Historically, the navy of the Ezo Republic was destroyed for various reasons, and the Meiji government army was able to solve the Ezo Republic. The current situation is that the navy of the Republic of Ezo has been repaired by China, and the navy of the Meiji government has basically been lost. The entire Tsugaru Strait is controlled by the Republic of Ezo.

Faced with this dilemma, the Meiji government forces brutally persecuted the former Ougotsu Domain Alliance. Matsudaira Yoho, the lord of the Aizu Domain, had a great influence because of his high status. If Matsudaira Yoho is killed, more people from the Aizu Domain and the former Ou-Etsu Domain Alliance will defect to the Ezo Republic. Therefore, the Satsuma clan in the Meiji government army did not build yì to kill Matsudaira Rongho, but deprived Ichiē of his status and sent him to Edo to "live in hiatus". The Chōshū clan eventually agreed to this disposition.

The Choshu Domain did not dare to kill Matsudaira Rongbo, so he vented his anger with the people of the Aizu Domain. In the case of the Aizu Domain, which had the fiercest resistance, the Choshu Domain condemned the war dead of the Eizu Domain as "thieves" and were not allowed to be buried, and the corpses were left in the wind and sun for a long time, or pecked by birds and beasts. During the entire Boshin War, the humiliation of the bodies of the dead after the Aizu War was the most brutal, and some people were even imprisoned for several days for burying the dead.

In the summer, when the plague began to appear, the Choshu clan had to allow the burial of the dead, and the burial of the remains was extremely extreme.

The plague was epidemic and their homes were ravaged by the Choshu domain, and the people of the Aizu clan had to flee. There is only one place they can go now, and that is the Republic of Ezo. Not only the Aizu Domain, but also many people in the former Oku-U-Etsu Domain Alliance chose to flee. Within a short period of time, a large number of people fled to the Ezo Republic. This, of course, has greatly increased the human resources of the Ezo Republic. It has also greatly increased the food pressure in the Ezo Republic.

Despite relying on the material support of the Chinese side to tide over the difficulties, the Ezo Republic made a strategic judgment that the Meiji government army had lost the hearts and minds of the former Ou Etsu Domain Alliance, which gave the Ezo Republic a good opportunity to counterattack Honshu. Coupled with the huge naval superiority, it is not necessarily impossible for the Republic of Ezo to win.

The representative of China, of course, was very unimpressed by such a foolish idea. With the Manchu Qing Dynasty's method, there was rebellion everywhere in the world. But the rebels themselves will not be like-minded comrades-in-arms. If the Republic of Ezo misunderstands the attitude of the people of the former Ou-Etsu Domain Alliance who fled to the Republic of Ezo towards the Meiji government army, it is inevitable that they will suffer.

However, the persuasion of the Chinese delegates was not accepted by the Ezo Republic, whose leaders believed that it would be easy to gain a foothold in the north by sending troops to attack Honshu. They even believed that they could gain a solid base in the mountainous areas of the northern part of the island of Honshu and gradually expand it.

In this regard, the dispatch force could only passively resist, and they once again stated that "the purpose of the Chinese dispatch army is to protect the territory of the Republic of Ezo from the attack of the fallen shogunate, and it is not the responsibility of the dispatch army to counterattack Honshu at all." "Even if such a clear statement was made, it would not change the minds of the people in the Ezo Republic. So the sending army decided to send a ship back to relay the news to the central government.

If the Qingdao had used telegraph communication, the news would have been able to reach China immediately. The sea is rough and windy, and the ships are not very safe to navigate, and it is true that the warships sent there in vain are not as neat as the use of radio. So someone in the headquarters of the Kitakami Fleet proposed the use of radio to build yì.

Fleet Commander Ding Ruchang objected to this view at a meeting of the Party Committee, "Comrades, we have a confidentiality provision, and since the superiors have not arranged a radio on the fleet stationed in the Ezo Republic, we must abide by the confidentiality provision. ”

Ding Ruchang, a native of Luzhou, joined Wei Ze's army in 1853 and is now among the top ten in the navy. Being able to command the Qingdao and a fleet of warships of the same class as the Qingdao is enough to prove that Wei Ze values him.

The 34-year-old young soldier came up with a reason for keeping it secret, and everyone couldn't refute it for a while. Staff officer Deng Shichang, a 21-year-old native of Guangdong, served on a destroyer after graduating from the Naval Academy. Because of the excellent cousin, he was selected to serve on the Qingdao. He put forward his opinion, "We might as well send a telegram to the Northern Command to inform them of their current situation." Sending warships for communications is a bit wasteful. If our construction is wrong, the command will definitely sue us. If the command did not think about this for a while, then I think the command would have an opinion on it. ”

Ding Ruchang was not happy when he heard it, do you want Lao Tzu to be trained by the black pot? However, this idea is also fleeting, and if you think about it carefully, Deng Shichang's construction is also very reasonable, sending a warship to transmit information must be done before there is no radio, but after having a radio, no matter how you look at it, it is a great waste. I am afraid that the money for burning coal is enough for a radio.

So at the agreed communication time, Ruan Xihao of the Northern Command received a telegram from Ding Ruchang. In addition to learning that the northward fleet was ready to march into Vladivostok, he also learned about the Ezo Republic. If Ding Ruchang didn't mention it, Ruan Xihao would basically forget about the matter of the Ezo Republic. In his view, the Republic of Ezo is just a small force that China has fostered in Japan. On the one hand, the Republic wants to add blockage to the British, and on the other hand, it also takes a fancy to the location of the Ezo Republic of Hakodate, which can indeed give China a more stable fulcrum for the entire northern sea. When he learned that the Ezo Republic was preparing to make a fool of himself, he sent a report to Nanjing.

On the same day, Weeser called back and asked the upper echelons of the sending fleet to know about the radio. The temporary home port of the northward fleet this time was Hakodate, and after the capture of Vladivostok, the home port was put in Vladivostok. At that time, the North Sea Fleet will be able to deserve its name. Soon, Weeser learned about the situation in the Ezo Republic. He told the sending army, "If the Japanese are stupid themselves, let them go on their own." China will never participate in their actions. The recovery of Vladivostok and Sakhalin was the most important thing at hand, and after the capture of this place, the Russian navy had no foothold. China has been given an important fulcrum to regain its territory. The North Sea Fleet must complete the mission! Uproot the strongholds of the Russians on Chinese territory. ”

On April 4, the North Sea Fleet finally sailed off Vladivostok. Vladivostok is a good harbor with a freezing period of 100-120 days per year. When the ice period ends in mid-March, a little ice can still be seen on the surface of the sea occasionally, but it poses no threat to the armor of the entire waterline.

Inside the harbor there were several Russian ships, and on the shore there were shadows of Russian houses. Ding Ruchang ordered, "Inform all ships, advance, and recover the territory of the motherland." ”

The Russian ships saw a dozen large warships rushing in, and they all tried to escape. The Qingdao took the lead, and the new 200 guns on the warship began to bombard the wooden sailing ships. It didn't take long to get rid of the enemy's ships. At this time, the sound of artillery also sounded on the shore, and the stronghold of the Russians began to open fire on these uninvited guests at sea.

"Cut, the 12-pounder cannon dares to come out and show its eyes?" Ding Ruchang snorted coldly. The Qingdao soon crossed the hull and bombarded it with 12 guns from outside the range of the 200-pounder guns. After five or six bursts of 200 guns hit the Russian battery, the wooden and stone battery collapsed and was never moved again.

The Marines then began to land. By April 6, all Russian strongholds within 30 kilometers of Vladivostok were occupied. In addition to those killed, a total of about 700 Russians were captured.

Ding Ruchang sent a report to Wei Ze, and the response was, "All the prisoners were shot on the spot." ”

This was a rare order for the Guangfu Army, so Ding Ruchang couldn't help but call back to ask. The second call back was still the same: "As the first telegram says, all the prisoners were shot on the spot." For the Russians who invaded China, there is no reason to let it go. The Russians killed all the local people, and they were all murderers. ”

Ding Ruchang was not convinced, and he ordered a Russian-speaking interpreter to interrogate the prisoners. As a result, the captives actually admitted that they had received orders from Russian officials to kill all the Russians wherever they went. Ding Ruchang, who had a little pity for the captive, immediately signed the order.

On 8 April, at the edge of the pit dug by some Russian prisoners, Ding Ruchang told the officers and soldiers of the contents of the confession of the Russian prisoners with a blushing face. The officers and men were furious when they heard this, they clenched their weapons in their hands, and glared angrily at the trembling Russians.

Ding Ruchang said loudly: "There is no need to be tolerant of these beasts, and they will all be shot." In the future, all Russian aggressors caught on Chinese territory will be treated in this way. Now, the execution begins! ”

After more than an hour, the troops shot all the Russian prisoners in the pits they had dug and buried them.

On April 10, the convoy from Tianjin arrived in Vladivostok and began to unload supplies and build coastal batteries.

On April 15, the North Sea Fleet officially determined its anchorage in Vladivostok. The warships lined up neatly, as did the troops on the shore. At the bow of the Qingdao, Ding Ruchang held high the red flag in his hand, which was wrapped in dirt. Turning 360 degrees so that all the spectators could see it, Ding Ruchang threw the red flag wrapped in dirt into the sea. The mud-wrapped flag arced and soon disappeared beneath the surface of the sea and sank to the bottom of the sea.

The whistles of the ships began to sound, and the warships lowered their anchors. Huge iron anchors with thick iron chains plunged into the sea, splashing snow-white waves. This is the flag of the motherland, the soil of the motherland, and the sea of the motherland.

On the fortress being built in Vladivostok, a red flag is waving in the wind.