I pushed Chapter 86 yesterday, but it was lost due to system issues! I didn’t save the manuscript, so I could only write it again from memory! Cry to death!
There will be a second chapter later!
——I am the dividing line——
The red fire ant army retreated again. It was a retreat, not a defeat.
Their retreat was orderly, taking away wounded soldiers and trapped persons in addition to corpses.
Although the Red Fire Ant Army fought against the Angel King's Army for the first time today, the two attacks they launched were very methodical. Although they were a little arrogant, their military quality could be seen to be first-rate.
In the first attack, the Red Fire Ant Army dispatched nearly half of its troops. This attack was more like a fire reconnaissance, testing out the defense strength of the God Envoy King's army and its long-range attack methods.
The second time, the Red Fire Ant Army sent out the other half of the army with more physical strength, and adjusted the defensive deployment in a short period of time, weakening the long-range firepower that the God Envoy King's army relied on.
This time, the mighty red fire ant army almost broke through the city wall defense line of the Angel King's army using a full-line attack and key breakthroughs, making the protagonist realize that its frontal defense was still lacking.
If it weren't for the magical ant squad that suddenly descended and repelled the enemy, today's battle situation would have been completely different. Moreover, the red imported fire ants actually still have some remaining strength, but they did not choose to stalk them, but stopped their losses in time.
Subsequently, the red fire ant army chose to retreat.
It was getting dusk at this time, and the sun was already in the west. The flying knights monitored all the way and confirmed that the red fire ant army had indeed withdrawn to the tree nest in the Golden Beach Forest, preparing to spend another night in the nest snatched from the ant tribe.
"Old Heart" guessed why the red fire ant army retreated instead of setting up camp outside [Xinyang City].
These red fire ants were obviously overconfident today. They only sent their own elites into battle lightly and did not bring any slave auxiliaries from other ant tribes.
It is estimated that the fire ant army thought that this battle would be the same as the conquest of the ant clan, and that it would resolve the battle effortlessly, and then spend the night in [Xinyang City], capturing a group of new captives as slaves.
The red fire ant army's behavior is quite a bit like "destroy this morning food". During the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Qing of Qi was at war with the State of Jin, and the two sides agreed to a decisive battle one morning. The next day, the armies of both sides lined up for battle in Ta. Qi Qinggong did not allow the troops to have breakfast, and insisted on annihilating the enemy before returning for breakfast. As a result, the Qi army was defeated... Later, "destroy this morning meal" was used to describe the eagerness to destroy the enemy and the confidence to win.
But an army with such courage often fails to achieve its goals. Just like the red fire ant army this time.
Without slave auxiliaries, these fire ants cannot even eat or clean themselves. The bodies of fire ants have evolved to be very suitable for fighting, but their short, thick jaws and stingers, which are suitable for fighting, cannot be used for eating, cleaning, digging holes and building nests.
Without the slave auxiliaries, these fire ant warriors would only starve to death.
Therefore, the fire ant army can only withdraw to the tree nest where the slave auxiliary soldiers are stationed before dark to eat and rest. These slave auxiliary soldiers only arrived after the red fire ant army captured this place yesterday.
The behavior of the red fire ants is also very similar to that of the Spartans. The Spartans' slaves, the Helots, were responsible for farming and providing food, while the Spartans were responsible for fighting. It's just that the Spartans can still eat by themselves and don't need slaves to feed them.
——I am the dividing line——
The fire ant army has not given up its plan to capture [Xinyang City].
Their supreme commander recalled the order of the Council of Elders in his country,3 which was to control the production of honeydew and crow honey. He must try his best to complete the task. If he cannot achieve the goal despite his best efforts, it means that his own strength is insufficient, not the cowardice that red fire ants hate most.
The army of red fire ants is out again, this time they bring slave auxiliaries with them. These auxiliaries are mainly burrowing ants, numbering about a thousand.
After receiving the warning from the Flying Knight, the Divine Envoy King's legions were still in full preparedness. Today it was the 1st Army Corps that was on the front line of defense, while the other units served as reserves.
After having the slave auxiliary soldiers, the fire ants did not rush to attack. Instead, the slave auxiliary soldiers first cleared the obstacles on the charge path.
Slave burrowing ants cut away obstructive vegetation, move stones, and fill in potholes. This project continued until the sling attack range of the Angel King's legions was within the attack range.
The Angel King's army also used ballistae to attack these busy burrowing ants from a distance, but they were far apart from each other and the ballistae hit rate was very low. The protagonist quickly stopped this waste of ammunition.
The burrowing ants did not retreat until they were within the range of the sling, having suffered a certain amount of losses.
The army of red fire ants then launched an attack, this time directly committing their entire army.
Due to the smoother road construction, the attack speed of the fire ant army was very fast, but they invested more troops at a time and the density was higher than yesterday. The ballistae and slings still caused a lot of damage to them.
The fire ants' attack failed this time. The protagonist finally mobilized the reserve team for support, and the ballistae continued to attack the enemies who had not yet climbed the city wall.
The fire ants suffered heavy casualties and quickly retreated. The protagonist did not notice that the fire ants took the opportunity to take a few slings on the ground while retreating.
The commanders of the red imported fire ants do not dare to pay too many casualties. Although the red fire ant country claims to have a million-strong army, in fact, only one-third of the most effective combatants of the red fire ant tribe are slaves or vassals.
The red fire ants have always cherished their own military strength. Once their own military strength is too low, they may not be able to suppress the vassal ant tribe, and even the slaves will be ready to move.
The fire ants cannot forget that their original relatives were driven away after the slave rebellion and starved to death.
This time they carried too few auxiliary troops and did not have enough cannon fodder. It would be unwise to use their own elites to fight.
So the fire ant army changed their tactics. They began to use a small number of fire ants and auxiliary troops to test the entire city wall in small teams, trying to find the weak point without the city wall and ballistae.
The God Envoy King's army repelled all the temptations from the front, but the red fire ants were not without gains.
A small group of enemies unexpectedly arrived to the west of [Xinyang City], found a rugged road under the cliffs, and suddenly appeared on the peninsula on the shore of the fast-flowing river and turbulent waves.
Fortunately, the flying knights discovered the enemy and led a reserve team to eliminate the enemy troops who climbed onto the cliff. The remaining enemy troops retreated hastily.
The protagonist hurriedly rode "Xiao Hei" to inspect this section of the road, and found that the cliffs he thought were natural chasms actually had rugged roads that could accommodate a small number of ants.
Maybe humans don't regard such steep, easily crumbling sandy cliffs as roads at all, but ants can still manage to climb them.
This is a hidden danger on the [Xinyang City] defense line!
