Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 334 Airship
On February 12, Lin Daiyu woke up in the morning, and as expected, Li Qiang was not by her side.

Li Qiang has recently increased the time spent studying Buddhism. Every day before going to court, she would wear a Buddhist robe and hold Buddhist beads to practice Buddhism for a while.

I even heard Xueyan secretly mention that sometimes Li Qiang would just accompany Lin Daiyu to sleep and then get up to practice Buddhism.

Xueyan was worried for a long time about this, but she stopped worrying when she found that Li Qiang would return to normal as long as she changed her Buddhist robes.

Lin Daiyu was not worried that Li Qiang would become obsessed with Buddhism. Li Qiang had her and nine concubines to accompany her day and night. Could Buddhism be more attractive than them?
With Xueyan's help, she fixed her makeup, changed into an elegant and luxurious brocade dress, and then left the bedroom.

"Miss, the emperor asked you to go over there after you get up!" Xueyan reminded Lin Daiyu softly after she finished dressing up.

Lin Daiyu looked at Xueyan with a smile, she remembered that today was her birthday.

This little girl is acting weird. It must be that Li Qiang has made some birthday arrangements.

However, she had no intention of spoiling the fun, so she pretended not to know and followed Xueyan out of the bedroom.

She lived in Li Qiang's bedroom, which was behind the main hall of the Daming Palace. There was a large square between the two halls, and the ground was paved with white stones.

As soon as Lin Daiyu left her bedroom, she saw a strange guy in the square. Next to the strange guy was Li Qiang, who was waving at her with a smile.

"Brother Qiang, what is this?" Lin Daiyu was not pretending this time, she was really curious.

This strange thing is about five meters long. There is an oval object on top and a rattan frame connected to it by ropes at the bottom.

The strangest thing is that the oval-shaped object above is floating. If it weren't for the rope below pulling it, perhaps this oval-shaped object would fly away.

"This thing is called an airship. What we have currently produced is only a smaller version for testing purposes!" Li Qiang explained with a smile.

This is what he showed on the design drawings for the manufacturing workshop. The helium used on top of the airship was extracted by him personally.

Since the airship on the design drawing was an extra-large model, a smaller version needed to be made for testing first, which led to this small airship.

Although it is a small airship, it is equipped with all the necessary equipment and has been experimented in the suburbs of Beijing. Currently, the small airship here is a safe version that has been improved several times.

In order to avoid being seen by other people in the capital and to give Lin Daiyu a surprise, this small airship flew into the city from outside the city last night.

Of course, Li Qiang also explained this matter to the palace guards, so that they did not regard the small airship as an enemy.

"Sister Lin, come up with me!" Li Qiang opened the side door of the rattan frame and invited with a smile.

He dared to let Lin Daiyu board the small airship not only because the safety of the airship was guaranteed, but also because even if something happened to the airship, he had the ability to protect Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu walked into the rattan frame and found that half of the frame was filled with some kind of machine, which meant that the actual space inside the frame was not very large.

When Li Qiang also walked into the rattan frame, there was almost no space left to move inside the frame.

Li Qiang started the steam engine. As the steam engine ran, the flame that originally came out of the fire outlet was only a tiny bit, but now it was getting bigger and bigger, heating up the auxiliary airbag in the airbag.

Most of the space in the airbag is helium, while the auxiliary airbag is heated and deflated to make the airship rise and fall.

The steam engine is the driving source of the airship. On the one hand, the operation of the steam engine can create air, making the flame stronger and heating the auxiliary airbag faster. On the other hand, the steam engine can also drive the propeller to allow the airship to move forward in the air.

Lin Daiyu only felt the vine frame shake slightly, and then the vine frame slowly left the ground.

She became nervous and couldn't help but hold Li Qiang's arm tightly.

This is human instinct. Humans yearn for the sky, but are also afraid of being suspended in the air.

"I'm here with you!" Li Qiang said, gently hugging Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu felt a sense of peace of mind. Although her body felt weightless, she was not afraid at all as long as she was by Li Qiang's side.

As the airship rose higher and higher, at first only the people in the Daming Palace could see it, then the entire palace could see it. When it flew to about sixty meters, it was already the limit of the airship.

This is because the airship's airbag is not there and it is used for experiments, so sixty meters is the maximum.

Lin Daiyu was shocked by the scene before her. She seemed to be standing in the imperial palace, and the streets of the capital city in the distance were faintly visible.

"Five cranes come from the northwest, flying high over the sky. An immortal is on the green cloud, announcing his name. Two white jade boys are playing the purple phoenix flute. Their shadows disappear in a flash, leaving only the sound to carry to the sky. I want to ask them, but they float away like shooting stars. I wish to eat golden grass, and live as long as the sky." Lin Daiyu recited the poem of the immortal poet Li Bai softly.

She seemed to feel the artistic conception of the immortal in the poem, and on her birthday, she and her husband ascended to heaven and became immortals.

Below, Miaoyu and other concubines were alarmed. They rushed towards the bedroom, looking at the airship in the sky and talking about something.

In Changchun Palace, the half-drunk emperor was helped out of the palace by Dai Quan. Looking at the airship in the sky, he could not help rubbing his eyes.

He even thought that the man was still drunk, otherwise how could he see such a big thing flying in the air.

"Master, it flew into the Daming Palace from outside the city last night. You were asleep at that time, so I didn't report it to you!" Dai Quan explained softly.

"So this is something Li Qiang created?" The retired emperor was completely sober by then. He squinted his eyes and looked at the airship in the sky and asked.

"Yes, look at those two people above, they are the Emperor and the Queen!" Dai Quan said, pointing at the rattan frame under the airship.

"Nonsense! How can an emperor be so ignorant of the seriousness of the matter? Go to the Daming Palace immediately!" the emperor said angrily.

Dai Quan bowed and agreed. Based on his understanding of the emperor, he was probably not trying to reprimand Li Qiang.

Dai Quan could see the yearning in the eyes of the retired emperor as he looked towards the airship.

Not to mention the emperor, Dai Quan also wanted to go up and take a look. That would be flying into the sky, something only gods could do.

Lin Daiyu looked down excitedly, her eyes were not enough. Looking at the capital of Daqian from this angle had a different artistic conception.

But it is still winter now, and the wind is colder at high altitudes.

"Are you cold? Let's go downstairs!" Li Qiang said with concern.

"Can I come up again later?" Lin Daiyu asked reluctantly.

"Don't worry, this airship will stay in the Daming Palace from now on, but I have to accompany you every time it takes off!" Li Qiang replied with a smile.

With Li Qiang's guarantee, Lin Daiyu nodded and agreed.

Li Qiang pulled the device to assist in airbag deflation, and the airship slowly descended until it landed on the ground.

"Sister Queen, is it fun up there?" Miaoyu asked expectantly.

"If you want to go up, just ask Brother Qiang. I can't make it fly up!" Lin Daiyu naturally understood her little thoughts and shook her head.

"Your Majesty, take me upstairs to have a look!" Miaoyu agreed when she heard it. She came to Li Qiang, grabbed his arm and started shaking it.

Li Qiang looked at the other concubines and saw that they all had eager expressions. "You all line up and get ready. Each person can only go up for a cup of tea!" Li Qiang said helplessly.

"Me first!" Miaoyu jumped forward and entered the rattan frame.

Fortunately, the steam engine on the small airship did not stop and there was enough fuel, so Li Qiang took Miaoyu into the sky again.

In the Nine Ministers' Room, all the officials were waiting to go to court, but they heard the eunuchs' exclamations outside.

"These eunuchs are becoming more and more unruly!" said the Minister of Rites dissatisfiedly.

"I'm afraid something has happened in the sky, these eunuchs are all looking at the sky!" said another official, shaking his head.

The officials were also curious and had no intention of sitting in the Nine Ministers' Room, so they walked out.

"Is that thing in the sky the emperor?" asked Grand Secretary Tian in surprise.

"It's His Majesty!" Lin Ruhai, who was younger and had better eyesight, replied.

Li Qiang was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe embroidered with gold thread. Under the morning sunlight, he seemed to be glowing with golden light.

"Is this the study of things or a magical method?" asked Scholar Tian with some uncertainty.

No one could answer him, and all the officials who saw the airship in the sky were deeply shocked.

In other words, you can't go to the Daming Palace whenever you want. Unless you are summoned, you cannot go to the Daming Palace. Otherwise, these officials will have to go under the airship to observe carefully.

"Greetings to the Emperor!" Lin Daiyu and the other concubines hurriedly bowed when they saw the Emperor coming.

The emperor stepped down from the imperial sedan chair and waved his hand for all the concubines to stand up.

"Queen, you should also control the emperor and don't let him act too recklessly!" the emperor said to Lin Daiyu.

"Yes!" Lin Daiyu had no choice but to respond.

The emperor looked up at the sky, and when he got closer, he felt the height of the airship even more clearly.

"Dai Quan, shout loudly to tell Li Qiang to come down!" He turned and ordered Dai Quan.

Dai Quan looked at the sky. Although he used to read imperial edicts loudly in the court, which made his voice loud, he was a bit old now. In addition, the airship was too high, so he was worried that his voice would not be able to be heard.

"Manager Jin, let someone shout with me!" He went to Jin Dong and said.

Then several eunuchs shouted towards the sky together. At this time, Li Qiang and Xichun were in the sky.

"I want to paint this scene!" Xichun looked down at the earth from the sky. This scene made her excited to paint, and she said with a smile.

"Okay, there is still a wall in the hall that has no paintings hung on it, waiting for your masterpiece!" Li Qiang said with a big laugh.

At this time, he heard the shouting from below and saw the figure of the emperor.

"Let's stop here today. The emperor has arrived, let's go down!" Li Qiang said to Xichun.

Xichun was very reluctant to leave, but she didn't ask for anything and just nodded with a smile.

The small airship slowly landed on the ground, and Li Qiang helped Xichun out of the rattan frame.

The emperor stepped into the rattan frame without waiting for Li Qiang to walk out of it.

"How does this thing fly?" he asked without any politeness.

How could Li Qiang not know what the emperor meant? It didn't matter whether he took one or a group of people, so he operated the airship to take off again.

"Master, this is too dangerous. Bring your servants up to protect you!" Dai Quan shouted from below.

The emperor emeritus ignored Dai Quan. Dai Quan was familiar with the emperor emeritus, and the emperor emeritus was also familiar with Dai Quan.

What does protection mean? Isn't it just that one also wants to fly into the sky, and let the emperor take Dai Quan to fly into the sky, which would make him so happy.

"Is this thing safe?" The emperor asked, remembering the purpose of his visit.

"Grandpa Emperor, as long as this thing is not attacked, its safety is still very high!" Li Qiang assured.

In fact, this airship looks like just a test product, but its airbags adopt a multi-air chamber structure. Even if one of the airbags ruptures and leaks, it will not affect the other airbags.

Moreover, Li Qiang directly used safer helium, which is a non-flammable gas, so there is no need to worry about the risk of ignition and explosion.

Li Qiang's guidance alone helped the airship avoid many defects.

These defects of the airship were summarized from countless lives in the previous life.

"You made this thing to please the Queen, didn't you?" The Emperor asked, thinking about what day it was today.

Although the emperor may not remember Lin Daiyu's birthday, Dai Quan will remind him. So on the way here, the emperor knew why Li Qiang brought the airship into the palace, which was for Lin Daiyu's birthday.

"Grandpa Emperor, this thing is just a scaled-down version for testing purposes. The real thing will be nearly ten times larger than this one. It can fly hundreds of meters high and carry thousands of kilograms. What do you think this thing can be used for?" Li Qiang ignored the emperor's ridicule and asked back.

The emperor took a deep breath and patted the side of the rattan frame lightly, imagining what it would look like if it were ten times larger.

It is a powerful weapon of war that can carry thousands of kilograms of objects at a height of hundreds of meters in the air.

If it flies over an enemy city, it will drop explosive shells directly down.

I dare not think about it, I dare not think about it. Even the emperor was shocked by his own thoughts.

"With this thing, Daqian can make the enemy surrender without losing a single soldier!" At this time, the small airship was already dozens of meters away. Li Qiang looked down and said with a sense of heroism.

"If only I were twenty years younger, I could ride this thing myself and kill the enemy!" the retired emperor sighed.

The two emperors were in the air, not appreciating the beautiful scenery; they were talking about things that went beyond the scenery.

"Grandpa Emperor, how about we take this airship to court?" Li Qiang couldn't possibly satisfy the emperor's wish, but he could still let him feel the capabilities of the airship.

It was just time to go to court, so he pulled a mechanism and the steam engine drove the propeller. He controlled the direction of the propeller and the airship flew above the Golden Palace.

"Master, wait for me!" Dai Quan and Jin Dong on the ground shouted in unison.

The two eunuchs, one old and one young, ran away, followed by a group of eunuchs, who were afraid of delaying their two masters.

Li Qiang was also very careful, mainly because he did not have much experience in controlling the flight of an airship. Fortunately, the airship was not difficult to control. The airship turned a circle in the air and arrived above the Golden Palace, then slowly descended.

(End of this chapter)