These laborers will follow the army into the wilderness.
Because the soldiers need to wear armor, carry weapons and ammunition, and maintain timely combat power, they cannot carry too much food.
Each soldier carries a maximum of about five days' worth of rations, while the laborers in the rear can carry about thirty days' worth of rations.
Therefore, the sixty thousand troops plus sixty thousand laborers carry enough food for everyone's consumption for about eighteen days.
If you account for the return journey, the army has at most nine days to penetrate into the wilderness.
Even if they use local resources, hunt wild animals, exotic beasts in the wilderness jungle, gather wild vegetables, and fruits, it can only sustain the army for a few more days at most.
With the complex terrain and harsh environment of the wilderness, the army can march at most a dozen kilometers per day.
In ten or so days, they can only march less than two hundred kilometers in the wilderness.
