[Qingqiu City] can no longer hold on for a long time. The protagonist sees this rationally and does not want to make a desperate move out of anger.
After this explosion and raid, the loss of the defenders alone would require the queen ants left behind in the nest to give birth to their fullest for half a year to make up for the loss. But will the Destroyer give the defenders half a year?
Not to mention that almost all the ballistae were lost, and the fire bombs were also consumed a lot. Most of the time, the defenders had to risk their lives to block the road, barely ensuring that their position was not lost.
The most sensible way is to break out and preserve your vitality for a comeback.
But even if they give up here and break out, where can the Divine Envoy King's army continue to resist?
The reason why this original main nest was converted into a fortress was because it was the strongest nest, but in the end it only withstood for a week before it was crumbling under the enemy's self-destruction.
Further south, except for [Sitong City], the other sub-hives are undefendable and have been abandoned. They are blank areas where the enemy can drive straight into.
Even [Sitong City] is far less steep and smaller than [Qingqiu City], and the protagonist does not believe that there are conditions for establishing a new line of defense there.
In fact, if the enemy's White-bellied Destroyer cannot be suppressed, the protagonist does not believe that any ant nest has the conditions to hold on for a long time. Just like a strong medieval castle, it suddenly became extremely fragile after the advent of cannon and explosives.
Further southeast from [Sitong City], there are a large number of sub-nests that have just been relocated and newly built, and have not yet fully restored productivity.
In this area, there are also important places such as [New Yancheng], [Malachite City], and [Dongyang City]. Once this last piece of territory is lost, the Legion of God's Envoy King will be pushed back to primitive society.
If that happens, the protagonist can only consider leading his troops to escape into the southern mountains or even further swamp areas.
There are a large number of indigenous ants such as the Hunter Ant in the southern mountainous area. Although they cannot withstand the Destroyer's attack in the end, the complex terrain and numerous indigenous tribes can give the Angel King's army a chance to deal with it.
There is an insurmountable large body of water between the swamp area and the area currently occupied by the Destroyers. The Destroyers cannot threaten the swamp area until they can open up the land passage to the southern mountainous area.
Even if the Destroyer reaches the swamp, there are dense swamps and islands everywhere, which is a natural chasm for the Destroyer who cannot wade.
Although there are rampant parasitic ants and war beasts in the area, at least this enemy is much easier to deal with than the Destroyer. The God Envoy King Legion has established a firm foothold in the area and built several nests, which can be regarded as a foundation for revival.
Unknowingly, the protagonist has pessimistically thought about his retreat after being completely driven away from the south of the river. He is at his wits' end and can't think of any way to contain the Destroyer's invasion.
If you escape to the swamp area, you can indeed survive, but rebuilding the country is not an easy task, and even returning to the current social level is difficult.
For example, there are no salt mines or copper mines found in the swamp area. These two things are very important to the Legion of the Divine Envoy King.
Salt is an essential mineral element that preserves cured meat for long winters, and plays a role in a number of other productions.
If we can barely overcome it without salt, it will not reduce the level of productivity. Once the only source of copper ore is lost, [Malachite], the Angel King's army will lose copper weapons and tools, and will have to use gravel tools again.
In swampy areas, even suitable gravel is very rare, and only silt and sludge are the most abundant.
After the productivity dropped significantly, it would be difficult for the Divine Envoy Army to process wood and fiber, and the production of ballistae and net ropes would also become more difficult.
Without the ballistae, copper jaw knives and protective nets, the advantage in facing parasitic ants and war beasts would be lost, and it would be difficult to even protect oneself in swamp areas.
These hidden dangers are like a complete chain, one link after another, making it possible for the Divine Envoy King's Army to fall completely into irreversible disaster.
The more the protagonist thinks about it, the more frightened he becomes. He feels that it is better not to escape to the swamp to survive unless it is absolutely necessary. Historically, no great civilization has thrived in dangerous places such as jungles, frozen soil, and swamps. Only in highly competitive places like the plains can powerful civilizations emerge.
But continuing to hold on to [Qingqiu City] is just a waste of thousands of elite soldiers every day.
Now the rear territory has not returned to normal metabolism, and the recruitment of new warriors will have to wait at least one or two months. The protagonist loses one warrior at hand, and he really cannot afford to lose it.
The protagonist found the senior management such as Lai Gun and others, held a brief meeting, and made a plan to retreat.
There are only two ways to retreat. The secret passage left by the most old king was too narrow. At most, more than a thousand ants could be evacuated in one night. However, the exit of this passage is hidden and far away from the ant mound. Destroyers occasionally pass by there. If you evacuate at night, you can ensure concealment and safety.
The protagonist decided to let some worker ants with little fighting ability protect the queen, young ants and some important supplies and evacuate tonight.
The large force was preparing to evacuate from the spacious sacred passage. Although this passage was also damaged in the explosion, it remained basically intact, and new openings were still opened on the ground.
After the explosion, the protagonist immediately blocked the road with stones. The enemy ignored this dead end for the time being and left no garrison.
From this passage, you can avoid the Destroyer who has already controlled the upper half of the lair, and avoid extremely disadvantageous street fighting.
Because it takes time to mobilize the army, the protagonist takes advantage of the night when the enemy is resting and there is no fighting between the two sides. The protagonist hurriedly assigns tasks and prepares to break out and retreat after the preparations are completed in the early morning.
Because there are radar destroyers among the enemies, they can detect the movements of large forces. In order to prevent the enemy from fully blocking the main breakout force, the protagonist must leave a force in the nest to launch a counterattack in advance to attract the enemy's attention.
King Fuye volunteered to take on this task.
The protagonist knows what King Fuye is thinking. Earlier today, King Fuye came to have a deep talk with the protagonist.
After the destruction of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom, the Pavement Ant clan was the only bloodline left in the Divine Envoy King's legion (King Fuye refused to admit that the hives living in meager existence on the north bank of the river were of the same clan).
Now the God Envoy King's army is also facing a crisis, and may abandon alien races such as the Pavement Ants at any time. King Fuye hoped that he and his army of Pavement Ants, who had always been so obsessed with soy sauce, could make some contribution and let the God Envoy King take more care of their clan and not abandon them.
The protagonist agreed, and the Pavement Ant Army was responsible for carrying out the fatal feint attack mission.
