Fortunately, in addition to the increasingly scarce honeydew and crow honey, Ant United Nation has other payment methods!
When the protagonist and Finance Minister "Xiao Sheng" took inventory of the treasury, they unexpectedly discovered that there was a lot of gold stuff in small piles in the warehouse.
Only then did he remember that [Golden Beach City] also produced alluvial gold.
This summer's floods were more violent than in previous years, and some areas in [Xinyang City] were once extremely wet. This is a trouble that occurs every year during the flood season.
But the good thing is that the floods also brought more placer gold. The gold sand was washed out by the water from the gold mines in the mountainous areas upstream, and then carried by the floods all the way east. By the time we reached the nearby river section, due to terrain reasons, after passing through the sharp bend of the [Xinyangcheng] peninsula, the water flow was exhausted at the golden beach. The slow flow caused heavy golden sand to begin to accumulate on the river beach. When the flood receded, , leaving a golden place.
In the past, the Ant United Nation had to pay tribute to its nominal suzerainty, the old Red Fire Ant Nation, with alluvial gold, and could also use the alluvial gold to purchase some supplies. Therefore, the main industry of [Golden Beach City] was collecting alluvial gold particles. There are thousands of resident ant colonies here. Work hard every day to collect gold sand.
These gold sands are constantly being piled into the treasury of [Xinyang City]. However, due to the outbreak of the war with the Red Imported Fire Ant Country this year, these newly mined gold sands have not been spent. Together with last year's retention, the total amount is quite a lot, several hundred grams. , enough to make a gold brick.
The protagonist thinks, since the red fire ant country is willing to accept gold sand in exchange, are other ant tribes also willing?
Although when conquering the Red Fire Ant Country, the protagonist only saw the use of gold sand as architectural decorations in a small number of nests, this consumption is obviously not enough to explain the need for a large amount of gold sand in the Red Fire Ant Country to provide tribute and trade to the Ant United Country. Most of the gold sands of the past have been lost.
Perhaps it was used in territories occupied by leaf-cutter ant kingdoms? Maybe paying tribute to the Pavement Ant Empire? The protagonist guesses.
But this mystery does not prevent the Ant Alliance from seeking to use gold as a means of payment.
In the following days, the trade representatives of other civilized ant tribes were personally received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade "Xiaohua" and asked if part of the gold could be used instead of honeydew and crow honey in exchange for supplies.
These caravan representatives all agreed, and the protagonist was surprised by their willingness.
Later, as the information obtained from different caravans and different ant clans was compiled, the answer to this mystery finally became clear and complete.
It turned out that the civilized ant tribe had a long tradition of using gold and silver as equivalents for transactions. It lasted so long that the trade representatives of each tribe could not explain its origin.
In fact, the consumption of gold and silver in various countries and ethnic groups is not much. Those with processing skills such as black fire ants will also make gold and silver into simple large ingots or containers. Most of the ant forces are not only used for walls of religious sites and important places. Except for the mosaic decoration, there is actually no consumption of gold and silver.
But as a rule, all ants are willing to accept gold and silver, because they know that such things can be easily exchanged for needed supplies from other ant tribes.
Gold and silver have become the common equivalents in the ant world, that is, currency.
The ant world has unified "currency" so early. This is what surprises the protagonist the most. Not only the barbaric ants like the red fire ant country are willing to use gold as currency, but also the civilized ants, which may number in the tens of millions. People are also willing to use gold.
Is this still a primitive world? This currency concept is a bit too advanced!
Fortunately, the ants rely on the weight of gold sand to measure value, and most of the ants don't even know how to identify the purity of gold sand, so the protagonist reluctantly accepts this "world setting"!
If all the ant clans trade with each other with "gold coins" and "silver coins", the protagonist will be unable to complain!
With gold as an auxiliary means of payment, the large amount of gold in the treasury can be used. This thing is neither edible nor wearable for ants, but even the male ants in the country are obsessed with its attractive color.
The protagonist paid it out without hesitation, regardless of the male ants' regrets, and exchanged it for a lot of food and other supplies.
In addition to this, the protagonist is also seriously contemplating the matter of "coinage". Collecting a "coinage tax" seems to be more profitable than simply using gold sand!
Therefore, a certain hegemonic country in the past life deliberately planned to use its own currency as the world's currency. It was first linked to gold, and later linked to oil. Wasn't it just to exploit the world with "seigniorage"?
However, gold needs to be melted to mint coins. The melting point of gold is too high and the current blast furnace temperature cannot reach it. Stamping and minting coins requires a lot of powerful machinery, and the technological level of the Ant Alliance is also not up to the level.
The protagonist thought for a while and first assigned the subject to the scientific research department of "Secretary II".
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While the protagonist is busy with gold and gold coins, a natural disaster caused by ants is about to come to the south bank of Qinghe River.
The Northern Expeditionary Army on the south bank was currently fighting fiercely with the neighboring red forest ant tribe, and did not realize that the disaster was coming.
Although at first the legionnaires of the Northern Expedition were not very adaptable to the red forest ants' long-range attacks and wandering fighting style.
However, their long military careers allowed several senior and accomplished kings of the Northern Expeditionary Army to quickly seize the opportunity to surround and eliminate the main force of the red forest ant tribe on a favorable open ground.
Afterwards, the offensive and defensive momentum reversed, and the Northern Expeditionary Army dispatched almost all its military strength, including 4 legions and more than 3,000 auxiliary worker ants, to surround the grove where the red forest ant tribe was located.
After a brutal fight for the trees, the Northern Expeditionary Army, who was not good at tree fighting, finally cleared away the red forest ant warriors in other places and surrounded them on a pitch pine tree where their nest was located.
After several days of fierce attacks, the Northern Expeditionary Army suffered heavy losses, but they were still unable to break through the tree trunks of the red forest ant tribe, which left the commanders at their wits' end.
The roads in the tree complex are winding and the military advantage cannot be deployed. However, the red forest ants can use long-range attacks with mucus and acid to temporarily block the roads and kill the big-headed ant warriors from the Northern Expedition.
The Northern Expeditionary Army does not have endless ant nests to consume, and other nearby tribes are coveting this place like flies that have smelled the smell of blood.
Once the Northern Expeditionary Army declines, other ants will definitely rush forward to seize the opportunity.
If the Northern Expeditionary Army wants to survive another winter, it must preserve its strength from this war and at the same time use the spoils of war to enrich its storehouse.
Faced with the nests of red forest ants that were full of spiky, hard-to-eat caterpillars, most of the commanders of the Northern Expedition were at a loss what to do.
At this time, a male ant that once made the protagonist gnash his teeth appears, and he contributes a poisonous plan!
