Chapter 16 Military Movements (2)
Thanks to the way ants use information packets to deliver messages, the protagonist gets very detailed information from the flying knight who arrives to report the news.
Before the protagonist leaves the "Waterfront City" and goes to the frontal battlefield, reconnaissance and patrol work in the "bridgehead" area is arranged.
Patrolling on the ground was largely entrusted to Rambotu's Fourth Legion, and a large number of Legion of the Emissary Legion soldiers patrolled the vicinity of the lair every day in case of a potential attack.
The Flying Knights are responsible for conducting routine reconnaissance of the nearby Paving Ant Barbarian Army lair every day, because with the military strength of a secondary nest, it is impossible to pose a threat to the "bridgehead".
If the Paving Ant Barbarian Army wants to launch a military operation against the "bridgehead", it will have to mobilize troops and supplies from elsewhere.
Just two days ago, when the protagonist returned to "Dongyang City" from the salt marsh, the flying knight, who was doing routine reconnaissance, noticed something unusual.
The Flying Knights each time they scout are in groups of three, and in addition to stopping near the side nest of the Paving Ant Barbarians, they will also expand their range and patrol the surrounding depths.
On this day, the Flying Knight on patrol spotted a long procession winding its way to the northwest.
It was a thin black line that stretched across the ground, and in each small section of the line was a black paver worker ant, numbering in the thousands, without the command of the male, but just following the predetermined command.
Judging from the direction of travel, their destination is the side nest of the paving ant barbarians near the "bridgehead".
Although male ants have better eyesight than worker ants, they can only see things at a distance of a few centimeters. So, in order to get more accurate information, a flying knight boldly lowered his altitude and rested on a small bush on the side of the road.
His appearance did not arouse the vigilance of the paver ant barbarian team, there were too many flying insects around and too often, and the eyesight of the paver ant worker ants was also very poor.
The Flying Knight, who came closer to observe, found that this team of paving ant workers was supposed to be a transport team, and each worker ant had a little food on its big jaw.
The Flying Knight quickly reported this information to the Flying Knight Commander in the "Waterfront City", the Flying Eagle.
The Flyhawk immediately relayed to Lambotu again, and the two kings together felt that the appearance of the transport team was not normal.
Although there will also be some material allocation between the various secondary nests in the ant kingdom, such as transporting food from the food-rich secondary nest to the food-poor secondary nest, or migrating the ant population from the resource-poor secondary nest to the rich area.
However, this kind of material deployment is not common and does not scale up.
This time, the food transported by thousands of paving ant worker ants was enough to support an army of about 10,000 people in a short-term war, and it was obvious that the side-nest of the paver ant barbarians near the "bridgehead" itself could not digest so much food.
The Eagle suggests reporting to the protagonist immediately, but Rambo argues that no definitive evidence of the enemy's buildup has been found, and that the stockpiling of rations may only be a precursor to the enemy's military operations.
At the time, Lambotu thought that the protagonist was still on the front lines of the war, and thought that the protagonist should be informed of this later, so as not to distract the protagonist on the battlefield.
Rambo convinces the Flying, so "Waterfront City" begins to prepare for the battle, and at the same time increases the intensity of the flying knights to go out on patrol.
Now, at any time during the day, a group of Flying Knights scouts near the Paving Ant Barbarian's side nest, changing a group of watchers every three hours.
The news that came back gradually confirmed that the Paving Ant Barbarian Army did have military plans.
By the next day, a total of two convoys had arrived at the secondary nest of the paver ant barbarians, and none of the worker ants in the two convoys had left.
Then a third wave arrived.
The third wave was special in that they didn't carry food, but there were a lot of males in the team. It seems that this is the standing guard of the paving ant king and the kings.
These kings and kings' convoys, supplemented by the ordinary worker ants in the newly arrived grain caravanserais, could immediately form a well-organized and powerful army.
Rambotu and Flyhawk estimated that, judging by the number of paver ants and worker ants that arrived, the enemy could send at least four legions of 10,000 warriors.
Such an army may be regarded as a very powerful military force on the north bank of the Great River, and there are few ant tribes around the territory of the Paving Ant Barbarians who can withstand the attack of such an army.
However, as the military commander of the "bridgehead", Lambotu knew that he was completely capable of holding the fortress on his own.
Because the protagonist had been arranged before, he still asked the dragon eagle to notify the protagonist in time according to the plan.
The flying knight who reported the news rushed to the frontal battlefield first, and found that the protagonist was not here, so he rushed to "Dongyang City" according to the instructions of the good king.
When the protagonist learns about the situation, he immediately gets up and prepares to return to the north.
However, before leaving, the Flying Knight Courier comes to report to the protagonist, and the Good King brings him an information packet.
The protagonist originally planned to return to the frontal battlefield after the events of "Dongyang City" ended, but after all, after a few days, the battle situation on the frontal battlefield should also change decisively.
Sure enough, the message sent by the Good Man King shows that in the first few days after the protagonist leaves, the Big-Headed Ant Kingdom army becomes more and more passive, and finally, after paying a heavy price, has to retreat to the defense line that the protagonist has asked the Good Guy Army to temporarily build.
This defense line provided the Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army with sufficient geographical advantages, and the slight superiority of the Paving Ant Barbarian Army could not be carried out here, and the two sides once again fought a stalemate tug-of-war.
Soon, however, reinforcements from the north completely upset the balance of the battlefield.
This support army is really a partial division sent by the Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army before.
Both detachments conquered their objectives as scheduled, slaughtering the weak Paving Ant Barbarian Army in the two lost secondary nests.
Subsequently, the two partial divisions joined forces and marched south from the north to the frontal battlefield.
The arrival of this army, as well as the replenishment of troops and food from the north that had been cut off before, made the kings of the Paving Ant Barbarian Army feel bad.
However, at this time, the paving ant king was still desperate to compete with the big-headed ant kingdom army on the ground.
After a battle that lasted all day, from dawn to sunset, the Paving Ant Barbarian Army was finally driven back to the lair.
Although the Big-headed Ant Kingdom army suffered equally heavy losses, they completed the siege of the nest occupied by the enemy.
Street fighting in the nest, inch by inch, may continue for a few more days, but the Paving Ant Barbarian Army has been cut off from all foreign aid, and defeat is only a matter of time.
Perhaps you don't have to wait for the second wave of reinforcements from the main nest to arrive, and the battle will be decided.