After returning to "Linshui City", the protagonist informed all the male ants, soldier ants and worker ants under his command about the enemy's evacuation.
The entire "Linshui City" immediately boiled with joy. In the eyes of the big-headed ants with simple and direct thinking, the enemy's withdrawal meant that they had failed, which meant that we had won the defensive battle this winter.
The protagonist shook his head. He felt that things were not that simple. The enemy's evacuation was not a retreat. They most likely changed their attack targets. It is possible that other sub-nests had already been attacked at this time. What the overall war situation will be like this winter will probably not be known until next spring.
However, the protagonist cannot dampen everyone's enthusiasm, and still acquiesces to everyone's optimistic view, and increases the meat supply for all ants the next day as a simple means of celebration.
The protagonist once again set foot on the land on the north bank of the river the next day.
The weather has been good these days and the temperature has warmed up a lot, making it suitable for outdoor activities.
Today, the protagonist expanded the scope of activities on the ground, but he still found no trace of the pavement ants' activities here. In addition to the temporary starting base, the protagonist did not find any other sub-nest of pavement ants here.
The protagonist also conducted a comprehensive search of this temporary departure base again, constructing a three-dimensional topographic map of this place in his mind.
The protagonist is very interested in this place because he considers that in the spring of next year, according to the preliminary counterattack plan, once the Big-headed Ant Kingdom army sets foot on the north bank of the river, they will need a solid bridgehead to deal with the madness of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army. Counterattack.
The river near "Linshui City" is the most suitable place to cross the river. The river here is the narrowest and the current is not too fast. As for the way to cross the river, the protagonist already has a clue.
But after crossing the river, how to withstand the enemy's counterattack still needs to be carefully considered.
The protagonist inspects the intact temporary departure base left by the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army to evaluate whether it can be directly used by me.
The protagonist is very satisfied with the geographical location of the temporary departure base. It is not far from "Linshui City" and the army crossing the river can arrive soon. There is no sub-nest of the pavement ant barbarians nearby, which means that the army that may cross the river in a short period of time will not be discovered, and there will be plenty of time to complete the construction and reconstruction of defense facilities.
In addition, the temporary departure base has several advantages:
First, the base is relatively large.
After all, it is a base that can accommodate a hundred thousand pavement ant barbarian army and a small amount of supplies. There will be no need for expansion at that time. It is completely sufficient to station tens of thousands of big-headed ant expeditionary troops and a large amount of supplies.
Second, the facilities are relatively complete.
The Pavement Ant Barbarians built this base according to the standard of building a nest. It is built underground at a high place in an open field. The terrain is about half a meter higher than the surrounding area. As long as there is no heavy rainfall, there is no need to worry about flooding. harm. It also has a complete drainage system inside like other nests, which can effectively solve the problem of water seeping into the nest. In the rainy season between spring and summer, flood protection is crucial for a nest.
Third, the surrounding resources are rich.
Based on the surrounding geography and vegetation, the protagonist estimates that food and other resources are very abundant here.
There are a large number of gravel seeds near the entrance and exit, which are uniform in size and can be used as ammunition for slingers without processing.
There is a large amount of fertile soil suitable for wild grass growth nearby, which can provide a large amount of grass seeds for the defenders. Insects living in the grass are also an important source of meat.
There are exposed layers of clay on the land near the river bank, which can provide raw materials for building above-ground forts or firing pottery.
These points make the protagonist very satisfied. But there are many dissatisfactions.
The most important point is that when the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army built this temporary departure base, it was not built according to the requirements of a nest that needed to be fortified.
It may be because the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army only used this as a starting position close to local territory, and because it is located on the north bank of the river, there is no need to consider defense issues, so there is no investment in the design and construction of structures related to defense functions.
For example, this base is relatively close to the ground, and the base space as a whole has a lower height and a wider plane. Once an enemy army launches an attack, they only need to travel a short vertical distance to penetrate deep into the innermost part of the base.
Being too shallow from the surface also results in a weak temperature control capability of the base, making it cold in winter and hot in summer, which is not a good experience for the ants stationed there.
In the rainy season, too thin a top layer of soil cannot stop the infiltration of large amounts of rainwater. Even with drainage facilities, some areas will turn into swamps.
Structurally, this base has nest chambers where worker ants (soldier ants) and male ants live respectively, but there is no queen ant dormitory, incubation room, or nursery room. The ideal bridgehead position envisaged by the protagonist must have a place for the queen ant, so that new warriors can be continuously produced to fill the war consumption while the food reserves are sufficient.
In addition, the base is still a short distance from the river bank. Once surrounded by the enemy, it may lose contact with the country on the south bank of the river and be trapped in an isolated city.
In the protagonist's opinion, even though this temporary starting base for the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army can be used as a bridgehead in the future, it still needs drastic reconstruction, and troops must be invested to maintain the communication line with the mainland.
The amount of work, time, and troops required are very considerable, even as much as building a new nest.
The protagonist couldn't make up his mind for a while, whether to make full use of this temporary starting base for reconstruction, or to simply start from scratch and find a suitable location to build a new fortress.
Both have advantages and disadvantages, and starting a new one requires a lot of labor and time. During this period, if it is discovered by the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army and invites a large-scale attack by the enemy, the difficulty and risk will obviously be greater.
But once the construction is completed, the defense of the fortress built according to the protagonist's design will obviously be several levels higher than that of the nest rebuilt on the basis of the temporary departure base.
Although the protagonist is hesitant, the plan to counterattack the north bank of the river in the spring was proposed by the protagonist himself at the king's meeting in the main nest, and he is also obliged to implement this plan. Therefore, no matter how great the difficulty is, it cannot stop the protagonist from leading the army to launch a counterattack.
Now, there are no other kings around the protagonist, so on the one hand, there is no one to restrain him, and he can make his own plans for the coming year, but on the other hand, he has no one to discuss with, and he must bear the corresponding responsibilities alone.
The protagonist puts these messy thoughts behind and decides to return to the ground first to see if there is a suitable location if a new fortress needs to be built.
