In the British Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street in London, Prime Minister Salisbury, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marquess Lansdowne, and British Admiral Campbell sat in their chairs, each with a very ugly face, and on Prime Minister Salisbury's desk was a report on the British Navy's Eastern Fleet's participation in the naval battle near the Wild Boar River Dock, as well as the loss of the entire British Navy's Eastern Fleet.

British Admiral Campbell sighed and said: "I didn't expect such a big loss, 10 all-steel battleships, 6 ironclad battleships, 12 large fast armored cruisers, 17 new protective cruisers, 16 new destroyers, 38 torpedo boats, nearly 29,000 officers and men killed and missing, oh God!" Seeing this series of numbers, I thought it was April Fool's Day! ”

The defeat in this naval battle put Campbell, who was the British Admiralty, in a very awkward position, and if he didn't get the British Admiralty, he would leave him, and Campbell hoped that Prime Minister Salisbury could keep him, after all, he was Salisbury's close confidant.

Prime Minister Salisbury's face is very ugly, the defeat of this naval battle, and even the opposition in parliament proposed to dissolve the cabinet formed by himself, coupled with the unfavorable war in South Africa, this voice will become higher and higher, although the 70-year-old Salisbury is already the third time to serve as the prime minister of the United Kingdom, and does not miss this position, but he does not want to be ousted from power, so that he will not be able to protect his old age.

Now Salisbury has used his strength to silence this voice, but he must achieve convincing results in the near future, either South Africa or Japan, but can the Japanese fleet still hope to defeat the Tohoku Navy?

Salisbury said: "How much strength does our Eastern Fleet have left? ”

Campbell said: "Together with the warships left at the Sasebo naval base in Japan, the entire Eastern Fleet is left with only 10 all-steel battleships, 4 large fast armored cruisers, 7 new protective cruisers, 12 new destroyers and 22 torpedo boats, of which the 5 all-steel battleships Sovereign, Dreadnought, Hannibal, Caesar, and Pavrel were also seriously damaged and had to return to the naval repair yard in Singapore for repairs, if you want to continue to support the Japanese and ensure the sea transportation passage for the Japanese, Our Navy must send another fleet to the Sea of Japan. ”

Salisbury frowned and asked, "Where did it come from?" ”

"Several fleets in Asia are running out of troops, and they have to be drawn from the mainland and other colonies," Campbell said. ”

Salisbury shook his head and said: "We can't ignore the German factor, and the warships on the ground must not be withdrawn anymore." ”

Campbell said: "But the current Eastern Fleet is simply not capable of dealing with the Northeast Navy, even with the Japanese fleet, the disadvantage is also very obvious." ”

Salisbury actually has a decision in his heart, he is not ready to send warships to Japan to help the Japanese transport fleet escort, the Northeast Navy has used a naval battle to tell the British, they are not easy to bully, and then stir up this war between the Japanese and Lin Daxin, maybe the British Navy will collapse, you must know that after this naval battle, the Northeast Navy still has 20 all-steel battleships, if this is to the death, waiting for the British is definitely not a good result, both sides are properly defeated.

Salisbury turned his head and asked the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs next to him, the Marquis de Lansdowne, "What is the situation in South Africa?" ”

"Prime Minister, after the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Colenso, the former commander-in-chief of the South African Expeditionary Force, Admiral Buller, has resigned as commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force and has been replaced by Lord Roberts, who has now begun to draw reinforcements from the colonies of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and Ceylon, preparing to launch an attack on the Boers in the middle of next month, moving the direction of the main attack from Natal West to the weaker Orange region in the center, and changing the rigid frontal assault tactics. Adopt a roundabout strategy. ”

Salisbury nodded and said, "Lord Roberts is an experienced commander, and I believe he can bring us news of victory!" ”

Lancesdoorn paused for a moment and then said: "However, because South Africa has a strong Dingbei Army, Lord Roberts has mobilized a lot of reinforcements, and the troops drawn from various colonies are close to 150,000, and it seems that South Africa's military expenditure in this war will be an astronomical amount." ”

Salisbury sighed and said: "That Lin Daxin is really a headache, it seems that we have to have a good talk with him, let the minister in Daqing Ogner ask that Lin Daxin, what conditions can he withdraw from South Africa's Dingbei Army?" In addition, he sent a telegram to Admiral Bridget of the Eastern Fleet, asking him to lead the Eastern Fleet to evacuate Japan and return to Singapore. ”

Lansdorn asked, "And what about the escort agreement we signed with the Japanese?" ”

Salisbury said: "Tell the Japanese that our warship needs to go back to Singapore for repairs. ”

Next to the British Navy Minister Campbell also nodded, he also thinks that after this naval battle, has learned about the strong combat effectiveness of the Northeast Navy, originally although the Northeast Navy has defeated a number of naval powers in a row, but the British Navy still thinks that they are the eldest of the day, I am the second, that the Northeast Navy several naval battles are the result of luck, through some new equipment to win, now the British Navy has a precaution against the new equipment of the Northeast Navy, if the two sides fight head-on, the British Navy will definitely win, It's a pity that it backfired, and he was beaten up this time.

The British, who have the pain of the skin, must admit that the Northeast Navy is a really powerful navy, and even the combat effectiveness of the Northeast Navy is comparable to that of the British Royal Navy, and the British still respect the strong, so they decided to communicate with Lin Daxin again.

On the evening of the end of the naval battle, Lin Daxin received a report of the naval battle, in which the Northeast Navy sank the Jingpo Lake, the West Lake, the Kunming Lake, the Yimei, Hongzehu, and Xuande, a total of six all-steel battleships. In addition, there were the Flying Wolf, the Flying Leopard, the Sky Wolf, the Sky Fox, and the Sky Leopard, and 5 ironclad battleships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons were sunk.

Xinghua, Xingwang, Seventh General, and Eighth General, 4 large fast armored cruisers were sunk, and 9 anti-aircraft fast protection cruisers, 14 destroyers, and 22 mine*-class torpedo boats were also sunk in the naval battle. A number of warships were also seriously damaged, including more than 10 capital warships, which had to be overhauled.

The number of dead and missing in the Northeast Navy is as high as 12,000, including many outstanding Northeast Navy officers.

Lin Daxin didn't attach much importance to the loss of warships, but the loss of personnel made Lin Daxin's heart like a knife, such a big loss was really the heaviest since the establishment of the Northeast Navy.

But that's how the war is, there are no immortals, and this naval battle also has the participation of the British Navy, the hegemon of the world's navy is not called in vain, fortunately, the final victory still belongs to the Northeast Navy.

Lin Daxin then ordered the seriously wounded warships of the Northeast Navy to return to the Dalian shipyard, while the other warships began to blockade the Sea of Japan and the Korean Strait, preparing to cut off the sea lanes of the two Japanese troops in Far Eastern Province and South Korea, and the next step was to prepare to take action against the Japanese troops in these two places.

After the end of the naval battle, the Japanese troops in South Korea remained silent, and the Japanese troops in the Far Eastern Province did not stop moving, and they were replenished, and under the orders of Commander Daeyama Rock, they continued to attack the passage in Eagle Gorge and the hills on both sides.

The five divisions of the Dingbei Army preparing to attack the flank of the Japanese Army in the north of China had not yet arrived, so they were also happy to use the strong fortifications in Eagle Gorge to continue to consume the strength of the Japanese army. This time the Japanese army will not be easily replenished, and if one dies, one will be missing, and the sea passage can be strangled to death, unless the British Navy and the Japanese Navy concentrate their forces again and form an escort fleet.

But it seemed impossible, a few days after the end of the naval battle, the British minister in the Qing Dynasty, Ogner, came to the governor's palace in Shenyang to meet Lin Daxin.

Lin Daxin didn't know what the British were doing, so he decided to meet and see what the British had to behave, so Lin Daxin met Ogener in the living room of the Governor's Palace.

Lin Daxin, who was sitting in the chair, looked at Ogna opposite him and sneered: "Minister Ogener came over today, could it be that he came to declare war with me?" ”

Ogner smiled and said, "No! No! Governor Lin has misunderstood, and I have come today with the friendship of the British Empire, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding with Governor Lin. ”

Lin Daxin rolled his eyes, "Do we still have friendship now?" The naval battle the other day, I don't think we will forget it. ”

Ogna shrugged his shoulders and said: "It wasn't a war between us, it was just that the Japanese hired our British Navy to escort their convoy, but I didn't expect such a tragic naval battle to break out with the Northeast Navy under the command of Governor Lin, but after this naval battle, Governor Lin has won the respect of our British Empire, and now it is time to resolve the misunderstanding between us!" ”

Listening to Ogner's words, Lin Daxin didn't slide off the chair, what logic, my Northeast Navy beat you British Navy suffered heavy losses, but you didn't want to get back to the field, but became polite, and what did you say to win your respect, which really made Lin Daxin a little drunk.

Lin Daxin frowned and asked, "Solve the misunderstanding?" How to fix it? ”

Ogna said with a smile: "First of all, our British Empire is ready to withdraw its fleet in Japan to Singapore and Hong Kong, and in addition, our British Empire hopes to reach a consensus on the volunteer army in South Africa and Governor Lin. ”R1152