St. Petersburg, Hermitage.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received information that the yellow-skinned monkeys in the East seem to have lost their patience and have issued an extremely strongly worded ultimatum to us. In this statement, they demanded that our great Russian troops must immediately withdraw from Liaodong and Manchuria in the Qing Dynasty, otherwise it would be 'very detrimental' to Japan-Russia relations. The Tsar threw a document on his desk and said in a tone full of hatred, "The arrogance of these monkeys has reached an intolerable level, and I must give them a taste of the indestructible iron fist of the Russian Empire!" Alexey, is your army deployed? ”

Directly named by Nicholas II, War Minister Kuropatkin shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, I regret to say that the strength of the empire in the Far East is far from the most ideal. At present, our total strength in Manchuria is only a little over 150,000, and the reserves and looted supplies are difficult to support a real large-scale war; The inner and outer fortifications of the Dalian and Vladivostok fortresses were not completely completed, and the capacity of the unfinished Trans-Siberian Railway was very limited. Therefore, we still need enough time to move personnel and hoard supplies, and when everything is ready, we will have a decisive battle with Japan. ”

Hearing this answer from the Minister of War, Nikolai's brows couldn't help but frown slightly. This is not because he disagrees with the idea of delaying time, but in fact Nikolai himself has always been inclined to use the tactic of prevarication in the Far East, in order to give Russia more time to prepare; However, he did not think that the Japanese group of yellow-skinned monkeys could have the strength to defeat Russia, and he never worried about the victory or defeat of this war. Therefore, Nikolai was quite unhappy with Kuropatkin's overly cautious attitude, and he exhaled and said: "Well, my general, how much more time do you need to prepare?" ”

"Your Majesty, it will take at least half a year. In half a year, I will be able to assemble an army of nearly 270,000 men in the Far East, and I will be greatly replenished with supplies and ordnance to meet the threat of the Japanese army after the war is mobilized. If we can postpone it for another year, we will have 380,000 troops in the Far East; At that time, if you wait for the opportunity to fight again, you will have a considerable chance of winning. Kuropatkin pondered for a moment and said with a solemn face, "And if war breaks out now, because we are at a disadvantage in the Far East in terms of both troops and material reserves, the situation of the war will become very unfavorable to the Empire, and we can only take a defensive position." The Japanese monkeys in preparation for the war against our Russian Empire had more than 300,000 active army troops; Although I have full confidence in the fighting qualities of the Imperial Army, it is clear that it is not possible to open up the situation on land now. ”

"Tell me, Alexey, why did it take you half a year to gather an army of less than 120,000 men to the Far East?" Nikolai's voice raised an octave, his words mixed with undisguised anger, "Russia has more than 1.2 million army standing personnel, almost the sum of Germany, France and Austria, what is the use of you leaving them all on the Western borders that make no sense?" ”

Kuropatkin explained: "Your Majesty, if we want to strengthen the forces in the Far East, it is not enough to transfer troops there; Food, mules, horses, weapons, and munitions of all kinds must be delivered in place so that an army can perform its due combat effectiveness. And the Manchurian front is so far from our European core that a one-way transportation takes a month and a half; Although we have stockpiled a lot of supplies in Vladivostok over the years for the army for a while, these things are still not enough for a real war! Therefore, it is impossible for us to send too many troops to the Far East without logistical supplies being secured; In fact, if we can achieve the goal of sending 120,000 additional troops to the Far East within six months, it will already be an unprecedented level of efficiency. ”

Nikolai's lips twitched, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he fell silent, not saying anything more on the subject. He turned his gaze to a fifty-year-old general with a square face next to him, and said, "My chief of staff, what about the situation in the navy?" Warships can fly directly from Europe to the Far East, without being affected by logistics, and the situation of the navy should be better, right? ”

To Nikolai's surprise, the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Rozhdestvensky, did not give an affirmative answer; He saluted the Tsar and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the situation of the Navy may be a little better, but there is still a big gap between the Russian Pacific Fleet and the Japanese Navy. As the main core of the fleet, our 8 capital ships, the Petropavlovsk-class, Perisvet-class, Rurik and Russia, are already seriously backward, and the armor arrangement of the ironclad era cannot meet the combat needs of the current navy; They can only bully much smaller ships than them, or provide fire support to the shore. The only ships of the Empire in the Far East that were truly worthy of World War I were the three capital ships built abroad, the 'Prince', the 'Retvizan' and the 'Grombowie', and they had to face 12 advanced Japanese warships in addition to the Fuji-class. If war breaks out at this time, then we will not be able to control the sea control in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. ”

"But my chief of staff, the Far Eastern Fleet just got 2 Borodino-class battleships just a month ago. In order to ensure that the two ships could be completed before last November, so that they could be sent to the Far East Fleet in time, I was forced to pay the hated Willy a full £200,000 in additional work costs. In front of his subordinates, Nikolai unabashedly expressed his annoyance at his cousin William, saying, "With the addition of these two warships, is it not possible for the Far Eastern Fleet to deal with the Japanese?" ”

Rozhdestvensky said carefully: "Your Majesty, those two battleships can be called the most powerful combat weapons on the planet, and the Far Eastern Fleet, with their participation, can indeed reduce the threat posed to us by the Japanese Navy to a great extent. However, no matter how good a warship is, it must be controlled by skilled sailors in order to exert its true power. In the Battle of San Diego five years ago, the Spaniards were driving a battleship that had only been bought from Germany for three months to fight the American fleet, and the lack of training of sailors led to the almost one-sided outcome of the naval battle. It has not been more than three months since the completion of our two battleships, and the sailors will need at least three months to run in before they can form the expected combat effectiveness. ”

"There is no doubt that Japan's financial resources are already clearly lacking. Although the loans granted by the Germans to the monkeys helped them build a sixth navy in the world that followed the Germans, the shocking interest rate of one cent completely drained the last penny of the navy in their treasury. Since 1901, these monkeys have not added a single sampan to their navy except for four large torpedo boats last year, while our Russian navy is developing at a very rapid pace. Present. We also have seven capital ships under construction in Europe, and they are all high-performance ships with foreign elements, which are enough to compete with similar Japanese ships. If we can delay the war until a year and a half after all these warships have become combat capable, then the Far East Fleet will have the strength to completely crush the Japanese Navy. Rozhdestvensky added.

"A year and a half later?" Nikolai's eyes widened.

Rozhdestvensky stiffened his head and said, "Yes." Among the three 'Glorious' class battleships that we built on our own modeled on the French Dauph, the first ship with the fastest progress will not be completed until at least August this year, and this 13,500-ton battleship will only take more than four years from start to completion, which is already the fastest record for the construction of a battleship by a Russian shipyard in China. The last two of the 'Borodino' class battleships that the Germans built for us have just been launched because of the late start of construction; even if the German shipyards are efficient, they will not be completed until Christmas this year at the earliest, after all, they are the strongest warships in the world equipped with four 305 mm guns and eight 254 mm secondary guns! Considering a series of factors such as equipment commissioning, personnel running-in, and ocean travel, one and a half years is already the most conservative estimate time. ”

Seeing that the heads of the army and navy had suggested that they should postpone the start of the war, and that the deadlines were getting later and later, Nikolai was a little moved in his heart; He turned his gaze to Foreign Secretary Ramsdorf, who had not spoken next to him, and said, "Vladimir, do you have a way to hold the Japanese back for a year and a half?" ”

Ramsdorf showed a bitter look on his face and said: "Your Majesty, the time to start the war does not depend on me, but on the Japanese; If they're determined to go to war, then no amount of emoticons I'll make! In order to change the attitude of the Japanese people, it is obviously impossible to do it by diplomatic means alone, and it is necessary to come up with something real that will make the Japanese people happy. He glanced at the emperor sitting on the head and said, "Why don't we make some concessions to Japan in the Far East?" When our army and navy are reorganized, what we have abandoned today for the sake of peace will be easily regained in the future! ”

Nikolai shook his head slightly, and said in an unquestionable tone: "There must be no compromise with the Japanese!" If we make concessions today under their statements, it will only allow the Japanese to see the unprepared side of our army and navy in the Far East; Then instead of stopping the pace of war, they will greatly advance the time of war. Only by unequivocally understanding Japan that Russia is ready to defend its interests in Manchuria at the expense of force; Only after the Japanese deeply feel the toughness of our Russia will it be possible for them to be afraid and not dare to act. ”

"And what about the time the empire needs?" Ramsdorf said.

Nikolai said slowly: "As for the time it takes for the army and navy to prepare, I have a solution. It's just ......"

Seeing the look of surprise on the faces of the three people, Nikolai let out a long sigh. There was a hint of unwillingness in his eyes, and he said hatefully: "I can only cheapen my hateful cousin Willy." ”