Compared with the flesh and blood on the battlefield, the contest between financial currencies is a war without gunpowder, and the latter is more hidden and more destructive.

Defeat the enemy on the battlefield, and if the enemy has enough financial support, it will not be long before he can make a comeback. Financial and monetary warfare destroys the enemy's domestic economy more completely, leaving the enemy with no money to buy war weapons and provisions, so as to achieve the goal of defeating the enemy. The enemy country is suffering from a major loss of vitality due to the collapse of the economy, and it usually takes a long time to recover.

As close neighbors of the Chinese Empire, Tsarist Russia and Yuben pose a huge threat, especially Tsarist Russia, which is currently the first and primary enemy of the Chinese Empire.

Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, proposed as early as the first afternoon that there would be a major war with Tsarist Russia in the future, and the best way to defeat the Tsarist Empire was to destroy the economy and finance of the Tsarist Empire and launch a financial war.

The most direct means of financial warfare is to issue counterfeit banknotes to disrupt the economic order of the enemy country, and financial wars in peacetime only exist in economically developed countries against economically backward countries.

But the treaty was not suitable for war and was not directed against belligerents. That is, there are no restrictions between belligerents.

The Chinese Empire, after the implementation of the gold standard reform, also became a signatory party, so the use of this financial instrument was prohibited in peacetime. However, Wang Chenhao knew that there would be a big war with Tsarist Russia sooner or later, and it was only a matter of time and priority, so Wang Chenhao, who was taking precautions, had already ordered the Beiyang Science and Technology Operations Laboratory to carry out imitation research on the currencies of various countries, but the focus was on Tsarist Russia and Yueben first, because their two countries posed the greatest threat to China, and the study of the Russian ruble was the most important.

Counterfeit money plans are not visible, even against one of the belligerents, and once the other side knows that there is a counterfeit money plan, then it will not be effective.

The role of counterfeit money is considerable when it is used to extract money from other countries, or by using counterfeit money to undermine the financial system of an enemy country and cause chaos in the rear.

Wang Chenhao handed over the counterfeit banknote plan to Li Guodong of the CIA, and quietly brought the counterfeit banknotes to the market through the CIA's intelligence stations around the world, testing the market effect and the response ability of the country's political axe banking department, so as to improve the simulation and delivery methods of counterfeit banknotes.

In the imperial study, Li Guodong was summoned to come, and Wang Chenhao asked him about it.

Li Guodong replied: "At present, the counterfeit banknote plan is going well, but there is still a distance from expectations. ”

"Oh!" Wang Chenhao asked, "How's it going?" ”

Li Guodong replied: "The ruble is the first imitation object, the fastest progress, reaching eighty percent of the simulation, the yuan reached sixty percent, and the simulation of counterfeit banknotes in other European and American countries has been difficult to improve, especially the most valuable currencies, such as the pound sterling simulation degree is only 50%, the dollar 55%, the franc and the mark are high, reaching 60%. But it is easy to see that it is easy to see when it is circulated in the market, but it is the ordinary Russian ruble that can fool the Russian people. ”

Wang Chenhao is already very satisfied with this speed, making money is secondary, and the real purpose of counterfeit banknotes is to use them to destroy the economy and finance of the rear of the enemy country.

Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "Since the current ruble is eighty true, you can put it in Russia first and see how it works?" If you can get past it, let's print it on a large scale! ”

Li Guodong knew that Wang Chenhao was about to use troops against Russia, and there was a way to fight a war with grain and grass first, and the same sabotage action against the enemy country would be launched in advance.

"Command!"

At present, a total of four sets of ruble versions have been imitated in the Beiyang Science and Technology Operations Laboratory, all of which are hand-carved. Hand-carved, even if it comes from the same master's hand, is not exactly the same. Small-scale printing, hand-engraved is sufficient. But once it is printed on a large scale, it is difficult to guarantee that some loopholes will not appear and be discovered by the Russians.

Wang Chenhao thought for a while, and added: "How much can be printed." But at the same time, don't relax the imitation, strive to get a few more sets of high-fidelity out, if you can confuse the real with the fake, then you are the hero of the empire, and I will reward you well. ”

Li Guodong's face was suddenly full of joy, he knew that Wang Chenhao's reward had always been quite generous. But at the same time, Li Guodong also has pressure, after all, it is not easy to imitate counterfeit banknotes.

"Your Majesty, the minister will definitely work hard."

Wang Chenhao nodded, and then said: "You can discuss it with Song Hanzhang, Minister of Finance, and Zhang Jian, Minister of Industry and Commerce, and they may be able to give you more advice." ”

Li Guodong hurriedly received the order.

Then, Wang Chenhao asked, "That's right! What is the matter that got you in touch with Lenin's party, how is it going now? ”

Li Guodong replied: "I would like to inform Your Majesty that Lenin's party has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the Empire, but the ministers think that Lenin has reservations and does not trust the Empire very much, so the degree of cooperation is not high. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded and said, "Lenin hopes that the empire will defeat Russia, so that they can have a chance to overthrow the tsarist rule." But Lenin feared that the empire would encroach on the territory of Tsarist Russia and take the opportunity to occupy Russia, so he had reservations. You send someone to inform him that I have promised that the war will be limited to the Asian part and will not extend to Europe. ”

Then, Wang Chenhao added: "After the counterfeit banknotes come out, we must pay attention to confidentiality. At the same time, using the counterfeit money to pay for our cooperation with Lenin can give them a discount, so that they can find a way to get more counterfeit money into Russia. The effect of this thing is not something that can be highlighted in the short term, but once it accumulates over a long period of time, it will be very beneficial to us, and it can even end the war early. ”

Li Guodong listened to it with a burst of blood, he had never thought that counterfeit coins could be used in war.

Following Wang Chenhao, the incomparably wise emperor, Li Guodong felt extremely honored and benefited a lot.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ 1901, Russia was far less politically and economically politically and economically than it had shown to be as tough on the Far East.

Russia's economy has been affected by the defeat in the Crimean War, and the international silver crisis a few years ago has exacerbated the already sluggish Russian economy. Although Russian Finance Minister Witte made great efforts to adopt various measures and implement various reforms, and the financial revenue of the Russian political axe did increase, the [***] Russian political axe bureaucracy used all kinds of tricks to seize and plunder, resulting in a large number of workers and peasants still living in hardship.

Of course, Werther himself was such a person, and Tsar Nicholas II was the head of their kind.

The fundamental reason for the aggressiveness of the Tsarist Russian Empire towards the Chinese Empire in the Far East was that the Russian political axe planned to transfer Russia's domestic contradictions abroad, and China was the only country around Russia that could bully and scare them.

However, this is only a means for the tsarist political axe to maintain its rule, and this contradiction will break out sooner or later, especially the growing strength of the Chinese Empire, when Nicholas II found that the small grass seedlings that could be pulled up before have now grown into big trees, and the Chinese Empire is no longer a country to be bullied, which made the internal contradictions in Tsarist Russia begin to escalate again.

In particular, the restless politicians in Russia saw that Werther was favored and hated to death, so they took the opportunity to stir up trouble.

Russia's domestic political situation was worse than Russia's economy, and although the Tsar's political axe gave the parliament a great deal of power, the actual power was still in the hands of the Tsar, which was manifested in the fact that all resolutions had to be submitted to the Tsar for a final decision before they could be passed. The decisions of the parliament, as long as they did not conform to the will of Tsar Nicholas II, were vetoed, no matter how big or small, so the parliament became an ornament.

Since the tsar gave them the idea of the right to participate in decision-making, but did not give them real power, it will inevitably lead to the dissatisfaction of some politicians, and the Werther party controls the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications to collect money, and most of the wealth of a Siberian railway has fallen into the hands of Werther's party, they are naturally jealous and hateful in their hearts, and they unite to deal with Werther and beat the dog to show the master.

Among them, Lenin was one of the most active people.

In 1899, Lenin wrote What to Do? The book criticized Bernstein's revisionism and its Russian variant of economism, pointing out that its main root lies in the worship of the spontaneous surname of the workers' movement, emphasizing that "without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement", which laid the ideological foundation for the founding of the party.

Since the Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao had already instructed Li Guodong to contact Lenin's party, according to the phalanx of friends whose enemies were his enemies, Li Guodong, who had abundant funds, gave Lenin a lot of assistance. As a result, Lenin's party ceased to be as poor as it had been in history, and quickly rallied a resistance against the Tsarist axe. Coupled with Lenin's particular ability to stir up the sentiments of the Russian workers, and to gather around him a large number of supporters, the time was ripe for the establishment of a party.

By July 1899, Lenin had already had quite a large number of men, and compared with other political parties, Lenin had the strong support of Li Guodong. At the Second Congress of the Bright Cook Labour Party of Russian Society, the congress led by Lenin adopted the first party programme in the history of the international [***] movement with the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat as its basic task. As a result of differences in the principles of the party's organization, the Bolsheviks, who supported Lenin, and the Mensheviks, who supported L-Martov, were formed.

The Bolsheviks meant the majority, and Lenin did not yet want to split the Socialist Workers' Party, so this situation was formed. Lenin's political aims, however, had been achieved, as he had already won the majority of the seats in the PSD, becoming the de facto discourse of the PSD.

The struggle between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, thanks to the intervention of Li Guodong, enabled Lenin to gain real power in the party at the congress of the Workers' Party ahead of schedule, and Lenin's strong appeal made the Workers' Party ostensibly intact but in fact split.

After the meeting, Lenin discussed the current situation in Russia with the important officials of the Bolshevik Party, and according to Lenin's analysis of the situation in the Far East, he believed that to a large extent, the war between Russia and the Chinese Empire would be an opportunity for them to overthrow the Tsarist axe, or at least force the Tsarist axe to recognize the legitimate surname of the Bolsheviks.

Lenin's aim was simple, he hoped to take advantage of the war between Tsarist Russia and the Chinese Empire, hoping to encourage the Russians to overthrow the Tsarist government or set up a State Duma parliament to limit the Tsar's rights, so that Lenin could take power.

In late October 1901, Li Guodong sent a telegram to Lenin, planning to hand over 2 million dragon dollars worth of counterfeit ruble banknotes to Lenin as activity funds. Unexpectedly, Lenin refused, he only wanted to seize power through legitimate party channels, and the counterfeit money would collapse the economy of Tsarist Russia, so Lenin refused.

However, Lenin's deputy, Khorov, secretly made a deal with Li Guodong, and for every million rubles spent, Horov would pay Li Guodong 10,000 dragon coins, and Li Guodong would supply Horov with another 1 million rubles, regardless of the upper limit.

As a result, Khorov used the counterfeit money given to him by Li Guodong to quickly move around in Russia, cashing out the real ruble and other property of the latter, and vigorously developing his people.

Li Guodong's purpose was to import a large number of counterfeit banknotes to Russia, so it was impossible to rely on Khorlov alone. The Russian triad and the black market are exchanges for counterfeit money, and Li Guodong explicitly ordered the personnel of the CIA's intelligence stations in various parts of Russia to exchange counterfeit rubles on a large scale through the Russian mafia and black market transactions.

In this way, on the eve of the Chinese Empire's war against Russia, the financial war against Russia had already begun.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ the dark clouds of war are getting closer and closer, the Chinese Empire has made comprehensive preparations in terms of diplomatic offensives, financial preparations, troop mobilization, material reserves, and financial counterfeit money attacks.

However, for the political axe of Tsarist Russia. The arrogant tsarist political axe still did not pay attention to the various actions of the Chinese Empire, and always thought that the Chinese Empire was only a passive defense and did not dare to take the initiative to attack Russia.

Tsarist Russia has always regarded the Far East as a secondary battlefield, and the General Staff of the Russian Army has not been able to formulate a unified operational plan for China. Alexei? Upon his return from Vladivostok, General Kuropatkin made a special visit to China, and upon his return, he concluded in front of the Tsar: "One Russian soldier can deal with three Chinese soldiers, and we only need to gather 800,000 troops in the Far East, which is already three times the number needed to defeat the Chinese army." Therefore, it is more appropriate to say that what is going to happen in the future is not so much a war as a military walk".

It was several years ago that Kurobertkin thought that one Russian soldier could deal with three Chinese soldiers, and the new Minister of War Sukhomlinov did not want Kurobkin to be so arrogant that he would be ashamed to return home after losing the battle.

Sukhomlinov still plans to use 1.8 million Russian troops against the 1.62 million Chinese army. Although he also essentially believed that the Tsarist army was invincible, and the coming war was just a "military walk".

Sukhomlinov's order to the Commander-in-Chief of the Far East, Alekseev, was to hold out on the defensive for six months with the existing forces in the Far East until a sufficient number of forces had been assembled before launching a full-scale counteroffensive. Sukhomlinov believed that the Russian army would break through the Chinese defense line in the seventh month, crush its main forces, quell the people's resistance, occupy Yanjing City, and capture the emperor of the Chinese Empire alive.

Alekseev expressed support for Sukhomlinov's order, and he arranged it this way. In the battle plan of the Tsarist Far East Fleet, the order of Prince Nikolayevich, Minister of the Admiralty of Tsarist Russia, to Alekseev was: relying on Ulsan, control the Korean Strait; The Imperial Chinese Navy was not allowed to enter the Yubenhai Sea through the Korean Strait, to prevent the Imperial Chinese Navy from attacking Vladivostok. The plan emphasizes that the main purpose of all operations is "to preserve naval power as long as possible, and not to take risky actions in any case." It was also a passive-conservative plan, and it was not linked to the ground combat plan.

Alekseev did not have much objection to Prince Aleksandrovich's order, he also knew that the Russian Far East Navy could not defeat the Chinese Imperial Navy at all, and passive defense was also in line with his intentions. But Alekseev wanted the Russian Navy to reinforce the Far East, and it was not his style to be blindly beaten, and he needed to fight back.

In response to Alekseev's request, Prince Aleksandrovich finally approved the reinforcement of two more battleships in the Far East. Alekseev expressed disappointment in this, but something is better than nothing.

The Tsarist Russian Empire was aggressive on the surface, clamoring for an offensive against China, but it was just thunder and rain. The fact that Tsarist Russia was pursuing a passive defense in the Far East had already been discovered by the intelligence services of the Chinese Empire.

As a result, the General Staff of the Chinese Empire also adjusted its tactics, shifting from strategic defense to active attack, and according to the emperor's words, the flames of war were burned to Russian soil.

On 16 October, the final version of the battle plan of the General Staff of the Chinese Empire was promulgated and submitted to the Imperial Emperor Wang Chenhao.

Its basic spirit is to take advantage of Russia's lack of preparation to first annihilate the Pacific Fleet with a surprise attack, seize sea supremacy, ensure the landing of the army in Korea and Binhai Prefecture, and occupy Vladivostok to open up the sea passage into Heilongjiang. After that, the main forces of the ground forces were concentrated, and efforts were made to annihilate the Russian army in the areas of Nebuchu, Boli and Vladivostok before the Russian reinforcements reached the Far East.

There are several strategic considerations for making this deployment. The first is that the Trans-Siberian Railway will be completed in a few months, which will be unfavorable for the Chinese Empire. Secondly, the Russian army was poorly prepared, and several fortifications in the Far East were not completed. Third, at this time, the Russian base camp has always thought that the Chinese Empire will passively defend and will not take the initiative to attack, and the Queshan military exercise has given the Russian army a trick, and the Chinese Empire will suddenly attack at this time, and it can obtain major results by surprise. Fourth, the navy has absolute superiority and can control the sea dominance, and the attacking troops have no worries, and if they do not conquer the Russian fortresses, they will retreat to the country by sea to fight a defensive war with the Russian army.

In general, this is a plan for an active offensive and a quick victory, but it also has a certain risky surname, that is, if it is unable to overcome the fortresses of Vladivostok, Nebuchu, Ulsan, etc., which are heavily defended by the Russian army, and is dragged by the Russian army, it will face a passive situation of being counter-surrounded by Russian reinforcements. Of course, the Imperial General Staff has already taken this into consideration, and with the control of the sea in hand, the attacking troops can be repatriated at any time.

At the end of October ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※, the Chinese Empire completed all pre-war preparations, and the navy, army, and air forces secretly entered a state of combat readiness.

On November 1, 1901, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire sent a note to the Russian ambassador to China, Kuman, demanding that the Tsarist political axe immediately honor and return the more than one million territories occupied by the Chinese Empire, otherwise it would cause serious serious impacts, and all the consequences would be borne by the Russian political axe.

The Tsarist government deliberately dragged its feet on this issue and avoided negotiations, but this time it was the same. Because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire has said many times that "the consequences are very serious" and something like that, Cuman thought that this time it would be the same, and the Chinese Empire would not dare to do anything to Russia just by saying it and not doing it. So he claimed that he had not received an order from the Tsar to negotiate with the axe, and Cuman refused.

But what Cuman did not expect was that this would be the last conversation of the Chinese Empire before the war against Russia.

On the same day, Tang Shaoyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire, met with the British Ambassador to China, Douglas, and the two exchanged views on the current situation. During the conversation, Tang Shaoyi had already revealed his intention to use force against Tsarist Russia, and he did not dare to take it seriously, but stood on the position of the Sino-British alliance and expressed his full support for the Chinese Empire to recover the land occupied by Russia.

In the afternoon of the same day, Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, convened a pre-imperial meeting, ordered the cabinet to make all preparations during the war, and ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to draft a "Letter of Severance of Diplomatic Relations" with Russia.

On November 2, Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, issued an edict, officially announcing the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia, and at the same time asked the imperial embassy in Russia to arrange for the Chinese Imperial staff in Russia, overseas Chinese, students, and businessmen to begin to evacuate Russia.

There are all kinds of indications that the Chinese Empire first broke off diplomatic relations with Russia, and then evacuated overseas Chinese, and then the war followed. The European and American powers have raised their vigilance, and they all have a premonition that a major war between China and Russia is imminent.

However, the top brass of the Russian political axe only said to this: "This is just another diplomatic trick of the Chinese Empire, and the Russian Empire will not be intimidated by the Chinese Empire." ”

Beginning with Nicholas II, most of the civil and military officials did not think that the Chinese Empire dared to take the initiative to start a war against Russia, and they firmly believed that the huge Russian Empire was still quite "strong".

Only a few people in Petersburg noticed the signs of war, such as the commander of the port of Kronstadt, Makarov, who sent a special letter to the Admiralty on November 4, drawing its attention to the dangerous situation of the Far Eastern Fleet in Ulsan and suggesting that the alert level be raised in case of a surprise attack by the Imperial Chinese Navy. "If we do not take this measure, we will be forced to do so after the first night raid, and we will have to pay a heavy price for this mistake," the letter said.

However, no one cared about the words of a port commander.

But unfortunately, Makarov's words really hit the mark.

On November 3, the day after the severance of diplomatic relations, a British steamboat sailed into the port of Wensan in Ulsan Bay, North Korea, under the pretext of ship damage.

Although the ship was British, the crew of more than a dozen people were Chinese. Three of them were CIA agents of the Imperial Chinese Empire, and four others were scouts of the Marine Corps of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy. The purpose of their entry into Ulsan Bay was to inspect the Russian [***] ships in the harbor, to explore the shipping routes, and to conduct reconnaissance before the enemy for the navy's sneak attack on Ulsan Bay.

At this time, the main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy had quietly sailed away from the Baitan Naval Base, quietly waiting for an opportunity somewhere in the Yellow Sea. And the Admiralty of the Chinese Empire only called it a routine year-end military exercise. The Russian Navy, on the other hand, believed that the Chinese Empire was just bluffing against Russia, so it did not raise the alert level.

Located on the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula, Ulsan is a port blessed with a warm climate. Ulsan is also the only ice-free port seized by Russia in the Far East and is the main base of the Russian Far East Fleet.

In the operational plan of the General Staff of the Chinese Empire, this Ulsan naval base will be fought over as a strategic location, in essence, for sea supremacy that is decisive for the overall situation of the war. Once Ulsan fell, the navy of the Chinese Empire would be able to enter the Bonhai Sea unimpeded and blockade Vladivostok.

It can be said that the first step in attacking Vladivostok was to seize Ulsan and destroy the detachment of the Russian Far Eastern Fleet in the port of Ulsan. Only then can the next plan to blockade Vladivostok and capture Vladivostok be carried out.

The Port of Ulsan is located in the southeast of Ulsan Bay in the southeast of the Korean Peninsula, bordering the Honhae. It is 40 nautical miles to the south from the port of Busan and 60 nautical miles from the port of Pursang to the north. The wind direction in the harbour is mostly northerly, and there are swells in the harbour when there is a southerly wind. In June and July, it is foggy and the influence of the tide is less, with the high tide rising by 0.5 meters and the small tide rising by 0.38 meters. With a minimum water depth of 11.3 meters, the incoming channel is a natural deep-water port.

The main wharves of the Russian army are distributed on the west coast of the bay, of which the capital ship wharf is mainly in the north, with 6 wharf berths, the total length of the wharf line is 1,550 meters, and the water depth along the coast is 12 meters, which is mainly used for loading and unloading coal, ammunition, and other miscellaneous goods for warships. The wharf for small warships and berths for civilian and fishing boats are located in the southern part of the west bank of the harbor.

After five years of construction, the Russian army spent a huge amount of money to build the huge port of Ulsan. Dual-use, divided into the inner and outer harbors, separated by breakwaters, the inner harbor is completely a military port, but the inner harbor is small. The outer harbor is a dual-use port, which is very large, and most Russian warships are berthed in the outer harbor in peacetime.

On the east shore of the bay is the Ulsan shipyard, which is the largest shipyard built by Tsarist Russia in the Far East, covering an area of 320 hectares, with four docks of 200×62×13.2 meters, which can build 30,000-ton ships. However, at present, it is only provided for the maintenance and use of warships below 20,000 tons, and does not have the ability to build ships.

The Russian army has built a fortified defense system in Ulsan, which is 70% complete. Alekseev drew up a preliminary defense system for the fortress, but he did not fail to guess that the Chinese Empire would start a war against Russia in advance, so the fortification plan he drew up for the fortress was originally scheduled to be completed in 1904. As a result, when the war was about to break out, the defenders of the fortress (ground troops) had only 12,100 men and 116 artillery pieces (418 guns were planned to be). The main forces of the Russian Far Eastern Fleet were stationed there, but they rarely went to sea for training, and joint exercises were never carried out between naval guns and fortresses. The main reason is that the Russian army is short of funds, and when they come back from training at sea, they have to repair and maintain the battleship, so they don't train.

Of course, if Alekseev had known that the war was about to start, he would have let the fleet conduct real combat exercises.

Soon, the British steamship was repaired, but the captain Kane suddenly asked the commander of the Russian port, Rear Admiral Mark Dorowsky, to pick up the Chinese in Ulsan, because the Chinese Empire had ordered the evacuation of overseas Chinese, and Britain was an ally of the Chinese Empire, so Mark Dolovsky allowed it.

In fact, this was just a matter of stalling for time, and several intelligence agents and marines of the Chinese Empire came to the pretext of helping to observe the situation in the inner harbor and fortress high up around Ulsan. The inner harbor was anchored with large Russian warships, which were recorded by intelligence officers. Then he quietly took advantage of the unpreparedness of the Russian defenders and secretly inspected the Russian fortress fortifications.

Since the intelligence officers of the Chinese Empire had already conducted reconnaissance of the Ulsan fortress many times, the overall situation had long been well understood, and these intelligence officers only made a final confirmation, in case the Russian army suddenly changed its defenses and fortifications and caused the failure of the imperial [***] attack or increased losses.

At this critical juncture, Russian officers and soldiers remained in a state of peaceful paralysis. Most of the Far Eastern Fleet is anchored in the wide outer deep harbor, and the "peacetime regulations" are still applied to the vigilance of ships. Of course, Alekseev has already decided to take additional measures to strengthen the vigilance, but it will not be implemented until February 10 next year, since the Russian base camp plans to start a war next spring. At the same time, most of the Russian warships did not turn on the lightning protection nets at night, but used the searchlights on the warships to illuminate the entrances and exits of the inner harbor, instead of the outer harbor.

The port commander, Major General Makdorowsky, had learned of the severance of diplomatic relations between the Chinese Empire and Russia, but did not take any contingency measures. It was only a few hours before the Imperial Chinese Navy attacked the Ulsan Naval Base that he told the chief of staff of the Far East Fleet, Admiral Witherft: "This year, the situation is tense at best, and there is absolutely no way to fight a war."

At this time, the main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy was marching in the direction of Ulsan under the leadership of fleet commander Lin Jianzhang. While passing through Jeju Island, the huge Imperial fleet was discovered by a German naval reconnaissance ship. Lin Jianzhang thought that this operation would fail, because he was worried that Germany would notify the Russian fleet to be on alert.

Indeed, the German political axe was still on the side of Russia in the Sino-Russian war, and the Jeju Island Command of the German Navy immediately sent a warning telegram to the Russian naval base in Ulsan. However, unfortunately, the Russian wireless telegraph receiver on duty that night was in the telegraph room with a North Korean journalist at the moment, and he missed it.

Lin Jianzhang led the Pacific Fleet to arrive off the coast of Ulsan Port at about 10 o'clock in the evening, and when he learned from the intelligence officers who stayed nearby that the Russian army was defenseless, Lin Jianzhang breathed a sigh of relief and immediately issued an operational order for a sneak attack on Ulsan Port.

(To be continued)