Steel Dynasty - Chapter 336

[Chapter 336 Attacking Hot Air Balloon]

In Qingzhou, the battle reports from the front are constantly being transmitted to Prince Qi’s Mansion through the inn on the official road.

The news that Kuha, the barbarian captain of ten thousand men, was killed in the battle and that the ten thousand troops were defeated reached the Governor’s Mansion in just one day. Niu Bente asked the post station to send the battle report to Qingzhou overnight.

“Okay, Niu Ben fought a beautiful field annihilation battle outside Yunzhou City. According to him, the loss was almost negligible. It was a real victory.”

In the governor’s house, Xiao Ming handed the battle report to Zhan Xing Chang.

Carefully studying the information in the battle report, Zhan Xingchang stroked his beard and said with a smile: “The combination of flintlock guns and this formation seems to allow the Qingzhou Army to fight the barbarians in the wild. If so, the Qingzhou Army will also We can use this formation to fight against the main force of Chagatai.”

“Niu Ben said in the battle report that he would be ready to go to Jizhou after a few days of repairs. The mixed use of the hollow square formation and the vehicle formation made him more courageous.” Xiao. Ming said.

“Your Highness, I feel that there is no need to let General Niu Ben go to Jizhou immediately. Chagatai’s troops still have the advantage, and once we leave Jizhou, our logistics will be stretched. At this time, Jizhou is full of rioters, and there is no need for transportation lines. The threat is great. If the transportation lines are cut off by barbarians and chaos, our soldiers will be in danger. It is true to rush to Jizhou this time, but it is also true to preserve our strength.”

Xiao Ming nodded. The soldiers of the Qingzhou Army are not afraid of fighting. I am afraid that I will run out of food and grass by then.

If Chagatai surrounded the Qingzhou army but did not attack, the army would face a desperate situation within ten days.

“What do you think?” Xiao Ming asked Zhan Xingchang. He was still good at the ancient power tactics.

“Waiting for the Forbidden Army to act together with King Wei’s army, so that King Wei’s army can protect our food and grass from behind. This time, King Wei must be just going through the motions like last time, and asked them to go forward. Naturally, they refused, but If they were asked to protect the transportation line, they would naturally not push it away,” Zhan Xingchang analyzed.

Pang Yukun on the side also said: “Zhan Xingchang is right. The army sent by the King of Wei this time is the “mountain” camp. Who doesn’t know that this is the worst army of the King of Wei.”

“So, this time in Jizhou I’m sleepy, so I can only rely on the Imperial Army?” Xiao Ming had a headache.

At the same time, he felt a little angry in his heart. How could the Chongqing Kingdom resist the barbarians with such intrigues and holding each other back?

“I’m afraid so.” Zhan Xingchang said: “And Chagatai is just the forward. If Bei Shan comes again at this time, the Qingzhou Army will be in trouble this time.”

Hearing this, Xiao Ming sighed, basically what Niu Ben brought out this time He had all his elite troops, and he didn’t want to lose all his troops. Just as Zhan Xingchang said, he wanted to rush to help Jizhou, but he also had to preserve himself and not be used as a spearman for others.

A treacherous and cunning person like the King of Wei would rather spend money and be too lazy to send troops every time.

However, in Xiao Ming’s opinion, it may not be a bad thing to let the Qingzhou Army train themselves. The battlefield is changing rapidly, and this expedition may be able to cultivate more generals for him.

The three of them agreed, and Xiao Ming drafted an order to have Niu Ben wait for King Wei’s army, and then go to Jizhou together to relieve Jizhou’s difficulties.

At the same time, he once again gave instructions on how to guide the victims into Qingzhou.

He increasingly felt that population was combat power, and population was productivity. Otherwise, the population of the fiefdom would not be enough to support the consumption of the war.

This is the tragedy of a country with a small population facing a country with a large population. When the generation difference in weapons is not very large, using human sea tactics is enough to destroy the opponent.

And now the population of his fiefdom is not large, only a quarter of the barbarians, and this does not include the slaves of the barbarians.

The difference in overall strength is too big, which is why he wants to gain people like crazy.

These people also lived a very miserable life under King Yong’s rule and were unable to take advantage of their population advantage. But it was different in his fiefdom.

Not only can it provide reserve soldiers for its own army, but it can also provide labor for all walks of life in Qingzhou.

In this way, he can have the capital to consume the barbarians for a long time until the barbarians are brought down by war.

As I was writing, I suddenly heard a loud noise outside the Governor’s Mansion.

A guard suddenly ran in and said hurriedly: “Your Highness, something strange has appeared in the sky.”

“In the sky?” Xiao Ming was startled when he heard this. Suddenly he laughed and said to Pang Yukun and Zhan Xingchang: “Come on, let’s go Take a look…”

Pang Yukun and Zhan Xingchang both looked interested.

The three of them went out.

I saw the people on the street stopped one after another, pointed their fingers to the sky, and kept whispering.

At this time, in the sky, a large gray balloon was moving slowly. The balloon was about fifty meters away from the ground.

However, the ten-meter diameter of the hot air balloon makes the hot air balloon look very huge. You can see the hot air balloon moving anywhere in Qingzhou.

“Your Highness, what is this!” Zhan Xingchang was shocked.

The officials of Dayu State still had strong feudal superstitious ideas, and they couldn’t help but associate hot air balloons with gods and ghosts.

Pang Yukun and Zhan Xingchang were seen looking pale.

And some people on the street even kept praying with their hands clasped toward the sky.

“Why are you nervous? This is a hot air balloon, something made by students of Bowen College.” Xiao Ming explained.

At the same time, he looked up at the hot air balloon in the sky and saw that there was no one on the hot air balloon. Only a brazier was burning, and the rope tied to the hot air balloon was still hanging low.

He realized something. It might be that the hot air balloon broke free of the rope during the experiment and flew away on its own.

Sure enough, his idea came true. Lin Wentao soon appeared on the street. He was running and jumping trying to grab the rope on the hot air balloon.

Students from the School of Physics also followed Lin Wentao, shouting, “Come down, come down!”

“This idiot will kill someone.” Xiao Ming was extremely depressed.

During this time, he learned about Lin Wentao’s hot-air balloons. The hot-air balloon fuel used by Lin Wentao was tung oil.

Tung oil can be used to paint wood to prevent corrosion, but it can also be used as fuel for oil lamps. In many modern rural areas, there are still many households that use tung oil lamps.

After studying the original hot air balloon in the textbook, Lin Wentao apparently modified the hot air balloon.

After all, the most primitive hot air balloon actually used burning materials such as straw to heat the gas in the hot air balloon.

This kind of hot air balloon only floats in the air for about twenty minutes, and the distance it flies is only about twenty miles.

Now Lin Wentao uses the method of heating tung oil under the hot air balloon to make the hot air balloon fly farther.

However, the combustion value of tung oil was not as good as that of later propane gas, so the tung oil he added could at most increase the range of the hot air balloon by about five times.

There is no way. Before natural gas and propane were produced, the limitations of hot air balloons were here.

(End of chapter)