This year's winter came a little earlier than usual.

Towards the end of mid-October, the first snowfall suddenly fell. The weather deteriorated so suddenly, as if from golden autumn to severe winter in an instant.

The insect world that was still frolicking yesterday immediately froze, and the neighing of insects that had been non-stop day and night completely disappeared, and the warm sun in the sky disappeared at the same time. The only thing left was the sound of the north wind howling, accompanied by heavy clouds and snow.

Fortunately, the ants noticed the change in the weather half a day in advance and hid back to their nests in advance.

The territory of the Divine Envoy King's legion is small, and there are no ants who go out for a long time, so they can quickly hide home. They wintered in [Xinyangcheng] and [Nansencheng] respectively, and most of them gathered in [Xinyangcheng] and a small part in [Nansencheng].

The ant mound of the originally towering [Xinyangcheng] was submerged under several points of snow after a night of snowstorming, and it became like a small snow bag, and it was no longer as tall as it used to be.

The whole aspen tree was covered with snow, and when the graupel had stopped, a slightly stronger north wind would blow through the aspen trees and a burst of snow powder would continue to paint the ground white.

- I'm the dividing line -

The protagonist wakes up from his sleep and doesn't know what time it is, but it doesn't seem to be the time for him to get out of bed yet.

He was still a little sleepy, but his body was aching and he was a little chilly, which made him uncomfortable, and he woke up.

Damn winter, damn damp underground - The protagonist mutters in his heart, a little annoyed, and he blames his discomfort on the damp and cold underground environment after the onset of winter.

The protagonist's dormitory is still traditionally built at the bottom of [Xinyang City], which is generally the safest and most constant temperature area in the entire lair.

However, the location of [Xinyangcheng] is very different, and the groundwater level here is high, so this location is not so comfortable, and it is often very humid, so it is easy to chill.

Although the combustion chamber is not far from the protagonist's dormitory, it doesn't seem to have much effect when the temperature plummets.

The protagonist rolls over, wraps the silk felt tighter with his forelimbs, and retracts into the silk bed, hoping for some warmth. But he tossed and turned, and the chill in his body could not be dispelled, and it was difficult to sleep.

The protagonist eventually gives up, and he gets up and stretches his aching body, barely getting comfortable.

Then he got out of the silk bed, came to the large clay pot beside him, opened the lid, scooped a spoonful of honeydew water with a clay spoon, and opened his mouth to drink.

The honeydew water is also a little cold, and the sweet taste and calories contained in it do not make the protagonist feel any better, but the cold water in his stomach makes him shiver.

Is it because you are sick from the cold? The protagonist thinks, there is no medicine for diseases here, unlike trauma and inflammation, which can be treated by the saliva of paving ants, and the diseases in the body can only be carried by the body.

The fairy had already heard the news and came to serve, and the protagonist hurriedly asked her to help herself to the combustion room next to her, and after roasting the fire for a while, she felt a lot better.

His discomfort was already light, but now he felt fine, so he left his previous discomfort behind him, as a temporary symptom of not resting well at night.

After eating more breakfast than usual, the protagonist gets to work.

Although it's winter and I can't go outside, the protagonist really has a lot to do.

He led the Praetorian Guard team through the long underground corridor to the area where the affiliated ant clan was located.

[Xinyangcheng] is obviously divided above ground and underground, although the number of big-headed ant colonies is the largest, and the main urban area where it is located is also dominant, but the relatively independent urban area of the four affiliated ant tribes has also developed, and it is not as simple as a few nesting rooms.

From [Xinyangcheng] to the west, there is an urban area of paving ants, and to the east, there are urban areas of leaf-cutting ants, bellied ants, and hunting sickle ants.

The protagonist has to make a daily tour of various urban districts, communicate with the leaders of the affiliated ant tribes, and maintain his prestige.

This is the measure that the protagonist takes after returning from the swampy area, learning his lesson.

What he thought was that the previous forced subordinate ant clan to live with the big-headed ants of his own clan was only to suppress other subordinate races with the strength of the big-headed ant clan, which led to unavoidable private contradictions, and the contradictions were easy to intensify when there was no oneself in charge.

Rather than this, it is better for everyone to be relatively independent, and only bring all ethnic groups together for a short time when there is a need for unity and external pressure to suppress contradictions, such as war. Then this relatively isolated state is not easy to produce contradictions.

In order to ensure the unity of the various races within the Divine Envoy King's legion, he needs to have the prestige to suppress the male ant, the leader of all the ant clans. The protagonist patrols every day, which is slowly accumulating his prestige.

Walking in the long corridor, it is pitch black, and there are no fluorescent bacteria planted, because it is a little cold here, which is not suitable for fluorescent bacteria to survive.

The corridors connecting different urban areas are close to the surface, and in such severe cold, even if there is snow cover and insulation, the temperature in the passage is only maintained in the single digits, which is by no means a comfortable temperature for ants, and it only feels that the cold room temperature is quickly taking away the precious heat from the body. If you touch the four walls, you can also find that the four walls are frozen hard and cold.

This is not bad, the other road connecting the different urban areas is on the surface, a hollow fence made of ant concrete, which is already too cold to pass.

Fortunately, the distance between the urban areas is not far, only two meters away, and the protagonist quickly climbs over with the Praetorian Guard team in one breath.

It's good to be in the warm city, and slowly regain body temperature in the heat, the protagonist moves his stiff limbs, and feels the soreness come back a little. Maybe it's because it's cold and running in this passage every day. But as a ruler, he must suffer this bitterness.

After a conversation with the leader of the paving ants, Floating Leaf II (who is a male ant descendant of the Floating Leaf King), the protagonist rushes to the other ant tribes' towns.

The protagonist sometimes thinks that although he has learned lessons from this method of partition management, is it not the best solution?

In the past, he had no frame of reference, so he could only explore the plan by himself.

But now that he knew that the local red fire ants had a very different approach to the vassal ant tribe than he did. The red fire ant does not interfere in the internal affairs of the vassal ant family, but only asks for an annual tribute of ant eggs.

These eggs hatch and grow among the red fire ants, and they see themselves as members of the red fire ants and have no sense of belonging to the original group.

This seems to be less prone to internal contradictions, but at the same time, it also brings the problem of weak control over the vassal ant clan.

Like a belly-raising ant, he secretly traded with the Divine Envoy King Legion without telling the suzerain, and the one servant and the two masters also paid tribute to the Divine Envoy King Legion!