The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 351 Hot Air Balloon

In contrast, Liu Tai, who won the war, took advantage of the situation and forced Zhang Mao to surrender.

At this time, Li Xiong heard that Li Xiang had died in battle and that the veterans he had cultivated during his conquest of Shu had been destroyed, which made Li Xiong vomit blood directly.

However, Li Xiong managed to hold on, and immediately ordered the troops who had waited until Li Xiang and Zhou Ping were in a stalemate to ambush the Tanluo Road camp to return to Hanzhong to defend themselves to prevent Liu Tai's army from entering directly. As for the attack Don't even mention it.

It can be said that Li Xiong did not feel distressed at all when Yang Nandi's soldiers were lost. However, the fact that Li Xiang and his soldiers encountered such a disastrous defeat made the entire Chenghan regime suddenly shaken.

After all, in any ancient dynasty, if the country's main army lost more than ten thousand people, it would be a disastrous defeat.

Not to mention the loss of 30,000 people this time, and the Cheng Han Dynasty had only just put down the separatist regime in Shu, and it was even more severely damaged.

Li Xiong was in so much pain that he couldn't sleep, and even Li Jiachenghan's control over Shu was inevitably loosened.

If it weren't for Li Xiong's always being lenient towards others, although his subordinates were difficult to control, they were not completely disobedient to orders. At this time, he could have waited for his subordinates to rebel, but even in the current situation, Li Xiong was still in a very difficult situation.

It can be said that this battle directly destroyed Cheng Han's ten years of luck, of course, if Cheng Han still had ten years left.

Of course, Liu Tai would not give Cheng Han that long time, but Liu Tai still had to wait for the repair of the road from Zheng Guoqu and Chang'an to Luoyang.

If these two projects are not completed, his army will not have the food for the expedition, and Liu Tai can only wait slowly.

However, Zhang Mao finally chose to return. For Liu Tai, the burden on Liangzhou can be reduced a bit.

Not to mention, after arranging Li Ju to be the governor of Liangzhou, Zhou Ping could wholeheartedly prepare to take Hanzhong.

Victory can often solve most of the problems in the development process, such as the various aristocratic families in Chang'an who surrendered to them, as well as the Xiongnu nobles, who were more or less secretly disobeying Liu Tai's policies, or Cheating and cheating.

After all, they surrendered, and the local relations in Chang'an have not been completely cleaned up, so it is normal to have some problems.

But after Zhou Ping killed Li Xiang and Zhang Mao surrendered to Liu Tai, most of them became quiet.

After all, they are from Chang'an. It can be said that they have been harassed by Zhang Mao, Yang Nandi, and Chen An for a long time. Li Xiong of the Chenghan Dynasty is even more of a hero in their eyes, not much different than Liu Bei.

But now, after Liu Tai occupied Chang'an, it only took just two years. Longyou was fully recovered, and Xiliang returned to the Han Dynasty. Even Cheng Han who wanted to send troops to test Liu Tai had his claws cut off!

Liu Tai's ferocity was vividly displayed at this moment. Facing such a vicious person, no one dared to mess around under Liu Tai's nose.

Especially as the situation stabilizes, these two guys, Chen Yuanda and Gou Chun, are causing everyone a headache.

Chen Yuanda was watching the family legislate, and Gou Chun was watching the family collect taxes. How could the family watch them without getting a headache!

To be honest, originally they would try to fool them, but this year, even if some dandy appears in their clan, they will take care of the so-called dandy without the need for the court to take action.

Gou Chun collected taxes from them. Even if they muttered a few words after Gou Chun left, they still obediently handed over the taxes in the end.

It can only be said that they have completely accepted their fate, knowing clearly that they will have to wait until Liu Tai dies before these aristocratic families can make a comeback. The most important thing now is to let the family survive. As for the small amount of money, they will pay it.

It is better than being bumped into by Liu Tai, who is at the peak of his prestige at this time. If he is really caught and Liu Tai wants to kill him, no one can stop him!
However, Liu Tai did not follow these aristocratic families to argue with the Huns aristocrats, and he stayed quiet for a while as long as he could.

Liu Tai first met with Zhou Ping. After Zhou Ping returned with his soldiers and gave them rewards as usual, Liu Tai said to Zhou Ping, "Come with me and have a look!"

Zhou Ping couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Liu Tai's words, but he did not refuse and immediately followed Liu Tai to the general prison.

And on this day, in addition to the presence of Jie Fei, who is responsible for serving as the prisoner, even Ge Hong is here today!
Of course, besides them, there are many workers who are discussing something around a bamboo basket.

"I have met your Majesty!" Jie Fei and Ge Hong saluted when they saw Liu Tai's arrival!
"No need!" Liu Tai waved his hand, then looked at the two of them and said, "How are you preparing?"

"Your Majesty, after you arrived in Chang'an, you ordered us to study the giant sky lantern. After two years of exploration, we have successfully invented it. We have tested it on livestock several times before, and everything was safe. Now we are going to use humans to test it as you said. Give it a try!”

Jie Fei replied to Liu Tai.

When Liu Tai heard Jie Fei's words, he nodded in approval.

In Liu Tai's view, hot air balloons are necessary equipment for attacking Shu. Otherwise, it would be impossible to train soldiers, fall down the mountain in cotton-padded clothes, and imitate Deng Ai to sneak into Yinping.

Don't think about it, Liu Tai just wants to crush with equipment.

Not to mention, when the unification of Shu is completed and the sky road he planned across the Qinling Mountains is repaired, Liu Tai hopes that the hot air balloon can be used as much as possible for civilians, and then works hard to develop a ropeway. Let the two combine.

I don't expect it to be able to carry people, but as long as it can transport goods, the imperial court's management of Shu will be greatly enhanced.

By then, if I want to develop the Yunnan region, it may not be impossible for the Han Dynasty to expand its power to the Indian Ocean in two or three hundred years.

After all, after having a mature plan to cross the Qinling Mountains, it would be relatively simple to deal with the Hengduan Mountains next. For the court, the only question left was whether it was worth it.

At worst, he left an imperial edict after his death, stating that the land of China can only support a population of 25 million households. If China wants to survive forever, it must cross the southern barbarians before the population of China reaches 20 million households and obtain the most valuable crops. Five stones, land that is ripe three times a year.

No matter how you put it, as long as you complete the unification and devote your whole life to developing this heavenly road in Shu, no matter whether the emperor believes it or not, he will definitely devote his efforts to detect the body poison.

When the time comes, as long as it is proven that the land can really produce three crops a year and produce five stones per acre, I am afraid that the entire Han Dynasty will riot!

Of course, these things are still too far away, and the most important thing now is to get the hot air balloon out first.

This kind of thing is simple for Liu Tai to say, but not easy to do.

First of all, the sealing and how to control the flame. It seems that it is very simple to fly the Kongming Lantern, but it is different if it is replaced by a human.

To be honest, it would be simple if it was just made to fly with the wind like a Kongming lantern.

But if you want to control flames, you can only let Ge Hong, a guy who has been playing with flames, solve it.

Of course, just in case, Liu Tai had also let the soldier master things like parachutes in advance to ensure that he would not lose his life when he fell. As long as his life is not lost, the country will take care of him for the rest of his life, otherwise it will only take care of his wife.

At this moment, Liu Tai watched with bated breath the first manned hot air balloon to take off in history.

The soldier took a deep breath and lit the bonfire of the hot air balloon, only to see the rising hot air blowing up the canvas as the special coal burned.

At this moment, I saw the entire balloon flying up at this time, taking off towards the sky. After a while, the bamboo basket lifted, and the rope that tied it began to tighten. Jie Fei began to let people loosen the rope one by one!

But they saw this hot air balloon rising into the sky, and it flew up in front of everyone's surprised eyes.

After flying in the sky for almost two quarters of an hour, perhaps the fuel brought up burned out, but the hot air balloon began to slowly fall down. This manned hot air balloon was completed very smoothly.

"Your Majesty, this sky lantern can carry people?! It's so amazing!" Zhou Ping looked at Liu Tai and sighed.

"This is a sharp weapon for you to attack Shu!" Liu Tai said, "Shu is mostly covered with high mountains and lofty mountains with obvious checkpoints.

So this year you need to select the elites in the army and let the elites master this displacement weapon so that they can avoid difficulties and obstacles.

When the time comes, whether you attack the level from front to back or let it cut off its food supply, it just depends on how you use it.

The carrying capacity of this thing is limited. Even if the soldiers can reach the other side, they may not be able to transport the armor across.

Of course, the simplest way to use this kind of thing is to let them bring kerosene, fly into the sky and smash it down on the city, and then release rockets on the ground to coordinate.

But this thing requires you to slowly train and try it. In short, when a person's feet leave the ground, new tactics will inevitably be born.

But you need to remember that the life of every soldier who can operate a hot air balloon is much more expensive than the hot air balloon itself. Please pay attention to how to use it. "

"The last general understands that the last general must make good use of this magical weapon!"

At this moment, Zhou Ping looked at the hot air balloon in front of him, his eyes showing a bit of heat.

Because he knew very well that after he mastered the hot air balloon, he would be more confident in conquering Shu.

Liu Tai soon handed over the supervision and dispatching of craftsmen to Zhou Ping to cooperate with him in training soldiers to operate hot air balloons.

Liu Tai understood very well that in this process, many soldiers would inevitably die during training.

Just like the training cost of modern air force pilots is much higher than that of the army and navy. Although the hot air balloons that I made in front of me are crude, they are still an air force and need to accumulate experience through life. They have soldiers themselves and equipment.

Just like every model of modern aircraft, they basically have the experience and blood and sweat accumulated by top pilots.

This kind of hot air balloon also requires the sacrifice of top air forces in order to be updated.

It can be said that after Liu Tai introduced hot air balloons to Zhou Ping, Zhou Ping completely became involved in training the hot air balloon troops.

In the process, Zhou Ping also truly saw the risks involved in the training process for soldiers like the Air Force.

For example, the rope was not tied securely, and the bamboo basket naturally fell off during the heightening process of the hot air balloon, causing a hot air balloon operator to fall from the sky and fall to his death.

Because of this incident, the craftsman responsible for inspecting the rope was directly punished for dereliction of duty, and even the whole family was implicated.

At the same time, some members of the Air Force chose to withdraw, and some people were re-recruited.

However, from now on, air force soldiers have an additional requirement, which is to check all equipment by themselves.

In addition to these, things like sparks igniting the canvas when adding coal, or sudden strong winds causing a hot air balloon with insufficient load-bearing capacity to flip over...

All in all, every time the Air Force adds a targeted doctrine, it basically means an accident!
Zhou Ping finally understood why Liu Tai warned himself that the life of every soldier who could operate a hot air balloon was more valuable than the hot air balloon itself.

Of course, at this time, Liu Tai was sharpening his sword against Shu, while at the same time he was hoarding his own food and grass towards Chang'an, making full preparations before attacking Shu, so relatively speaking, the next time was more peaceful. .

Liu Tai finally had time to spare and began to arrange educational courses for his son Liu An.

Because Liu An is already five years old, Liu Tai knows that children of this age should normally go to kindergarten and are no longer old enough to stay in their mother's arms and nurse.

So Liu Tai immediately arranged corresponding teachers for Liu An. Liu Tai thought over and over again and chose Ge Hong as the mathematics teacher and Xun Chuo as the history teacher.

Liu Tai said that Liu An is still young after all, and the most important thing now is to cultivate his interests and hobbies instead of forcing him to study.

So Xun Chuo, just tell him some historical stories from the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the late Qin Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, and give him a general impression.

As for Ge Hong, you teach him some mathematical topics that can be applied to life, so that he can understand the role of mathematics.

In any case, the profession of Crown Prince and Tutor is respectable, so both Xun Chuo and Ge Hong began to tentatively teach Liu An according to their ideas, so that Liu An would be interested in mathematics and history.

Liu Taize sent someone to record the diaries of these two guys educating Liu An. They would sort it out later and maybe it could become a textbook for children. Of course, when he wanted to make fun of Liu An in the future, he would have someone pick out a certain paragraph. read out.

Yeah, that scene, Liu Tai, I believe it must be very interesting.

However, Liu An's happy study life probably lasted until he was seven or eight years old.

After all, he will be at the age of elementary school by then, and he will be able to be provided with reading companions and a targeted group of teachers to let him know what elite education is.

If he does something wrong, he can give his companion a lesson!
Of course, just as Liu Tai began to slow down his pace slightly, the pace on Jinting's side became increasingly tense.

Especially when Li Xiong really sensed the crisis and sent an envoy to the Jin court to inform Liu Tai in detail about what he had done after taking Chang'an, the atmosphere within the Jin court became even more tense.

Because Sima Shao knew very well that if he did not take action to deal with Wang Dun and wait for Liu Tai to deal with Li Xiong, the Jin court might not even have the capital to conquer the river.

(End of this chapter)