Once the canal is completed, it will not only become a "highway" for the transportation of goods, but also an important fortification within the territory.

This canal will connect several nests such as [Xinyang City], [Xinyang City], [February Lancheng], [Red Iron City], etc., and these nests can use the flowing water brought by the canal to dig a moat nearby to strengthen their own defenses.

At the same time, the territory south of the canal will henceforth be cut off from the red fire ant country to the north by the canal. Although the canal is only a decimeter wide, it is enough to stop ants who are afraid of water.

If the Red Fire Ant Nation turned against the Divine Envoy King and invaded, it would not be able to bypass this canal, and the canal and the stream that provided water for the canal, plus the Qing River to the south, the three waterways guarded the territory like a triangle.

However, the canal will also hinder the north-south traffic within the Divine Envoy King's own territory, and the protagonist's countermeasure is to build several rope bridges near the nest ant mounds such as [February Flower City], and the rope bridges must be high so that they can not affect the canal transportation, but also take on the role of connecting the two sides of the canal.

Another advantage of the rope bridge is that it is not easy to fight the enemy, and once it is threatened, the rope bridge can be cut off immediately, and the south bank of the canal will become a very safe hinterland.

The excavation of the canal project soon began, using the method of sectional construction. Several of the nests along the canal were each contracted to work on a section of the river under their control. The protagonist also recruits a large number of worker ants of various races from other nests to settle in these nests, and these worker ants will be stationed in the area for a long time until the canal is completed.

The main force involved in the canal project is still the big-headed ant worker ants, who are the most numerous in the Divine Envoy King Legion, and they are also very industrious and obedient to the command. Paving ant worker ants also have these advantages, a total of 3,000 paving ant worker ants have been selected for construction, and their number is second only to the large-headed ant worker ant. In addition, belly lifters, forest ants, burrowing ants, and worker ants are also involved.

Only the scythe ant, which is not good at civil engineering, and the leafcutter ant, which focuses on fungal cultivation, are the two vassal ant families that do not send worker ants to participate.

In the past two days, the protagonist has even designed the mode of transportation after the completion of the canal in advance:

Hematite farms can use the abundant dead branches in the woods in advance to tie into rafts, and the iron ore will be piled on rafts and tied with skin, cloth and ropes.

The raft can be carried down the canal, and there are medium-sized beetles on both sides of the river that pull the fibers, and most of the time the beetles do not have to be dragged hard, and the current can propel the raft forward. It was only when it was time to turn that the beetles came to help the raft turn.

The raft will dock at [Xinyangcheng] or [Februarylancheng], and after unloading the goods on it, the raft will be dismantled on the spot, dried and used as a raw material for charcoal, which can also supplement the shortage of wood resources in the next two smelting bases.

Because iron smelting requires a lot of charcoal, there are few trees near these two nests, and relying on local branches to burn charcoal must be in short supply, and it has always been the Black Forest that supplies wood to both nests.

The iron ore is stored and the raft is dismantled, and the ants only need to drive away the medium-sized beetles that pull the fibers, and return to [the red iron city] by land with cloth, skin, and rope, and then they can start the next transport.

As a result, the cycle of a single round trip to the canal is about 2 days, and the amount of a single transport is equivalent to the amount of thousands of ants or hundreds of medium-sized beetles in the past, while a round trip usually took 4 days. In this way, the canal will be more than 10 times more efficient than the previous medium-sized transport fleet, and will require less than one-twentieth of the ant-powered animal power.

————

Just when the construction of the canal project was in full swing, the Divine Envoy King's legion received a conscription order from the nominal suzerainty of the "Red Fire Ant Country".

According to the agreement reached between the two parties, the Divine Envoy King's legion is obliged to respond to the call, but the number of troops sent is up to them, and the troops sent are also under their own command. The Red Fire Ant Nation has no right to squeeze the ant power of the Divine Envoy King's Legion at will, or use the vassals' soldiers as cannon fodder, as it does with other vassals.

This time, the Red Fire Ant Country began to recruit troops from the vassals again, in order to take advantage of the aftermath of the previous great victory to launch an attack on the mainland of the Leaf Cutting Ant Country.

But this time, the Red Fire Ant Nation was limited in the number of troops it could recruit from its vassals.

After the Divine Envoy King Legion reached a contract with the Red Fire Ant Country, the Divine Envoy King Legion took the initiative to return several of the Red Fire Ant Country's secondary nests that they had occupied. However, the territories of the vassal states that were destroyed by the Divine Messenger King's legion continued to be occupied by the Divine Envoy King's army.

As a result, the Red Fire Ant Nation has lost a number of vassals, and the remaining vassals have been drained in the previous war, and now less than a month's rest time is not enough to restore these vassals.

This time, the Red Fire Ant Nation could only rely on themselves more, and they almost clenched their jaws and sent all the warriors and slave auxiliaries of their own clan that could be drawn out to the battlefield.

Although the Red Fire Ant Country has done its best, and the same is true of the Leaf Cutting Ant Country on the other side, the weakest Divine Envoy King Legion in the Three Kingdoms does not intend to take advantage of the fire of the Red Fire Ant Country, they still need to develop obscenely, and they can't waste it.

In the end, the protagonist sends the forces of 2 legions to form a task force.

These 2 legions are the 10th Legion, and the 101st Legion, which is made up of vassals and warriors. Both legions are units with low combat effectiveness and the least actual combat experience in the regular army, and this time they fought with the Red Fire Ant Army, just to accumulate some experience.

Of course, the combat effectiveness of these two legions is low, and it is also compared to the main army of the Divine Envoy King, which is fully armed. Both legions are equally well-equipped, and the warriors of both legions are stronger than the individuals of the Red Fire Ant Army and the Leafcutter Ant Army.

The commander of the task force was assigned to the commander of the 10th Legion, "Centipe", who was born in [Xinyangcheng] and is a descendant of the "Centipe". He excelled in this generation of males, especially during his tenure as squad commander, when he defended against the siege of [Xinyang City] by the Red Fire Ant Army, and was able to accumulate merit as a regimental commander after the expansion of the army.

The Centipede was also one of the first young males of their group to become legion commanders.

The protagonist asks a small team of flying knights to fight with the two legions, and tells them to play soy sauce with peace of mind, not to rush ahead, and not to lose their troops in vain.

Although the "centipede" was still young and vigorous, he was very obedient, and in the face of the "earnest teachings" of the great divine envoy king himself, the "centipede" expressed resolute obedience.

On October 3rd, the task force of 2 legions traveled north through [Nansen City], through the Black Forest, and arrived at the main nest of the Red Fire Ant Nation [Hive City] by the specified date.

Afterwards, the task force, under the guidance of the Red Fire Ant Army, came to the nest located on the western border and joined the Red Fire Ant Army!