"Old Heart" brought several belly-lifting ant guards to not far from [Xinyang City], and the tall ant mound was already vaguely visible.
When he got here, "Old Heart" saw clearly the defense system composed of tall ant mounds and continuous city walls. He was immediately shocked by this huge project like continuous hills.
Although the ants are ants, they are not very good at construction projects. Although they live in different nests in winter and summer, these nests are very simple.
For example, the winter nest of the ant is a remodeled tree hole near the root of a tree. It goes deep into the ground and can effectively keep out the cold. However, it is not as elaborate as any of the secondary nests in the old big-headed ant kingdom and only has the most basic structural functions.
On the contrary, the summer nests of the ants are more elaborate. They are built with a mixture of plant fibers and their own secretions. They are attached to the branches. Each one is approximately round, about the size of a tennis ball. Multiple tree nests are gathered together. , forming a summer nest colony. These summer nests are very suitable for sheltering from the sun and rain in hot summer. For example, there are rain protection devices at the entrance and exit, and they are closer to the food of the ants.
But whether it was the winter nest or the summer nest, compared to the mini version of the Great Wall surrounding the neck of the peninsula that the Divine Envoy King's army had built at the moment, it was instantly reduced to rubbish.
It's like a person from a primitive tribe who is used to seeing shacks made of grass and trees and plastered with mud, and now suddenly sees the majestic brick-clad city walls and arrow towers of Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
"Old Heart" didn't have time to be shocked for too long when patrols from the God's Envoy King's Legion arrived. The ants immediately lay down on the ground, with their tentacles touching the ground, retracting their jaws and stingers, acting gentle and harmless. This is considered a local diplomatic etiquette.
Fortunately, the soldiers of the Divine Envoy King's Legion had received orders from high-level officials before and were trying their best to adapt to the rules of this area. Instead of directly killing these immigrants, they summoned a male ant.
The male Big-headed Ant touched the tentacles of "Old Heart", and after learning of "Old Heart"'s intention, he immediately sent a messenger to report to the God Envoy King. After receiving permission, he escorted "Old Heart" and his party over the city wall and into the city.
Why turn over? Because the city wall defense system built by the Divine Envoy King's Army has no gates, you have to climb over the wall to enter and exit. However, this is not difficult for ants who are good at climbing.
"Lao Xin" and his party were sent into the conference room, and the escorting soldiers of the Divine Envoy King evacuated, leaving the guests alone to wait for the arrival of the Divine Envoy King.
The reason why "Old Heart" came here was naturally to collect the extra tribute demanded by the red fire ants of the suzerain country.
Most of these extra tributes can be collected by the abdominal ants themselves.
For example, there will be enough gold in the warehouse of the belly-lifting ants, and this is also thanks to the legion of the God Envoy King. The resale trade of the Divine Envoy King's army was very profitable, allowing the ants to free up some of their ant hands for grazing and foraging to collect sand gold. And this year, the part of the gold that the God's Envoy Army requested as tribute was exchanged back by the God's Envoy King's Army in order to purchase food during the early trade. Therefore, the ant clan's winter nest treasury has much more reserves than in previous years.
The number of ant eggs requires the queens of the abdominal ant clan to work hard for several days, but it is not difficult. As long as there is enough food, there can be as many ant eggs as needed.
Although the inventory of the ants will be exhausted in terms of food, winter is still far away at this time. It is a time when food is plentiful and the ants can afford it.
The only thing the fire ants requested was the concentrated honeydew from twenty snail shells. The ants could not produce it themselves and could only trade it from the Angel King's army.
But at this moment, the ants' wealth is almost empty. Whether it's gold or food, there's no way they can exchange for so much honeydew.
In the past, trade between the Divine Envoy King's Legion and the Belly Ant Clan only required the exchange of messengers to reach an agreement. This time, the matter was so serious that "Old Heart" could only visit in person, trying to use his best skills among the Belly Ant Clan. brain, to find a way to trade for much-needed honeydew.
——I am the dividing line——
After learning the purpose of "Old Heart", the protagonist disconnected the tentacles and thought alone for a while.
In terms of the quantity of honeydew, it is not a problem in terms of the supply of the Angel King's army. Now [Xinyang City] is no longer as poor as it was in the early days. The highly reproductive aphids and scale insect communities have expanded, and almost the entire peninsula is covered with honeydew. It has become a pasture. Thanks to this year's abundant sunshine and the moist land along the river, the weeds on the peninsula are dense and grow rapidly, providing a continuous supply of grass juice to the aphids, which is then converted into concentrated honeydew in each snail shell.
The Angel King's Army now has more than ten snail shells of honeydew in its warehouse. With the current production capacity, there is no need to scrimp on food and clothing, and it will be enough to provide twenty snail shells of honeydew in two or three days.
But the problem is that the belly-lifting ants have nothing to exchange for.
There is no gold and no food. "Old Heart" proposes to use a thousand ant eggs in exchange, but the protagonist does not need it.
The eggs of male and queen ants exchanged previously have begun to hatch in the main nest. After pupae emerge, they will be arranged to other ant mounds and become the fourth ant tribe under the command of the Angel King's army.
A thousand more worker ant eggs are of no use to the Angel King's army. If they are eaten as food, they are not as valuable as twenty snail shells and honeydew...
But the protagonist knows that he must provide enough honeydew to the ant clan. According to "Old Heart", if they fail to complete the tribute task, they will be attacked by red fire ants, and whether the race can continue is a question.
Once there is no middleman like Belly Ant, the God Envoy King Army will lose many sources of important supplies.
Moreover, if the red fire ants march into the Golden Beach area, they are very likely to find traces of the God Envoy King's legion. The God's Envoy King's legion is not strong enough to face the powerful red fire ants directly, and they do not want to get involved in the struggle in this area prematurely.
Finally, after some bargaining, the Divine Envoy King's Legion and the Belly Ant Clan finally reached an agreement.
The Angel King will provide thirty snail shells of concentrated honeydew within two six sunrises, and the Belly Ant Clan will have to pay a thousand ant eggs, some resold supplies that the Angel King’s army urgently needs, and part of the food. and some placer gold.
However, considering the current plight of the ants, the payment period for the things they need to provide can be extended until winter.
This is the first time that Juwei Yinen has seen such a long deadline in transactions or tributes. In the past, they had to provide sufficient goods within four to six sunrises at most, including being responsible for transporting them to the destination. en route time.
The protagonist uses this method to ensure that his own interests are not damaged, and also introduces the credit transaction method into the world in disguise, so that future transactions can be more flexible, and also uses this hidden period to control the Ant Clan and the God Envoy King. The legions were bound even more tightly.
