At noon, near the lair of "Target D" on the north bank of the river.
Countless ants of the two races are fighting fiercely, and the battle lines are so intertwined that it is almost difficult to see the specific battle lines. There is killing, despair and death everywhere.
The ground was piled with corpses, including those of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army, and more corpses belonging to the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army. These yellow or black corpses covered the ground densely, radiating around the only entrance and exit of the nest, and then extended to the water's edge not far away.
On the water surface, there are also a large number of corpses and body parts, mixed with plant leaves and roots, washed by the polluted turbid water, flowing little by little to the distant downstream, and then disappearing, as if they had never appeared in this world.
This nest, which is heavily fortified by the Big-headed Ant Kingdom's army, is surrounded by shallow streams on the north and west sides. The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army must cross the enemy's blockade on the water to attack the heavily defended "Target D" nest.
To this end, the pavement ant barbarian army collected a large amount of leaves, dead branches and other materials on the spot, and built a floating bridge connected by ant flesh on the calm surface of the stream.
Countless Pavement Ant Barbarian Army warriors used their mandibles and jointed limbs to connect and fix scattered leaves and branches together to build a solid bridge.
More soldiers from the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army crossed the water and the bodies of their companions and fought forward regardless of their own safety.
The Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army obviously realized that it must take advantage of the terrain to consolidate its defense. A large number of elite warriors deployed along the banks of the stream, blocking the offensive of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army while trying to counterattack to destroy the pontoon bridge.
Relying on their numerical superiority, the pavement ant barbarian army finally broke through the defense line on the water bank, and then advanced towards the entrance and exit of the nest.
The Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army resisted step by step, while the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army struggled. The corpses of both sides covered the ground and the running water, but they could not cover the flames of war.
Until the sun set in the west, the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army had no choice but to withdraw its troops. Another tragic day finally passed. Apart from leaving more corpses, both sides made no new progress.
The pavement ant barbarian army failed to invade the nest. They could only collect the materials for the pontoon and wait for it to be put into use the next day. The Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army also failed to completely defeat the offensive of the massive Pavement Ant Barbarian Army and achieve a decisive victory.
The battlefield has calmed down, let us turn our attention back to a few days ago.
After the King of Public Security led his troops to win a battle with great difficulty, because the nests on the border had been damaged by the enemy's fierce attack, after a dispute, the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom retreated to "Target D".
The reason why "Target D" was chosen as the defensive position is because it has an important strategic location, is an important transportation hub, and has several consecutive ant tunnels. The terrain here is also very dangerous. A gurgling stream flows through it. It is surrounded by water on both sides. The terrain is high, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. There is also a large underground lair built here, which is enough to accommodate a large number of troops and supplies for long-term stationing.
The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army followed the traces left by the Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army and quickly launched an attack on "Target D".
However, under the resolute resistance of the army led by the King of Public Security, the barbarian army of the pavement ants stormed the city and made no further progress within several days.
After realizing that "Target D" has strong defenses and favorable terrain barriers such as streams, it cannot be conquered in a short period of time. The Pavement Ant barbarian army changed its target, leaving its troops to contain the defenders of "Target D", while the main force turned to attack other places.
The Northern Expeditionary Army of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom in other areas did not have many troops stationed there, so the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army quickly recovered a large area of lost territory.
As the defeated armies of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom from all over the country poured into "Target D", the two armies in the north and south almost no longer existed, and the remaining main forces were gathered here.
As for the Pavement Ant barbarian army, as they regained a lot of territory, "Target D" became more and more like a sharp thorn in front of them, and they couldn't wait to pull it out quickly.
As a result, both sides began to continuously gather troops and supplies in the "Target D" area, preparing to fight to the death.
Once the pavement ant barbarian army wins, they will be able to take advantage of the victory to drive the big-headed ant kingdom army down the river. On the contrary, the Big-headed Ant Kingdom army will be able to wreak havoc on the land north of the river again.
This is a decisive battle that neither side wants to lose.
——I am the dividing line——
The fierce offensive and defensive battle has lasted for four or five days, and the police chief is getting more and more anxious.
Meetings with the top leaders of the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom are held every night. Except for the fallen general King D, the other four top leaders will exchange the latest battle situation every day and try to find a way to reverse the situation of the war.
But as time went by, the war situation became increasingly unfavorable to the Big-headed Ant Kingdom army.
The numerical and logistical advantages of the Pavement Ant barbarian army are becoming more and more obvious. They can put their troops into the attack regardless of losses, and they don't even care that a large number of warriors drown in the water because the pontoon bridge is overcrowded. No matter how many ants are lost, the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army can receive reinforcements and supplies from the nearest homeland.
On the other hand, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, although taking advantage of the terrain, gave full play to its combat effectiveness and achieved a very good exchange ratio on paper.
However, any soldier lost by the Northern Expedition cannot be compensated from the mainland in the short term. Neither the main nest nor most of the sub-nests have mobile troops that can be mobilized to support them. The top military officials could only watch as the troops they had on hand became thinner.
Compared with military strength, the most terrible thing is the food crisis.
At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, the food reserves of the Northern Expeditionary Army were below the warning line. They had been relying on supplies captured and scraped from the main nest to barely increase the inventory to one week.
However, as the Northern Expeditionary Army shifted from offensive to defensive, it could no longer rely on seizures to increase its grain reserves, and the Northern Expeditionary Army's granary was bottoming out little by little.
As the battle situation in "Target D" reached a stalemate, the suspended rope bridge of the already empty "Linshui City" no longer had a grain of food to support it. In addition to the previous food reserves, the Northern Expeditionary Army has collected the corpses of both the enemy and ourselves after the daily battle to maintain basic food consumption.
It can be said that the Northern Expedition has reached its end, a week or two earlier than the protagonist originally expected. If the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army continues to maintain its current attack intensity, the Northern Expedition Army may collapse and be destroyed within a week.
This is obviously not what the protagonist wants to see. The war potential of the Pavilion Ant Barbarians is stronger than originally expected. They can still provide a steady stream of troops and supplies, and they are far from being weakened by this war.
Therefore, after constantly receiving requests for assistance from the Northern Expeditionary Army, the protagonist decided to launch a backup plan to relieve some of the pressure on the frontal battlefield for the Northern Expeditionary Army.
