The sun is setting in the west, the brilliance is fading, and on the pale blue sky, a pale white partial moon gradually stands out.

On the bluestone pavement under the shade of green trees, Bernhard Bilow, the chancellor of the German Empire, walked slowly and pretentiously, his eyes wandering, and several times he could not even flash the hanging willow. With the clatter of leather boots on the stone slabs, Billo gradually walked to the courtyard where William's study was, knocked lightly on the door, and then got up and walked into the room.

With purple wood floors and beige walls, there are six bookcases in a room of dozens of square meters, on which books of all sizes are neatly arranged, forming a wall of pages that is high and low. The 45-year-old Emperor was sitting quietly in his seat, and when he saw Büloh coming, a slight smile appeared on William's face, and he put down the quill in his hand and said, "Bernhard, is something going on?" Billo nodded slightly, handed a document to William, and said softly: "Your Majesty, the latest report on the Russo-Japanese War has come from the Far East. Five days earlier, fierce naval exchanges had erupted between Japan and Russia in the Tsushima Strait and in the waters of the western Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Japanese archipelago. The frontal battle lasted five hours and ended in victory for the Japanese side. ”

William's eyebrows were slightly raised, and his eyes showed a little excitement, he took the thick document from Billo's hand, and said hesitantly: "To tell you the truth, I have been worried about whether this group of dwarf-like yellow-skinned monkeys can resist the attack of the Russians for the past few days; lest they be outwhelmed and crushed to pieces by little Nicky's steamroller in an instant. If that were the case, not only would the proceeds of our 300,000,000,000,000 mark usury loan be greatly reduced, but a stronger Russia would not be a situation that Germany would be happy to see. And now I'm relieved. Uncle Edward's ally in the Far East was really good, and he knocked little Nicky to the ground in the first battle. William chuckled gloatingly for a moment, then raised the document in his hand and said, "Is this the detailed report of the two naval battles given by our observers?" ”

Birlo replied softly, "Yes." This document is a compilation of reports written by both sides, not only in the Russian fleet, but also in the presence of German naval officers on board the Japanese flagship Mikasa. Regrettably, however, two of the seven officers we sent as observers were killed in the naval battle, and one was seriously wounded and needed half a year to recover. For this incident, General Alfred was attacked by members of Congress and all walks of life; The parliamentarians unanimously agreed that the War Office should immediately cease the assignment of German officers to such a dangerous and unrelated task, and that the nearly 100 observers who remained in the Russo-Japanese army should return immediately. ”

"Why are so many people killed?" William was shocked, and his arm that turned the page stopped in mid-air, "How did this nearly half casualty rate appear in a naval battle?" ”

Billo smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, please take a look at this report." The two naval battles between Japan and Russia, especially the one adjacent to the Japanese archipelago, were far more tragic than the Qing-Japanese Dadonggou confrontation that was well known to the world circles 10 years ago. Even the commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet, Makarov, almost died in the battle, compared to the fact that there are 5 people left in our 7-person observation team, which is already very lucky! ”

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On March 17, 1904, the Japanese and Russian navies fought to the death in the western Pacific Ocean, in which 20 capital ships and more than 50 auxiliary warships were used, involving 30,000 troops. In the history of the half-century since the ocean ships entered the steam age, the number of warships used, the heavy casualties, and the fierceness of the battles can be called unprecedented in scale and unprecedented.

In the decisive battle between the Japanese and Russian fleets, the Russian Pacific Fleet, with 10 battleships, suffered a heavy defeat. Although Makarov took advantage of the sunset's rays to shoot westward, leaving the Japanese defenseless for the first 20 minutes of engagement, creating an excellent opportunity for the Russian fleet to export to the fullest; However, due to the widespread hardened armor of the Japanese capital ships, the damage inflicted by the Russians on the Japanese fleet during this period of time was only skin breakage and bleeding, far from the extent of muscle and bone damage. By the time the Japanese had recovered their strength, the Russian fleet, which had been strong in the outside and capable in the middle, had suffered the heaviest blow.

The three Petropavlovsk-class and three Peryvester-class battleships, the Russians' self-built junk goods, have armor belts exposed to the water at such a low height that they are simply outrageous; That's not all, but their freeboard is still tall and majestic, with a huge elastic surface. As the saying goes, if you don't die, you won't die, and these two levels of battleships are completely a typical example of muffled death. In the face of the intense fire of Japanese artillery shells, they only lasted 40 minutes to 2 hours on the surface of the sea, and then they were all sunk without any suspense. They were also sunk with 2 protective cruisers and 2 mine-strike ships. The majestic and majestic flagship Prince was also besieged by several Japanese battleships at the end of the battle, and almost the entire part of the main armor was completely destroyed by the explosion produced by the Shimose gunpowder, and the entire battleship became a torch burning with raging flames; Fleet Commander Makarov was also shot through his chest by shrapnel from the conning tower to the inner core module, bleeding profusely, and almost repeating the tragic situation of dying before the division was killed in history. Seriously wounded, Makarov held on to his sick body, took advantage of the darkness to turn around again, and turned 120 nautical miles with the defeat of the remnants of his army to Dalian as the goal, and finally threw off the Japanese fleet with difficulty, and embarked on the way back.

In this battle, the Russian fleet lost more than half of its tonnage, and the once majestic Pacific Fleet was left with only 4 battered battleships barely holding on to the façade; And since Dalian has only one large dry dock that can be used for battleships, this means that for at least half a year, the main forces of the Russian fleet will no longer have the ability to attack.

The main force of the Combined Fleet, which Japan poured out of its nest and tried in vain to complete its work in one battle, although it ended in victory in the battle, itself suffered great losses. Before the two sides officially engaged, the Japanese fleet bathed for 20 minutes under the heavy artillery fire of the other side, and its combat effectiveness was considerably weakened; When the Japanese fleet and the Russian fleet fought head-on, Heihachiro Togo, who had contempt for the Russian fleet, experienced the earth-shattering power of the Borodino and the Emperor.

Since the ship was designed to be equipped with a new rangefinder produced by Zeiss, the terrifying firepower of four 305 mm guns and six 254 mm guns directly urinated on the Japanese fleet: the damaged Hatsuse and Mikasa came into contact with the two Russian battleships, and they fell into absolute disadvantage in terms of firepower, and if it were not for the limited ammunition reserves of the Russian battleships and the fact that the enemy was too many to pour shells like joy, the damaged Japanese battleships would not have been able to hold out for 30 minutes at all. A large number of shells hit their 190 mm thick armor belt, and none of them effectively penetrated, leaving only small pale white round craters. Under the thunderous counterattack of the Russian fleet led by two Borodino-class battleships, the Japanese fleet also suffered huge losses: three battleships Fuji, Yashima, and Asahi were hit and sunk by countless meteoric artillery fire, and only 6 of the 16 torpedo boats survived at the least, and Mikasa, Hatsuse, Katori, and Yakumo all suffered heavy losses; As a result of this battle, the eight battleships and two patrols brought by Togo were left with only the three capital ships of Shikishima, Kashima, and Iwate, which were relatively lightly damaged, and they were able to return to the battlefield in the following month.

But for both sides, the heaviest losses were not the sinking of the battleship, but the officers and men killed in the battle of both armies.

Today, when cap-piercing shells are in the ascendant, the shells fired by the two armies cannot penetrate the core compartment of the opposing battleship with hardened armor protection, and the hit effect is very small; As a result, fierce fighting between the Japanese and Russian fleets continued into the night, and almost all the shells in the ammunition depot were emptied. Although the overwhelming shells could not penetrate the armor in the core, they could cause great damage to the officers and men of both sides on the unprotected bridges, open decks, and bow and stern freeboards. Ten years ago, in the Battle of Daitogou, the fierce Shimose gunpowder was used to send the Russian fleet out of the air, and the high-temperature flames, shrapnel and poisonous gases produced by the explosion of the shells raged on the Russian warships, leading countless Russian officers and soldiers to see God. Even the Borodino and the Emperor, which had the widest armored protection area, suffered from the Japanese shells flying in all directions at the very last moment when the six battleships of their own side were sinking one after another. Less than 5,000 of the 11,000 officers and men of the Russian fleet were able to escape in their entirety, and the vast majority of those killed were on the six sunken battleships and two protective cruisers, while the Japanese also had more than 2,000 dead. For a few days, a group of sharks danced in the warring waters, swallowing their corpses with the waves, and even the sea water was dyed a slight scarlet, which looked extremely strange and enchanting.

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