Time always flies by when you are busy, and it is the same in this hot winter. In the busy and noisy underground world, time flies in the blink of an eye, and it is already a new year.
When the protagonist crosses out the last date on his five-year calendar and draws a new year's calendar on the blades of grass, it is the moment of the end of the year and the beginning of the year.
On January 1, 2006, the protagonist held a New Year's banquet in the nest as usual, and entertained all the male ants of the five races in the Angel King's legion.
This is the first New Year and the first New Year's banquet of the Divine Envoy King Legion in the new world. Last year, the banquet was still held in the main city [Qingqiu City], and many familiar ants gathered together, but now things have changed.
The protagonist tries hard to get rid of bad thoughts and devotes himself wholeheartedly to cooking. Many of the foods at the banquet are new dishes brought by the protagonist. Except for crow honey, all kinds of delicacies in the warehouse are available.
Kings with high status can come to the large conference room in the main city area of [Xinyang City] to dine with the Envoy King, while most male ants do not have enough status and can only get a piece of food and return to their own palaces to share the meal.
Such a New Year's banquet is an important step in shaping the cultural traditions of the Divine Envoy King's Legion, and it is also a means for the protagonist to maintain the majesty of the Divine Envoy King.
After the banquet, the protagonist, who had a busy day, lay tiredly on the bed alone, thinking a lot.
It has been six years since he came to this ant world.
Six years is enough for a newly enrolled primary school student to graduate, enough for a dog to grow from a puppy to middle age, and enough for the iron pieces buried in the soil to rust and rot.
Six years have also made the protagonist's memory of being a human become increasingly blurry.
When he first traveled through time, he couldn't remember his identity or past, but every time he saw something familiar, he could always immediately think of the impression and memory of that thing in his previous life, awakening some of his dormant memories.
But now, this association has become less and less, just like yesterday when I saw the symbol of leaf-cutter ants, it felt very familiar, as if I had been with them every day, but I just couldn't remember it.
The protagonist feels that year after year, he is gradually integrating into the world, but increasingly losing his former self.
He has always wanted to use human knowledge and experience to transform the world, but he has always been transformed by this world.
He knows all this and once resisted assimilation into this world. However, after discovering that this was in vain, the protagonist also accepted his fate. He could no longer change back to a human and could only live as an ant.
Who influences whom, who assimilates who, you can see clearly after thinking about it, what is the meaning of this? Everything he does now is more to follow his inner thoughts, to live, to live a better life, and to make the God's Envoy King's Army better, that's all! ?
Not only that, at least he has never forgotten the idea of revenge...
——I am the dividing line——
Last year's winter came early, and this year's spring came early too.
Not long after New Year's Day, the earth began to warm up rapidly. By February, the daytime temperature had risen to nearly 20 degrees.
Now not only the pavement ants, but also other ants can go out and move around noon.
Because he was worried about the late spring cold, the protagonist did not let the ants operate on a large scale outdoors, but only searched for some early spring food nearby to replenish the inventory.
In early spring, everything has just recovered, and the food that can be found is very limited. However, the biggest harvest is not the food, but the ants in [Nansen City] have discovered dozens of beetle eggs in the dead wood in the woods.
When the walnut fleet arrived here last year, it originally carried six eggs of scarab beetles, stag beetles and two-pronged rhinoceros beetles, two of each type, half male and half male.
But none of these eggs hatched last year, possibly because they were stored for too long and bumpy during the journey. New beetle eggs have been found this year, and the protagonist can begin to rebuild the tank army.
Taking advantage of this period of time, the Angel King's Legion also moved the twelve ballistae that had been built underground all winter outside, and fully armed the defensive Great Wall that stretched across the neck.
——I am the dividing line——
Although February is generally warmer, it always turns warm and cold, and the Divine Envoy King Corps is never able to completely let go of their hands and feet to work outdoors.
In March, winter is finally over when flowers such as winter jasmine, forsythia, magnolia, and peach blossoms begin to bloom, the grass begins to turn green, and willow trees sprout new buds.
[New Yang City] and [Nansen City] have also completely recovered, shrouded in the greenery of farmland and pastures.
All industries have begun to resume work. Mealworms and fly maggots have begun to multiply in the farms. Aphid swarms, scale insect swarms and purple butterfly larvae have been placed in suitable pastures. The seeds sown in the farmland have quickly sprouted.
The messengers from the God Envoy King's legion have already gone to the territory of the Belly Ant, reminding the Belly Ant to send the supplies that have not been shipped last year as soon as possible.
The ants said that it was still a little cold at night recently, and they had to wait a little longer before sending out the transport team, otherwise it would be dangerous for the transport team to spend the night outside.
The protagonist expressed his understanding. Fortunately, the supplies were not urgently needed. There is still enough food in the warehouse of the God's Envoy Army, enough to support a new batch of food harvest.
The trade with red imported fire ants through the ants has not been carried out yet, and the protagonist has already planned to open a new trade route.
The object of the transaction is another powerful country in the region - the leaf-cutting ant family.
There is hematite in the territory of the leaf-cutting ants. When the iron ore cannot be controlled through military means, trade becomes the best option.
The protagonist sorted out the goods he could provide, and after much deliberation, honeydew and crow honey were the most suitable. No ant could resist the temptation of sugar, and leaf-cutting ants would be no exception.
However, there is currently not much honeydew and crow honey left in the warehouse of the Divine Envoy King's Army. After a winter of consumption, there is not much left in the inventory. There is still a part of the remaining inventory that has to wait for the goods ordered last year to be shipped by the Belly Ant.
The recent herds of aphids, scale insects and purple gray butterfly larvae have just hatched, and some are still hatching. There are still a week or two before large-scale harvest.
Therefore, the protagonist is not in a hurry for the time being. It is not too late to wait until the goods are ready and try again.
The protagonist himself is not sure whether he can successfully open up this trade route. According to the introduction of Belly Ant, the leaf-cutting ant family is very exclusive.
Unlike fire ants, which are willing to accept vassal ants, leafcutter ants do not allow any other ants to survive in their forest territory. They do not have vassals, and they do not need vassals to pay tribute to obtain additional resources.
Is such a closed and conservative ethnic group willing to trade with the Angel King's army for honeydew and crow honey?
The protagonist can only think of a way to give it a try. He sends an envoy with a small amount of supplies to test the situation. If the test fails, the loss can be controlled.
It’s just that if the trade route is blocked, then you will have to think of other ways to continue to obtain iron ore. The protagonist’s desire for iron cannot be stopped!
