With the help of Lin Feng, Mei Nan put on her equipment in a daze. Lin Feng helped her into the cabin, and then she wanted to go in herself. However, Secretary Ma stopped her and said:
"The quota is two people."
"Can't we just let him come down?" Lin Feng glanced at the police officer in charge of operating the burner. She was so curious that she also wanted to follow the sky to take a look.
"Will you take charge when he comes down?" Secretary Ma was also wary of this unusual maid.
"..." Lin Feng was speechless and had to step back with Secretary Ma, watching the burner continue to spew out blue flames and the balloon continue to inflate.
After the four police officers released the ropes that were wedged into the ground, the balloon slowly rose into the air with the four mooring ropes.
"Wow..." Lin Feng opened his mouth in a rude manner. Master Zhao was not bragging. Following him, one could really reach the sky!
"Ah!" Mei Nan screamed in the hanging basket. This was the first time she had left the ground in her life. She was so scared that she quickly hugged Zhao Hao's arm tightly and refused to let go.
"Don't worry, we are all wearing safety belts." Zhao Hao pointed to the belts around the two people's waists that were connected to the hanging basket.
Mei Nan didn't even open her eyes, she hugged his arms tightly, as if she wanted to stick her whole body to him.
The operator consciously focused his eyes on the burner and never looked towards the young master.
'Go on. ' Zhao Hao secretly praised, stretched out his hands to hold Mei Nan's slender shoulders, patted her back and said: "Don't be afraid, this thing is very safe. It's a rare day, do you plan to stay in my arms forever?"
Menan then raised his head from him, glanced outside the hanging basket, and was immediately stunned.
As the altitude continued to rise, the familiar scenery became very different. The blue sea, the green mountains, and the reefs and beaches between the mountains and the sea all became smaller and smaller under my feet, and the world in front of me seemed to become wider.
"Is this what it looks like from the Heavenly Palace?" Menan murmured. "Those large sailing ships that were taller than buildings are now as small as shoes."
"That's true. So now you know how to brag to others in the future, right?" Zhao Hao said with a smile.
"Yeah." Mei Nan nodded vigorously, and suddenly seemed to remember something. He looked up and looked around, but he only saw white clouds and no sign of gold and splendor.
"The Heavenly Palace is still invisible..." She couldn't help feeling lost.
"Maybe we're not high enough yet." Young Master Zhao gently told a white lie: "When humans fly out of the atmosphere in the future, maybe we'll be able to find it."
"Is the heaven above the atmosphere?" Menan looked up at the infinitely high blue sky.
"Who knows." Zhao Hao shrugged, picked up the telescope hanging around his neck and looked to the south.
A reliable man like Mr. Zhao certainly didn't use the hot air balloon to pick up girls... Well, I wonder if flying so high will make it easier to get struck by lightning if you tell a lie?
Well, at least picking up girls is not the main purpose, so I won’t be struck by lightning this time, right?
His main purpose was to take a bird's-eye view of northern Taiwan and verify what he had learned from books so that he could have a clear idea of the situation. Being good at summarizing lessons, Mr. Zhao would naturally not make the mistakes of empiricism and dogmatism again.
But he didn't have time, and he was afraid of the poisonous insects and miasma in the deep mountains and old forests, so he didn't dare to measure the island with his own feet. Mr. Zhao still had to stay useful and fight for the revival of the Ming Dynasty, so he couldn't die halfway. So he took a hot air balloon to look at it from a distance, which was enough for the effect...
As the hot air balloon continued to rise, the world in his field of vision became wider and wider. He saw a winding river outside the hills north of Jilong Port. That should be the Jilong River.
While observing, Zhao Hao modified the markings directly on the map drawn by the Shimazu family.
He saw the Jilong River, which runs from east to west, winding and twisting in the vast mountainous area. To the north and south of the Jilong River, there are rising hills, which gradually turn into towering mountains, stretching to the east and west ends of northern Taiwan.
After flowing eastward for a distance, the Jilong River merges into a wider river in a vast basin.
That is the Taipei Basin. This vast and fertile plain is now covered with forests and swamps, just as the Dutch recorded. Only near the river can you see small villages and farmland along the river. The total area is less than one thousandth of the basin.
As for the big river running westward, it should be the Tamsui River. The mouth of the Tamsui River is the destination of the expeditionary fleet. But it is blocked by the mountains and cannot be seen.
Also blocked was the Yilan Plain to the east, where the Kavalan people’s villages were located.
But Zhao Hao didn't think these mountains were abominable. They were mountains of treasures. The Keelung coal mine next to the sea, the Jinguashi mine once known as "Asia's No. 1 precious metal mine", the Jiufen gold mine that complemented it, as well as the rich sulfur mines, pyrites, iron ore sands...More than 100 kinds of minerals in the entire Taiwan Province are mostly concentrated in these northern mountains! And they are very easy to mine and transport!
And no one has discovered all of this yet...
"They're all mine, all mine, hehe..." Zhao Hao's saliva was about to flow down.
~~
"Young Master, are you okay?" Mei Nan was frightened by Zhao Hao's perverted look, and she kept calling him to come back to her senses.
"I'm fine. I'm very happy." Zhao Hao excitedly put his arm around Mei Nan's shoulders and pointed to the dotted villages in the Taipei Basin and said, "Look, those are the homes of the Ketagalan people."
"Young Master, you know so much..." Mei Nan first praised sincerely, and then couldn't help but bring up the past: "I know that yesterday's request was a bit excessive, but the Ketagalan people are also children of God. I can't let them starve to death..."
Zhao Hao didn't agree yesterday, so she thought he was waiting for her to make an offer. After tossing and turning all night yesterday, Mei Nan made up her mind. She mustered up the courage to take Zhao Hao's hand and put it inside her open leather jacket, slightly to the left of her heart. Then she looked at him shyly and said, "As long as you agree, I can do whatever you want!"
"Uh..." Now it was Zhao Hao's turn to be at a loss. He was a monkey trapped under the Five Finger Mountain, with only his upper body free.
What is the upper body freedom? It means to have a little fun with your mouth, to satisfy your eyes, or at most to satisfy your hands... but you don't have the courage to go any further.
"Haven't you already offered yourself to the goddess?" Young Master Zhao began to pull his hand back.
Menan held his hand tightly, not letting him let go, and said with a sacred face: "I am not doing this for my own pleasure, but for the people of the Mother Goddess. The Mother Goddess will not blame me. Otherwise, let the Mother Goddess strike me down with thunder!"
"Uh, please don't." Zhao Hao pulled his hand away, thinking that it was pretty good, oh no, oh no, we are getting married. He finally pulled his hand away with great willpower, then buttoned her leather jacket and said, "I mean, it doesn't matter if you return the food to them, but you have to get their leaders here, whoever comes will get it, otherwise there will be nothing."
"Okay." Mei Nan nodded, and said with some anticipation: "For the first time, I want it to be in the sky..."
"No, it's too cold!"
"Oh, then let's go back to the boat." Menan was a little disappointed.
"No, not anywhere. I can't take advantage of you when you're in trouble, and I can't ruin your chastity. The goddess will punish me." Zhao Hao hurriedly suppressed his excitement and became completely cowardly.
"Really?" Mei Nan stared at him for a long while, then suddenly burst out laughing and said, "I knew you wouldn't do anything rash! You're a gentleman..."
"Oh..." Zhao Hao sighed inwardly, not knowing whether Mei Nan had high emotional intelligence or was really teasing him.
~~
Half an hour later, the hot air balloon slowly descended, and a group of police officers manipulated the mooring ropes to land it steadily on the ground.
The guards quickly helped the numb Zhao Gongzi and Wen De Dajun out of the hanging basket. Sister Ma and Lin Feng wrapped them in blankets, and Qiaoqiao brought them the hot soup she had prepared. It took a while for the two to warm up.
"Sir, I miss you so much..." A fat man who had been waiting for a while rushed towards Zhao Hao, and finally couldn't hold back anymore.
The guards didn't stop him, which shows the status of the fat man. There are many fat men around Mr. Zhao, and the one with the highest status is naturally his old fat friend Tang Youde.
"Oh, Old Tang, you're here so soon?" Zhao Hao was also surprised. He tried to stand up by holding the chair, but his legs were still numb, so he sat back down.
Fatty Tang quickly supported Zhao Hao and said excitedly, "Sir, I have to criticize you a little. You have to pay attention to safety. It's too dangerous to fly so high! Old Tang is scared to death!"
"Don't worry, this generation of hot air balloons is very safe." Zhao Hao took off the telescope from his neck and handed it to Secretary Ma: "I didn't expect that there is no wind below, but it is so strong above... Wait for me to slow down, then I will take you up to have a look."
"Ah, Old Tang, I'm afraid of heights." Fatty Tang looked scared, but then he said righteously: "But since you have invited me, I can only sacrifice my life to accompany you."
"Hahaha, you haven't changed at all." Zhao Hao laughed happily, and the two of them started talking and laughing with their arms around each other's shoulders.
As the saying goes, new clothes are worse than old ones, and old friends are worse than new ones. When Mr. Zhao saw Fatty Tang, he forgot all about the witches and pretty maids.
Secretary Ma sent Wen De Dajun back to the ship to rest. On the way, Lin Feng looked curiously at the thing made of two sections of copper pipes in her hand. Lin Feng had seen the police officers on the ship use this thing to see far away, but she had never had the opportunity to see it herself.
"Do you want to take a look?" Sister Ma asked with a smile.
Lin Feng nodded rapidly.
"You wish." Ma Xianglan put it directly into the leather box.
"Ugh..." Lin Feng almost jumped up in anger.
~~
Not to mention the women who left, let's just talk about Fatty Tang. He received a handwritten letter from Zhao Hao last month, instructing him to hand over the business of Xingang City to the deputy mayor and quickly bring a group of capable men south to join him.
Fatty Tang arrived in Naha five days ago, but Mr. Zhao had already gone south, so he followed closely and finally met the patrol fleet off the coast of Jilong and was taken to Dajilong Island.
"It must be a surprise to call you here so urgently." Young Master Zhao asked with a smile while drinking hot tea.
"That's nothing. I've already said that Old Tang is just one of your bricks. I'll move him wherever he's needed!" Tang Youde said with a smile, "The one who was really surprised was Master Xuelang. He was trying to persuade me to build a 180-foot-tall standing Buddha statue at the Xingang Wharf to suppress those Christian missionaries. With my departure, it will be even more difficult for him to build the Buddha statue."
"Spectacles can ruin a country." Zhao Hao laughed and said, "Let him give up on that idea!"
"Hahaha, I thought so too." Tang Youde also laughed and said, "Before I left, I told the people in the city hall not to agree to him!"
"I guess he's scolding us a lot in Tamro right now!" Zhao Hao said with an irresponsible smile: "Let him scold us, as long as we don't see him, this world is lovely."
"I think so too." Tang Youde agreed. The two chatted for a while before Zhao Hao got down to business: "I'm planning to develop Taiwan Island. How about you become the owner of the island?"