When "King Khan", who was marching the main force of the ant army on the central front, learned that the Destroyer had launched a large-scale attack on the flank of the salient, the situation on the flank was already in danger.
At this time, the marching ant army on the northern front could only barely protect itself. It was unable to prevent the large group of Destroyers gathered on the northern front from turning around and heading south, and they did not want to interfere at all.
The marching ant army on the central front focused on defending the front, leaving the sides and rear empty. When the Destroyers were already threatening the flanks from the north, the "King Khan" of the marching ant army still thought according to the previous war model and did not adjust the deployment in time. Such a delay would be fine against ordinary ants, but it would lead to catastrophe against the Destroyers. The weakness on the side was completely exposed to the Destroyer and was caught by the Destroyer.
What made the situation even more critical was that the Destroyers on the opposite side of the central and southern fronts also launched full-scale attacks. The army of marching ants on the southern front was pinned down and unable to go north for reinforcements. The main force of the marching ant army on the central front was also dragged in the front, lacking mobile forces to fill the gap. They could only sit back and watch as the Destroyers continued to attack the city from the sides and rear, gradually surrounding themselves.
Fortunately, there was a large army of marching ants in the central battlefield, and the "King Khan" who led the army was also a veteran general. He later made up for his mistakes, constantly adjusted the defense, and with the help of the geographical location, the army did not collapse and successfully stabilized part of the defense area.
Zhu Jue has dealt with the Destroyer for many years and knows that the Destroyer's terror lies solely in its individual strength and numerical superiority. There is basically no strategy or tactics in its use of troops, it is directly "Box A". But this time, the Destroyer did not directly attack the main force of the marching ants on the central front. Instead, it launched a rare side attack. Its timing was precise and the attack was fierce, leaving the already existing flaws in the marching ants. Completely defeated. Even if an ant commander who is proficient in the art of war were to command the Destroyer, it would be difficult to do better than this time.
But the reason why the Destroyer's attack was so sophisticated was not because of a sudden inspiration, but more like the result of a series of superimposed coincidences.
Previously, before Zhu Jue's troops won the first battle of spring, the Destroyers had been mobilizing frequently. At the same time, they had received a steady stream of unknown reinforcements from the rear. They had been taking the initiative on the battlefield and attacking everywhere.
This is exactly the Destroyer's standard play style: use numerical superiority to initiate attacks, wear down the opponent's strength bit by bit in successive large and small battles, or swarm the opponent when they are forced to reveal their flaws - extremely simple yet extremely practical. tactics.
After Zhu Jue's troops used their strong combat power to eat up an incoming Destroyer, they suffered a loss. In order to retaliate, the Destroyer mobilized nearby troops to go south to prepare for revenge. The transfers were very frequent at that time.
Destroyers were also transferred to the south in the northern battlefield, but this change was misjudged by the "King Khan" of the marching ants in the northern battlefield as a retreat, which led to a hasty attack by the marching ants and led to a major defeat. The situation in the northern battlefield suddenly became critical.
The Destroyer's offensive is like a flood. When a gap is found, the water will naturally gather there. So a large number of Destroyers poured into the northern battlefield, suppressing the local army of marching ants and retreating, which happened to expose the gap on the flank of the army of marching ants in the central battlefield, and the water flowed to the new gap again...
The result was that on May 5, the main force of the marching ant army in the central area was more than 500,000, and was surrounded by about 600,000 destroyers in a roughly circular area. The diameter of the area was only a day's walk for ants, with a river in the east and a river on the other three sides. Rely on nest for defense. A large number of army ants and allied warriors were trapped there, and they were attacked day and night. It was only a matter of time before they were destroyed.
The "Wang Ting" of the Marching Ant Kingdom reacted quickly. On May 7, they organized nearby troops to gather. 200,000 troops rushed to the battlefield to try to relieve the siege. At one point, they reached the river and faced the besieged troops across the river. But soon the Destroyers came from many directions, and the reinforcements had difficulty maneuvering on the river bank. They suffered a huge defeat and suffered heavy casualties, with sixty-seven out of ten casualties.
Seeing that their own troops had no hope of rescuing the siege, the national "kings" of the marching ants finally put down their bodies and bowed to Zhu Jue and other allies for help, trying to rescue the besieged elite army.
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After Zhu Jue received the request for help on May 8, he immediately organized his troops and prepared to attack.
This time, Zhu Jue's coalition of civilized ants could not come out in full force because there were also Destroyer attacks not far from the war zone where they were located, fighting against the marching ant army.
Therefore, after Zhu Jue left a group of troops to guard the base, he could use about 80,000 troops, including the infantry, tank troops, fly tiger knights, flying knights, navy troops, and the thief ant army, Allied forces include the Stone Desert Archback Ant Imperial Army, the Thin-footed Ant Army, and the Honey Pot Ant Army.
The army took two days to prepare for departure, brought enough supplies, and then moved north along the waterway.
The surrounded army of marching ants happened to be distributed along this tributary of the Qing River. They relied on the barrier of the water to temporarily block the "back-stabbing" destroyers in the east. They also relied on water transportation for precious supplies to prevent them from collapsing in a short period of time.
The Destroyer had no water power, and Zhu Jue seized the giant bamboo ship that was originally preparing to return. Together with the local walnut ship, it was enough to safely transport 80,000 troops to the battlefield via waterways at one time. Zhu Jue even thought of a battle plan to continuously maneuver along the waterway to kill the Destroyers.
However, this water transportation was far more difficult than Zhu Jue expected. There was no wind on the day of departure. The fleet moved against the current and could only use paddle wheel power, which was very slow. The next day there was even more headwinds. The entire fleet was unable to move forward and even retreated instead of advancing. They had to anchor and stop the ships.
The time has come to May 11, and the situation of the surrounded army of army ants is getting worse and worse. Although the river blocked the Destroyer's offensive from the east, the other Destroyers continued to compress the territory controlled by the Marching Ant Army from the north, west, and south. The Army Ant Army suffered heavy casualties every day.
The food reserves of the marching ant army are not optimistic either. They only stock up on food for about half a month on the front line, and usually rely mainly on supplies from the rear. At this time, supplies are cut off, and the food reserves are very low, and air and water transportation cannot provide supplies. The needs of so many warriors.
After Zhu Jue reunited with the reinforcements of the Black Fire Ant Army who had arrived for the first time in the war on May 12, he gave up the waterway and left a small number of troops to cooperate with the navy to guard the ships. The rest of the troops turned to the land route and followed the tributaries. West Bank rushed to the battlefield.
On May 14, reinforcements approached the war zone, and there were more and more Destroyers nearby. The scout troops continued to expel the scattered Destroyers. The Flying Knight reported that the main force of nearby Destroyers was gathering, apparently aware of the presence of reinforcements!
