Not a balloon, but a giant airboat.

It is more than 400 meters long, and the maximum diameter can reach more than 50 meters. The bow of the boat is inlaid with a golden dragon head, and there are two big characters written on both sides, one is Zhao and the other is Song. It's not that Zheng Lang thinks that the world has to be from the Zhao family, but he was born in this era, and as his credit grows, there will be more and more people who make a fuss, so he uses this momentum to show his loyalty.

After the facts reached the capital, Zhao Zhen snickered.

Rejoice, faithful minister.

Six sails are hung around the hull, and there are six large pipes underneath that continue to provide hot air so that the air in the airboat does not cool down as it rises to a high altitude. There is a slight difference, this time he brought some equipment and water, under Zheng Lang's instructions, Shi Heng took the craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervision to make a thing similar to a boiler, that is, an iron pot, but without a lid, a pipe above it came out, and water was poured from the pipe, and there was a cork at the mouth of the pipe, and there was a leather case connected to the cork outside the cork, and the cork was strangled on the pipe with a leather case. When reaching high altitude, the sail can be lifted and lowered in six different directions, and the cork is opened, and the reaction force of the water vapor is spewed out, so that the wind can sail freely.

Things are just as fascinating as the airboats.

A boat!

It is not a real boat, a batch of iron wires are specially cast to make a boat-shaped net bag, and then the plane tree with good water absorption and light texture is made into a wooden plank, which is soaked into the water, and then they are taken out of the water and inlaid on the iron net bag, so it becomes a boat-shaped hanging blue.

The ship is more than 20 meters long, with a bottom and a side, because of the reduced weight, there is only a thin layer of wood, and it is absolutely impossible to sail, but it looks almost the same as the ship. The problem is not that, even if Wang Ze asks his men to penetrate it with a bed crossbow, it will not sink. Or change the crossbow head to a rocket head, and the planks that are damp in the face of this will not burn.

But let the king stare at the back even more.

Just outside the city of Bezhou, the rebels are operating under their noses.

Originally, the hull was not a single unit, but was divided into several parts, that is, a hole was shot through, which had little effect on the balloon as a whole.

And the following operation does not even have a chance to shoot through.

Under the hull there was another thin layer of sheepskin, which was stuffed with cotton, and then a thin layer of sheepskin. The inside is still stuffed with cotton, and then the water hose is poured into the bottom layer of cotton. There was no need to do this, but the spies in the city came with the news that the king had changed the bed crossbow head to a large rocket head, and had to carry weights, except for two layers of cotton that offset the crossbow head. Another layer of water was injected. This time, not only could it not be shot through, but the fire could not burn either.

The actual hot air balloon still doesn't play much of a role, and if it does, the cost is too high to be worth it.

The main thing is that Zheng Lang doesn't want to kill many people, and he uses this to deter, as well as the power of propaganda science.

It was not used directly to attack, but to test its maximum load. This time it will rise even higher, reaching a height of 300 meters. The bed crossbow can still shoot up, but at this height, the power of the bed crossbow becomes very weak, and there is almost no power.

That is, at a safe height, its maximum load capacity.

After repeated trials and tests, the weight test was completed, which made Zheng Lang very disappointed, and the maximum load capacity was only about 3,000 catties. Mainly related to height. Rising higher, buoyancy weakens. This is in the North China Plain, where the terrain is flat and the sea is lower, and if it is in the northwest, the cutting weight will be further reduced. Of course, without the threat of a bed crossbow, without the need for two layers of cotton protection and planks, the load capacity would have risen a lot.

It is impossible to carry this weight, and it can only carry more than 2,000 catties, but if you want to operate, you must have eight to ten soldiers, and there are not many heavy objects left. It was getting dark, and the airboat was on the ground. There was no offensive in the evening, but in the future.

The rise of this airboat shrouded the city of Beizhou in darkness. …,

But the threat is still not big, there is a rope tied underneath it, although the wind and waves are calm these days, there is still a slight southeast wind, but the biggest threat to Beizhou City is in the north, the north Tushan is close to the city, this huge airboat can not cooperate with the Song army in the north.

A restless night passed, and a white fish belly appeared in the east, and another day began. The horn of getting up blows, and the loud horn makes people feel uplifted and hopeful.

At least on this morning, the Song army outside the city felt so.

Without any general's urging, all the Song soldiers got up, and some soldiers wanted to see what this huge balloon did, but they didn't sleep well last night, and their eyes were red.

Several important generals came to the airboat, and Shi Heng was the first to climb in. When I was in the capital, I used a mini version of the airboat to do repeated tests, and in order to keep it secret, I tested it in the workshop, and the airboat was not high, and the airboat was very small, so it did not attract the attention of others.

Today it is magnified almost 10,000 times.

He had to go up and instruct.

The rest of the people began to choose, they had to be smart and flexible, and this time the body was reversed, and they had to be thin people in order to reduce the weight.

The planks were wet again, the bottom layer of cotton was filled with water, ten soldiers went up one after another, and the six stoves began to fill with hot gas, and the airboat gradually swelled. Only then did the required supplies be moved in in an orderly manner. I didn't dare to bring more, but only kept the total weight at more than 2,000 catties.

Loosening the rope, there was a mess in the city of Beizhou, and several bed crossbows were moved to the southeast city wall together. But the airboat rose higher and higher, and the rebels below looked at the airboat, visually measured the altitude, and finally changed color, not knowing what to do.

It didn't end, just a slight morning breeze was blowing, and it was reasonable to say that the airboat was blowing towards the city, but no, the sail in the southeast direction was lowered, the side sail was raised, and the pipe on the northeast side of the ship spewed water vapor, which just kept the airboat in a kind of balance and stood straight in the air. It's not very stable, including Shiheng, it's the first time I've tried to use sails and steam to make mistakes.

The airboat kept rising, and the huge figure made the large area below shrouded in darkness. The people of the city were so frightened that they knelt down and muttered prayers, regardless of their enemies.

Because of the weight reduction, it rose even higher, reaching more than 300 steps and approaching 400 meters before stopping.

It's safer.

Shi Heng looked at the ant-like villain below and laughed. But six of the other soldiers felt dizzy. Shi Heng walked over, patted them on the shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid, there is a protective net, you won't fall." ”

Then his face began to be solemn.

Something that was configured for the first time in real combat was too dangerous.

For the sake of stability, the hull is equipped with a porcelain card slot, away from the stove, where small bottles are placed. It contains nitric acid in strict proportions, and glycerin is not put in. Now all that is done is to pour the glycerin into a small bottle and fuse it into nitroglycerin.

How dangerous it is, Shi Heng saw it with his own eyes, and when he tested it in the Ordnance Supervision Workshop, a craftsman was accidentally blasted into the sky immediately, and his bones were gone. Although I love it. But seeing it, Shi Heng was also a little scared in his heart.

No other soldiers were allowed to do it, this was high in the air, not on land.

Just pour it and let them plug the cork on.

After a while. The sun warmed up to the treetops, and Shi Heng filled four hundred bottles of nitroglycerin. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he picked up the trumpet and blew it below.

Hearing the sound of the horn, the Song army began to gather, launched a large number of siege equipment, and moved towards the southeast city wall.

The bird's-eye view from the air is spectacular.

Wang Ze was very suspicious in the city, could it be that the Song army wanted to cooperate with this huge monster and give up the advantage of the earth mountain in the north. Want to attack from the Southeast? He did not dare to slack off, mobilized his army to prepare for defense, and several bed crossbows moved along the city wall, although it was high, the king was still unwilling. However, the bed crossbow is huge and heavy, difficult to operate, and it is fired at the sky, so it must be erected with the help of a wooden frame. It is even more difficult. And because the arrows are heavy, the range of the anti-aircraft is affected. Otherwise, it's like land. Reaching 1,500 meters, no matter how Zheng Lang played, he couldn't make the balloon exceed this height. …,

Compared to the height of the balloon, the height saved at the head of the city is nothing. Therefore, in order to protect this killing weapon, the king did not let the bed crossbow go to the city. Another clever soldier in the mountainous area improved with the help of the keel overturning principle, inventing a hand-turned roller, through the impeller to suck water from the bucket into the bamboo pipe, into the air. The range was not far, less than ten meters, and there was not much height, but if thirty or forty units were placed on the head of the city, once the powder packs fell from the air, it would be enough to extinguish the fuse before the powder packets fell. Let the bed crossbowman calmly wringing underneath.

The first target of the airboat's debut was these bed crossbows.

Including the large-scale feint launched by the Song Dynasty in the morning, it was several bed crossbows in the city that attracted the southeast city wall together.

The day before yesterday, Zheng Lang was on patrol, so that the rebels at the head of the city found out, and used two bed crossbows, wanting to learn from the Song Dynasty to kill Xiao Tzu Lin and kill himself. It just so happened that it was too far away to have this quasi-head at all. He didn't shoot himself, but the huge crossbow grazed his side, and one soldier shot his head, and one soldier shoveled off half of his head, and died a terrible death, and he also killed and wounded two other soldiers. In the past few days, dozens of Song soldiers have died under this sharp weapon.

Seeing that it was almost over, ten people controlled the airboat and slowly floated towards the city.

The huge figure caused an uproar among the rebels below, and Wang Ze said with a gloomy face: "Shoot!" ”

Several large rockets took off into the air, and although the airboat rose high, one of the rockets was almost as high as the boat. Shi Heng was taken aback, at this time, the boat must not have any violent impact, otherwise there will be a danger of explosion.

The rebels also did not intend to deal with the hull, and now there are many people who know its principle, even if they shoot a hole through the hull, what can they do? So I aimed at the boat, although there was a cotton defense layer in it, and I wanted to try it to see if I could make the airboat burn. Once successful, it will be a great morale boost.

Zheng Lang was also scared into a cold sweat when he watched it below.

Fortunately, the rebels didn't see his innate physicism, otherwise it would have been modified to make use of this huge crossbow body, it is not very difficult to install a jet device in the back, and it is possible to spray the crossbow head more than a hundred meters high. That's where the deadly threat comes.

Several crossbowheads fell from the sky, and there was no danger. The rebels below were preparing for a second launch, and the airship had already floated above.

This tactic is a special case, and it cannot be replicated compared to the Moon Formation.

Sulfuric acid can be produced on a large scale, and the cost is too high. But baking soda cannot be mass-produced, which means that glycerin cannot be mass-produced. Without glycerin, soap could not be produced, and nitroglycerin could not be mass-produced. There is also no way to successfully study detonators. So yellow gunpowder is still a distant dream. These are laboratory products and are extremely expensive.

But it is worth it to be able to scrap a few bed crossbows of the rebels, although it is expensive.

The rebels were loading crossbows, and Shi Heng shouted: "Throw." ”

Ten soldiers pulled out the vials one by one, and smashed them into the bed crossbows.

Seeing these small porcelain bottles, they are actually not small, each bottle contains three catties of nitroglycerin. However, it still looks small when it falls from high in the sky. One by one, they were in trouble again. Some people ignore the three-seven-twenty-one and pour water on the water dragon.

But there is no fuse, what is the effect of watering?

The bottle drops down at a faster rate. At this time, the city was full of rebels at the foot of the city wall, because there were many weapons in the Beizhou Hyogo, and most of the rebels were in full armor. The bottle of nitroglycerin rushed down with rapid acceleration and smashed against the armor, after a crisp crushing sound was heard. There was another explosion to be heard. Some of the rebels were still lying on the ground as before, but this time it was wrong, the explosion principle was different, and its explosive nature was an unstable explosion produced when it collided with an iron tool. It is even possible to fall to the ground, and even if it is shattered, it will not explode. It was because the other bottles exploded and caused a fire. …,

Killing and injuring the rebels is not the main task, the main task is the bed crossbow.

The bed crossbow bed was made of wood, but the rebels were not completely transformed, and they still kept the huge iron ball, and four hundred small bottles were desperately thrown here, and the accuracy was also insufficient, but this place was completely a hell. Two bed crossbows happened to be hit by bottles, and the bones were blown away. Several more were severely damaged in the continuous explosions. After throwing four hundred small bottles. Only one bed crossbow survived.

The accuracy itself is extremely insufficient, and there is only one left, and there is almost no threat. Shi Heng blew the horn at this time, and the soldiers below slowly received the airboat to the ground. The Song army also retreated like a tide, and the task was completed.

Loading and unloading supplies again, re-vacating. But this time the loading and unloading was different, because the bed crossbow was destroyed, and only one was left, so the cotton protective layer under the airboat was removed. This one takes. The loading capacity is larger. The huge airboat is like a devil. Rise high into the air again. Because of the lack of the threat of bed crossbows, the cutting weight is large. The height drops to two hundred and fifty meters, which is lower from the ground and has a stronger sense of oppression.

While the rebels were staring at this monster in fear, the Song army sounded the horn of attack in the north of the city. Wang was helpless, if this thing wanted to throw explosives, let it be thrown, and Beicheng was the most dangerous. The main army was transferred to the north of the city.

But this time the airboat played another trick. After the first operation, slightly more proficient than at the beginning, the airboat was no longer rising into the air, Shi Heng ordered the soldiers to weaken the fire, and sent another soldier to keep an eye on the bed crossbow, although there was only one, it was better to be careful.

Finally, the order was given to put away the rope.

It's to put away the rope!

This is the first time that humans have truly soared in the blue sky, albeit at a very slow speed and clumsy control.

But what a shock it was to watch this behemoth break free from the rope and slowly cross the sky!

Almost all of them stopped together and watched the behemoth fly through the sky.

Zheng Lang still didn't want to attack the city, otherwise there was no need for other plans, at this time, he could completely attack the city from the dirt mountain, because at this time, most of the rebels in Beizhou City were angry.

The airship clumsily flew over the city of Beizhou, and finally came to the "palace" of Beizhou, where there were many female bodhisattvas, the concubines of Maitreya Buddha, which was originally the house of a large family in Beizhou City, and was requisitioned by the king, changed to the palace.

Originally, Zheng Lang wanted to attack the storage warehouse in Beizhou City, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was inappropriate. It is not difficult to take Beizhou City, burning this warehouse is equivalent to burning the country's warehouse, so the target is changed to the palace. One by one, huge gunpowder packets were dropped, and Wang Ze's improvised palace was blown up beyond recognition for a while. Shi Heng looked at the direction of the wind, the wind actually stopped, although it was high in the air, the air flow was not strong, so he ordered: "Go back directly." ”

All the canvases fell, several huge exhaust pipes rushed out of the steam, and the huge airboat actually flew back again, although it stumbled, but once again shocked everyone. The rebels tried to carry the bed crossbow and continue shooting, but the sails were re-opened, and as the airboat moved north, away from the group. I can't shoot if I want to.

Coming to the outside of the east city, loading and unloading again, there is no way, the load capacity constraints, has to carry out many loading and unloading, so it has a practical effect, but its cost, does not match. Either that's deterrence, which is desirable.

Outside the northern city, the Song army blew the horn, and Wang Xin led the Song army to prepare for another feint.

But he was absent-minded, watching the huge figure rise again, and he didn't know how the war would go on like this.

I don't understand, completely subverting his understanding of war.

Wang Ze was also confused, and a huge shadow had been cast on his heart. …,

The airboat floated again, this time with a downwind, faster, and for protection below. A layer of wooden planks is laid to make it even more shocking, like a balloon hanging a huge ship and flying in the sky. When he came to Beichengtou, Shi Heng looked at the wind direction, but it was still not very big, so he simply drifted the airship north for dozens of meters and threw the rope down. But not only ropes. There is also a small iron anchor at the end of the rope, and the rebels are all stunned when they look at this iron anchor, are they really playing as a boat?

The anchor fell on the top of the earth mountain, and Wang Xin was very clever and ordered the soldiers to protect the iron anchor. Prevent the rebels from going down and down the city and cut the ropes. Shi Heng also issued an order from above, adjusted the sails, and the steam pipe, and rushed up against the breeze, and came to the head of Beizhou City again.

Instead of putting gunpowder packets, he opened the porcelain bowls one by one, and then scooped up the sulfuric acid with a large porcelain spoon and poured it on the rebels at the head of the city.

Mostly fall on the ground. But a few fell on the soldiers.

It has nothing to do with cruelty, it is easier to want their lives, although they may be disfigured, but they will keep their lives safe. In history, Wen Yanbo and Wang Xin captured the city of Beizhou, or burned or killed, so that the city of Beizhou was empty, although Zhao Zhen liked to break Beizhou, there were too many people to see the death, and he couldn't bear it. Only then did Beizhou change to Enzhou.

Zheng Lang didn't want to do this.

But it is also caused by the rebels' own inability to live. When the city was broken, the king still wanted to use the fire ox array. Stubbornly resisted, seeing that the rebels were stubborn, King Wen and the two had to be heavy-handed.

So it's still about grabbing the air.

On the day of the break, the lighter the resistance, the better you can excuse the ordinary rebels.

The death penalty can be avoided, but the living sin is difficult to get rid of, although it does not die, this thing is on the body, even if there is a clothes separate, it can also corrode the clothes and penetrate the skin, which is really painful. One by one, the middle of the city cried out to the heavens and the earth, howling again and again.

Several rebel generals couldn't shout, and after a while, most of the rebels fled from the city, ran to the city together, and hid in the houses.

One of the generals said to Wang Xin: "Let the above stop splashing, so that we can attack the city." ”

He didn't know what was splashed on it, but he could see it, and he could see it in a cold sweat all over his body. It's still splashing on it, and you can't attack the city.

Wang Xin said: "What are you attacking, it hasn't arrived for ten days." ”

This is the fourth day, but the Song army around him heard all the feathers, saying that it was the fourth day, but it was actually the first day, so he played like this, if it was played in six or seven days, the city would not fight, and this strange thing could be played to death.

At this time, he also forgot the hatred brought about by the fierce battle for nearly two months, and looked at the believers in the city with pitiful eyes.

Shi Heng was also watching, most of the rebels fled, and some continued to stand at the head of the city and resist stubbornly. Shi Heng was a little annoyed, he was very indifferent to Buddhism and believed in religion, but he believed in Taoism. Grandma's, Sanqing doesn't believe in it, what do you believe in Maitreya Buddha? Said angrily: "Change the big spoon and pour it a little harder." ”

After saying that, operate it yourself and let the airship swing along both sides of the city wall. At this time, the rebels were panting and running towards the northern city with the last bed crossbow. Looking at this bed crossbow, Shi Heng said, "Anchor." ”

The anchor was flicked and the airship was operated to meet the group of rebels. Seeing the airship coming, the rebels prepared to swing the bracket and prepare to operate the bed crossbow to fire. Shi Hengda shouted: "Raise the porcelain bowl and pour it down." ”

Instead of scooping it slowly with a porcelain spoon, you can directly lift the large porcelain bowl and pour it down.

Although it is not allowed, there is still a lot of sulfuric acid on the airship, four people control the boat, six people pour down, no matter how inaccurate, it is also near the bed crossbow, a group of soldiers did not have any intact, all of them were hit, miserable howl, put down the bed crossbow and fled, did not chase, continued to pour on the bed crossbow, because of the lack of threat, stopped supplying hot air, and used a pipe to release a part of the hot air, so that the height of the airboat dropped to one hundred and fifty meters. This time the accuracy was raised, and for a while the poor bed crossbow was constantly steaming under the repeated pouring of sulfuric acid, and most of it turned from wood to charcoal, and its shape was still maintained, but it could no longer be used. There were no craftsmen in Guanjian City who could make such sharp weapons, and for a time, almost all the rebels in Beizhou City were angry.

It's just to grab the air, in fact, except for the destruction of a few bed crossbows, the airboat did not kill many rebels. But it is fatal, the reason why the soldiers and civilians of Beizhou City resisted stubbornly is that they believe that the king is Maitreya Buddha, since it is Maitreya Buddha, why can't even an airboat crack it. With such suspicions, what else can be used to support the soldiers and civilians of Beizhou to continue to confront the tens of thousands of Song troops outside the city?