The day after the three-pronged army of black fire ants set off for the expedition, April 4, Zhu Jue attended the inauguration ceremony of a new nest on the south bank of the Qinghe River in the Ant Alliance.
This is not an ordinary secondary nest. If it were an ordinary secondary nest, Zhu Jue would not pay attention to it at all.
Since the development of the south bank of Qinghe River, double-digit number of secondary nests have been established here basically every month except in winter. The development of new nests is nothing new at all.
These sub-nests were initially built near strategic locations or resources, and then began to be constructed in a row along borders or traffic thoroughfares. Finally, they gradually filled the internal vacancies in suitable locations.
Through expansion from point to line and then to surface, the Ant Alliance is quickly taking complete control of the newly conquered territory on the south bank of the Qinghe River.
The reason why Zhu Jue came to this auxiliary nest in person was because of its great significance. This is the largest metallurgical center in the development plan on the south bank of Qinghe River, across the river from [Hematie City] on the north bank of Qinghe River.
Shifting the focus of the metallurgical industry to the south bank of Qinghe River was Zhu Jue's previous plan. The original intention was to prevent the north bank of Qinghe River from facing the destroyer's front, so that the hinterland of the south bank of Qinghe River could at least continue to produce ironware and maintain production capacity. , so as not to be returned to the Stone Age in one fell swoop.
When they fled from their homeland before, the Divine Envoy King's Legion suffered this loss. They suddenly lost the source of copper ore, and for a while they fell back on using gravel tools and weapons. Fortunately, hematite was discovered and captured later, so it did not fall into technological stagnation.
What made the plan unable to keep up with the changes was that after spring this year, before the destroyers came, the parasitic ants came first.
This metallurgical nest named [Hardware City] is neither too far nor too close to the western border. Once the black fire ant country cannot resist it, it may be exposed to the threat of parasitic ants.
However, Zhu Jue did not pause the construction of this nest. The national policy could not be changed at will, and the significance of decentralizing the metallurgical center has not been lost.
Today, the largest metallurgical center in the Ant Alliance is still in [Hematie City], followed by [Pioneer City], which took over the metallurgical industry transferred from [February Lan City] and [Xinyang City], and finally each of them only retained A blast furnace of [February Lan City] and [Xin Yang City].
Needless to say, [Hematie City] has excellent conditions for the development of the metallurgical industry. It has high-quality iron ore production and is close to the Qinghe River. Coal can be easily obtained by using the Qinghe River water transportation and the canal that goes directly to the nest. This will be the largest metallurgical center in the United Kingdom in the long term.
[Pioneer City] was originally a metallurgical center on the south bank of Qinghe River in early planning. However, as this place gradually transformed into the capital on the south bank of the Qinghe River and the deputy capital of the Ant Alliance, the number of ant colonies increased significantly, and the land in the suburbs of the nests was scarce, making it no longer suitable to continue to expand the ironmaking industry. In addition, it is relatively far away from the iron and coal producing areas, and its transportation disadvantages are obvious. Nowadays, the metallurgical industry that has recently settled here is moving to the south.
The destination of the out-migration is a nest under construction [Magnet City]
About three days' walk south of Pioneer City, a low-quality magnetite was discovered on a barren hill before winter last year. Although the grade is not high, it can be developed as an iron ore. Reserve strategic production area. This will become another metallurgical center on the south bank of Qinghe River.
[February Lan City], [New Yang City] and [Pioneer City] will only retain one blast furnace and minimum output in the future for industrial backup and to provide weapons for the defenders when they are surrounded.
The just-completed [Hardware City] is an emerging metallurgical center on the south bank of Qinghe River.
The geographical location here is excellent. You can reach [Akatie Castle] by crossing the newly built pontoon bridge. The iron ore in [Hematite City] can be fed into the blast furnace in [Hardware City] within one day along the canal and pontoon bridge.
Beside the pontoon, two other thick cross-river cables are planned to be constructed after the rainy season, and the materials have been transported to the river. The cables would be driven by two sets of pulleys on either side of the bank, powered by a mix of currents, wind and beetles. At that time, a large number of walnut boats can be fixed on the cables and towed to circulate and transport between the two sides of the strait, moving slowly like a merry-go-round, which will greatly increase the freight volume between the two sides.
[Hardware City] is also close to the Qinghe River and not far from the Black Fire Ant Country. Like [Chitie City], it is easy to obtain coal from the waterway. The former has an advantage over the latter in that even in the flood season, it can also be obtained by land. Get imported coal without interruption.
In addition, the Grand Canal on the south bank of the Qinghe River is also under construction. In the future, it will extend directly to the west to the territory of the Black Fire Ant Country, and to the east to the East Border Swamp, connecting [Western Border City], [Hardware City], [Pioneer City], [Eastern Realm City] and other places.
The Grand Canal on the south bank is longer than the canal on the north bank and is equally significant. Once built, [Hardware City] can easily obtain coal exported from the Black Fire Ant Country and peat from the eastern swamps as fuel, and the products can also be quickly transported to various places through the Grand Canal.
It is precisely based on this strategic positioning and geographical advantage that [Hardware City] has received great attention from Zhu Jue.
He personally arrived here to celebrate the construction of this sub-nest, and transferred smart and capable ant workers from other nests to serve as members of the ten ant groups on this nest and representatives of the sub-nest meeting, responsible for managing this important nest and its industry.
The climax of this nest-building ceremony was when Zhu Jue personally handed the torch to the worker ants operating the blast furnace, who lit the firewood pile for drying the blast furnace.
In the blazing fire coming out of the blast furnace mouth, other ants' tentacles swayed happily, but Zhu Jue's thoughts had already drifted to the west.
————
Before Zhu Jue arrived at [Hardware City], he had already learned about the movements of the black fire ant army from the Flying Knight.
He was not aware of the disputes in the Black Fire Ant Kingdom King's Meeting, but from the movements of the Black Fire Ant Army, Zhu Jue guessed that their internal opinions were inconsistent, and the bizarre tactic of dividing the troops into three groups was really beyond Zhu Jue's ability to understand.
After the figure of "Flying Eagle" appeared in the northward march of the Black Fire Ant Army, Zhu Juedu's focus turned here.
Some young staff officers in the Staff Office of the Military Ministry had previously received instructions from Zhu Jue to study how to get rid of the "flying eagle", but they had been suffering from the fact that the other party had been sheltered under the heavy protection of black fire ants and had no chance at all. .
This time "Flying Eagle" actually led the army to go on an expedition, which was beyond Zhu Jue's expectation and gave the Ant Alliance a chance.
Zhu Jue received several plans provided by the Staff Office yesterday. Apart from the "reckless" plans that would obviously expose the work of the Ant Alliance and damage the relationship between the two countries, Zhu Jue finalized an action plan to frame the parasitic ants. .
Now, the Rangers who want to implement the plan have already set off!
The error-free chapters of "The World of Ants" will continue to be updated. There are no ads on the site. Please bookmark and recommend it!
