"First, when I set fire in the Hengduan Mountains, there weren't many people around. Even if there were, they would have been eaten by those damned mutated beasts. That's an area many locals dared not go. So, even if I set fires, no one would have died. It's different in the south. In the south, there are millions of people waiting for rescue. These people have been hiding underground. Although they are not our own people, it would still be problematic if we accidentally burned them to death," Shen Feng began to explain.
"Is there anything else?" Chang Haojie continued to ask.
"You don't need your brother-in-law to answer that. I can answer it for you. It's clear you haven't studied properly, or even if you did, it was useless. Remember to use your intelligence for proper matters!" Chu Chaoyan suddenly said.
"Then what other reasons are there?" Chang Haojie's curiosity was now very strong, and he had to clarify anything he didn't know.
Chu Chaoyan explained, "If we continue south, we'll enter the tropical region. The air there is hot, and influenced by the Indian Ocean, it rains year-round. Otherwise, why would it be a tropical rainforest? So, it's very difficult to start a fire in these rainforests. Even if you manage to light one, it will be quickly extinguished by the rain."
"So, we can't use fire attacks, but why do we have to wait for gasoline to be delivered here?" Chang Haojie continued to inquire.
"That's why we can't ignite these jungles, but we can use flamethrowers. The simplest fuel for flamethrowers is gasoline. Although it's not as flammable as some other liquids, it's still very effective when attacking insects," Shen Feng said.
"I understand. Many insects are afraid of fire, so using flamethrowers against these insects is very effective. But why do we have to wait for the smoke bombs to be delivered?" Chang Haojie was still asking for reasons.
"Because these bees have a very deadly weakness. In order to find nectar to sustain themselves, these bees have evolved a very keen sense of smell. They can smell the fragrance of flowers from kilometers away. However, their keen sense of smell also causes them trouble. Just by lighting a fire nearby, the smoke can disorient these bees, causing them to fall to the ground or even die," Shen Feng replied.
"I think the marching process of many mercenaries is too slow. They can only cover thirty to forty kilometers a day. Such slow marching is clearly them being perfunctory. They can't resist our conscription, but now they are only slowing down the progress. Should we impose some mandatory requirements on them?" Chang Haojie suddenly thought of a very serious problem.
To win the war against the insects, a sufficient number of people were needed. While these veterans had rich combat experience, their numbers were too few, only a little over 30,000 at most. Such a small number to deal with billions of insects was simply not enough. Yet, many mercenaries were progressing very slowly at this time.
"You don't need to worry too much about these people. I never intended to rely on them for merit from the start. Although they are indispensable in the final battle, as long as we, the main forces, achieve merit on the front lines, we will have enough benefits to attract these people. So, as long as we fight the first battle well, we will gain more support!" Shen Feng said.
However, if Shen Feng wanted to speed up the mercenaries, he had a way. At the very least, he could make an example of a few by killing them to warn the others. This way, the rest would surely be afraid and spur their mercenary members to advance continuously.
It was a pity that Shen Feng did not want to fall out with the mercenary members at this time. Once they fell out, it meant that these people would hold grudges. While they might not be of much help in achieving success, they were very good at causing trouble.
Anyway, with Cao Fuli keeping an eye on them, as long as these people kept marching, there would be no problem.
After waiting another 5 days, Yunnan Province finally managed to gather everything Shen Feng needed. They also brought 100 fighter jets, ready for deployment. These 100 fighter jets were Yunnan Province's last resort. Although these fighter jets were not the latest models, they were at most third-generation fighter jets, assembled over more than a decade. If it were in the past, they wouldn't have had so many fighter jets.
Besides the fighter jets, many other supplies were also delivered, including a lot of gasoline and many smoke bombs, even tear gas, which could obscure vision and also cause the sense of smell to lose its normal function.
When they were abroad, some armies used this weapon to disperse normal protesting crowds. As long as tear gas was thrown into the crowd, people would scatter all over the streets because almost no one could remain normal in the tear gas smoke.
Even humans couldn't withstand the damage of tear gas, let alone the small hornet bees.
Once all the supplies were packed, Shen Feng directed the army to prepare for advance. This time, he did not advance in the usual formation but adopted a single-file snake formation, pushing south. All soldiers were equipped with advanced weapons. Even those without flamethrowers always carried smoke bombs and tear gas.
If possible, Shen Feng would have preferred to equip every soldier with a flamethrower. With flamethrowers, they could carry out area-of-effect attacks on the hornets. No matter how many hornets flew towards their formation, they could be repelled by alternating fire from the flamethrowers, forming a net of fire to keep the hornets at bay. At the same time, by throwing smoke bombs and tear gas, they could secure victory.
When using smoke attacks, it actually depended on the situation. Generally, one needed to consider the wind direction. If they were on the windward side, then using gas attacks would be fine. But if they were on the leeward side, a strong gust of wind would blow the smoke back.
At the same time, Chu Chaoyan had also found many high-pressure gas cylinders, filled with countless toxic gases. Once released on the battlefield, the dense smoke formed would kill the hornets. This way, advancing would not be a problem.
However, the attack had a certain flaw: it was indiscriminate. If there were humans on the opposite side, they would definitely be killed by the toxic gas.
Regarding this, although Shen Feng had considered the consequences before, he now needed to resort to any means necessary to achieve victory quickly. Even if it meant killing many people, he couldn't afford to hesitate.
The only thing he could do now was to have the Yunnan radio station quickly issue a notice to the people in the south, telling them to stay in sealed rooms and not go out until after the area was recovered, otherwise, they could easily be killed by the toxic gas.
"Depart!" Shen Feng led the soldiers and set off. When they arrived at the forest occupied by the hornets, they immediately witnessed a shocking scene. In this forest, the trees were covered with huge beehives. These beehives were much larger than ordinary ones, and many branches were bent under the weight of the hives.
Now, just as they entered the area occupied by the hornets, they discovered a large number of beehives. In the distant sky, a large number of hornets were hovering. Upon seeing the humans, they immediately began to attack, flying towards the humans.
When they saw the hornets flying towards them from a distance, many people panicked because they had never seen such a scene. The sky was covered with giant hornets. These hornets were huge. Although they couldn't be too heavy when flying in the sky, from a distance, they were the size of a human head.
"Everyone be careful. Don't let these hornets sting you, because their stingers contain a lot of venom. If you get stung, you'll have an allergic reaction and die. Those with weaker constitutions will die within a few hours!" someone warned everyone about the danger.
"Lu Xian, Lu Kaiyang, you two quickly protect the left and right flanks, ensuring no hornets can绕过来 from the sides. As for the air defense, I will handle it! The ground situation will be commanded by Yang Chang. Chang Haojie! Protect your second sister." Shun Feng, upon seeing the hornets flying towards them, immediately made a judgment. The most important thing now was to protect the left and right flanks. He would be responsible for air defense, and ground command would be left to Yang Chang.
Upon hearing these commands, everyone immediately sprang into action. First, many soldiers in the front threw smoke bombs and tear gas, blocking the path of the hornets. Hornets had a very keen sense of smell, but as soon as they were hit by smoke, they would become disoriented.
Under these circumstances, it was undoubtedly difficult for the hornets to advance.
"Everyone put on gas masks to avoid being injured by the gas," Chu Chaoyan then shouted loudly, ordering all soldiers to relay the order and immediately put on their gas masks because toxic gas was about to be released.
Different enemies required different weapons. Some weapons were very effective against one enemy but not so effective against a new enemy.
Now that insects all over the world had mutated, the best way to deal with them was not bullets. Bullets were not very effective against these small creatures. Instead, more intense area-of-effect attacks could achieve better killing effects, such as using fire and gas attacks, which could kill a large number of insects.
When countless hornets discovered that the low-altitude area in front was already covered by smoke, they devised a plan: to fly over from above or from the sides. However, as soon as these hornets flew into the air, they encountered strong winds that blew them far away before they could land on the ground.