Months of resistance and the ensuing martial law have left the entire Viceroyalty of Nikolai deserted at night, but martial law is not enforced in all areas, such as in the Russian settlements everywhere, which are often not enforced, at least not strictly, because most of the people living there are real Russians. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Compared with the deserted old Japanese-style urban area, the new city of Constantine, which was established after the Russian occupation, is undoubtedly more modern and civilized - the European-style buildings and street lamps all show people the prosperity of the city, and of course, also show the world the "civilization" of the East under Russian rule.

Today it is more lively than usual, with horse-drawn carriages running down the streets, and through the glass windows of the carriages, you can faintly see that the passengers, most of them are officers in white dresses, but these carriages have only one destination, the officers' club of the Pacific Fleet.

Today, the civil and military officials in the Viceroy of the Russian Empire Nikolai rushed to Konstantin to attend the birthday of Maria, the wife of the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Stark, for Russians, the honor is even more important than the birthday, and it is for this reason that these officials do not want to miss this day. Even, it is for this reason that the capital ships of the fleet gather here.

As was customary, the officers of the Pacific Fleet prepared a grand ball for Madame Maria, which was attended not only by the ordinary army and navy officers and civilian officers of the Kanto region, but also by the uncle Alekseev, who was also the emperor of the Governor-General.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the guests had arrived at the Navy Club, starting with the young Army and Navy lieutenants and their female companions. Then came the officers at all levels. They entered the club with their wives in gorgeous navy dresses. This is where the distinction in rank is revealed, with the lieutenants greeting the colonels with applause, and when Commander Stark and his wife arrived, everyone applauded with the warmest applause.

The ballroom, which could accommodate thousands of people, was soon filled with people, and the band was playing upbeat dance music, when Lieutenant Tukrisky, the adjutant of the fleet commander, stepped forward and proposed that the men and women be invited to dance, and the ball began.

And Lady Maria sat there. He looked at the pairs of men and women dancing with appreciative eyes, and occasionally the ladies who were around commented on the dance of the people, saying that at this moment the star officer walked up to the commander to report.

"The Governor has arrived!"

When Stark heard that the Governor was coming, he hurriedly walked with his wife to the porch to meet the Governor.

Although his face was covered by a long beard, Alekseev could see that he was full of joy, and as soon as he walked up to Mrs. Stark, he bowed and took Maria's hand and kissed him.

"Happy Birthday, Maria!"

Then he took Maria's hand with his right hand and walked with her into the ballroom.

As soon as they entered the back ballroom, the music suddenly stopped and the people in the hall stopped dancing. Qi bowed to the governor, and Akseev greeted the band first. Then he bowed to the people in the hall and finally asked them to continue dancing. After the music began, a couple of men and women swirled in the ballroom again.

Two days ago, he received a telegram from the local authorities in the northeast to stop negotiations with Russia on diplomatic issues, and for various reasons, he did not announce the contents of the telegram to anyone, and today, the consulate in Russia and the expatriates have left on the British merchant ship, and the evacuation of the consulate is expected, but the evacuation of the expatriates is a strange signal.

The news haunted Alekseev's mind and always made him uneasy, especially when he thought of his own order yesterday.

"There is no need to lay mine protection nets for the warships parked at the anchorage yard for the time being."

Although Army Chief Ramsdorf sent a comforting telegram in which he firmly denied the possibility of war, and specifically reminded that "St. Petersburg will never consider this to be the beginning of military action if Japan does not take military action with its navy, but closes the railroads or sends troops to the border of Manchuria."

However, as the governor of the Nikolai Governorate, Alekseev had to take into account the threat he faced, and although he believed that the local authorities in the northeast were by no means capable of challenging Russia, it did not mean that he would be arrogant and let his guard down, after all, as the governor of the Nikolai Governorate, he was responsible for the security of the Russian Far East and the interests of the Russian Empire, and not allowed the Chinese to cause damage to Russia's interests.

"I hope ......"

While Alekseev was anxiously pondering all sorts of unusual signals, Pranson, the representative of the Foreign Ministry in the Governor's Palace, seemed more calm than usual, and he was just chatting with the generals of the fleet. Slowly, Alekseev's mood calmed down, and then he became happy, and in the cheerful music, the atmosphere of the ball reached its peak.

Alekseev got up and invited Mrs. Stark to dance, and the two of them stood at the head of the dance team, and together with the music, his somewhat fat body, actually danced lightly with his dance partner, and the whole audience looked at the pair, and when it was the turn of the pas de deux, he saw him bend one leg, kneel in front of Mrs. Maria, and lead her in one hand and rotate around him.

This is the climax of the atmosphere, and with his action, people clapped it with applause, just as people cheered for his dazzling dance. Suddenly, there was a burst of cannon fire, and even the stained glass on the window shook, and countless flashes of fire could be seen from the window, and the sound of the cannon roared in the air. Applause rang out in the officers' club, one was to praise the dancing skills of the distinguished dance partners, and the other was to praise the unexpected salute given by the fleet so coincidentally, even Alekseev forgot his original inner worries, and warmly thanked Stark for the sudden salute of the fleet.

In Alekseev's thanks, Stark, who was the commander of the fleet, also felt a little incomprehensible about the gunfire, but he concluded in his heart that it was arranged by the adjutant in advance.

"Lieutenant Tukriski. Thank you for the good arrangement! ”

Lieutenant Tukrisky, on the other hand, accepted the commander's thanks with peace of mind. A smile on the Chief's face. Let him believe that tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, he will become Captain Tukriski.

At this time, the people in the club's ballroom were even more excited, and they danced more cheerfully under the ensemble of cannons and music, and the sound of music and cannons only pushed the atmosphere of the ball to the climax.

For the whole day, the armored cruiser "Zhishen" was loading coal, because it was to leave the next day to patrol the coastal area of North Korea. All the officers who had nothing to do on the ship, in order to avoid getting covered in soot, went to the shore early in the morning, leaving only a few officers on duty and the officer on duty, Second Lieutenant Yakosky, the chief of mines.

Hundreds of tons of coal were not loaded until it was dark, and under the orders of Second Lieutenant Yakovsky, the sailors washed the soot onto the ship by the light of the starlight, and after so-so cleaning the deck, the sailors who had been covered in soot went to the ship's bathroom to bathe. By the time the last sailors climbed into their hammocks, it was already twelve o'clock in the evening. Only a few sailors on duty were left pacing around the deck.

In the spacious berths of the harbor, seven battleships of more than 10,000 tons were moored in a line, like a continuous hill, six cruisers were parked in the inner bay mooring, and the lightning strikers on duty were parked at both ends of the fleet.

"Bell, bell, bell......"

The crisp bell of the ship sounded on the flagship of the battlefleet "Petropavlovsk", which rang simultaneously on all ships, and this bell pleased the sailors on duty.

"It's time for a shift change!"

The sailor, who had stood in the open air for two hours, said a word, and his hand took out the cigarette paper and tobacco box from his pocket, and it was time to roll a cigarette and smoke.

At night, Ensign Lebeev, the duty officer on the "Zhishen", looked towards the entrance to the harbor, but saw several small boats at the entrance to the port of Konstantin, with lights on on them, heading towards the inner harbor of the port of Konstantin. He picked up his binoculars and looked at the dinghy that was getting closer.

These are just a few ordinary small transport boats, each with a chimney and a boiler hood in the middle, and there are also a dozen such small transport boats in the port of Konstantin, which are usually used only for personnel traffic.

But surprisingly, the four boats did not slow down in the port, but rushed straight towards the "Homo sapiens", which only made Lebeev feel a little panicked.

"Yuri,"

Lebiev put down his telescope and shouted to the signalman on duty.

"Ask them for a signal!"

"Yes, ask them for a signal!"

The signalman replied, and then moved to signal the inquiry.

When the four dingries approached a chain or two lengths from the "Zhishen," they dispersed, two headed toward the front of the fleet, the other two toward the rear of the fleet, and one mine-striking ship fired two torpedoes at the "Zhishen" in a row when it sailed a few hundred meters in front of it.

On the bridge, you can clearly see the flashes of torpedo firing, and when the muffled sound of the torpedo cartridge is heard, two shiny torpedoes appear in the dim sea water in the early morning and rush towards the "Chi Shen".

"Torpedo!"

While the sailors were shouting in horror, and Lebeev was shouting for the alarm, he heard a burst of cheers from the mine-striking ship that fired the torpedo, followed by several explosions in succession.

The cruiser "Zhishen" shook violently several times, and when the explosive column of water rushed to the deck and knocked people down, the hull began to tilt to the right.

The sound of explosions and violent concussions woke the sailors and officers, who rushed to the deck before they had time to get dressed, and no one knew what was going on, all of them reacted instinctively.

"Ready, ready to fight!"

Second Lieutenant Lebiev on duty shouted loudly, but the people did not listen to his command, although the gunners did not receive orders, but they each ran to the cannons, and the cannons rang out, and shells were fired indiscriminately at any suspicious target in the sea, and some sailors hurriedly lowered their lifeboats into the water to leave the wrecked warship, and in the fleet, more people were desperately trying to save the warship, and some sailors ran to the boiler room, because some people shouted that the coal tanks were on fire.

Lieutenant Gryaznov, the gunner, who was in the mix, appeared on the deck, and as soon as the gunners saw their officers, they immediately fell silent, and the gunners reported the situation to the officers, and the originally chaotic gunfire stopped. While Lieutenant Gryaznov directed the gunners to attack suspicious targets on the water, Lebeev and the boatswain were in the cabin directing the damage pipe plugging work, and several officers and mechanics led the fire brigade to the bilge.

The initial chaos returned to normal in just a few minutes, and while the crew of the "Chi Kami" was rescuing their fleet under the command of an officer, three more torpedo boats attacked the battleship parked at the stern of the fleet.

It was a clean and even unexpected assault -- the four torpedo boats fired their torpedoes at a distance of about 100 meters, and the two battleships, the "Retvizan," the "Eagle," and the "Prince," were all hit one after another.

Behind them, all the warships were attacking the fleeing torpedo boats with their small- and medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, and the shells without any accuracy were scattered in the air, and in the end, even the battleship's 305 cannon roared, and the rumbling cannon echoed in the air. In the curtain, the four torpedo boats, which were being chased by the shells, were desperately fleeing out of Tokyo Bay, the torpedo boats were raising white waves behind them, and the sailors on the speedboats occasionally looked back at the port of Constantine, each with an unbelievable look on their faces.

At this time, the port of Constantine was already boiling, the sound of artillery seemed to be the only sound in the weather, orange cannon flames were spitting in the bay of Constantine, and in the sky lit by the cannon flames, Russian warships were constantly firing shells outside the port. The cannonball swept over their heads, but the sailors felt no fear, more excitement!

"It worked!"

It worked!

Without any surprise, the four torpedo boats that attacked did not encounter any resistance and sailed into the port of Konstantin and easily sank four warships!

"Quick, send the report immediately, we sink ...... No, four enemy ships were heavily damaged! ”

The commanding officer howled excitedly, although they did not know the actual results of their battle, there was no doubt that this result was enough to shake the whole world!

Behind them, the entire night sky had been lit up and lit up by cannonballs, not only did the warships in the harbor open fire, but the nearby batteries joined them, but the cannonballs fell into the sea as if they were not on target, after all, their target was too small...... (To be continued.) )