The siege of Lushun allowed this war in the Far East to slide in a direction unfavorable to Russia.

Because Arthur is so important, it is not only a military port, but also a strategic fulcrum of Russia in the northeast, as long as Arthur is still in the hands of the Russians, then the Japanese army and navy need to leave a large number of troops and warships to guard here.

And more importantly, the task of annihilating the main forces of the Russian Pacific Fleet will be difficult to achieve. As an island nation, if Japan wants to win this war, it must ensure that it has sea supremacy, otherwise it will be the same as the First Sino-Japanese War. After losing sea supremacy, no matter how hard the army tries, it is useless, and no matter how many battles it wins, it will be consumed alive after cutting off the supply line.

Therefore, after the encirclement of Lushun, the Japanese army began to prepare for an attack on it. To this end, Japan formed the Third Army, with 50,000 troops and more than 400 artillery pieces, which was the strength of Japan to prepare to attack Arthur. On the Lushun side, there are 38,000 Russian troops stationed and 113 artillery pieces. However, because Lushun is a fortress, many Russian artillery pieces are large-caliber coastal defense guns, and they are also new coastal defense guns that can be turned 360 degrees.

In addition, the Russian army still has 51 Makqin machine guns in Lushun, which is also equipped with this kind of murderous weapon fortress defenders.

Of course, when the Japanese and Russian armies were preparing to fight around Arthur, the Russian fleet was not idle, and after more than half a month of work, Port Arthur dredged a channel that could barely pass at high tide.

However, at this time, Makarov, as the commander of the Navy, was also soberly aware of the danger of the fleet in Arthur.

At this time, the armies of the two countries fought fiercely around Lushun. Lao Maozi, who had no way to retreat, relied on the Lushun fortress and inflicted huge casualties on the attacking Japanese army, and in just two days, the Japanese army suffered 3,000 casualties.

Although the Japanese casualties were not small, but in order to pull out the nail of Lushun, the Japanese army was also continuous ruthless, under the command of the commander of the Third Army, Nogi Noshinori, the Japanese army launched attacks on Lushun one after another.

When the offensive and defensive battle of Arthur was in full swing, Makarov also sneaked out with the fleet. But unfortunately, this time he was not lucky and was discovered by the Japanese.

And after getting the news that the Russian fleet came out, Heihachiro Togo immediately rushed over with the main force of the combined fleet. This time, in addition to taking six battleships with him, he also risked taking out two Garibaldi-class patrol Kasuga and Nisshin.

On September 17, on the surface of the Yellow Sea, 80 kilometers away from Port Arthur, the two sides met unexpectedly. At this time, Makarov had only six battleships in his hands, and a few other auxiliary ships (the Victory was so badly damaged that the shipyard in Port Arthur estimated that it would take at least five months to repair it). Among them, the Crown Prince and the Perthwaite also have some safety hazards, and after the emergency repair of their torpedo attack, there are also some hidden dangers.

On the side of the Combined Fleet, the officers and men of the six battleships and two Combined Fleets led by Garibaldi cheered even more when they saw the Russian fleet.

Because at this time, the combined fleet is basically a new ship, and its speed is relatively fast.

On the Russian side, influenced by three Petropavlovsk-class battleships, its speed could only reach 16 knots. In the face of this dilemma, even a famous player like Makarov can only fight first, and then say, there is no escape.

So the fleets of the two sides were on the Yellow Sea, and a large-scale naval battle began. The naval battle began at around 13:30 and lasted until around 16:45.

After the hard work of the officers and men of the two naval forces, the combined fleet finally left behind the three battleships of the Russian fleet, the Persvet, Petropavlovsk, and Sevastopol, at the cost of the two battleships Fuji and Yashima. Of course, in addition to this, the small warships of both sides also suffered damage.

Makarov is worthy of being called a famous general, and he can take away two battleships of the opponent at the cost of three battleships in the case of occupying a disadvantage, which is already very good.

It is worth mentioning that in this naval battle, the two Garibaldi-class performed well, in addition to suppressing the opponent in the duel with the two Perthwaite-class battleships, they even dragged the opponent's pace in the subsequent pursuit battle, and made outstanding contributions to the sinking of the Sevastopol.

And Vice Admiral Makarov, who was defeated and returned to Arthur, now has only three battleships in his hands, and each of them is wounded. Among them, the crown prince was the most seriously injured, because in the naval battle, it took on most of the firepower. According to the shipyard, it will take at least four or five months to repair the Crown Prince. At this time, Makarov had no choice, and there were two remaining serviceable warships in his hands, so he could only ask St. Petersburg for help.

Of course, the loss of two Fuji-class battleships in this naval battle by the Combined Fleet was not comfortable, so the commander Heihachiro Togo also asked for help from Tokyo after returning. However, Togo Heihachiro's request for help was somewhat different, and he hoped that the army could conquer Lushun as soon as possible and annihilate the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet. The second was to prevent the Russians from gaining access to the Italian fleet.

In response to Makarov's request for help, Tsar Nicholas II immediately convened a royal council to bring together important ministers to discuss countermeasures. It is said that it is a discussion of countermeasures, but in fact, it is more about seeking the batch of warships sold by Italy.

Because at present, the Russian Navy does not have many warships in Europe, and only five Borodino-class battleships can be withdrawn. However, at present, only two Borodino-class battleships have been launched, Borodino and Alexander III, and the other three ships, Duke Suvorov, Eagle, and Glory have not yet been completed.

This Borodino-class battleship is a new type of battleship developed by Russia after combining the technology of Italian and French warships.

The warship of this class is a bow ship type, with dimensions of 114.6 meters (overall length), 23.2 meters (broadside), 8 meters (draft), and a standard displacement of 13,500 tons. It is equipped with 4 twin 305 mm main guns, 12 twin 152 mm secondary guns, and 20 75 mm guns.

The steam from the 20 coal-fired boilers drives two steam engines, and the main engine has a maximum power output of 16,500 hp, so the maximum speed is 18 knots. At the same time, because it is designed to carry 2,000 tons of coal, it has a range of up to 8,500 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. Such a huge voyage has never been seen in the previous Russian self-built warships. From this alone, we can see the great ambition of the Russian Empire for the open sea.

"Your Majesty, after our contact, the Italians asked for a very high price, and they opened 110 million rubles (300 million lira) to sell all the warships in a package, but according to my understanding, there is currently competition from Japan, and it is impossible for our country to take away the Italians' warships at this price."

It was Russian Foreign Minister Ramsdorff who spoke, and he was solely responsible for the purchase of Italian battleships.

After listening to the words of the Foreign Secretary, Nicholas II looked at the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sergei Witt.

Werther, who was on the Tsar's attention, of course knew what this meant, so he spoke. "I have already consulted with the French ambassador and the French side is willing to provide us with a loan of 150 million roubles, but he conveyed the attitude of the Parisian side that this is the last war loan that France will provide to our country. Because the French government was under great pressure, its population did not understand the fact that it was going to give our country a loan for the war in the Far East. ”

The Prime Minister's words made Nicholas II frown, because this war would have been very difficult without a loan from the French side. You must know that Russia's finances are not good, and there have been many civil uprisings over the past few years over the tax issue.

As for the Tsar's thoughts, the Imperial Minister Bezobrazov had already figured out, and when he saw His Majesty silent, he knew what he thought. I saw him speak immediately. "Your Majesty, at present, our country cannot afford to lose this war, if we lose to the Japanese monkeys, then other countries will look down on our country, which is very detrimental to our prestige in the world."

Well, Bezobrazov's words woke up Nicholas II at once, Russia really can't afford to lose this war against the Japanese, and if it loses, I don't know what the monarchs of European countries will think of the Russian Empire under his rule.

"The purchase of battleships must be carried out, and I think everyone has seen the telegram sent by Vice Admiral Makarov, and as long as the navy wins, our family can choke the Japanese by the throat."

Now that the tsar has spoken, what else is there to say, and then fight for the battleships for sale in Italy.

It's also infuriating, this Italian doesn't sell ships only, bundle sales, or buy them all or don't buy them, and the price of the battleship is very expensive, it's just a robbery.