Before winter came, Zhu Jue didn't wait for the reply from the Xiaozu Jie ants regarding the agreement.
This was also within Zhu Jue's expectation. The country of Xizhijie Ant is not close to the country of Ant Alliance, and the wasp mount has to fly for at least two days. It takes four days to go back and forth. It is estimated that there are only two or three days in Xiazujie Ant. No resolution could be reached.
One week is too short in the face of the imminent winter.
At some point, the last dead leaves on the poplar tree nearby disappeared. As another cold wave arrived, the snowflakes fell for a while in the morning, but as soon as the six ice crystals fell to the ground and hit the still warm ground, they quickly turned into a small puddle of wetness.
The white crystal snow seeds continued to fall, and accumulated a little on the ground in the shade where the sun could not reach. Most of them left no trace and only wetted a thin layer of ground.
Staying in the anthill, with the heat from the flue coming from the wall, Zhu Jue stayed in the warm room and rubbed and touched a piece of hay.
He was not frustrated because the agreement with the Thin-legged Ant Nation had not yet been reached and he had not yet been able to obtain wasp eggs. Fortunately, all the beetle eggs sold by the Hairy Forest Ants had been delivered and were in a well-defended underground warehouse, waiting for the winter to pass. .
In order to prevent these beetle eggs from hatching prematurely, there is not enough space to acclimate and move underground in winter, so the beetle eggs are deliberately placed in a slightly cooler nest chamber and will not be hatched until the next spring.
Today, it is not difficult to find such nests. As a nest on a small peninsula by a river, the underground part cannot be dug too deep, so the soil's thermal insulation ability is slightly lacking.
As the rapidly melting snowfall took away the heat from the surface soil, the underground temperature once plummeted to only about 10 degrees, which already made the ants feel uncomfortable.
Zhu Jue ordered to increase the intensity of combustion in the combustion chamber. High-quality anthracite coal from the Black Fire Ant Country and local charcoal were not thrown into the fire at the same time. The blast furnace left behind by the relocated ironmaking industry was also transformed. , restarting combustion, the hot smoke flows into a special flue, winds through the underground, uses heat to bake each nest, and the room temperature finally rises significantly.
Underground, most of the worker ants have finished their work for a year, and they are crowded in each nest room, lazily preparing to spend the most leisurely time, except for eating and sleeping.
Only a few worker ants who still have tasks have to combine hard work and rest. Every day, some joint teams of worker ants from all races patrol the underground. When they see collapsed roads, they must be dredged. When they see black smoke coming out of damaged flues, they must be blocked immediately. , but also to dispose of dead bodies, feces, and garbage.
There are also ants in the combustion chamber, who must be on duty in shifts to ensure sufficient fire power throughout the winter. The ants working here will never complain about the cold in winter. Instead, they are wilted by the hot tentacles one by one. They must be sprinkled with a drop of cool water from deep underground from time to time to prevent their body temperature from rising too high.
The first snow of the year disappeared on that day. After the cold wave passed the next day, high pressure dominated the land of the Ant Alliance and this area. The sky became very clear and the temperature also rose a little.
At noon, the temperature in the wild can reach ten degrees, which is enough for outdoor activities, but such time is running out.
As Zhu Jue issued the winter order, as noon was approaching, dozens of fly knights set off and headed to various sub-nests, garrisons, and construction sites to officially declare that the Ant Alliance had entered winter.
There were also a large number of ants pouring out, driving away the reluctant and slow-moving dung beetles and scarabs to the rope bridge by the river.
At the bridgeheads at , , , and to the south, large groups of ants also arrived at the pontoon bridge.
Before the Qinghe River freezes, the Ant Alliance must drag the two pontoon bridges across the river ashore and dismantle them. Otherwise, after the river freezes, the two rope bridges will be destroyed by the strong squeezing force of the ice. If they want to build pontoons, they will have to rebuild them. , time-consuming and laborious.
According to the plan, the two floating bridges will be temporarily put away and re-laid in the spring of next year.
Here, Zhu Jue rode the bee mount "Ahuang" and inspected the demolition site of the pontoon bridge from the air.
The breeze in the sky was chilly, but luckily the sun was warmer on the north shore.
Viewed from the air, the ants starting out were struggling to untie the knots tied to the tree by huge ropes that were several ants thick.
The waves of the Qinghe River, which was still flowing slowly and the water volume entered the trough, gradually washed down the rope bridge that had lost its fixation at one end. The rope bridge, which had been tight for more than half a year, began to tilt.
On the other end, the ants did not untie the knot at the other end of the rope bridge, but tied dozens of small ropes, which were dragged by the beetles and ants together to drag the pontoon ashore first.
With the joint efforts of hundreds of beetles and thousands of ants, the main part of the rope bridge was dragged up the slippery river beach little by little. Many of the walnuts that were dragged up from the water had green moss growing on them, and a piece of black mud rolled over them, making them look dirty.
Another group of ants has been waiting for a long time. As soon as the first pair of walnuts on the pontoon were dragged to the dry ground, they immediately swarmed up, quickly untied or cut the ropes binding the walnuts, and then drove the beetles to drag the walnuts that had become independent. Walk.
These walnuts were inspected on site, and the green moss and silt on the surface were still intact. They were dragged to a pit dug nearby, buried with dry sand, then covered with a layer of soil and grass, and left there for a while. winter.
Walnuts that are damaged or have hidden dangers are discarded and replaced with new walnuts from the reserve next year.
As the walnut base of the pontoon was gradually reduced, the team towing the rope bridge quickly towed the remaining bridge deck up from the river with less effort.
After untying the walnuts, the remaining thick main ropes on the bridge deck must also be cleaned to remove green moss and parasites on the surface, and then be carried back by the ants.
The ants did not ball up the giant rope, but carried it directly into the nest like a long dragon, otherwise they would not be able to pass some narrow sections. Seen from the air, these ants are as spectacular as dancing a huge and long dragon lantern.
The giant rope will be dried underground, further cleaned and repaired, and will continue to be used next year.
Other smaller auxiliary ropes are also stored and cleaned in this way, and completely broken ropes are discarded, leaving a mess on the river beach.
But by the time spring comes, nature will have already cleaned up the place.
As the pontoon was dismantled and recycled, the ants from the Ant Alliance completed the last major project before winter.
The winter of ants has officially arrived.
