At the time when the fleet was carrying out reconnaissance missions, on the battlefield in the Liaodong region, the land battle between Japan and Russia had already entered the most critical stage.

Although Japan has also agreed to accept the mediation of Britain and France, it has been actively reorganizing its armaments and preparing to attack Shenyang; of course, the Russian army has not pinned its hopes on the mediation between Britain and France, and is also trying to mobilize troops from the direction of Europe, and with Shenyang as the core, it has also strengthened its lobbying actions for the East China Government, and vigorously encouraged the East China Government to send troops to flank the Japanese army.

By the end of February, the Japanese army had concentrated five armies on the Shenyang front, totaling about 270,000 troops, while the Russian army had also gathered 350,000 troops in Shenyang.

However, although the Russian army has a certain advantage in total strength and has a favorable geographical position for defense, the morale of the army is low, and the materials and ammunition are also insufficient. After all, more than half of the Russian army was urgently transferred from Europe, but at this time, the Trans-Siberian Railway had not yet been fully completed, and Russia's work efficiency was always low, so it was very good to be able to transfer troops from Europe to the Far East.

Due to the successive victories of the Japanese army, the morale of the whole army was high, and the desire to fight was extremely high, so the Japanese army headquarters saw this and also decided to launch the Battle of Mukden, after all, if it dragged on, it would only become more and more unfavorable to the Japanese army.

On February 23, the 5th Army on the right flank of the Japanese army took the lead in advancing north from the upper reaches of the Taizi River and made a detour to the 1st Army on the left flank of the Russian army.

On 27 February, the 2nd and 3rd armies of the Japanese army began to detour the weak right flank of the Russian army to carry out a surprise attack, which immediately put the Russian army in a difficult situation, and Kuropatkin hastily decided to transfer reserves from the left flank back to the right flank. However, due to the exhaustion of the troops tossing back and forth, they were still unable to stop the Japanese attack, and the Russian army's right flank position was continuously broken by the Japanese army, and by the time the battle was carried out by March 4, the Japanese 3rd Army had already broken through to the railway line close to the north of Mukden, and the battle situation was urgent.

Although the Russian army immediately concentrated another 80,000 troops and launched a counterattack against the Japanese 3rd Army, the Japanese army, under the command of the commander-in-chief Nogi Noshinori, fought several bloody battles with the Russian army in succession, causing the Russian army to return in vain, while Nogi Noshinori commanded the 3rd Army and continued to make a detour north of Mukden.

During this period, the Japanese army also intensified its offensive on the Russian left flank on March 1, although the Japanese offensive made little progress under the stubborn resistance of the Russian left flank 1st Army. However, due to the fact that the Russian army had to transfer troops to support the right flank, thus weakening the strength of the right flank, Kuropatkin decided to withdraw the 1st and 3rd armies on the left flank in order to shorten the front and save troops.

However, the Japanese seized the retreating fighters of the Russian army on the left flank, launched a fierce attack on the Russian army, and successfully broke through the Russian defense line on March 9, detouring to the flank and rear of Mukden from the left flank. On the same day, the Japanese 3rd Army on the right flank had already returned to the rear of the Russian 2nd Army, and the left and right flanks were almost in unison, and the Russian army was in danger of being completely encircled.

Faced with a critical situation, Kuropatkin lost the courage to hold on, and on the night of March 9 he ordered Shenyang to be abandoned, and the whole army retreated in the direction of Tieling. However, due to the poor organizational skills of the Russian army, the retreat became extremely chaotic, a large amount of supplies were abandoned, and the cavalry, which was supposed to be responsible for the cover of the broken back, retreated from the infantry and artillery, and carried too much baggage, so that the roads were blocked, and the troops were repeatedly shelled by the Japanese.

Fortunately, after several days of fierce fighting, the Japanese army was also very tired, and there was also a shortage of ammunition, which was not a problem with the dispatch and organization of the Japanese army, but the limited production capacity in Japan, and the potential for war had reached the limit. Therefore, they were no longer able to pursue the Russian army, but on March 1 0, they entered the city of Shenyang, which was abandoned by the Russian army, and on March 1 1, the 1st and 3rd armies met in the Hunhe area, and then occupied Changtu. The Russian army fled until Siping to stabilize its position.

At this point, the Battle of Mukden was over, and the two sides once again confronted each other in the area between Changtu and Siping, but the Japanese advanced the front about 150 kilometers to the north.

The Battle of Mukden was the largest, largest number of troops, and the longest battle since the start of the Russo-Japanese War, with a total of more than 600,000 troops invested by both sides, a battle line of more than 200 kilometers, and a time of 17 days, the war ended with the victory of the Japanese army, with more than 70,000 Japanese casualties, while the Russian army suffered more than 115,000 casualties, and basically withdrew from the scope of the Liaodong Peninsula.

After the Battle of Mukden, public opinion in Europe was almost unanimous in believing that Russia had lost the war. According to the French statesman Gleman, "this war will change the pattern of the world, Japan will become a great power, and the Franco-Russian alliance has become a burden for France." ”

Even the Russian newspapers stressed that it was time to end the war: "Russia has fallen into a state of utter despair, and it is not a shame to abandon its colonial policy now." ”

In his proposal to Tsar Nicholas II, former Russian finance minister Witte said: "There is a danger of continuing the war," citing that continuing the war would cause financial imbalances, increase the burden on the people, and cause social discontent, conflict, and unrest.

Nicholas II was also shocked to receive the news of the defeat in the Battle of Mukden, and immediately convened a council of the Imperial Council to discuss the course of the war, but at the meeting, no one proposed to end the war or negotiate with Japan, but decided to continue the battle.

Admiral Havelan said: "The Baltic Fleet is still alive, and if necessary, it can devote all its naval forces to win a naval victory and isolate the Japanese forces in Manchuria." ”

War Minister Sakharov also said: "The army can send another 600,000 infantry, 32,000 cavalry, 2,000 artillery pieces and a large amount of military supplies to Manchuria, which can completely turn the tide of the war." ”

The emperor's uncle, Grand Duke Alexei, also believed that the war had not yet reached the point of no return, although the Battle of Mukden was lost, but because the Japanese army launched the attack first, this was a great contempt for the mediation led by Britain and France, and it would certainly be extremely dissatisfied with Japan's behavior, and Britain was the biggest supporter behind Japan, so Russia could take the opportunity to divide the relationship between Britain and Japan, at least to make Britain's support for Japan less firm, so that it could hit Japan's war potential; in addition, there was the existence of the great variable of overseas Chinese.

Before the Battle of Mukden, relations between the East China government and Japan had deteriorated significantly, and it was gradually getting closer to Russia. However, the proximity between the East China Government and Russia is mainly due to Russia's unilateral efforts, while the East China Government's attitude is very warm, and although it has maintained a relatively goodwill response to Russia's overtures, it has not made a clear statement, let alone taken practical action. It's just that compared with before the Russo-Japanese war, it is indeed a significant improvement.

However, Russia also understands the intentions of the East China Government, first, that Russia has not ceded some substantive interests, and that the East China Government is also the master of not seeing rabbits and not scattering eagles, so of course it will not take a position lightly; second, the East China Government also wants to sit idly by and watch Japan and Russia go to war and lose both sides and suffer injuries, so that it can profit from it.

But now that Russia has been defeated by Japan, the East China Government must also take action, otherwise when Russia really makes peace with Japan, then Japan can concentrate on dealing with the East China Government, and such a situation will also be extremely unfavorable to the East China Government. Of course, Russia can be more proactive in diplomacy and actively negotiate with the East China Government in an effort to get the East China Government to join the war at an early date.

After listening to the advice of the ministers, Nicholas II's heart was also a lot more stable, Russia really has not reached the point of exhaustion, and there are still a lot of good cards in his hand to play, there is still a good chance to redeem the defeat, so Nicholas II also decided to continue the war and not consider negotiating with Japan.

Of course, someone must also take responsibility for the defeat in the Battle of Mukden, so Nicholas II ordered that the Governor-General of the Far East Alekseev be dismissed from his post and transferred back to St. Petersburg, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Army, Kuropatkin, was demoted to the post of Commander of the 1st Army, and Linnevich took over as the Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Army, assuming responsibility for the overall command of the battles in the Far East, and at the same time continuing to increase troops in the Far East, and ordered the commander of the 2nd Pacific Fleet, Rozhdestevinsky, to speed up and rush to the Far East as soon as possible to participate in the war.

At the diplomatic level, Russia ordered Petrov, the consul in Qingdao, to make further contact with the East China Government, so that he could directly put forward a proposal to join hands with Japan like the East China Government, and see what kind of attitude the East China Government has, or what conditions it has, as long as it can be discussed. At the same time, he made representations to Britain and France, accusing Japan of sabotaging mediation and demanding that Britain and France intervene in Japan's actions. On the other hand, it also strengthened negotiations with Germany and eased relations, so that more troops could be drawn from Europe to the Far East, and it could put pressure on France to continue to support Russia.

As a matter of fact, Britain and France were also quite annoyed by Japan's act of launching the Mukden Campaign, which was tantamount to slapping Britain and France in the face; since it was Britain, because the whole world knew that Japan was actually Britain's little brother, France even directly proposed to Britain to demand that Britain manage Japan well, and even declared to the outside world that Japan had sabotaged the peace process in the Far East and must be held responsible for this.

In fact, before Japan launched the Mukden Campaign, it had informed Britain that Russia was only taking advantage of the time of British and French mediation to increase the deployment of troops in the Far East, and therefore this kind of mediation itself would seriously harm Japan's interests, and Japan must take the lead in launching the Mukden Campaign. Even if it is saddled with the name of undermining the peace process, it will not hesitate to do so. I also hope that Britain will understand Japan's approach.

In fact, of course, the British government can understand Japan's approach, and if it were Britain, it would have adopted the same approach, but Britain has Britain's position, and what it needs is a Japan that can control, not a Japan that makes trouble for itself.