The morning sun rises, shining in all directions, enveloping the entire azure sea with an orange, purple, golden, and red glow. The sea breeze is blowing, the waves are gently swaying, a large black shadow is quietly moored in the recessed berth like a floating island mountain, and countless blue and white St. Andrew's naval battle flags are waving in the wind.

This is the southernmost point of the Liaodong Peninsula in Dalian, and it is also the only place under the control of Tsarist Russia, which has a land area of 22.4 million square kilometers, that does not freeze in winter. In the First Sino-Japanese War, although Mite Qing kept the Weihai base and the Beiyang Fleet that had been built with more than ten years of effort, the nature of Mite Qing heresy Mu Monkey and Crown doomed them not to catch up after that, but to continue to live for three minutes before they fell completely silent. When Russia headed south from Vladivostok in 1899 with three battleships and three large armored cruisers, the fleet was invincible and had to cede another port under its own nose.

Since the time of Peter the Great, Russia has dreamed of an ice-free harbor. The acquisition of Dalian Bay is undoubtedly a milestone in the history of the Russian Navy. As the Lend-Lease of Lushun was aborted in the face of extremely strong British opposition, Dalian's position became more and more important; Tsar Nicholas II began a drastic process of fortification from the day of his occupation in order to firmly defend the only ice-free port base, which they named "Dalini". Today, Dalian has surpassed Lushun and become the first fortress in the Far East: its garrison, its fortifications, its forts, its forts, and its abundant reserves all surpass Lushun; The main fleet of the Russian Pacific Fleet was also stationed in this area, becoming the colonial vanguard of the realization of the Yellow Russian plan.

On one of the tall and majestic ships, a naval commander in his fifties was looking out from the railing, silently looking at the fleet cluster under his command. The morning sun shone brightly, pouring down on his body like a match. His forehead is bald, his temples are gray, and his chin is a replica of Tirpitz's with two inverted grape-like gray beards; The face of the knife and axe was full of traces of the vicissitudes of many years of navigation, and when his eyes swept around, a sharp momentum had already rushed to his face.

He was the best admiral of the Russian Empire, Vice Admiral Stepan Osipovi Makarov!

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian Empire has been riddled with many evils and declining powers, and a large number of greedy and mediocre people have almost occupied the high positions of the Russian Navy, except for Makarov, who is an absolute exception. Knowledgeable about the deep currents in the Dardanelles and expeditions to the Arctic, he was highly accomplished in the field of oceanography, and entered the scientific community as an admiral and became a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was far-sighted, and after the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki, he wrote to the Russian emperor, taking the lead in putting forward the idea of Russia, France and Germany intervening in the return of Liao, and on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, he was keenly aware that the Japanese fleet might carry out a surprise attack on the Russian fleet stationed at the mouth of Arthur, and wrote to ask Lushun to be on strict alert.

As a naval admiral, his war talent is also undoubted: as early as the 70s of the 19th century, in the Russian-Turkish war, he repeatedly destroyed Ottoman warships, and set a precedent in human history for the first time to use torpedoes (pole mines) to sink warships; At the critical moment when the Russian fleet was attacked by Japan and retreated to the military port, his arrival injected a shot of strength into the entire Russian fleet, and it recovered in a few weeks. However, it is a pity that he died in battle due to a mine on his ship only one month after taking office, which completely collapsed the Russian army's fighting spirit that had been gathered with great difficulty; If he could compete with the Japanese fleet as an opponent of Akiyama Shinyuki, then the Russo-Japanese War would have taken on a different pattern.

Historically, Makarov still served as the commander of the port of Kronstadt during the Russo-Japanese War, and did not become the commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet at the first time, but waited until the fleet in Port Arthur was attacked by Japanese torpedo boats and the situation was extremely passive. However, the situation on this plane has changed slightly. Due to the butterfly effect caused by the Qing Dynasty, the lineup of the Russian Pacific Fleet is far superior to history, and almost all the elites of the entire Russian Navy have been assembled; In order to ensure that this huge fleet could play its full role, Makarov, who was famous in the Russian Navy, was transferred directly to the Far East to replace the tragic Stark. The original intention of the Qing Ying to strengthen the Russian fleet was to make Russia throw a large amount of money into the bottomless pit of the Far East Navy; But who would have expected that this would trigger Makarov's early appearance, and his wishful thinking fell through the cracks. Although the Japanese Navy has purchased two Garibaldi-class armored cruisers from Italy (the historical Kasuga and Nisshin), the lineup of its 88th Fleet still has a considerable advantage over the Russian fleet, but the Russian fleet definitely has a great chance!

"General, what are you looking at?" A voice suddenly sounded in the rear, and Makarov turned his head, only to see the captain of the Crown Prince in military uniform, Lipatov, who had appeared in front of him at some point. He smiled slightly and said, "I'm looking at the great St. Andrew's warship." Before, the largest warships in Kronstadt were only a few old protective cruisers, but now I really got a taste of what a fleet looks like. With the addition of this warship, Russia has assembled a full 10 battleships in this military port; In addition to the group of Japanese monkeys who are reckless and do not care about the lives of the people, only the four top powers in this world, Britain, France, the United States and Germany, can assemble such a strong lineup. ”

Lipatov smiled and nodded. He glanced at the lieutenant general's order flag fluttering high on the mast, and said with some puzzlement: "General, why did you choose my Crown Prince as the general flagship of the fleet?" It is only equipped with 2 twin 305 mm L40 main guns and 6 twin 152 mm L45 secondary guns, and its comprehensive combat effectiveness can only be said to be unsatisfactory, and the two 'Borodino' and 'Emperor' are the most powerful existence! In addition to the four 12-inch guns at the bow and tail, it is also equipped with eight 10-inch L45 heavy guns in the form of two twin central axle pigs and four single mounted sides of the gun, six of which can fire at the same side. The most commendable thing is that the ship of this class can achieve such a powerful firepower with a displacement of 13,640 tons, while still having an excellent speed of 18 knots and a 5-meter-high 190 mm main armor covering the entire freeboard, which is simply incredible! Although the thickness of this main armor is a little thin, it is enough to withstand the bombardment of the 12-inch cannons on the current battleships! ”

Looking along Lipatov's arm, Makarov quickly spotted the two large gray-black ships under the heavy barricade. Unlike the tall and majestic hulls of the Prince, the freeboard of these two ships is much lower, and the superstructure is very simple; It's just that the huge French turrets that sit abruptly on the deck add an indescribable strange atmosphere to this battleship. Looking at it from a distance, I only felt that the ship was full of guns, and the black and thick barrels stretched out diagonally, which looked particularly powerful and hideous.

The corners of Malalov's mouth twitched, revealing a smile that he didn't know whether it was joy or bitterness.

In 1900, Japan used the loan of 300 million marks to order four "Hatsuse" class battleships in Germany in one go: in order to counter this powerful ship with a standing displacement of 12,700 tons and equipped with four 12-inch and eight 8-inch guns, the Russian Admiralty urgently revised the technical indicators of the new ship, and increased the firepower of the second-class main gun to eight 10-inch guns. Like the ships ordered by Japan in Germany to use British artillery, the weapons systems of this class were all Russian guns and French turrets, and the three countries' very different styles were mixed together, creating a strange and abrupt ship that was out of place. However, its combat effectiveness can only be described as terrifying, while it has good protection and speed, the single-port firepower composed of 4 12-inch and 6 10-inch guns is enough to sweep any stubborn enemy in front of it into flying ashes!

"The Germans' sleek underwater line design allowed the two boats to reach a design speed of 18 knots with 13,500 horsepower, which was more than 10% less power than the most outstanding Prince, which was one of the reasons why they were able to equip so many guns. If I could, I'd like to hoist my flag on one of them. Makarov reluctantly withdrew his gaze from afar, and said, "However, these two ships have only been completed for three months, and they will not be fully equipped until at least this summer, so they are obviously not suitable for flagships." Actually, I wasn't very happy with the French man-made ship, because its freeboard was too high and the mainboard protection was still limited, but it was faster and thicker armored than Letvizan, and the tall mast made it easy to command and communicate, which was a factor in my choice. "Actually, Makarov still hasn't said a word, those 6 domestically built battleships are really weak, is it possible that he will still choose them?

Perhaps because he knew less about the inside story, Captain Lipatov was not as much of a mood as Makarov, and was about to speak, when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps from the deck behind him. The two turned and saw an adjutant walking quickly towards them; He snapped a military salute to the two, then pulled out a page of a telegram from the folder and handed it to Makarov, saying, "General, there is an urgent telegram from St. Petersburg. ”

Makarov took the message, scanned it for a moment, and then a dark cloud fell over his brow. Looking at Lipatov's puzzled face, Makarov smiled bitterly and said, "We seem to be in trouble. ”