In addition to food, another bulk commodity sold by red fire ants is the eggs and pupae of captured leaf-cutter ants, which are of various types: queen ants, male ants, large worker ants, medium worker ants, and small worker ants. and mini worker ants.
Leaf-cutting ants are very complex species, but the protagonist now has leaf-cutting ants under his command and has figured out the specific division of labor among the four types of leaf-cutting ants.
Leaf-cutter ants generally have a lower proportion of large worker ants. They are the main force guarding the nest, and their status and combat effectiveness are roughly equivalent to those of the soldier ants of big-headed ants.
The medium-sized worker ants are mainly responsible for cutting and collecting leaves, while the ants are responsible for most of the housework of the nest.
Despite their small size, small worker ants are more aggressive than medium-sized worker ants. They are agile and flexible outdoors, especially in trees, and are responsible for protecting the medium-sized worker ants that collect leaves.
In particular, there is one type of insect that likes to sneak up on medium-sized worker ants that have no time to take care of themselves while carrying leaves, and lays eggs in their bodies, which will cause the death of the host. These small worker ants will climb onto the leaves being transported to alert and drive away threats from the air.
The military force of the leafcutter ant colony is also composed of large worker ants and small worker ants, and they perform very well when fighting on trees. The protagonist has organized five squads of leaf-cutting ants, each consisting of 10 large worker ants and 40 small worker ants, as a supplementary force for the forest battle.
The mini worker ants of leafcutter ants are specifically responsible for taking care of the fungus garden. They are small and can burrow through the gaps in the hyphae. They are good at taking care of the hyphae and removing dead bacteria and miscellaneous bacteria.
Although the protagonist already has a colony of leafcutter ants under his command, he is still prepared to purchase a few eggs or pupae of queen and male ants in small quantities.
Although all the ant groups he knew were basically inbreeding (male and female ants of the same power mate for marriage), it seemed that he could not see any adverse effects of this.
However, the emergence of the magic worker ants and the magic soldier ants made the protagonist realize that excellent genetic traits seem to be hereditary or partially hereditary. The magic worker ants and the magic soldier ants have their own genes, and their abilities are better than ordinary worker ants.
The leafcutter ant eggs captured by the red fire ants came from a different country from the original leafcutter ant group under the Legion of the Divine Envoy. The genes are probably also different. I wonder if the fusion of such genes can produce outstanding offspring.
Anyway, red imported fire ants sell leaf-cutting ant eggs and pupae at very cheap prices, so buying in small quantities will not put enough pressure on the finances of the Angel King's army. Fire ants only regard these trophies as food, and want to trade these eggs or pupae for some scarce food, such as honeydew. The transaction price of the food is naturally not much higher.
The protagonist decided to spend a small amount of money to experiment to see whether the offspring of leaf-cutting ants from different colonies are better.
In addition to grain and food, fire ants also sell some messy things they seized. They basically moved everything in the leaf-cutting ant nest warehouse, regardless of whether it was of use to themselves.
In the information package list, the protagonist saw ant silk, processed plant fibers, various dried plants, some insect carapace and wings that may be used for decoration, containers made of nut shells, etc. The protagonist is going to buy something he likes.
Then he saw something that shocked him.
There are a large number of ocher-red particles in the sale list of fire ants. Since the protagonist has seen similar color patterns on some containers and insect carapace before, he guessed that the leaf-cutter ants use these ocher-red particles as pigments.
However, these ocher-red particles can not only be used as pigments, if the protagonist understands correctly, these ocher-red soil particles are fine hematite ore!
The chemical composition of hematite is Fe2O3, and it has various shapes, including flake, scale (crystalline), granular, kidney-shaped, earthy, dense block, etc. What I saw this time were granular ore particles. Its color ranges from reddish brown, steel gray to iron black, and the stripes are all cherry red. Among them, the reddish brown and dull luster is called ochre. In ancient China, it was called "Dai Zhe", and "ochre" generally refers to hematite. Hematite is an iron mineral widely distributed in nature. It is an important iron-making raw material and can also be used as a red pigment.
Iron mines are generally more widely distributed than copper mines, but when the protagonist was in his hometown, he searched for iron mines in many ways, but never found them. He could only use the copper mines in [Malachite City] to process metals as weapons and tools.
Unexpectedly, now I have harvested the mulberry trees and found traces of iron ore in this new home.
Although the protagonist does not yet know the specific origin of the iron ore, it can be deduced that it is in the territory of leafcutter ants close to the territory of red fire ants.
As long as we have this resource, no matter how we obtain it in the future, it is better than not knowing where the iron ore is all over the world.
Moreover, this time the fire ants seized a lot of hematite particles, which in total are estimated to be as large as a dozen walnuts. The iron content of some hematite can be as high as 70%. Judging from the color of these ores, the iron content is definitely not low, even if the iron content is only 50%, and the smelting technology of the Divine Envoy King Legion is poor As a result, the iron tapping rate is not high. The most conservative calculation shows that with this amount of ore, two or three walnut-sized pieces of iron can be produced, enough to arm one or two legions.
The legion of iron or even steel equipment that the protagonist has enjoyed long ago no longer seems out of reach.
——I am the dividing line——
Although the price given by the red imported fire ants for the hematite they didn't know the use of was not high, after all, there were so many ores and the additional labor fees that had to be paid to the ants responsible for transporting them, the total price was still high.
The protagonist spent almost all of his honeydew inventory, as well as a small amount of grain and gravel tools, to finally transport all the hematite ore and other goods he wanted into Xinyang City before winter.
In order to make iron, the protagonist built an ant mound in [Xinyang City]. Because the groundwater level here is too high, the smelting blast furnace cannot be built underground like in [Dongyang City].
This time the protagonist designed a semi-underground blast furnace. The lower part is about two decimeters deep into the ground. The upper part is an anthill structure, but the walls are very thick, leaving only a narrow pipe in the middle, which is actually equivalent to a chimney.
Such a blast furnace can only smelt hematite ore the size of one walnut at a time, but as an experimental blast furnace, it is temporarily sufficient for the Legion of the God Envoy King who has no experience in iron smelting.
In addition to iron ore, another thing that makes the protagonist happy is that the crow honey he sells has successfully entered the high-end market of red imported imported fire ants and red fire ants.
Nowadays, ants and fire ants are in a hurry to buy, but the protagonist only sells one snail shell a month, so the existing stock is enough to support the new purple butterfly larvae starting to produce honey when spring starts tomorrow.
There are already more than 500 purple-gray butterfly eggs quietly stacked in the warehouse of the Divine Envoy King's Army. The production of crow honey will increase greatly next year.
