The issue of lifespan has always been a thorn in the protagonist's heart, and it is also an important variable that must be considered in his journey through time. .
As a human being, the protagonist is familiar with the average life span of human beings. In his previous life, China has entered an aging society, with the average life span reaching more than 70 years. The increasingly higher average age has become a burden on the government to a certain extent.
The average life span of humans around the world has only continued to increase to its current level after a long period of time. The average life span of human beings in BC was only 20 years old, and by the 20th century it had reached 61 years.
With a human lifespan of several decades, we will still lament that time flies by and our days are numbered.
Tao Yuanming sighed with emotion: "The prime years will never come again, and it will be difficult for the day to come again. Encourage them in time, as time waits for no one."
Oda Nobunaga chanted before setting out to conquer Okehazama: "Fifty years of life are like a dream and an illusion. How can those who live once be immortal?"
On the scale of ants, their short lifespan, placed on a larger time scale, is no more than a mayfly that lives and dies, and is not much better than a summer insect that is less than a whisper.
Taking Big-headed ants as an example, the average lifespan of worker ants and soldier ants is only a few months, while male and female ants are slightly better, with a lifespan of several years.
What can you do with such a short lifespan?
For example, if ants can conduct scientific research, they will grow old before their lives are long enough to discover and study a topic, and subsequent ants will have to start from scratch. This is a huge waste of time.
Even if the ants have the ability to learn bugs through information packets, it will take several years to train a qualified scientific researcher, which has already taken up all their lives...
Fortunately, after the protagonist forced sleep to be promoted before, he found that this can effectively extend the life of the ants. After promotion, more than half of the veteran ants that have reached the upper limit of their life span are still alive and well.
The protagonist optimistically estimates that through forced sleep at night, the lifespan of ants who get sufficient rest can more than double.
But even so, this lifespan is still not enough. Taking himself as an example, the protagonist does not want to travel back to the west after traveling for less than ten years. In ten years, for a primitive civilization, the progress that can be made in this time is very small.
——I am the dividing line——
The protagonist thought haphazardly for a long time before being interrupted by the flying knight reporting back.
Flying Eagle led nine flying knights, and after investigating in the designated direction, they discovered the migrating parasitic ants.
There are about tens of thousands of these parasitic ants, crowded in the small valleys between the hills, hiding under the vegetation, and retreating towards the distant lake shore. If it weren't for Tingying's good eyesight, they might have concealed it.
Although these parasitic ants retreat slowly and appear to be in chaos, they are obviously well organized.
The team was filled with transported grain, ant eggs, larvae, ant pupae and parasitic bacteria. The surrounded queen ants and their offspring are well protected in the middle of the team, while on the periphery are the soldier ants and the strongest worker ants.
This migratory team continued to hunt insects found along the way, seemingly to replenish the shortage of food reserves after the hasty retreat.
Since the marching team of parasitic ants hides under shrubs and grass as much as possible, the eagle also wants to lower its height and get closer to conduct reconnaissance to learn important information such as the number of enemy queen ants and pale gold worker ants.
But Xiaoying suddenly remembered that the protagonist told them to be careful of ambush in bushes and other places. So the flying eagle led the team to fly around a bush, and sure enough they found the parasitic ant warrior ambushing in the tree.
Flying Eagle could only give up the plan of approaching for reconnaissance. He continued to fly forward and found that the forward troops at the front of the parasitic ant team would always climb up the nearby bushes to ambush. It wasn't until the large army passed that these strong warriors would climb down and rush forward quickly. Then the second wave of troops went to the front to ambush, and the cycle started again. This arrangement is obviously to guard against flying knights who can fly.
After being unable to obtain more information, Flying Eagle brought the team back and immediately reported to the protagonist.
According to Flying Eagle's description, the parasite ant army is about eight hours away from the Stump Fortress. Lagged down by weak men and supplies, they move at less than half their normal speed. If the God Envoy King's army attacks immediately, they can catch up with the opponent in about sixteen hours.
Considering that the parasitic ants may camp and stop moving after dark at night, the time to catch up with the enemy can be shortened.
Without further ado, the protagonist immediately gathered his troops, and all three legions that had not yet been fully replenished set off. Except for a few worker ants, the Stump Fortress did not retain any regular legions.
The reason for this arrangement is that the protagonist feels that there is basically no threat to the Stump Fortress now, and there is no need to retain too much defensive power.
Although the parasitic ants suffered heavy losses after several battles, and the strongest and most elite warriors were wiped out, they still numbered in the tens of thousands and still retained the strength to resist. The protagonist must concentrate all the power at hand to be sure to completely eliminate the opponent.
The protagonist personally leads the army to set off. Before departure, the protagonist asks a messenger to set off to find the supplementary troops sent by "Dongyang City" that will arrive in the evening, so that they can chase the main army non-stop.
——I am the dividing line——
After the sky completely darkened, the protagonist ordered the troops to temporarily stop and rest. The troops had been traveling for a day and were already too exhausted. If they continued to chase, they would not retain much combat effectiveness even if they could catch up.
The last news delivered by the flying knight was that the parasitic ants also stopped moving forward and camped on the spot. This is also the reason why the protagonist made up his mind to take a rest.
It was getting late, and the flying knights could not go out for reconnaissance, so they landed and began to rest.
As the order to rest was given, the exhausted legionnaires immediately lay down on the spot and began to take a nap. The protagonist also felt sore all over. This was the first time he had to march quickly with his own perseverance without a mount or sedan chair. This sore feeling was second only to the sequelae of "God descending to earth".
Two hours later, the reinforcements who had traveled a long distance from "Dongyang City" arrived at the resting place guided by pheromones along the way. This army was even more tired. They had been marching at a rapid march since sunrise and could not stop until now.
Only more than 800 of the thousand soldier ants that came from "Dongyang City" have arrived here. The remaining stragglers don't have to worry about getting lost, but I don't know if they can get there in time.
The protagonist distributes these reinforcements to various legions and squads before letting them rest.
An hour later, after taking in more than twenty soldier ants one after another, the protagonist decided not to wait for the stragglers anymore.
As the protagonist issued the order, dense noises were heard again in the originally silent resting place. Countless ants got up and continued to follow the protagonist into the thick darkness ahead.
