The fire ant army should win! This is Centipede's judgment.
After all, in this summer's battle, the losses of the leaf-cutter ant army were too heavy. Hundreds of thousands of elites were lost. Such consequences cannot be made up for by newly emerged ants in just a few months.
Although the leaf-cutter ant army has now assembled an army of 300,000, it is filled with a large number of weak leaf-cutter ants. Elite large leafcutter ants and small leafcutter ants are only a minority. In this way, some of the elite ants are old, weak, young and disabled, such as old soldiers who retired from previous wars and wounded and disabled soldiers, who have re-entered service this time. .
During yesterday's ambush and today's encounter, Centipede discovered this weakness of the leaf-cutting ant army. If the leaf-cutter ant army were more elite, at least the forest ants that were ambushed yesterday would basically be wiped out. The task force will not be able to drive away the enemy so easily today.
Such an army of leaf-cutter ants whose combat effectiveness is at a low ebb is definitely no match against an army of red fire ants of the same size.
Now, what the red fire ant army needs to do is to seize and eat the enemy's last main force before the first cold wave of winter arrives, and then expand territory and plunder loot without any scruples, expanding into the harsh winter to save everyone. Until the Leaf Ant Kingdom.
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The messengers shuttled back and forth in the woods, flying along the pheromones left by the troops as they advanced.
In just a short time, Centipede has received many new orders. The orders are constantly revising the instructions. The enemy's position is getting clearer and clearer, and the current battle situation is becoming clearer and clearer.
Starting this morning, several fire ant armies searching due west encountered leaf-cutting ant armies one after another.
The main force of the leaf-cutter ant army is still missing. A small and scattered army of leaf-cutter ants has built ambush positions at some key locations in an attempt to delay the advance of the red fire ant army.
At the same time, some scouts also discovered that many scattered troops of the leaf-cutter ant army were rushing in the same direction from the trees.
The elders of the fire ant army thought about it based on the overall intelligence and felt that the leaf-cutter ant army was turning in.
Although when the ants fight, as long as the commander does not die and does not retreat, they can usually fight tenaciously to the last soldier, but this is only the bravery of an individual soldier. In terms of grand strategy, the fire ant army is very familiar with diversion, and the same is true for the leafcutter ant army.
Now it is obvious that the leaf-cutter ant army cannot defeat them if they concentrate their forces for a decisive battle. It is understandable that they leave some troops behind and then move to the rear to conserve their forces.
Based on this judgment, the red fire ant army ordered the scattered troops to speed up the attack westward, trying to catch up with the leaf-cutter ant army.
At this time, the two clusters on the far side of the detour were still a bit far away. Even if they received the order from the messenger immediately and then rushed there, it would still take more than half a day.
This is the time when the fire ant army is most dispersed. If the leaf-cutting ant army just lays a trap and suddenly counterattacks, it may cause a major blow to the central colony of the fire ant army.
However, with the current strength of the leaf-cutter ant army, they have no time to eat the middle cluster before enemy reinforcements arrive.
This time, the leaf-cutting ant army was really retreating to the rear. They were very smart and decided not to fight head-on, but to conserve their strength. When next spring comes, the new army will be formed, and at that time the woods will still be their own.
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After receiving the pursuit order, the Centipede task force was also surrounded by friendly forces at this time, and the front and flanks were covered. Therefore, the Centipede Task Force also began to speed up and maneuver rapidly toward the southwest.
On the way, they encountered several battlefields where small-scale battles had just ended. The ground was full of corpses of leaf-cutter ants, while there were very few corpses of red fire ants and auxiliary ants.
These defeated leaf-cutting ant armies, each numbering about two to three thousand, formed defenses around a bead tree, but they were unable to stop the attack of the powerful red fire ant army.
However, these isolated strongholds have completed their delayed tasks with sacrifices.
When the first army of red fire ants arrived at a stream, they found that they were out of reach of the army of leafcutter ants on the other side.
This stream is the stream not far to the west of [Hematite Castle], flowing north and south, dividing the forest area where the leaf-cutter ants are entrenched into two. Among them, the western region accounts for 80% of the area and is the core hinterland of the leaf-cutter ant country, while the eastern region only accounts for 20% of the area.
In the Hundred Years War between the fire ant country and the leafcutter ant country, the best achievement of the fire ant army was that they conquered all the territory on the east bank of the stream, but failed to cross the river. The leafcutter ant army's best record was when they defeated [Hive City], but they were ultimately defeated.
This time, the red fire ant army once again forced the leaf-cutting ant army back to the west bank, and the nests of the leaf-cutter ant kingdom on the east bank that had not yet fallen were already within their grasp.
But the elders of the red fire ant army were obviously not satisfied with the bug flying again. They thought they could definitely annihilate another 300,000 leaf-cutting ants, creating a record of wiping out one million leaf-cutting ants within one year this year. That would be included in the calculation. The military exploits in the history of the Red Fire Ant Nation.
Leafcutter ants cross the river from the trees on both sides of the stream. The branches and leaves of some different trees are intertwined and tied with ant silk; or there are rope bridges to connect nearby branches.
These tree roads allowed the 300,000 leaf-cutting ant army to quickly retreat to the west bank within two days after learning that the enemy was launching an offensive. Moreover, the leaf-cutting ant army destroyed all the roads connecting the two sides of the river.
The unwilling red fire ant army searched for a path along the stream. This stream was already the narrowest section. If there was no road across the river here, it would be more difficult to cross the river both upstream and downstream.
The vassal troops of the red fire ant army eliminated a small number of leaf-cutting ants responsible for destroying the bridge and road on this side of the tree. They were shocked to find that the road had been completely destroyed. These leaf-cutting ants themselves were unable to cross the river and were already prepared to sacrifice.
The fire ant army tried to build a pontoon bridge in the stream using some dead branches and leaves, but the current here was so strong that the building materials were washed away as soon as they were thrown into the water.
When the Centipede Task Force arrived at the river bank, the fire ant army finally accepted the fact that the bugs in their mouths had really flown away...
Historically, the leaf-cutting ant army has suffered such a disastrous defeat this year. Every time, this "turbulent stream" running rapidly from north to south has provided the last refuge for the leaf-cutting ant country.
The red fire ant army then began to divide its troops. After realizing that there was no possibility of crossing the river, they targeted the unconquered secondary nest of the leaf-cutter ant country on the east bank of the rapid stream.
Most of these sub-nest colonies have moved to the west coast, but there are also colonies and supplies that have not had time to move. These are the targets of the fire ant army.
This kind of thing that is not difficult and can eat meat is something that the fire ant army does personally. They have vassal auxiliary soldiers stationed by the rushing stream to prevent the leaf-cutter ant army from crossing the river to sneak attack.
The red fire ant army took the slaves and began to sweep away the loot.