Lord of the Desert

Chapter 431 Plan
"what happened?"

Hong Fan asked with concern.

"Maoyan Castle was captured on the tenth day of the first lunar month."

Gu Yixin took a deep breath and pierced his palms with his nails.

"If I had returned to report the news a few days later, many people could have been saved. But at that time, the insect tide was surging, and more than 200 villagers had no power to protect themselves except me. I couldn't leave for a moment..."

No one responded to his words.

Hong Fan could see that many people present had this question in their minds for a long time but had never dared to ask it out loud.

The bonfire crackled for a while.

"All the mistakes are the fault of those bugs. Ancient Spear Master, please don't blame yourself."

Nie Bo held it in for a long while, then smiled with difficulty to comfort himself, and then looked at Hong Fan.

"Since Master Hong is here, I guess the court must have taken some action. I wonder what the current situation is?"

"Not optimistic."

Hong Fan replied.

"On the 25th of the first lunar month, I received news that the insect tide troops arrived at Tiewa Pass on the 20th of the first lunar month, and the pass was breached three days later. Two days later, I passed Yingyang City and saw that the entire city was being evacuated. It was obvious that they were going to abandon the city."

"How could this be?"

Xi Zhi was stunned at first, then his face turned red.

"The insect swarm reached Tiewa Pass on the 20th of the first lunar month, which is a full 200 miles away. Those who fled north must have..."

Hong Fan remained silent.

The refugees are moving in the same direction as the insect swarm, and they must be faster than the swarm to survive.

Walking two hundred miles in three days is almost impossible to carry a family on foot unless riding a horse or taking a car.

Xi Zhi covered the lower half of his face, and Gu Yixin's expression became increasingly ugly.

The sound of laughter could be heard from far away in the camp, but no one was speaking around the campfire.

Hong Fan then changed the subject.

"You just mentioned that there are more than 10,000 real insects in this wave of insects. I am Maoyan, who arrived on the 27th. I came all the way from the west to search for Brother Gu. I saw a lot of sub-insects along the way, but I didn't see many of the real insects you mentioned."

This is obviously good news for the camp.

"This is consistent with our deduction."

Nie Bo replied.

"The two Tree God's personal guards are leading the army, and they definitely don't just want to attack Tiewa Pass. As the saying goes, they invade like fire. They are concentrating their forces like this, and I'm afraid they want to break through Feiyan Pass in one go."

Hong Fan felt more suspicious after hearing this.

"Did you find anything unusual about this insect swarm?"

he asked.

Several people looked at each other, and finally it was Hao Tianlu, the head of the Hao family in Huaxue City, who spoke.

"As for abnormalities, I have mentioned one before."

He swallowed.

"On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, I escaped from the city and looked back. I saw a swarm of insects covering the city walls, but among them there were still a few calm and composed figures."

"Fantian Society?"

Hong Fan blurted out.

He immediately thought of many things.

Three years ago, the snake-man raid in the Battle of Jinhai was instigated by the Fantian Society.

A year later, it was confirmed that the unusual movements of the sea tribe on the edge of Zhanzhou were driven by them.

This was followed by the Huaiyang Rebellion.

In contrast to the above-mentioned places, the border of Shengzhou has been peaceful for a long time, so much so that senior officers like Gan Deshou have returned to their hometowns, and some garrisons have been transferred to the north and east...

So this may be a long game that takes several years to lay out, leveraging the strength of others.

More doubts arose in Hong Fan's mind.

Why provoke war?
What is Fantian Society trying to do?
The gods are high above and have already defined the boundaries of each race; is it possible to gain the favor of the Ancestral Dragon in this way?
Hong Fan felt confused and his doubts could not be answered by the campfire.

The focus of discussion soon shifted to the action plan for the more than a thousand people in the camp.

Several senior executives led by Nie Bo proposed three plans.

First, the civilians stayed here, while Hong Fan and Gu Yixin, who had high mobility, rushed to Feiyan Pass to join the battle.

Second, everyone went north together and looked for an opportunity to cross the front line and reach the Sanshan Basin.

Third, everyone went deep into the nearby Yaogong Mountain or Chua Mountain, crossed hundreds of miles of mountains and entered the Sanshan Basin.

After discussion, the third option was rejected first.

Mt. Chua is the largest mountain range in Shengzhou, and its branch Mt. Yaogong is similar in size, but much more substantial than Mt. Qingzhang.

Only one-third of the thousand people in the camp have some martial arts skills. It would cost a huge price to allow the remaining mortals, the elderly and the weak, to cross the uninhabited mountain area.

As for the second option, it sounds very dangerous. It is equivalent to crossing the enemy-occupied area to return to the rear. The various challenges along the way are self-evident.

Therefore, most civilians expect the first option.

However, the first option was not favored by senior management.

Because the Zerg were not unaware that there were people hiding in the woods here - in the past two days, Gu Yixin would clear out some of the approaching worker insects during his daily patrols, and it was not until today that they learned their lesson and stopped coming here, only sending a few flying insects to monitor from a distance.

Nie Bo and others are well aware that the current safety is only temporary.

Once the second batch of Zerg reinforcements arrives, or the fighting on the front line reaches a stalemate, they may turn back at any time for a second cleanup, and then there will be only one dead end left.

Going north finally became a consensus.

Immediately everyone looked at Hong Fan.

He had previously admitted that he came here to help on the orders of the Martial Arts Academy, and that he crossed the front line to search here entirely because of Gu Yixin's relationship.

As a warrior ranked at the top of the Tianjiao list, he has strong personal combat power and has always been known for his resourcefulness. Now that everyone is heading north, they naturally hope to have him watch over them along the way.

Hong Fan was a person who clearly distinguished between relatives and strangers. This time when he went south, he was determined not to leave Gu Yixin alone in danger. As for asking the latter to leave his family and rush to the battlefield, it was even more unreasonable.

"Saving people is saving people no matter where they are. I'm afraid Feiyan Pass doesn't need a Xiantian like me."

Hong Fan nodded in agreement.

Seeing his promise, Gu Yixin felt relieved and instantly felt more confident.

The next thing to determine is the route to the north.

"The number of sub-insects and the power of true insects are both astonishing, and the consumption is also extremely high."

As the leading captain of Huaxue City, Xi Zhi has been in the army for decades and has a very good understanding of the Zerg.

"So the Zerg actually have a very regular marching pattern. There is a saying that they follow three directions: first, follow the river, second, follow the plains, and third, follow the human population."

"Appreciate further details."

Hong Fan listened carefully.

"It goes without saying that all living things cannot live without water."

Xizhi continued.

“It’s understandable if it follows human habitation.

Although the Zerg can eat plants, the nutrients contained in grass leaves are very few, and they need to spend a lot of time eating every day. Therefore, during high-intensity marches and battles, the Zerg always tend to obtain as much meat as possible.

Unlike other tribes, insects do not care about casualties in battle, only victory or defeat, and often seek to attack where the enemy's forces are most concentrated - because as long as they have resources, they can multiply rapidly, and are best at taking advantage of others' weakness."

Hearing this, Hong Fan thought of the empty villages, towns and cities he had seen along the way, and his heart was chilled.

"Finally, there are two reasons for Shunpingyuan, one soft and one hard."

Xi Zhi sorted out his thoughts.

"The reason for being soft is to save resources. True bugs are very heavy, and crossing mountains and ridges will double their consumption. Sub-bugs are afraid of low temperatures, and they will suffer a lot of losses every time they pass through the snow line of high mountains."

“The reason it’s hard is because of the ‘handsome bug’.

The commander insect is the last of the three true insects, excluding the soldier insect and the general insect. Its average size exceeds that of the Juzhou giant elephant. It is also the only insect species other than the tree god's personal guards that possesses extraordinary intelligence.

They are the command core of the insect swarm, able to issue orders to the general insects from dozens of miles away, and possess tactical strategies that are not inferior to ours, but they have almost no combat power and move slowly, and are often carried and guarded by other true insect groups.

For them, steep and rugged terrain is a natural barrier.”

(End of this chapter)