While Japan was actively preparing for war, there were two factions in Russia on the issue of war against Japan.

One faction was represented by Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte and Foreign Secretary Ramsdorff, among others. Seeing Russia's difficulties both domestically and internationally, including in Europe and the Far East, they suggested that the war against Japan should not be lightly waged, but certain concessions should be made. At the same time, it strengthened the economic plunder and war preparations in the northeast, and waited for the opportunity to fight a decisive battle when the Trans-Siberian Railway was fully opened, the transportation capacity was improved, and the completion of Lushun and its peripheral fortresses was completed.

The other faction was represented by the former Minister of the Imperial Empire, Alexander Bezobrazov, the Minister of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Previ, the Governor-General of the Far East, Alekseev, and others.

This is a bunch of fanatical chauvinists, imperialist adventurers. They despised Japan's power very much, and considered it a small state to be vulnerable.

"It can be overwhelmed by throwing a hat", "Russia needs a small victorious war in order to stop the revolution", "Japan can only be expected to succeed in negotiations if it is unequivocally made aware that Russia is ready to defend its interests in Manchuria and, if necessary, resort to force", and therefore advocated being tough on Japan.

In addition, the closer the revolutionary upsurge in Russia approached, the more this group of people wanted to find a way out of the war.

As for Tsar Nicholas II himself, he was very disgusted with Japan. Because he was assassinated during a visit to Japan when he was the crown prince, for which he even angrily scolded in Russian in the hospital: damn Japanese apes, savage gnomes!

Of course, the assassination alone is unforgettable for Nikolai, not to mention that now this Japanese dwarf dares to compete for the northeast region of the great Russia.

However, although Nicholas II was dissatisfied with Japan, he had two schools of thought on the timing of the war.

He knew that Russia was ill-prepared and wanted to postpone the war, believing that "time is Russia's best ally" and that "every year strengthens us." However, he was convinced that the best way to postpone the war was to adopt a tough policy, and that "concessions always give rise to new ones." In doing so, he was actually supporting the hard-line ideas of the Bezobruzov faction.

Before this, Russia was actually not ready for war, because it only had more than 98,000 regular army troops (148 guns and 8 machine guns) in the Far East, and at the same time, the Russian Navy had more than 200 warships, of which the Pacific Fleet had more than 60 combat ships (more than 192,000 tons).

As for its opponents, the Japanese Navy has about 80 warships (more than 260,000 tons), and most of the main warships are new-type ships built in the United Kingdom, with good performance and uniform specifications. The total strength of the army is 245,000 men (1,170 guns), of which 210,000 can be used to fight outside the Japanese mainland.

Judging by the data on paper, the Russian army in the Far East is completely at a disadvantage, but the arrogant Russian government believes that the Japanese simply do not dare to offend the great Russian Empire.

On the Japanese side, on May 2, 1903, Japan decided to break off diplomatic relations with Russia, and at the same time the Japanese government instructed that military operations could begin. On 3 May, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Heihachiro Togo, summoned his subordinate commanders to convey the government's directives and ordered the entire fleet to sail to the Yellow Sea to attack the Russian ships anchored at Arthur and Inchon respectively.

And at this critical moment, the Russian officers and soldiers were still in a state of peaceful paralysis. The Pacific Detachment is anchored in the outer harbor of Arthur, and the warships are still on alert in peacetime, and it has been decided to take supplementary measures to strengthen vigilance, but they have not yet begun to implement them. At night, the lightning protection net was not opened, but the searchlights on the warships illuminated the entrances and exits of the inner harbor.

Governor Alekseev and his cronies were aware of the breakdown of the Russian-Japanese negotiations, but did not take contingency measures. Until a few hours before the Japanese attack on Arthur, the chief of staff of the fleet, Admiral Witheft, said that "the war cannot be fought."

At this time, the Russian Pacific Fleet was divided into three parts. The main force was commanded by Admiral Stark and anchored at Port Arthur. In addition, in Vladivostok there was a detachment under the command of Rear Admiral Essen, with two cruisers, "Diana" and "Bocadil", as well as several destroyers. In the port of Incheon in North Korea, two Russian cruisers, "Varyag" and "Korean", are moored.

Togo Heihachiro sent Vice Admiral Hikonojo Uemura to lead the second detachment north to guard against the attack of the Russian Vladivostok fleet, sent Vice Admiral Hashige to lead the third detachment to take charge of the response near the Korean coast, sent Vice Admiral Kuasheng Waiyoshi to command six cruisers to Inchon to attack the "Varyag" and "Koreans", and the rest of the main force of the combined fleet, under the personal command of Togo Heihachiro, went to Arthur Pass for a sneak attack.

At 9:30 p.m. on May 4, the Japanese fleet came to the port of Arthur Port. At this time, the Russian Pacific Fleet was defenseless. In fact, the diplomatic negotiations between Japan and Russia have officially broken down, and the Japanese have begun to evacuate their overseas Chinese from Arthur.

In the face of so many obvious signs of war, the Russian Governor-General of the Far East, Alekseev, and the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Stark, turned a blind eye to them, did not pay attention to them at all, and did not take any measures to strengthen combat readiness at all.

At midnight, a group of Japanese torpedo boats sneaked into the port of Arthur Kou. The battleship Pelthwaite, anchored on the outskirts of the harbor, was the first to notice that something was wrong and immediately turned on its searchlight to search. When the Japanese torpedo boats saw that they had been discovered, they immediately fired torpedoes. As a result, both the battleship Perthwaite and the cruiser Parada near it were hit. The flagship of the fleet, the Crown Prince, was also unfortunately hit by a torpedo.

The roar of torpedoes and the indiscriminate return fire of Russian warships reached the shore, and General Stark and the other monks were puzzled, some people said that the warship was firing a salute, and some said that it was the warship that was exercising, until someone came to report the attack of the Japanese ship, and everyone was surprised, and General Stark was stunned.

After dawn, Heihachiro Togo commanded the main force of the fleet in an attempt to destroy the Russian fleet in one fell swoop, but the fortress at the mouth of Arthur was repaired by the Qing Dynasty and the Russians, and it was extremely strong after all. The batteries on the shore opened fire quickly, and the Russian warships also opened fire to meet them, and the Japanese fleet saw that it could not bargain, so it had to go away in a huff.

The battle at Incheon, North Korea, was an overwhelming victory, and the two Russian warships were no match for the Japanese warships, and in the end they were forced to sink to the bottom of the sea.

The news of the attack on their own fleet by the Japanese made many high-ranking Russian officials quite angry, especially Nicholas II.

As for Foreign Minister Ramsdorff, the next day he was even more uncomfortable as eating a fly, and received a declaration of war from the Japanese ambassador Kazuo Iwase. In response to Kazuo Iwase's argument that the telegraph was broken, which delayed the delivery of the declaration of war, Ramsdorff said with disdain. Your outrageous statements are quite disgusting, and our country will make your country pay.

At this point, the Russo-Japanese War broke out in full force.