Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 294 Manned Launch
"Look! That huge disco ball!"

A child carrying a rabbit lantern was the first to scream, pointing with his little finger at the hot air balloon whose bladder was constantly expanding.

"Good heavens... what... what is this?"

An old man wrapped in a thick coat next to him stared wide-eyed, his cloudy eyes filled with astonishment.

"What is this? How can it be so huge? Could it be a newly made lantern?"

A murmur of discussion instantly erupted among the crowd.

The crowd that had been looking at the Aoshan Lantern Festival suddenly turned their attention to the open space along the Jinshui River, as if drawn by an invisible magnet.

Zhang Zai was also watching from the side, his hands clenched into fists, his nails almost digging into his palms.

A gust of cold wind swept by, causing the coils of rope on the ground to sway slightly. Zhang Zai's heart tightened, as if the ropes were not holding a hot air balloon, but the foundation of the "Qi-based theory" he had painstakingly built.

"Hold on tight! Old Liu, keep an eye on the rope!"

At this moment, Shen Kuo's voice came on the wind, and it sounded like he was trembling a little.

Shaking is normal; anyone would shake, because at this moment, Shen Kuo had already stepped over the railing of the hot air balloon basket, standing on the sand dunes.

To be honest, this kind of manned flight carries certain risks.

Although Shen Kuo had already conducted experiments in the suburbs, this was, after all, the first time a hot air balloon had taken off in front of the public, and no one could be 100% sure of its safety. If it crashed, people could be injured. Although sand piles had been built below, there was still a risk of burns.

Only scientific pioneers like Shen Kuo had the fearless spirit to conduct experiments personally; others certainly wouldn't have dared to.

Lu Beigu's gaze was also fixed on the bottom of the rising balloon and the leaping fire in the basket below.

As the sponsor, he was equally nervous at this time, not only because he was worried about Shen Kuo's safety, but also for other reasons.

For Lu Beigu, this hot air balloon launch was not only about vindicating Zhang Zai, but also about promoting a new way of understanding the world based on "phenomena and empirical evidence".

"The fire needs to be made even stronger."

Shen Kuo glanced at the spherical bag, muttered something, and then leaned over in the cramped hanging basket to spread the silver frost charcoal in the furnace even more.

Flames shot up with a "whoosh," and the scorching airflow surged even more violently into the spherical capsule.

Then, the huge plain dome suddenly thrashed upwards!
The plain silk covering the skeleton made an even louder taut sound, and the entire sphere seemed to come alive, carrying a powerful force of breaking free from its constraints!

"It's rising! It's about to take off!"

An even louder gasp erupted from the crowd, with countless people standing on tiptoe and craning their necks.

Under the watchful eyes of thousands, the enormous sac slowly detached from the ground!
One inch, two inches make a foot! Ten feet!
The bottom of the gondola clearly left the thick sand pile on the ground, and then it flew higher and higher!
"Wow--!"

The gasps of surprise from the crowd rose instantly, sweeping out like a tsunami.

The children jumped for joy, while the adults stared in disbelief.

Even the constables maintaining order nearby forgot to step forward, staring dumbfounded at this unprecedented spectacle.

"It's done!"

Standing in the basket of the slowly rising hot air balloon, Shen Kuo's face instantly lit up with ecstatic joy. His previous worries vanished, leaving only the pure excitement of an explorer witnessing a miracle.

But when they reached a height of about three stories, and the hot air balloon was still rising, Shen Kuo became a little scared. He practically lunged to the side of the basket and shouted to the old man below who was in charge of the ropes, "Hold on! Old Liu, pull in the rope! Control the altitude!"

"No need to pull it in! The rope is almost at the end!"

Old Liu tilted his head back and shouted.

Sure enough, with a soft "thud," the hot air balloon that had taken off was firmly held in place by the rope that had been stretched to its limit.

Shen Kuo was relieved; the rope was sturdy, and there were stakes on the ground to secure it.

According to Shen Kuo's previous calculations, at this height, if an accident occurred and he jumped off the hot air balloon into the sand, he would most likely not suffer any serious injuries.

But going any higher definitely won't work.

He looked around and felt that the whole world seemed to have changed.

Beside Lu Beigu, Zhang Zai's body trembled violently.

He stared intently at the bottom of the suspended basket, high off the ground, as if trying to imprint it into the depths of his soul.

The simple rattan basket, the leaping fire, and the huge, plain-colored sac bulging with heat—all of these things seemed so real, suspended between heaven and earth!
A surge of excitement rushed to his head, instantly washing away the anxiety, fear, and self-doubt of the past few days.

He felt his eyes burning and his throat tighten.

"It's rising!" His voice was filled with excitement. "Look! Look! How did it rise into the air? How did it hover?"

Zhang Zai suddenly turned to the growing crowd around him, pointing and whispering, and his voice rose abruptly.

"Born from within by heat! Pressed outward by cold! Rising upward by the purest and lightest air between heaven and earth! Sinking and compressing by the heaviest and most turbid air! This is 'qi'! This is the power generated by the interaction and dynamism of yin and yang! This power is neither illusory nor false, but clearly present! This 'phenomenon' is the most straightforward proof of the existence, nature, and principle of 'qi'!"

His finger pointed to the huge, suspended sac, his arm trembling slightly with excitement.

But nobody paid him any attention.

People were all looking at the hot air balloon, a rare sight, and didn't care what the middle-aged scholar below was babbling about.

Shen Kuo above was completely disregarding Zhang Zai's declaration.

He glanced briefly at the surrounding scenery before immersing himself in controlling and observing the hot air balloon, keeping a close eye on the angle of the ropes and sensing the subtle changes in wind direction.

Then, Shen Kuo took out his charcoal pencil and cardboard and, by the light of the surrounding lamps, quickly recorded the altitude, rope tension, furnace fire status, wind force, wind direction, and other information on the cardboard.

For him, every detail of this manned launch was valuable empirical data.

Lu Beigu's gaze swept over Zhang Zai, who was so excited he could hardly contain himself, over Shen Kuo, who was immersed in scientific observation, and then over the countless eyes around him filled with shock, curiosity, and awe.

He saw people pushing and shoving to get a better look, some clasping their hands together as if in prayer, and others pointing and arguing about the suspended behemoth.

"successful"

Lu Beigu silently recited to himself, a huge sense of accomplishment intertwined with anticipation for the future.

The spark ignited in the cold winter of the first year of Jiayou finally broke free from the shackles of gravity and the cage of pure speculation on the night of the Lantern Festival in Kaifeng, Tokyo in the second year of Jiayou, and uttered its first resounding cry of "investigation of things" and "empirical evidence" to this ancient and brilliant sky!

(End of this chapter)