The "King Khan" who was defeated by the army ants was trapped and killed, but it could not change the reality of the worsening situation in the northern battlefield.
After this battle, the Destroyer's offensive was like a flood. Once they found a weak defense or a loophole, they would rush there desperately, bringing great pressure. But now, the northern battlefield is the weak point, full of loopholes.
In just six days, the Destroyers captured the city in the northern battlefield and compressed the defense line of the army ants deeply backward. The army of marching ants on the northern front could only barely protect themselves. At the same time, the Destroyer's offensive also forced the civilized ant coalition, mainly the marching ant army, which was still resisting in the central battlefield, to retreat under tremendous pressure from the sides, and a protrusion gradually formed.
A great battle is about to break out around the protrusion between the unstoppable Destroyer and the coalition of civilized ants unwilling to delay!
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On May 9, when Zhu Jue received an urgent request for help from the Marching Ant Kingdom, he was reviewing the fleet that had just arrived.
This fleet is the latest water fleet built by the Ant Alliance. It is no longer just a simple walnut fleet, there are 3 real giant ships in the fleet!
These three giant ships are made of natural bamboo tubes as the main body. Each ship is about the length of a bamboo section (about 3 decimeters) and the cross-sectional diameter is about 0.5 decimeters. The specific dimensions vary slightly due to the natural raw materials. However, these giant ships are all slender in appearance and huge in space, showing a craftsmanship style that combines roughness and fineness.
The bow of the giant bamboo ship is an attached conical bamboo piece structure, glued with ant glue, and its shape is suitable for breaking through wind and waves. The hull does not have portholes. There are only a number of closable entrances and exits and vents on the flat deck that was cut off and re-paved at the top. There are fences around the deck to prevent sailors from falling into the water. The exterior of the hull is coated with a mixture of ant glue mixed with vegetable paint, and the bamboo skin covered by the bamboo itself has been tested to effectively prevent moth erosion.
In addition, on both sides of the main hull, there are two thin bamboo tubes, each with two-thirds of the length of the main hull, as side supports to maintain the balance of the hull in the water. The stand can be pulled up with a cable to facilitate steering and avoiding obstacles. When necessary, these hollow, non-storage brackets, but with access points, can also be used as lifeboats.
The giant bamboo ship was powered by sails and an ant-powered paddle wheel. The sail is a longitudinal sail with only one side, but it is 3 decimeters high. The sail surface is huge and made of plant fiber. A winch is used to raise, lower and steer the sail. There are only one pair of paddle wheels located on both sides of the main hull. They are not large in size and are slightly smaller than the hull. They are driven by the ant force inside the cabin as auxiliary power.
Each giant bamboo ship has as many as 300 sailors, mainly Bache leaf ants who are good at climbing and maintaining balance, and a few big-headed ant warriors as guards. Each ship is also equipped with a small team of newly trained water spider knights as a supplementary defense force.
Looking at the giant bamboo ship up close, it is full of the unique sense of craftsmanship of YI Lian Guo, which is the crystallization of the progress of Y Lian Guo's overall science and technology and processing technology. The giant ships are tall and majestic. Different from other ant creations, they have a sense of domineering. Even the Ant Alliance rarely has such huge industrial products.
Zhu Jue couldn't help but sigh: Sure enough, giant ships and cannons are the romance of male ants!
The three giant bamboo ships all set out from [Pioneer City] last month and withstood the test of long-distance voyages. The fleet relied on the wind when the wind was favorable, and went straight down the current when the current was favorable. When necessary, it parked and waited for the wind or used paddle wheels to drive. It took three weeks to finally reach the stronghold of the Civilized Ant Alliance in the Marching Ant Kingdom.
The three giant bamboo ships came loaded with a large amount of materials, which was equivalent to the transportation capacity of more than ten road transport teams. Although there was no advantage in timeliness, the consumption in transportation was less, which reflected the great advantages of water transportation.
Zhu Jue praised the fleet commanders who had opened up the waterway and arrived safely, and invited them to the nest to drink honeydew and eat fungi and insect eggs that were local specialties in the army ant country. The ants were moving up and down the pedals in an endless stream, carrying supplies and filling the warehouse that had been empty for a while.
With this batch of supplies brought by the giant bamboo ship, the coalition inventory that was severely consumed in the first battle of spring has been greatly replenished. The civilized ant coalition under Zhu Jue has the ability to launch a large-scale battle. . Just relying on this batch of supplies is not enough to support long-term operations, and more local supplements are needed.
The current domestic production capacity of the Ant Alliance is more than enough to support the high-intensity war between the civilized ant alliance and the Destroyers. It's just that the battlefield is far away from the mainland of the Ant Alliance, and transportation is a big problem. Except for air transportation with a small volume that can be replenished relatively quickly, land transportation and the original water transportation take a long time.
Now with the successful maiden voyage of three giant bamboo ships, the water transportation capabilities of the Ant United Kingdom have been greatly improved. The seaworthiness of the easy-to-control bamboo giant ships is also better than that of the simple walnut ships. As long as there is suitable wind force, even if it is against the wind, it can You can go up the Qinghe River without having to rely on bees to pull it like a walnut boat.
Zhu Jue ordered the flying knight to pass on orders to let the local shipyards continue to manufacture 12 giant bamboo ships. In addition to the 3 giant bamboo ships currently in service, and the 9 giant bamboo ships that have been built on the slipway since last year, it is expected to be completed this year. It can all be completed and launched before winter. By then, the Ant Alliance will have as many as 24 giant bamboo ships!
The three captains of the giant bamboo ship drank honeydew while exchanging their experiences during the voyage with Zhu Jue.
The captain mentioned an incident: after the fleet left the river bank of the Black Fire Ant Country, while waiting for the weather in a river bend, there were bold indigenous ants that day who wanted to board the ship along the cables tied to the shore. Launch an attack.
Fortunately, the officers and sailors on duty in the watch room on the mast discovered the abnormality and issued a warning in time. The big-headed ant warriors on the ship arrived in time and blocked the narrow opening of the cable. The indigenous ants that sneaked up were unable to follow the cable to the deck and had to retreat to the shore.
But this group of indigenous ants did not give up. Thousands of them circled the shore, trying to find another way to get on the boat. So the three giant bamboo ships hoisted signal flags for the water spider knights on board to attack. These water spider knights walked on the water and threw slings and incendiary bombs on the land in the waters where enemy ants could not attack, and just drove away the group of indigenous ants.
Zhu Jue heard this and had some thoughts in mind - the current giant bamboo ships are all transport ships and do not have strong self-defense firepower. In the future, if portholes are opened on both sides of the ship and a large number of artillery are installed, it can be transformed into a sail warship with powerful firepower, enough to provide fire cover for the civilized ant coalition forces around the water.
So after Zhu Jue had enough water transportation power, he ordered the shipyard to convert the four giant bamboo ships built later into gunboats. That is a story for another day!
