After the imminent threat of locusts in the south is basically eliminated, the protagonist finally has enough energy to deal with other things.
After the beginning of spring, the protagonist's messengers have begun to shuttle between various territories and important places that the protagonist is concerned about, bringing some good or bad news to the protagonist.
The battlefield on the north bank of the river, which the protagonist is most concerned about, is still eerily calm. There has been no fighting throughout the winter.
This should be considered good news. At least the protagonist's strategic goal has been achieved, and the Big-headed Ant Kingdom's Northern Expedition is still firmly anchored on the north bank.
The protagonist had already learned this news from the pavement ant team in the winter, and it was just a matter of confirmation after spring.
But the protagonist is not happy. If something goes wrong, he will become a monster. The protagonist can't imagine that the stubborn ant barbarian army who fights for every inch of land actually gave up the siege of the Northern Expeditionary Army in the winter when it is most conducive to their operations.
Moreover, the protagonist's flying knights searched around and found no territory in the Big-headed Ant Kingdom on the south bank of the river that was attacked by pavement ants.
The protagonist can only guess what kind of trouble the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom seems to have encountered, so that they had to abandon the weakened Northern Expeditionary Army and instead prioritize solving this trouble.
The protagonist specifically asked King Fuye, who said that in addition to the not-powerful enemy of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom also had an enemy in the northern mountainous area. The protagonist can only guess that the enemies in the north have formed a strong restraint on the pavement ant barbarian army.
However, even if the pavement ant barbarian army does not come, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom will not be able to take advantage of the opportunity to expand.
The protagonist went to "Target A" and learned the details from the police chief.
Although the Northern Expeditionary Army, which had lost many troops and was short of food, had been worried all winter, it did not wait for the deadly offensive of the ant barbarian army.
After the beginning of spring, another problem troubled the Northern Expeditionary Army. Due to lack of food, the entire Northern Expedition had to feed on large amounts of stored giant-headed ant and pavement ant corpses during the winter. Diseases originating from the corpses took the opportunity to wreak havoc in the warm ant nests.
By the beginning of spring, the Northern Expeditionary Army had been severely reduced in number. Nearly half of the remaining troops were dead or sick, and even the male ants had a large number of deceased soldiers.
The police chief and others had to throw the bodies of the deceased into a nearby river and move the sick ants to a newly dug nest nearby to fend for themselves in order to curb the spread of the plague.
In order to solve the problem of lack of food, the Northern Expeditionary Army began to frantically forage nearby, and at the same time asked for help from the main nest.
Logically speaking, after a winter of rest and recuperation, although there was some drought in the spring, plants and animals began to multiply in large numbers. The main nest "Qingqiu City" should have spare capacity to support this area at this time.
As long as it can be replenished, the Northern Expeditionary Army is confident to launch another offensive, retake the territory on the north bank of the river, and fulfill the kingdom's long-cherished wish.
But what dumbfounded the messengers of the Northern Expedition was that after arriving at the "bridgehead", these messengers suddenly discovered that the rope bridge they relied on to cross the river had been broken! crack! Got it!
The protagonist has learned the bad news from the "Bridgehead" messenger a few days ago.
As the only bridge for most ants to cross the river, the important role of the rope bridge is self-evident.
But it is a crudely built bridge after all.
During the winter, the pavement ant team sent by the protagonist to the north was still able to travel back and forth on the rope bridge. However, around the beginning of spring, the rope bridge suddenly broke.
It’s no wonder that the rope used in this rope bridge is the work of ants. The fibers used in weaving are of different lengths and materials. The ants added all the fibers they could collect, which will inevitably cause damage to various parts of the rope. Intensity is not uniform. It can be said that this rope has inherent shortcomings.
After more than a year of use, this rope bridge has experienced rain erosion and soaking, and has experienced cold winters. The water vapor absorbed in some of the fibers has frozen, and the sharp ice has cut the internal fibers during the expansion process.
Finally one day, the rope bridge suddenly broke and fell into the melting river. However, the two ends were still tied to the branches, drifting with the current, and could no longer undertake the job of a bridge.
The protagonist knows that he must seize the time to repair the rope bridge. The strategic significance of this bridge is too important. It not only maintains the logistics of the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Northern Territory, but also maintains the protagonist's "bridgehead" on the north bank of the river and the logistics and communications of the garrison.
Under the strict orders of the protagonist, new ropes began to be woven in "Dongyang City".
This time, the protagonist already has experience. He asked the ants to collect some stems of hemp plants and weave a rope mixed with hemp. Such a rope has longer fibers, higher strength, better corrosion resistance, and is less likely to be damaged by accidents. Broken within a year.
However, the service life of the rope bridge is ultimately limited. If it is a steel wire rope of the same thickness, although it will be corroded and worn out, it can be used for more than ten years.
The protagonist obviously cannot make steel wire now. Even the plan he dreamed up in winter to use malachite to smelt copper has not yet been completed: the underground copper smelting blast furnace is already under construction, but the protagonist sent to produce malachite The messenger from the deputy nest was in trouble.
The secondary nest that produces malachite is not far from "Dongyang City", and the protagonist calls it "Malachite City".
At the beginning, the protagonist wanted to send a messenger, in the name of the Divine Messenger King, to ask the deputy nest to excavate and transport malachite on his behalf. For this reason, the protagonist was willing to regularly send a batch of food to the deputy nest in exchange.
It's not that he hasn't thought about directly controlling "Malachite City". After all, the lessons of "Salt City" are still around the corner. It's better to keep the resources he urgently needs in his own hands.
However, regarding the matter of "Yancheng", I finally got the authorization from the "Qingqiu City" king's meeting, which was obtained in exchange for a large amount of materials. And "Malachite City" is located in the hinterland of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, so obviously it will not be so easy to grant authorization to the protagonist.
However, the protagonist's messenger failed to complete the task. She reported back that the king of "Malachite City" said that he had received an order from the main nest. He was not allowed to have private contact with the God Envoy King, and was not allowed to agree to any of the God Envoy King's requests. He was not allowed to accept gods. any of the king's subordinates.
This news made the protagonist smell something unusual. This instruction from the "Qingqiu City" king's meeting was simply a confrontation, even with a hint of hostility.
The protagonist belatedly remembered that he had not contacted the main nest since the beginning of spring.
It’s no wonder that most of the male ants the protagonist is friends with have joined the Northern Expeditionary Army, so he naturally runs to the north bank of the river more frequently.
Now there are obviously some changes in the main nest that are not conducive to the protagonist. The protagonist does not want to go to the main nest in person, so he sends a messenger to the main nest to get some information.
