Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 730 The hot air balloon takes off

On a new day, Zhuang Mengdie sent someone to send news that their first hot air balloon in Dazhou was officially completed, and the next step was to test it.

During this period, in addition to discussing the development and manufacturing of hot air balloons and his own mantra combination with Zhuang Mengdie, Zhou Xu mainly focused on teaching theoretical knowledge to the testers.

The operating principle of a hot air balloon is actually simple.

It's nothing more than increasing the firepower and going up, reducing the firepower and going down. Which way to go, just pay attention to judge the wind direction and let the hot air balloon fly to the airflow layer with the correct wind direction.

However, this simple process requires considerable experience to operate it skillfully. Especially in this era when equipment is not up to date, the requirements for operator experience are even higher.

But to be honest, Zhou Xu's understanding of hot air balloons is limited to this. This is scientific knowledge that everyone who has gone to school knows.

As for more practical skills, it is up to the testers to slowly explore them during the testing process.

By the time Zhou Xu arrived at the testing site outside the city, Zhuang Mengdie and the others had basically completed their preparations. When Zhou Xu appeared, Zhuang Mengdie immediately greeted him.

"Your Majesty, I am wondering if I should let the hot air balloon fly lower when I test it later. If it flies too high, it will be dangerous if something goes wrong."

At this moment, Zhuang Mengdie's idea was simple. Even if he flew lower, no one would be killed if he fell.

Regarding this, Zhou Xu spoke after thinking about it for a while...

"In the early stage, we just practiced stable takeoff. It doesn't matter if it is lower, or even close to the ground. But what's more important later is that they have to learn to adjust the height of the hot air balloon according to the wind direction to achieve a change of direction. This operation must fly high. That’s it.”

"Under this premise, if the hot air balloon were to fly too low, if something happened to the hot air balloon, the parachute on them would not be able to fully deploy due to the insufficient height, which would be dangerous. Flying high would give the parachute time to deploy, which is relatively safer. "

The sky is a completely unfamiliar field to Zhuang Mengdie and the others, so her understanding of this area is very limited, far less comprehensive than Zhou Xuxiang's.

At this time, Zhou Xu's words sounded like knowledge to Zhuang Mengdie and others, and they all silently memorized them.

Everything is ready and formal testing will begin soon.

After the heating device is ignited, along with the filling of fuel, the hot air inside is generated, which quickly expands the hot air balloon and slowly lifts the entire bamboo basket off the ground.

Up to this point, they had already tested the hot air balloon when it was just completed.

If you can't even do this step, then there is no need to conduct this test.

At this moment, the operators on the hot air balloon and Zhou Xu, Zhuang Mengdie and others who were standing on the ground watching the test were all tense.

There is basically nothing wrong with this step of taking off in the air. More importantly, it is for the two operators in the bamboo basket to get used to the feeling of being suspended in the air.

After all, after the hot air balloon takes off, they will definitely not feel as stable as they do on the ground.

During this period, the wind was still quite strong in the open space outside Black Rock City. When the wind blew, the hot air balloon that broke away from the ground immediately floated in the direction of the wind.

Zhou Xu was not in a hurry to let them continue to rise, and then began to judge the wind direction and control the rise and fall of the hot air balloon.

According to the determined test and training plan, they will now maintain this state and walk with the wind, in order to allow the two operators in the hot air balloon to adapt to this state of flying in a hot air balloon.

When they can get used to this feeling and can move flexibly and think normally in this state, they can then proceed to the next step. Otherwise, if you fly high in the sky and something happens, your whole body will become nervous and your mind will go blank, why don't you just give it away?
The moving speed of a hot air balloon depends entirely on the strength of the wind. The greater the wind, the faster it moves.

At this moment, the hot air balloon is still six or seven meters above the ground. No matter how strong the wind is at this altitude, it cannot be compared to the strong wind at high altitude.

Riding on fast horses, everyone led by Zhou Xu followed the hot air balloon and did not feel much pressure during the whole process.

At the same time, on top of the wall of Blackstone City...

"Look over there, what is that?!"

The garrison soldiers guarding the wall immediately noticed the movement in the distance.

Hearing the movement, the team leader on duty at the wall took a closer look.

"It's a new thing developed by the Ordnance and Equipment Department. It's called a hot air balloon. Vice Minister Zhuang told people this morning that the hot air balloon will be tested outside the city today."

In addition, when the hot air balloon was sent out of the city, the soldiers in charge of the garrison also saw it.

Just as the team leader said this, looking at the hot air balloon getting closer and closer to their wall, the team leader paused, and large beads of cold sweat began to break out on his forehead.

"Wait, wait a minute! If you get closer to this height, you will hit the wall!"

Having said this, the captain's expression suddenly changed.

"Didn't the people in the hot air balloon notice?!"

At this moment, the team leader had no time to think too much and jumped directly to the wall, waving wildly at the hot air balloon flying closer and closer to them.

"Stop! Stop quickly!! If you get closer, you will hit me!!!"

After the soldiers stationed on the wall reacted, their expressions changed suddenly, and they shouted together with their squad leader.

There was so much movement on the wall of Black Rock City that it was impossible for the two operators on the hot air balloon not to notice it.

Originally, there should be no risk in today's acclimatization training, but the two of them never expected that the wind would cause trouble and blow them against the wall of Black Rock City!
For a moment, the two new operators were confused.

"What should I do, what should I do, what should I do?! We're going to hit him!"

"Add fuel, that's right! Add fuel! Increase the flying height of the hot air balloon!!"

The duties of the two operators on the hot air balloon were arranged long before testing began.

At this moment, one of them quickly opened the furnace and kept throwing coal as fuel into it!

The other person grasped the lever of the bellows on the side and pulled it.

In order to allow the combustion furnace to heat up quickly, Zhuang Mengdie specifically referred to the forging furnace in the forging department and designed a bellows on the side when manufacturing.

Now, under the instigation of the bellows, the temperature in the furnace increased rapidly. With the influx of hot air, the flight height of the hot air balloon began to increase. Finally, it narrowly avoided the wall of Black Rock City and headed higher. Fly into the air!
(End of this chapter)