"Report to the commander, I have just received a telegram from the Shinano Maru that the Russian fleet has been discovered. ”

Hearing the report of the adjutant Nagata Taijiro Nakasa, Heihachiro Togo, who had just been woken up from his sleep, suddenly perked up and immediately said, "Oh, quickly show me the telegram." ”

Taijiro Nagata handed over the manuscript of the telegram, and Heihachiro Togo eagerly snatched it up and began to read it. More than a minute later, Heihachiro Togo said a few words "good" and asked Yasujiro Nagata, "What time is it?" ”

Yasuji Nagata said: "5 o'clock in the morning. The weather was fine, but the wind and waves were strong. ”

Heihachiro Togo immediately said: "Okay, immediately send a telegram to Staff Officer Akiyama, and send a telegram to inform the base camp that 'the enemy ship has been discovered, and the combined fleet will attack immediately, and the weather will be sunny today and the waves will be strong'." The whole fleet was ordered to assemble and prepare for the draw. ”

The Combined Fleet departed from the port of Sasebo on May 5, but the Combined Fleet could not always be adrift at sea, and the Combined Fleet chose Zhenwan at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula as its temporary anchorage, which is only more than 100 kilometers away from the Tsushima Strait and can be reached in about three hours, which is more than twice as close as the port of Sasebo. In peacetime, the main forces of the Combined Fleet, the First and Second Fleets, were anchored in the bay of the town, while the other fleets took turns patrolling around the Tsushima Strait, and set up six cordons in the waters south of the Tsushima Strait to search for the whereabouts of the Russian fleet.

However, the past few days have probably been the most difficult time in the lives of Heihachiro Togo and Shinichi Akiyama. Although Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Shinyuki judged that the Russian fleet would go through the Tsushima Strait, they did not dare to pack tickets, in fact, no one dared to have absolute certainty about such a major matter, so although Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Shinyuki arranged the combined fleet in the Tsushima Strait, they also arranged a large number of reconnaissance ships and reconnaissance points in the waters and islands between the Tsushima Strait and Taiwan to find and monitor the whereabouts of the Russian fleet. And at any time ready to leave the Tsushima Strait and intercept the Russian fleet in other waters.

However, the reconnaissance and communication capabilities of this era were too backward, so although a large number of reconnaissance ships and reconnaissance points were arranged, they were still unable to accurately grasp the whereabouts of the Russian fleet. One moment it was discovered that the Russian fleet had already reached the Tsushima Strait, and the next moment it was discovered that the Russian fleet was planning to make a detour through the Kamatsu Strait.

However, Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Mayuki were confused, because they had to take every piece of news seriously, while consulting the map, and on the other hand, distinguishing the truth of the news, but some of the fakes sounded like the truth, and on two occasions Togo Heihachiro was almost out of breath and was ready to pull the fleet away, but fortunately, he always got a clarified message at the most critical time.

However, for Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Shinyuki, this is indeed a huge torment, and Togo Heihachiro is older after all, and he can avoid strong composure, but Akiyama Shinyuki is already a little spiritual, and at this time he is almost on the verge of a mental breakdown.

At about 3 a.m. on May 12, the Shinano Maru, a reconnaissance ship patrolling southeast of Jeju Island, spotted the light of a steamship on the port side, and the captain of the ship, Narikawa Hirosa, immediately ordered to approach the direction of the light, and about an hour later, the Shinano Maru approached about 5 to 600 meters from the light, and the outline of the three-masted and two chimneys and the faint red cross sign on the side of the ship could be clearly seen.

Narikawa was sure that this was a hospital ship, and he immediately became alert, because it was impossible for the enemy's hospital ship to sail alone, so there must be a fleet nearby! But it was dark all around, and nothing could be seen under the fog. After thinking about it for a while, Narikawa decided to take the risk and continue to reconnoitre, so the Shinano Maru overtook the front of the hospital ship and suddenly found dozens of suspected warships and countless soot at a distance of about 1,500 meters on the port side.

In addition to being excited, Narikawa immediately sent a telegram to the Combined Fleet headquarters in Zhenwan, "Suspected enemy fleet soot has been discovered!" Then continue to arrive at the reconnaissance, in order to get a more accurate result, 10 minutes later, Narukawa finally understood enough to see clearly, it is indeed all warships, and the nearest has been less than 1000 meters, so Narikawa ordered the Shinano Maru to retreat to the southeast, while continuing to send a report, "Found the enemy fleet, location 203, seems to be heading towards the Tsushima East waterway." ”

This telegram was of great importance, confirming that the Russian fleet was passing through the Tsushima Strait, and that the judgment of Heihachiro Togo and Mayuki Akiyama was correct.

Although the Shinano Maru's telegram was not transmitted directly to the town bay, because the radio technology of this era was very backward and not enough for the Shinano Maru to send the telegram directly to the town bay, the first telegram was received by the 3rd Sentai on the 4th cordon, and then the 3rd Sentai flagship Kasashiki forwarded the telegram to the Combined Fleet flagship Mikasa anchored in the town bay, and passed it to Togo Heihachiro.

Finally got the exact news of the Russian fleet, not only Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Shinyuki, but also many soldiers who had just gotten up were very excited, after all, after waiting for several days, the soldiers were also a little impatient, and now the Russian fleet is finally here, and they can fight with the Russians happily.

At 5:4 0, Mikasa received another telegram from the Kasaki, reconfirming that the Russian fleet was still heading in the direction of the Tsushima Strait, and that after receiving the telegram from the Shinano Maru, the Kasashiki immediately rushed to the location reported by the Shinano Maru and discovered the Russian fleet.

Heihachiro Togo immediately ordered the 2nd Fleet to go out of the bay first and intercept the Russian fleet at the mouth of the Tsushima Strait. The 2nd Fleet is the main fleet of the Combined Fleet, including 6 large armored cruisers with an average speed of more than 20 knots, and Togo Heihachiro hopes that the 2nd Fleet will quickly rush to the preset interception position in case the Russian fleet runs away.

In fact, at this time, the Russian fleet was still about 150 kilometers away from the Tsushima Strait, and considering that the speed of the Russian fleet was only 8 knots, it would take at least about 12 hours, while the combined fleet only needed 3 or 4 hours to reach the Tsushima Strait, and there was no need to send the 2nd Fleet to take the lead. This also shows that Togo Heihachiro is also a little out of order at this time.

At 6:30 a.m., the 1st Fleet of the Combined Fleet was finally ready, and the Mikasa cleared the middle deck of excess coal and sailed out of the town bay as the head ship. Led the rest of the fleet in a single column at a speed of 15 knots.

―――――――― Divider ――――――――― Dividing Line――――――――

At 8 o'clock in the morning of May 12, although the wind and waves on the sea were still very strong and there was still a little mist, it was bright after all, and the commander of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, Vice Admiral Rozhdestvinsky, could see the silhouette of a warship on the starboard side of the fleet, even without a telescope, in the command room of the flagship Duke Suvorov.

Of course, the Russian fleet was not followed by the Shinano Maru, but another reconnaissance ship, the Izumi, which was handed over at the 4th cordon set up in Japan, and the Izumi continued to follow the Russian fleet.

At this time, Colonel Semyonov, a staff officer, suggested to Rozhdestvinsky: "Your Excellency, Commander, we should sink this warship. This warship should be a converted reconnaissance ship, the combat effectiveness will not be very strong, and sending only two cruisers will be enough to sink this warship, and it will not affect our speed. ”

Rozhdestwinsky thought for a while, shook his head, and said: "No need, if it was just a warship, it would never dare to get so close to us, and the fog is still very big now, so in the fog behind this warship, it is very likely that there is the enemy's main fleet, and the only cruisers we can use to attack are Aurora and Svetlana, and the firepower, speed and movement of other cruisers are insufficient, and it is easy to fall into the trap." I think that regardless of it, our biggest task now is to break through the Tsushima Strait with all our strength and reach Vladivostok. ”

After hearing this, Semenov also nodded and said, "But it seems that the Japanese fleet is ready to intercept us in the Tsushima Strait, so it is not easy for us to break through the Tsushima Strait, whether to change the route." ”

Rozhdestwinsky smiled bitterly and said: "It's too late, if we divert the route, we will have to add at least 1,000 kilometers of distance, and it is impossible for our coal to support us to divert to Vladivostok; moreover, the speed of the Japanese warships is faster than ours, even if we change the route, the Japanese fleet will catch up with us, or whether we take the Karumsu Strait or the Soya Strait, the Japanese fleet will be able to intercept us at the very time, and it will inevitably be a fierce battle at that time." ”

Although Rozhdestwinsky's intelligence is not high, he is not incompetent, and the basic naval quality is there, because the speed of the Japanese fleet is above that of the Russian fleet, and several sea lanes leading to Vladivostok, the Tsushima Strait, the Kamatsu Strait, and the Soya Strait, are basically in the surrounding waters of Japan, and the Japanese fleet is not only very familiar with the waters in this area, but also has a large number of merchant ships and lookout points on the island, so it is almost impossible to really avoid the interception of the Japanese fleet. And if there is a battle with the Japanese fleet, the best battlefield is actually the Tsushima Strait.

The Tsushima Strait is a strait between Japan's main island and the Korean Peninsula, with a total width of about 200 kilometers, but it is divided into two waterways by Tsushima Island in the middle of the strait, the Korean Strait near the Korean Peninsula is about 60 kilometers wide, and the Tsushima Strait is about 100 kilometers wide on the side near Japan. In contrast, the width of the Kamatsu Strait is about 20 km, and the Soya Strait is about 40 km, so there is much more room for maneuver in the Tsushima Strait, after all, the goal of the Russian fleet is not to defeat the Japanese fleet, but only to break through the interception of the Japanese fleet and reach Vladivostok. And the trip was at least 1,000 kilometers closer, which is why Rozhdestwinsky insisted on taking the Tsushima Strait.