On the 20th, the protagonist set off from [Xinyang City] and headed overland to [Red Iron City], inspecting the defense deployment along the way, and then prepared to change the fly mount the next day to participate in the "Civilized Ant Tribe Conference" in the Leafcutter Ant Kingdom.
Exit from [Xinyang City], a nest composed of ant mounds as dense as mountains, cross the gurgling canal from the rope bridge, and go westward along the river.
Along the way, the protagonist saw an ant-style pastoral scenery that was different from the human world.
A pulling team composed of small and medium-sized beetles was currently on the bank of the canal, dragging a narrow raft filled with cargo upstream against the current.
The protagonist is also riding a beetle, a large two-pronged rhinoceros beetle, which is exactly the one he was riding during the previous counterattack of [Panxia City]. At this time, his mount carried no weight, and he passed the beetle pulling team with brisk steps.
On the back of the beetle, several hand-carrying ants saw clearly and lowered themselves and their tentacles and luggage towards the protagonist.
Not far upstream in front, another raft was flowing down the current at a slow speed.
The protagonist looked back and saw that the beetle pulling team, under the control of the leading driver, moved the raft closer to the shore, leaving room for the rafts downstream to pass first, completing a "ship".
Not far to the east of the canal is the dock of the main nest of the Ant Alliance [Xinyang City]. There is a blocking net in the middle of the river, which can stop the rafts flowing down the river, and then drag them to the shore for loading and unloading.
Rafts are not uncommon on the canal. This continuous channel has greatly improved the logistics conditions of the Ant Alliance, allowing large amounts of materials to be easily transported.
The canal can contribute not only transportation capacity, but also the abundant water supply it brings, which also turns a small area on both sides of the canal into fertile farmland.
Although it is not far from Qinghe, the improvement of the small environment brought by the canal is more direct!
The section of the river from [Xinyangcheng] to [Yueerlan City] is very flat all the way, and the land on both sides of the canal has basically been reclaimed into farmland.
Ants don't have high requirements for farmland. It doesn't matter if the land is uneven or barren. Anyway, they are growing weeds that don't have high requirements for the land. A large number of crops that can provide high-quality grass seeds grow densely and vigorously in the farmland, constantly absorbing sunlight and river water.
At this time, the grass seeds on these crops are already large, plump and almost mature. It seems that there will be another bumper harvest soon.
How many weeds can mature in a year? At this time, some early-maturing weeds have turned dark green, and there are worker ants and farmers working in the farmland. They use jaw knives to cut the weeds close to the roots, then peel off the seeds one by one and transport them back to the nest without leaving any behind.
Ant farming is hard work, and there are millions of ant mouths to feed, so nothing can be wasted.
Not only grass seeds, but every part of this wild grass will not be wasted. The younger grass leaves will be transported back to the farm to be used as feed for mealworms, beetles and fly maggots, and the tough stems will be made into straw mats or The unusable parts of the straw mat will also be used as fuel, or chopped up and used as fertilizer.
There are ants specialized in fertilization in these farmlands. In addition to chopping up weeds and burying them as green fertilizer, they also bring more fertilizer from their nests.
Most of the manure is mealworm or fly maggot manure, and only a few is ant manure. Ant excrement is a treasure. Not only can it be mixed with clay, ant glue, saliva, etc. to make ant concrete, a widely used building material, it can also be used directly to feed mealworms - the ants' digestive system has absorbed a round of excrement, and there is also A lot of nutrition!
The manure is also buried underground and slowly ferments to provide long-term fertility.
In addition, the ants will occasionally collect plant ash produced by combustion chambers and blast furnaces to fertilize.
The protagonist, his entourage, and the guards slowly walked to the river far away from [Xinyang City]. The farmland began to become sparse, and more naturally growing weeds rather than ant-grown weeds occupied the river banks.
Farmland farming tasks are heavy, and farmer worker ants cannot come so far, so the ants responsible for livestock have taken over this natural "pasture".
Although the water and heat conditions are good for the weeds on the river bank, if you look over them, you will find that most of the weeds are a little wilted...
If you look closely, you will see that the stems of these weeds are densely packed with aphids or scale insects, which even makes the protagonist a little scared!
The swarms are rotated from pasture to pasture so as not to suck the plants dry.
Aphids and scale insects continue to produce honeydew, and the ant herders who shuttle between them collect it drop by drop in the clay pots they carry. These pots are finally collected into baskets on the backs of beetles waiting on the ground, and each basket is carried away as soon as it is full.
The protagonist was even amused to see a worker ant herdsman unable to bear the temptation of honeydew, and "sucked" a drop of honeydew hanging on the aphid's butt and ate it up. He ignored it. Although this was suspected of "filling his own pocket", it was normal. No ant could resist the temptation of honeydew, and it was unrealistic for the protagonist to take care of it.
Anyway, there are so many aphids and scale insects and the number of ant herders grazing is limited, so these "losses" are acceptable.
After walking forward for a while, the protagonist suddenly felt that in the corner of his eye, several black shadows were quickly passing by in the grass, very close to his group!
Could it be an enemy attack? Insect?
The protagonist tensed up and grabbed the copper mace next to him. He couldn't carry heavy weapons when riding the fly "Xiao Hei", but he could carry it on the beetle, which was why he chose to set off on the beetle this time.
After all, the area on the north bank of the canal could turn into a battlefield at any time and was not absolutely safe.
The protagonist breathed a sigh of relief when the black shadow also noticed the presence of the protagonist and his party, jumping and jumping among the grass blades.
What came was a friendly force, the Fly Tiger Knight who was being trained.
These fly tiger knights are a new unit of the Ant Alliance. The knights are all magic soldier ants and magic worker ants. Their mounts are a group of fly tigers captured before and have been basically domesticated.
These fly-tiger knights haven't been trained for long, and they haven't been able to go to the battlefield yet. They have to eat a lot of meat every day to raise them.
Later, the commander of the Fly Tiger Knights made a good suggestion. They simply dispersed into small groups, with several riders in groups, and trained in the pasture. While training, they could also patrol to protect these precious aphids and scale insects.
Where there are many aphids and scale insects, there are also many ladybugs. Flying ladybugs like to eat these two bugs. A few herder ants cannot protect all the bugs, and there will always be some losses.
With the arrival of the Fly Tiger Knights, they are fast moving and good at jumping, which can effectively control the losses caused by ladybugs, and they can also catch prey on their own to use as food for their mounts.
Even if the ladybug secretes a bitter liquid after being caught, as long as it is washed in a nearby canal, the ladybug can still eat it!
.
