On April 2, the Pavement Ant Imperial Army was assembled and swore to march southward at the assembly point.
The so-called "swearing oath" is actually a traditional ceremony before the Pavilion Ant Empire goes out for an expedition. There is no oath, but it is somewhat similar to a military parade.
In the morning, groups of well-fed and well-fed troops came to the ground from various entrances and exits. Under the leadership of the commander, they found a place to gather and stand by.
It took nearly two hours for one million soldiers to get into position and occupy a large square of nearly 200 square meters cleared outside the lair.
Viewed from the air, the Imperial Army of Pavement Ants on the ground are densely packed, orderly, solemn, and full of murderous intent!
In the center are the warriors of the Pavement Ant Tribe with complete armor, while the vassals and slave Ant Tribe such as red fire ants live on the periphery.
Among the warriors of the pavement ant empire, the mature nest warriors were in the center and the raw nest warriors were on the outside.
The so-called mature nest and raw nest are the division of territory within the pavement ant empire.
The mature nest is either the original territory occupied by the pavement ant empire when it rose, or a nest rich in resources and food, or a nest located in a traffic artery. These mature hives are under the direct control of the main hive of the empire.
The birth nest is not under the direct jurisdiction of the main nest, but is local autonomy, but it is still headed by the main nest, paying supplies and providing troops.
The birth nest of the pavement ant empire is similar to the secondary nest of the old big-headed ant kingdom, and has greater independence. The governance systems of most ant countries are similar. The secondary nest is like an independent colony and backup of the main nest. In addition to providing supplies and military power to the main nest, the internal affairs of the secondary nest are not under the direct command of the main nest.
The mature nest system of the Pavement Ant Empire is already very advanced. Only a few ant forces have such direct sub-nests, such as the current Ant Alliance and some civilized ant tribes.
Although the Pavement Ant Empire is the so-called barbaric ant of the civilized ant clan "Inherited by the Ancient Gods", its level of civilization and development is not inferior to that of most civilized ant clans.
Among the imperial army, the pavement ant warriors from mature nests are well-equipped and are the first-class main force.
Regardless of whether they are soldiers or auxiliaries, these pavement ant warriors are divided into a team of 36 each, including 1 male ant team officer and 35 soldiers.
Every 36 teams constitute a battalion, one of which is a battalion officer escort. The escort has 1 battalion officer, 1 team officer, and 34 soldiers. The remaining teams are ordinary establishments. There are a total of 1,296 ants in the 1st Battalion, which is roughly equivalent to half of the Angel King's army.
The 36th battalion is the 1st division, of which 1st battalion is the division officer guard battalion. There are a total of 46,656 ants and nearly 50,000 soldiers. The strength is considerable.
The imperial army from the familiar nest has 5 divisions, accounting for about one-third of the total strength, including 2 combat divisions and 3 auxiliary divisions.
The most surprising thing about these mature warriors, and what best reflects their sophisticated equipment, is the very distinctive armor they wear.
Armor! The Pavement Ant Empire Army is currently the only armored army besides the Ant Alliance.
The imperial army division officers wore golden armor, including the golden helmet tied to the head and the golden armor on the body, which were tied with ant silk to wear. These armors are made of large and small pieces of armor, with holes left on the helmet for the antennae, single eye, and compound eye. The armor is drape down the side of the body and nearly hangs to the ground, which can partially protect the side of the body and the joints and limbs.
The battalion officers wore silver armor, which was the same as the division officer armor except for the color.
Whether it is gold armor or silver armor, it is not actually metal armor. These golden armors are made from golden cicada pupa shells, and the silver armor is made from silver cicada pupa shells.
The pavement ant empire has the industry of raising golden cicadas and silver cicadas. After raising golden cicadas and silver cicadas at the roots of special trees for two or three years, they will dig out of the soil and pupate. Its pupa shell is strong and beautiful, the pupa shell of golden cicada is dark gold, and the pupa shell of silver cicada is dark white. After the cicada breaks out of its pupa, the remaining pupa shell is processed into armor using an acid etching process, which is equipment that only senior officers can wear.
Team officers and ordinary soldiers wear tan leather armor. The leather armor is made from the abdominal carapace of the adult Golden Cicada. It is closer to a leather cloak and can be worn on the body to play a certain defensive role.
After the golden cicada and silver cicada break out of their pupae, they are killed without waiting for the shell to dry and harden. Their meat is a top-quality delicacy, exclusively for the imperial nobles.
At this time, whether it is a golden cicada or a silver cicada, the outer shell has not completely changed color. It has just changed from translucent to light brown. If you wait another hour, the outer shell of the cicada will turn into gold and silver, but it will be hard and brittle. , cannot be processed, unlike the pupa shell.
You have to kill the cicada when it is still light brown, peel off the carapace, wipe it with water drops and oil to keep it soft, and then dry it after processing and shaping, and you will have a dark brown stiff leather armor.
The leather armor worn by Pavement Ant officers is dyed red with ocher dye to distinguish them.
The formation and equipment of the troops in the raw nest and the mature nest are the same, and it is impossible to distinguish their raw and mature identities from their appearance.
There are a total of 10 divisions of troops in the nest, including 2 combat divisions and 8 auxiliary divisions. The proportion of auxiliary troops is higher than that of the mature nest army.
Hundreds of thousands of armored Pavement Ant Empire soldiers gathered in one place. Countless dark brown armored warriors gathered together in a dense and orderly manner, dotted with red-armored team officers, silver-armored battalion officers, and gold-armored division officers. The weather at Duan is magnificent and spectacular.
Among these pavement ant warriors, there are actually a small number of war beasts. These war beasts are species domesticated by the pavement ant empire, mainly snail beetles and pull beetles.
The largest organization of the war beast army is only the battalion, and the total number of war beasts is several hundred, which is not many compared to the total military strength. Most of the war beasts are snails, medium in size, about 20 mm in length, and equipped with weapons unique to the Pavement Ant Empire.
There are also snail beetles in the legion of the Divine Envoy King. In addition to the large bifurcated rhino beetles and stag beetles, the most numerous medium-sized beetles are the snail beetles. This beetle is docile and easy to tame.
There are also a small number of armored armors, which are brightly colored and as green as emerald. However, they are not used for combat, but are used as transportation mounts for division officers and other high-level male ants.
Next to the imperial army, there are a large number of vassal states and slave ant warriors forming formations, as well as mercenary warriors.
Among them, in addition to the red fire ant army, there are also the silver ants (silver-threaded arrow ants) with stronger combat capabilities.
This group of silver ants comes from the gravel area in the southern border of the empire. They are the local aborigines and are known for their brisk movement.
The Imperial Army has been fighting against the Sand Silver Ant tribe for hundreds of years, but they have never been able to eliminate these swift and brave natives, nor can they force the free-born opponents to surrender.
In the end, the two sides reluctantly coexisted peacefully. Every spring, the Pavement Ant Empire would exchange food supplies with the Silver Ant tribe for Silver Ant eggs, and bring them back to the country to hatch on their own. The Silver Ant tribe that has obtained food supplies no longer needs to invade the Pavement Ant Empire to plunder.
After these purchased silver ant warriors hatch, they become mercenaries of the Imperial Army and an important tactical unit. They play a very important role and are generally directly commanded by the battle commander.
