To build a pontoon bridge, you need to prepare floating objects first so that the bridge can be fixed on the water later. Whether it is a pontoon bridge across a river or a pontoon bridge across the sea, this is not the case.
When ants build pontoons, unlike humans, there are still many restrictions.
For example, when it comes to choosing floating objects, ants don't have much choice. Humans can use artificial boats, rafts and pontoons as floating objects, but it is obviously difficult for ants to make these with the current level of technology.
Making a boat, even the simplest canoe, requires tools such as stone axes and fire, as well as a certain amount of strength. The protagonist's subordinates have mastered the art of fire, but they are very backward in terms of tools - the hardest ones are only the jaws of ants and some sharp pottery knives, which are obviously unable to handle solid wood.
And even if there are advanced tools, using these tools to process wood with the strength of ants will not be much more efficient.
The same is true for boats, and the same is true for pontoons. Taken together, the most suitable things for ants to build pontoons are floating objects made of natural materials and simple processed products.
Such as natural branches bamboo branches. Natural branches can float steadily on the water after drying, and hollow bamboo branches with bamboo knots at both ends are suitable natural floats.
Or simply tie these bamboo branches with ropes to form a bamboo raft, which will have a better effect.
To use these two types of floats or bamboo valves, you only need to find the right materials. Although ants lack the ability to cut materials directly from bamboo, every year there are branches and bamboo branches that are blown by strong winds and fall to the ground. If the ants collect carefully, I believe they can still find many materials of suitable size.
It's just that the weather is freezing now. Except for the protagonist who can move freely in the wild, the other big-headed ants can only huddle underground until the beginning of the next spring. The plan to search for floating debris can only be delayed for a few months.
The protagonist then thought: With floating objects, ropes are needed to tie the floating objects together, and a bridge deck must be built with bamboo branches on top of the floating objects. This is not a small project.
A pontoon bridge, if the impact of the water flow is taken into account, will not be straight on the river, but will be stretched slightly downstream to form an arch. After calculation, the length of the pontoon required to cross the river is at least thirty meters. If the bridge deck is one decimeter wide, a simple estimate means that the bridge deck will require three square meters of bamboo and wood materials. Coupled with the demand for floating objects, the total demand for bamboo and wood materials is not a small amount for ants.
Coupled with the ropes used and the time spent searching and processing materials, building such a small floating bridge will be as big a project as building a new nest.
Moreover, construction cannot be started this winter. After the repair war is completed in the next spring, the pontoons, river crossings, and new nests will be built. The completion may not be until autumn.
There is another difficulty. Even if the big-headed ants have built a pontoon bridge in advance on the south bank of the river, how can they build the pontoon bridge to the other side without their companions?
The first idea the protagonist comes up with is: Big-headed ant workers continue to push the pontoon into the water on the south bank of the river. Using the thrust of the water flow, they push the ever-extending pontoon diagonally downstream to the other side.
But this is too idealistic, let alone whether the length of the pontoon will be increased by doing so, and the consequent increase in material consumption and engineering volume. Let's just say that the pontoon is essentially a rope, not a long fixed wooden stick. It is more likely that the pontoon pushed into the water will lose its direction, lose control, and never reach the other shore.
The protagonist's second idea is also more whimsical: when he crossed the ice, he saw the frozen body of a water spider, indicating that there were water spider activities on this big river. In addition, there are also traces of water spiders in the large lake east of "Dongyang City".
If water spiders can be tamed, not only can the water spiders pull the pontoon to swim to the other side, but they can also build a water spider knights active on the water to perform transportation, reconnaissance, guerrilla and other tasks. Moreover, the water spider knights active near the water face almost no threat from the enemy as long as they are not accidentally surrounded on land.
The uncertain factor in this method is that it is impossible to determine whether the water spider can be successfully domesticated and the time required for domestication. Whether water spiders can be reproduced artificially is also unknown.
Since there is water transportation, of course there can also be air transportation. The protagonist’s third method revolves around air transportation.
The flying knights have been in the army for more than half a year and have become proficient in all kinds of training. What if you use the fly mounts of the flying knights to pull the pontoon to the other side?
But the protagonist rejected this idea. The flies themselves are not very strong, and they have no way to exert force in the air. The dozens of flies from the Flying Knights alone may not be able to pull the huge pontoon, and they may even be dragged into the water. in danger.
If you want to push the pontoon, you need larger and more powerful flying insects. Most insects can fly, but only some are specialized in flying, and those that meet the requirements of the protagonist are probably only a few species such as dragonflies and large bees.
Like water spiders, whether these insects can be domesticated is also a problem, and dragonflies that are good at flying are difficult to catch. Bees such as wasps and bear peaks also live in groups. Ants may have to pay a lot of money if they want to attack the hive to capture the bees. Quite a few casualties.
Finally, the protagonist suddenly realized - why can't I make preparations during the winter?
It is true that worker ants cannot go out to search for materials and build pontoons in winter. However, there is a large amount of plant fiber for weaving ropes in "Linshui City", and then they can complete the rope weaving work in the nest.
The protagonist can move in the wild and is very strong. In winter, when the river is passable, he can fix one end of the rope on the south bank of the river and move the other part to the north bank and tie it up. This way, the rope can be used to complete subsequent construction work next year.
The protagonist plans like this, and the more he plans, the more perfect he becomes.
Suddenly, the protagonist suddenly slapped his head again - Damn it, I've moved the ropes and tied them up, so what else do I need for a pontoon? I can just walk directly on the floating ropes.
Before, the protagonist was stuck in a fixed mindset and felt that he could not cross the river without walking on the bridge, but the ants did not have this trouble. As long as there was no strong wind, the ants who were good at climbing only needed a rope to cross back and forth.
In this way, as long as the ropes connecting the two sides of the river are tied higher, it can function as a suspended rope bridge.
Although the passing capacity of the suspended rope bridge per unit time is lower than that of the pontoon bridge, it is easy to make, is not affected by winter, and is more resistant to floods. It is simply a tailor-made means of crossing the river for the protagonist!
Suspended rope bridge is yours!
