The Baigou River is not as wide as the Hutuo River, but it is deeper and more turbulent than the Hutuo River. Swimming across is obviously not a good choice, even if there are no Liao State scouts on the other side, the icy river water can freeze people to death, and it is impossible for the heavy box car to float over.

It's not very reliable to take a boat, the river bank here is quite high, except for a few places with gentle slopes, most of the banks are overgrown with thorn bushes, even people ashore is a problem, and the box car can't go up either.

Moreover, rowing at night across a large river with a strong current, and the boats could be scattered several miles to the opposite bank, and had no advantage in the slightest except to add trouble to the assembly of troops.

Hong Tao does not have to take this risk, because there are ready-made bridges on the river, and there is more than one, some of which were built by the Liao people, and some were built by the Northern Song court.

At the time of the alliance between the two sides, in addition to asking for tribute, the Liao State also put forward some additional conditions, such as fixing the number of border villages on both sides, no one was allowed to build more without authorization, opening up the border farms, and allowing the people of the two countries to trade with each other. In addition to being important border towns, Xiongzhou and Bazhou are also responsible for maintaining the field.

It is too troublesome to transport goods to each other by boat, and the Baigou River will not be completely frozen in winter, and it is neither possible to row nor pass with the help of ice, so you can only build bridges to travel between them.

But it is not easy to pass through these three bridges, the Northern Song Dynasty is heavily guarded, and the Liao people are not stupid, and they also arrange a lot of troops. That's why Hong Tao chose to pass at night, because he had special forces in his hands who were good at stealing chickens and dogs.

If during the day a special forces can only deal with one or two Liao cavalry, then at night their combat effectiveness can be doubled. It is not right to say this, it should be said that the combat effectiveness of the ancient army was at least halved at night, and one was lost.

The special forces were really swimming, each of them carrying a fully inflated skin, and five of the best in the water were launched a few hundred meters upstream of the bridge with thin ropes, and soon disappeared into the dark river. God is very powerful this time, it is a big cloudy day, there are no stars and no moon.

"My lord, if you go into the water at this time, you will freeze to death!" The forbidden army could not follow the new army to the battle, but they all admired this group of bold colleagues, and the forbidden army stationed at the Bazhou Bridge specially sent a capital to assist, and this head was very worried about the behavior of the special forces in the water in winter.

"Liu Jun might as well try to swim in March and September every year, persevere, and then go into the water half a month earlier the next year, and after three or four years, he will fall in love with swimming in winter, even if it is nine days."

How to say it, ordinary special forces really can't swim for too long in this weather, but the special forces in Huangzhou can swim in winter, the Liangzhou Heishui River in Layue can swim across, and the Baigou River in October is really nothing.

This is also a training method invented by Bai Hongtao, which is still plagiarized from later generations, but he did not stick to it himself, but became a fixed training subject for special forces.

Liu Dutou really didn't understand how this army was trained, and it could still swim in the winter. However, it was soon confirmed, and the New Army soldiers on the shore who were responsible for placing the ropes signaled that the ropes were being dragged away, and the thick ropes were also entering the river.

Then all the forbidden soldiers present saw what it means to be professional, and the three thick ropes were quickly fixed to the winch on the river bank, and the straighter and straighter they were.

Each black-clothed special soldier who crossed the river hung a small wheel on his waist, hooked it to a thick rope, his head was facing forward and his feet back, and he swished away with both hands pulling the rope.

"All eyes wide open, after returning to the commander, we will send more people to patrol the riverbank at night!" Watching the special forces disappear on the rope one by one, the forbidden army had an idea again.

The special forces went to the other side of the river to definitely not walk, and the patrols and bridge guards of the Liao army certainly could not imagine that someone in the middle of winter could cross the river without taking the bridge, and the consequences of being attacked would be very tragic.

From this, he extended it again, thinking about whether the Liao army would have a similar black-clothed army? He didn't want to be killed in bed in the middle of the night, or shot with a cold arrow on the way to patrol.

"Insightful! If he can return to the dynasty this time, Liu Jun might as well go to the new army to find his own officer, and he dare not say that it is no problem to be a deputy commander. ”

Seeing that all the special forces had crossed the Baigou River, Hong Tao was in a good mood, and he spoke highly of the quality of the low-level officer of the forbidden army beside him, and couldn't help but write a blank check, and then led the team to the bridge with a smile.

The battle for control of the bridgehead went quietly and fiercely, and the first to be blackened by the special forces was a Liao army patrol. More than a dozen horsemen carrying torches were shot from their horses without warning, and apart from the short sound of strings and the falling of heavy objects, there was only the sound of wind, water, and the restless snort of their horses in the pitch black.

Then the special forces turned into Liao army patrols, and rode horses with torches and swaggered back to the barracks at the bridgehead. More than 60 special forces did not take much effort to solve the camp gate and the nearby patrolling Liao soldiers, and then extinguished the bonfire with sand and soil, and touched the camp tent to wipe their necks one by one while it was dark.

In less than half an hour, the military fortress closest to the bridgehead became a dead place. There is no need for special forces to take any more risks in the following matters, they only need to use gas lamps to signal at the bridgehead, and the first batch of new troops are like ghosts blown by the wind, rolling along the bridge deck.

At the beginning of the day, 5,000 new troops quietly crossed the Baigou River, Hong Tao personally led 4,000 people to expand in depth, and the rest of the new army was responsible for receiving the follow-up convoy of boxes.

Hundreds of cars cross the bridge together, even if it is all asphalt road, and then replace it with rubber tires, people and cars are silent, and there are camels and horses pulling carts, and the livestock will not be so sensible.

The second, larger, military village is about a mile away from the bridge, with rough wooden walls and watchtowers, and there are three or four horse rings outside, looking at the scale of at least two battalions.

In fact, there is only one biao in the military village, which is about the same as the battalion of the Song army, with a number of about 500-700, and one commander and two deputy commanders.

Xiao Dalu, a native of the Khitan Wukui Division, was the commander of the Tielin Army in the right leather room, and was subordinate to the commander of Yelu and Lu Wei, the marshal of Nanjing Soldiers and Horses. It's been almost half a year since he guarded the Bazhou Bridge, and to be honest, he likes this job.

Compared with the hometown, it is more lively and prosperous, especially in the east of the market, every time the market opens, as long as you take people to go around, you can get the filial piety of many merchants.

As for whether the border is dangerous, Xiao Daru can't remember it at all. His previous term and his previous office were all made enough money and goods for the merchants, and it took several horses to pull them away. Except for the capture of a few Han people who fled south or north, he has not fought a single battle, so why is he so lucky?

The day after tomorrow is the day when the market is open, Xiao Dalu is thinking about whether to get some tea for his daughter-in-law and children at home or some silk cloth, and when he thinks of the appearance of a woman wearing silk cloth, his whole body is hot.

"Someone is coming, ......" But the embassy passing by here yesterday made a sense of irritability rise in their hearts, and they actually said that the Song people were gathering heavy troops to prepare for an attack. Those Han sour Confucian officials who came from Shangjing were quite big, but they were too timid, and they panicked when they were a little troubled, and they didn't know anything about the war.

There was no movement on the other side of the river, and Xiongzhou himself sent someone to ask, and the situation was similar to that here. Grain, grass, horses, and personnel are not prepared, so what can they attack? The army of the Song people is all infantry, and they can't also go out with a few horses like the cavalry, so it's best to come and stay as much as you want.

"Do you have something to say?" The curtain was lifted, and the guards entered.

"No, have the people sent to inspect the bridgehead ever returned?" Although he thought that the people of the mission were making some fuss, Xiao Daru still sent additional men to the bridge when it was dark to remind his men not to slack off.

"I haven't come back yet, it's windy outside, maybe they will sleep there, and they will also stare at the Han army and don't be lazy."

The soldier who came in was very young, and he didn't even have a beard on his lips, only a faint layer of black hair. His name is Xiao Buhua, he is Xiao Dalu's nephew, don't look at the fact that he is just seventeen years old but has been a soldier with his uncle for two years, and he is very familiar with things in the army.

"After the market opens the day after tomorrow, you will go home first, send the tea and silk cloth to your aunt, and bring something back to your father, don't gamble if you get the money, there is no grass valley to fight now, how to marry when you go home in the future if you have no money and things?"

For Xiao Buhua's changes in the past two years, he can't control it in the eyes of his uncle. My nephew is bad at learning! I learned to gamble with the Han people, and when I had nothing to do, I went to the Han military camp to fight, losing more and winning less. But the Han army has the military division of the Han army, and he really can't talk about this big official.

"Uh...... Don't ......" Xiao Buhua was usually reprimanded by his uncle, and every time he admitted his mistake and relented. But this time it seemed to have changed a little, his eyes widened, he grinned, and stretched out his finger to Xiao Daru.

"You bastard, you can't rebel...... Uh......" Xiao Daru was very angry, and picked up the horsewhip and got up to beat him.

But as soon as he stood up, he felt that something was wrong, Xiao Buhua seemed to have someone behind him, and by the light of the fire in the stove sugar, a small tip of the knife was exposed on his nephew's chest, and blood was dripping down.

Xiao Dalu's reaction was so fast, he immediately changed to kicking the ground and rolling on his side when he took a step, and after landing on the ground, he rolled a few more times, and at the same time pulled out the short knife on his waist, and cut through the tent in one fell swoop, and drilled out along the gap.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemy ......" The mournful shout instantly tore through the night sky, and then came to an abrupt end, and a cold steel crossbow was driven deep into Xiao Dalu's body along the ribs.

"Toot toot toot...... At ......the same time, a rapid copper whistle sounded in the military village, and dozens of black shadows rushed out from all directions, and ran out of the gate without looking back, leaving behind a dozen still warm corpses.

Together with the four people on the watchtower, all the soldiers on duty at night were quietly killed, if it weren't for Xiao Dalu's quick reaction that he had cultivated since he was a child and followed his father to hunt in the grassland, the people in dozens of tents might have come to an end.