Although it was only 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was overcast, as if it was dusk, and the faint black smoke from the chimney of the warship quickly dissolved into the gloomy sky. There was a dense rain line in the sky, the visibility on the sea was not high, and the strong wind rolled up the waves, constantly impacting the warships moored in the harbor, even the huge hull of the Mikasa, the flagship of the United Fleet, still rose and fell with the waves, and in the face of the powerful forces of nature, the representatives of human technology in this era can only be like lonely leaves floating on the sea.

However, on the deck of the Mikasa, the soldiers and sailors were still busy braving the heavy rain to start the work, hoisting the flag, untying the cables, lifting the anchor, putting away the gangway, closing the hatches, etc., although the soldiers on the warship were already veterans of battle, but in the fierce ups and downs, there were still people who fell from time to time.

"Togo-kun, are you still planning to sail in such weather?" Yamamoto Gonbei, head of the Naval Command Department, stood to the left of Mikasa's front main gun, holding the steel ladder on the turret tightly with one hand, trying his best to stabilize his body in the ups and downs.

In front of him was the commander of the Combined Fleet, Togo Heihachiro, and the chief staff officer Akiyama Shinyuki, Togo Heihachiro was still wearing a military uniform, and Akiyama Shinyuki, who had always been informal, was rarely serious, not only dressed neatly in military uniforms, but also wore military hats very properly, of course, at this time the two were also holding objects that could be armrested, and the military uniforms were wet in heavy rain, so they still looked a little embarrassed.

Heihachiro Togo nodded and said, "Now that the Russian fleet has sailed through the waters off Taiwan, if the Russian fleet does not go through the Tsushima Strait, then it is only possible to go through the waters east of Japan, so we must rush to intercept it as soon as possible." ”

The Russian fleet had three routes to take to reach Vladivostok from the waters off Taiwan: one was to enter the East China Sea through the Miyako Waterway and pass through the Tsushima Strait, which was also the closest route, about 2,100 kilometers, but it was easy to be intercepted; second, it sailed along the waters off the coast of Taiwan, from the waters east of the Japanese archipelago, and entered the Sea of Japan in the Kamatsu Strait between Hokkaido and Japan's main island of Honshu, and then to Vladivostok, a distance of about 4,000 kilometers; and the third was through the Nemuro Strait in the eastern part of the island of Hokkaido or turned northeast of the island of Zeto, entered the Sea of Okhotsk, and then headed westward, passing through the Soya Strait between Hokkaido and Kuyo Island into the Sea of Japan, and then turned south, to Vladivostok, the distance is about 5,300 kilometers, although the distance of these two routes is more than twice as far, but the room for maneuver is larger, which is conducive to evading the interception of the Japanese fleet.

After the partition, Heihachiro Togo and Shinnoto Akiyama thought that it was more likely that the Russian fleet would take the Tsushima Strait, because the Russian fleet had sailed for more than nine months and traveled 34,000 kilometers, and when it arrived in the Far East, it was already physically and mentally exhausted, and would only want to reach Vladivostok as soon as possible and end the voyage, so the probability of choosing a short route was definitely greater than choosing a long route, and the commander of the Russian fleet, Rozhdevinstersky, was just a mediocre person who did not have the courage to take a longer route, and it was also questionable whether the coal carried by the Russian fleet would ensure that they would take a long route.

As a result, Heihachiro Togo and Shinyuki Akiyama sent a large number of alert ships to organize surveillance from the coast of Taiwan, forming a huge early warning network and waiting for the arrival of the Russian fleet.

At this time, Yamamoto Gonbei said: "Togo-kun, Akiyama-kun, this naval battle is very important, not only to win, but also to damage the Russian fleet as much as possible, and try to protect yourself, it is quite difficult to achieve this goal, but the rise and fall of the imperial kingdom is in this battle, so this battle is entrusted to the two." ”

Of course, Togo Heihachiro also knows Japan's current situation, and the victory and defeat of Japan's Guan Jian is indeed in this naval battle, if the combined fleet can be severely damaged, or even completely annihilated the Russian fleet, not only can it completely paralyze Russia's sea power, but also after this naval battle, the Japanese navy still has enough strength to threaten the East China government from the sea and contain the East China government's naval fleet, so that it will be difficult for the East China government to launch an attack from Lushun, and the Japanese army only needs to hold the Liaohe defense line to be able to contain the military action of the East China government, which is the most favorable situation for Japan。 So Togo Heihachiro nodded and said, "Yamamoto-kun, we will definitely try our best to achieve this goal." ”

Yamamoto Gonbei saluted the two of them and said, "Two, please leave everything to the two of you." After leaving, he turned around and got off the warship.

Heihachiro Togo boarded the bridge, gave the order to set sail, and ordered his flag to be raised, Mikasa let out a flute, and slowly sailed out of the port of Sasebo, facing the heavy rain and waves, sailing out to sea, and the other warships also followed Mikasa, leaving the port in turn.

In the heavy rain, the visibility of the sea was very low, and there were not many soldiers left on the deck, only Togo Heihachiro was still drenched in the rain on the bridge, watching the waves continue to open the bow of the ship, and the military uniform was already soaked by the rain, but he did not want to take shelter from the rain in the cabin. Of course, it was not Togo Heihachiro who was drenched in the rain, there were a lot of adjutants, staff officers, and guards around him, after all, the commander was drenched in the rain on the bridge, who dared to hide, only Akiyama Shin hid in the headquarters alone, but only Akiyama Shinchi dared to do this.

At this time, I saw the adjutant come to Togo Heihachiro's side and said, "Your Excellency Commander, a telegram has been sent back from the surveillance ship, and the telegram team is translating. ”

Togo Heihachiro's spirits were lifted, and he hurriedly got off the bridge and came to the headquarters, at this time the telegram had been translated, and it was in the hands of Akiyama Shinyuki, seeing that Togo Heihachiro was coming, Akiyama Shinyuki handed the telegram to Togo Heihachiro, and said: "Your Excellency, you can see for yourself." ”

Heihachiro Togo took the telegram and saw that it was a telegram from the reconnaissance ship Shinano Maru, saying that the Russian fleet had entered the East China Sea through the Miyako Waterway. Heihachiro Togo couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, because entering the East China Sea meant that the Russian fleet would definitely go through the Tsushima Strait.

In fact, what Heihachiro Togo was most worried about was that the Russian fleet would not take the Tsushima Strait, but would take the route along the east coast of Japan; although even if the Russian fleet took the east coast of Japan, the combined fleet would be able to rush to intercept and defeat the Russian fleet in a very timely manner, but the sea area along the east coast of Japan was wide, and this gave the Russian fleet enough room to escape, and it was basically impossible for the combined fleet to completely annihilate the Russian fleet; while the Tsushima Strait was narrow, and it was only more than 400 kilometers away from the port of Yokosuka, the home port of the combined fleet, leaving very little room for the Russian fleet to maneuver around, so only in a decisive battle in the Tsushima Strait could the combined fleet completely annihilate the Russian fleet。

Because the battle to intercept the Russian fleet is very important, and it can even affect the trend of the entire battlefield, Togo Heihachiro also feels that he has a heavy responsibility and is under tremendous pressure, and what makes Togo Heihachiro most uneasy is that this war is not just a desperate battle by himself, if the Russian fleet does not go through the Tsushima Strait, then no matter how hard he tries, it will be impossible to accomplish the goal of completely annihilating the Russian fleet. And although Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Shinnoto thought that the Russian fleet would go through the Tsushima Strait, the world was unpredictable, and no one was sure that the Russian fleet would definitely go through the Tsushima Strait.

After a while, Togo Heihachiro came to his senses, and then handed the telegram to the adjutant to read it in public, while he hurried back to his room to change his clothes.

When Heihachiro Togo changed into a clean military uniform and returned to the headquarters, there was laughter and laughter in the headquarters, celebrating the Russian fleet going through the Tsushima Strait, although the general staff officers, adjutants, and soldiers did not understand the country's grand strategy, but they also knew that the Tsushima Strait was only 400 kilometers away from the port of Yokosuka, and if you wanted to go to the Tsugaru Strait, Nemuro Strait, The distance to intercept the Russian fleet in the Soya Strait is about 2,000 kilometers, so the Russian fleet will go through the Tsushima Strait, and the combined fleet will at least not have to go that far, and it will be spared a lot of trouble. However, in the midst of this laughter, only Akiyama Shinkazu sat alone in the corner and smoked.

At this time, Togo Heihachiro had completely calmed down from his excitement and issued two orders: one was to order the reconnaissance ships to continue to closely monitor the Russian fleet, so that the Shinano Maru had discovered the Russian fleet, keep an eye on the Russian fleet, and report to himself at any time the movements of the Russian fleet, because although it had been confirmed that the Russian fleet had entered the waters of the East China Sea, they might have made a false shot, and as long as the Russian fleet did not enter the Yellow Sea, it could pass through the Ryukyu Islands at any time and still go through the waters east of JapanIn the past few days, several non-main fleets of the Combined Fleet have already set sail and are waiting in several sea areas where the Russian fleet may pass, and now it is basically certain that the Russian fleet will go through the Tsushima Strait, so it is natural to gather all the warships and meet the Russian fleet with a complete lineup.

At this moment, I don't know who said: "The wind and rain have stopped." ”

After everyone listened, they realized that the warship was no longer in turmoil, and a ray of sunlight shone into the command room of the headquarters from the porthole on the left, bringing a warm color to the headquarters full of cold and hard lines.

Togo Heihachiro came to the porthole, looked out, it turned out that it was almost dusk, the wind stopped raining, the sea also returned to calm, from time to time there were seagulls flying over the sea, making bursts of crisp calls, and between the sea and the sky in the distance, a round of sunset inlaid in the middle, half of the sky, half of the bay of the sea reflected a piece of gold and red, making people almost unable to distinguish the difference between the sky and the sea. Heihachiro Togo has been in the army for more than 30 years, and he has seen any kind of sea wind system, but at this moment, he feels a shock.

At some point, Akiyama Shinyuki came to Togo Heihachiro's side, looked out the porthole and muttered, "What a beautiful sunset." ”