The dawn pierced the heavy clouds, the morning fog of Nanyang Weigang was dispelled by the sunlight, the huge dry dock of Weigang was opened, the sea water poured in, the folding crane wings on the four sky-high masts were slowly pulled up, and the huge shadows like a hill between the ups and downs slid from the dock into the sea.

Chen Mu stood on the shore, squinting at the newly built battleship that was still in the Chihai class, but with more sails, more power, fewer guns, and more cargo, and slowly bowed its head.

The name of this battleship is 'Lizhu', named after the divine bird under the Yellow Emperor, and there are only 18 Zhenshuo general cannons and four Zhao Shizhen's newly built rotating anti-aircraft guns in front and behind the ship, and it has no independent combat or long-range combat capability.

The only special thing about it is that this is the first warship of the Ming Dynasty and the entire world to be loaded with motors.

On either side of the ship, there were two paddle wheels covered by the planks, gears connected to the motors on the thick steel rods, and wires leading to the open deck on the stern, where they were wrapped in huge hemp ropes and piled up.

Chen Mu looked at Zhu Jian's eyes eagerly and expectantly.

He watched as the warship entered the sea, sailing slowly under the wind, and the two huge paddle wheels slowly turning. This device slowed down the ship comparatively, but it was only a little, and for a four-masted sail, it was less than five points.

But Chen Mu knew what it meant to slow down the speed of the Zhu ship by five points, which meant that it was very likely that his entire fleet would be slowed down by five percent in the future.

Someone on the deck blew a whimpering horn, and several flag soldiers in the cabin held long poles to tie them to the stern of the ship, and struggled to fix the four corners of the large leather ball pocket to the four brackets with ropes.

The ball that was hung up was still slightly shriveled even if it was supported by bamboo strips, and there were more than 20 sewn leather.

Immediately after, the brave little flag officer lit the fire in the middle of the large leather sky lantern, and under the fire was a wooden cabin large enough to hold coal and the banner army, and he sat in the wooden cabin, trying to keep himself standing despite his fear.

"After a while, the ball will go up." Chen Mu said firmly, but his next tone was not so firm, "The Ordnance Bureau has tried to put the hot air balloon at a height of more than thirty zhang in the sky, but it has never tried to carry people on it, even if he is as heavy as the previous cargo. ”

As he spoke, Chen Mu held the telescope in his right hand, trying to witness every detail with his own eyes, and with his left hand, he made a gesture, and several small boats on the shore sailed away and walked towards the Zhu ship, but in a moment, the flag army on the ship was ready to salvage the robe at any time.

"I don't know if the ropes and wires will hold up."

Under the wooden basket, four ropes are twisted into a strand, and wires are wrapped in the middle, and these heavy ropes become the greatest resistance to the rise of the hot air balloon, and as the balloon rises, its drag weight also increases, and finally freezes at a height of 100 meters.

At this stage, the wires and motors can only supply such a long distance, and even the size of the hot air balloon has been calculated and tested to ensure that it will not fall at an altitude of more than 30 feet, and also ensure that it will not continue to rise and pull the rope.

Because of the fuel, the current methods of the Nanyang Ordnance Bureau cannot accurately measure the heat required to rise to the required height, so it can only be exhausted by stupid methods.

The basket contained a special telegraph machine, which was connected to the ship by ropes, and the small flag officer carried a telescope.

"If everything goes well, Yu Shuai, our army will be the first to anticipate the enemy on land and at sea." Chen Mu was beside Yu Dayou, and the old general was looking at the Lizhu ship with surprise, and at the same time, he didn't forget to look at Chen Mu with shock.

Chen Mu is really ruthless.

Yu Dayou has only seen fireworks blown up into the sky, and he has never seen his subordinates put sky lanterns in the sky!

The leather balloon gradually swelled as the temperature rose, and Yu Dayou, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, secretly swallowed his saliva and asked: "Chen Shuai, if the rope is broken and the lamp is destroyed, the flag officer above ......."

"It doesn't matter, there is a covering opening and closing on the top of the ball, and there is a rope connecting the opening and closing in the ball cabin, and pulling can slow down the speed, and if you pull for a long time, it will fall, and eventually fall into the sea is inevitable, but it will not die." Chen Mu turned his head as he spoke, and said to Yu Dayou: "But it's not easy to say on land, from the small sky lantern to this big ball, there were a few times before when the rope was not strong enough, it was blown off by a strong wind, and no one controlled the height on it, and it fell to the ground. ”

"So make sure the experiments are completed at sea and then put them on land - look, it's up!"

As soon as Chen Mu finished speaking, he saw the ball slowly shake, gradually leaving the deck, and hurriedly raised his finger to go over.

The flag officer in the wooden cabin of the hot air balloon was also at his most frightened moment, and when he saw through the wooden window that he was getting taller and taller than his robe, and his feet were unstable and shaking, he was so frightened that he couldn't help but tremble, even though he thought he was fully prepared!

"Ten thousand households Tao Lord bless, don't let future generations follow in your footsteps, ten thousand households Tao Lord bless, don't let ......"

There was no gunpowder in his hot air balloon, only three stoves above his head, clocks in the wooden cabin, a valve opened every half a cup of tea, and when the third stove was lit, it was time to prepare to land.

In other words, the ball is lifted into the air once, and it only lasts for twenty minutes, and then it has to go down to refuel the stove.

The flag officer had long been slumped on the wooden bench in the cabin, he wanted to stand up but his legs were too weak to exert his strength, the wind poured in from the transparent wooden windows on all sides, blowing on him in a cold sweat, through the window, he saw that the people in the port were so small, and even overlooked the entire Nanyang Wei Port.

It was also Nanyang Weigang, and he couldn't see the Acropolis further away, but when he picked up the telescope tremblingly, he could still see the patrol ships on the sea in the distance.

He took a few deep breaths, looked at the telegraph in front of him, looked in the direction and counted the ships, and pressed a few buttons.

In front of him, it was the most complex telegraph in the world, with twenty-four buttons distributed in a circle inside and outside, the inner circle was the southeast, northwest, northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest directions, the middle circle was the distance, and the outer circle was the number.

In a very short period of time, the hot air balloon hung on the Zhu ship put down the boat, and rowed to the shore at a high speed, almost at the same time as the boat docked, the flag officer on the hot air balloon pulled the ball top opening and closing rope, the hot air was released from the top of the ball, the floating drive was contained, and it began to land at an extremely slow speed.

The flag soldier who left the stern of the Zhu ship also pulled the winch and slowly led the hot air balloon down to the stern.

"Commander, telegram!"

Chen Mu took the paper, a smile appeared on his face, and the telegraph map clearly marked the position of the sea patrol, which was far more powerful than standing on the mast and looking out.

He put away the telegram, watched the towed force slowly fall back to the stern of the Zhu ship, and said with satisfaction: "Go to the deep sea, continue the test, and the Ordnance Bureau will report the fuel, spare hot air balloons, and electrical appliances that the Zhu ship can carry to the Nanyang Military Government on Minduluo Island within the next three months." ”

"Not only did the hot air balloon fly three times, but when all this is done, the Zhu ship will be incorporated into the Liuding Liujia fleet!"