As a major general not long ago, Rodger Stevensky, as Nicholas II's attendant military attaché, relied on the favor of the tsar to enter and leave the court, and proposed to build the Second Pacific Fleet, which would inevitably further gain the favor of the tsar, and it would be beneficial and harmless to him anyway.

Whether this Jianyì can succeed or not has nothing to do with himself, anyway, if he wins, it is his own Jianyì's credit, and if he loses, it is the commander's incompetence. But what he never expected was that Nicholas II would appoint him, a rear admiral, to be the commander of this fleet.

Rogerstvinsky could not have imagined that no one else would give Nicholas II an idea, except for his bad accident. This annoyed Nicholas II very much, are you all waste snacks, the Pacific Fleet was blocked in the tank and couldn't get out, none of you could think of a way?

As a result, only Rear Admiral Roderstinsky can offer to help me share my worries, since you are not capable, then since it was Rodgerstwinsky's idea, this fleet commander will let him be it.

What the? Rear Admiral can't be the commander of the fleet? Then I will promote him to lieutenant general, who made you all waste? And when he leads the fleet to win the war, I will make him a general, a marshal, and you will die with red eyes.

In fact, it is a little different from what Nicholas II thought, the reason why no one was willing to come up with an idea was not because of the incompetence of the generals, but because no one thought it was a good idea, except that Nicholas II firmly believed that the fleet of the Russian Empire would inevitably win the war as soon as it came out.

With an unprecedented 18,000-nautical-mile expedition at sea, sailing such a long distance, will the fleet be torn off halfway due to various problems, and what kind of war will this fleet fight if it can't reach the Far East?

After learning that the Baltic Fleet had been reorganized into the Second Pacific Fleet, both Britain and Germany came to the same conclusion, although such a fleet was powerful. However, even if they sailed to the Far East without a long rest and recuperation, they would not be able to exert any combat effectiveness at all, and everyone thought so, and it could not be said that the British and German naval officers were also incompetent.

However, this is the Russian Empire, and the tsar is the only one, absolutely. Is it always right, against? What do you want to oppose? The fleet against Russia could not achieve victory? Invincible against the Russian Empire? Forget it, everyone should shut up.

So Rogerstinsky was thrust into the position of commander of the Second Pacific Fleet, which he did not want to be, to take the fleet on a great expedition to the sea that even he himself thought was unlikely to succeed, and sometimes he hoped that the two battleships would be better to be outfitted and never finished, and for the first time he felt that the Russian shipyards were being built too quickly.

In response to Rogerstwinsky's answer, Nicholas II seemed a little unhappy: "The speed on the Kronstadt side is too slow, and the workers of the shipyard are lazy?" Let them work overtime and do their best to finish the battleship. So that the fleet can set sail! Do they want to delay it until it is finished with the Glorious? ”

The Glory was the last of the five Borodino-class battleships to start, and if it weren't for the fact that the progress was not catching up, otherwise Nicholas II really wanted her to set off with her, so as to further increase the prestige of the Second Pacific Fleet.

Nicholas II could not care what battleships still needed to be trained and run in after completion, and in his opinion, the battleship with a displacement of nearly 14,000 tons and four 305-mm guns was one of the strongest battleships in the world. A huge fleet with 4 such battleships as the core was unstoppable.

And he didn't know that the battleships he had high hopes for were all unreliable things, and the Eagle sank in the harbor because of the water ingress. It was not easy to resurface and continue to outfit, so no one dared to sue him for delaying the progress.

If it can't float and scrap it, then it can't be hidden, it's the result of dying together, but now that it's floating, it can continue to build. Then it's better not to let His Majesty know that it will cause the wrath of thunder and then suffer together.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I'll urge the shipyard to speed up." Roger Stevensky responded, saying so. But in fact, he really wished that he could wait for the completion of the Glory, and it would take at least a year for the progress of the Glory, and then the war might be over, or after a long time, the Great Majesty would change his mind.

"In addition to the construction of the Duke Suvorov and the Eagle, how are the other preparations for the Second Pacific Fleet?" Nicholas II continued to ask.

"The first problem is coal, and if we sail such long distances, the consumption of coal will be very huge, and our coal reserves are not sufficient. And overseas, we can't replenish enough high-quality coal. Roger Stevensky replied at once, saying that he had to say that he had to let His Majesty know that the journey was difficult, and that it was best not to let himself do this drudgery.

But this kind of thing can only be thought about, and Roger Stevensky also knows that it is impossible.

At this time, the best quality of marine coal was Welsh anthracite produced in England, which had few impurities and high combustion efficiency, but after the start of the Russo-Japanese War, the British no longer supplied this coal to Russia.

And the British did not only stop selling Welsh anthracite to the Russians, but also let their own merchants buy and hoard coal at ports where the Russians might call, that is, they did not let you get high-quality coal.

Before the start of the war, Vice Admiral Minoru Saito, the vice admiral of the Japanese, was responsible for purchasing "British charcoal" to ensure the supply of coal for warships, but the Russians did not have enough coal reserves, which is a little too great.

But how could this difficulty be difficult for Nicholas II, who had already made up his mind, "You don't need to worry about this, the Germans have already promised to provide us with coal, and they will lease us several large coal carriers, and when the time comes, they will go to the Far East with your fleet to ensure that the fleet is replenished with coal." Nicholas II said with confidence.

"My dear Werther, how is the import of coal to Germany handled?" Nicholas II asked, turning his head.

"In return, the import of coal into Germany was very smooth, and although the coal supplied may not be as good as the Welsh anthracite, it could not differ much in quality, and the Germans guaranteed that the coal supplied would meet the standards of the German Navy. Because of the good trading relationship with Germany during this time, the price promised by the Germans is also quite favorable. Werther replied.

Speaking of this, Werther is still quite happy, since the outbreak of the war, the financial pressure of the empire has been increasing, although loans to the quasi-ally France, but those usury will naturally not let go of this opportunity, although the financial difficulties have been alleviated, but the burden will be heavy when the debt is repaid in the future.

The Germans did not borrow money, but the Germans increased their purchases of materials from Russia, although the Germans were not good people, seeing that Russia now needed a large amount of money for the war, and kept the purchase price very low, but the huge purchase volume made up for this problem, and the Russians also obtained a lot of funds under the small profits, and the amount of debt borrowed from the French was reduced to a certain extent.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he proposed to the Germans to buy coal, and the Germans also agreed, and did not take advantage of the fire to rob the lion to open his mouth, although the price increased slightly, but it was not outrageously expensive, and Witte of course took it as proof of his own meritorious work.

"Very well, you handled this matter well." Nicholas II praised and generously promised: "Keep advancing trade with the Germans, and when the time comes, I will give you a medal!" ”

"Thank you, this is my honor, I will definitely do my best, please rest assured." Witt immediately bent down and saluted, and that was what he wanted.

Nicholas II once again turned his gaze back to Rogerstinsky: "And I authorize you that you are solely responsible for the procurement of supplies during the voyage, and that you can enter the ports of Germany and France to purchase coal if necessary." With the relations between our country and Germany, France, their ports can provide the fleet with all the necessary materiel. ”

When the problem of burning coal was solved, at least it seemed to be solved, Rogerst Winsky immediately raised another difficulty: "Your Majesty, the fleet has sailed tens of thousands of nautical miles, for half a year, and has been floating on the vast sea, it is difficult to have several opportunities to dock, and it is difficult to guarantee the morale of the officers and men during such a long and boring journey." ”

"That's a real problem." Nicholas II mused: "It is indeed important to keep the morale of our officers high, so that they can crush the yellow-skinned monkeys in the best possible condition." "But this kind of problem is not a problem, Nicholas II thought about it for a while, and thought about it.

"This is easy, I immediately ordered the conscription of noble women, who should know how to take care of the doctor, and preferably be able to sing and dance, and let them set off with the fleet's hospital ships," said Nicholas II quite smugly, "and I immediately ordered that they should be given professional medical training together before they set sail, so that they could not only solve the problems of the sick during the voyage, but also relieve the loneliness of our officers." ”

Now Roger Stevensky is even more dumbfounded, his own fleet is now going to sail with such a bunch of burdens? These ladies were not soldiers, and it was not an easy task to keep them under control, it was a much more difficult job than maintaining the morale of the officers and men in the fleet, and Rogerst Winsky began to regret what he had said.

However, since His Majesty the Tsar has decided so, he can only pinch his nose and admit it. The voyage of the Second Pacific Fleet was difficult from the very beginning. (To be continued......)