golden scales

The hot air balloon floated high in the sky, a full five feet high, two feet higher than ordinary city walls, enough to incorporate the situation of tens of miles around into the telescope.

Two scouts spotted the flying ball high in the sky, and they lifted their buckskin caps, revealing their smooth foreheads.Judging from their sheepskin jackets, which were almost faded, they were full Qing horses.

"There is no Nikan city here, why is there such a flying ball?" one of the older ones asked.

"Go and have a look?" The other one was younger, and he could still see a ring of bristles on his lips that were different from his mustache.In the past, the Manchurians used a five-foot wooden staff to recruit soldiers, and those who were taller than five feet were counted as Ding, and then those who were strong and healthy were recruited into the army, and those who were weak were Yu Ding.Now the five-foot stick has not been used for a long time, as long as it can ride a horse and shoot arrows, it can be included in the army.

The older Tan Ma seemed more cautious. He freed his hands from the leather gloves, put them in front of his mouth, and uttered a few birdsong.

Soon, more birdsong came from the forest one after another.As the sound of birds chirping continued, Manchurian Tanmas within a radius of ten miles all gathered in the direction of Old Tanma, and finally stopped at about twenty riders.

"Everyone knows that Nikan's flying ball has to be held down, otherwise it will be blown away by the wind. Why did this flying ball come to our site?" Old Tanma pointed to the hot air balloon with a ghost face painted on it, and exclaimed in surprise: " Look! It's still flying!"

What hot air balloons have never been able to solve is the problem of free flight, and this problem may not be solved before large-scale production of hydrogen and the invention of airships.However, the unreconciled soldiers of the Ming army finally thought of a workaround: tow the snow boat.

Snow boat is a kind of vehicle that slides on snow and ice newly trial-produced by technical college.It is as big as a boat and can carry seven or eight hundred catties of goods.Because there are two wide skateboards at the bottom, the pressure on the snow surface can be reduced, and there is not much friction, so it is very easy to pull up a horse.

The only constraints are still horses and roads.

No one knows whether there are horse traps dug by the two scouts on the snow-covered road.Or other traps set by the hunters, which greatly limited the range of activities of the snow boat, so the initial use of the snow boat was mainly to transport the luggage from the port to the castle, or in the area under the absolute control of the Ming army. the way.

Colonel Chang Zhifan, who was recently promoted to battalion officer.This time, it was a great determination to send a snow boat to conduct a feasibility experiment on snow boat pulling a hot air balloon for field reconnaissance.

"It's Donglu's scouting horse." The warrior on the horse on the snow boat looked like a bear, and his whole body was wrapped in fur.

"Yeah." Another "hairy bear" sitting behind him said, "We should go back too."

While the two were talking, a wooden board had been placed on the hot air balloon, which contained directions for the gathering of Manchurian horses.

"Twenty." The warrior who looked at the board said to Yute, "It's in our four o'clock direction."

"It's done!" The imperial hand shook the reins, and the two horses immediately accelerated, turned a big curve, and turned to the northwest.

In this snowy field, the Ming army and Donglu's exploration horses penetrated each other.The momentum is like a dog's teeth, as long as they call for the support of their own people, the mere twenty horsemen are not taken seriously by the two of them.

The watchman of the hot air balloon above the head also released a signal: a cannonball exploded in the air with a crisp sound, and the sound spread far away.

Because the hot air balloon is particularly eye-catching, since Donglu can see it, so can his own people.What's more, in order to ensure the safety of the experiment, there was originally a team of scouts standing by in the reconnaissance area.

Donglu Tanma also heard the sound of firecrackers.It's just that I don't know how many troops there are in the Ming army, let alone whether this flying ball is a bait to lure the Donglu cavalry to take the bait.

Since the Battle of Ningyuan.Donglu was also aware of the tactical advantages brought by this kind of flying ball. He thought it would be easy to imitate, but the reality humiliated Donglu to the point of being naked.

Leaving aside the material and size of the airbag of this kind of flying ball, the fierce kerosene used to generate heat is not something Donglu can get.However, traditional fuels such as coal and charcoal are not only overweight, but also have insufficient thermal efficiency.Simply doesn't provide enough lift.

According to Zhu Cihong, it took more than two years for the best scientists in Ming Dynasty to successfully develop a sharp weapon, and the progress in mathematics and physics brought about by this is enough to allow students to study for an extra semester. ?

Under such circumstances, capturing a ready-made flying ball is Donglu's only choice.

The old detective reined in the horse's head and said, "It's likely that the Ming army has an ambush. It's better not to go."

The young scouts were not happy, and said one after another: "They are asking for help, obviously there is no ambush. If there was an ambush, they would have quietly waited for us to follow."

It makes sense to say so... Old Tan Ma is still a little hesitant.

"Drive! If you don't go, let's go!"

There is only cooperation among the explorers of the eastern captives, and there is no leadership. They all record their own men and horses, and only recognize their own masters.These energetic Manchurian youths still couldn't control their greed after all, and chased after the hot air balloon on horseback.

"They actually came after them, I'm really not afraid of death." Sitting in the snow boat, "Mao Xiong" said.

Yu Shou turned his head to avoid the wind, and said loudly: "There is still a pier ahead of us!"

"After all, they are animals. Let's go to the pier to rest and see if they dare to come around."

Yushou manipulated the reins skillfully, causing the horses to turn their heads, Xuezhou drew a beautiful arc on the snow, and galloped all the way towards the pier.

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, there was one pier every three miles, one pier every five miles, and only five or seven people were stationed in the pier. The main task was to warn and not to be conquered by the enemy for a while.On the Liaodong battlefield, the Ming army had already occupied the absolute main force, but the building materials were really insufficient, so a fort was built every five miles, and five or seven people were kept in the fort to guard it.

The Dunli defenders soon discovered the hot air balloon floating high, knowing that it was their own property, and hurriedly prepared to open the door.However, according to the military code of conduct, pier soldiers still have to go to the door, check the military badge, check the accent, and then open the door to let people in.

Although there is only one real soldier among the pier soldiers, they are naturally vigilant because of sufficient rations and peace of mind.Unlike those frontier soldiers in the past, Donglu was still sound asleep when he touched the bed.These newly built side piers have not been touched by Donglu since they were built.

The corporal leader in Dunli came out to greet his colleagues in Xuezhou, and the hot air balloon was fixed on the small watchtower of Dunbao by the pier soldiers, so there was no need to turn off the flames to descend.

"Colonel, do you want to summon pier soldiers for a lecture?" The corporal walked beside "Mao Xiong" and asked in a low voice.

This "hairy bear" strode into the public housing, peeled off his leather jacket, and revealed two stripes of three-star epaulettes. It was Chang Zhifan, the approver of this experiment.The man beside him also took off his leather jacket, it was his old partner Zhao Wei, who was in the imperial car just now.

"Jingludun," Chang Zhifan looked at Biandun's name now, "are we already on the opposite Zhengbaiqi territory?"

Zhao Wei stepped forward to poke the fire, and said: "It should be, it used to be the site of the inlaid white flag. For some reason, the flag was changed to the Zhengbai flag two months ago."

"How far is their nearest Niulu from us?" Chang Zhifan asked.

The Wuchang quickly said: "Originally the closest one was Ertaizitun, but now that village is abandoned, I heard that everyone has gone to Yilanbotun, which is eight miles away."

Chang Zhifan nodded: "Do you know how many people are there?"

"Women, children, old and weak are all included and there are no more than 30 people." Wu Chang said: "Ilanbo translates into Chinese as 'Sanjiazi', and there were only three families in the past. The land is barren and no one is willing to live. This is not the case. Well, our scouts went to Ertaizi to collect people every three days, and they escaped."

Zhao Wei said with a smile: "You know a lot, and the accent is not from inside the Guan?"

"I was born outside the customs. My father was captured by the Eastern Captives. His ancestral home is Xuanfu. The army who joined the army a few years ago is familiar with this place." The corps leader said.

Zhao Wei nodded, and said with a smile: "Very good, but you must keep in mind the standard words and expressions issued by the training department. Is Ilanbo Manchu?"

The corporal leader trembled, and said, "I'm guilty of a humble job!"

Zhao Wei waved his hand, indicating that it doesn't matter.Anyway, the training department is also cooperating with Feng Bin of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion. In short, Manchu language does not appear in all places.

If it is really unavoidable, or if you lack a Chinese name, you have to temporarily choose one.

They believed that it would not be long before there would be no traces of Manchurians in Liaodong, but they didn't know how much inconvenience this would bring to the army.

You choose your own name here, and the locals caught in the army don't know it, so they say their own things, which causes a lot of trouble.Especially when the staff department makes combat or patrol plans, sometimes they think they are two different places, only to find out that they are the same place when they go to the field.

It can be said that Zhao Wei suffered a lot from it.

"It's not bad here. When the Nuer Gandusi is recovered in the future, just changing the name can change the dead." Chang Zhifan said rather gloatingly: "We're not too bad. You can read the map when the official department compiles a map in the future. He Qiba's name is not strange, and there is nowhere to cry."

Zhao Wei smiled wryly.

The three of them were talking, and the watchman outside had already issued a warning: Donglu was coming.

Chang Zhifan stepped out in twos and threes, turned around and took pier soldiers up to the watchtower, picked up the binoculars and looked for it, only to see a layer of snow dust.Judging from the height of Xuechen Flying, there were no more than ten riders coming, and it would be a dream to attack this side pier.

At this time of year, just pouring a layer of water on it will turn into a hard ice shell in an instant. If Donglu doesn't dispatch 80 or [-] people, there is no way he can get it.And once they dispatched a large group of troops, the Ming army is not a vegetarian here.Over the past few days, there have been continuous small battles involving hundreds of people, and the Ming army has never suffered a single loss.

Sure enough, Donglu's more than ten riders stopped far away.

"Huh? These scouts belong to the yellow flag?" Chang Zhifan held the binoculars and vaguely saw a yellow flag flashing past his eyes. (To be continued..)

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