Through this fire reconnaissance, the protagonist has a better understanding of the fighting methods between ants and bees and their respective advantages and disadvantages. But the information about the size of the bee swarm in the hive that he most wanted to know was still unclear.
He had previously estimated that there were about 10,000 bees in the hive, but during exploratory attacks, at best, only a few hundred bees came out to fight.
This may be because many worker bees are still out foraging, or more likely because the bees never regard dozens of ants as enemies that need to be dealt with with all their strength.
There are only a few hundred bees. The protagonist can't believe that such a large hive with such a dense frequency of entry and exit can just click on the bee's mouth!
However, through fire reconnaissance, something was still gained. At least the protagonist self-vetoed the unrealistic plan of preparing a large-scale frontal attack.
Bees and ants are different species and have very different fighting methods.
Bees are obviously at a disadvantage when it comes to ground combat. This is because they are flying insects. Although they can move on the ground, their body structure is not suitable for fighting with ants.
For example, bees have chewing-sucking mouthparts. Although they also have large jaws, bees are much larger than ants, but their large jaws are about the same size. Simply speaking, their bite force is weaker. Moreover, the straw structure in the bee's mouthparts also limits the use of its mandibles.
After checking the information package for hunting sickle ants, the protagonist discovers that the bees' mandibles may be more suitable for building nests rather than fighting.
In this way, although a single bee is larger in size and has greater body strength, its main weapon determines that their individual combat effectiveness is at most the same as that of ordinary big-headed ant soldiers, and is not as good as the scythe-hunting ferocious ant warriors.
And if fighting in an array, not to mention the low "arrangement ability" of bees, just their large size and wings determine that their array density is far lower than that of the ant army.
This will cause any bee on the front line to actually face the attack of three to four ants whose combat power is equivalent to its own. Being outnumbered is obviously a huge disadvantage.
But if the bees use their best tactics, trouble will come to the ant army.
At the end of today's battle, the bees have been taking advantage of the air and want to use stingers to attack.
Although the hunting ants were well prepared, no casualties were suffered. But this is because the ants who are hunters are good at dealing with this situation, and the number of both sides is relatively small.
If replaced by a dense formation of big-headed soldier ants, firstly, their formation is too tight and it is difficult to avoid the high-altitude dive attacks of bees. Secondly, the eyesight of the big-headed soldier ants is even worse, making it difficult to provide early warning.
The protagonist feels that if a large force attacks frontally, it will inevitably suffer heavy losses from the air attack by the bee swarm. The male ants, which were originally heavily protected, will not be safer than ordinary soldiers before the air attack, and they are even easier to target because of their larger size.
And even the predatory ants have nothing to do with the bees that stay in the air without landing, let alone the big-headed ants. Unless the ants can make a surprise attack directly into the hive and drag the battle into a melee, they will not be able to eliminate the main force of the bee army.
This is the main reason that prompted the protagonist to abandon the original plan.
But he soon had an alternative.
Humans have a very long history of collecting wild beehives. Huge humans are defenseless against the bees' counterattacks, but the ancients who lacked protection obviously would not let the bees counterattack. They had their own secret weapons - smoke and fire.
These human foragers would locate the hive in advance and then come back at night.
Because bees are diurnal creatures and do not go out at night. There are no sentinels around the hive, so human collectors can approach the hive calmly and make preparations.
They did not come empty-handed, but carried torches and prepared smoking materials such as fresh green leaves.
After the mixture of fuel and smoke is ignited with a fire, thick black smoke comes out. You only need to introduce or blow the black smoke into the hive, and soon a group of dizzy bees will be smoked out.
Bees that have poor vision at night and are fainted from smoke pose no threat at all. Only a few bees can accurately determine where the enemy is and fight back, but to no avail.
After most of the bees escape, human collectors can take away the hive, clean out the adult bees that have been smoked to death and faint, and return home with a load of trophies: beeswax, honey, bee pupae, etc.
This technique is very simple, and all the required raw materials can be prepared by ants.
In fact, in the battle against parasitic ants in the southern hilly area the year before last, due to the stalemate, the protagonist also led the troops to use smoke tactics at night, and the effect was remarkable.
At that time, the Divine Envoy King's Army also used natural knotweed as a smoke pipe to improve efficiency.
Therefore, the Angel King Legion is no stranger to smoke tactics. However, in subsequent battles, the Divine Envoy King's legions were either on the defensive side, or their combat power was not so troublesome to crush, so this tactic was never used again.
After deciding on the next tactic, the protagonist immediately ordered his subordinates to start preparations.
Mantis Tiger's newly formed Seventh Legion has no previous experience in smoke tactics, but after the protagonist passes the information package to them, they can prepare materials according to the gourd's instructions.
It took a whole day for the ants to collect enough fuel (dry branches, dry leaves, insect droppings, etc.), smoking materials (fresh plants) and pipes (stemgrass stems cut into segments with stone knives).
That night, the protagonist personally led the team to carry out the smoke operation.
——I am the dividing line——
The weather was good, and the wind was still rare this night. Half of the moon was in the sky, bringing enough light to the ground without light pollution.
The bees don't like to be active at night, so they all retreat into the hive where they think they are safe. There is no warning outside.
Ants also don't like to go out at night, but they can still perform their tasks faithfully under the protagonist's orders.
This is the advantage of civilization. Civilized creatures can effectively overcome their own fears and discomforts, and can survive in various environments to which they are not adapted.
Human ancestors were also diurnal creatures, and many humans suffered from night blindness due to malnutrition. However, gradually more and more humans began to engage in various activities at night to expand their limited life time. Finally, there are all kinds of modern "nightlife".
The ants' nightlife is destined to be full of blood.
Without the interference of bees, the ants easily made several trips back and forth to pile up the fuel and smoke on the tree fork platform under the hive tree hole - the lifting platform for the bees.
The ants moved slightly and did not wake up the bees who were about to be in trouble!
