Words Take Flight

Zhang Wei is a tinkerer, inventor, and dreamer. He really has no business serving in General Meng Tian’s Great Army, but King Qin Shi Huang dreams of unifying China and Zhang wants to be part of it. Besides, the General is a builder like Zhang, so he feels they are kindred spirits. The General is committed to building a great wall that will protect China from the Mongols, while Zhang is experimenting with capturing the wind. For everyone’s dreams to be fulfilled, General Meng’s army has to first defeat Xiongnu Province and make it part of the newly unified China. To accomplish this, Meng amassed a great army that stretched over an immense area of land.

One of Zhang’s favorite things to do is lay on the ground and watch the eagles and falcons soar effortlessly in the vast blue sky. If birds can master the winds, then man, as a superior species, should be able to invent a device that will allow him to fly. All that’s needed is to keep watching the birds and think. Zhang was positive he could crack this great mystery. Once he solved the puzzle, the officers would present his solution to the General. Zhang would receive great praise for inventing something that would help win the war.

Most great inventions come from innocuous events. Zhang was strolling back from the mess tent one blustery morning when a discarded piece of paper flew up from the ground and hit him in the face. Annoyed, he snatched the paper off his face and tossed it away just as another gust of wind carried the paper airborne. He watched as the paper rose higher and higher on the wind.

The idea exploded in Zhang’s mind. He knew how to ride the wind. He rushed back to his area and began gathering materials: paper, small light bamboo shoots, twine, and resin. It didn’t happen on the first attempt or the tenth, but in a relatively short time, this tinkerer and dreamer came up with a working design that rode the wind. He painted a picture of a bird on it and named his invention after that bird—Kite.

One thing all armies have in common is a strong unofficial information network. A good commander stays tapped into this network, but an outstanding commander uses it. Meng is an outstanding commander. It didn’t take long for news of this wind riding invention to reach Meng. The General sent word for Zhang and this Kite to report to him. A demonstration was called for. Several hours later, Zhang was standing behind the General’s tent flying his wondrous kite. General Meng, the consummate tactician, pondered the best way to use the kite in his campaign. From atop the hill where his tent sat, the General looked over his vast army, and a solution to an ongoing problem came to him.

Communicating with troops across distances has always been a problem, not just for Meng, but for all commanders. Now the General had the solution. He ordered Kite stations built along his lines. Next, he told Zhang to create multiple large kites in different colors. The kites would have painted characters for Advance, Attack, Hold, Retreat, and Victory inscribed on them. Meng would launch the first command kite and the other stations would pass the order along by flying the identical color and symbol kite. Zhang followed the general’s instructions but cautioned him that the larger the kite, the stronger the surface wind needed to be to lift it.

On an early spring day in the year 222 BC, General Meng started his offensive by ordering the Advance kite to be flown. The kite stations perched on a ridge along the right flank launched their kites. A few kites took to the air on the left flank, but being in a valley with light wind, many were missing further down the line.

Zhang expected this problem and asked for a horse. He rode as fast as his mount would go, stopping at the first station that couldn’t launch. Grabbing the spool of twine, he played some out on the ground. Then he told the station attendants to lift the kite up over their heads and release it when they felt the twine pull tight. Zhang urged the horse forward at a cantor, paying out twine as he went. The kite took to the sky and, once high enough, the upper winds carried it aloft. The other windless stations, seeing what Zhang had done, followed his example and launched their kites.

Later that evening, with the battle won, General Meng call Zhang to his tent. The inventor wasn’t sure what to expect. His brainchild had helped win the battle, but it started out with a major glitch. Making a general lose face was not a good way to keep your head. Much to Zhang’s relief and surprise, not only did his head stay attached to his shoulders, but he received a promotion. Zhang was now the chief inventor of the new empire. Wonderful things can happen when words take flight.