Update a chapter in advance today. I will work night shifts tonight and tomorrow, catch up on sleep during the day, and check for energy updates on Monday and Tuesday!
グッ!(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
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The consecrated rockets were then moved onto rafts in the canal and transported to the front line.
400 rockets were loaded onto 20 rafts, forming a huge fleet, pulled by rows of beetles, moving westward along the south bank of the canal.
Because the sources of ore on both the north and south banks of the Qinghe River are to the west and the blast furnace base is to the east, in order to facilitate the transportation of commodities such as ore, the canals on both the north and south banks of the Qinghe River all move to the left, resulting in the current situation.
In the canal, the water flowed slowly. Although the raft was going upstream, the resistance was not great. Pulled by a group of three beetles, there was only one more beetle than when it was going downstream.
On the raft, the rockets needed to be waterproof. They were packed in tightly woven rattan boxes sealed with ant glue and yellow mud. They were also elevated with stones underneath. There were not many ripples in the canal, ensuring that the ammunition was dry. , unlike those sailor ants who hold poles, all of them are wet and can't do it.
After two days of fiber pulling, the raft team arrived at the [Hardware City] pier. The rattan box containing the rockets was unloaded by a crane and handed over to the large beetle beast to carry it on its back, and continued to the front line by land.
There is currently no canal navigation on this section of the road, but a large number of laborers or slave ants from the Engineering Department have begun construction. As a key project this year, it is expected that the canal route can be connected to the temporary main nest of the black fire ant country before winter this year. Taking the water route to the Black Creek defense line can save one day and a lot of ants and insects.
After diplomatic efforts, the Black Fire Ant Country, which is currently seeking help from the Ant Alliance, has agreed to the request to build a canal on its own territory. This will also be beneficial to their future coal exports, so why not do it.
After another three days, the transport team finally sent a new batch of rockets to the front line, and their destination was the eastern fortress group on the Black Creek defense line.
At this time, the rocket launcher unit had been "on hiatus" for several days. In addition to a round of salvo fire during the first battle, the rocket artillery unit later, under Zhu Jue's order, fired a round of covering fire at the parasitic creature camp strangely assembled on the north bank of the Black Creek Estuary, exhausting the two weapons it carried. Cardinal ammunition.
At this time, the parasites had been forced to abandon several camps on the north bank of the river mouth within the range of rocket launchers, and were dormant motionless in a slightly distant place. In addition to daily foraging, they neither attacked nor retreated, nor did they appear like As Zhu Jue guessed, he crossed the Qinghe River in the form of an ant blanket to fight in the territory of the leaf-cutting ant country.
Think about it, now that the flood season is coming, whether it is the Black Creek or the Qing River, the water level has risen and become more turbid. Even creatures that can live in the water cannot avoid it at this time - such as the parasites in the parasite army. Dragon lice, field turtles, etc. have all left the Black River and took up residence in nearby natural ponds.
The parasitic ant is not stupid enough to enter the water under such circumstances. It is pure suicide. The last time I escaped through the ant blanket, I had to do it out of necessity and suffered heavy losses. We are not at the end of our rope now, so it is impossible to go into the water and fight for our lives.
As for the civilized ant coalition, Zhu Jue originally planned to cross the Black River to counterattack before the flood season, but he did not expect that in the last decisive battle, in order to suppress the parasitic army, he consumed far more ammunition than expected and ran out of ammunition. To this day, the rear continues to produce and transport, and the ammunition reserves at the front are only two-thirds of what they were before the decisive battle. I am afraid that they will not be able to support several major battles.
Without sufficient fire support, Zhu Jue did not dare to be careless. If the battle failed, the army might be trapped on the north bank of the Black River and unable to come back.
He had no choice but to formally announce at the joint meeting that he was temporarily abandoning his plan to march north, regardless of the plaintive mood of the commander of the Black Fire Ant Army, "King Black Charcoal." We will start the Northern Expedition after we have more money.
As for the parasitic army taking this opportunity to expand its strength, there is no way to stop it. Fortunately, the flying knights' recent investigation found that in the area where parasitic organisms are active, there are not many indigenous ants or insects that can serve as war animals. They have either been parasitized or escaped. If parasites want to expand the scale of infection, they can only travel long distances to other places. Currently, we have not seen any such movement in the parasite army.
The parasitic army was just stationed quietly on the north bank of the Black Creek Estuary, without being arrogant or impetuous. The two armies on the south bank of Black Creek have been locked in a strange sit-down battle these days.
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After the new batch of rockets were transported to the front line, the rocket artillery unit immediately had a new task.
In the past few months, the civilized ants in this region sent envoys to outside the region to ask for help. Among the three countries that have officially responded, reinforcements from the first country arrived in the region the day before yesterday.
However, these reinforcements made Zhu Jue speechless and angry.
The arriving reinforcements were sent by the Stone Desert Archipelago Ant Empire. There were a total of 3 locusts and 6 ants, belonging to 3 ant tribes...
Among them are a pair of king and queen of C. fischeri, a pair of king and queen of C. sinensis, and a pair of king and queen of C. sinensis.
No wonder this batch of reinforcements arrived faster than expected, not only because the Stone Desert Campoback Ant Empire is the closest among the three countries that have promised support, not only because they are very enthusiastic, but also because they "go into battle lightly"!
What made Zhu Jue unhappy at first was that the other party went directly to the Leaf Cutter Ant Country. After Zhu Jue learned about it, he sent diplomats from his country to contact him, but he did not want the other party to ignore him at all, as the supreme commander of the civilized ant alliance, and only believed that The leaf-cutter ants are the "Guardians of the Sacred Tree" and the leaders of the ant tribe in this region.
Fortunately, the leafcutter ant nation did not want to get too involved in the war with the parasitic army, especially because it did not want to take up too many of its own resources. It also escorted the "reinforcements" of the Stone Desert ant empire to the front line and handed them over to Zhu Jue.
Zhu Jue had long known that the other party had few ants, and also knew from the Leafcutter Ant Nation that the other party had sent breeding ants, asking the local civilized ant tribe to provide land and materials, so that these breeding ants could quickly establish a colony and form an army to assist, and do Be mentally prepared for negotiation.
But when they met, Zhu Jue was almost furious.
The ant king "Baboon" of Trichonotus fischeri, the ant king "Lion" of Trichonotus ants and the ant king "Ao" of Trichonotus ant in Central Asia jointly proposed:
After an aerial inspection, they felt that the environment in the [Pioneer City] area of the Ant Alliance was suitable, and requested that the territory including [Pioneer City] and 12 nearby nests be given to them, and they would also be provided with enough supplies for tens of thousands of ants for a year, as well as a large number of Crow wine (drinked in the leafcutter ant kingdom) and honeydew allowed the Stone Desert Campoback ant empire to establish colonies in the area. Moreover, this colony will not start sending troops to help in the war until next year!
Zhu Jue felt that what was coming was not reinforcements, but greedy and unruly worms!