Sparse stars twinkled in the blue-gray sky at dawn, and gray-white mist rolled and swirled over the Bighorn River.

If there were no human presence, all this would be just an ordinary morning in early winter.

But the peaceful scene is full of murderous intent.

"Bo."

"Bo."

The sound of paddling echoed on the river like the sound of a fish's tail slapping the water.

Suddenly, a sheepskin raft emerged from the thick fog, then a second one, a third one...

These sheepskin rafts are very small and can only carry five or six people each.

Among the five or six people, two were paddling with sweat profusely. The remaining few were sitting on their knees with horned bows in hand, looking around without daring to move their lower bodies.

Everyone's face and eyes were filled with fear, excitement and greed.

There were no beacon fires, no shouts of death, and no arrows or lead bullets. The eight sheepskin rafts encountered no resistance and successfully crossed the Big Horn River and officially entered Tiefeng County and Langtun Town.

"Oasis! It's successful!" A young Hedian [Shi Jian] couldn't hide his joy and said to another young Hedian in a low voice: "The two-legged people didn't notice you and me!"

The young Hed man known as [Oasis] had a scar on his face that penetrated the bridge of his nose. He shouted at the person who made the noise in a low voice: "Shut up!"

The former immediately stopped talking.

Ganquan walked to another old Hud man and ordered: "Bald tail! Count the number of people. Blow the trumpet and let the remaining people come over."

The old Hud man [bald tail] with the furrowed face nodded, took out a deer bone flute, put it to his lips and blew gently.

"Woo yo... ow yo..."

The sound played by the bald tail is like the roar of a deer, not loud, but very penetrating.

On the other side of the river, another young Hud man [Qingma] was waiting anxiously.

Suddenly, Qing Ma heard the sound of deer croaking from behind the thick fog, and learned that Gan Quan and others had successfully crossed the river.

"Drive your horse into the water!" The green horse immediately ran and shouted to order the slaves and subjects: "Drive your horse into the water!"

The horses started to move. The two hundred or so horses were just walking slowly, and they couldn't hide the roaring sound.

"Hurry! Hurry!" Qingma beat the slow slaves and subordinates hard with the scabbard, his triangular eyes showing fiercely: "Don't ask the horses to drink water! Drive them away! Horses are not made of salt and cannot be melted!"

Go away! You cunning and lazy fool!"

The river water in early winter was bone-chillingly cold, and the horses were crowded together and reluctantly walked into the cold river water.

The Huds shouted and waved their long whips to drive the horses away.

The leader of the horse group, a large, light red horse with a white nose, took the lead in swimming.

This is not Zimazi’s first time swimming.

The water of the Bighorn River hit its strong body, and the horse was breathing desperately, its chest stretched wider than usual, and its body floated in the water, with its neck and back exposed above the water.

The other horses followed the leader, parted the water, and slowly walked forward until their hooves could no longer touch the river bed, and then they began to pedal and paddle.

More than a dozen Hud people rode on three rafts and followed the horses. Everyone had a lasso pole and a lasso in their hands, just in case.

But an accident still happened. An old horse with a white forehead was not strong enough and suddenly lost its balance while swimming.

The body of the old white-breasted horse was uncontrollably swayed. It broke away from the group of horses and was carried downstream by the river water.

The Hurds on the raft hurriedly threw the lasso, but the accident happened too quickly, and the old white-breasted horse disappeared in the thick fog in the blink of an eye.

The green horse was furious, with anger blazing in its triangular eyes: "Blind idiot! Don't paddle forward! Let the horses lean against the current to swim! Don't let the water wash away the horses!"

Not far downstream, the eight sheepskin rafts that had just crossed the river were paddled back. During the round trip, the eight rafts inevitably drifted hundreds of meters downstream.

The white-fronted old horse just happened to drift past them, but the horse was already dying.

The Huds rowing the oars watched silently as the old white-breasted horse floated up and down in the dark river water.

The first trip transports people, the second trip transports horses, the third trip transports saddles, weapons, and armor, the fourth trip, and the fifth trip still transports people.

It took five times to transport about a hundred riders and more than two hundred horses from the west bank to the east bank of the Big Horn River.

The leader of this Terdun centurion team is "Hele Hui", which means sweet spring.

The triangular-eyed Qingma and another young man [Shijian] are Ganquan's "bangdang", that is, the independent warriors of this miniature tribe.

Others are Ganquan's subjects and slaves, such as the old slave [Ba Tail], who was given to Ganquan by Ganquan's grandfather when he could not walk.

In terms of pedigree, Gan Quan has a prominent life experience. He is the grandson of the great uncle of the roaster, who is also the cousin of the roaster.

But in terms of strength, Gan Quan only had a few hundred cavalrymen and more than two hundred horses that he could cobble together, and his subordinates were old and young, so his combat capabilities were very poor.

For the Hed people, being a pioneer is a very high honor, and as a rule, they can share more spoils. So according to common sense, it is not Ganquan's turn to take the lead no matter what.

But who made Ganquan the blood relative of the roaster?

The fire-warmer took care of his nephew who was not allocated much property, let Gan Quan be one of the vanguards, and arranged Gan Quan's marching route in the upper reaches of the Big Horn River.

On the second day after the night battle at Shouzi Harbor, Gan Quan led his centurions to the border of Lower Tiefeng County quietly.

The difficulty of crossing the Bighorn River from the upper reaches is much easier than that from the lower reaches of Shovel Lake.

Ganquan first found a place where the water flow was gentle, and then spent the night preparing skin bags and rafts. In the early morning of the next day, under the cover of thick fog, he successfully crossed the boundary river.

Ganquan was the first "Turukota" of the Terdun tribe to lead the troops to cross the border river in an organized manner - he did not know this yet.

[Note: Tulukota is roughly equivalent to Centurion]

Compared to the failed raid downstream of Shovel Lake, the crossing of Ganquan was surprisingly smooth, and the Platuan people did not even raise any alarm.

After the ecstasy, deep doubts followed.

Ganquan, Qingma, Shijian and the old slave Tuwei had to decide their next move.

"Is there any need to think about it?" Qingma shouted impatiently: "The fire-warmer ordered you and me to plunder the village and disperse the strength of the two-legged people. Saddle your horse, string your bow, and kill the two-legged people on sight."

?”

The old slave with a bald tail retorted in a hoarse voice: "Qingma, do you know where the Two-Legged Man's village is? Do you know where the Two-Legged Man's army is? Will you and I bump into each other?"

Qingma was left speechless by the question.

The Platuan people suppressed the Hittite tribes for thirty years. Regarding the internal situation of Platt, the Hittites turned a blind eye.

In the past thirty years, the only way for the Hedians to know the inside story of Plato was through the smuggling caravans.

However, most of the smuggling caravans have noble backgrounds in Plato, and the information they give is half-truth and half-false.

Gan Quan only knew that the place he was in was the most remote "grassland" in the Two-Legged Man's territory. As for the population, villages, and towns on the grassland, he knew nothing.

"You don't have to worry so much! If you're afraid of wolves biting people, why don't you build a fence?" Gan Quan licked his teeth, a fierce light flashed in his eyes: "You and I are the pioneers, and the fire-warmer ordered you and me to make a big noise. Send people.

Go and deliver a message to the fire-warmer, telling him that you and I have crossed the river. You and I will cast out the nets and find the Two-Legged Man's camp first."

Seeing that Yan had already given the order, Bald Wei said nothing more.

While Gan Quan ordered people to deliver messages to those who were warming up the fire, he also ordered people to hide the sheepskin rafts and led more than a hundred riders to gallop towards the inhabited place.

Once the battlefield area expands to hundreds of kilometers in length and width, the ability of each unit to make independent decisions becomes crucial.

And this is exactly the strength of the Hart tribes.

…

Ganquan crossed the upper reaches of the Dajiao River unscathed and entered Lower Tiefeng County at the same time.

Another Terdun Nayan "Tartai [Fat Man]" also crossed the river from the lower reaches of the Dajiao River and entered Zhongtiefeng County.

Tartai is a relative of the fire roaster who is marrying his wife. According to the route, he needs to cross the river at the lower reaches of the Big Horn River and the upper reaches of Shovel Harbor.

The so-called "route" in the common language is called "Zhasahei" by the Khedic people. In the Khedic language, "Zhasahei" also has the meaning of "military order", "decree" and "command".

It can be seen that for the Hud people, [route] and [military order] are the same word, and route and punctuality are also the most important concepts in the Hud people's military operations.

After the big leader decides on the route, all the small leaders must strictly follow the route.

Those who deviate from the route without permission will be severely punished, and those who fail to show up after the deadline will also be severely punished.

The reason for this kind of military custom is because of the hunting tradition of the Hed people. During the hunting process, any small force that deviates from the route will cause the prey to break out of the encirclement.

Therefore, during the one-month or even three-month hunt, each unit must strictly follow the route.

This is how the Hud people hunt and how they fight.

The fire-warmer designated a river crossing area for his pioneer officers, and the kota had to cross the river in the designated area, because other areas were the "route" for other kota.

The Hed tribes did not have the engineering capabilities of Plato's standing army to cut down trees for bridges, and they did not even have many talents who knew how to build pontoon bridges.

Therefore, Fatty Tartai's method of crossing the river is similar to that of Ganquan: first, a small group of archers arrived on the east bank through the thick fog and occupied a "landing site".

Then the raft returned to the west coast to pick up more people.

The only difference is that Fat Tartai is more cautious, more experienced, and has more troops on hand.

This time, Fatty Tartai led three hundred-man troops, all of whom were carefully selected young men.

When crossing the river for the first time, Fatty Tartai pulled up two leather ropes on both sides of the Big Horn River.

With the leather ropes firmly fixed on both sides, the sheepskin raft can pull the leather ropes across the river without being washed downstream.

The first time we crossed the river took a little longer, but the second time we crossed the river it was very fast.

When the sun rose and the fog gradually dispersed, the sheepskin raft had already made two trips back and forth.
To be continued...