On 6 July, after paying dozens of casualties, the Spaniards, who had finally built the bridge, began to cross the river en masse. First the infantry, then the cavalry, and finally the artillery, a full 1,600 Spanish soldiers crossed the Great Fish River and began to camp on the north bank. By this time, the traversers had almost completely stopped their endless harassment tactics, and all their troops had retreated to the fort to defend, and even the cavalry units that had been in full swing a while ago had temporarily disappeared.

The Spaniards were still in an awkward situation. The enemy was fully entrenched in a fortified castle, and they were somewhat powerless in the face of this difficult bone due to the lack of siege artillery.

Dingyuan Fort was originally designed and built to defend against the attacks of the local natives, and the city was built on a small scale and simple structure. Later, considering the threat of the Spaniards, the Executive Committee carried out additions and renovations on the original site of Dingyuan Fort at the suggestion of Xiao Bailang. The new brick walls are more than 3 meters thick, and the walls have changed from the previous straight line to a large number of prismatic designs to reduce the area of bombs. In addition, some of the newly constructed salients on the walls provided a large amount of flank fire for the main walls. Overall, Dingyuan Fort is a fairly strong small fortress, and it will have to be very expensive to conquer it.

The Spaniards were busy at the crossing, and Captain Torres was now in the role of a sapper, directing a large number of soldiers to carry a heavy cannon across the river. These guns were four- and six-pounder field guns, which were of little use in siege warfare, but certainly not a lot in field warfare, although Captain Torres doubted that the Tatars would fight them in the field.

The real siege artillery still depends on the navy. At the urging of Major Antonio Carlos, Task Force Commander Diego García, commander-in-chief of the campaign, finally agreed to dismantle some of the ship's guns from the badly damaged battleship "Inquisition" to support the Army's front-line operations. Of course, these guns were extremely heavy and quite cumbersome to transport. Luo Qia is not close to Dingyuan Fort, and it will take a day or two for the infantry to march lightly, let alone drag some heavy naval guns. To this end, the Spaniards cut the number of horses used to transport logistics in half to tow these naval guns, and even so, they could only tow 2-4 guns at a time.

After a total of six Army field guns were safely transported across the river, Captain Torres threw himself into the never-ending construction work. The construction of the fortification of the ferry, the construction of artillery positions and the construction of fortified bunkers for the upcoming naval heavy artillery. Captain Torres noticed that the Tatars had some abandoned brick and lime kilns outside the city, but unfortunately they were so badly damaged that they could no longer be reused. Filled with regret, Captain Torres simply ordered the buildings to be demolished, and the materials obtained were used to build his own camp.

Beginning on July 7, the weather gradually became worse. Winters on the east coast were always so annoying, and the continuous rain and snow caused countless difficulties not only for the Spaniards who were working on the construction, but also for the logistics troops who transported the supplies.

Lieutenant Fernando sat in a carriage transporting blankets, which he had a bad cold since the previous night, and was so dizzy that he could not walk, so he had to lie down in the carriage. By this morning, he was feeling a little better, which made him feel a little happy. In this day and age, colds can also be fatal at any time. Although his health has improved, he still can't walk. Lying in the car with nothing to do, he simply took out a stack of papers from his bag and began to write a diary, which is his daily habit.

"On July 8, light rain continued. After a full day of rain soak yesterday, the road surface has become quite slippery and muddy. Some sections of the road are even so bad that if you are not careful, the wheels will sink into them and you will not be able to walk. An ammunition truck got bogged down in a mud pit in the afternoon, the vehicle overturned, and the powder keg rolled to the ground. My good deputy, Second Lieutenant Marko, a young man from Valladolid, commanded the soldiers who were escorting the car and it took two full hours to get the car back on the road. ”

"July 9th, light snow. Perhaps God was testing our patience and will, and at noon the axle of a wagon carrying grain broke, and the repairmen told me that the cart could not be repaired in a short time due to a lack of materials. I had to order the cart with 100 bags of wheat to be abandoned, and maybe we could find a way to recover it when we returned. ”

"July 10th, moderate snow. The snow was getting heavier and heavier, but my cold had miraculously healed, and I was able to get down the road and take some of the heavy lifting off of Ensign Marko. Marco has been exhausted in the last two days, and when I couldn't work, he took everything on and handled everything so well that I couldn't do it better. He's a good lad and he's going to have a future. ”

Lieutenant Fernando wrote the last letter on the letterhead, then stuffed the whole stack of letterheads into his purse, jumped out of the car, and shouted, "All right, boys, when you have had enough rest, let's get out of here." We were less than a day away from the camp at the front, and everyone was in good spirits. The wind and snow are getting heavier, so try to make more travel before nightfall, and then find a sheltered place to spend the night. Marco, go and rush the convoy! ”

"Yes, sir!" Marco bowed down and was about to turn around, but saw his body suddenly freeze, pointed to the front and said with trembling lips: "Brother...... Cossack! ”

When Fernando heard this, he turned around to look at it, and suddenly felt every hair on his body stand on end, and then his whole body trembled a little.

About 500 meters to the west, in the low hills, about 100 cavalrymen dressed in dark blue military uniforms and wearing large black-brimmed caps rushed down the gentle slopes of the hills on war horses.

"Prepare for battle!" Lieutenant Fernando finally reacted, "Marco, fence off the carriage!" Forget it, it's too late, damn the Tatars, they're coming too fast! Everyone ducked behind the carriage! Spearmen! The spearman puts the spear up! Musketeers shoot freely! ”

The entire convoy, which was in a state of rest, was in chaos, and the spearmen rushed to the place where the weapons were stacked in order to retrieve their spears. Due to the slippery ground and the collision of personnel, many spearmen fell to the ground. Some of the spearmen who retrieved their weapons, under the command of the officers, tried to separate the chaotic crowd around them and went to the front of the carriage to meet the enemy, but they were squeezed by the crowd instead of holding spears of more than three meters and had difficulty moving.

"Shoot!" The rumbling of iron hooves was getting closer, the Cossack cavalry was already within range of the arquebus, and Lieutenant Fernando loudly ordered the musketeers to shoot.

"Oops! The primer was blown away by the wind! "God, the fire is out!" "It's not good, the primer is wet!" After Fernando's order, only a few arquebuses were fired, and only a few small waves splashed in the surging Cossack cavalry.

"Bang! Bang! "The Cossack cavalrymen, armed with flintlock pistols of the Model 1633, opened fire. Since this kind of pistol does not need an arquebus, and the primer is also well protected by the lid of the medicine pot, the pistol in their hands is fired as much as sixty percent, and the Spaniard in front of them suddenly falls in a large area. The cavalrymen who had finished firing quickly stuffed their pistols into their saddlebags, and then brandished their sabers and slashed at the Spanish crowd behind the carriage.

Due to the suddenness of the incident, the Spanish formation was somewhat disorganized, and after the Cossack cavalry rushed into the crowd, the last formed resistance of the Spaniards also disappeared, and everyone was fighting on their own. Some brave Spanish spearmen, led by Ensign Marko, stabbed their sharp spears at the Cossack cavalry, and the musketeers also threw away their bulky arquebuses and drew their light swords at their waists to fight. But their efforts could not change the situation, and after a volley of pistols, Ensign Marco and some brave Spanish soldiers were killed, and the last courage of the Spaniards was gone.

Many Spanish soldiers threw away their weapons and tried to surrender, but the Cossacks responded with sabers thrown down. The Spaniards collapsed, and many turned and fled, but were soon chased by the Cossack cavalry and cut down one by one. There were fewer and fewer Spaniards still standing on the battlefield, and only Lieutenant Fernando with seven or eight spearmen remained behind.

Xu Yu, the commander of the cavalry battalion who went into battle with minor injuries, surrounded them with a group of cavalry, his saber was still dripping blood, and a Spanish deserter he had just cut down was the first person he had killed in his life. At this moment, he only felt that his whole body was trembling with uncontrollable excitement, and even the knuckles of his right hand holding the saber were a little white due to excessive force.

"Send them on their way!" Xu Yu said coldly, "We can't carry prisoners this time. Everyone took a part of what could be used in the carriage, and destroyed the rest, and did not leave a single thing for the Spaniards! ”

With his order, a salvo of pistols rang out, and the most rear-back Spanish warriors fell!

Lieutenant Fernando foamed at the mouth and collapsed on the grass, blood flowing from the corners of his mouth staining the snow on the ground blood-red.

"Devil! Heathen... Devil! Asunción... Little Juan—" Lieutenant Fernando muttered angrily, his eyes becoming more and more distracted. It was only after the Cossack cavalry who mended the knife again pierced his heart with a sharp saber that he finally stopped his unconscious murmuring. With his eyes wide open, he looked at the northern sky, which was in the direction of Asunción.

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