The protagonist returned to the "Bridgehead" three days later. Although he was alone along the way, he followed familiar routes and had campsites he had used before, so there was no danger.
The Flying Eagle and the Mantis Tiger each returned a day ago, faster than the protagonist.
After being attacked by a wasp last time, the protagonist attracted the pursuers and they were both safe and sound.
However, because their mounts fled in panic, it took them some time to identify their location.
Being able to return to the nest was finally thanks to the fly mount. For the two ants, without pheromone guidance, they could only roughly confirm their position based on the sun, and could not find the path home at all.
But fly mounts remember their fly stables, whether temporary or permanent, because they contain delicious honeydew.
Stimulated by the honeydew, the two flying knights' mounts did not return to their nest along the original route. Instead, they chose to return in a straight line, traveling a lot less distance than the protagonists.
When the protagonist heard the news, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was worried that Flying Eagle and Mantis Tiger would not come back. In the end, he did not overestimate them, but he underestimated Fly.
It seems that even insects, which the protagonist thinks have very low intelligence, have abilities that cannot be underestimated. Perhaps because their brain structure is very simple, their instincts become more powerful.
Since the fly mount has the ability to find its way back to its nest, the protagonist is not afraid of letting the flying knight go on a long journey alone. At least the flying knight he spent a lot of honeydew to cultivate can have a wider range of uses.
——I am the dividing line——
After the protagonist returns to the "Bridgehead", there is still no war breaking out here.
Judging from the current signs, the pavement ant barbarian nest not far away must have discovered something abnormal here.
However, maybe they mobilized their troops to participate in the expedition deep into the dense forest in the far north. This mystery still lingers in the protagonist's mind, making him vaguely feel that solving this mystery will be very important; Japanese brown ants, or black-headed ants, are a troublesome native species.
The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army did not take any military measures against the "bridgehead" under their noses, except that Pavement Ant scouts would sneak around from time to time.
This seems a bit unbelievable to the protagonist. After all, anyone with a bit of strategic vision can see what a "bridgehead" hanging alone on the north bank of the river means and how fragile it is.
But strategic vision is something that neither the pavement ants nor the male ants of Big-headed ants may have. After all, a war can last for hundreds or even thousands of years. It has to use all the national power and invest a lot of resources year after year to consume each other. This is a complete loss-making business in the eyes of the human world.
If the two sides can accept the river as the boundary, conduct peace talks, and use the strength of the two countries to concentrate all their efforts, the indigenous ants on their respective borders will not be able to stop the expansion of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom or the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom, and the two countries can Obtain more territory and resources, and breed more members of the same race.
But neither of these two countries did this, preferring to spend half the year across the river sighing and accumulating strength, and then fighting in winter and spring.
For humans, war is a continuation of politics, but for ants, war is politics itself. There is no peace with the enemy, only stalemate, conquest or being conquered. The winner takes all and the loser disappears.
This is also what the ants’ unique warlike genes endow them with.
——I am the dividing line——
"Bridgehead" currently appears calm on the surface, but there may be undercurrents underneath.
But on another battlefield, the war was already in full swing.
The protagonist soon met the messenger sent by the King of Public Security. The messenger spent several days passing through the northern territory of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom and arrived at "Linshui City".
Since outside messengers are not allowed to pass through the rope bridge, after "Linshui City" sent a messenger to inform the protagonist stationed at the "Bridgehead", the protagonist returned to "Linshui City" and met the messenger.
The messenger came to ask for help. When the main force of the main nest regained the territory lost in winter, the progress was not smooth. It could even be said that they were stuck in a quagmire and could not move forward.
This surprises the protagonist.
You must know that the troops dispatched by the main nest this time include 60 legions and 90,000 soldiers. The commanders are all veteran generals who have been on the battlefield. There are also elite troops like the Public Security Legion that have absorbed the military experience of the Divine Envoy King's legion.
The number of enemies they faced was less than 100,000, but they were distributed in three fallen sub-nests.
From the protagonist's point of view, both sides have about the same strength. The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army is scattered and lacks sufficient food and supplies, while the Big-Headed Ant Kingdom Army can concentrate its forces and the material resources of the entire kingdom's territory. This year's war of recovery may involve greater losses, but it should not lead to a stalemate or even make it difficult to move forward.
However, this messenger didn't know much about the situation. Only the king as the commander of the legion knew the specific details.
The purpose of the King of Public Security sending a messenger is to hope that the protagonist can send troops to support him. From this, we can also see the current predicament of the Wang Guojun.
The protagonist decided to first understand the situation on the battlefield before making a decision. After all, the threat to the "Bridgehead" has not yet been eliminated, and the strength of the Divine Envoy King's army is also stretched thin.
The protagonist gets on Xiaoqing II and flies to the southwest.
A little while later, the protagonist arrived at the battlefield.
This battlefield is very conspicuous. In broad daylight, no guidance is needed at all. It can be seen from a long distance in the air.
It was an open field that might have had dense vegetation. However, after a severe late-spring cold natural disaster, the vegetation suffered a big blow.
The ensuing war between two races and two kingdoms of ants completely destroyed the ecology of this area.
The defenders cleared the vegetation near the strongholds to build the legion's front, and the attackers also set up camps nearby and also cut down the vegetation.
The result was that a large, bare yellow spot suddenly appeared on the green field, exposing the earthy background.
And during the day, this yellow spot was dyed dark again, where countless ants were fighting anxiously, and the corpses were covered layer by layer.
Until near dusk, the black tide will recede in two directions, taking away the corpses of friendly or enemy troops that each can find - these corpses are also an important source of military rations when supplies are tight.
The protagonist found the battlefield based on this large black spot that was very eye-catching from a long distance away.
The two armies fighting on the front line stretched for several meters. What surprised the protagonist was that from the front, the Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army was not able to surround the fallen sub-nest.
The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army stationed inside established a solid defense line, blocking the Big-headed Ant Kingdom to the southwest.
