Matsevich's heart sank, and he hurriedly picked up the telescope and looked forward, and in the light of the flares, he could clearly see that the two warships in the middle were battleships, although the warships of this era were of different shapes, but the battleships still had very obvious characteristics, one was that the main guns were thick, and the other was that the hull was fat and short, so they were also very easy to identify.

At this moment, I only heard the staff officer Yajiesky beside him exclaim: "That...... That's the Russia, the one on the left is the Russia, how could it be here. ”

When Matsevich heard this, he hurriedly looked to the left, only to see that the warship on the left was even larger, and it was indeed the Russia.

A warship that can be named after a country is naturally very important in a country's navy, and this is the case with the large armored cruiser Russia, so despite the fact that four years have passed, Russian naval officers such as Matssevich and Yadesky still remember what this warship looked like.

But Matsevich's heart sank completely, because the appearance of the large armored cruiser USS Russia also confirmed his suspicions. Matsevich remembers very clearly that the Russian was sunk by overseas Chinese in the Battle of Dagukou in the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China four years ago, and was later salvaged and repaired by overseas Chinese, incorporated into their own fleet, and renamed Kaihai.

Now that the Russia has appeared, the six warships in front of the crown prince are naturally all warships of the East China government, and together with the two warships on the left side that have been parallel to the crown prince, there are a total of eight warships of the East China government. Matsevich, of course, would not have thought that it would be necessary to dispatch 8 warships just for patrol vigilance, including at least two battleships, a large armored cruiser. Apparently it was for the Crown Prince.

And surrounded by these 8 warships, it is almost impossible for the Crown Prince to escape. Despite this, Matsevich ordered the officers and soldiers of the entire ship, ready for battle.

The light effect of the flares only lasted for 2 or 3 minutes, and then they were extinguished one after another, and the starlight and moonlight on the sea surface were restored, and at this moment, I saw a flashing light signal in front of me, and Matsevich's heart moved, knowing that the other party would send a signal to him again.

About 10 minutes later, the Crown Prince's chief of signal reported to Matsevich that the signal was to slow down the Crown Prince and anchor in place, and the two sides sent people to meet and negotiate.

Matsevich nodded, and then looked at the officers and staff officers around him, only to see that everyone's faces were a little hesitant, and two people opened their mouths, but they stopped talking. And Matsevich sighed in his heart, of course he knew the mentality of everyone, the crown prince went through a fierce fight to break through the blockade of the combined fleet, and the officers and men of the whole ship had a sense of the aftermath of the catastrophe, and they were physically and mentally exhausted, and now they were intercepted by the warships of the East China government, and they were still bound to lose, and they all had a huge sense of loss in their mentality, and they generally did not want to fight again. However, the People's Army and Navy only made a request for negotiations, and did not directly ask the Crown Prince to surrender, so that people could accept it, and there was more or less the idea of negotiating first without visiting.

But Matsevich knows very well that the so-called negotiations are just to give himself a decent step, otherwise what the other party would do when intercepting the crown prince would not be to invite guests to dinner. However, Matsevic still asked: "What do you think you should do if the other party asks us to negotiate? ”

Yadeski said: "The other side does not seem to be hostile, and it is also an international practice to meet at sea and ask for negotiations, if we refuse the other party's request, I am afraid it will anger the other party, why don't we send someone to negotiate with them first and see what they have to say?"

Captain Olovic said: "But as soon as we stop the ship, we can't run anymore." ”

Yadeski said: "Even if we don't stop the boat, how many chances do you think we can escape, or break through their blockade, since we can't escape, then it's better to stop the boat and negotiate with them, maybe there is still a chance." ”

The others also stopped talking, because what Yajski said was indeed the truth, and the crown prince would definitely not be able to escape, so he could only choose to negotiate with the other party, so Matsevich said: "Okay, then it's decided, reply to the other party, agree to negotiate, and stop the ship." ”

Although the Crown Prince immediately slowed down, due to inertia, it moved forward another 5 or 600 meters, while the six interceptor warships of the People's Army Navy formed a "U" shaped array, the two armored cruisers Kaihai and Tuohai spread out to both sides, and the front was still dominated by the two battleships Yuanyang and Luoyang, while the Dongchang and Jining were on both sides of the battleship, and the six warships formed a semi-encirclement, trapping the Crown Prince in it, with a distance of about 2,000 meters. The Qingzhou and Yizhou, which had been chasing the Crown Prince, remained about 3,000 meters to the left of the Crown Prince.

The representative sent by the crown prince was Yadesky, and the representative sent by the KPA Navy was Colonel Zhang Hao, the deputy captain of the battleship detachment's flagship Takuhai.

The two sides each took a small boat, opposite each other, after meeting each other first to respect each other, Yadesky was also a little surprised, the other party can communicate directly with himself in Russian, but this is convenient, there is no one on the crown prince who understands Chinese, Yadesky can speak French, and he also brought an officer who can speak English, but it is not convenient to communicate directly in Russian.

Yajski said, "Colonel, I don't know what you want to negotiate with us?"

Zhang Hao said: "We hope that the crown prince will anchor in the port of Qingdao, disarm, all the soldiers on the warship will be resettled, the warship will be protected by us, and we can guarantee the personal safety and basic rights of all the officers and men on the ship, and after the war is over, we will contact the Russian government to arrange for you to return to China." ”

Although he had already been prepared, after listening to Zhang Hao's words, Yajiesky's heart was still greatly impacted, and he said: "Russia and the East China government have not declared war, and it is a violation of international conventions for you to intercept Russian warships on the high seas like this. ”

Zhang Hao said: "Russia's forcible occupation of China's northeast region is already an act of aggression, and we have stated that we will defend our territory by any means, so our actions are not a violation of international conventions." ”

Yadesky said: "Could it be that the East China government intends to declare war on Russia?"

Zhang Hao said: "Declaring war is a matter for politicians, we are all soldiers, what we should do is to speak with the weapons in our hands, you should be very clear about the current situation, there is no choice but to accept our conditions." ”

Yadesky said: "No, the Russian soldiers will never surrender, for the dignity of the soldiers, for the glory of the Andrei banner, we would rather choose to die honorably on the battlefield." ”

Zhang Hao said: "Mr. Major's words represent the individual or the soldiers of the whole ship, think about how many young and ordinary soldiers are on the warship, think about the families of these soldiers, you would have had the opportunity to bring these soldiers back alive to reunite with their families." ”

Yadesky was skeptical for a moment, but still said firmly: "I believe that even an ordinary Russian soldier will not live in humiliation by surrendering." ”

Zhang Hao smiled and said, "Major, I think you probably misunderstood, we didn't ask you to surrender." According to international treaties, warships of belligerents can sail into the ports of neutral countries, disarm, and seek protection in neutral countries, which is not surrender, so you are not our prisoners, but protected persons, and this does not affect your dignity as soldiers. ”

Yajski was stunned, of course he knew that there was indeed such an international convention, but it was a warship that automatically sailed into the port of a neutral country and voluntarily disarmed, and now it was completely forced by force from overseas Chinese to sail into the port of Qingdao, and there was no difference between it and a prisoner, but it was indeed better in terms of name and face. Of course, Yajski also knows that this is just a step for the East China government to find a step for its own people.

Don't look at what Yajsky said impassionedly, but in his heart he didn't want to fight a battle to the death, this excuse was a fig leaf that could be used, but Yajsky still wanted to fight for himself a little more, and said: "If we accept your terms, but demand that the warship remain in our own custody, and I can still leave the port at any time, of course, without any armament." ”

Zhang Hao said categorically: "No, we have tried our best to preserve your dignity, and you don't want to gain an inch, after disarming in the port, all officers and soldiers must leave the ship and go ashore, we will make proper arrangements, but the warship must be kept by us." ”

The purpose of the East China government is to obtain Russian warships, at least there is no restriction on what methods are used, and the international convention on the use of neutral ports is to hope that the officers and men on the crown prince will be rescued and captured, so they threw out this article, using the temptation of not being a prisoner, so that the Russian army will give up low resistance, but the Russian army's demand to continue to keep the warships in the port is an absolutely unacceptable condition for the East China government, so it is better to directly sink the crown prince.

Yadesky was silent for a while, and then said, "Well, I have made your conditions clear, I can go back and tell our captain your conditions, and he will decide whether to accept your conditions or not." ”

Zhang Hao nodded and said, "Okay, we can give you an hour to negotiate, after an hour, if you haven't responded, then we will treat it as your refusal, and in addition, in this hour, you'd better not make any changes, otherwise we won't respect the 1-hour time limit." ”

The two then turned their bows around and returned to their respective warships.