Chapter 396: On Industry

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm going to die..."

High in the sky, Wang Chong clung tightly to the edge of the bamboo basket, his body stiff with terror.

Even though he was bold, he was scared out of his wits this time.

At such a height, a single glance downward was enough to cost a person their life.

"Father, your son is unfilial. You and Mother should have another child who is sensible and obedient, otherwise our Wang Family line will end with me." Wang Chong muttered to himself. Just then, a gust of wind blew, and the Hot Air Balloon suddenly swayed violently. He immediately crouched down, bracing himself against the bamboo basket, not daring to move a muscle.

Through the gaps in the bamboo basket, he noticed a squad of Cavalry chasing him below.

Even though they were four or five hundred meters away, he could still see that the person in the lead was wearing red official robes.

In Yancheng, only Yan Wang possessed such official attire.

"Your Highness." Wang Chong was overjoyed. He suddenly stood up and shouted, "Your Highness, save me! I'm here..."

After shouting for a while, he saw that Yan Wang kept chasing without stopping, and no sound came back.

He knew that at such a distance, Yan Wang could not hear him at all.

So he sat down dejectedly. After thinking for a while, he suddenly stood up again, "I cannot die. There are still so many things I haven't learned from His Highness. Wouldn't it be a huge loss to die like this?"

Thinking of this, he gradually calmed down.

Looking at the burning fire basin, he pondered how to make the Hot Air Balloon land smoothly.

"The principle of the Hot Air Balloon is that air expands when heated. If I slowly reduce the fuel supply, perhaps it will descend." Wang Chong slapped his forehead.

Because of fear, he had been almost unable to think during this time.

Thinking of this, he maintained the Gunpowder so it wouldn't go out, while gradually reducing the amount of straw and other fuel he added.

The Hot Air Balloon drifted for a while and, sure enough, gradually lowered. He could clearly see the people below getting larger.

Wang Chong was overjoyed and continued to carefully control the burning of the Hot Air Balloon.

Otherwise, if the Flame went out completely, he would truly fall and be smashed into a pulp.

"Your Highness, the Hot Air Balloon is descending." On the ridge of a rice field, Xu Lie pointed at the Hot Air Balloon overhead.

This Hot Air Balloon could not control its direction; it could only drift with the wind.

Today, it happened to be an easterly wind one moment and a westerly wind the next.

Wang Chong was also drifting east and west in the sky.

They circled around and arrived at the rice fields near Fushi Village.

The villagers were also attracted by the commotion; they looked up at the sky, pointing and gesturing.

"Heaven preserve us, let it not fall down." Wang Ying was sweating profusely from anxiety.

Although he had always been strict with Wang Chong, that was a case of "love deep, rebuke harsh."

Now that Wang Chong was truly in danger, he was more anxious than anyone.

Zhao Xu took a look and saw that the Hot Air Balloon was indeed losing altitude.

After observing for a while longer, he noticed that the Hot Air Balloon was descending at a very steady speed. He felt a slight joy in his heart; it was clear that Wang Chong had found a way to make the Hot Air Balloon land smoothly.

Now, as long as the Hot Air Balloon did not burst in mid-air, Wang Chong should generally be fine.

Seeing the Hot Air Balloon continue to drift northward, he said, "Keep chasing. Wang Chong should be fine."

"

With these words spoken by Zhao Xu, Wang Ying felt as if he had taken a calming pill.

Yan Wang must understand this thing that Wang Chong had created.

If he said it was fine, then it was certainly fine.

The group continued to chase for another five or six miles. The Hot Air Balloon's altitude became lower and lower, eventually drifting over a patch of woods and landing, the balloon envelope getting caught in the dense tree branches.

The group arrived at the woods, and Zhao Xu dismounted and led the others into the forest.

Before they had walked many steps, they saw Wang Chong, covered in dirt and grime, stumbling toward them.

When Wang Ying saw him, he lowered his head to look on the ground, picked up a tree branch, and charged at Wang Chong, striking him head-on, "Blowing up the courtyard was one thing, but now you're going up to the sky? I'll show you 'up to the sky'!"

Wang Chong felt the pain and, seeing his father staring at him with bloodshot eyes, immediately covered his head and fled in a panic.

Zhao Xu, Xu Lie, and the others showed helpless expressions at the sight.

Seeing Wang Chong was fine, Zhao Xu felt relieved.

He instructed Xu Lie to wait until Wang Ying and his son had calmed down before having them come to the Prince's Mansion to see him.

He mounted his horse and headed straight back, while ordering men to pack up Wang Chong's Hot Air Balloon and transport it back to the city.

Returning to the Prince's Mansion.

After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Wang Ying, Wang Chong, and the three students who participated in the Hot Air Balloon experiment arrived.

At this moment, although Wang Chong was rubbing his backside, there was a satisfied smile on his face.

Wang Ying had returned to his serious expression, but in his eyes, Zhao Xu saw an unconcealable pride.

"Your Highness, this subordinate is guilty. Please punish me, Your Highness." Wang Chong spoke first, hanging his head.

Wang Ying then said, "Your Highness, it is this subordinate's failure in teaching his son that caused such a big mess. Please punish this subordinate, Your Highness."

"Enough. This Prince will not punish anyone. Although Wang Chong was wrong to hide this from this Prince, his courage is commendable." Zhao Xu looked at the other three students, "Your boldness is also not bad, but in the future, if there is such a thing again, you must inform this Prince first."

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Chong and the students were overjoyed.

When they arrived at the Prince's Mansion, they were anxious, fearing that Yan Wang would be angry and they would be punished.

Zhao Xu smiled and continued, "To be able to independently build a Hot Air Balloon, this Prince truly has not taught you in vain during this time. To reward you for building the Hot Air Balloon, each of you is awarded one hundred taels of silver."

He not only did not punish them but instead rewarded them, which was actually to encourage the students to be brave in exploration and apply what he taught to practice.

After all, although he was dedicated to building the industrial foundation of Yanzhou.

In fact, since his transmigration, the development of Yanzhou's industrial foundation had been very slow, only slightly better than zero.

His purpose in cultivating these students was to let them pioneer in every field.

For example, in the smelting industry, besides iron and steel, metals such as gold, silver, copper, manganese, tungsten, and cobalt all require the establishment of refining industries.

Take another example: various types of precision mechanical parts; in the contemporary sixteenth century, things like the Pocket Watch had already been born.

Only by mastering the manufacturing of precision mechanical parts can one take the next step to build more revolutionary machinery.

After all, the symbol of the First Industrial Revolution is the Steam Engine.

But the Steam Engine is merely a symbol; other industries have actually already achieved a certain degree of mechanization.

The Steam Engine is just a revolution in power.

However, this matter cannot be rushed.

After all, it has only been a year and a few months since crossing over to this world.

Moreover, survival was the priority at the time, so I took an unconventional path: one focus was developing military-related Workshops, and the other was developing highly profitable commercial goods Workshops.

But now, simple things can be produced in their entirety in a short time.

If one wants to go a step further and build more complex things, one must improve in every aspect.

Otherwise, there will be a generational gap.

This actually has something in common with building a house.

In the contemporary era, the official Li Hongzhang, under the orders of Cixi, went as an envoy to the United States; at the time, Li Hongzhang, wearing his yellow riding jacket, thought that upon arriving in the United States, this yellow riding jacket would also make the Americans envious.

But when he stepped off the cruise ship and saw the dozens-of-stories-high buildings in the United States, he couldn't help but sigh that in the Great Qing, they could never build such tall buildings, because they would definitely collapse.

The yellow riding jacket was no longer so impressive.

Therefore, to build a two-story building, you can just pull in a mason to build it.

But to build a ten, twenty, or thirty-story house, there are requirements for materials, structure, and design in every aspect; industry is the same.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Wang Chong and the three students exchanged winks, feeling very excited.

Wang Ying shook his head; sometimes he truly could not keep up with the thoughts of Yan Wang.

If it were him, he would have beaten Wang Chong and the others so badly they wouldn't be able to get out of bed for half a month.

"Also, the Hot Air Balloon actually has great utility. Since it has been built, let's perfect it." Zhao Xu crossed his arms and laughed.

He already had an idea in his mind for utilizing the Hot Air Balloon.

Wang Chong had lingering fears and said, "Your Highness, this thing flies around in the sky randomly; what is the use of perfecting it?"

"That is because you don't know how to operate it. I ask you, when you were in the sky, why were you always going in circles?" Zhao Xu asked.

"Because one moment it was an east wind, and the next it was a north wind," Wang Ying said.

"That's exactly it. In fact, at different altitudes, the direction of the wind is different. This is called air currents. By controlling the altitude of the Hot Air Balloon, you can utilize the wind direction to let the Hot Air Balloon go where you want it to go," Zhao Xu said slowly.

This piece of knowledge was something he hadn't taught them yet.

"So that's how it is." Wang Chong's eyes suddenly lit up.

Wang Ying sighed and closed his eyes.

He knew in his heart that Wang Chong was tempted again.

However, he had no intention of stopping him.

Wang Chong is not the only excellent student in the Technology Academy.

If he were to restrain Wang Chong, he feared Wang Chong would regret it for the rest of his life.

Regarding this Hot Air Balloon incident, he was only angry at Wang Chong's carelessness, not at Wang Chong for building the Hot Air Balloon.

After discussing more details about the Hot Air Balloon, Zhao Xu let Wang Chong and the others return, repeatedly instructing them to be careful.

Next, he called Xu Ke over and scolded him.

For such a big matter, his Four Courts hadn't disclosed a single bit of information to him.

Xu Ke lowered his head to take the scolding, feeling very aggrieved in his heart.

Wang Chong had only sewn some rags together; he thought it was nothing important.

He hadn't expected Wang Chong to cause such a big stir.

Now, all of Yancheng is talking about Wang Chong flying into the sky.

He secretly swore that from now on, he would definitely keep a close eye on this kid Wang Chong to prevent him from accidentally causing another big stir.

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