Chapter 3: The Imperial Air Force is born

In the ninth year of Shenwu, the annual Universal Dynasty Meeting has just concluded in Beijing.

The Council of Nations, as the name suggests. Not really tens of thousands of countries came to worship the Heavenly Empire. Since Qin Shi Huang unified China, he set up a ceremony to accept tribute from vassal states, showing the strength of China.

It has been nine years since the founding of the Chinese Empire.

During these nine years, the Chinese Empire covered an area of more than 27 million square kilometers, with seven dependent states and 14 colonies. In nine years, the population of the empire increased by 10 million, and together with the increase in the population of the colonies, the total population under the empire exceeded 100 million for the first time, reaching more than 10.7 million, and the average of one Chinese in every four people in the world.

For 12 consecutive years, the imperial government implemented a tax-free policy of recuperation and recuperation at home, and the huge wealth gained from ocean-going trade and opium trade abroad, coupled with the huge income from colonial plunder, made the empire's total economic output quadruple in the ninth year of Shenwu, accounting for 60% of the world's total economic output, and continued to rank first in the world.

The average annual national income reached 150 silver dollars, which was much higher than the world average, and according to modern notation, the empire had entered the ranks of moderately developed economies.

Of course, this criterion is compared on average. Due to the large population of the empire, although it is the largest in the world in terms of total volume, the average individual is lower than that of the Spanish Empire, the Netherlands and other countries in Europe.

The Spanish Empire was naturally a developed country in the seventeenth century, so the Chinese Empire can now only be regarded as a moderately developed country.

However, now that the Spanish Empire had either squandered all the gold and silver plundered by the colonies, or used it for war attrition, and Mexico and Peru, the largest economic sources of the Spanish Empire, were being invaded by the Chinese Empire, the Spanish Empire soon had to cede the position of the world's most developed country to the Chinese Empire.

In addition to the imperial vassals and colonial envoys, the Empire also included ambassadors to China from the three allied powers of Great Britain, France, and Russia, as well as representatives of other Eurasian countries except the Spanish Empire and the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.

In previous years, only representatives of the colonies and vassal states paid tribute to the Emperor of the Chinese Empire, Shenwu the Great, Deng Haonan, during the court meeting. Later, with the growing strength of the Chinese Empire, both military and economic strength, some European countries also began to offer some rare treasures as gifts.

Of course, European countries did not see the Chinese Empire as their suzerainty as Asian countries. Despite the strength of the Chinese Empire, they still insisted on reciprocal diplomacy. Therefore, although they offered congratulatory gifts, they refused to call them tributes.

When all countries came to the dynasty, in addition to the "naked" show off of the national strength of the Chinese Empire, the tributes brought by various countries were also varied.

At first, it was all some rare treasures, rare animals, etc. With the increase of the number of times, under the guidance of Emperor Shenwu, there were gradually more new inventions.

Most European countries did not like to give exotic treasures to the Chinese emperor, so they sent the latest European inventions and innovations to show off European technology.

Most of the vassal states and colonies of the Chinese Empire were very backward in terms of technology, so in recent years, the Emperor Shenwu of the Universal Dynasty has included all the provincial capitals of the country on the list and let them participate.

Because the cabinet believed that it would be unseemly to allow domestic provinces and state capitals to participate in the International Pilgrimage, it was finally revised to hold an international science and technology exhibition competition during the Pilgrimage.

Tongguò conducts a science and technology exhibition competition, and conducts a competition of soft power between the East and the West.

European countries are very interested in this, so every year they send people to prepare some high-tech things for the competition. The Chinese Empire also took the opportunity to learn about the current state of scientific and technological development in Europe, and at the same time, the emperor awarded awards to the outstanding to stimulate the development of imperial science and technology.

In this year's science and technology competition, the championship was won by Lai Zizhen, a third-year student at Imperial University. His invention of the hot air balloon became the champion of this competition.

The structure of the Kong Ming lantern can be divided into two parts: the main body is mostly made of bamboo grate, the second is made of cotton paper or paper paste into a lampshade, and the bottom bracket is composed of a grate cut from bamboo. Kong Ming lanterns can be large or small, round or rectangular. The general Kong Ming lantern is made of bamboo pieces to form a barrel shape, and the outside is densely surrounded by thin white paper with the opening facing downward. When you want to light the lamp and lift it off, tie a piece of coarse cloth or gold paper stained with kerosene or peanut oil in the middle of the bracket at the bottom, ignite the oil before flying, the fire in the lamp burns for a while to produce hot air, the Kong Ming lantern will expand, and the whole lamp will fly into the air after letting go, if the weather is good, the Kong Ming lantern will automatically descend after the kerosene at the bottom is burned.

Because the Kong Ming lantern is only a kind of lamp used by the people in ordinary times to pray for blessings, it has no other function. In the sixth year of Shenwu, the emperor Deng Haonan gave the imperial training (speech) to the freshmen at the Imperial University, and Lai Zizhen, who had just entered the school at that time, admired Deng Haonan very much, and had a deep memory of what Deng Haonan said, and had a deep memory of Deng Haonan's words such as saying that human beings would fly into the sky in the future.

At that time, although the students of the Imperial University worshipped Emperor Shenwu very much, they did not believe that people could go to heaven. But Lai Zizhen remembered it deeply, and he firmly believed that what Emperor Shenwu said would definitely come true, so he used his spare time to study.

There are not many things that can fly into the sky, and by pressing a pair of wings on himself, Lai Zizhen has tried many times, but they have all failed. By chance, he participated in the seventh year of Shenwu, a volunteer for the fifteenth day of the first lunar month held on Shenwu Street in Beijing at the expense of the palace. That night, countless Kong Ming lanterns were released in Beijing, and Lai Zizhen was fortunate to participate in the process of making Kong Ming lanterns and was inspired by them.

A small Kong Ming lantern can fly into the sky, but what about a bigger one?

Lai Zizhen then enlarged the Kong Ming lantern, first carrying apples to the sky, then watermelons, and then cats, chickens, and dogs.

Each time it gets bigger and bigger, the hot air balloon gets bigger and bigger. Due to his lack of funds, he reported the proposal to the Imperial University Research Office and applied for funding to continue the experiment.

Finally, in the winter of the eighth year of Shenwu, Lai Zizhen made the first hot air balloon in human history that could carry people. At that time, Lai Zizhen personally sat on it, and after flying for three miles, he ran out of fuel and landed.

Lai Zizhen's success attracted the attention of the Imperial University authorities, so Lai Zizhen received more funds and school technical help, so that he made an improved hot air balloon in January of the ninth year of Shenwu, and participated in the international science and technology competition, winning the championship in one fell swoop.

Lai Zizhen's hot air balloon is made of the fastest cloth and paste, with a maximum diameter of meters, a height of 3 meters, a volume of about 880 cubic meters, an unmanned maximum flight altitude of up to 600 meters, a manned flight of 200 meters high, a flight of about 20 miles, and the fuel is straw and kerosene.

Lai Zi's success made him directly praised by Emperor Deng Haonan of Shenwu, and personally presented him with an award of 100,000 silver dollars to encourage him to continue his research on balloons.

Of course, the balloon made by Lai Zizhen is really not good in Deng Haonan's eyes. Deng Haonan was thinking about how to drum up the Air Force a few years ago, and at that time he only thought of paragliding, but he didn't think of hot air balloons.

Now Lai Zizhen has made the first hot air balloon, which just reminds Deng Haonan that he can make a fuss on the hot air balloon.

On March 12 of the same year, outside the imperial city of Beijing, Lai Zizhen and his classmates staged a hot air balloon launch for Shenwu Emperor Deng Haonan, the concubines of the harem, the ministers of civil and military affairs of the imperial court, and more than 700,000 Beijing citizens, which caused a sensation again.

Subsequently, Emperor Shenwu Deng Haonan once again announced in public that all things invented by the citizens of the empire would be protected by the laws of the empire, and for this purpose the Imperial Patent Office was established and bonuses were paid to the inventors.

In this way, the citizens of the empire rose up one after another, and learned to invent things when they had nothing to do. At the same time, there was also a social class in the imperial society, and many people took scientific research and invention as a livelihood, which contributed to the vigorous development of the cultivation of scientific and technological talents in the Chinese Empire, and formed a country with the courage to invent and create a country, and since then the empire's scientific and technological undertakings have developed rapidly, laying a solid foundation for becoming a scientific and technological power in the future.

Lai Zizhen's balloon stimulated the imperial side, and the General Staff attached great importance to it. Because, hot air balloons that can carry people into the sky are simply too important for the military operations of the Empire.

In the imperial study, Deng Haonan received a report from the Ministry of War about the large-scale construction of hot air balloons for military purposes.

Deng Haonan was very happy about the Ministry of War's request to use hot air balloons for military purposes, which shows that it is not that the ancients did not want to take advantage of air superiority, but that they have never had that opportunity.

Now, with the advent of hot air balloons, they have this opportunity.

"The kind of hot air balloon made by Lai Zizhen is not practical" Deng Haonan smiled and said: "That kind of hot air balloon can only be used for people's entertainment after dinner, and it is still too far away for military use."

Lin Feng nodded, Lai Zizhen's hot air balloon was indeed not suitable for military use.

"Emperor Qi" Lin Feng said: "Lai Zizhen's hot air balloon is indeed not suitable for military use, but it only needs to be continuously improved, and I believe that a suitable hot air balloon will appear soon."

Deng Haonan nodded with satisfaction, and said with a smile: "Yes, there are so many talents in the Imperial Academy of Sciences, if you want funds and equipment, it is still easy to get a hot air balloon."

The technical content of hot air balloons is not high, and Deng Haonan knows that as long as the military has this idea, it will soon create a hot air balloon that meets the needs of military use.

"What the emperor said is very true" Lin Feng said: "The Academy of Sciences has begun the phasing research of hot air balloons, and according to the progress they give, hot air balloons that meet the requirements of the military will be produced within a year."

Deng Haonan knows that hot air balloons are relatively safe. In the process of using fuel, as long as there is no bad wind direction, there is basically no accident. Compared with inflated balloons, the latter is prone to airtightness failure or gas explosion, although the theoretical range is unlimited. The hot air balloon is safe, and the only drawback is that it needs to use fuel, and if the fuel runs out, it can only be forced to land.

Obviously, in this day and age, the need for a short range in the air was almost zero, so the short range of the hot air balloon was not important.

The strength and technology of the Academy of Sciences were very smooth in the manufacture of hot air balloons, and three months after the launch of the hot air balloon, the Academy of Sciences produced a fairly advanced hot air balloon.

The hot air balloon is named Chang'e-1, with a maximum spherical diameter of 17 meters, a height of 23 meters, a volume of 2,300 cubic meters, an empty load of 300 kilograms, a maximum ceiling of 2,000 meters, the use of kerosene to provide firepower, and can carry two people to fly about 100 kilometers under standard wind speed.

Chang'e-1 was a great success, and the hot air balloon was not a very difficult thing for scientists at the Academy of Sciences. For them, all they lack is inspiration, ideas, and opportunities to discover things, and in fact, many of the advanced things of later generations can be made in ancient times, but they have never been discovered.

After the success of Chang'e-1, Deng Haonan personally inscribed its name. At this time, Deng Haonan's calligraphy is also good, as an emperor, he takes the first place in everything, so calligraphy is no exception. Of course, it is very reluctant to call him a calligrapher. However, fortunately, as the emperor, Deng Haonan's ink treasure itself was a priceless treasure, so when Chang'e-1 was retired, private collectors bid 7 million silver dollars, which was 100 times more than its 70,000 silver dollars.

Chang'e-1 was followed by Chang'e-2, and for Chang'e-2, Deng Haonan integrated his "invention" into it, that is, to add propellers to Chang'e-2. Since hot air balloons can only be propelled by the wind, it is difficult to steer. To this end, Deng Haonan designed a simple hand-cranked propeller to be installed on Chang'e-2, so that Chang'e-2 could change direction autonomously in the air. Of course, the premise is that the wind of the propeller is stronger than the natural wind, otherwise the person who shakes the propeller will be tired and vomit blood.

Chang'e-2 is equipped with propellers that can change direction in the air. Chang'e-3 installed several landing wheels under the hot air balloon pod, to which Deng Haonan just smiled and did not say a word. In his eyes, he still hopes that these scientists will slowly explore and move forward on their own. Deng Haonan was afraid that after he directly gave them the ready-made, they would lose the motivation for independent innovation.

After that, there was a series of hot air balloon models, and the military left only Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-5. After Chang'e-4 flew into the sky, it suddenly encountered strong winds, and as a result, the kerosene device of the hot air balloon was too close to the outer wall of the balloon, causing a fire, resulting in the death of two test pilots.

Chang'e-5 improved the kerosene ignition, and the designers installed a windproof stove on the fire platform so that it could be some distance away from the balloon shell and save it from burning to the outer wall of the balloon. At the same time, the designers carried out a series of fire protection treatments on the sealing cloth to reduce the occurrence of fire accidents.

Chang'e-2 is used to move reconnaissance targets, while Chang'e-5 is small enough to carry only one person and is only used for high-altitude reconnaissance in a fixed area. For example, a hot air balloon is dropped in the sky above the barracks, so that the scouts on the hot air balloon in the sky can see the situation within a radius of tens or even hundreds of miles through the telescope, and the safety of the barracks can be guaranteed. Stationary hot air balloons are like kites and need to be held in place with a rope.

Unlike Chang'e-5, Chang'e-2 is used to reconnoiter when the army moves, or to send Chang'e-2 to reconnoiter the enemy camp or the sky above the city, so that the emperor can know the enemy's deployment and make the best military deployment.

It can be said that the appearance of the Chang'e type of hot air balloon made a huge change in the shape of warfare in the seventeenth century. As the first to eat crabs, the Chinese Empire undoubtedly took the lead, and in the subsequent wars, it took advantage of it.

The emperor has produced a batch of hot air balloons on a large scale, and according to expectations, the first batch of hot air balloons will be put into service in the summer of the tenth year of Shenwu. For this reason, the imperial school also had to train a large number of pilots who were flying in hot air balloons, and for this reason, the imperial school specially set up a flight subject, and thus a new branch of the military was born.

Emperor Deng Haonan named it the Air Force.

Since the emperor proposed the use of hot air balloons for military purposes, then at the same time thought of the pilots of the hot air balloons. Therefore, while the hot air balloon was being developed, the training of pilots began. They used Lai Zizhen's improvised hot air balloons, which were easy to manufacture and convenient for training a large number of personnel quickly.

The first batch of pilots trained to use hot air balloons was more than 500 people, and it was named the Air Force as a new branch of the army because of Emperor Shenwu. As a result, the General Staff formed the Royal Air Force of the Chinese Empire.

The establishment of the Imperial Royal Air Force made the Chinese Empire take the lead in entering the era of the real navy, land and air force, although the air force at this time was only a branch of the army to assist the army, and it was only a reconnaissance role. However, after Deng Haonan divided it into branches of the navy and army, he did not meet with the opposition of the navy and army officials, because they all knew how important aerial reconnaissance was to the role of warfare. Especially in large-scale battles, knowing oneself and knowing that the other side will not be defeated in a hundred battles, after having the air force, the emperor's ** team is like having an eye in the sky, and Zhuge Liang, who is strategizing.

The formation of the Air Force, the development and construction of hot air balloons in the Reich has always been carried out in secret. Previously, at the international science and technology exhibition, the staff of the Western embassy in China also saw the hot air balloon for the first time and felt extremely excited. But they didn't pay too much attention to it, and basically forgot about it after a few days of excitement.

And by the time the news of the hot air balloon reached Europe, it was already a year later. Although the Europeans also began to study hot air balloons, due to the war, it was already a few years before the official research was successful, and by the time they entered the army, they were already many years behind the Chinese Empire.

However, the hot air balloon uses kerosene as fuel, which reminded Deng Haonan of a problem. That's the problem with oil.

Before, Deng Haonan thought that oil was not important, because there was no need for that thing in this era. Nowadays, with the advent of hot air balloons, fuel has become an important issue.

To this end, Deng Haonan decided to put the oil issue on the agenda and launched a series of problems related to oil plundering and war. X