They cannot continue with a frontal assault now; the casualties would be unbearable for Haru. They must preserve some fighting strength to deal with the arrival of the Asada tribe.
Therefore, King Haru planned to use a roundabout encirclement tactic, first using his superior numbers to surround the hills near the cave.
With tens of thousands of men here, they could easily surround a hilltop.
That mountain area is not small, and with the number of people in the Mira tribe, it is impossible for them to defend every place.
As long as a portion of Haru's army leaves a part in front to feign an attack and draw the fire of the Mira tribe, the rest of Haru's army can quietly sneak up from the hill behind the Mira tribe.
Although the terrain there was still steep, fortunately there weren't many Mira warriors guarding it, so getting up there wasn't too difficult for Haru's army.
Haru's army began to rest and reorganize at the temporary camp, taking stock of casualties and other information.
Meanwhile, the Mira tribe was also busy, with everyone reloading the empty magazines.
The leader of the Mira tribe made a decision immediately, and after analysis, the chances of everyone being able to defend the tribe were less than 50%.
Moreover, it wasn't just Haru who came up with the idea of flanking and ambushing; these issues had already been included in the research scope when discussing them with Tang Yi and others.
The biggest problem now, and what the leader is worried about, is that there's a high chance Haru will abandon a frontal attack and instead come up from the weaker rear.
In that case, the chances of their tribe surviving would be less than 10%.
When Tang Yi left, he told the leader that if they encountered such an extreme situation of force majeure, they should not resist stubbornly. They should find an opportunity to evacuate as soon as possible and preserve their strength.
Now that Haru has just retreated, it will likely be some time before they launch another counterattack, making this the best time to retreat.
However, some arrangements needed to be made beforehand. Tang Yi had discussed with the leader before setting off that if they couldn't hold the position and had to evacuate, they must implement a scorched-earth policy and take all supplies with them.
What cannot be taken away should be burned, and it should not be left for the enemy to use.
At this moment, although everyone felt sorry for the hard-won foundation they had built, they were also worried about Haru taking it over.
They gritted their teeth, gathered up all the excess food, leather, and tools that they couldn't take with them, and finally set them on fire.
Even the five modified ballistae that were difficult to carry were put into the fire. Now the tribe is practically penniless, and Haru has nothing left.
At this moment, a tribal woman seemed to remember something. They also kept a large number of wild boars, and these boars could not be allowed to fall into Haru's hands.
Immediately, several women opened all the gates of the enclosure where the wild boars were kept. Freed from restraint, the wild boars ran off into the jungle without looking back.
The women's eyes were filled with tears as they watched the wild boars escape. These wild boars were the result of their hard work in gathering feed for them every day, and now they were gone in an instant.
It would be a lie to say I'm not upset.
Some tribal women could only pat their companions on the shoulder and sigh deeply.
"It's better to let it escape than to let Haru use it."
The men in our tribe are all capable. As long as we win this battle, we can find a way to catch the wild boars again and raise them domestically."
The women wiped away their tears. Although they were reluctant, there was nothing they could do. The most important thing now was to move the elderly, women, and children, as the leader had instructed, so that they could carry out the next step of their plan.
After releasing the wild boars, even the tribe's remaining firewood was used to burn the remaining supplies. Now, the tribe truly has nothing left but those cold stones.
The plan, as Tang Yi had stated in point two, was being carried out methodically by the chief. They had previously discovered a cliff about five miles from the tribe during their woodcutting training.
At that time, Tang Yi was just curious and wanted to see what supplies he could collect near the cliff. Unexpectedly, he discovered a hidden cave covered with vines halfway up the cliff.
The cave's terrain was extremely treacherous, somewhat similar to the rock crevice dwellings I had encountered before. Below it was also a cliff, making it a dangerous place that was easy to defend but difficult to attack.
However, its capacity is limited, barely enough to accommodate half of the tribe's population.
The tribe is currently at war with Haru's army, so it's obviously impossible to hide all the tribespeople.
Among those Haru are quite skilled trackers; if everyone hides, the Haru will definitely search for the movements of the Mira tribe.
Although the cliff was hidden and treacherous, it wasn't entirely without clues. The chief's task now was to first evacuate the elderly, weak, women, and children of the tribe to that safe place.
They cannot leave now, as the Haru will definitely come looking for them. What they need to do is attract the Haru's attention, thus giving the elderly, women, and children in the tribe some breathing room.
The cave served as an escape route for the tribe, and the chief had already modified it according to Tang Yi's suggestion.
Before entering the cave, there is a sheer cliff about a meter away, and the cave is located above the cliff about a meter away.
When the leaders entered the cave, the path below was still quite far from the entrance, making it extremely difficult and dangerous for anyone to climb up.
In the end, they had to use ropes to secure the trees from above before they could descend to the cave entrance and go inside.
Initially, the chief planned to carve a hole in the cliff below the cave entrance and then hammer thick pieces of wood into the hole to create a suspended wooden staircase.
In this way, it only takes a few steps to extend to the bottom of the cave entrance, about a meter away, and the wooden steps will make it much easier to enter the cave.
The leader's idea would indeed be a good approach if there were no threat of war. But the situation is different now.
We can easily get in, but so can those Haru.
Tang Yi always likes to leave his people an escape route. He proposed a new solution: to replace the fixed wooden steps with a flexible rope ladder that can be moved at any time.
The rope ladder is secured with two wooden stakes, each several tens of centimeters long, and is stored away at the entrance of the hole when not in use.
Connect the end of the rope ladder with a vine, extending it to a place below the hole where it can be easily reached by a person, then hide it and tie it securely.
Some withered vines also hung down from the cave entrance. At this moment, a single withered vine hidden among them was almost impossible to notice.
To use it, simply pull the vine, and the rope ladder will descend from the cave for people to use. After use, simply retract the rope ladder, and you can permanently prevent Haru from discovering the situation here.
This part of the task was not difficult. The chief selected a few clever tribesmen to escort the tribe's elderly, children, and women into the cave to hide.
The food and rations they brought were prepared as instructed by Tang Yi, as fire could not be used easily in the current situation. This large amount of rations was enough to sustain the tribe for a month.
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