River crabs originally have a very mixed diet. Under natural conditions, they mainly eat water, grass, and humus. They also like to eat animal carcasses. They also like to eat snails, clams, worms, and insects. They also occasionally eat small fish and shrimps. When food is scarce, river crabs will kill each other and even eat the eggs they hold.
But in this world, there is a lack of large animals, such as mammals, reptiles or amphibians. The size of the crab is already the largest creature known to the protagonist. These crabs have indeed climbed to the top of the food chain, and few other creatures can pose a threat to them.
Although the protagonist does not know the situation in the water, he has lived by the river for a long time and has never seen fish.
On the one hand, crabs lost their food such as animal carcasses and small fish, and on the other hand, they lost their natural enemies. Therefore, they gradually evolved into ferocious predators. In addition to still eating some vegetarian food, most of these crabs rely on hunting as their main food source. Their food includes various aquatic animals, and they are merciless to various insects that are far smaller than themselves that can be found everywhere in the water or on the ground. .
Unfortunately, there aren't many insects around the salt marshes, and the dense swarms of ants fall prey to them.
However, the protagonist doesn't care how powerful these crabs are. He has no intention of going to the salt marsh to confront these crabs head-on. He knows how strong the carapace of these crabs is. After humans steam the river crabs, they have to use teeth and tools to pry open the carapace to eat the crab meat, crab roe and crab paste inside. People are often injured by the shells. Sharp scratches.
The ants want to deal with these heavily armed crabs, but the protagonist really can't think of any good way, and it's really difficult.
Therefore, the protagonist warned Tuzi and asked him to restrain his men, stay away from the salt marsh as much as possible, and try to preserve their vitality, even if they do not collect salt. At the same time, the protagonist also asked him to warn the king of "Salt City" to avoid provoking these crabs as much as possible.
As for whether the king will listen or not, only God knows. Although the protagonist was authorized at the beginning, he did not interfere with the rule of "Yancheng". Now the original king of "Yancheng" is still in charge, and he has great autonomy.
As for this closed-door approach, which may result in a reduction in salt production, the protagonist is not afraid.
In "Dongyang City" and other territories of the Divine Envoy King, during the previous operation to rush to transport salt, enough salt has been stored until the beginning of next spring, and there is no risk of salt shortage in the short term.
As for the lack of salt in other territories of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, the protagonist can also allocate some from the inventory to help them. Once the crab breeding season is over, these crabs will die one after another, and then "Yancheng" can resume production.
The current production method of collecting salt crystals is a completely labor-intensive industry. As long as more ants are invested, the output can be significantly increased, and enough salt can be produced before winter.
——I am the dividing line——
After sending away the messenger, the protagonist continues his leisurely life, and on the other hand, he learns about the war dynamics of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom's Northern Expedition through the flying knights who travel between "Dongyang City" and the north bank of the river every day.
After the protagonist attracted three tribes of black-headed stinky ants to sneak attack the paving ant barbarian army, the paving ant barbarian army had to postpone its offensive against "Target D" due to heavy losses in personnel and materials.
But in the past few days of the truce, neither side was idle.
The Pavement Ant barbarian army is stepping up its efforts to mobilize supplies and reinforcements from the territories along the river. The pavement ant barbarian country is indeed vast and rich in resources. They don't even need to mobilize the hinterland of the territory and the secondary nest in the north, and they are sure that they can regain their lost land before winter.
In winter, this army still had to cross the frozen river and launch a southward invasion as usual.
This is not the full war potential of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom. The protagonist has already learned during the northern reconnaissance operation that the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom is still at war with a group of enemies in the north that the protagonist does not know, so the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom is at war with them. Judging from the strength of their troops, the northern battlefield is the main battlefield where they go all out. The south's response to the Big-headed Ant Kingdom's army was nothing more than a partial division.
While the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army was actively searching for supplies, the Big-headed Ant Kingdom's Northern Expeditionary Army was also doing its best to prepare for war.
After a series of fierce battles, the Northern Expeditionary Army has lost half of its new territory. From the leadership of the Northern Expeditionary Army to the king who serves as an ordinary grassroots commander, everyone has realized the actual combat effectiveness of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army. Don't dare to underestimate the enemy.
Using the rare few days, the Northern Expeditionary Army comprehensively renovated the defense of "Target D" and repaired the previously damaged parts.
In order to prevent the paving ant barbarian army from using pontoons to cross the stream, the Northern Expedition Army also built new nests in several narrow places on the stream surface and stationed part of its troops here to provide early warning for "Target D"'s own nest. At the same time, they blocked the enemy from crossing the river as soon as possible.
The Northern Expeditionary Army also collected food from all over the land, including insects, edible berries, sprouts, vegetable leaves, roots, and grains.
A large number of corpses of those who died in the war on both sides were dried in the sunshine and used as emergency food.
"Qingqiu City" once again scratched the ground and pieced together four legions of reinforcements, arriving with a small amount of food, which could be regarded as strengthening the defenders.
After four or five days of rest, the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army finally launched their offensive again.
However, the Northern Expeditionary Army was obviously more prepared, and the defenders at several newly built nests were always able to stop the attempts of the pavement ants and worker ants to build the pontoon bridge on the shore in time.
If the pontoon bridge cannot be built, the pavement ant army will not be able to land, and it will not be able to exert its strength advantage. In this way, the Northern Expedition of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom will not fall into a cruel war of attrition.
As a result, the war is showing signs of stabilizing. The only hidden worry is that the Northern Expeditionary Army's granary is slowly bottoming out, and there are not yet a large number of corpses to replenish and consume.
——I am the dividing line——
The protagonist is waiting for the best time to intervene in the battle on the north bank of the river. The first batch of beetle larvae have hatched, but it will still be a long time before they emerge from pupae and complete their training. Perhaps this beetle army cannot be counted on before winter.
At this moment, "Yancheng" was in danger again.
This time, the worker ant messenger sent by Tuzi narrowly escaped death before arriving at "Dongyang City" to report the news. Of the five messengers sent by Tuzi, she was the only one who came here alone, and the others all died from crab attacks.
According to Zhuzi's report, the crabs have begun to attack the "Yancheng" nest in groups. They have even begun to dig into the soil, as if they want to completely eliminate the ants hiding inside.
The culprit who caused the crab siege was none other than the king of "Salt City"!
