The blue sea and blue sky, the scorching sun is like fire.

After a three-month voyage, the Pacific Fleet passed through the Strait of Malacca on 23 November and resupplied at the Johor Naval Base in British Singapore, where it spent three days repairing seven warships and cleaning up the sludge and weeds at the bottom of the ships.

At the same time, Lin Jianzhang, commander of the Pacific Fleet, received the latest information on the war situation in Northeast Asia from the British authorities in Singapore and inquired in detail about the specific movements of the Russian Far East Fleet. Since the British authorities regarded Russia as the number one enemy, no disturbance by the Russian Far East Fleet could escape the eyes and ears of the British Royal Navy. The British were happy to see a larger war break out between Qing and Russia, so the British and Singapore authorities gave the greatest help to Lin Jianzhang's request.

From the British, Lin Jianzhang received a detailed list of battleships of the Russian Far Eastern Fleet. An archival booklet made of 8 carats of waterproof paper, with photographs on each page and the name and details of the ship below.

Lin Jianzhang asked the British authorities for seven copies, and reserved one copy for the interrogation room of each warship of the Pacific Fleet, so that when encountering a Russian ship, its combat strength could be judged, and the fleet command could provide the necessary information for a reasonable opponent.

It can be seen from the archives that in 1896, the Russian Far East Fleet had one ironclad battleship (Duke of Edinburgh), two coastal ironclad ships (Pervinets and Menya), four large armored cruisers (Rurik, Admiral Nasimov, Azov Memorial, and Monomak), three armored cruisers (Donskoy, Imperial Guard, Nicholas I), two protective cruisers (Vidjaz, Renda), and two unprotected cruisers (Robbers, Manghan). With six coastal gunboats (Manchurian, Beaver, Sea Dog, Korean, Thundering, and Heroic) and 24 torpedo boats, it has been the first fleet in Asia since 1889 and is a formidable force.

However, the British judged the strength of a fleet only by the total tonnage of the fleet. Undoubtedly, the total tonnage of the Russian Far Eastern Fleet reached 93 thousand tons, and in terms of total tonnage, it is undoubtedly the first.

At this time, the total tonnage of Wang Chenhao's Pacific Fleet has reached 50,000 tons, and with the tonnage of the ships of the Beiyang Naval Division, if a combined fleet is formed, the total tonnage will also be about 90,000 tons, which is not much worse than the total tonnage of the Russian Far East Fleet.

As far as Lin Jianzhang and the officers and men of the Pacific Fleet are concerned, they know that the Russian Far East Fleet is as old as the Beiyang Naval Division, with old ships, slow sailing speed, and old artillery. The only thing the Russian Far East Fleet could handle was the large armored cruiser Rurik, whose speed and firepower made the Pacific Fleet fearful, and Lin Jianzhang did not take them seriously as for the other warships.

Because of the advantages of fast speed, fierce firepower, and long endurance, the Russian Far East Fleet sent her to patrol near the coast of China, specifically attacking merchant ships flying the dragon flag of the Qing Empire, which has caused a large number of civilian ships of the Qing Empire to be destroyed or captured, and the loss of millions of taels.

"Our goal is to destroy the Rurik, relieve the siege of Lushun and Weihaiwei, make peace with the Beiyang Naval Division, and defeat or repel the Russian Far East Fleet."

Lin Jianzhang convened a meeting of the fleet headquarters, at which he once again emphasized the orders and tasks given to him by Wang Chenhao before leaving.

Du Xigui, the captain of the Yuyong, was the first to speak.

"I think with the strength of our fleet, it will be easy to relieve the siege of Lushun and Weihaiwei. After making peace with the Beiyang Naval Division, our combat effectiveness is no weaker than that of the Russian fleet, and there should be no problem in repelling the Russian fleet. ”

Chen Shaokuan, the captain of the Dou Yong, spoke next, raising concerns.

"Captain Du is right, I agree with him. It is not a solution to simply retreat the Russian fleet, you must know that there is a Russian reinforcement fleet behind us, and in the next two to three months, they will join up with the main forces of the Russian Far East Fleet, and then the strength of the Russian Far East Fleet will increase dramatically, and the threat to us will be enormous. ”

Wang Shouchang, chief of staff of the Weiyuan, said at this time: "Captain Chen's concern is not unreasonable, but it is theoretically feasible to destroy the Russian Far East Fleet within three months, and only one decisive battle is needed. But on the question, the Russian Far Eastern Fleet is not stupid either, will they give us this opportunity? If I'm not mistaken, the Russians should have forced the imperial court to end the war before our fleet returned home. ”

Everyone spoke separately and argued about the current situation of friend and foe, trying to find a feasible solution.

Lin Jianzhang summed up everyone's meaning, and finally said: "In fact, there is another plan in front of us. Everyone should be well aware of the combat effectiveness of the ships of our Pacific Fleet, and our warships have large tonnage, fierce firepower, and fast speed, which are much more cutting-edge than those old warships of the Russian fleet. The only thing that can pose a threat to us is the Rurik, and if we can take out the Rurik, I believe this situation will be broken. ”

Guo Baochang, chief of staff of the Brave Brave, asked: "Commander Lin, which warship do you think our fleet is capable of taking out the Rurik?" I don't agree with this idea of yours! ”

Everyone nodded, it was true that no warship could single out the Rurik, and it was even more difficult to kill the Rurik.

Lin Jianzhang knew that when he first took over the post of commander of the Pacific Fleet, he would definitely find difficulties and challenges from others, but he didn't mind, the more people challenged him, the more strength he had to struggle.

"I admit that none of the warships of our fleet is an opponent of the Rurik in a single confrontation. But modern warfare is no longer an era of heroes and heroes, we don't need to fight the Rurik alone, except for the Weiyuan, which is not as fast as the Rurik, the speed of the other six ships can compete with the Rurik, and even the speed of the Yuyong is faster than the Rurik. As long as any of our warships bite the Rurik, and the other ships are reinforced from the surrounding area, there is every chance to surround the Rurik and create a many-to-one advantage, and it is possible to sink the Rurik. ”

Lin Jianzhang's idea caused most officers to think, it is true that alone, no warship in the Pacific Fleet can take out the Rurik. However, just as Lin Jianzhang said, now is not the era of heroes, everything is about teamwork, and the Pacific Fleet is a whole and stresses joint operations.

Du Xigui and Lin Jianzhang are fellow villagers and classmates, and they immediately stood up to support him and said, "Commander Lin's words are very reasonable! I think there is one piece of information that the British have given us, and that is that the Rurik is now not with the main fleet to blockade Weihaiwei and Lushun, but is loitering along the coast and attacking our merchant ships. This is an opportunity for us to release the bait and lure the Rurik into the trap, and then, as Commander Lin said, the Yuyong, which is faster than the Rurik, is responsible for biting her, and the other ships are quickly reinforcing and encircling the Rurik, and I believe that even if we can't sink her, we can inflict heavy damage on her, so that she can no longer join the Russian capital ships in battle. ”

Wang Shouchang added: "That's right! I think it works! ”

Fleet staff officer Gao Erqian analyzed: "The Russians do not know that our ships have an advanced communication system called radio, and as long as the ships are scattered in the reconnaissance area of the Rurik, they have every chance to secretly complete the encirclement action and surround the Rurik to fight, it is entirely possible to sink or severely damage her." ”

Lyons, Chief of Staff and Chief Adviser of the Fleet, couldn't help but smack his lips and said, "This is indeed a very good strategy, as long as the Rurik takes the bait, I think we will be able to kill her, I'm sure!" ”

Lin Jianzhang saw that Lyons also agreed with his suggestion, so he asked everyone more confidently: "What do you think?" ”

Everyone glanced at each other, and finally said in unison: "Please ask Commander Lin to assign tasks!" ”

Lin Jianzhang nodded, so he took out the plan in his heart for everyone's reference, and finally after many revisions, he came up with a set of plans to trap the Rurik.

After the plan was introduced, Lin Jianzhang immediately sent a telegram to the Tianjin Zhili Governor's Office through the telegraph of the British Johor Naval Base Command, asking Li Hongzhang for assistance.

The telegram was conveyed to Li Hongzhang by Yang Shixiang, who agreed with the plan and then appealed to the Military Aircraft Department.

On November 26, the Military Aircraft Service approved the plan. The governors of the coastal provinces issued a notification system for all merchant ships leaving and returning to the port, especially in case of attack on merchant ships or the discovery of traces of Russian ships, they must be reported to the imperial court in a truthful and detailed manner.

On 27 November, the Pacific Fleet warships left Singapore after completing a simple overhaul and clean-up operation.

On 4 December, the Pacific Fleet arrived at anchor near an uninhabited island in the Lingding Ocean off the coast of Guangzhou, and then sent a small boat into Huangpu Harbor to get in touch with the Guangdong Navy Battalion. Lin Jianzhang judged that the Russian ships must have known the news that the Pacific Fleet was about to return home, so they began to retreat north, preparing to make peace with the main fleet. Without further ado, Lin Jianzhang immediately ordered the Pacific Fleet to move forward at combat speed and recover the time difference as much as possible. At the same time, Lin Jianzhang sent a report to Tianjin again, asking for assistance.

Yang Shixiang was ordered by Li Hongzhang to assist the Pacific Fleet in trapping and killing the Rurik. Yang Shixiang thought that it was impossible for the Rurik to know that the Pacific Fleet was chasing her after her, at most, the Rurik estimated that the Pacific Fleet might return, so he gave up hunting and prepared to retreat.

Of course, Yang Shixiang did not rule out that the Rurik received relevant information from the Pacific Fleet. After all, there are a lot of Russian spies, and it is possible to intercept the news from the British that the Pacific Fleet has left Singapore. However, Yang Shixiang judged that if Rurik wanted to get information, it could only go through the Russian legation or consulate. There are not many Russian consulates in China, and based on the location of the Rurik's recent crimes, Yang Shixiang judged that the Rurik must stay in the waters near Shanghai if it wants to get the latest information.

As a result, Yang Shixiang immediately devised a strategy to delay the return of the Rurik. He issued an order to the Shanghai Provincial and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureaus to prepare for the delivery of a batch of supplies, including large quantities of arms, medicines, food, and salaries, to Tianjin in three days, requiring them to take the sea route, and to set a strict navigation route for the transport fleet.

The Shanghai Dao and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureaus then began to prepare, and Yang Shixiang secretly ordered the Shanghai Dao to find a way to leak the information to the Germans or the French, and then to the Russians through their mouths, and finally deliver the signal to the Rurik. Since this batch of materials was extremely important to the northern war situation, Yang Shixiang was convinced that the Rurik would definitely attack.

On 6 December, the Pacific Fleet passed through the Taiwan Strait and made a short stop in the waters near Ningde, where it received information and a bait plan from Yang Shixiang. Therefore, Lin Jianzhang immediately ordered the Pacific Fleet to set sail quickly, and according to the route of the transport fleet, Lin Jianzhang judged several locations where the Rurik could be the most easily ambushed, and then rushed there to search for traces of the Rurik.

An operation to booby trap the Rurik began.

(To be continued)