At 1 0:00 a.m., Heihachiro Togo led the fleet near Okishima Island in the middle of the Tsushima Strait and joined up with the 6 armored cruisers of the 2nd Sentai Squadron. At this time, after the 3rd Sentai discovered the Russian fleet, the 5th Sentai also discovered the Russian fleet, and the two fleets were closely monitoring the movements of the Russian fleet, one on the left and the other on the right. And constantly sent telegrams to the Mikasa, reporting the position, direction, and speed of the Russian fleet.

Although the Russian fleet had entered the Tsushima Strait at this time, it did not mean that the combined fleet could catch the turtle in the urn and capture it with its hands. Because the Tsushima Strait is relatively wide, it gives the Russian fleet a large room for maneuver, and there are also many islands distributed in it, and since it is the central island of Okishima, the Tsushima Strait is divided into two waterways, east and west, and the Russian fleet can also bypass Tsushima Island and go through the Korean Strait, so it is also very important to determine the position, direction, and speed of the Russian fleet.

Of course, at this time, the Russian fleet also discovered that it was surrounded by Japanese warships on its left and right, but still did not attack. Rozhdestwinsky now just wants to sail through the Tsushima Strait as soon as possible and reach Vladivostok, as long as the Japanese fleet does not attack the Russian fleet, it will not be too troublesome, and Rozhdestwinsky still has a trace of luck, hoping that the Japanese fleet has not had time to assemble or misjudge, and did not intercept the Russian fleet, but Rozhdestwinsky also understands that this possibility is slight, so Rozhdestwinsky just ordered the fleet to be converted into a single-column battle formation, ready to fight at any time. and ordered the fleet to pass through the waterway on the eastern side of the Tsushima Strait.

At 11 o'clock, the Russian fleet completed the single-column formation, and the ships began to rotate for lunch. At 11:40, as the 3rd Squadron of the Combined Fleet approached about 6 kilometers away from the Russian fleet, the battleship Hawk of the 1st Squadron of the Russian Fleet opened fire, and the 3rd Squadron returned fire while quickly pulling away, so the Hawk quickly stopped the shelling. It was also the first time that the Japanese and Russian fleets opened fire on each other.

At this time, in the command room of the Mikasa, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, more than 10 staff officers were working intensively, some of them were adjusting the position of the Russian fleet in front of the sand table in the Tsushima Strait, some were calculating the time when the two sides met, and some were going back and forth between the telegraph room and the command room, and every time a new telegram came, they had to readjust their positions and calculations.

Commander Heihachiro Togo, Chief of Staff Yuzaburo Kato, Chief Staff Officer Mayuki Akiyama and other important personnel stood aside and silently watched the staff officers' busyness, and only when the results of a certain calculation came out and reported to them did they nod slightly, or say "hard work".

At 12 noon, the 3rd Sentai flagship Kasamaki sent a report: the enemy fleet was located at position 307, heading east-northeast with a horizon of 5 nautical miles. The 5th Sentai flagship Itsukushima sent a report: I am at location 363, heading south-east.

At this time, the upper and lower groups finally unanimously concluded that the Russian fleet must have passed through the Tonori waterway of Okishima, so Togo Heihachiro immediately ordered: Except for the 3rd and 5th Sentai Squadrons, all other fleets are assembled on the east side of Okishima, and in an hour they will encounter the enemy, and we will destroy at least half of its warships!

Then Heihachiro Togo left the command room and came to the bridge, ready to direct the battle.

At this time, the sea surface was full of fog, the visibility had dropped to within 10 kilometers, and the waves were so high that even the Mikasa, which had a displacement of 15,500, shook violently in the sea, and bursts of huge waves hit the deck directly, causing the ship to be flooded in many places, and the waves even splashed all the way to the bridge, drenching the military uniforms of Togo Heihachiro and others, and they could only hold the barrage of the bridge tightly with both hands to prevent them from being thrown down. And in such bad weather, in the face of the upcoming decisive battle, everyone in the command of the Combined Fleet became uneasy.

At 1:15 a.m., the 3rd Sentai that was keeping an eye on the Russian fleet returned first, and at this time it was on the Mikasa, but the Russian fleet was still not visible, but everyone knew that the Russian fleet was not far away.

At 1:20, the Russian fleet first spotted the combined fleet, Rozhdestvinsky ordered the fleet to speed up to 11 knots, and the captains of the ships entered the command room, took their positions, and prepared for battle.

At 1:40, the fog on the sea gradually dissipated, the visibility expanded to about 15 kilometers, and the Russian fleet finally appeared in front of the combined fleet, and the combined fleet had completed the battle formation, led by the 1st team, followed by the 2nd team, and then the 3rd team.

"It's finally getting started. Akiyama Mayuki muttered to himself, and his rare sword belt on his military uniform that "shows determination" looked very special.

And Yuzaburo Kato's face turned pale, it turned out that he had a stomach problem in the past few days, and he was in pain every day. Heihachiro Togo turned his head and said, "Chief of Staff Kato, your health is not good, so don't stay on the bridge and go to the command room." ”

Yuzaburo Kato said, "Commander, what about you?"

Heihachiro Togo said while wiping the seawater splashed on the binoculars, "I will stay on the bridge and command the battle, and the view here is much better than in the command room." ”

Yuzaburo Kato frowned and said, "That's too dangerous, in case it ......"

Togo Heihachiro said with a calm face: "That's why I want the chief of staff to take everyone else back to the command room, and if I have an accident, you will command the battle instead of me." Don't persuade me, I won't go to the command room, and if the chief of staff doesn't want the command of the fleet to be wiped out in an instant, he will quickly take the others to the command room. ”

Kato Yuzaburo suffered for a while, in fact, he also knew that having a good view on the bridge was indeed much better than being in the command room, and at the same time, it could also boost the morale and fighting spirit of the army, of course, the degree of danger was much greater. In the Sino-Japanese War 1 0 years ago, in the First Battle of Dadonggou of the Beiyang Fleet by the Combined Fleet, Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Fleet, commanded the battle on the bridge, but at the beginning of the battle, the Dingyuan was hit by a gun, and the bridge was blown up, Ding Ruchang was seriously injured and could not command the battle, so that the Beiyang Fleet lost command at the beginning of the battle, which was also one of the reasons for the defeat of the Beiyang Fleet. Therefore, it is not unreasonable for Yuzaburo Kato to be worried.

However, Kato Yuzaburo also knew that persuasion could not persuade Togo Heihachiro, so he had to force the other staff officers to return to the command room, of course, a few staff officers were still left by Togo Heihachiro's side, after all, Togo Heihachiro could not be allowed to command the battle on the bridge alone.

After the other staff officers had left the bridge one after another, Heihachiro Togo looked at his watch, the hour hand pointed to 1:45, and Heihachiro Togo gave the order to hang the "Prepare for battle" signal flag on the mast and sound the alarm.

And at this moment, the staff officer reminded Togo Heihachiro that the Russian fleet was turning, moving in the direction of 2 3 degrees east-north, Togo Heihachiro looked at it with a telescope and did not give the order to turn the combined fleet, but only to increase the speed of the fleet to 1 5 knots.

At 1:55 a.m., Heihachiro Togo gave another order, and Mikasa hoisted the "Z" flag and issued an order to the whole fleet: "The rise and fall of the imperial kingdom is here, and all the kings will work together." ”

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

"Look, it's the 'Z' flag, and the 'Z' flag is finally played. ”

"Yes, this shot is very rare, it should be well preserved, and in the future, Japan will shoot another [Sakagami no Cloud] or something, there can be sufficient information. ”

"Pull it down, I think in this time and space, it is impossible for Japan to shoot [Sakagami no Cloud]. ”

"If we want to get a 'Z' flag or something, hang it on the mast, and when we write it back to record something in the future, we can also get some sensationalism. ”

"Hahahaha!"

Just when the great war between the Japanese and Russian fleets was about to break out, in the central command room of the Kunming ship, there was laughter and relaxation, and the crew members in the command room were talking about the layout and formation of the two sides while looking at several large display screens in the command room.

At this time, the position of the Kunming was about 60 kilometers behind the rear of the Russian fleet, and the other fleets were also temporarily anchored on the sea, while the Yueyang ship, which was tracking the Russian fleet in the early stage, and the Sanya ship, which was monitoring the combined fleet in the Tsushima Strait, did not converge with the Grand Fleet, and the Yueyang ship was cruising on the east side of the Tsushima Strait, while the Sanya ship was swimming on the north side of the Tsushima Strait.

And in order to monitor this battle, the People's Army has indeed made a bloody investment, and at the same time dispatched two drones to monitor both sides at high altitudes, one of which looks at the overall situation, while the other is to shoot local details. This is indeed quite extravagant, because the East China government now has less than half of the jet fuel in stock, but it is worth it to win this battle. Of course, the KPA did not dispatch helicopters this time, also out of consideration for saving aviation fuel.

On the large display screen in the command room of the Kunming ship center, a panoramic view of the two sides is projected, of course, the distance between the two sides is still more than ten kilometers at this time, so all the warships are a small dot on the display screen, and on the other two display screens, there is a close-up shot of each warship, and even the commander on the bridge can be seen.

At this time, the Japanese Combined Fleet was in a column, moving from northeast to southwest, while the Russian fleet was heading north-east, and although the two sides were not completely parallel, the general direction was relative. However, the queue of the Russian fleet was a little strange, the four battleships of the first squadron and the second and third squadrons behind it, as well as the cruiser squadron, were obviously not in a straight line, but had to deviate some distance, forming a strange queue that did not look like one column and did not look like two columns. Since the Kunming saw the footage from the sky, it was obvious to see it.