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The outdoor temperature dropped to the freezing point along with the falling and melting snowflakes. Insects that survived in late autumn died one after another in this cold wave. The survivors hid under the shelter of dead branches and leaves at night and never dared to go out again. .
In the [Bridgehead], as long as you avoid the outside rooms with windows such as the monitoring room, most of the nests are still very warm. Compared with the cold outside, it is simply heaven.
In the underground part of the ant mound, the temperature can even reach 20 degrees, which is really warm as spring. This is all due to the warming effect of the earth.
No wonder that in some cold places, if it is impossible to build a thick house, then digging a nest in the ground and using the earth to keep warm is one of the best options. Many animals that can survive the winter also rely on underground caves to survive.
The warriors of the God's Envoy King were in the shelter, temporarily ignoring the cold wind, snowfall and ice outside the lair, and enjoying the delicious food. The protagonist held another banquet in the [Bridgehead] tonight, entertaining all the soldiers with sumptuous food.
If yesterday's banquet was to wash away the fatigue of the soldiers who fought hard all day, then today's banquet is a farewell banquet. The theme is different, but the food is the same. At least I can fill my stomach instead of going hungry day after day.
After controlling a large territory, and with the promotion of agricultural technology, the Divine Envoy King's army became more abundant in supplies. As long as no major famine occurs, there is no need to worry about food shortages.
As winter officially arrives, the protagonist plans to take the 1st Legion to retreat to [Linshui City] to spend the winter, so tonight's banquet is to say goodbye to the other defenders.
Compared with [Bridgehead], [Linshui City] is safer and has more complete facilities. The reason why the 1st Legion was taken away was because this beetle legion was of no use in the underground defense battles in winter, and the beetles would consume a large amount of inventory supplies.
Therefore, the protagonist plans to use Rambo Rui's 5th legion, Ramboser's 6th legion, Rambofo II's 13th legion, Persimmon's 15th legion, and Lizi's 16th legion, plus 4 ballista squads. , as the defense force of [Bridgehead]. The full strength totaled 12,700 soldiers, but due to battle losses, the actual number of soldiers is slightly lower than this number.
There are also about 2,000 worker ants and a queen ant in this fortress as auxiliary forces. The queen ant is ordered not to exit the reproductive mode even in winter, so as to make up for the battle damage in time.
In addition, there is a large amount of grain stored in the granary of [Bridgehead], which is more than enough to last until spring, and can also be used to consume the queen ants for mass reproduction. The granary here also stores a lot of honeydew luxuriously in clay pots as a reward for battles.
In winter, the [Bridgehead] will undoubtedly be the first line of defense against the Destroyer's attack, and its strategic location is crucial.
Like the Pavement Ants, the Destroyers are capable of maneuvering and attacking in winter, and the Destroyers' winter combat capabilities are even better than those of the Pavement Ants.
Last winter, the Destroyers captured the northern nest of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom, which directly led to the great defeat of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom this year. The Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom has already stepped on the verge of national subjugation and extinction. Whether it will survive until next spring is still unknown.
The protagonist attaches great importance to the winter fighting power of the Destroyers and regards them as a fighting nation in winter. That's why such complete and solid defense facilities were built at the [Bridgehead] while leaving so many garrison troops.
Just in case, the protagonist also stationed five field legions in [Linshui City] across the water, including Gun's 1st legion, Mantis's 7th legion, Xixi's 8th legion, Spade Elephant's The 9th Legion and the 10th Legion of Jia Niu.
In addition, the pavement ants also retreated here, otherwise there would be no protagonist in the [Bridgehead]. He was worried that the big-headed ants would bully the pavement ants. This was not without precedent.
As the second line of defense, this line of defense will be an important line of defense to cover the south bank of the river and defend the rope bridge in case the Destroyer captures the [Bridgehead].
In addition, in order to prevent the Destroyers from invading southward through the frozen river, the sub-hives along the river have also strengthened their armaments. Although the protagonist cannot spare the main army to guard them, these secondary nests have doubled the garrison army and rebuilt underground defenses according to new styles, so they are not easy to conquer.
Lambofei's 2nd Legion and 17-24th Legion are stationed in the main nest [Qingqiu City], while the 25th-32nd Legion are stationed in various important places in the territory, which together form the winter defense system of the Divine Envoy King's Legion. .
The protagonist's plan has been scheduled for the beginning of next year. He plans to expand the main legions of the Divine Envoy King's Legion to 50-60 and expand the Beetle Legion to 50-60 after the spring's economic activities start normally and the food income stabilizes. After 3, adopt the strategy of first south and then north to eliminate the two main enemies.
The Destroyer was on the defensive, setting up defenses along the river. The protagonist plans to pacify the parasitic ants in the southern swamp area first, so that the rear will have no worries, and then go north to fight the Destroyer.
I am the dividing line
The next day, at noon, although the sun came out and the sunshine was very warm, the air temperature was still only around single digits. The ground was covered with traces of ice, and floating ice ballast appeared in the river.
It was already the warmest time at noon. The protagonist asked the 1st Legion to cross the river along the rope bridge and rush to [Linshui City].
But for this short stretch of road, the 1st Corps still had an extremely difficult time walking on the widened rope bridge.
Almost all the available ant silk in the entire [Bridgehead] was made into felt and silk wadding, which was draped on the backs of beetles and ants to allow their body temperatures to drop as slowly as possible.
But beetles and big-headed ants are not pavement ants or destroyers after all. There are still beetles and ants freezing along the way.
If they can be rescued, other companions will work hard to carry these frozen people into [Linshui City]. After entering there, most of the frozen people could recover, but a few could never get up or move again.
The most tragic ones were those who froze on the rope bridge and then fell straight into the glacier.
A medium-sized beetle just fell down, causing a small wave of waves on the wide river surface. It floated on the river, and after a slight struggle, the cold river water took away its life, and it refused to give it any more charity.
Many ants were also unable to stand after being frozen. They fell from the mesh holes of the rope bridge or were blown down by the wind. Obviously, they also died.
During this forced march of the 1st Legion, three beetles and more than 60 warriors were sacrificed, more than were sacrificed in the battle with the Destroyer.
But it was wise to move today. By that night, the temperature dropped sharply again, and heavy snow fell like feathers, quickly covering the ground. The river surface is also freezing at a speed that is almost visible to the naked eye, and the flowing water lingers on the surface, and is eventually replaced by ice.
An unusually strong cold wave swept across the land from north to south, causing both sides of the river to quickly fall from the warm autumn to a white hell covered in silver!
