Umm Yeah I know, don't worry about it.
This setup can work both ways, if the enemy attacks the city, my desert troops attack from the opposite direction, if the enemy attacks my desert troops, my city troops come in behind them.
also i am too lazy to update the map so keep that in mind on the MT blue nation front, things are still happening just not "on the map"
Ok, maybe the ambush might not work after all... New plan, send 10000 to the nearby city, DO NOT DRAW ATTENTION. They are to enter silently and all have cloaks concealing their armor, they must enter either as refugees or merchants, whichever, or mixed. The other 10000 troops are to continue up the trail, into the desert, they must hold position just out of the forest and wait for the enemy troops IN FORMATION.
The information leakage has lessened dramatically, altho some more skilled spies still managed to leave behind some info
Upgrade all factories, research gold standard, build 40 warships.
Alright, have my most trusted NCOs and COs enforce this rule. No soldier is to leave the army at any time, every infantryman is to be paired up with 2 others, they are to keep eachother from breaking this rule, they are to watch each other carefully, if one man of the group violates the rule, all 3 are put to death.
Also the 1000 troops have slown down, the enemy troops have opened fire on your 1000 troops with arrows and have killed 250 of them before the remaining troops started to run for their lives
The blue nations reienforcements have arrived south and are soon going to split 50/50 along forested paths and the trail