In fact, the Chinese Navy warships have secretly set off to patrol the sea since the 13th, and the publicity from the 20th is just to paralyze the Tsarist Russian Navy in order to achieve a sudden purpose.

Sure enough, on December 14, two Chinese merchant ships returned home after completing their trade with each other, and as soon as they entered the Yellow Sea, they were intercepted by the Russian warship Russian, and the Russian Navy wanted to do one last business before the Chinese Navy began to escort ships.

Soon, two Chinese merchant ships were stopped, and Russian naval soldiers boarded the ship to forcibly inspect and demand money and goods from the captain and crew.

Just as the soldiers of the Tsarist Russian Navy were in high spirits, several Chinese warships suddenly appeared in the distance, and the large armored cruiser Hunter of the Second Fleet of the Chinese Navy led the three ships Haiqi, Haichen, and Haixi to quickly arrive.

When the captain of the Russian saw the appearance of the Chinese warship, he was first surprised, and then hurriedly ordered the Russian soldiers who boarded the ship to retreat. At this moment, the Chinese sailors who saw the motherland's navy rushing to support them suddenly became confident and fought back, and immediately arrested more than a dozen Tsarist Russian naval soldiers who were fleeing in a hurry and kept them as evidence.

The Russian sped up to escape, but unfortunately, all four of the Chinese Navy's warships outperformed the Russian, including the Hunter, which was specially designed to deal with the Russian. In less than two hours, the Russian was in pursuit.

The Hunter, Haiqi, Haichen, and Haixi cooperated with each other to intercept and surround the Russian.

The battleship Russia was surrounded in the middle and could not escape no matter how much it maneuvered to evade it.

The warships of both sides were put on high alert, the shells were loaded, and the battle was on the verge of breaking out.

Although the Chinese Navy seized on the evidence that the Tsarist Navy was harassing Chinese merchant ships, it could not fire first, otherwise all efforts would be in vain, and the Tsarist Navy would be justified. So the four Chinese warships just surrounded the Russian warships and blocked the way for the Russian warships to escape.

In the same way, the Russian warships have already been seized by China to cause a nuisance, and they dare not take the lead in opening fire, which will create an irreparable situation. But the Russian battleships tried to rush out anyway, and in the end they failed.

As a result, the warships of both sides circled around on the high seas and confronted each other all the time.

The warships of the Tsarist Far Eastern Navy, after refitting, already had a radio system. Although the transmission distance is still at the level of second-generation radio due to China's limitations, it is enough to inform the command of the Russian Navy at the Ulsan naval base.

When the Ulsan Naval Command of Tsarist Russia learned of the situation, it sent an urgent telegram to the Command of the Far Eastern Military District of Tsarist Russia for instructions. When Admiral Alekseev learned of the situation, he was furious and vowed to shoot the captain of the Russian, Rear Admiral Pudovsky. But even if you want to shoot him, you have to solve the crisis in front of you first.

Alekseev had to be tougher, because he couldn't afford to lose face. So he telegraphed all the warships of the Tsarist Ulsan Naval Base, which was closest to the area of the accident, to send out reinforcements to the Russians.

The six capital ships of the Tsarist Navy left the Ulsan military port and were immediately discovered by the Chinese intelligence department in the area, which promptly fed back the intelligence to the Admiralty.

After receiving the dispatch of the main fleet of the Tsarist Russian Navy, the Chinese Admiralty immediately ordered the Chinese Pacific Fleet, which was stationed at the Lushun, Weihaiwei, and Ryukyu Baitan naval bases, to urgently dispatch to the area where the accident occurred.

The large-scale movement of the navies of the two countries naturally could not escape the attention of the other powers, and the German fleet at the Jeju Island naval base immediately dispatched a reconnaissance cruiser to follow after discovering that the Russian fleet was making an emergency sortie.

As soon as the Chinese Foreign Ministry received the information that the Tsarist Navy was harassing Chinese merchant ships, it immediately sent notes to the embassies of various countries in China, briefed them on the situation, and sent a note to the Russian ambassador to China, expressing a solemn protest and warning against the Russian Navy for harassing Chinese merchant ships again.

This time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had evidence, which made the Russian minister to China, Cuman, very embarrassed and passive, and apart from shamelessly saying that there must be a misunderstanding, he was completely speechless in the face of questions from diplomats and media from various countries.

Soon, the main fleets of China and Russia will engage in a full-scale military confrontation in the eastern waters of the Yellow Sea, and both sides will all enter a state of first-class combat readiness, and their shells will be loaded.

The military confrontation between the two sides soon lasted more than six six hours, with seven Russian warships and sixteen Chinese naval warships, and the Chinese side was in the upper hand and occupied the moral high ground.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded that the Russian side hand over the captain of the Russian and other Russian naval officers and soldiers who had participated in the nuisance of Chinese merchant ships to be tried by Chinese courts.

The Russian political axe refused to hand over and demanded that the Chinese navy release the dozen or so Russian sailors who had been captured.

Diplomats on both sides engaged in a war of words, and no side retreated from the military standoff on the Yellow Sea.

After a large-scale military confrontation broke out between the Chinese and Russian navies, international public opinion was in an uproar the next day, and the political axes of various countries were keenly aware that if the current military confrontation between China and Russia could not be resolved, it was very likely to turn into a war.

On the third day of the military confrontation, the Russian navy increased to 17 warships, but the Chinese navy increased to 28 warships, still in an absolute advantage. The Tsarist side demanded that China first release more than a dozen Russian naval soldiers, otherwise the Russian Navy would not have withdrawn. Beiyang Zhengaxe sternly refused, saying that the 17 Russian soldiers were suspected of armed robbery, intentional injury and other crimes, violating Chinese law and international law, and they would be sent to the Dengzhou District Court in Shandong, China, for trial. At the same time, Beiyang Zhengax continued to demand that the Russian Navy hand over a total of 133 captains, commanders and soldiers of the Tsarist Russian Navy, including Pudovsky, otherwise the Chinese Navy would never retreat.

Regardless of whether there is a reasonable side or a non-rational side, in this era of 'axioms are only valid within the range of cannons', everything depends on the strength of the state.

Obviously, even if Tsarist Russia is on the side of ignorance, even if it has been reduced to a second-rate power among the European powers, its international influence is still much stronger than China's. On the other hand, although China's Beiyang political axe stands on the side of reason, and the country's military strength has been raised to the first in Asia and the fifth in the world, the newly rising China has offended too many great powers in order to abolish the unequal treaties, so most countries have not stood up to seek justice for China.

The Chinese and Russian navies continue to engage in military confrontation in the Yellow Sea, and neither has any intention of backing down.

As the military confrontation entered its seventh day, Britain, France, the United States, Germany, and other countries successively sent warships to observe the situation from a long distance.

Britain hoped that the military confrontation between China and Russia would turn into a conflict, preferably escalated into war. France was torn about its allies, hoping that Russia would be defeated in Asia and shift its focus back to Europe to deal with Germany, and that Tsarist Russia would win the Sino-Russian war, thereby striking at China's rise and relieving France's military pressure in the Far East.

And Germany's attitude is basically the same as France's, and it is very entangled. The German Emperor Wilhelm II succeeded in easing the contradictions between Germany and Russia by being cousins of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, and Germany hoped that Russia would shift its strategic focus to Asia and break the threat of the Russian-French alliance to Germany. However, Germany was not optimistic about Tsarist Russia's military power in Asia, and China's rapid development in recent years seemed to have become a newly rising imperialist power. Germany is also a rising power, and it needs to unite with China to form a new world alliance to challenge the old world pattern controlled by Britain, France and Russia.

Similarly, the United States is wary of China's rise. The United States is secretly supporting China in order to contain China, and the United States hopes that China and Russia will lose both sides at best. However, in terms of the overall interests of the United States in the near future, the United States needs China's support on the Philippine issue, so in the end, the United States political axe stood up to mediate for China and Russia.

According to the Hague International Convention, which has just been signed, conflicts between the two States parties will be mediated and mediated by third countries. Both the Chinese Beiyang Axe and the Russian Tsarist Axe were both parties to the Parties, and the Russian Axe took the lead in proposing to let France mediate alone, but was rejected by the Beiyang Axe, who asked Britain to mediate alone. China and Russia were in dispute, so the United States political axe came forward to mediate, and united the United States, Britain, France, and Germany to form a jury to intervene in the whole incident.

China stands on the moral high ground in the whole matter, and if it were to replace the previous Qing political axe, the great powers of various countries would definitely turn to Russia and put this matter to rest. But now it is Wang Chenhao's Beiyang political axe, a second-class power backed by strong military power, and the powers of various countries have to make considerations.

Britain, France, the United States, and Germany formed an arbitration committee to mediate and adjudicate the military confrontation between China and Russia in accordance with the Hague Convention. For the first time, the arbitration commission has maintained impartiality in dealing with issues related to China, which has caused Russia to lose the support of international public opinion and put its diplomacy in a passive state.

On the tenth day of the confrontation, the Russian political axe finally made concessions, admitting that the Russian navy had harassed Chinese merchant ships and that individual officers and soldiers had illegally demanded property, but the Russian political axe refused to hand over the people involved in the case to the Chinese court for trial, insisted on their own court trial, and demanded that China hand over the 17 Russian naval soldiers seized to the Russian court for processing.

The request of the Russians was reported to the Prime Minister's Office through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Wang Chenhao believed that Russia did not have the conditions to prepare for war with China at present, so Wang Chenhao replied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, resolutely refusing to make concessions, and severely damaging Russia's reputation and status in the international community, thus shaping China's Beiyang political axe into a powerful international image and enhancing China's prestige and status in the world.

After receiving Wang Chenhao's instructions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to maintain a tough stance toward Russia, and made a big fuss at home to hype up the theory of the threat of Tsarist Russia, so as to rekindle the anger of the people against Tsarist Russia, so that the Beiyang political axe would have enough excuses to expand military spending.

China's assertive stance is a big headache for Britain, France, the United States and Germany, and as a mediator, it makes them very faceless. However, the four countries are intriguing with each other, and they are not at all able able to form an effective united front. The Shikoku political axe then saw which way it was tougher, and it was headed.

Considering that the Russian government has not yet completed preparations for war against China, that at present in the Far East, the Tsarist Russian naval force is inferior to the Chinese naval force, and that the Far Eastern Military District's troop and material reserves cannot support the war supply with the Chinese army, the Russian General Staff believes that unless the Trans-Siberian railway is connected, there is no chance of winning the war against China.

According to the plans of the Tsarist Russian army, even if the Trans-Siberian Railway is in a state of rush, it will not be completed until at least after 1901. As a result, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tsarist Russia was in dialogue with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, it was extremely lacking in confidence. When the Chinese diplomats nakedly threw out the war response, the Russian diplomats had to put down their arrogant face and choose to back down.

On the last day of the nineteenth century, all the major powers of the world were immersed in the great joy of expanding their national interests, but Russia could not rejoice on this day.

On this day, the second-level district court of Dengzhou Prefecture in Shandong Province, China, publicly pronounced a verdict on the robbery of a Chinese merchant ship in the Yellow Sea. According to China's latest Criminal Code, seven officers, including Lieutenant Nefubi and Corporal Tuvensky, were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 35 to 45 years on suspicion of robbery, and the other 10 Russian soldiers who participated in the robbery of Chinese merchant ships were accomplices and were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from five to 15 years. The 17 people involved in the case will serve two-thirds of their sentences in China, and the remaining sentences will be handed over to Russian prisons for further service.

At the same time, the court of Dengzhou Prefecture formally filed a lawsuit against the Tsarist Far East Admiralty on the grounds that it was unfavorable for the Tsarist Far East Admiralty to control its naval personnel, demanding that the Tsarist Admiralty return all the looted property and compensate 1 million dragon coins as compensation.

At the same time, the Dengzhou Prefecture District Court also pronounced a sentence on the captains of the seven Tsarist warships involved in the robbery, sentencing them to more than 30 years in prison.

In order to give an account to international public opinion and to appease China's political axe, the Tsarist Russian political axe had to deal with more than 30 Tsarist Russian military officers, including Major General Pudovsky, and the Tsarist Russian military court convicted Pudovsky and others and sentenced them to more than five years in prison, but in fact they did not carry it out.

Whether it is carried out or not, the face of the political axe of Tsarist Russia is lost. For this, Tsar Nicholas II scolded him in a telegram to General Alekseev.

Wang Chenhao and his Beiyang political axe showed a tough stance toward Russia in handling the robbery of a Chinese merchant ship in the Yellow Sea, which was greatly praised by the people of the whole country, and they became more loyal and supportive to Wang Chenhao and his Beiyang political axe.

In the aftermath of this incident, Russia's international standing was further shaken, and the challenge from the yellow race in Asia led the Caucasians in the West to treat the Russians as a disgraced object.

For the first time, the intransigence of the Chinese political axe and the military in this matter has made Western European and American countries feel that the China in front of them has really changed its appearance, and it is no longer a country that hangs the word ninja on its head as a bible, but a country that has begun to learn from them to use cannons in everything to prove that they are right.

The Western media couldn't help but exclaim on the front page: China, rising.

(To be continued)