Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

After hearing Princess Taiping's answer, Zhang Wenguan and several officials next to him looked strange, as if they were constipated. Everyone thought to themselves: Hebei is in the hands of your father-in-law. Even if there is a disaster, he will solve it himself. How can he report it to the court?

"Ahem!" Zhang Wenguan coughed twice: "The general governs the people well, and Hebei's government is clean and the people are harmonious. It is really a blessing for the country!"

"Not bad!"

"Yes! It is indeed rare for Hebei to have good years and prosperous people!"

"Yes, I heard that south of the Yellow River, a bucket of rice costs only 300 yuan, while north of the Yellow River, a bucket of rice only costs more than 30 yuan. The general's rule in Hebei is truly a kind of benevolent government unprecedented in ancient and modern times!"

The more Zhang Wenguan listened, the more outrageous he became, and he hurriedly said: "Okay, it's getting late, everyone should go about your own errands!"

After sending everyone away, Zhang Wenguan began to deal with the documents sent from various places. Princess Taiping sat aside and watched, asking one or two questions from time to time. At noon, everyone went outside to have lunch as usual. Princess Taiping also followed Zhang Wenguan like a disciple.

"Mr. Zhang!" Princess Taiping looked around and asked in a low voice, "I heard that General Wang also comes to the Political Hall on weekdays. Why don't you see him today?"

"What a heir to your family!" Zhang Wenguan said with a smile: "He usually has a lot of things to do, and he only comes to the Political Affairs Hall when there are important things. Today he went to Longshouyuan in the north of the city!"

"Longshouyuan? Isn't that the Daming Palace?" Princess Taiping asked puzzledly: "The Queen lives in the Ganlu Palace now, and no one lives in the Daming Palace!"

"I think that your two highnesses have no intention of treason!" the leading spy replied cautiously.

"The art of witchcraft?" Murong Miao frowned.

"Really?" Zhang Wenguan glanced at Princess Taiping, smiled slightly, but said nothing. The two chatted for a few more words and then concentrated on eating.

"Five days ago, two Taoist priests came to the Prince's Mansion!"

"General, we had previously suspected that the King of England and King Pei were plotting something nefarious, so we looked around for the weapons and armor that the two highnesses secretly stored, and whether they had any secret contacts with the generals of the Imperial Guard in the capital, etc. But we could never find it, the villain guessed. Could it be that we were wrong from the beginning?"

To say that King Pei of England wanted to raise troops to rebel requires a lot of evidence, but to say that King Pei of England practiced witchcraft is much simpler: just find a few wooden figures and a few wooden boards with horoscopes of life and birth engraved on them. , a little hair tucked into the corners of the palace is enough. Especially since the emperor has just become seriously ill and the queen is about to give birth, this crime can be said to be accurate.

"Trash!" Murong Miao waved his hand fiercely and swept the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the desk to the ground: "Seventeen or eighteen days have passed, but you told me that no evidence has been found that the King of England and King Pei conspired to cause rebellion. What does it mean?"

Murong Mo snorted coldly, and the secret agent's meaning was very clear: Since you must accuse King Pei Ying of treason, then you should use the charge of witchcraft! After all, it is much easier to be charged than raising troops to rebel and using witchcraft.

"He——" Princess Taiping smiled: "Hu Liang has been staying in the North Gate Forbidden Army all day long. He doesn't know as much about the things outside as I do?"

"I don't know about this!" Zhang Wenguan said with a smile: "If you want to know, just ask your husband. Why ask me?"

--------

More than a dozen people knelt on the ground, nervously waiting for their boss's reaction.

"Shut up!" Listening to his men's chattering, Murong Miao finally couldn't bear it anymore. He stopped the spy and asked directly: "You said that your two highnesses used witchcraft to harm people, do you have any evidence?"

"Only this?" Murong Miao looked strange. There were many Buddhists and Taoists in Chang'an, but only two Taoist priests went to the Prince of England's palace to support him!

"Yes!" The spy boldly replied: "General, we had previously suspected that the two highnesses wanted to launch a mutiny, so we focused on checking the soldiers in the two highnesses' mansions to see if they had contacted the Forbidden Army personnel. Naturally, we found nothing. . But I didn’t expect that with the general’s bravery, who would dare to commit such evil deeds——”

"What's wrong?" Murong Mu asked.

"General, there is no movement in this witchcraft. We can't enter the house to search. It's really difficult to find the evidence!"

Murong Nao raised his eyebrows: "Go on!"

"Your Highnesses are not planning to start a rebellion, but are practicing witchcraft!" The spy gave his answer carefully.

"There is no intention of rebellion? So I have wrongly blamed the two kings?" Murong Mu's voice was as cold as ice: "You guys remember this, you can go find whatever I ask you to find, wholeheartedly. Find it instead of saying that this thing may not exist. Anyone who talks too much here will not end well!
Faced with Murong Ku's threatening speech, the people kneeling on the ground couldn't help but look at each other. Listening to what he meant, there is no doubt that King Pei and King Ying are serious traitors?
"General, I wonder if my previous thinking was wrong!" a spy said cautiously.

Murong Miao's Mansion.

But the question is, can this pass Wang Wenzuo’s level? Murong Miao was not sure. Based on his understanding of his boss's past, Wang Wenzuo despised anything similar to witchcraft. But one moment and another, just because I didn't like it at the beginning doesn't mean I still don't like it now. After much consideration, Murong Piao decided to give it a try.

"It's definitely not possible to enter the palace to search openly, but I allow you to use other methods!" Murong Miao paused for a moment after saying this: "But the ugly words are ahead. If someone from the palace finds out, it will cause a big fuss for me. But he doesn’t admit it!”

"As ordered!"

After the spies retreated, Murong Parrot let out a long sigh. Although he became Wang Wenzuo's subordinate very early, but unlike other colleagues who followed Wang Wenzuo to conquer the east and west and divided the country and became princes, Murong Mu's main job under Wang Wenzuo was to stay in Chang'an and use ordinary people to The explanation for the point is that he is the "Director of the Beijing Office" of Wang Wenzuo's military and political clique. In other words, although he is a military commander, his main job is actually to build relationships.

With the successful marriage between Hu Liang and Princess Taiping and the emperor's sudden illness, the situation has become very obvious. No matter who takes the throne in the future, Wang Wenzuo's influence in the center of the empire will only become deeper and deeper. Murong Mu's status naturally increased.

This was originally a good thing, but for Murong Parrot it was not necessarily the case. If Wang Wenzuo ascends the throne as emperor one day in the future, then there will naturally be no need for Murong Miao, the "Director of the Beijing Office" to exist.

Of course, Wang Wenzuo would not do anything like killing a donkey. In order to gain a new position within the group, Murong Mu must seize the time and make a great contribution. In Murong Moo's view, the three biggest stumbling blocks blocking Wang Wenzuo's path to the supreme position are the three brothers Li Xian, Li Xian, and Li Dan. If he can create a case and catch these three brothers in one go, his future It's definitely bright.

"The Queen will give birth in less than a month! By then it will be clear whether she is a boy or a girl!" Murong Miao thought to himself: "Seize this opportunity to deal with these three people, and the overall situation will be settled. "

——————Longshouyuan.

Wang Wenzuo stood on the top of the mound, looking at the Daming Palace in the distance. The layers of palaces were connected into a black crow, and the atmosphere was astonishing.

"Tell the general, everything is ready!" Wang Pu said loudly.

"Well, let's get started!" Wang Wenzuo nodded.

"Yes!" Wang Pu responded, turned around, ran to the edge of the cliff, picked up a flag, and waved it vigorously.

More than a hundred steps away from the mound, Liu Pingji saw the waving flag on the mound, immediately turned around and shouted: "The boss has given the order, light the fire quickly!"

"Quick, light the fire!"

Following Liu Pingji's order, dozens of craftsmen got busy. They lit an iron stove on a wicker basket. Orange flames suddenly appeared at the mouth of the stove, and the edge of the flame flashed with blue light. As the fire was ignited, , the huge leather bag that was originally deflated at the top gradually bulged, and then expanded to form a huge spindle-shaped elliptical sphere.

"Quickly, take apart the support frame!" Liu Pingji climbed into the wicker basket and shouted to the craftsmen around him. As the craftsmen dismantled the bracket that supported the spindle-shaped balloon, the balloon not only did not fall to the ground, but was suspended in mid-air, and even slowly rose into the air, tightening the cables on the wicker basket.

"Untie the rope quickly!" Liu Pingji ordered again.

As the ropes were untied one by one, the balloon took the wicker basket off the ground and began to rise slowly. The craftsmen around him exclaimed: "It's flying! Bodhisattva, it's really flying!"

Liu Pingji, who was standing in the wicker basket, was even more nervous. He watched himself rising up little by little. As the height continued to rise, the faces of his craftsmen became increasingly blurred, and finally the whole person turned into a black spot. The Daming Palace not far away has lost its original majesty and majesty. It looks like a child's model toy, which you can pick up with one hand.

"Ouch!"

With a gust of north wind, the wicker basket under Liu Pingji's feet began to shake violently. His feet were unstable and he fell. He quickly grabbed the rope next to him. After a while, when the wind calmed down, the shaking became lighter. Then he stood up.

Liu Pingji was overlooking the scenery from the air when he suddenly heard a bell ringing, but it was someone on the ground who pulled the signal rope and sent a signal to tell him that it was time to land. He had to turn down the fire, and the people on the ground turned the pulley and pulled the rope to slowly pull the hot air balloon back to the ground.

"Welcome our great hero, the first person to take off!"

Liu Pingji had just landed, and before he could climb out of the wicker basket, he saw Wang Wenzuo standing aside and said loudly with a smile.

"The general is joking!" Liu Pingji climbed out of the wicker basket and said, "I just sat in the wicker basket and did nothing. How can I be considered a hero?"

"From ancient times to the present, you, Liu Pingji, are the first person to fly. Just because you were the first, your name will be in the history books thousands of years later. Of course you are a great hero!" Wang Wenzuo asked: "How does it feel in the air? Sample?"

"Humans are just like ants! The Daming Palace is like a toy model that can be picked up with one hand!" Liu Pingji said with a smile: "Moreover, when the wind blew violently, I fell. You have to be careful about this, otherwise you will never see it again." If you fall from above, you’ll be dead!”

"Well, in the future, we might as well make this wicker basket completely enclosed, with all the tools and utensils fixed on the wall, and a safety rope attached to the occupants. This way, even if it shakes, it will be much better!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah!" Liu Pingji took out his pencil and quickly wrote down Wang Wenzuo's words. He had long been accustomed to his boss's foresight in engineering technology. After finishing recording, he casually asked: "General, why should this hot air balloon be made into a spindle shape instead of a round shape? It also has a skeleton inside, which also adds a lot of weight!"

"The spindle-shaped flight has low resistance and can fly faster!" Wang Wenzuo said casually: "In the future, if you install a propeller and tail fin, you can control the flight. When attacking a city, fly directly over the enemy's wall and go down. Throwing fire bombs can defeat even the most impregnable fort!"

Although I still don’t quite understand what Wang Wenzuo is talking about as propellers and tail fins, it’s not difficult to understand the tactic of flying this thing over the enemy’s head and throwing flammable objects below.

"Yes, this thing is indeed a sharp weapon for attacking cities, but thieves can also use crossbows to shoot rockets, right? It would be terrible if they were shot!"

"How high can a bow and arrow shoot?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "The balloon floats a hundred steps high on the city wall and drops oil bombs below. How powerful a crossbow can shoot 100 steps high?"

"Well, if that's the case, then there is indeed no city in the world that cannot be conquered!" Liu Pingji said with a smile, "General, please give this thing a name!"

"Call it airship!" Wang Wenzuo said casually.

"Airship?" Liu Pingji lowered his head in disappointment. He originally thought that his boss would give him a powerful and domineering name: such as Shenwei Spaceship, Lingxiao Treasure Ship, etc., but he did not expect that the name given by the boss would be so simple and unpretentious.

"What's wrong? Do you have a better name?"

"No, no, no!" Liu Pingji hurriedly waved his hands to deny: "Airships are great!"

Wang Wenzuo saw Liu Pingji's thoughts: "The meat of the bun is not in the pleats, and whether the thing is easy to use or not is not in the name. This thing is a semi-finished product now, and there are still things to do next. You have to hurry up and don't Delayed!"

"General, please don't worry!" Liu Pingji responded quickly.

"Also, you are not allowed to go up again!" Wang Wenzuo said.

"Ah? Why is this?"

"The launch experiment is very dangerous. If you walk too much at night, you will always encounter ghosts! It was you who launched into the sky for the first time. You have already left your name in history. There is no need for the next one!" Wang Wenzuo said softly: "You are I will be a great craftsman, but I can’t die here!”

"Thank you, General!"

After leaving the hot air balloon experimental site, Wang Wenzuo embarked on the return journey. On the way, Lu Zhaolin couldn't hold himself back and asked in a low voice: "Who is the general planning to conquer with such a powerful weapon as an airship?" (End of Chapter)