The sky was a boundless blue, without the faintest breeze. Heaven and earth were so still they seemed like an oil painting.
On the training field of the Paris Army Officer Academy, Joseph and dozens of officers stood with their heads tilted back, staring at the tiny gray speck in midair. Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier introduced it eagerly from the side. "Your Highness, we later discovered that silk was not only expensive, but also not very airtight. After repeated experiments, we chose to bond paper and silk together to make the envelope, and the results have been excellent.
"The current Hot Air Balloon is extremely durable, while its weight has also been reduced by 35 percent."
Indeed, what floated in the sky at that moment was a Hot Air Balloon—an improved military version that had undergone many rounds of refinement.
As early as ten years ago, the Montgolfier Brothers from southern France had invented the world's first Hot Air Balloon and demonstrated it at Versailles Palace. However, its envelope had then been made of paper, supported externally by Flax ropes. It was exceedingly troublesome to spread out before use and easily damaged. The French Army had evaluated it at the time and concluded that it did not meet military standards, so it had been ignored thereafter.
Later, because of the Shap Signal Tower project, the General Staff Headquarters had pulled out and catalogued all high-tech military equipment. Only then did the Hot Air Balloon project finally see the light of day again.
After receiving an appropriation of 7,000 Francs, the Montgolfier Brothers had finally completed the technical improvements required by the military. Today was the first technical acceptance test.
A technical officer from the General Staff Headquarters asked, "How did you solve the problem of preventing fires?"
The elder brother, Michel, immediately