In the northern border of the Black Fire Ant Country, at noon, a continuous stream of transport teams was heading northward against the wind.
These are transportation teams composed of vassals and slave ants from the black fire ant kingdom. Under the supervision of the black fire ant warriors, the worker ants of all races hold some black lumps in their jaws and dare not stop for a moment. Move north.
There are about four to five hundred worker ants in each transport team. The distance between them is very short, and they are almost connected end to end.
There are also a small number of transport beetles in some transport teams, and the vine frames on their backs are also filled with black blocks. These beetles are afraid of the cold wind and often crawl into any ground crevices along the way that can be sheltered from the wind. The ants can sting them and bite them in order to drive these beetles back into the team.
This transportation team is transporting coal from [Black Fire City] to the north in response to the order of the country.
The day before yesterday, after receiving the latest instructions from Zhu Jue, the "Black Carbon" King immediately searched for coal everywhere in the country and formed a transportation team.
The Black Fire Ant Country is already rich in coal. Before the fall of [Black Fire City], a large amount of coal was stored in the warehouse for export. The parasite has no demand for coal and has not touched these reserves. After recapturing [Black Fire City], these coal reserves returned to the hands of the Black Fire Ant Nation.
In addition to this period of time, the Black Fire Ant Nation reopened its coal mines and produced new output. Not only did it resume the supply of coal to the Ant Alliance Nation, but there was still a lot of coal inventory remaining in the country.
Hearing that Zhu Jue needed coal and was willing to pay with grain and crow wine, King "Heitan" immediately lobbied in the meeting of kings. He even directly persuaded the meeting of kings, citing the military needs of the civilized ant alliance, to get the kings to agree to provide this batch of coal for free as military supplies.
The Black Fire Ant Nation has always been a big and powerful country among the civilized ant tribes in the region, and has a sense of responsibility to protect the civilized ant tribes in the region. However, in this war, the Black Fire Ant Nation performed poorly and was inconspicuous in the civilized ant tribe coalition. , except for sending more than 100,000 troops to participate in the war, they basically made no contribution.
This has always made the Black Fire Ant Kingdom King's Conference feel brooding and unable to hold their head high.
In order to provide coal to deal with the parasitic army, the black fire ant country's assistance within its capabilities, according to Zhu Jue, is even the key to victory in this war. Under the instigation of King "Black Coal", the kings of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom were instantly satisfied with their sense of honor and responsibility. Even the kings who had always been dissatisfied with the Ant United Kingdom did not firmly oppose the provision of coal.
Tens of thousands of Black Fire Ant Nation transport troops delivered about 1 kilogram of coal to the designated location in the next three days.
This is a miniature valley, with an area of about twenty to thirty square meters. It is almost surrounded by hills two to three meters higher. The slope is very steep, and the whole is like a big bowl embedded in the ground.
There are only two narrow valleys in and out of the valley, one in the south and one in the north. It is surrounded by pine, oak and other trees. Due to the topography and wind, the ground at the bottom of the valley is covered with a thick layer of pine needles and dead leaves, which is 1 meter thick. .
Zhu Jue discovered this valley bottom from the air. Although it was not on a flat road, it was very close to the parasitic creature's marching route.
Zhu Jue checked and found that the surface layer of the dead pine needles and leaves here was very flammable. They had been baked very dry under the scorching sun in summer and autumn, and the occasional rainfall could not reduce their flammability.
The lower layer of the leaf litter is moist semi-humus, but only the fuel on the surface is enough to support Zhu Jue's plan.
This is an excellent ambush ground. As long as the enemy bacteria can be introduced here, only a small number of troops can be sent to the hills in all directions to firmly block the enemy's upward attack. After blocking the two valleys in and out, you can catch snails in the shell. .
This layer of dry leaves and branches is an excellent fuel for arson. Parasitic organisms are very afraid of fireworks. If a fire attack is carried out against the surrounded enemy bacteria... Zhu Jue's mind has already imagined that the parasitic organisms are running away, and then they are The scene of the civilized ant coalition taking advantage of the situation to cover up the attack and annihilating it in one fell swoop.
With the size of this valley, it is not realistic to wipe out the main force of the parasitic army at once, but it is enough to wipe out a parasitic army of 200,000 people, which will be of great benefit to the war situation.
However, the litter here, which is mainly waxy pine needles, although dry and flammable, is not resistant to burning. The flammable time is too short, so something that can burn for a long time needs to be mixed in.
In addition to building a defense line recently, the Northern Expeditionary Army also detached some troops to collect and transport fuel nearby. What they collected were mainly dry branches, cut into small pieces and transported to the valley. Coupled with the coal particles transported from [Black Fire City], a large amount of combustible materials are buried under the dead branches and leaves at the valley bottom, and a huge fire trap is gradually taking shape.
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It was late October and the daytime temperature was okay, reaching about 20 degrees at noon.
It's just that the north wind has been coming and going in recent days. Once a strong wind blows, the body temperature will instantly drop a lot. The heat of living creatures active outdoors will be quickly taken away by the cold air. If it gets caught in dew, it may be fatal.
No ectothermic animal likes this kind of weather, and most animals are no longer active in the early morning when dew or hoar frost still exists. Even at noon, sometimes the heat added by the sun is not enough to offset the environmental consumption. As a result, most of the animals still alive in the world today are basically arthropods, and most of them have begun to enter a quasi-dormant state.
There are also some creatures that are not able to rest comfortably for half a year.
In the northern border of the Black Fire Ant Country, the civilized ant coalition has been waiting for an army - an army composed of parasitic organisms. They are trudging stiffly and slowly on the ground with the wind at their backs.
The end of October this year was colder than usual, and instinct tells the parasites to stay and find shelter. However, the mandatory instructions from the brain suppress the instinct in the body.
During the relatively warm period between 10 and 16 o'clock every day, the parasites struggled to get on the road, moving slowly but surely southward, even if the temperature dropped in the past few days.
Along the way, the parasitic army left behind a lot of corpses, especially because many of the insect beasts were large and lost heat faster in the cold wind, making it difficult to survive.
Slowly, only various parasitic ants are left in this army. These parasitic ants rely on sunlight and rapid activities to maintain body temperature and mobility. Every time it falls, the parasitic ants can quickly set up camp to protect themselves from the cold night. .
But now, with the arrival of the first strong cold wave, even parasitic ants are dying outdoors in large swaths.
The parasitic brain finally stopped the advance of the army. The parasitic army was stationed outside the northern border of the black fire ant country, waiting for the weather to improve!