"Is the news confirmed?"

In the base camp in Tokyo, Prince Shiratakawa Nohisa suddenly stood up, looked at the adjutant who came to report, widened his eyes, grabbed the telegram, and swept the telegram over and over again with disbelieving eyes.

The telegram was forwarded from Mukden in great detail, describing everything that the intelligence officer had seen.

The Russian Army was defeated!

At Motianling, which is located a hundred miles away from Mukden, 20,000 Russian infantry and 8,000 Russian Cossack cavalry were intercepted for another day and night, and after exhaustion, they were surrounded and divided by the Pacific Army that suddenly rushed out, and finally with the support of strong firepower, only 2,000 cavalry successfully escaped to Mukden.

Coupled with Lushun and Jinzhou, which have been cleared, there is no Russian army in the entire Liaodong except for Mukden, and the Pacific Army is striding northward without hindrance!

The main force of the 25,000 Russian Army, plus the troops that landed from Arthur, suffered a total of 30,000 losses, which completely made the Russians lose their dream of taking the three northeastern provinces of China.

What's more serious is that the huge Russian Far East Pacific Fleet was also defeated three days ago, although Yamamoto Gonbei did not see the actual situation of the battle, but the fact that the five hedgehogs gathered together when the other side cleaned up the battlefield was captured has already stunned everyone in the base camp!

The Russian sea power in the Far East was swept away by the Pacific Fleet like the Great Empire, which made everyone in the base camp feel terrified of the combat effectiveness of the Pacific Fleet, you must know that the Russian fleet has more than a dozen main warships!

But they were destroyed by the Pacific Fleet, and in a head-to-head showdown! According to Gonbei Yamamoto's account, it is unbelievable that only one of the eight capital ships of the Pacific Fleet was blackened and burned, and none of the others suffered much damage.

In addition to the shock, the base camp was also very happy about the destruction of the Russian fleet, because with the total destruction of the main force of the Russian Far East Fleet, the materials that had been prepared for a long time could finally be exported to Korea again.

For several months, he was worried about the arrival of the Russians, fearing that Korea would not be able to hold and lose the only advance base of the empire, and that the Russians would learn from Honolulu and attack the mainland, so he sent a large number of troops to the northern coast, but in fact because there was no fleet, this defense did not work at all, and even His Majesty the Emperor had to inquire about the Russian fleet several times a day.

Now that they are all liberated, all the people of this country can breathe a sigh of relief!

Ito Hirobumi's eyes flashed: "Your Excellency, now that the Russian fleet and army have failed, their morale must be very low, I suggest that the pace of counterattack should be accelerated, and the port of Yuanshan should be recovered as soon as possible, so as to prevent Russia from handing over it to the Pacific Army after the defeat!" ”

Ito Hirobumi was a diplomat and soon saw the most crucial point.

The fleet of the Russians has been completely destroyed! Even the army has been crippled, and it will no longer pose a threat to the army stationed in Korea, so it is time to think about some problems later.

Therefore, his words quickly resonated within the base camp, the seemingly powerful Russians had fallen, and if the Pacific Army made a request to the Russians after the war to transfer the port of Wonsan, the Russians would certainly not be able to hold out.

Once the Pacific Army controls the port of Wonsan, coupled with the pressure along the Yalu River, the tens of thousands of troops in Korea will be very dangerous! So almost after hearing Hirobumi Ito's voice, everyone began to think about it.

"Don't worry, Ito-kun, Your Excellency has sent a telegram to General Aritomo in Yamayama Prefecture two days ago, and I believe that now the Imperial Army has stepped into Wonsan Port." Prince Komatsu glanced at Kita-Shirakawa and said, the latter nodded with a stained look on his face.

"In addition to retaking Wonsan Port, I think the empire should speed up the delivery of supplies and troops to North Korea! The appetite of the Pacific Army is too great, perhaps they are already thinking about how to seize North Korea and completely control the entire Northeast! ”

"That's right! The Empire must be ready to take on the challenge! ”

"No, we shouldn't send more troops to North Korea now, our warships are coming back, and we shouldn't let the Pacific Army find an excuse to attack us at this time."

"Yes, let's wait until all the warships come back and seek a decisive battle!"

In the conference room of the base camp, it was lively and noisy, and Ito's words resonated with many people, and they expressed their opinions on the current situation.

Prince Komatsu sat next to him, squinting his eyes, and his afterglow swept over Kita-Shirakawa Nohisa, who was sitting in the center, although he was currently the second most powerful person after the other party, and half of the army was his men, but he was not too optimistic about the current situation, although the Russians were defeated, and they were defeated quickly, but the Far East put in an even more terrible tiger.

Especially in the battle of Motianling, the Pacific Army blocked nearly 30,000 Russian troops with 1,000 people, and this combat effectiveness is simply more powerful than the most elite guard division of the empire.

The most important thing is that although the Russian fleet failed, the Pacific Fleet still existed, not only because of the capture of five large Russian capital ships, but also became stronger! This is not good news for the new fleet of the Empire, which is about to return home one after another.

In the final analysis, there is still a lack of sea power to decide on the surname!

However, Prince Komatsu didn't speak, Kita-Shirakawa Nokushi this guy is too ambitious, after the death of Prince Chihito, no one can restrain him, and now he uses the name of the chief of staff to take half of the army into his arms, and the fleet that is being formed has not been spared, and most of the officers sent abroad to supervise the construction and training of warships are his descendants! The influence of such a person on the empire is really too great!

Since he wants to counterattack Wonsan Port, and he really needs a victory to boost his morale at the moment, let him go.

Kita-Shirakawa didn't notice the light in the corner of Prince Komatsu's eyes next to him for a long time, looking at the generals of the base camp who were excited, his face was also red with excitement, this was an opportunity for him, although the Pacific Army defeated the Russian army, but if you want to digest the huge three northeastern provinces, it will not be possible to do it in a while, this time is a good opportunity for yourself to completely control North Korea!

There were many disturbing discussions, and only Akashi Genjiro, who was sitting in the corner, frowned.

The Nanyang plan with the Pacific Army formed a small escort fleet to go, has been declared a failure, the original follow-up work also because of the arrival of the Russians and had to deal with Russia first, but I didn't expect that the Russians have not yet shown their fangs, but they have been beaten all over the ground by the Pacific Army, so the real problem in front of him is still the Pacific Army! God seemed to have made a joke and let him go back to his place.

When he thought about the group of guys who had just annihilated the Russian Far East Fleet and eaten the main force of the Russian army, as if they had become the most powerful military force in the Far East overnight, a feeling of palpitations swelled in his heart.

These guys, who were originally only trapped in Hawaii and the Ryukyus, have now successfully landed in Liaodong under the pretext of Russia's destruction of the Far East, and are very likely to swallow the entire three northeastern provinces of China in one fell swoop!

More importantly, they defeated the Russian fleet and captured five warships, so that the strength of the fleet would be greatly increased, and the twelve capital ships that the whole country had to pay for in exchange for a high level of clothing and food seemed to be somewhat insufficient.

These guys, aren't they too lucky?!

Listening to everyone's suggestions and discussions, his brows became tighter and tighter, because he found that almost everyone was talking about taking Wonsan Port and keeping North Korea, but they forgot that if the Pacific Army included the three northeastern provinces in their arms, their strength would increase dozens of times!

At this time, instead of passive defense, we should go out, cross the Yalu River, and take advantage of the numerical superiority of the army, which is still slightly superior, to look for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the Pacific Army and knock off their claws stretched to the Far East.

Thinking of this, Akashi Genjiro was just about to stand up and say what he thought, when the door of the conference room suddenly closed was slammed open.

"Report." Shao Zuo was panting, and his face was anxious: "Your Excellency, the DPRK urgently telegraphed that the First Army had already stormed Wonsan Port an hour ago, but. ”

Shao Zuo swallowed his saliva, and suddenly found that he had become the focus of the audience, and shouted: "They have been shelled from the sea, and the losses are very, serious!" ”

"Shelling?! Shelling of the sea? Who will be outside Wonsan Port at this time? Do the Russians still have warships? Kita-Shirakawa stood up for a long time and rushed to Shaozo quickly.

"Smack!" Only two loud slaps were heard, and Kita-Shirakawa Nengjiu had already roared angrily: "Damn, tell me quickly, who is it?" "Hi." Shao Zuo endured the pain and said: "Report to His Royal Highness, according to the observation of General Aritomo of Yama Prefecture, it should be two battleships and two heavy cruisers of the Pacific Fleet. ”

"What!"

Everyone stood up in shock, they were just discussing how to deal with the situation in the Far East after the Pacific Army entered, but they didn't expect that they had already come to Wonsan Port and shelled the elite first army of the empire that had just taken the port!

Everyone shuddered at the thought of the countless Imperial soldiers, who were celebrating after excitedly entering Wonsan and annihilating the Russians, but were suddenly attacked by heavy artillery from the sea.

Akashi Genjiro was also shocked by this news, and just now he felt that it was necessary for the empire to take the initiative to attack to relieve the strategic pressure, but he didn't expect that people had already arrived at Wonsan and launched an artillery bombardment! He felt as if he was like the Shao Zuo who was slapped twice, extremely embarrassed!

"Yaga!"

"Damn it!"

"Bastard! Did they forget about the armistice that was signed?! ”

After a moment of silence, everyone in the base camp jumped up excitedly, accusing the Pacific Fleet of shelling Wonsan Harbor, wishing that they could rush forward immediately and give each of those bastards a bullet!

"No, they did not violate the armistice." When everyone angrily scolded and blamed the Pacific Army for another sneak attack, Akashi Motojiro suddenly took a step forward: "Don't forget, Wonshan Port is controlled by the Russians, and they are shelling the Russian [***] team. ”

Akashi Motojiro's words made everyone stunned, and they quickly understood the words of this inconspicuous and even a little trembling young man, the Pacific Army did not violate the agreement, they were shelling the Russian army, as for why it caused casualties in the army, everyone could guess the other party's statement.

They would put on a proud face, stick out their fingers, and say, "We fought the Russians, and we didn't know that your army had entered Wonsan because you didn't inform our army in advance." This sentence sent you away!

Although everyone knows why they chose this time to shell Wonsan, no matter who they are, they must admit that the Pacific Fleet has seized the opportunity too well!

Akashi Genjiro looked around and noticed that everyone in the audience had a solemn face and their hands were clenched into fists. Gritting his teeth violently, he quickly walked in front of Kita-Shirakawa and Komatsu, bowed and stood up straight, straight as a sharp blade, exuding a compelling sharpness all over his body. "Your Excellency the two princes, although the Russians have failed, the Northeast is already the Hawaiian young master's, this is a good opportunity for the empire!"

"Akashi Jun, can you make it clearer? What does this have to do with us? Are you going to let the troops stationed in Korea attack? If before, I might have supported you, but now. Ito pushed his glasses down: "I'm afraid we have to think about how to hold North Korea first." ”

"No, I did want to suggest crossing the Kayalu River as soon as possible, but now I've changed my mind."

"Ladies and gentlemen, don't you think that young master of Hawaii is an idle person? According to the information currently available, he has also been to Taiwan and Nanyang before, and everyone should not forget that Jinzhou is his hometown! Akashi Genjiro's words were like a sharp sword, and he pointed the tip of the sword directly at the other party's heart.

"What do you mean?!"

Ito Hirobumi had already stood up in horror.

"Keisuke-kun Otori, I remember that you had a very good relationship with Ryohei Uchida of the Genyosha?" Genjiro Akashi didn't answer, and suddenly turned his head to look at Keisuke Otori.

Just as Keisuke Otori nodded, Akashi's words had already sounded again: "I think, maybe this is an opportunity!" ”――

Outside Yuanshan Port, on the battleship Antarctic Star, Ji Weishan glanced at the distant and heard the sound of artillery fire coming, but he never dared to approach the two cruisers in the shelling formation, and laughed contemptuously.

"How many shells are left?"

"Report, and half more."

Ji Weishan raised the binoculars, and the Yuanshan Port over there had already been burned red by the fire, and in the firelight, countless soldiers fell down with a wail, making him seem to have returned to the scene on Jiangtian Island.

After seeing the situation in the port, Ji Weishan slowly put down the binoculars: "The battleship has exhausted all the shells, and the heavy cruiser has stopped attacking to prevent the cruiser from desperately." ”

"Shoot all the shells?" The staff officer rolled his eyes, a little surprised, after firing all the shells, is it too thin to rely on two heavy cruisers?

Ji Weishan knew what the staff officer was worried about, and smiled: "Don't worry, if I want to fight, I will fight early." After speaking, he glanced at the two lonely warships in the night, and continued to order.

"Send a light signal to tell them that our ship is being ordered to shell the Russian army, and they are limited to leave within ten minutes, otherwise."

"Attack!"

"Yes!" ……

(To be continued)