Lin Youde stood at the head of Dingyuan Fort, staring at the position of the Spaniards in the distance. In the past few days, it has been raining and snowing, and the Spaniards are also very honest, and they have been slowly building camps outside the eastern walls of Dingyuan Fort. In this boring and dreary atmosphere, Lin Youde, who got up in the morning for a routine inspection, suddenly discovered that the Spaniards had set up two artillery bunkers in the field last night.

"Grass! Play yin for Lao Tzu! Lin Youde patted the head of the city hatefully, "Old Niu, can you bombard those two places?" Beat me down! The Spaniards were afraid of some conspiracy. Otherwise, with their few army cannons, they are not so fat enough to come here to build an artillery position, they have heavy artillery! ”

Niu De, the commander-in-chief of the artillery of Dingyuan Fort and the commander of the second artillery outpost, estimated the distance and direction, and nodded: "Try it, it is estimated that you can fight." ”

There are two towers on the east wall of Dingyuan Fort, both of which are built on the protrusion of the city wall. One 18-pounder and two 12-pounder long-barreled cannons were mounted on each tower, and all three guns were mounted on four-wheeled gun carts and could be moved. At this moment, under the command of Niu De, three artillery pieces were pushed to the front of the salient, Niu De took out a telescope to measure the distance, and then began to test fire the artillery.

"No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 gun groups are uniformly equipped with 3-pound propellant packs, and the body tube depression angle is -1 degree. Start reloading! Niu De began to order unhurriedly.

The gunners took out the three-pound kits from the ammunition box behind the gun truck, began to load them into the barrels, then stuffed the iron bullets, and then rammed them hard. "Fire!" Niu De slammed a red-hot iron drill into the door of one of the cannons in front of him.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! The three guns slammed back, long tail flames erupted from the muzzles, and three iron projectiles flew out of the muzzles, piercing through the dense wind and snow, and landed around the target in a zigzag pattern.

"The No. 3 18-pound gun group was recharged, and the 4.5-pound medicine bag was replaced, and the rest remained unchanged; the No. 1 and No. 2 gun groups were added with 4-pound medicine bags, and the body tube depression angle was adjusted to 0 degrees." Niu De began to correct the parameters. Keep your eyes wide open when observing the landing point of the cannonball on a snowy day, because the visibility will miss the landing point if you are not careful.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "The artillery rumbled, and three shells whistled again and flew towards the Spanish artillery bunker. This time, the shell landed much better, and the most recent 18-pounder shell narrowly grazed over the bunker and plunged headlong into the snow on the ground behind the bunker.

"The No. 3 gun pack remains unchanged, and the barrel depression angle is adjusted to -2 degrees; Guns 1 and 2 were assembled in 4.5-pound kits, and the rest remained unchanged. Preparation... Launch! Niu De raised the binoculars and ordered slowly.

As soon as the words fell, three shells flew out of the chamber. This time it lived up to expectations, with an 18-pound shell and a 12-pound shell hitting. The 18-pounder shell hit the enemy's front bunker and flew several red bricks, while the 12-pounder shell smashed through the top building and landed in the snow in the rear.

"Ha Lu Ha! Well played! Lin Youde slapped down the city wall, and Da Lu smiled: "Keep fighting!" Smash those two cannons to the ground! ”

The Spaniards were not dead, and their artillery, under the orders of the officers, quickly entered the battle and began to reload ammunition for counterattacks. Soon, the two cannons in the two bunkers opened fire, one shell fell about a few meters from the city wall, and the other shell landed just inside the moat, breaking through the ice and splashing a large column of water.

"18-pounder gun!" Niu De frowned and said, "It's still a naval gun." These Spaniards are really not too troublesome, and if they remove the guns from the ship and transport them here, the men and horses will be exhausted to death! ”

The Spaniards had a high rate of artillery, which showed that their artillery was quite professional. In the second round, two 18-pounder shells hit the walls on either side of the salient tower, knocking down large areas of cement-lime plastered on them. As for the extent of the damage to the city walls, it is not clear at this time.

Niu De soon went to another tower north of the east wall, and instructed the three cannons on that side to join the battle. So, in the early morning of July 12, the battle between the two sides began with such an artillery battle. The Dingyuan side had six guns, two 18-pounder and four 12-pounder guns, while the Spaniards had only two 18-pounder naval guns.

The contrast in strength between the two sides is obvious, and the performance of the artillery on the battlefield is indeed proportional to the strength. Two of the Spaniards' guns fell to the disadvantage from the start, and six against two, the shells at the head of Dingyuan Fort rained down around these two guns. By eight o'clock in the morning, the outer bunker of one of the Spaniards' guns had been completely destroyed, and the busy artillerymen were crushed under the heavy masonry, suffering heavy casualties. At this time, the artillery on the two towers on the east wall of Dingyuan Fort had not yet received substantial blows, and most of the Spanish shells fell on the city wall, and the most accurate cannonball only hit the pillar on the city tower and flew a brick.

At noon, another piece of the Spaniard's artillery was finished. A 12-pounder luck bullet pierced through the shooting window on the half-crippled bunker and hit the artillery carriage inside, completely breaking up the Spaniard's cannon.

After the destruction of the two guns, the members of the Spaniards' still alive artillery crews withdrew from their bunkers and returned to their camps. In the afternoon, there was no more fighting between the two sides, and the stalemate continued.

In the afternoon, the wind and snow gradually increased, and the cavalry of the cavalry battalion led their horses and walked with difficulty in the low hills south of the Dayu River. The north bank of the Dayu River was the main battlefield of the two sides, but at this time it was calm, while on the south bank of the Dayu River, the bloody battle between the cavalry of the two sides became more and more intense.

The Spaniards, 200 cavalry from Peru and the remaining 200 or so gauchos, were mostly sent back to the south bank to search for the Cossack cavalry to fight and assist the logistics and transport department in transporting supplies and artillery. The attack on the convoy on 10 July cost the Spaniards not only more than 80 men and a large number of horses, but also a large amount of gunpowder, shells, food and cold supplies.

Many soldiers on the front lines have been forced to cut their ration supplies by a third, and many of the soldiers in the army have been reduced due to illness due to cold. The morale of the soldiers was extremely low, but the resentment was very high, and some jokes and rumors began to circulate in the troops that satirized the incompetent commanders. Captain Torres, who was in charge of the distribution of supplies, was shot while lying down, becoming the number one sarcastic object of the soldiers. One of the classic jokes is this: Major Carlos examines Captain Torres' expertise and asks, "What should you do if you were patrolling in the pitch black field and suddenly the Tatars grabbed your arms from behind?" Captain Torres replied: "Let me go, dear. "And so on.

In order to reverse this passive situation, and to boost morale, Major Antonio Carlos ordered Captain Torres to lead most of his cavalry south across the Great Fish River and begin to capture the traces of the Tatar cavalry, waiting for an opportunity to destroy them.

On the other hand, after analyzing the current situation, the War Department decisively decided to strengthen the cavalry force. It not only made up for the shortage of losses in the cavalry battalion during these battles, but also temporarily recruited 82 infantry who could ride horses, and assigned them some horses and miscellaneous horses to form a temporary mounted infantry post, equipped with 32-B flintlock rifles, 32-style non-commissioned officer knives and 2.7-meter cavalry guns, which were unified under the command of Xu Yu, a lieutenant and acting battalion commander of the cavalry battalion.

The two warring sides invariably increased their weight to the south bank of the Dayu River, and hundreds of cavalry haunted the hills and grasslands of more than 100 kilometers along the line from Luoqia to Dingyuan Fort, constantly looking for opportunities to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.

Xu Yu took out the telescope and looked into the distance, and there was a white scene everywhere in his field of vision. Uruguay during the Xiaoice period was cold and had been snowing heavily for several days. The road is riddled with rutted prints, left by the Spanish convoys.

"I wonder where the convoy of the Spaniards has gone? And how many troops to escort? Xu Yu pondered, "Leonid, when exactly did you detect the Spanish convoy?" ”

"Ten o'clock in the morning. They had twenty-five carts, four cannons, and about 120 men in the drivers, and the escorts. Most of them were spearmen, and musketeers accounted for only a quarter. Leonid, who was also leading the war horse on foot, replied.

"Ten o'clock in the morning... Well... Just three hours had passed, and they hadn't gone far. Everyone picks up the pace and makes sure to catch up with the Spaniards. Xu Yu ordered decisively. The movement of the entire team of 189 riders increased sharply, and they led their horses and began to move through the hills and towards the flat ground. In addition, more than twenty Cossack cavalrymen, who turned over and mounted their horses, scattered in all directions, which were elite cavalry acting as scouts.

Three o'clock in the afternoon. The wind and snow gradually stopped, and by this time the whole team had been stretched into a long loose formation of three columns, and the cavalry detachment was still chasing the Spanish transport convoy that was being targeted in front. At this moment, several Cossack cavalry in the rear galloped back, shouting as they galloped: "Spanish cavalry! In the back! They found us! The Spanish cavalry was in the back! ”

"Hulala" a large number of Cossack cavalrymen mounted their horses without waiting for orders, and then began to draw their sabers and reload their pistols. The 82 officers and men of the provisional mounted infantry post quickly gathered their horses together, and then lined up in front of the horses, all with their rifles at their sides, and began to reload the 32-B flintlock rifles.

The battle is on the verge of breaking out.