As evening approached that day, the Eastern Expeditionary Army did not wait for the baggage troops from the rear to bring supplies, but instead waited for news that the baggage troops had been attacked.
It turns out that there is another secretly located fortress near the two hillocks that were captured yesterday. Because it is far away from the route of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, and it is hidden within a vegetation barrier, it has not been detected by air or ground. Discover.
The supplies that were supposed to arrive today, escorted by the soldiers and slaves of the Black Fire Ant Nation, were discovered by parasites while passing through the low hills, and were subsequently attacked by thousands of parasites.
The Flying Knights' investigation focused on the advancing direction of the Eastern Expeditionary Army and did not cover the rear. They took off from the base along the Black Creek and would not pass through the location where the incident occurred during their round trip.
Zhu Jue didn't know until the remnants of the attacked baggage troops found the main army. Zhu Jue was furious. The Eastern Expeditionary Army's three-day rations and many artillery shells were in this transportation. Once they were robbed, the next step of the Eastern Expeditionary Army would be greatly affected.
These defeated soldiers said that when they escaped, the baggage troops were still fighting, and they did not know what the situation was now.
King "Black Carbon" directly executed the slaves of his country who were in the rout as a warning to others. The Black Fire Ant soldiers were not executed, but they were also warned by him.
Zhu Jue immediately ordered the fastest flying tiger troops and flying knights to rush to support immediately, and also mobilized an infantry regiment located behind to set off for reinforcements.
At this time, the sun is already close to the horizon, and the afterglow of sunlight will not illuminate for long. Once night falls, the outdoor temperature in early October is not high, which is not suitable for insects to move through the night, so the rescue time is very urgent.
The flying knights were the first to arrive at the battlefield and saw that the war was not over yet. Although the parasites had taken advantage of the surprise attack, the baggage troops were not very effective. However, the baggage troops also had as many as 5,000 slave ants and 1,000 guards. A black fire ant warrior with strong fighting ability.
The undiscovered parasitic fortress was originally small, with only more than 1,000 parasitic creatures stationed in it. This time they came out in force, and their strength was also at a disadvantage.
In addition to relying on a small number of powerful parasitic tiger beetles and other insect beasts as the core combat force, the sneak attack parasitic army also successfully infected a group of slave ants from the black fire ant country, and quickly controlled these slave ants at the cost of sacrificing their lives to become a supplementary force. Parasitic The army barely gained the upper hand.
The supply troops of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom have been dispersed, and a large number of slave ants fled in panic. Only the core Black Fire Ant warriors formed a formation and stood on a large rock, preventing the parasitic army from attacking for a long time.
Seeing that it is getting late, the parasitic army has begun to drive the controlled slave ants to move away the seized materials. A large amount of food has been randomly discarded on the roadside. The parasitic army is giving priority to moving the artillery shells that are of no use to them. !
After the flying knights arrived at the battlefield, they dived and attacked several times, but the effect was not very good. Their weapons and tactics were more used to deal with opponents in the air. They did not carry any anti-ground weapons, so be careful with some parasitic beasts on the ground. counterattack.
It wasn't until the Fly Tiger Knight arrived on the battlefield that he quickly cut off the parasitic army's retreat, and pierced the parasitic army's front line with a sharp backstab. The black fire ant army took advantage of the situation to counterattack, and the two armies together defeated the parasitic army that was monitoring the black fire ant army.
Afterwards, the black fire ant army stayed to collect the scattered slaves and collect supplies. The Fly Tiger Knights pursued them all the way, recovering some of the stolen supplies along the way, and fought all the way to the outside of the hidden parasitic fortress.
The equipment of the Fly Tiger Knights is not used to attack fortresses. They try to conquer this strong fortress. After the infantry regiments that come to support arrive, they turn back, clear out some of the scattered parasites, and cover the newly reorganized baggage troops.
As the night grew darker, the baggage transport team and the reinforcements temporarily camped on this already relatively cold mid-autumn night. It was not until the next morning when the temperature rose that the supplies were delivered to the Eastern Expedition Army camp.
Zhu Jue and the commanders of various ethnic groups took stock of the supplies and found that about one-sixth of the food was lost, but nearly half of the artillery shells were lost. Some were scattered near the battlefield and were not recovered, but most of them were captured by the parasitic army.
The shortage of supplies will affect the next stage of the Eastern Expedition's offensive, especially the lack of artillery shells, which will make it even more difficult to suppress the continuous fortress group.
Zhu Jue could only order new baggage troops to be dispatched as soon as possible to deliver supplies, and at the same time start to eliminate threats on the logistics transportation line.
The second batch of reinforcements sent yesterday was stationed outside the parasitic fortress, monitoring the parasitic army in the fortress. They had not yet received the order to attack, and their strength was not very sufficient.
Zhu Jue dispatched two legions of reinforcements to him and ordered him to remove this nail stuck in the rear within two days to prevent it from continuing to threaten the logistics route.
Due to delays in transporting baggage, the Eastern Expeditionary Army did not break camp in the morning. Zhu Jue and the commanders of various tribes also had more time to discuss how to deal with the stretching fortress group ahead.
The safest way at present is to pick up fortresses one by one and attack them slowly to avoid any fish that slip through the net and threaten the rear. The dangers of leaving a parasitic fortress in the rear were already illustrated by what happened to the baggage troops last night.
Most of the commanders of various clans, including King "Black Tan", hold this view.
However, in this way, the Eastern Expedition, which Zhu Jue originally expected to end in one week, will last for a long time, and it is not necessarily expected to end when winter begins in November.
Therefore, Zhu Jue cannot accept such a battle process. According to the current intelligence, the number of enemy troops in front is only tens of thousands. If these parasites drag the Eastern Expedition Army here for a month, then the main force of the parasitic army heading north may return at any time. Turning back, the civilized ant alliance will not have enough troops to resist its counterattack - the Northern Expeditionary Army only has 100,000 troops, which is not enough to stop the enemy north of [Black Fire City].
Once [Black Fire City] is threatened, even if the Eastern Expedition Army wins the Eastern Expedition, it will be meaningless. At the same time, the Eastern Expeditionary Army's retreat will be cut off, and they will have to take another rugged and complicated road to retreat to the Black Creek Defense Line.
As soon as he heard that [Black Fire City] might be gained but lost, King "Hei Tan" became anxious. He immediately overturned his original position and supported Zhu Jue, saying that the Eastern Expedition must end as soon as possible.
Some generals of the Divine Envoy Army who participated in the discussion said that the escort force of the baggage troops could be increased, so as to curb the parasitic organisms from sneak attacks on the logistics routes.
Zhu Jue couldn't think of any good ideas for the time being, so he agreed, and transferred 20,000 mobile troops from the combat troops and handed them over to the command of King "Hei Tan", who was responsible for protecting the logistics transportation lines!
King "Black Tan" immediately took the order, and he rushed his army back to [Black Fire City], mobilized his country's troops, arranged transportation routes and escort forces.
