After the civilian officials of both sides spoke, the atmosphere also eased considerably. Both sides also agreed to first discuss the establishment of a joint command center, because after all, only after the establishment of the joint command headquarters can they discuss tactical issues in a proper manner, and this consultation is not a military meeting, otherwise the generals will be spitting on the matter of talking just now, but the two civilian officials will not be able to interject.

The plan put forward by Japan is: The joint command will be dominated by Japan, the East China Government can send a senior officer to participate, and the staff officers under it will be distributed according to the proportion of the forces invested by the two sides; if the respective armies are carrying out combat missions alone, the specific tactics will be formulated by the respective armies themselves; if the two sides are conducting joint operations, the Japanese side should be the main force in formulating tactics, and the personnel of the East China Government can also participate in the proposals, but the final decision is still on the Japanese side.

Then the Japanese side further explained that since the stakes of the war were important, there should be people in power to make decisions, and Japan invested far more troops than the East China government, so it should naturally become the leading party, which was also to defeat Russia smoothly. However, to put it bluntly, Japan still hopes to take the lead when a joint command is actually established in the future.

Of course, this plan cannot be accepted by the East China government, so the East China government refuted it on the one hand, and on the other hand, it also put forward its own plan, and it is true that the war needs to be decided by power, but it also needs to be brainstormed, otherwise it would be meaningless to set up a staff headquarters? It is obviously inappropriate for the East China Government to produce only one officer; moreover, it is even more inappropriate to distribute staff officers in proportion to the number of troops invested, and it does not reflect the principle of fair cooperation between the two sides; the troops invested by the East China Government are increasing one after another, and the personnel will change at any time; if the East China Government eventually invests more troops than Japan, then should the East China Government take the lead? In addition, if the logistics troops are not counted in the number of troops, how should the civilian service personnel be counted?

The East China Government's plan was to first recognize that Japan's first investment in troops, manpower, and material resources was indeed superior to that of the East China Government, so it was agreed that the Japanese side would serve as the supreme commander of the joint command, but the personnel of the two sides must be equal, in fact, there were few people in the core of the command headquarters, five or six were sufficient, and the staff officers under it could be distributed in a ratio of 4:6; and the planning and decision-making of the war should also be determined by the two sides through consultation, so that Japan's dominant position could be reflected and the principle of fair cooperation between the two sides should be followed.

It should be said that the plan of the East China government is more just, but in this way it is impossible for Japan to dominate the joint command, so Kodama Gentaro and Yamamoto Gonbei immediately opposed it. Naturally, the East China government argued on the basis of reason, and the two sides immediately quarreled again.

Seeing that the talks between the two sides were about to stalemate again, Komura Shoutaro and Li Sanjie hurriedly played another round, believing that today was just a matter of the two sides expressing their attitudes to each other, and that the specific plan could be discussed another day, and that they would simply inform each other of the plan for the two sides to form a joint management of the occupied areas.

Japan's plan is similar to that of the Joint Command, in that the management is led by Japan, and the East China Government still sends a person to participate, but only the right to make suggestions and decision-making still belongs to the Japanese side, while the management of the grassroots level is jointly responsible for both sides. To put it simply, Japan still does not want to give up its dominance, and hopes to use the power of the East China government to maintain good local order.

However, the East China government's plan is that the management is jointly responsible for both sides, and the Japanese side can be the main one, but the decision-making must be decided by both sides through joint consultation, and the grassroots managers are best taken care of by the East China government, after all, the grassroots managers are directly facing the people, and the staff of the East China government are in common with the people in terms of language, culture, and customs, which is naturally convenient for management, while the Japanese personnel obviously do not have the conditions for this.

However, the Japanese side obviously cannot accept this proposal, because this is not tantamount to emptying Japan? Wouldn't all the places that Japan had managed to defeat be handed over to the East China Government.

Seeing that the atmosphere was tense again, Li Sanjie immediately suggested that the meeting be adjourned for the time being, and both sides would study their respective plans again and resume negotiations another day. When Komura Shoutaro heard this, he immediately agreed. And so the consultation ended.

The contents of the consultations immediately spread to Tokyo, and after reading them, Hirobumi Ito, Aritomo Yamaguchi, Katsura Taro, and others immediately began to discuss them, and everyone first unanimously agreed that although the conditions of the East China Government were high, they were not asking for sky-high prices, and they were basically fighting for their own interests on a reasonable basis. If the East China government blindly indiscriminately raises high prices, or accepts all the proposals put forward by Japan, there will be a problem. Therefore, Japan can rest assured.

As for how to talk about the cooperation plan between the two sides, Ito Hirobumi only raised one question, that is, whether Japan needs the military help of the East China Government, and whether Japan can defeat Russia independently by relying on Japan, if it can, it can not yield an inch to the East China Government, if not, then quickly make concessions in some places, negotiate as soon as possible, and urge the East China Government to send troops as soon as possible. The Admiralty answered this question objectively and gave the War Department and the Admiralty a day to discuss it.

And at this moment, an unexpected event on the battlefield changed the direction of this consultation.

At five o'clock in the afternoon of April 11, the Combined Fleet again set out from the port of Incheon to carry out the plan formulated by Masayuki Akiyama to lure the enemy before the third blockade operation.

At 10 p.m. on 12 April, the Combined Fleet first dispatched the 4th Destroyer Fleet with two minelayers to deploy outside Port Arthur*. At 4 a.m. on April 13, the Japanese fleet laid 44*, but while retreating, it was discovered by the Russian patrol fleet, and a battle broke out outside Port Arthur.

In the fierce battle, the Russian ship Strasinje was hit and sunk by the Japanese ship's fish ship, and the cruisers Bayan and Diana of the Pacific Fleet went out of the port to meet them, and encountered the 4 protective cruisers of the 3rd Squadron of the Combined Fleet and the 2nd armored cruiser of the 2nd Squadron, and the two sides began to shell each other, and then the cruisers Ascolid and Novik went out of the port for reinforcements.

At 7:15 a.m. on April 13, Makarov took command of the flagship Petropavlovsk, the battleship Poltava, The Victory went out of port to meet the Japanese ships, and saw the Russian battleships dispatched, knowing that the Japanese cruiser that was not the opponent quickly turned around and fled, Makarov ordered the pursuit, but the Russian fleet chased not far, and found that 6 battleships of the Japanese 1st Sentai appeared on the sea in the distance, Makarov understood that Japan was planning to lure himself out of the range of shore guns and then fight, and Makarov also wanted to lure the combined fleet into the range of shore guns, so he ordered the fleet to return.

However, on the Mikasa, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, Heihachiro Togo and Shinyuki Akiyama found that the course of the Petropavlovsk was exactly the direction of the formation, so Heihachiro Togo ordered the fleet to stop advancing and wait and see the Russian ships.

At 9:45 a.m., about 2 nautical miles east of the Tiger Tail Lighthouse, the Petropavlovsk collided with *, the bow of the ship first hit a mine, and with a huge explosion, a large cloud of black smoke rose from the bow, and the explosion detonated the * warehouse under the waterline, then the 12-inch artillery magazine in the bow, and finally the cylinder exploded, almost everything on the deck flew into the sky, and the front main gun even flew to an altitude of several hundred meters. By the time the smoke had receded, most of the Petropavlovsk had already sunk into the water, only the stern was still on the water, the propellers were spinning freely, and two minutes later, the entire warship was completely sunk into the sea.

Although at this time, the Japanese fleet only saw a cloud of black smoke rising from a distance, and then the smoke gradually disappeared, the lead ship of the Russian fleet was gone, and all ships suddenly burst into cheers, and even Togo Heihachiro showed a smile, anyway, it was considered to have sunk an enemy battleship, which was the biggest result of the combined fleet since the start of the war. So the order was given to the fleet to turn back.

After the sinking of the Petropavlovsk, all other Russian ships urgently put down their lifeboats to rescue the survivors, a total of 773 people on the Petropavlovsk, including the captain Colonel Yamalev, a total of 129 people were rescued, but there was no Makarov, only one of Makarov's coats was found.

But Russia's bad luck was not over, and at 10:10 a.m., the Victory struck another mine, and a hole was blown near the starboard bow, but fortunately, the engine and steering gear were not damaged, so it was able to keep moving. The other Russian ships also became frightened birds, and they all fled back to the inner harbor to hide.

Japan got the exact news at 5 p.m. on the same day, knowing that Vice Admiral Makarov had died, and the entire Combined Fleet was overjoyed, although Makarov had only been in office for 36 days, it brought a refreshing change to the Pacific Fleet, and also brought tremendous pressure to the Combined Fleet. The next day, the report of the sinking of the enemy's flagship was announced with a great naval victory.

The death of Makarov also greatly reduced the pressure on the Japanese Navy and Army, and they unanimously agreed that the military strength of the East China Government was not needed at this time, but at this time, the leaders of the Navy and Army also kept a clear head, knowing that this victory was too accidental, and it did not mean that Japan had already won the victory, and it was unknown how much impact Makarov's death had on Russia, so it was not yet possible to completely refuse the military help of the East China Government.

So in the next consultations, Japan also deliberately took a tough attitude and refused to make concessions on the cooperation plan, which made the negotiations enter a deadlock, and Komura Shoutaro took advantage of the situation to suggest that this time the negotiations might as well come to this point, and the two sides could go back and slowly consider their own plans, and the East China Government might as well strengthen its preparations, and it is expected that the next round of negotiations will be held in June, because by June, the landing operation of the East China Government should be almost ready, and it will be better to negotiate again at this time.

The delegation of the East China Government also accepted Komura Shotaro's proposal and returned to Qingdao on 15 May, of course, the Japanese courtesy was quite considerate, held a grand farewell ceremony, and also sent two warships to escort the escort for more than 50 kilometers.