The departure of the Russian fleet from Cam Ranh Bay meant that the war, which had been suspended for more than two months, would start again, and because of the intervention of the East China government this time, the situation of the war would also change even more complicated.

Both the East China government and Russia made full use of this pause to make full preparations for the next war, and Japan, as another party to the Russo-Japanese War, was also not idle.

The Combined Fleet, which had returned home early, first underwent three months of repairs, and the warships were repaired and maintained to restore normal performance, while the sailors took turns on leave to recuperate. In February, the combined fleet assembled and launched an intensive training exercise aimed at the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, focusing on gunnery training, because in the first phase of the battle, the biggest problem exposed by the combined fleet was that the hit rate was too low, and only one armored cruiser was sunk in the artillery battle, so the gunnery training became more and more severe.

Heihachiro Togo put forward a famous training tenet -- "one cannon out of 100 rounds is better than a cannon with 100 rounds and one shot." In addition, the combined fleet carried out month-to-month, fire, water, wood, gold, and gold training. Originally, in Japanese, the period from Sunday to Sunday was called the Solar Sun, the Moon Day, the Fire Day, the Water Day, the Kiyo Day, the Golden Day, and the Earth Day. The Solar Sun and the Earth Day are Sundays and Saturdays, while the Moon, the Moon, the Moon, the Fire, the Water, the Wood, the Wood, the Golden and the Moon, the Moon, the Fire, the Water, the Wood, the Wood, the Moon, the Moon, the Sun The artillery training lasted for five hours a day, and eight live-fire exercises were arranged, and such crazy training caused the consumption of more than half of Japan's domestic artillery shell reserves.

In terms of land forces, Japan has invested more than 500,000 troops on the Liaodong Peninsula, including about 350,000 combat troops, 200,000 troops deployed on the front line of Shenyang to oppose the Russian army, about 70,000 troops deployed on the east bank of the Liaohe River to guard against the attack of the People's Army, and more than 30,000 defenders in Lushun, and the rest of the troops are distributed in Liaoyang, Tieling, and other key points, and there are about 10 armies on the Korean Peninsula as reserve forces. Therefore, in terms of troops, the forces invested by Japan are not weaker than those of Russia and the East China government, but due to the disadvantage of its geographical location, Japan is somewhat passive, and can only choose to be defensive on both the north and west fronts.

However, the day after the Russian fleet left Cam Ranh Bay, Emperor Meiji summoned the veterans Hirobumi Ito and Shin Inoue, Prime Minister Katsura Taro, Foreign Minister Komura Shotaro, Tibetan Minister Matsukata Matsukata, War Minister Masayoshi Terauchi, War Department Chief of Staff Yamayama Aritomo, Navy Minister Gonbei Yamamoto, Navy Commander Ito Yuhiro and other civil and military ministers to discuss the strategy for the next phase of the war.

And such a military and political lineup was only experienced in the Imperial Council before the start of the Russo-Japanese War. At this time, the Russo-Japanese War had been going on for 15 months, and although Japan continued to win on the battlefield, Russia could not fight to the death, and it was still continuously amassing troops and fleets to the Far East.

Emperor Meiji was naturally very clear about the situation in Japan, so the more Japan won on the battlefield, the more uncertain Emperor Meiji was in his heart, because it was a bad relationship between Japan and the East China government, and the People's Army was stationed in Liaoxi, the more Emperor Meiji thought about it, the more uncertain he became, and the more panicked he became, for fear of hearing the news that the Japanese army was being attacked by the People's Army and Russia, and he was awakened several times by the nightmare of Japan's defeat.

When the war was about to restart, Emperor Meiji finally couldn't hold his breath, so he summoned his ministers to listen to their opinions on the next war, of course, Emperor Meiji also knew very well that the war had reached this point, and Japan would never stop, so he could only fight hard, either win and go to heaven, or lose and go to hell, there was no third way, and Emperor Meiji recruited ministers, in fact, he just wanted to hear from the ministers some reasons why Japan would win, so that he could settle down a little.

Emperor Meiji first said: "The Russian fleet has already departed from Cam Ranh Bay and will arrive in the Yellow Sea in about 20 days.

Yamamoto Gonbei said: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty's fleet and soldiers are fully prepared, and when the Russian fleet reaches the Yellow Sea, it will inevitably give them a head-on attack." God bless Japan, we will surely win. ”

Ito Yuhiro also said: "Yes, the Russian fleet has gone from afar, it took more than six months and sailed more than 26,000 miles, and the damage to the warships is bound to be very serious, and the personnel are also physically and mentally exhausted, and the combat effectiveness of 1 0 percent can only be exerted at most 5 or 6 percent; while the combined fleet has been repaired for more than half a year, the warships have been repaired and maintained, the performance of the warships has been completely restored, and the soldiers have also been fully rested. ”

Emperor Meiji nodded and said, "So I can rest assured." ”

Yamamoto Gonbei said: "Once we defeat the Russian fleet, Russia will completely lose its maritime power, because it is impossible for Russia to fight another fleet, Japan will gain absolute sea supremacy, this war will at least be invincible, and whether it can win in the end depends on the ability of the army." ”

The Minister of War, Masayoshi Terauchi, immediately said, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, our army is also confident that we will achieve victory." ”

In fact, it was just the Russian fleet coming, and the Meiji Emperor didn't care too much when he arrived, after all, one went from afar, the other waited for work, and it was clear which was better and which was inferior, and what he was most worried about was the battle on land, after all, if Japan wanted to win this battle, it still needed to settle the battle on land in the end. Emperor Meiji said, "If Russia and overseas Chinese join forces, will Japan still have a chance of winning?" ”

At this time, a friend from Shanxian County said: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, although there are many Russian troops, they are already a long-defeated army, their morale is low, and their weapons and equipment and logistics supply are insufficient, so they are not to be afraid, and overseas Chinese only have more than 60,000 troops in western Liaoning, which is not enough to change the overall situation." ”

Emperor Meiji frowned, and Yama Prefecture Yutomo's explanation did not completely reassure him, and said: " Not to mention that the offensive line of the overseas Chinese is not Liaoxi, and their navy is not weak, so it is completely possible to use Lushun as the point of attack and open another front on the sea, and our navy wants to intercept the Russian fleet, and there is no way to give Lushun sufficient support, and can only rely on the army to defend it; although the Russian army is not to be afraid, after all, the strength is huge, if the Russian army and the overseas Chinese join forces, advance by sea and land, and attack from three directions, how should we deal with it?"

Yama Prefecture Yutomo's forehead couldn't help but ooze sweat, because Emperor Meiji's question was not easy to answer, after all, it was not possible to rely on fooling.

Ito Hirobumi said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, overseas Chinese and Russia will not join forces, Russia's goal is to occupy the Manchuria region of the Qing State, and the overseas Chinese regard themselves as descendants of China, and they have the responsibility to protect the land, and will never allow Russia to occupy Manchuria, so the two sides are incompatible, and will only fight separately, but they will never join forces." ”

When Emperor Meiji heard this, his face became a little better, and he said, "Even if overseas Chinese and Russia are fighting separately, they are still fierce enemies to Japan, and we should not be taken lightly." ”

Hirobumi Ito said: "Your Majesty's words are good, but we Japan are not alone, we still have the United Kingdom as an ally, and the [Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty]. ”

Emperor Meiji was stunned and said, "Britain?"

At this time, Komura Shoutaro said: "Yes, Your Majesty, the British ambassador visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday and told us that Britain will continue to support Japan in carrying out this war, and they have put pressure on overseas Chinese not to intervene in the war in Liaodong, and if we defeat the Russian fleet, Britain will also urge Russia to accept defeat and negotiate with us." ”

After listening to Komura Shoutaro's words, Emperor Meiji couldn't help but feel refreshed, the reason why he had no confidence in the war was that Britain and France proposed to mediate the Russo-Japanese War, which was tantamount to giving up supporting Japan, and without the support of Britain, it was extremely difficult for Japan to win the war alone, but if Britain supported Japan again, then Japan's chances of victory would naturally increase, and Emperor Meiji was naturally determined, but he had another question in his heart, why did Britain turn to support Japan? So Emperor Meiji said, "Is Britain's guarantee reliable this time?"

Ito Hirobumi said: "Your Majesty can rest assured that the British guarantee this time is absolutely reliable. Hirobumi Ito explained in detail the impact and variables of the Moroccan crisis to Emperor Meiji.

Emperor Meiji was very familiar with the overall situation of the world, so after listening to Ito Hirobumi's explanation, he immediately understood the reason, so it seemed that Britain's support for Japan was indeed reliable, and his heart was naturally completely settled, and a smile appeared on his face, and he couldn't help but say: "Okay, okay, I can finally rest assured." ”

But after saying that, Emperor Meiji felt a little out of shape again, so he hurriedly collapsed his face again, made a look of joy and anger, and said: "Although there is the support of Britain, it is still necessary for all the monarchs to work together to achieve the revitalization of the imperial state, the solid foundation of the country, and the prosperity of the country." ”

When the ministers heard this, they all hurriedly knelt on the ground, raised their hands in worship, and shouted "Long live the emperor" three times, and in the congratulatory greetings of the ministers, Emperor Meiji got up from his seat and turned back to the harem.