Looking back at the entire Russo-Japanese War, the land forces are competing for the time being, but in terms of maritime hegemony, luck has always run through the combined fleet of Fuso Kingdom, as if Amaterasu blessed it, which is very magical.

On April 13, 1904, the Russian side suffered the biggest setback since the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, and soon after taking office, the battleship "Petropavlovsk", which was carried by Vice Admiral Makarov, who was recognized as the best admiral of the Russian Navy, was damaged by a mine, and Vice Admiral Makarov unfortunately died.

This incident dealt a great blow to the Russian Pacific Fleet.

Later, in the Battle of the Yellow Sea on August 10, the Russian fleet that broke through was intercepted by the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet under the command of Togo in the Yellow Sea, thus breaking out the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

During the battle, a 305-mm large-caliber shell directly hit the command tower of the battleship "Prince", and the successor commander, Rear Admiral Vizofort, was killed, losing the command of the army, and most of the Russian ships were driven back to Port Arthur.

In the battle of Vladivostok in the early morning of June 2, 1905, the battleship "Duke Suvorov", the flagship of the fleet commander Vice Admiral Rozhestvensky, was heavily damaged by three rounds of artillery fire from the Japanese ships, causing the entire fleet to lose command for an hour and 50 minutes, which was the most crucial time to decide the victory.

The defeat of the Russian fleet had its inevitable and accidental factors.

It was as if there was an invisible mysterious force in the dark that was helping the Fuso people, and after the situation of the Tsarist Russian fleet broke through the Soya Strait, the fleet commander Vice Admiral Rozhestvensky made another stupid move and led a huge fleet to crash headlong into the Japanese fleet on the blockade line.

The tenacious historical inertia corrects mistakes in its own way, which makes people helpless.

What is called a one-handed king bombed to pieces, the mediocre and stupid Lieutenant General Roger Stvensky performed this very well.

Even if a small fleet is sent at night to lure the attention of the Fuso people, and the main force of the fleet rushes into Vladivostok Harbor from the other side under the cover of night, this simple strategy can save more than 9% of the main fleet, and then the headache will be Fuso.

Because the most threatening of the combined fleet of Fuso were the three 15,000-ton "Shikishima" class battleships (the battleship Hatsuse had been damaged by mines) and the two "Fuji" class battleships.

The fleet led by himself is not a little forced, and since it can't be beaten, there is no need to force it at all, isn't it stupid?

What is a pig teammate, this is it!

June 27, 1905

Under the mediation of the Ocean Empire, high-level negotiators from Japan and Russia arrived in Brisbane to begin practical negotiations on ending the current Russo-Japanese War and restoring calm in the Far East.

On the first day of the talks, the two sides collapsed because of huge differences.

According to the practice of post-war negotiations in the West, the victorious side has the right to demand war compensation from the defeated side, and the Fusang State has repeatedly won in the Manchu Qing State, from the 500,000 taels of silver that initially invaded Taiwan, to the 70 million taels of silver after the First Sino-Japanese War, and then to the 450 million taels of silver in the "Xinchou Treaty" (about 900 million taels of interest for 10 years).

This time was no exception, the Japanese negotiators entered the venue arrogantly, put forward 4 billion yuan in compensation in an extremely unreasonable manner, and made a long list of demands for a large area of territory and the interests of the three northeastern provinces, but the result was directly rejected by Tsarist Russia.

Inside the Daming Palace

"Your Majesty, you don't know...... When the Russian negotiators categorically rejected all the unreasonable demands of the Japanese side and stubbornly threw down such hard words as "there is not a single rupee for reparations, and we will fight again if we refuse to accept it," the faces of the Japanese negotiators turned green. Foreign Minister Tang Zhaoyi couldn't help but smile very happily.

Li Fushou smiled gracefully, knocked on the table lightly and said; "None of these world powers are easy to get along with, especially the old Maozi in the north, who is poor and hard, greedy and greedy, and it is not easy to knock on the bamboo pole of Tsarist Russia!"

"Isn't that right...... After winning the war but not getting the reparations, I guess Katsura Taro's cabinet should have a headache, right? ”

"Therefore, the lesson of the Russo-Japanese War is very profound, and it is a profound science to wage a suitable war at the right time to maximize benefits. It must be considered from the geopolitical and strategic point of view of the world, and not just based on its own likes and dislikes, Tsar Nicholas II is the most vivid example, I remember, he also has a scar on his head that was cut open by the Fuso ronin, right? ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, Tsar Nicholas II hated the Fuso from the bottom of his heart, and he and Kaiser Wilhelm II were the protagonists of the European push for the "Yellow Peril", the aim of which was not only directed at the Ocean Empire, but also at Fuso, and we have always been on high alert against this. ”

"These are two crazy people, they can't be treated with normal thinking, for the sake of economic interests, they are superficially hypocritical and wronged, and they don't have a battle of will for the time being."

"Understood, Your Majesty, diplomacy will be done around your instructions." Tang Zhaoyi replied respectfully.

as everyone knows

Compared with Fuso, Tsarist Russia is an out-and-out world power, with an extremely vast territory, three times the population, five times the number of troops, and 10 times his military expenditure.

The strength of the Tsarist Empire was mainly in the huge army force, and 9% of the army strength was concentrated in Europe and the Caucasus, and the elite army and warlike generals were also concentrated in this region.

The nickname of "European gendarme" is not a joke, Tsarist Russia has not stopped the pace of war for nearly a hundred years, from the anti-French alliance, the Crimean War to the 10th Russian Industrial War, almost every huge war in Europe has the figure of the Tsarist Russian Empire, there is no shortage of generals and heroic troops who can fight well.

The army in the Far East can only be said to be second-line troops.

This Russo-Japanese War was far from breaking its bones, so Tsarist Russia had the confidence to categorically refuse the blackmail of the little devils of Fusang, and would rather invest this money in the armed army than give it cheaply to the Fuso people.

On the other hand, due to the "post-war operation" of the First Sino-Japanese War, the military expenditure exceeded 50 percent of the fiscal expenditure, and a large amount of foreign loans were borrowed to develop armaments.

If the fight continues, the national economy will be overwhelmed, and it will be completely finished.

Therefore, Fuso was eager to extort a large war reparations from Tsarist Russia in order to alleviate the current critical financial situation and avoid a heavy economic blow.

I didn't expect Tsarist Russia's attitude to be so tough, I was really dumbfounded.

The reason why Tsarist Russia is willing to sit down and talk is that the current front line of the Japanese-Russian battlefield is rotten and irretrievable.

On the other hand, the war triggered by Nicholas II's insistence was generally isolated in the international community, and not only Britain and the United States sided with Fuso, but also its ally France sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, and did not send a single soldier to participate in the struggle for hegemony in the Far East.

The world powers were generally disgusted by the attempts of the Tsarist Russian army to move south, and were even less interested in the so-called "Yellow Russia Plan", which was a paradise for the European powers, not a forbidden part of the Tsarist Empire.

The cynicism of public opinion against Tsarist Russia in various countries of the world, coupled with the outbreak of a large-scale movement against oppression and exploitation of the masses in Tsarist Russia in 1905, led to unstable military morale and social fluctuations, which seriously affected the delivery of troops and materials to the Far Eastern front.

If we really want to continue fighting, the front-line army of Tsarist Russia is seriously short of weapons, ammunition and materials, and the morale of the army has reached the point where it is unsustainable, and no one wants to see a mutiny under strong pressure.

Both Japan and Russia have a difficult scripture to read, so they can sit down and negotiate.

Spacious and bright in the East Pavilion

Prime Minister Pham Trung Zhai, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tang Zhaoyi, the new Minister of Finance Tian Shan, former Minister of Economic Affairs ~ Director of the Major Chemical Project Hu Chaoshan, Minister of the Navy Colonel He Fang, Minister of the War General Mo Rufeng (the former Minister of the War Lieutenant Chi Shou retired and entered the House of Nobles), and the commander of the Praetorian Guard, General Li Xuanzhu, were all present to attend the Imperial Meeting.

After Li Fushou sat on the first imperial case, he looked at the cabinet elite under his command with satisfaction, this is the second five-year term of Fan Zhongzhai's cabinet, and it is also the last term.

According to the provisions of the Imperial Constitution, the first assistant to the cabinet can only serve two consecutive terms, each of which is a five-year term, and the cabinet has the right to dissolve parliament early and hold a general election.

However, ministers are not subject to this restriction, as long as the prime minister can look at you, they can participate in the formation of a cabinet for multiple terms, and if they are not elected, they can enter the parliament and continue to participate in politics.

The imperial form of government was basically drawn from the strengths of Britain and Germany, and was neither as a puppet as the German Imperial Parliament, nor as powerful as the House of Commons of the London Parliament, and subject to the power of the monarch.

"Your Majesty, Weichen believes that regardless of whether the negotiators of Japan and Russia can reach a formal armistice agreement, the situation in the western Pacific has now become clear, forming a tripartite situation between the empire and Japan and Russia, in addition, it is necessary to add Britain, France and Germany to jointly compete for the Central Plains." Prime Minister Lord Pham Trung Zhai This is the old man's serious words, and everyone present has no objections.

Li Fushou nodded slightly, the bright light outlined the contours of his deep face, which looked even more majestic and extraordinary, and said lightly; "Based on this, the cabinet should come up with a new East Asia policy, whether it is to unite Russia and Germany to suppress Fuso, or to unite Japan and Britain to suppress Germany and Russia, or to maintain friendship and neutrality like Citigroup and strive for the greatest degree of diplomatic freedom, and which policy is more in line with our interests must be carefully considered and implemented."

"Your Majesty, after Weichen returns, he will immediately convene a cabinet to discuss targeted countermeasures."

"Well, we have no territorial ambitions for the Northern Divine Continent, and we are most concerned about immigration and trade interests, which are the foundation of the empire, and whoever dares to create problems for us in this regard is an enemy of the empire."

"The ministers understand that they will do what they are told."

"Brother He, this time the Fusang fleet has released a big firecracker bomb and played an incredible battle loss ratio, what do you have to say about this?"

Hearing His Majesty's question, Admiral He Fang immediately stood up and bowed respectfully, and Li Fushou waved his hand lightly, asking him not to be polite and sit down to answer.

Admiral He Fang had obviously carefully studied the Russo-Japanese naval battle in Vladivostok, so he was confident about this question and replied in a deep voice;

"Your Majesty;

It is true that the Combined Fleet of Fuso has demonstrated superb gunnery in this naval battle, and its rigorous training and high-level ship handling skills are impressive, but nothing more.

In the many sand table exercises held by our side after the war, the main lineup composed of 5 battleships and 6 cutting-edge cruisers of the Fuso Combined Fleet fought against the same naval strength of our side, and achieved 9 wins and 1 draw.

Or after lowering the hit rate of 30% and amplifying the fault tolerance rate of 30%, the sand table deduction results obtained.

As a matter of fact

The Imperial Navy is a cut above the Japanese in terms of ship handling, gunnery and navigation skills, not to mention that we control the radio rangefinder's big killer weapon, and completely crush the opponent in terms of shooting accuracy, and can completely achieve the effect of "every shot must hit".

You're welcome

If Admiral Heihachiro Togo dares to make a U-shaped U-turn in front of our fleet, it will be tantamount to self-destruction.

According to the results of the sand table deduction

When the two sides are 12 nautical miles apart, the Japanese fleet will make a big turn before the formation, and it will be devastating in 20 minutes, with a probability of more than 70%.

At a distance of 10 nautical miles, the probability is more than 9 percent.

At a distance of less than 8 nautical miles, 100% of the time is devastating, and accidents are unlikely.

For example, in the Russo-Japanese naval battle, the Japanese fleet made a large turn before the formation at a distance of 6~7 nautical miles, and with the terrible artillery skills of the Russian fleet, it was completely unable to seize the opportunity to kill with one blow.

And this possibility does not exist in the Imperial Navy, our training is to put the enemy at a distance of 15 nautical miles for long-range strikes, at this distance, the Fuso Navy fleet can not inflict damage on our side, while we can maintain a distance by virtue of the advantage of speed, and annihilate the enemy one by one by "flying a kite".

The confidence comes from advanced equipment, long-term and rigorous training, the heroic and fearless military spirit, and the radio rangefinder, which is a big killer.

The technical level of the main guns of the Japanese and Russian armies is about the same, and the Japanese "Shikishima" class battleships use the British second-class 12-inch main gun technology, which is a 12-inch 40 times the diameter of the Model 1895 main gun, and the main equipment exported by the British Armstrong Company, which is much more powerful than the old 12-inch 30 times the diameter Model 1877.

Due to the problem of generalization of ammunition, the old and new guns used 331.7 kg shells, but because of the increase in the bore and the extension of the barrel and the use of new propellants, there has been great progress in the speed of gun ejection.

The muzzle velocity of the projectile fired by the Model 1877 is only 580 ms, while the Model 1895 can reach 792 ms.

Such a high muzzle velocity also greatly increased the range of the shells, and the maximum range of the main guns of the Shikishima class battleships could reach about 14,000 meters when fired at a maximum elevation angle of 15 degrees.

However, the old warship using the Model 1877 has not yet been able to reach a range of 10,000 meters, which shows a leap in performance.

In order to increase the rate of ammunition feeding, a new electric loader was installed in the turret, so that the rate of fire was faster than that of previous ships.

For the Fuso Combined Fleet, it was the most powerful 12-inch twin main gun they could obtain.

However, compared to the 44 times caliber twin 305-mm guns equipped with our "Metropolis" class battleships, the performance of such a main gun is a generation behind.

When fired at a maximum elevation angle of 16.5 degrees, the muzzle velocity of the shell was 922 meters per second, and the firing range was 18 kilometers, far ahead of the opponent.

The average speed of our Metropolis-class battleships reached 22 knots per hour, far ahead of the Japanese side's eighteen knots, and with the blessing of the radio rangefinder artifact, the Japanese pride of the combined fleet could be crushed into slag in minutes. ”

After speaking, Admiral He Fang looked at the cabinet ministers around him with pride, and a bright smile appeared on his face.

"That...... What if a fleet of the same size was against the Royal Navy? Lord Hu Chaoshan asked again.

Admiral He Fang's face suddenly became very exciting, and he hesitated and replied; "The firepower of the British Navy is far superior to ours in single ship, the range is long, the power is great, and the gunnery training is the top level in the world, and our side has an advantage in armor defense and speed, uh...... Probably slightly worse. ”