This day is a day of historical significance for the Big-headed Ant Kingdom. Although there is no history book in the ant world, in the future, word-of-mouth information about the glorious history of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom will definitely remember this day.
On this day, the weather was sunny and good.
In other words, this weather has been going on for a few weeks. There are few clouds in the sky, the wind is not strong, and the sun is hot and fierce. It is the weather that plants and cold-blooded animals like.
Although there has been no rainfall for a long time, resulting in a slight drought on the surface, for the ants, this is very good weather.
Without the deadly threat of rain and the obstruction of muddy ground, sunlight also provides an extra source of valuable heat for the ants on the move, and the ants love this kind of temperature and humidity.
Starting from early morning, in the main nest of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, groups of ants have been pouring out from the main passage entrance.
These groups were arranged into a thick marching queue, which stretched out in the open field, and eventually grew to be half a meter wide. The team advanced, and the follow-up troops continued to pour out from the main nest.
These are the main nest and the troops that gathered from the various sub-nests to the main nest. A total of 150,000 Northern Expedition troops officially set off today.
If you look from the air, you can see this spectacular scene:
The long marching column is clearly visible even in the air, like a black snake snaking on the ground.
Directly in front of the team, countless scouts spread out like branches and leaves growing from the trunk of a tree. On the one hand, they continued to extend the eyes of the army in front of the team, and on the other hand, they maintained constant communication with the large army.
The front end of the team keeps moving forward, but the back end keeps pouring out as if there is no end. The 150,000-strong army will spread out on the ground in a marching column tens of meters long.
The power of this swarm is terrifying. Just below the marching team, thousands of ants gathered together, and the thick body odor was spread by the wind. The insects that smelled this smell, whether they were herbivorous insects or insects that were good at hunting. , all of them were frightened and desperately wanted to escape from this area.
Some flying and jumping insects tried their best to escape far away, some buried themselves in the soil, and snails retracted into their shells.
These were all lucky, and the insects that blocked the march route of the Northern Expedition were almost without exception discovered by the scouts who were spreading around.
Scouts will not be polite to these potential rations. Even if there is only one scout, they will dare to attack the most ferocious insects such as centipedes, scorpions or katydids.
Because she knows that there are friends behind her. As long as the prey is delayed for even a moment, countless ant warriors will come, surround it, and bite it to death.
Maybe some fierce insects dare to sneak attack and hunt the lone ants, but in the face of this united force that can destroy the world, the insects will understand who is the overlord of this world.
As the army advanced, it swept away the prey on its route. Although this harvest is just a drop in the bucket for the huge size of the Northern Expeditionary Army, fresh meat can still boost everyone's morale.
The marching route of the Northern Expeditionary Army was along the ant paths between the main nest and the auxiliary nest, and between the auxiliary nest and the auxiliary nest. They followed the signals on the ant paths and approached "Linshui City" step by step.
These ant tunnels pass under shrubs and weeds. Although they are not straight lines and are slightly winding, they are basically moving on solid ground. Even if there are occasional boulders or mud pits blocking the way, there is always room for ants. The small passage we pass through avoids the trouble of constant detours and climbs, and also eliminates the obstruction of a large number of old plants.
The ant tunnel network that connects the entire Big-headed Ant Kingdom is not purely natural, but is developed and regularly maintained by the ants themselves.
Every year, each deputy nest will send teams to the main nest twice, mainly to escort the wedding flight team and transport supplies. With temporary deployment, over the years, a relatively suitable and smooth road has been found.
Each team traveling back and forth will clear new obstacles along the way. If they cannot be cleared, they will find a new way around them. In addition to cleaning the road, the male ants passing through the ant tunnels also leave unique long-lasting pheromones to guide their direction.
These pheromones are not the ordinary pheromones left behind by worker ants and soldier ants. Ordinary pheromones tend to evaporate within a few days. These pheromones left by passing male ants are spread on immovable landmarks such as stones. Although the smell is very weak, it can remain for eight or nine months.
The ant tunnel is no wider than a human finger. It is usually enough to accommodate the ant team, but at this moment it cannot accommodate the Northern Expeditionary Army team that is more than half a meter wide.
Therefore, most of the Northern Expeditionary Army still operated on both sides of the ant road. Sometimes when faced with some huge shrubs, trees and rocks, if the army could not get around them, they would have to climb over them.
Suddenly, the mountains and fields were covered with traces of crawling ants. If this scene were filmed and put on a documentary channel, it would really look like army ants devouring everything.
The marching speed of a huge army is definitely not as fast as that of a small and flexible army. It took the Northern Expeditionary Army most of the time to arrive at a secondary nest not far from the main nest that could have been reached in half a day in the afternoon.
The distribution of secondary nests in the entire Big-headed Ant Kingdom is very regular. The distance between any two nests is basically half a day's crawling distance for ants. In this way, the ants can reach two nests during the day and spend the night in the last nest.
The Northern Expeditionary Army did not stop at this lair. It was still early, and the enthusiasm of the Northern Expedition and the lack of military rations urged the army to continue on its way.
But they had no way to reach the next sub-nest before dark. Although the daylight hours were long now, the army was moving slowly.
Finally, the Northern Expeditionary Army ushered in the sunset in an arbor forest.
If it is a small group of troops who dare to operate at night to facilitate communication and command with each other. Such a large force almost lost the ability to act in a unified manner at night, so they could only camp on the spot.
Ants are relatively vulnerable on the ground at night without the protection of their nests.
However, as long as a temporary campsite is carefully constructed, no insect, except for hungry red-eyed ones, would dare to risk attacking an ant colony of this size.
The Northern Expeditionary Army surrounded the trunks of several tall trees, covering the bark surface of the trunks within one meter from the ground. The ground between the trees was also covered with ants, and only a closely connected arc defense line was established on the outermost perimeter.
The male ants are protected inside, hiding under the bark, in tree holes or in safe places on the ground. Worker ants and soldier ants take on the heavy responsibility of protection.
