is Bodian field!"

"One day, there will definitely be a Bodian field in the imperial capital!"

After witnessing the convenience of airships, Ju Huaguo stubbornly believed that airships were the means of transportation that belonged to the 19th century.

"I dare say that sooner or later, airships will be like trains, popularized throughout China and even the world, just like trains and ships."

As a young man receiving traditional Confucian education, in the past few years, Juhuaguo, like many Chinese, has suffered too many impacts, not only cultural, but lifestyle changes, railways and trains have changed thousands of years of land transportation, railways, ships have made "a thousand miles of Jiangling a day" a reality.

Steel wheels running on steel rails, pulled by steam-powered locomotives, the vehicle carries 10 times more than a horse-drawn carriage, and the number of passengers is dozens of times higher than that of a horse-drawn carriage. This radical recalculation of the equation between cost and distance has directly changed the way people live, as well as the economic and social landscape. The train suddenly shortened the travel time from the imperial capital to Beiping and Guangzhou from one month to just a few days.

Trains have even slowed down the scourge of famine, especially in China, where millions of hungry people have to sit and wait for death in the past when there was a railway. In the past four years, trains have not only saved people, but also brought about a massive wave of migration, sending millions of landless poor people to Northeast China. And the drama Huaguo is experiencing this change, and now, after experiencing the changes brought by the train to China, he also believes that the appearance of the airship will also change everything.

"That's for sure, after all, there are bigger airships being built now, sooner or later, one day, this airship will definitely be opened in the capitals of the provinces, and when the time comes, it will not be thousands of miles a day, but thousands of miles a day......

"It's not just thousands of miles a day, it's the sky!"

Looking at the sky outside the porthole, Ju Huaguo looked at the blue sky with a longing eye, although because the airship flew low, he still had an illusion of soaring clouds and fog,

"When the time comes, each of us will have the opportunity to take an airship and reach any corner of the world through the sky like the legendary immortals, and then the whole world will change!"

What kind of changes will the world have then? Hua Guo naturally doesn't know much about this drama, but he knows very well that at that time, the airship is very likely to fundamentally change everything, just like the train has completely changed the world.

"At that time, we will board the airship in the imperial capital today, and in just two or three days, we will be able to reach London, Paris, and even New York, and any corner of the world.

Obviously, for Cheng Xiji, he didn't think so far, he looked at the sky outside the window dumbfounded, at this moment, he also seemed to see the completely changed world, when the two of them fantasized about a future full of airships in the air, the navigator on the other side had calculated the distance from the destination through the map.

"It's about 200 kilometers from the destination!"

200 kilometers, if it is a train, it takes 5 hours, in fact it may take 7-8 hours, and for the airship, it is only a short three hours, three hours later, the drama Huaguo came to the meadow between the rainforest that is only a dozen kilometers away from the front line, here is the army's airship berth, compared with trains, ships, the biggest feature of the airship is that there is only a vacant land, you can land, of course, you need a mooring tower up to tens of meters.

The air could be faintly heard with distant cannon fires, gunfire, and the battle seemed to be still going on. But at this time, the war doesn't seem to have much attraction for the drama Guohua......

Just as the drama Guohua's eyes were staring at the large airship hanging on the mooring tower, imagining the arrival of the "aviation age" that flew all over the world, several carriages on the edge of the park field were parked on the grass, and some simple machine tools could be seen on the carport of the carriage, and there was also a machine part near the machine tool, which was a simple battlefield maintenance "field", mainly responsible for the maintenance of the airship, especially the engine.

In the simple shed made of wood, on the messy platform, there are some parts of the airship engine, compared to the steam engine, the gasoline engine that has just been invented is not durable enough, and it is prone to failure, these parts are replaced from the engine, the military uniform is stained with engine oil, some of the parts are being studied, there is a four-cylinder engine in front of him, if the engineers of General Dynamics can see this engine, they will be very surprised, Because this is a four-cylinder model with an eight-cylinder gasoline engine.

But now Zhi Bingyuan did not study this engine, but concentrated on studying the drawings on the table, occasionally he would add a few strokes to the drawings, and sometimes, he would also look at the carriage on the side, which was a newly restored carriage. But now for Zhi Bingyuan, this carriage is the basis he uses to carry out transformation.

"The engine should be installed here......"

Looking at the engine frame on the drawings, Zhi Bingyuan carefully checked his design again, as early as in China. He had always thought of replacing horse-drawn carriages with gasoline engines to power vehicles. Although it seems a little unrealistic, after all, each engine weighs hundreds of kilograms, but he has succeeded in reducing the size of the engine, and now there is only one step left, which is to modify the body, and only need to complete the transformation of the body, maybe he can make a "car" without a horse-drawn carriage.

Of course, his idea has been ridiculed by some people, and some people have said that he is a little self-conscious, after all, Zhi Bingyuan is not a real engineer, he naturally did not go to university, but only received machine training in the army's machine training school, but with his hobby of machines, he did not give up his attempts in this regard.

"The key is the control of the direction, how to control the direction?"

Staring at the direction wheels of the drawings of the standard transport carriage, Zhi Bingyuan silently pondered how to adjust the direction has been bothering him, and if this problem is not solved, then this kind of vehicle that can only go straight will not be put into use.

"Adjust the direction by the rotation of the handle?"

Thinking about the way to adjust the direction, Zhi Bingyuan muttered to himself, and then, he picked up a pencil and drew the idea of the direction machine on the drawing, and then combined the two in his mind, although it still seemed a little inconvenient, but at least it gave Zhi Bingyuan hope.

"Otherwise, let's build it first!"

Although the whole design didn't seem perfect, Zhi Bingyuan finally made a decision, after all, now he had collected enough raw materials, although most of these raw materials were eliminated by the army, and only needed to assemble them together to form a "car" that was not pulled by a horse-drawn carriage.

"Try it first, how do you know if you can succeed if you don't try!"

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