160: Chapter 160 Could this be the Heavenly Palace?!

Five meters!

Ten meters!

Twenty meters!

Fifty meters!

One hundred meters!

The coils of rope on the ground were dwindling.

Two hundred meters!

As it reached two hundred meters, the ropes on the ground all flew into the sky.

Since the other end of the rope was tied to a giant boulder, the Hot Air Balloon stopped rising, and the ropes bound to the envelope instantly pulled taut.

Zhao Fusu timely reduced the burner's flame, keeping the Hot Air Balloon at a height of two hundred meters.

He only intended to fly two hundred meters anyway!

Don't underestimate two hundred meters.

That was nearly the height of a seventy-story building.

Looking down at the ground, the people standing there appeared as small as matchboxes.

Looking into the distance, one could see incredibly far.

They could see more than half of the entire city of Xianyang.

If Zhao Fusu were willing to release the ropes and let the Hot Air Balloon fly higher, they would be able to overlook the entire city of Xianyang!

A sharp light flickered in Zhao Fusu's eyes.

With Hot Air Balloons, they would hold much more initiative in military affairs.

If they launched Hot Air Balloons on the grasslands, they could detect Xiongnu cavalry in advance.

Most importantly, Hot Air Balloons could be used for military reconnaissance to find the gathering places of Xiongnu tribes in the vast grasslands.

One must know that the most difficult part of dealing with nomadic peoples was finding their hiding places.

If you couldn't find where the enemy was hiding, then even taking five hundred thousand men to the grasslands wouldn't eliminate them; it would only consume a massive amount of food.

This was similar to Zhu Di's campaigns against the steppe peoples.

In the eighth year of Yongle, Zhu Di led his first northern expedition.

He set out from Beijing on the tenth day of the second month.

He led a massive army, sightseeing, hunting, and enjoying the scenery along the way, catching wild horses, cunning rabbits, and gazelles.

The conversations of Zhu Di that Jin Youzi was able to record were nothing more than 'Look at this, only then will you know the scenery beyond the pass.'

'Look at this, the view is vast in all four directions, quite different from what we see daily.'

Remarks of this nature, appreciating the landscape.

They traveled for a full three months without encountering a single soldier from the Mongol tribes.

It wasn't until the eighth day of the fifth month that the first military report arrived: a certain barbarian cavalry commander 'captured one prisoner and brought him here.'

The next day, the ninth day of the fifth month, they captured 'several barbarian raiders along with sheep, horses, and baggage.'

After that, the enemy vanished without a trace again.

It wasn't until the ninth day of the sixth month that they finally saw a small, organized group of enemies 'arrayed and waiting.' 'The Emperor ordered the imperial guards to attack and defeat them; the barbarians were scattered, and the pursuit lasted no more than ten li.'

This pursuit of 'ten-odd li' turned out to be the largest battle of Zhu Di's earth-shaking first northern expedition. Afterwards, they only encountered 'wandering barbarians.'

On the fourteenth day of the sixth month, 'wandering barbarians' were found by a river. 'The barbarians crossed the river in panic; our cavalry followed them, capturing several alive while the rest died. From then on, the barbarians were gone.'

On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, Zhu Di led the army back to Beijing, and the first northern expedition ended.

This was the hardest part for Central Plains dynasties when fighting nomadic peoples.

The opponent ran too fast and had no intention of facing them in a head-on battle.

Once the Central Plains dynasties weakened, the nomadic peoples would begin a massive invasion.

Zhao Fusu's eyes became incredibly sharp.

Whether it was a country or a regime, they were all cyclical; there would be strong phases and weak phases.

The Xiongnu Kingdom had to be annexed while the Great Qin was strong.

Even if the Central Plains weakened in the future, the Xiongnu people integrated into Great Qin would no longer go south to plunder. They could even provide support to the Central Plains in reverse, allowing it to survive its period of weakness.

Communication between the reconnaissance Hot Air Balloons and ground troops could be conducted using messenger pigeons.

After absorbing the Black Ice Platform, Zhao Fusu had obtained a large number of messenger pigeons.

With the transmission of letters via pigeons, the delivery of information could become even more convenient.

"Is this Xianyang City!"

It was the first time the First Emperor had stood so high, overlooking this ancient city with hundreds of years of history.

"Simply incredible!"

"We can actually fly this high!"

Gongshu Chou, Cui Wenzi, and the others were all full of excitement.

"Indeed!"

The other two elders of the Gongshu Family also marveled, "This Hot Air Balloon can actually carry us so easily into such a high altitude!"

"I really wonder where its limit is and how high it can take us."

Zhao Fusu said, "If we count one step as one meter, this Hot Air Balloon can fly to an altitude of fifteen thousand meters."

"For every thousand meters of ascent, the temperature drops by six and a half degrees. At ten thousand meters, it is bitterly cold, enough to turn dripping water into ice!"

"How truly miraculous!"

Hearing this, everyone was filled with wonder.

Such a large Hot Air Balloon rising from within Xianyang City was also seen by the people in the city.

This included the people at the residences of Li Si and General Wang Jian, which were not particularly far from the Great Qin Empire Academy of Sciences.

They looked curiously at the rising Hot Air Balloon and began pointing and talking.

"What is that thing!"

"It's so big and round!"

"It's even glowing!"

"Look, there seem to be people on it!"

"I see them too, it looks like there really are people!"

Now everyone was even more excited.

To get a clearer look, they even climbed onto the courtyard walls.

Such a large commotion in the residences soon alerted Li Si and General Wang Jian.

"This is!"

When they walked out of their rooms and saw the giant Hot Air Balloon, their eyes widened.

"It—it's flying!"

Especially after they also saw that there were people in the Hot Air Balloon's basket, they were even more shocked.

"The—the Heavenly Palace?"

"Could this be the Heavenly Palace!"

Li Si and General Wang Jian couldn't help but recall the news they had seen in the Great Qin Empire Weekly.

The Great Qin Empire Academy of Sciences was about to make the maiden flight of a Hot Air Balloon.

After reading it, seeing that the Academy hadn't launched one for a long time, they had pushed the matter to the back of their minds.

Looking at this flying unidentified object now, they immediately knew this was the Heavenly Palace series Hot Air Balloon.

"I never thought they would actually invent a Heavenly Palace for manned flight!"

"His Majesty the Head of State is truly a god-like man!"

Li Si couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

He knew without even thinking that this Heavenly Palace was once again something created by His Majesty the Head of State.

More and more people in Xianyang City were gathering to watch.

They all put down what they were doing and walked out of their rooms, looking up at the Hot Air Balloon floating in the sky.

"Is this the Heavenly Palace!"

"It's truly remarkable!"

Fan Zeng and Xiang Liang were also seeing a Hot Air Balloon for the first time.

They were incredibly shocked, their eyes wide and round.

"I've lived long enough to see everything!"

"I've lived long enough to see everything!"

Fan Zeng was quite old and had traveled far and wide, yet this was his first time seeing a flying machine capable of carrying people.

"Heavenly Palace!"

"Heavenly Palace!"

"Heavenly Palace!"

He kept repeating these two words.

He felt a strong sense of awe toward the endless stream of weapons coming out of the Great Qin Empire.

With the Heavenly Palace, it would become simple for the Qin Army to scout enemy movements.

Fan Zeng's heart felt incredibly heavy.