"Dear General Makanov, as you know, the situation in the Far East has reached an extremely dangerous situation, on the Asian continent our troops in the Far Eastern Primorsky Krai are under the frenzied attack of the Beiyang Guards, and in Japan our troops are stubbornly fighting against the Japanese troops in trenches and rubble. The strength of the army has reached its limit, and only you and your Far Eastern fleet can save the Far East, and I hope that your Excellency can take into account the overall situation and win a glimmer of hope for the victory of the empire at this time of crisis! ”

Looking at the telegram from the Moscow War Department, Makanov smiled bitterly, then turned his gaze to the map hanging in the middle of the room. "Turning the tide?" Makanov thought that he did not have this ability, and the comparison of strength between the two sides on the battlefield in this war was unfavorable to the Russian army from the beginning. The two major forces of Beiyang and Japan are in an advantageous position to deal with the Russian army in the Far East. The Army is no longer good, why not the Navy? Although 2 cruisers have been replenished, the difference in strength between the two sides is even greater than before the war! The only tactic you can choose now is the Break Tactic. But is that really that effective?

As an army general, everyone knows that it is a risky act for the navy to break diplomatic relations when it goes deep into the opponent's well-defended sea area, and Makanov naturally knows it very well! After a long period of ocean-going warfare, the state of the warships and soldiers will drop rapidly, and after a trip in the East China Sea, even high-speed cruisers such as the Tatar and the Vostok will lose their speed advantage due to mechanical wear and tear and personnel conditions. After a long voyage. The survival rate of these two battleships is not as good as that of the Prince and the Russia!

As for the remaining 4 high-speed warships? One thing Makanov is sure of is that once these battleships meet the Beiyang Fleet, it will be a one-time thing! If you can't win, you will be killed directly, and if you win, or you will escape by luck, you must not stay in the war zone, and the losses after the battle are enough for 4 cruisers to go home! In other words, if your point is not correct, it is likely that you have not sunk a merchant ship, and the cruiser sent to attack has already been taken care of by the opponent's patrol!

Makanov did not fail to think of expanding the scope of the attack, expanding the scope of the battle from Shanghai to Shandong to the entire territorial waters of the Qing State. But as Xu Jie expected. The Russian government simply did not dare to launch an unrestrained breaking war! Don't say that Britain, Germany and Italy do not agree, even the French do not agree! France still has to do business with Beiyang! (Historically, the French built the battleship Prince for Russia and armored cruisers for the Japanese!) And the British government had already issued a note before that. It was claimed that if the Russian fleet acted against British merchant ships, the British Far East Fleet would intervene in East Asian affairs. This is almost the most reluctory, just say, if you dare to hit my ship, Lao Tzu's Far East Fleet will fight with you! In the face of the always strong Britain, the Russians really can't get tough!

"Your Excellency, Commander, now we have no choice, if we lose the support of the mainland, the Japanese theater of operations that hangs alone overseas will eventually be occupied by the Japanese. The outcome of the war has been very different from what we expected. But we have to fight for it. At the very least, we must ensure that there is a supply line that can extend into the Pacific Ocean to supply us. It's not just for the Army. And even more for the future of the Far Eastern Fleet. Essen said.

"If we can, I think we will discuss a truce with Beiyang now. Before the Trans-Siberian Railway was built to Vladivostok. We can't talk about war with Beiyang. Makanov said.

"Your point of view is correct, but you are not a tsar. And even if the empire requests a truce now, I'm afraid Beiyang will not be able to accept it. To some extent, the General Xu in Beiyang is also a wolf. When he finds his opponent weak, he won't pass up the opportunity to make a big profit. Unless we can make him realize that the cost of victory is higher than the limit he can bear! Essen continued.

"Do you know what you're going to encounter? Youngster? Makanov said. I'm not cowardly, I just don't want you to make a senseless sacrifice, your fleet will reach the vicinity of the Yellow Sea of the Qing Kingdom after crossing the distance of the first kilometer, and then you will be supported by no auxiliary ships. In the face of the powerful Northern Fleet and the Outer Ocean Fleet. They have enough sentinels, enough supplies and good maintenance, and maybe you can indeed inflict huge losses on them and thousands of casualties. But the end result will not be what you would like to see. ”

"We are most likely to die in the waves of the Yellow Sea, but this is not an excuse for us to avoid it!" Essen said categorically.

"Very well, then, gather your deployment, and let's start the operation according to the predetermined plan, both the Vostok and the Tatar can be lost. Two armored cruisers of the Azov type can also be abandoned if necessary. However, the Prince and the Russian must be kept in a similar way. He is the most powerful presence in our Far Eastern Fleet that can intimidate our opponents. Makanov said.

"General, this is very much out of your style." Essen said with a frown. In his eyes, this is passive war avoidance. The strategy of defending the ship is too far from the Russian operational concept of emphasizing the offensive.

"Our minimum objective is to ensure the safety of Hokkaido, and if the fleet losses are too great, the two battleships will not be able to form sufficient combat strength in a short period of time. So tell me, what do we rely on to keep Hokkaido? We have artillery batteries and mine arrays, but all this is just auxiliary power, and if we can't even make up 4 capital ships at the end, you tell me, is there any hope for Hokkaido? Makanov asked rhetorically.

"We are soldiers, not reckless people, we need to calm down and analyze the problem in an unfavorable situation, our troubles are not only from our enemies, but also from those bureaucrats in Moscow who cannot see the situation clearly, we have lost this war, and now we are only fighting for face, in this case, there is no need for us to put the hope of tomorrow into it, the worst result is nothing more than that the Far East has no more access to the sea, and the Japanese Viceroyalty is also reoccupied by the Japanese, and the best result is that Hokkaido is preserved. Okay then, tell me, you want that result? Makanov asked.

"Okay, general, I understand what you mean, on the premise of ensuring the safety of Hokkaido, I will attack the transportation line of the Beiyang as much as possible. If so, will the fleet be able to depart sooner? Essen asked.

"Of course you can, remember, the Prince and the Russian are the key. They are not only destroying warships, but also the key to depleting the strength of the Beiyang Fleet in the movement. If necessary, they can form a threatening fleet with two armored cruisers of the Sea of Azov and compete with the detachments of the North Sea! The breakdown of diplomatic relations alone cannot really make Beiyang break its muscles and bones, and only after inflicting certain losses on the fleet of Beiyang will they seriously consider the issue of armistice! Makanov said seriously.

"This is our respected commander, the fearless and wise General Makanov." Essen flattered. Makanov's words were very appetizing to him. He also believes that a simple break of diplomatic relations is really difficult to cause fatal damage to Beiyang, which has a huge number of transport ships and the help of the British, even if a few troop carriers are knocked out and thousands of people are lost, what can the result be? More importantly, the Russians did not dare to slaughter troop carriers as they did against the Japanese, and the Russians had to maintain respect and restraint for a sufficiently strong opponent. If Beiyang is really provoked, Essen can be sure that after the war, Hokkaido will no longer be the territory of the Russians!

The key to the Russians holding Hokkaido was not the military strength of Japan and Russia, nor the attitude of Britain. The key lies in Beiyang's attitude! If the Russians had not gone too far, the Beiyang Naval Division would not have helped Japan, which had been an enemy and was still on a bad footing. But if what the Russians did made Beiyang think that Muroran Port was a nail that had to be pulled out, I am afraid that the Russians' rule in Hokkaido could only be calculated in days!

"Even if you have 4 battleships together, you can only fight them if there are no more than 3 main battle cruisers in the North Ocean. The Beiyang Navy had a total of 7 armored cruisers. This means that you can only fight one of their fleets, don't try to challenge Dante-class battleships, and even if it's 2 to 1, it's best to avoid it. Because you can't be slowed down, you can't be seriously wounded, and being wounded in a long battle abroad means death. As for enemy ships, as long as they are not sunk, they only have to return to the port for repairs for a while. So you can only fight a war of annihilation, and you have to fight a war of annihilation with absolute superiority. Makanov admonished.

The commander in front of him is a man who can take on great responsibilities, so Makanov tried to train him as much as possible. But compared with those commanders in Beiyang who have already experienced too many wars, Essen is still a little immature and conceited. It's good to dare to fight, but it's not suitable for the current Russian fleet, so he must tell Essen what to do! He didn't ask Essen to make much merit in this war, he only wanted Essen to survive and grow up in this war.

As early as the end of the Hachinohe-Mutsu naval battle, Makanov received a secret telegram from the Admiralty, in which the Admiralty had made it clear that they had no hope for the future of this war, and in their opinion, the Far Eastern Fleet should try to preserve its strength as much as possible, and as the best admiral in the Russian Navy, Makanov must survive and prepare for future wars. Of course, if the Tsar or the army were to force the Far Eastern Fleet to attack, Makanov would have to stay in Muroran, and that was not a fear. Because the Russian Admiralty believes that if Makanov has an accident, I am afraid that the Russian Navy will forever lose a commander who can compete with the Beiyang Fleet, and even if there is a powerful fleet in the future, then the Russian Navy may also be a soulless navy!

Thank you for the reward of the constellations that soar in the universe~~~.

!