In response to the accusations made by the Japanese, Russia replied that the fleet's target was Port Arthur, and that the port of Incheon was only for recuperation, and that it was not intended to be stationed at Incheon Port for a long time, so Russia did not violate the [Japan-Russia Agreement] and also asked the Japanese side not to be nervous, so as not to cause tension on the Korean Peninsula.

The Japanese are inherently good at playing conspiracy, and they have already been put on the table by the Russians, so it is strange to believe the Russians' explanations. Now that Japan's 66th Fleet has been half completed, it currently has three battleships and three armored cruisers, and the strength of the navy is not inferior to that of this Russian fleet, but it will take 3 or 4 days for the fleet to assemble, set off, and then rush to Incheon at the earliest, and during this time, a lot of things will happen.

In Japan, there was already a group of hardliners against Russia, led by the veteran of the Meiji Restoration, former Minister of War and Prime Minister Aritomo Yamagu, so they strongly advocated that Japan should immediately mobilize its fleet and build up its army, and if Russia had an anti-Japanese action on the Korean Peninsula, it would immediately launch military action to ensure Japan's interests on the Korean Peninsula at all costs.

Although Japan's current prime minister, Hirobumi Ito, is a moderate and advocates doing everything possible to avoid direct conflict with Russia, after all, Russia is still a behemoth in this era, with a territory of more than 20 million square kilometers, a population of 150 million, and a warlike people. But by this time, Japan had almost been cornered by Russia, and the moderation was not the same as the capitulation faction, so Ito Hirobumi could no longer back down.

However, Ito Hirobumi is a politician with an international perspective after all, and it happened that Shanghai was about to hold a meeting to negotiate the formation of a multinational coalition and expand the scale of China's fighting, so Ito Hirobumi pinned his hopes on stopping Russia at this meeting, after all, it was better not to go to war with Russia. Therefore, on the one hand, Ito Hirobumi ordered the navy to be assembled and the military department to prepare for war, and on the other hand, he immediately instructed the Japanese consul in Shanghai, Oda Kiri, to immediately conduct diplomatic maneuvers in Shanghai, striving to unite with other countries to put pressure on Russia.

After receiving the domestic order, Oda Kiri also knew that the situation was critical, so he visited the consulates of Britain, Germany, the United States, France, and other countries overnight, stated the views of the Japanese government, criticized Russia's unilateral actions, and firmly stated that if the Russian fleet did not leave Incheon, Japan would refuse to negotiate any other matter, and would also refuse to send additional troops to the Chinese battlefield, and would also unilaterally make peace with the Qing and overseas Chinese, and withdraw all Japanese troops now in China, and so on.

France and the United States did not want to expand the scale of China's war in the first place, and this incident was in the hands of China and Japan, and if a contradiction between Russia and Japan broke out and even developed into a conflict, then the eight-nation coalition would also be completely broken. Since France did not want Russia to devote too much energy to the Far East, the consuls of both countries expressed their willingness to cooperate with Japan at the next day's meeting to put pressure on Russia to withdraw the Russian fleet from the port of Incheon.

Germany, on the other hand, originally wanted to push Russia into the Far East, which would not only reduce its own strategic pressure, but also divide the Russian-French alliance, so it reacted coldly to Odakiri's request, saying that this was a matter between Japan and Russia, and it was inconvenient for Germany to intervene.

Of course, Japan did not have much hope for Germany, although Germany was a decisive power in Europe, but its strength in the Far East was limited, and if it wanted to contain Russia, it mainly relied on Britain, on the one hand, because since the First Sino-Japanese War, Britain and Japan have been gradually getting closer, and 10 warships of the "66th Fleet" planned by Japan were purchased from Britain, and on the other hand, the contradictions between Britain and Russia were the most intense.

After receiving Oda Kiri, the British consul in Shanghai, Huo Bilan, immediately informed the country of the attitude of his government. After reading the telegram, British Prime Minister Marquess Salisbury could not help but lament: "The Eight-Nation Coalition has been completely finished. ”

Since the First Sino-Japanese War, Britain has intended to support Japan as its proxy in the Far East, in order to curb Russia's expansion in the Far East, and does not hesitate to help Japan build a strong navy, and even uses the strongest battleships as a model to help Japan build warships, and after the outbreak of the Boer War, Britain's national strength declined, and Japan's role in the Far East naturally became more prominent, so if it does not support Japan this time, it will not only make Russia annex Korea, and its strength in the Far East will increase greatly, but it will also make Japan feel that Britain is unreliable, so over the years, Britain's support for Japan has also been completely wasted。

On the other hand, Vice Admiral John Fisher, the commander-in-chief of the Far East Fleet selected by the British, returned to London and, on the basis of available information, provided a report to the British Admiralty proposing that in order to suppress the navy of the overseas Chinese, it was necessary to dispatch 4-5 first-class battleships, 2-3 second-class battleships, 2-3 large armored cruisers, 2-3 large protective cruisers, 4-5 small and medium-sized protective cruisers, 10-15 torpedo boats and destroyers, and other ships related to the supporting facilities.

This report took the British Admiralty by surprise, because it meant that about 15 large and medium-sized surface ships, about 20 small and medium-sized surface ships, plus auxiliary ships, would bring the number of ships in the entire fleet to 50-60.

Such a huge fleet, with the current financial situation of Britain, simply cannot afford it, and according to the plan of the Admiralty, the fleet cannot exceed 30 ships at most. Vice Admiral Fisher, however, said that if the number of ships in the fleet was limited to 30, he could not guarantee victory.

Although it is difficult to correctly assess the naval strength of the overseas Chinese in the available information, they easily won two victories in the Battle of Dagukou and the Battle of the Bohai Sea, and easily defeated the German fleet with 3 battleships, 1 large armored cruiser, 4 large ironclad ships, and 5 large and medium-sized protective cruisers in the Battle of the Bohai Sea. So Vice Admiral Fisher also used the simplest comparative assessment method, and if the British fleet also wanted to easily defeat the German fleet, it needed to propose its own number of ships.

But it is clear that Britain is currently unable to dispatch a fleet of this size. Of course, it has also been suggested that Britain does not need to send all its ships, because there are other countries. Not to mention other countries, Russia and Japan have not weak naval strength in the Far East, and the fleet sent by Russia from the sea has one battleship, two large armored cruisers, and two large protective cruisers, while the Japanese navy already has three battleships and three large armored cruisers. If the navies of Japan and Russia can be integrated, the pressure on Britain will be greatly reduced.

Moreover, once Japan and Russia form a joint navy with Britain, other countries such as France and the United States will certainly send warships to join in, and the multinational joint fleet formed in this way will be even more powerful than Fisher proposed.

It's just that the British side did not expect that Russia would attack the Korean Peninsula at this time, and it should be said that the polar bear is indeed good at seizing opportunities, but this has disrupted Britain's overall plan.

However, lamentation is lamentation, the matter still has to be settled, so the Marquis of Salisbury immediately summoned the members of the British cabinet to discuss countermeasures, in short, not to support Japan. After discussion among the cabinet members, it was finally decided that supporting Japan was the only option for the United Kingdom.

Of course, the members of the British cabinet knew very well that once Britain made a decision to support Japan and suppress Russia, then the plan to form a multinational coalition and expand the scale of China's battle was completely over, because Russia is by no means a country that can be easily suppressed, and this will be a long-term process, maybe one or two years, maybe three or five years, it is possible. During this period, not only did the Eight-Nation Coalition exist in name only, but it was also an impossible task to form a multinational coalition army. But Britain can only choose the less dangerous of the two evils.

Since it was impossible to form a multinational coalition, and the situation in China could not drag on like this, the British government had to start formal discussions and negotiate with the crossers to resolve the war in China peacefully.

As a result, the meeting, which was originally scheduled to discuss the formation of a multinational coalition to expand the scale of the battle against China, became a condemnation meeting headed by Japan, supported by Britain, France and the United States, and played soy sauce by Germany, accusing Russia of destroying the balance on the Korean Peninsula and demanding that the Russian fleet leave the Korean Peninsula immediately.

Of course, Russia will not be so easily subdued, and Dmitriev, the Russian consul general in Shanghai, insisted that the Russian fleet only temporarily docked at Incheon Port for recuperation, and did not violate the [Japan-Russia Agreement] and did not disrupt the balance on the Korean Peninsula, and Japan's accusations were completely unreasonable.

Oda Kiri asked when the Russian fleet would leave the port of Incheon, and Dmitriev said that this was a Russian military secret, and he had nothing to say, so he only made Oda Kiri angry.

The British consul Huo Bilan asked Russia to make a promise in the name of the government to guarantee that the Russian fleet would not do anything to change the balance of the Korean Peninsula during the anchorage of the Russian fleet in the port of Incheon, but Dmitriev arrogantly replied that the Russian government would never make such a promise.

This finally angered the Japanese, and Odakiri told Dmitriev on the spot that if the Russian fleet unilaterally changed the balance on the Korean Peninsula, it would mean war.

Huo Bilan also immediately joined the Japanese consul, and the British side would use all means to maintain the balance on the Korean Peninsula and even in the Far East.

U.S. Consul Guna also said that the United States will resolutely oppose acts that undermine the balance on the Korean Peninsula.

The French consul, Blazaotai, hoped that the Russian government would seriously consider it and not make a mistake.

Russia was really not afraid of the threat of war from Japan, but Britain, the United States, and France jointly put pressure on Russia, and even Russia felt tremendous pressure, and Dmitriev had to restrain himself and said that he would immediately report the attitude of various countries to the country. And this off-topic meeting ended unhappily.