Just as the Japanese army was preparing to land at Incheon, the main force of the Combined Fleet also arrived at the final rendezvous point, the East Ocean of Arthur Pass, and it was here that the Cheongju and the Japanese Combined Fleet converged.

At this time, the sky was nearly dusk, and by the afterglow of the setting sun, you could still see the ship type of the Qingzhou and the combined fleet, and after the two sides exchanged flags and greetings, the Qingzhou and the combined fleet kept a distance of about 3,000 meters.

Heihachiro Togo stood on the bridge of the Mikasa, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, lowered his scope, and said, "Akiyama-kun, is this the type of warship?"

Akiyama Manaka, the former staff officer beside him, said: "Yes, in the Battle of Java, the overseas Chinese used two warships of this type to defeat six Dutch warships, although the strength of the Dutch Navy is not very good, but with 2 to 6, it can sink 5 of the warships, which is quite a good result, and considering that this type of warship was just received by overseas Chinese from Germany at that time, the commissioning and running-in has not yet ended, and the crew are all novices, it is estimated that they will only play 6 at most, With 7 percent of the combat effectiveness, it can still achieve such results, so it can be described as 'very good'. ”

Although the Battle of Java was a very small naval battle, first, after entering the era of steam ironclads, there were not many naval battles, so every naval battle deserves serious study by the navies of various countries, although nearly 10 years have passed in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War, all countries are still tirelessly studying every detail of the naval battle, and the experience of the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle still has a profound impact on the naval construction and warship manufacturing of various countries, so no matter how small the naval battle is, there is also value in research; second, the People's Army Navy won 2 and 6, which is indeed quite an outstanding record, and various countries continue to pick up new information in the studyFor example, the two warships participating in the war showed excellent seafaring performance during the German sea trials, which naturally attracted the attention of various countries.

Akiyama Shinyuki said: "According to the information we have gathered, in terms of the combat effectiveness of a single ship, among the existing warships in Japan, only the 12 warships of the '66 Fleet' can defeat this type of warship, and the other warships are probably not opponents, including the two warships of the Kasaki class. ”

Heihachiro Togo nodded and said, "So in the future, this type of warship will be a major threat to us?"

Akiyama Shinyuki shook his head and said: "After all, this type of warship is only a protective cruiser, and it is impossible to serve as a capital ship, and now the overseas Chinese are still building two types of armored cruisers in Germany, a type of battleship, all of which are design drawings provided by overseas Chinese, but judging from the performance of this type of warship, then the strength of the next few types of warships should not be bad, it should be said that these warships are our major threat, so after defeating Russia, we will still encounter a strong opponent." ”

Heihachiro Togo was silent for a moment before he said: "Okay, if Japan wants to dominate the world, it is destined to fight its way out of countless battlefields, let's start with defeating Russia, order the destroyer force, and attack as planned!"

With the order of Heihachiro Togo, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fleets of the destroyer force drove out of the combined fleet and headed for Arthur, and Mikasa sent a signal: "Good luck!" The 1st destroyer flag, the Baiyun, hoisted the signal flag: "Victory!"

At this time, Lushun did not have a warlike atmosphere, but was a little cheerful. Although there were rumors of an imminent war between Japan and Russia, and the fact that the Japanese expatriates were evacuated, most of the Russians in Lushun believed that they fled because of the Japanese themselves' fears. Japan will never dare to wage war against Russia, in the eyes of the Russians, the Japanese are still monkeys who have not evolved, if it were not for the fact that Japan is on an island, and it is too barren, it has long been conquered by the great Slavs, unless the Japanese are sick in the brain, they will never dare to provoke the fighting nation.

Therefore, the whole Lushun is still running and dancing, and February 8 is the 26th day of January in the Russian calendar, which is the Orthodox Mary's Name Day, on this day, the women with the same name as the Virgin will be blessed, so there are many parties that night, and after nightfall, the clubs, restaurants, theaters, and bars on the street are even more noisy, adding a cheerful atmosphere to Lushunkou. It lasted until late at night.

It just so happened that the wife of Vice Admiral Stark, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, was also called Maria, so the lieutenant general held a grand banquet for his wife at his official residence, and most of the officers of the fleet gathered here for the revelry, even Governor Alekseev was invited, and the guests mingled and spoke softly, and the band played beautiful music, and the young and handsome officers and beautiful and elegant ladies danced, without the slightest nervousness of the coming war.

At 12 o'clock in the night, the atmosphere of the banquet entered the most, but at this moment, only to hear the "boom", from the window came two loud explosions, causing panic among the guests, many people quickly thought of the rumors of a war between Japan and Russia, so some people could not help but exclaim, "Did the Japanese call?" Even the host, Lieutenant General Stark, was a little surprised.

At this time, Governor Alekseev let go of his dancing partner and said in the voice as majestic as possible: "Don't panic, this is a warship of the Imperial Navy conducting night shooting training. ”

Sure enough, after the governor-general spoke, the dignitaries immediately calmed down, although Vice Admiral Stark was a little uneasy, because he knew that there was no warship shooting training tonight, but he was stopped by Alekseev's eyes, and at this time, Alekseev's dance partner just now patted his chest and said: "So that's the case, I thought it was the Japanese who called?"

Alekseev laughed and said: "Venerable lady, I can assure you that this will never happen, because the Japanese are still monkeys that have not fully evolved, and they will not be able to drive warships with Ben, and I doubt that they will drive warships to Shanghai." ”

The governor's words immediately caused a burst of laughter from the audience, and a young naval officer also jumped out and said, "Please rest assured, even if the Japanese monkeys really come, our soldiers will be able to protect the safety of Lushun." ”

The officer's rhetoric immediately aroused a round of applause, and Alekseev wasted no time in raising his glass and saying: "Cheers to His Majesty's loyal warriors." ”

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Just as the guests raised their glasses to toast the Tsar's warriors, the sound of loud explosions came one after another, and at this time, even those who did not understand military affairs would find that the situation was wrong, and this was definitely not the shooting training of Russian warships.

Sure enough, only to hear the sound of "bang", the door of the mansion was slammed open, and the two officers stumbled in, and also knocked down the two servants who served the food, and said angrily: "Your Excellency the Governor, the Commander's Cabinet, the Japanese fleet, it was the Japanese fleet that attacked our ......" and before the words could be spoken, they were interrupted by another series of loud explosions.

And there was a great chaos in the banquet hall, people rushed to flee, crowded and shoved each other, women screamed, tables were overturned, chairs were knocked over, glass bottles of fine wine and utensils containing food were smashed, and wine and food fell to the floor. And Alekseev and Stark's faces turned pale, and Stark comforted his wife without forcing a few words, and then hurried out.

In fact, on the way to Arthur, the Japanese destroyer fleet was spotted by two patrolling Russian destroyers. However, the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Stark, had already ordered: "In case of discovering an unknown ship, it must be reported after verifying the identity of the other party, and no artillery fire shall be allowed at will." Therefore, the two Russian ships did not open fire, but chose to return to the target to report, and as a result, they missed the last chance.

Because the water in Port Arthur is shallow and narrow, there is only one 170-meter-wide estuary to the sea, so it is divided into an inner harbor and an outer harbor, and the Russian warships are anchored in the outer harbor, which also gives Japan a chance to attack, first of all, the Baiyun launched a * at the head of the battleship Retvizan, although this * did not hit the target, but the loud explosion opened the prelude to this sneak attack, and it is generally believed that this is the official beginning of the Russo-Japanese War.

Immediately after that, the Asahio and the Xia also fired at the Russian ships, and the Russian ships that came to their senses fired back, and a huge column of water and fireworks were seen on the sea, of course, at this time, a considerable number of Russian officers and men did not think that it was a Japanese attack, but a night assault exercise conducted by themselves.

The attack of the Japanese destroyer fleet ended at about 1 a.m. on February 9, and 11 warships fired a total of 20* and hit 3, hitting the battleships Retvizan and the Crown Prince, and the cruiser Parada, while the Russian warships fired a total of about 800 shells, but none of them hit, and the Japanese destroyers were able to retreat in their entirety, but it was dark and dark, so it was impossible to clearly judge the outcome of the battle. At this time, the commander of the Far Eastern Fleet, Stark, finally returned to the flagship Petropavlovsk, and immediately ordered that the three hit warships be towed into the inner harbor and beached in the shallow sea for salvage and repair, and at the same time ordered the other warships to prepare for battle.

At 5 a.m., Heihachiro Togo ordered Rear Admiral Shigeto Dewa, commander of the 3rd Sentai Squadron, to lead the cruisers Chitose, Takasago, Kasaki, and Yoshino to reconnoiter the results of the attack, and to try to lure the Russian fleet out of the harbor for a decisive battle.

Originally, when Stark saw that another Japanese ship appeared, he really wanted to order the fleet to attack and at least find a little face to come back, but Governor Alekseev strictly ordered all ships not to pursue, and as a result, the Japanese fleet's lure did not succeed, and at 9:10 it rejoined the combined fleet.

And Dewa Shigeyuan reported to Togo Heihachiro: "The enemy's main force is outside the port, there are two inclined ships, five ships are smoking, and they are not in formation, and now the attack can be successful." ”

Heihachiro Togo thought for a while and believed that although the fleet would be attacked by the artillery fire of the fortress, it was also worth taking a risk, and that only by annihilating or severely damaging the Russian Far East Fleet could Bi Jing ensure sea supremacy, and obtaining sea supremacy was the key to victory in the war against Russia, and this was also the experience left to Japan by the First Sino-Japanese War. So Heihachiro Togo gave the order to attack, and the combined fleet, led by six battleships of the 1st Combat Group and five armored cruisers of the 2nd Combat Group, marched towards Arthur.

At 10:39 a.m., as the Combined Fleet approached a position 36 kilometers outside Port Arthur, the flagship Mikasa raised its battle flag and waved the flag: "Victory or defeat is here, everyone marches forward bravely!" Other battleships and cruisers also hoisted their battle flags.