The wind was howling, icy and cold, and even though it was close to April, St. Petersburg, near Kronstadt, still had few warm spring days, more of which were foggy and cold. The branches of the trees swayed, the dust leaves were scraped, and the miserable white morning sun hung in the gray-black sky, a lonely and desolate scene.

In the corridor of the main hall of the Winter Palace, the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Rozhdestvensky, and the burly Chancellor of the Exchequer, Witte, walked slowly towards the Tsar's office, and the solemnity on their faces could be read in the sunlight as they approached the window. Glass lamps and rich decorations passed by them like marquees, and after a while, a magnificent and solemn gilded door appeared in front of them. Werther took a few steps forward, his thick brow furrowed slightly, and through the hidden door, he could clearly hear the Tsar's furious thunderous roar.

"What's going on?" Werther looked at the waiter who was watching the door and asked in a deep voice.

Faced with the Chancellor's inquiry, the attendant replied respectfully: "Your Excellency, since the news of the defeat in the Far Eastern Naval War came three days ago, Your Majesty has been in this state of extreme anger, and several of your subordinates have been punished by Your Majesty for ten years to dig coal in the wasteland of Central Siberia for only a small mistake. Now all the waiters, including the old butler, have been kicked out of the room by His Majesty, and are only allowed to enter when the food is delivered. ”

Werther nodded slightly, a mixed feeling in his heart. In the center of power for more than ten years, he has already touched the temper and character of the Tsar: this supreme ruler of the Russian Empire is full of ambitions, always thinking that he wants to become the first monarch of Russia beyond Peter the Great, but his ability is indeed extremely mediocre, and he has neither the skills to govern the country, nor the ability to cross and cross the ranks, which is completely the most typical example of great ambition and talent. In the face of a series of uneasy factors such as national contradictions, workers' and peasants' petitions, regional uprisings, and revolutionary waves, the only way for the tsar to resort to the brutal suppression of bloody killings was to violently carry out bloody repression. Franz also practiced even the slightest bit of softness. Whenever something was against his will, the Tsar would always be a hysterical roar of rage, and then use his violent apparatus, which was terrifying to the whole of Europe, to solve all obstacles. On these issues, Witte and the Tsar had great differences, which made the relationship between the monarch and the minister extremely stiff; If it weren't for the fact that the Tsar faced a more threatening Japan and needed his efficient and stable management to enrich his purse strings, Witte would have been dismissed from office in 1903 as in history.

This time, however, the Tsar's violent apparatus was ineffective. The Russian fleet suffered a heavy defeat against the Japanese navy, armed with all British and German warships, with more than 85,000 tons of warships sunk and more than 6,000 dead and wounded. While werther was sorry for this defeat, there was also a slight excitement in his heart, and he was eager to see what other strategies the supreme Tsar could have after the violence had lost its effect.

Witt took a deep breath to calm his slightly restless excitement, then pushed open the door and entered; The roar of anger suddenly increased several times, reaching the ears. Tables, chairs, and sofas were messily placed in the room, and there were dusty books scattered underneath the floor; A few paper balls are stuffed into the trash cans in the corners, and there are scattered glass inside. Seeing this scene, Witt felt a little secretly happy in his heart, he coughed, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Sergei and the chief of staff of the Navy have come to meet you. ”

Nikolai's face was so gloomy that he could almost drip water, and it was evident that he was still immersed in the vigorous anger of the defeat in the naval battle, and his mood was very bad. Seeing that Werther and Rozhdestvensky were arriving together, he snorted and said without a good face: "Is there something wrong?" ”

Witt said softly, "Your Majesty, news of our convoy has come from the Far East. ”

"Huh?" Nikolai's body moved slightly, and a terrifying gleam flashed in his turquoise eyes. He rose from his seat and said in an urgent tone; "Where is the convoy, and have they all arrived at their destination safely?"

Witte glanced at Rozhdestvensky when he heard this, and the latter understood and took over the topic just now of the Tsar: "Your Majesty, after General Makarov realized that he had been discovered by the Japanese fleet, he immediately ordered the convoy to divide into four squads according to the difference in speed and coal load, and quickly evacuate towards Dalini and Vladivostok respectively. Because the fleet led by Admiral Makarov attracted the attention of the Japanese fleet and bought enough time for the convoy to escape, they were still greatly saved from the fate of total annihilation, even though the naval battle broke out in the southeast sea of Japan, far from our bases. By the early hours of this morning, 12 of our 22 ships of all types had arrived safely at our two military ports, and five others had sailed to the Sea of Japan and would soon arrive in Vladivostok for unloading under the escort of General Essen. Unfortunately, one of the five transport ships collided with the Japanese search fleet sent after the war, and all the contents it carried were lost. ”

"Tell me, how much did we lose in total this time?" Nikolai said lightly.

"The squad consisted of ships with poor speed and range, including a troop carrier and four cargo ships. Except for a 6,000-ton cargo ship belonging to Alhanks Shipping, which chose to sink itself, the remaining four were captured by the Japanese side. Rozhdestvensky carefully weighed his words, lest he say something that would annoy the already angry Tsar Nicholas and thus cause his own bad luck, "As a result, we lost a total of 16,000 tons of military supplies, of which 12,000 tons fell into the hands of the Japanese, including 7,000 tons of ammunition and 60 cannons. In addition, more than 6,000 officers and soldiers were taken prisoner by the Japanese as a result of the surrender of the troop carriers. ”

"Phew!" There was a loud bang, but it was Nikolai who slammed his fist on the desk in front of him, which shook Rozhdestvensky's heart violently. Nikolai's eyes widened, his brown beard was open, and he said angrily: "It's okay for the troop carrier loaded with soldiers to surrender, but these 6,000 people can still consume the food of the Japanese if they are put over, so why don't the other 3 transport ships choose to sink themselves?" 60 cannons is enough to arm a division! Immediately ascertain to me the names of the captains of these three ships, send the Guards to confiscate all their dwellings, and reduce all their families to the lowest serfs. They have committed such heinous sins against the Russian Empire that even the most merciful gods cannot forgive them! ”

Rozhdestvensky said softly: "Your Majesty, these three ships are all transport ships under the German Lufthansa Line, and the three captains are also Germans. For them, the most important thing is to get the merchant ship back unscathed to reduce their losses. As soon as the Japanese signaled and fired warnings, the three boats, together with the troop transport, which was also German, immediately stopped and raised the white flag in surrender without any restraint. An agreement had been reached between Germany and Japan that the ship and the German sailors would be released as soon as they had sailed back to the Japanese port and unloaded the cargo. ”

“***！ Don't these mercenary Germans know that greed is the most shameless original sin? Someday, all these guys with gold in their eyes will be dragged to hell by the demons! Nikolai's face turned red, and he couldn't help but burst into a foul mouth. Since the ships were German, it was only reasonable for them to choose to surrender directly, after all, Germany had declared neutrality in this war, and they had no obligation to sacrifice themselves and scuttle their own ships to protect Russian military supplies from falling into Japanese hands. As far as they are concerned, as long as their people and ships are not harmed, they are all happy, and who cares so much else?

Nikolai sat back in his seat in pain, his eyes full of regret and hatred. In the past three days, while he has wantonly poured out his anger in the office, he has also gained a relatively clear understanding of the ins and outs of this naval battle. To be sure, Japan's declaration of war on Russia at a time when the Russian transport fleet was approaching the Philippines had already set Russia in the dead end. In this case, it is impossible for the transport ships to return to the country, and they can only go to their intended destinations; And these transports were loaded with things that Russia could not afford to lose, and even if it was difficult, the Russian fleet had to go to escort them. In this way, the Japanese fleet, which had the advantage in strength, would be able to fight the rabbit as it wished, forcing the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet to engage in a head-to-head confrontation with it.

If someone replaced Makarov as commander, then the script would have been to be attacked by torpedo boats before the war started, and then the main fleet was intercepted by the Japanese fleet in the process of going south, and the fleet and the fleet were completely wiped out. After the second battle, the four best battleships of the Pacific Fleet were preserved, and three-quarters of the personnel and materials on the transport ships were returned, which was already the best outcome that Russia could get. Although Nikolai knew this very well, he still felt resentful at the thought that he had been planted in the hands of those savage yellow-skinned monkeys. As the monarch of all Russia, Nikolai always saw himself as an epic figure who surpassed Peter the Great; If he can't settle even a single Japan, it means that his ambitions and decades-old values have collapsed, which he absolutely cannot accept!

Thanks to the book friend liuboboli for his reward, the recent collection situation is very sad, the author is usually very busy at work, can you give the motivation of the code word?