With the total annihilation of the Russian Vladivostok detachment, the Russian Far East Fleet was declared completely annihilated. In less than two months, Russia lost its Korean colony, lost a third of its naval power, and completely lost its naval supremacy in the Far East.

When the news of Russia's loss of the Korean Peninsula and the complete annihilation of the Russian Far East Fleet broke, public opinion around the world was in an uproar. Although the European and American powers believed that the national strength of the Tsarist Empire was deteriorating and that it was at the bottom of the ranks of first-class powers, they could not imagine that the Tsarist Empire was so vulnerable in front of the Chinese Empire.

The British Times said: "The Chinese Emperor [***] team wiped out 700,000 elite Russian troops in less than two months of fighting on the Korean Peninsula and occupied the Korean Peninsula in one fell swoop, which shows the great success of China's military reform in the past seven years." As the only ally of the British Empire, the Chinese Imperial Navy completely annihilated the Russian Far East Fleet, which was inseparable from the edification and help of the British Imperial Navy. ”

In fact, there are only 30,000 or 40,000 Russian troops fighting in Korea, and the 700,000 Russian troops are just an exaggeration of the British, but they also include the Korean puppet army. The British did nothing more than to attack Russia's international image, and the British said that the credit of the Chinese Imperial Navy's total annihilation of the Russian Far East Fleet was theirs, although it was a little shameless, but it was undeniable that the Chinese Imperial Navy was indeed under the British command and received great help from the British Navy.

The French newspaper La Repubblica published an editorial in a rather sad tone, saying: "Russia, as an ally of France, has no military strength to defeat the Chinese Empire, how does this make the French people believe in the reliability of the Franco-Russian alliance, and in the event of an incident in France, can the armies of the Russian allies share the pressure on France?" ”

The German media stood up and said without backache: "It's the second time, even the humble yellow people can't beat it, and the Russians have really embarrassed the white Europeans." ”

Other European and American countries have also reported similar news, and the main theme of each country is basically to express disappointment with the defeat of the Russian army in the battle and express a high degree of surprise at the victory of the Chinese Empire.

However, Russian officials and media quickly came forward to refute the rumors, saying that Russia had only lost a few thousand soldiers on the Korean Peninsula, and that the 700,000 treacherous Korean king's army voluntarily surrendered to the Chinese Empire, which was the main reason for the Russian army's loss of the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, the Russian Far East Fleet was also betrayed by the Koreans, who deceived and betrayed the Chinese Imperial Navy, which led to the total annihilation of the Far East Fleet.

The Russian political axe abbreviated that the defeat of the Russian army on the Korean Peninsula does not mean anything, but it is just the shameless sneak attack of the Chinese Emperor [***] team, so that the Russian army failed to prepare for war. The Russian side said that the Russian army will soon gather 3 million troops to fight in the Far East, and at that time it will inflict heavy losses on the Chinese emperor [***] and let them know the fate of offending Russia.

Although the Russian political axe came forward to refute the rumors, the effect seems to be limited to Russia itself, and only the Russian people believe in it, and it cannot guide public opinion in other European and American countries.

Under the influence of their own mainstream public opinion, the people of Europe and the United States began to sell off the Russian war treasury bonds and instead buy the war treasury bonds of the Chinese Empire. For a time, the Russian war treasury bonds were left out in the cold, while the war treasury bonds of the Chinese Empire rose all the way, and the market trading prices soared. European and American investors have also stopped investing in Russia one after another, and European and American capital, which was not optimistic about the victory of the Chinese Empire, has also temporarily stopped withdrawing abroad. The international financial predators seized the opportunity to sell Russian stocks and government bonds one after another, and at the same time bought the stocks and government bonds of the Chinese Empire, betting on the victory of the Chinese Empire and the defeat of Russia.

For the people, who listen to the wind and rain, they have obviously decided that Russia has lost and the Chinese Empire has won. However, for the political axes of European and American countries, the information they know is more accurate, their mentality is more calm, and they will not be like public opinion.

In their eyes, the Chinese Empire had only temporarily gained the advantage of surprise operations. Russia's losses in Korea were far from the point of breaking Russia's bones, and at best, the complete annihilation of the Russian Far East Fleet would allow the Imperial Chinese Navy to gain sea control over Russia in the Far East for some time to come, which could be regarded as a strategic advantage. However, the European and American powers knew that Russia would soon counterattack, and the counterattack of millions of Russian troops would be a great war. The political axes of the European and American powers do not think that the Chinese Empire can be stopped, at least they themselves do not have the confidence to block the invasion of millions of Russian troops, so the political axes of European and American countries are still optimistic about Russia for the land showdown between the Chinese Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire.

However, for the Russian political axe, even if the European and American powers are still optimistic about the Russian army, the failure at the beginning really makes the conceited and arrogant Russians very unhappy, and it can be said that they are quite angry.

In particular, Tsar Nicholas II, after he learned that the Korean Peninsula had fallen and the Russian Far East Fleet had been wiped out in Ulsan Bay, was even more furious, scolding Alekseev for being a rice bucket.

"Organize a fleet to the Far East immediately and wipe out the damned Chinese Navy!"

Nicholas II's spit spewed the head of the Admiralty, Prince Alexandrovich, in the face.

Aleksandrovich said with a bitter face: "Your Majesty is angry, and the minister is stepping up preparations for the expeditionary fleet, and the Chinese Imperial Navy will definitely be wiped out in half a year." ”

"Half a year?"

When Nicholas II heard that he had to wait for half a year, he immediately glared and said: "Half a year is too long, I want you to be ready immediately!" ”

Whenever Nicholas II was angry, he always forgot a lot of things.

In fact, Aleksandrovich said that half a year is only half a year later, and it will be a year later when he arrives in the Far East. The main reason is that the new capital ships of the Russian Navy are either under construction in the shipyard or are undergoing sea trials, and they are generally not allowed to serve directly without a few months of sea trials.

Aleksandrovich replied: "Your Majesty, at present, the number of warships that the Imperial Navy can use for ocean-going operations is not very large, and most of them have been transferred to the Far East. Most of the other new warships have not yet been tested and will not be able to serve for the time being. ”

Nicholas II was angry and did not explain to Aleksandrovich at all.

"Be ready now, or you'll be asked to lead a fishing boat to fight in the Far East!"

Aleksandrovich was speechless for a moment, looked at the other ministers, hoping that they would intercede, but who would dare to come up and intercede at this time? Everyone wished that Prince Aleksandrovich himself would attract the "fire" of Nicholas II for them, and who would be happy to set himself on fire?

"Yes! My Majesty! ”

Aleksandrovich had no choice but to come down first, otherwise with the temper of Nicholas II, he would really give him a small fishing boat to fight the Imperial Chinese Navy.

"We must destroy the Chinese Imperial Navy!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Aleksandrovich kept nodding his head and saying yes, this time he learned to be obedient, no longer raised objections, and the province was scolded.

Nicholas II nodded, quite satisfied. After all, Prince Aleksandrovich is his uncle, and he can't be too faceless.

At this time, Nicholas II again looked at the Minister of War Sukhomlinov.

Sukhomlinov hurriedly bowed his head, but was still called by name.

"Sukhomlinov!"

"The minister is here!"

"How did you urge the Far East Defense?"

"The minister is incompetent, the minister is guilty, please forgive your majesty!"

Sukhomlinov suddenly sighed, knowing that it was his turn to be scolded, he could only grit his teeth to see if he could get through.

Sure enough, Nicholas II was followed by another scolding of Sukhomlinov. Perhaps Nicholas II was a little tired after scolding Alexandrovich just now, or maybe the army had not yet suffered a crushing defeat, so the scolding of Sukhomlinov lasted only a minute.

"What are you going to do?"

Sukhomlinov then replied: "Your Majesty, the minister has mobilized the first batch of a million troops to prepare for the battle, and all the war materials have been prepared, just waiting for the Trans-Siberian Railway to be completed, and the empire's million-strong army will sweep through the Far East, teach the Chinese a hard lesson, and make them regret offending the empire." ”

Nicholas II nodded with satisfaction, he liked to hear it. Hearing Sukhomlinov mention the issue of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Nicholas II immediately turned his gaze to Werther.

Witte immediately scolded Sukhomlinov for being cunning, so that Nicholas II's attention quickly shifted from Sukhomlinov to Werther.

Sure enough, Nicholas II turned his head to look at Werther, and Sukhomlinov breathed a sigh of relief.

"Werther, when will the railroad break through?"

"Your Majesty, under the supervision of the rights of the ministers, only 80 kilometers of the Baikal section of the Trans-Siberian Railway remain, which is expected to be completed in March," Witte said. ”

When Nicholas II heard that it would take three months to complete the work, he immediately showed dissatisfaction and said: "It must be completed within a month, and you will personally supervise the work." ”

Wittlen paused for a moment, thinking of delaying it a little longer, but he knew better about Nicholas II's temper, and no one could persuade him to change his mind about what Nicholas II had decided.

Rather than being uncomfortable, it was better to go with the flow, so Werther took the order.

Then Nicholas II turned his gaze back to Sukhomlinov.

"The forces in the Far East are too weak, Alekseev has only 200,000 troops in his hands, and they must be reinforced as soon as possible, not until Vladivostok also falls."

Sukhomlinov was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that Nicholas II would also be able to think of this, it was really not easy.

"Your Majesty, as early as the beginning of the war, Wechen had already ordered the mobilization of 300,000 troops from the Caucasus Military District to urgently reinforce the Far East. Now that the Caucasian Corps has passed through the Baikal section on foot, transferring trains to Bury and Vladivostok at Chala, 250,000 troops have arrived at the fortresses of Boli and Vladivostok, and according to the current capacity of the eastern section of the Trans-Siberian Railway, it will take about a week to transport all the remaining 50,000 soldiers. ”

"Good!" Nicholas II nodded and asked, "How is the current state of war?" ”

Sukhomlinov glanced at the Chief of the Army General Staff next to him, Ivan? General Gilinsky, the latter understood, and then said: "Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, the strategic purpose of the Chinese Imperial [***] army is to contain the main forces of the empire in the Far East, such as Yuboli and Vladivostok, with the First Front, and the Second Front and the Third Front to raid the Korean Peninsula. ”

Nicholas II frowned and said: "The Korean battlefield should be over, so the Chinese Emperor [***] will adjust the direction of attack to Boli and Vladivostok?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Ivan? General Gilinsky nodded and said: "Please rest assured that the defeat in the Korean battlefield will not be repeated in the Amur Oblast, and our Vladivostok and Boli fortresses have a strong defense system, and there are 500,000 troops to defend them, so it is impossible to break through." ”

(To be continued)