This may be the first water voyage in the entire ant world. Not only were the passengers who participated in the trial voyage trembling with fear, but the protagonist also had little confidence.
The protagonist rides Xiaoqing II and keeps hovering over the walnut boat, paying close attention to the movement of the walnut boat.
If something happens to the walnut ship, the protagonist will have almost no means of rescue, which will also be a major blow to future plans to attack the parasitic swamp along the waterway.
Even though the protagonist had previously informed the flying knights and passengers above of various plans, Shan was still uneasy.
People often say that the sea is like "three feet of waves without wind", but to ants, this water area, which is just a small lake in human eyes, is as vast as the sea.
The natural water waves in this lake are like giant waves, causing the ship to constantly swing back and forth between the peaks and troughs of the waves. It seems that there is no resistance, and the power of heaven and earth is daunting.
Fortunately, today's trial sailing was on a sunny day. After we were far away from the waterfront, the waves in the middle of the Great Lakes waters were relatively gentle.
The flying knight no longer had to nervously control the three bees to avoid the huge waves, and began to tow the walnut boat forward normally.
A walnut boat with a balance beam can sail very smoothly in relatively calm waters. After completely breaking away from the turbulence on the shore, the ants finally dared to get out of the safety of the walnut boat and move along the shallow ravines on the surface of the walnut.
They raised the sail, and the walnut boat immediately headed north-east under the force of the wind, much faster than when being pulled by bees.
Seeing this, the flying knight also followed the plan and let the bees land on the surface of the walnut boat to rest for a while, and then ate some honey carried in the walnut boat - the battle with the wind and waves just now had consumed too much of these bees' energy.
The protagonist followed all the way, and about two hours later, he also landed on the walnut boat with Xiaoqing II.
There was no landing platform for bees and flies designed on the walnut boat. The four flying riders crowded on the surface of the not-so-large walnut, clinging tightly to it with their twenty-four claws. The protagonist quickly notified the flying knights and team commander on the ship to return, and took off again.
The sails on the walnut boat were lowered, and the bee took off again, flying towards the dock. They towed the walnut boat against the headwind. Fortunately, the wind was not strong, and the walnut boat slowly but surely returned to its home port.
It took about half a day for the walnut boat to approach the inlet, and then suddenly accelerated with the help of the waves on the shore.
The bees worked hard to control the direction, constantly adjusting the trajectory, and led the walnut boat into the narrow entrance of the inlet little by little.
At this time, an accident occurred. A sudden horizontal wave slammed the walnut boat towards a rock standing near the entrance of the inlet. The walnut boat hit the rock hard, and the bees in the air were also dragged around. Almost out of control.
The protagonist watched from the sidelines and felt nervous, fearing that the walnut boat and the passengers on it would be wiped out.
But fortunately, after the walnut boat was knocked backwards for a while, it spun and stabilized again. There seemed to be no damage on the outside, and the balance beam and sails did not fall off.
Bees are not as easily frightened as flies. After the flying knight regained control of the middle bee, the other two bees united again after a period of panic and successfully brought the walnut boat back to the dock road.
The walnut boat was re-fixed to the trestle with ropes. After some sailing, the passengers of all kinds could finally descend to safe and stable land.
The protagonist summed up the experience and lessons of this "historic" trial afterwards.
Generally speaking, the walnut boat has met the design requirements, and its safety has reached the design goals.
Thanks to the thick walnut shell, the ship cannot be damaged by ordinary impacts. The design of the balance beam and ballast stone also prevents the spherical walnuts from rolling randomly.
In terms of speed, the performance of the walnut boat is unsatisfactory. Only the speed in the downwind is satisfactory. When the wind is upwind, the efficiency of relying solely on bees for traction is very low. The headwind speed during today's trial voyage is only one-third of that in the downwind, and the bees have already stopped after returning. I am so tired that I need to rest for a while.
Fortunately, when we set out to the swamp area, our heading was basically downwind. When we came back, it was against the wind but with the current. The bees only had to provide auxiliary power and steering.
What worries the protagonist the most is that the ants behaved dizzy after getting off the boat, which is similar to the symptoms of seasickness in humans. Although the nervous system of ants is not as complex as that of humans, it is obviously not a good experience to be rocked up and down, left and right, on a boat that is completely different from the stable land.
The protagonist worries about whether the troops on the ship can maintain their combat effectiveness and establish a beachhead after a long journey.
This can only be solved through continuous adaptive training.
The construction of the walnut ship fleet has not stopped for a moment, and Lambert's 4th Army is also experiencing sailing in the depths of the Great Lakes in batches. Overall, there are still about two months left before the expedition to the Parasitic Swamp.
——I am the dividing line——
During this period, the protagonist is still paying attention to the situation on the north bank of the river.
Ever since the mysterious ants resumed their attack on the Barbarian Kingdom of Pavement Ants, the north bank of the river has been full of wars.
Although the Northern Expedition of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom is still recuperating, and the forces of the indigenous black-headed sour ants and Japanese black-brown ants have suffered heavy losses and are unable to make waves, the decisive battle between the two strongest groups - the mysterious ants and the pavement ants, will It was as magnificent as the World War on the north bank of the river.
According to the intelligence sent back by the flying knights, this time the mysterious ants mobilized tens of thousands of troops. With the big mysterious ants as the main force and some small mysterious ants mixed in, the troops were divided into four groups and launched an attack on the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom. .
The first main force was the first to launch an attack, following the route that the mysterious ant army had taken last time, and once again attacking the direction of the main nest of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom.
The second route is to attack the eastern border of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom from east to west from the eastern forest where the old black-headed sour ant and Japanese black brown ant have been almost completely destroyed.
The latter two routes were not detected by the Flying Knights at first. They found out after the Paidong Ant Barbarians dispatched their troops. Two mysterious ant divisions were attacking the Paved Ant Barbarians from north to south in two different directions. the country’s eastern and western borders.
Generally speaking, the four-pronged army of mysterious ants formed a semi-encirclement situation, launching attacks from the north and east.
Among them, the army that directly attacks the main nest area of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom is the most powerful.
On the other hand, the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom has gathered elites from all over the country to resist tenaciously in the main nest area. There are only small-scale armies in the other three directions, relying on the local sub-nests to resist continuously.
From the resumption of the war to more than a month ago, after successive battles, the situation began to gradually become unfavorable to the Paving Ant Barbarian Kingdom.
