Chapter 1

After cross-examination, they finally learned that the intelligence about the airships had been leaked for half a year, and that various countries had been planning to pay attention to airships since their emergence. When the airships first appeared in Yunzhou, spies from various countries began to operate, wanting to understand the origins of this magical thing. Later, when the airships attacked the Mixed Origin Palace at night and became a terrifying force on the battlefield of Bei Liao, the desire of various countries to obtain this battlefield weapon became even more urgent.

The principle of airships is not difficult at all, especially since what Dongping currently possesses is just a modified and strengthened hot air balloon. Although the real hydrogen airship has been successfully tested, Ye Tao has not yet approved large-scale production and use. He has only built a few small hydrogen airships to further explore technology and data, and to provide them to departments with higher requirements for hovering ability and greater risk tolerance. For example, a dedicated hydrogen airship aerial reconnaissance team was established. In terms of principle, all countries already know what airships are all about, but so far, no country has been able to produce aircraft comparable to Dongping's. The key lies in the series of control and communication equipment that Ye Tao painstakingly built for the airships, which is too comprehensive.

The heating part of the new generation of airships no longer extracts cold air from the outside to heat and inject into the balloon, but partially extracts hot air from inside the balloon to heat, only replenishing the lost part. The balloon is also no longer like a hot air balloon with an open mouth, but can be closed to form an airtight internal circulation, relying on a heater to maintain the air temperature inside the balloon. In this way, the fuel efficiency of the airship is greatly increased, and the hovering time is greatly extended. Although this type of airship can only carry a limited number of personnel and materials, the gondola part has now been redesigned. It is no longer the kind of gondola that hangs and sways with a few things, but is structurally connected to the skeleton that supports the shape of the airship balloon, forming a basic aerodynamic cabin. Ye Tao's Yunzhou Number One airship even has a glass-enclosed viewing cabin at the front of the cabin, while the pilot's position is in a bubble-shaped glass cabin at the bottom of the airship. This design came from the master craftsmen in the airship workshop and Ye Tao did not personally participate. However, the technical level and industrial feel reflected by Yunzhou Number One made Ye Tao marvel and love it. This design of Yunzhou Number One has now been put into mass production. At least twenty ships will be produced to provide the most important people in Dongping as their aerial flagships.

Even the combat airships have been updated to a new generation at the same time, such as the four combat airships currently escorting Yunzhou Number One, known in the workshop and the military as "Snowy Owls." The Snowy Owl airships use the same power unit as Yunzhou Number One, but are a full circle smaller in size. The viewing cabin has three seats, for the pilot, signalman, and captain, respectively. The glass bubble cabin at the bottom of the cabin is the bombardier's position. Since there are currently no aerial opponents that can threaten the airships, the Snowy Owl's anti-air capability is a bit poor. Two heavy crossbows are installed on each side, folded up and stored in the toolbox. When needed, they are installed on the guide rails, and then the firing holes on the gondola are opened for shooting. The engine operator and the crew members in the middle cabin are responsible for this task. There is not much ammunition prepared in the cabin. Further back is a small lounge with a total of four berths. Although the standard crew on the airship is seven, considering that someone is always on duty, this lounge is sufficient. In addition to the captain, pilot, signalman, bombardier, and engine operator, the crew members who usually accompany the airship are students who may become airship crew members in the future. Ye Tao's guards occupy these places on these escort airships. The largest space in the entire gondola is the payload bay. These few airships escorting Ye Tao are different from the airships actually used for combat. Half of the payload bay has been converted into a cabin that is more comfortable than the lounge. When Ye Tao travels back and forth between Yunzhou and Danyang, Ye Tao's guards rest in these cabins, while the other half is loaded with food, drinking water, and other daily necessities. On the Snowy Owl airship, the dangerous kerosene bombs are hung outside the cabin. The bombardier can open the bomb bay through a crank. There are four hanging points on each side of the bomb bay, which can be used to suspend standard fifty-jin kerosene bombs or other types of bombs. The biggest feature of the Snowy Owl airship lies not only in its very mature functional design, but also in its beautiful appearance. The Snowy Owl airship is the first type of airship in Yunzhou that does not use a relatively easy-to-process teardrop-shaped balloon. The airship carries the first-generation internal frame of the balloon. Even if the airship balloon is deflated, the balloon still has its approximate shape at ordinary times. This ensures that when the flight needs to take off, it can fully heat the air from the beginning without relying on a small fire to support the shape of the balloon and then accelerate the heating. But this design allows the Snowy Owl to have a more aerodynamic shape. When the Snowy Owl airship takes off, the whole image always reminds Ye Tao of something—a Q version of the Berunhill…

In terms of airship design, Yunzhou already has a very mature system, so mature that everyone is racking their brains to study what can be improved under the existing technical conditions.

In the current Yunzhou Number One and Snowy Owl airships, the signalman can operate the signal lights at the front, sides, and tail of the airship from their seat and complete signal interpretation on their workstation. The conditions are already very good. But the next step of improvement includes replacing those light bulbs with more power-saving and longer-lasting light-emitting diodes… And when there are such technical conditions, Ye Tao's idea is whether to come up with the next lesson of transistor circuits: using relays to control diode arrays to spell out characters and patterns.

The workshop is more interested in more practical technologies, such as studying various methods to make the airship's outer shell smoother and the airship lighter and more comfortable. In Yunzhou, an experimental airship is already undergoing various tests. The balloon of that airship also has an internal frame, and the thickened canvas on the outside is specially customized. Special weaving methods are adopted at the predetermined seams. After connecting and adhering to the frame, they are sewn together, and then a glue is applied so that people can feel the change in material when touching the airship balloon, while minimizing any unevenness. Then, a bright white paint is applied to the entire balloon, and the sand holes on the surface of the dried paint are polished off, and then a layer of clear and transparent oil paint is applied. This is the case for the balloon part, and even more so for the gondola. When the airship takes off and all the devices are stowed in the cabin for flight, it looks like two drops of milk, one large and one small, are merging together. Tan Weixin made an inappropriate evaluation of this thing. After asking Ye Tao and learning that Ye Tao did not interfere with the appearance design process, she sighed and asked, "Could it be that Steve Jobs also traveled here? Or Jonathan Ive?"

Such an entire technical system, constantly evolving forward by tracking the endless new products and technologies in the Ye Clan Workshop Research Institute, has already made Ye Tao feel the pressure of advancing the technology tree. It has already made Ye Tao want to return to the design field to show his skills. How can those peripheral countries be able to crack it by piecing together some technical data? But, other countries can also have airships? Perhaps the technical aspects are indeed far from being comparable, but it has a huge impact on morale, and the confidence of the army and the people. And when Ye Tao was summoned to discuss the impact of this matter, Zhuo Mang even proposed that when the opponent has airships and can start trying various airship tactics, the effect of using airships for large-scale bombing or other actions in the future may not be so good. Not only that, when the opponent also begins to understand the aerial view, the reconnaissance capabilities will be greatly enhanced, and the ground troops' anti-aerial reconnaissance capabilities will also be improved. In the discussion, Ye Tao had to bring out a concept: "air superiority."

"I don't believe that the other side will have enough airships to let me shoot down by then. Not to mention those blueprints, even if I give the complete set of Snowy Owl airship blueprints to Chunnan, the cost for Chunnan to build one will be three to five times higher than mine. This is not just an idea, but also materials, craftsmanship, and so on. Just the air heating pipe, which has been modified countless times considering various requirements, we have conducted no less than two thousand tests and improvements in Yunzhou. The final determined heating pipe costs one hundred and twenty yuan each, and Yunzhou Number One and Snowy Owl airships each need four. As for the high-speed propulsion nozzle on the tail of the airship, the cost is not much lower than this. I don't underestimate the skills of Chunnan craftsmen, but even if they achieve the same functions, this price can drag Chunnan down. And by then, the airships they build will still be just my targets. The Snowy Owl is indeed not very good at shooting down things now, not as good as the previous models, but since I know that people can also fly, I can naturally come up with things that can be used to shoot down aircraft. …Actually, I had ordered some things to be made before, but I don’t know how the progress is at the workshop." Ye Tao seemed to say somewhat helplessly. He advised Tan Weiming, "Your Highness, especially you, don't take this matter to heart. Things never have only one aspect. Since Chunnan has these simple materials, then…they must want more, right? They must be eager for airships, right? And such expensive airships, even if Chunnan is so rich, can't stand to be messed around with, right? This is not just a matter of cost. The training of pilots, the construction of ground facilities, even we are a bit tight. Look at how Chunnan can do it? Moreover, I directly take money from you and give you the lowest price of goods, just so that those craftsmen can have food to eat. But what about Chunnan? According to the way so many people reach out when they buy the simplest military equipment from us, how much more pressure can they add to Chunnan's military expenditure? If it weren't too sensitive, and I was too lazy to spend a lot of effort to convince you, I originally wanted you to agree to sell the first models of airships to Chunnan. Now that they may be able to build them, why don't we sell them and see?"

Ye Tao's ease relieved everyone, and then the various methods Ye Tao described to drag down the opponent's finances were even more refreshing. Heaven knows, Ye Tao knows specific cases. Although the space occupied by airships is not as magnificent as "Star Wars," the imbalance in productivity and price elements in various countries is even greater than that. This kind of strategic deception may be more likely to succeed.

"Really…we are so far ahead?" Tan Xiaopei and others still couldn't believe it.

"Danyang has always had various types of airships. Now the Snowy Owl airship is in my courtyard. Tomorrow, just tomorrow, let's all experience how it is?" Ye Tao suggested with a smile.