In mid-July 1631, the time entered the winter season in South America. During the Xiaoice period, Uruguay's nighttime minimum temperature has dropped to near freezing.

Lin Youde, who had just finished inspecting the camp, wrapped his military coat and walked quickly to the canteen. There is hot soup and food for the night watchmen, and on this cold winter night, there is no better thing to warm up with a steaming bowl of fish soup. His mind was spinning with thoughts, only to hear a crisp sound of "bang" piercing the silent night sky, Lin Youde paused suddenly, and turned his head to look at the watchtower where the sound came.

Another arquebus rang out from the watchtower. Karl, a former Swiss mercenary, and his companions nervously reloaded, while shouting in simple Chinese words: "alarm", "Indian", "many".

Lin Youde's scalp suddenly went numb, but he couldn't hesitate at this time, he quickly walked to a gong hanging at the kitchen door, picked up the rolling pin and knocked it violently. Then he rushed to the front of the dormitory, kicking the door and shouting.

Soon, the 16 guards who were resting out of duty rushed out in rags, and the scene was a little chaotic, and some of them even forgot to take their weapons.

Lin Youde's face was very bad: "Something happened!" There are Indians attacking! All bring weapons and get ready to fight! Chang Kaisheng went to mobilize the people of the construction team, and then the weapons were distributed. Fast! ”

Gunshots rang out from the watchtower next to the east gate! Lin Youde's face changed slightly, there is no gate at the east gate at present! It would have been a great deal of fun if the Indians who had come to attack rushed in through the east gate.

"Quick! East Gate! Follow me if you have a weapon! Lin Youde was in a hurry, and rushed to the east gate first, and behind him, there were eight or nine guards with hunting crossbows on their backs.

There is a lot of debris and dirt piled up at the east gate. As soon as Lin Youde rushed to the vicinity, he saw several Indians climbing up the pile of debris with spears through the lit brazier. The two sentries on the watchtower had just fired their arquebuses and were nervously reloading.

"Aim, shoot!" With Lin Youde's order, he only heard the sound of the "rubbing" of the hunting crossbow and suddenly came and went. Several Indians who had just stood up straight were hit by the concentrated fire of featherless arrows and steel balls at a distance of more than 20 meters, and they all screamed and fell. The crowd had no intention of watching the results of the battle, and hurriedly began to load and wind up.

A high-pitched shout rang out outside the east gate, and soon the Indians climbed up again to the rubbish heap of dirt, scrap building materials, and debris.

"Hit it again, don't shoot all three arrows at once!" Lin Youde commanded. Just now, ten people here shot thirty arrows or steel balls at a time, and the result was only a pitiful four people.

The arquebus has been loaded. Two Swiss immigrants on the watchtower fired again, in exchange for two screams from the Indians at the gate. Lin Youde gave the order to shoot again, and this time the ten featherless arrows and steel balls shot successively knocked the remaining two to the ground.

The east gate is relatively narrow, and some construction waste is piled up, so that only a few people on the other side can climb the garbage heap with difficulty at a time. Moreover, the two non-stop firing arquebuses on the watchtower on the side of the gate also gave the opponent a lot of side damage, making it difficult for the opponent to pile up at the door.

The two sides confronted each other for several minutes, and soon, high-pitched voices sounded outside the east gate again. Several Indians armed with improvised bows and arrows fired at the watchtower, but the sentry on the watchtower did not notice for a moment, one was hit in the face by a bone arrow, and the other hurriedly took cover.

Lin Youde was a little anxious. There were only ten men on his side, and if the Indians poured in, they would not be able to resist. At this moment, Liu Dafa of the construction team rushed over with a group of people. They carried several large heavy boxes, shouted slogans, and the white air coming out of the corners of their mouths was particularly eye-catching in the middle of the night.

"Good stuff!" Lin Youde suddenly guessed what was in the box, and couldn't help but regret a little that he didn't think of this stubble.

Three-year-old full-body armor, which is a full-body plate armor made by the weapon workshop through hydraulic forging hammer molding, including iron helmet, mask, iron armor, and shin armor, with a total weight of nearly 40 catties. In this era of gradual decline of plate armor, the weapon workshop uses iron armor forged from high-hardness steel, which is said to be able to stop the shooting of arquebuses at medium and long distances, and is a new generation of export products that the Executive Committee is preparing to launch. At present, only five pairs have been made, and all of them have been sent to Dingyuan Fort.

"Quick! You, you, you, and the two of you, put on the iron armor. Everyone else came to help. Lin Youde designated 5 strong guards and asked them to wear iron armor. The rest of the men swarmed up, unpacking the boxes and helping the guards put on their iron armor. Liu Dafa led a group of more than 30 construction workers, including 10 arquebuses and a number of hunting crossbows. Their arrival greatly increased the density of firepower, and the crowd shouted to counterattack back under the excitement of the crowd. However, Lin Youde is well aware of the virtues of this gang of traversers, and it is okay to let them shoot arrows from a distance, and if they are allowed to fight hand-to-hand or there are casualties, their morale will soon collapse. So he just asked five guards in iron armor to step forward with hunting crossbows, and the others all shot in place.

The two arquebuses on the watchtower had stopped firing, the Indians crowded the doorway, and several attempts to climb over the garbage heap were intercepted by heavy fire from the opposite side, and they were defeated, leaving behind a dozen or so corpses. However, they still have no intention of giving up, and are still trying to break through the door.

The five "iron men" approached the watchtower according to Lin Youde's order, and slowly ascended to the top of the watchtower along the wooden staircase. One of the two Swiss immigrants on the watchtower was seriously wounded and lay on the ground, one shot in the face and one in the chest, and blood foaming from the corners of his mouth; The other was slightly wounded, with an arrow in the shoulder socket, and he was bandaging himself to stop the bleeding.

"Shoot!" A deep voice came from under Chang Kaisheng's mask, and after firing a volley of arquebuses, the five "iron men" decisively took out their hunting crossbows loaded with arquebuses and fired accurately. The constant clanging of armor was a weak counterattack from the Indians.

After the three feathered arrows were fired, another round of reloading and firing was completed, and the Indians crowded at the door poured blood mold, and the projectiles and feathered arrows with extremely high muzzle velocity ruthlessly penetrated their unprotected bodies. Chang Kaisheng smiled cruelly, and was about to continue reloading and firing, when the Indians had already retreated.

Lin Youde, who was twenty meters away, saw Chang Kaisheng's gesture raised high, and immediately relieved his heart. "Wind! Move forward at a constant pace and stay in formation! Nearly forty people marched slowly toward the gate in two rows, armed with arquebuses or hunting crossbows. It was the first time for everyone here, excitement, fear, joy, nausea and other emotions were intertwined, some people bit their lips, some people stiffened their bodies and straightened their legs, some people trembled, some people had dry mouths, some people were short of breath, and the whole team forced the gate in an atmosphere of silence.

Chang Kaisheng, the "iron man" on the flank watchtower, made a gesture of safety, signaling that there were no Indians at the gate.

"Stop!" Lin Youde yelled, "The first team stayed vigilant, and the second team began to block the door. Stay safe! ”

Liu Dafa sighed lightly, and led a group of old brothers from the construction team to start piling up discarded building materials, dirt and other things at the gate. For safety, none of them showed their bodies, but just climbed up the garbage heap and threw large pieces of debris and building materials into the air. Soon, in just 20 minutes, the small doorway was filled with a mess of things. Lin Youde breathed a sigh of relief, leaving a team of people to cooperate with the defense tower defense, and took the remaining team of people to turn around and disappear into the vast night, and the rest of the city was not peaceful.

On the night of July 13. The long winter night was spent in panic and confusion for the traversers, with intermittent gunfire and shouting until 5 a.m. on the 14th. The panicked traversers even dragged out a few cannons, and Lin Youde led a group of people to attack everywhere, while gathering up the traversers who were scurrying around, and organizing the armed traversers to support various points.

5 a.m. After a night of hustle and bustle, Dingyuan Fort finally fell silent, and after harassing the Indians for most of the night, they took all the corpses they could take away and disappeared into the wilderness.

The people who crossed the road did not know the situation outside the road, so they could only continue to stick to the fort until dawn.