Once this canal is completed, it will not only become a "highway" for material transportation, but also become an important defense fortification within a territory.
This canal will connect several nests such as [Xinyang City] [Xinyang City] [February Orchid City] and [Hematie City]. These nests can use the water brought by the canal to dig a moat nearby to strengthen own defense.
At the same time, the territory to the south of the canal will be separated from the red fire ant country to the north by the canal. Although this canal is only one decimeter wide, it is enough to stop ants who are afraid of water.
If the Red Fire Ant Nation turns against the Angel King's army and invades, it will not be able to bypass this canal. The canal and the streams that provide water for the canal, plus the Qing River to the south, are three waterways that guard this territory like a triangle.
However, the canal will also hinder the north-south transportation within the territory of the Divine Envoy King Legion. The protagonist’s countermeasure is to build several rope bridges near the ant mounds such as [February Flower City]. The rope bridges must be high so as not to affect the canal transportation, but also It can assume the role of connecting both sides of the canal.
Another advantage of the rope bridge is that it is not easy to attract enemies. Once faced with a threat, the rope bridge can be cut off immediately, and the south bank of the canal will become a very safe hinterland.
Excavation and construction of the canal project began soon, using a segmented construction method. Several nests that the canal passes through each contracted the construction tasks of the river sections within their own control. The protagonist also transferred a large number of worker ants of various races from other nests to settle in these nests. These worker ants will be stationed there for a long time until the canal is completed.
The main force involved in the canal project is the big-headed ant worker ants. They are the largest in the Angel King's army. They are also very hardworking and obey orders. Pavement ant workers also have these advantages. A total of 3,000 pavement ant workers have been mobilized for construction, and their number is second only to Big-headed ant workers. In addition, abdominal ants, wood ants, and burrowing ant worker ants are also involved.
Only the sickle-hunting ants, which are not good at civil work, and the leaf-cutter ants, which specialize in fungus cultivation, did not send worker ants to participate.
In the past two days, the protagonist has even planned the transportation method after the canal is completed:
Hematite mines can use the abundant dead branches in the woods in advance to form rafts. The iron ore will be piled on the rafts and tied and fixed with leather, cloth and ropes.
This raft can flow down the canal. There are some medium-sized beetles on both sides of the bank responsible for pulling fiber. Most of the time, the beetles do not need to drag it hard, and the current can drive the raft forward. Only when it was necessary to turn, the beetles assisted the raft in turning.
The raft will dock at [Xinyang City] or [February Lan City]. After unloading the goods on it, the raft will be dismantled on the spot, dried in the sun, and used as raw materials for making charcoal, which can also be used to supplement the two smelting sites. The base's wood resources are insufficient.
Because iron smelting requires a large amount of charcoal, there are few trees near the two lairs, and relying on local branches to burn charcoal must be in short supply. Today, the Black Forest area has been providing wood to the two lairs.
After the iron ore is put into the warehouse and the raft is dismantled, the ants only need to drive away the medium-sized beetles that pull the fiber, and return to [Hematite City] overland with cloth, leather and ropes, and then they can start the next transportation.
As a result, the canal's single round-trip transportation cycle is about 2 days, and the single transportation volume is equivalent to the volume of thousands of ants or hundreds of medium-sized beetles in the past. In the past, a round trip usually took 4 days. Based on this calculation, the transportation efficiency of the canal will be more than ten times that of the previous medium-sized transportation fleet, while the ant and animal power required will be less than one-twentieth of the previous one.
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Just as the canal project was already in full swing, the God's Envoy King's Legion received a recruitment order from the nominal suzerain country, the "Red Fire Ant Country".
According to the previous contract reached between the two parties, the Legion of God's Envoy King is obliged to respond to the call, but the number of troops sent is determined by itself, and the troops sent are also commanded by themselves. The red fire ant country has no right to squeeze the ant power of the God Envoy King's army at will like it does to other vassals, or use the vassal soldiers as cannon fodder.
This time, the Red Fire Ant Nation began to recruit troops from its vassals again, in order to use the remaining power of the previous victory to launch an attack on the Leafcutter Ant Nation's homeland.
But this time, the number of troops that the Red Fire Ant Nation can recruit from its vassals is very limited.
After the Angel King's Legion reached a contract with the Red Fire Ant Nation, the Angel King's Legion took the initiative to return several of the occupied sub-nests of the Red Fire Ant Nation. However, the territory of the vassal country that was destroyed by the Divine Envoy King's army was continued to be occupied by the Divine Envoy King's army.
As a result, the Red Fire Ant Nation lost several vassal states, and the remaining vassal states were drained of their power in the previous war. Now, less than a month of rest is not enough for these vassal states to recover.
This time, the Red Fire Ant Nation could only rely more on themselves. They almost clenched their jaws and sent all their own warriors and slave auxiliaries to the battlefield.
Although the Red Fire Ant Nation has tried its best, and so has the Leaf-Cutter Ant Nation, the weakest of the Three Kingdoms, the God Envoy King Legion has no intention of taking advantage of the fire for the Red Fire Ant Nation. They still need to develop in a wretched way and cannot waste it.
In the end, the protagonist dispatched two legions of troops to form a task force.
These two legions are the 10th legion and the 101st legion composed of warriors from the vassal states. Both legions are units with lower combat effectiveness and the least actual combat experience among the regular army. This time they cooperated with the Red Fire Ant Army to gain some experience.
Of course, the combat effectiveness of these two legions is relatively low, compared to the bug-like and fully armed main legion of the God Envoy King. The equipment of the two legions is equally complete. Compared with the individuals of the red fire ant army and the leaf-cutting ant army, the soldiers of the two legions are more powerful.
The commander of the task force was assigned to the commander of the 10th Legion, "Centiper". He was a new-generation male ant born in [Xinyang City] and a descendant of "Centiper". He performed outstandingly among this generation of male ants, especially when he served as the team commander. He made military exploits while defending the siege of [Xinyang City] by the red fire ant army, and was able to accumulate merit and become the commander of a legion after expanding the army.
"Centiper" is also one of the first few among their group of young male ants to become the leader of the army.
The protagonist asked a small group of flying knights to cooperate with the two legions in fighting, and told them to rest assured and not to rush ahead or lose their troops in vain.
Although "Centiper" is still young and vigorous, he is very obedient. Faced with the "teachings" of the great God Envoy King himself, "Centiper" expressed his firm obedience.
On October 3, this task force composed of two legions went north via [Nansen City], passed through the Black Forest, and arrived at the main nest [Hive City] of the Red Fire Ant Country before the designated date.
Subsequently, under the guidance of the fire ant army, the task force came to the nest on the western border and met with the fire ant army!
