Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

A short voyage is not enough to determine whether a ship has any problems.

However, after the Zhenguan ship successfully sailed back to port, Li Chengqian still ordered the Dengzhou Royal Shipyard to quickly organize the data and reorganize the manpower.

Build more docks that can build this type of seagoing vessel.

"I know that the seamen are a problem, but I will have someone solve the seamen issue. What you shipyards need to do is to build ships like dumplings being dropped into boiling water!"

"If you need anything, just ask the Dengzhou Prefectural Government. If the Dengzhou Prefectural Government can't solve it, ask the Zhen Ding Prefecture of Hebei Province. If the Zhen Ding Prefecture still can't solve it, report it directly to Chang'an!"

Generous rewards were naturally indispensable.

Upon the completion of the first trial voyage of this single ship, Li Chengqian generously bestowed upon all the craftsmen and officials responsible for its construction a reward of money and property deeds.

The fact that Mo Lao and several senior ship engineers who bore heavy responsibilities in shipbuilding made him even more certain that he would bestow titles upon them upon returning to Chang'an.

Anyway, he didn't rise to the rank of marquis or earl overnight; he could easily appoint minor titles like viscount and baron.

Li Chengqian was overjoyed as he set off to return to Chang'an.

Along with the hundreds of bodyguards who came with them and the old man Wang De, everyone looked like they were welcoming a bride home.

And at the same time.

When the golden eagle arrived in Chang'an first, carrying Li Chengqian's letter, it was the first to arrive.

Upon receiving the message, Prince Li Zhi of Jin looked at his elder brother's lavish praise on steam-powered ships and felt utterly bewildered.

"Aaaaaah! This is never going to end! This is never going to end!!"

Wu Zetian, who was ordered by Li Chengqian to come to Chang'an to accompany Prince Li Zhi of Jin for a while before he left, was unusually refrain from making sarcastic remarks about him today. This shows that she was a young girl who wanted to make a name for herself.

Seeing the terrifying extent of the political affairs that Li Zhi faced every day, one couldn't help but feel a chill run down one's spine.

However, while steam-powered ships may be a good thing now, they are by no means a good thing for Li Zhi, who is now the regent.

Perhaps the only good news in the letter was that his elder brother had not only kept his promise, but would also return to the capital in less than two months.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Poor thing~" Wu Zetian said, but her eyes still held a hint of schadenfreude.

At the same time, upon receiving the letter and seeing his own description of steam-powered ships, Prince Li Tai of Wei suddenly began pacing back and forth at the "air force base" outside Chang'an City as if possessed.

"Propeller...propeller..."

He murmured to himself over and over again.

Every now and then I would look up at the hot air balloon that was suspended high in the air, pulled up by a rope.

My mind seemed to enter a construction mode, combining and modifying the various images I imagined on that hot air balloon...

"Your Highness, Prince Wei?"

The calls brought Li Tai back from his daze.

He turned his head and saw several young men with dark circles under their eyes, looking bitter, handing him a stack of documents. Besides a lot of calculations, the documents also contained several different designs of hot air balloons.

"Your Highness, I can't figure it out. It's too complicated. The amount of fuel, the size of the hot air balloon, and the wind conditions can all cause the balloon to be unstable at its altitude. This..."

Li Tai frowned. These were all highly skilled individuals he had recruited from the Mathematics Department of Imperial University. Now, several months later, the initial enthusiasm for the Flying Project had cooled down, and there were signs of their Dao Hearts collapsing.

He took it and quickly scanned the contents.

Although he was several years younger than everyone else present, Li Tai was able to easily pinpoint the errors in the calculations...

He bit his lower lip slightly, occasionally uttering mutterings unconsciously, while flipping through the pages and occasionally glancing up at the hot air balloons floating in the sky.

What's the problem?

The mental model of the hot air balloon with a propeller attached to it began to change again.

Adding a propeller horizontally should allow the hot air balloon to fly freely with directional control, but what if we added a propeller vertically to the bottom of the hot air balloon?

No, no... that thing needs a steam engine to power it, and a steam engine weighs a lot. How could a hot air balloon possibly power that?

Does that mean we need to increase the size of the hot air balloon to collect more hot air?

No, that's not right...

Li Tai felt like he was trapped in some kind of vicious cycle.

He seemed to shut out the chatter of those around him, and before he knew it, he was back at his lodgings in the "air force base."

.......

"Your Highness, we will be arriving in Chang'an soon..."

On the train from Taiyuan to Chang'an, Li Chengqian was gently awakened from his sleep by Wang De.

A maid was already waiting with a basin and towel for washing.

Li Chengqian stretched, glanced out the window, and washed his hands in the basin. Suddenly, as if he had seen something, his expression froze.

Immediately afterwards, he involuntarily lunged towards the window.

I stared blankly out the window at the edge of the fields rushing past.

"what is that?"

Wang De looked over in confusion, squinting because his old eyes were failing and he couldn't see that far, but he could vaguely make out that there was a black dot in the sky.

"This... Your Highness, that seems to be the direction of Prince Wei's air force camp, right?"

Wang De was unsure, but Li Chengqian's face instantly turned ashen. At such a distance, even he could only vaguely see a figure on the hot air balloon.

But a strange, absurd thought in his heart made his calves tremble involuntarily at that moment.

Holy crap... Fourth brother, don't go crazy!

When the train finally stopped at Chang'an Station, before it had even come to a complete stop, Li Chengqian had already climbed out of the window and jumped down.

"Your Highness!" Wang De exclaimed in surprise.

Li Chengqian, however, had already grabbed a fast horse from one of the six cavalrymen of the Eastern Palace who were waiting there to greet him, and galloped swiftly towards the outskirts of Chang'an City.

An air force base outside Chang'an City.

When Li Chengqian arrived, the entire air force base was already in complete chaos.

Dozens of meters high in the sky, Li Tai's figure was clearly visible in the hot air balloon. Not far from this hot air balloon, another hot air balloon was floating, with a soldier from the Prince of Wei's mansion shivering and holding a bundle that looked like a cotton quilt in his hands.

Below, four ropes, arranged at right angles according to the Pythagorean theorem and based on the markings already carved on the ground, are pulling on the hot air balloon in the sky.

Ensure that both are at the same height.

"Your Highness, you can't jump! You can't jump!!!"

"Quickly pull His Highness down! Hurry, hurry!"

When the guards of the Prince of Wei's mansion learned what Li Tai was going to do after he had made all the necessary preparations for flying into the sky, their world collapsed instantly.

Li Tai, however, looked at the figures rushing towards him from below, his bloodshot eyes filled with even more excitement.

"Brother! I understand!"

"I get it!!!"

He stepped one leg over the basket and, amidst the gasps of everyone below, stood directly on one side of the hanging basket.

Li Tai was still shouting excitedly.

"Brother! Guess who will land first, me or a piece of cotton of equal weight!"

Li Chengqian: "!!!"

Worthy!