My Italian: Chapter 482 The Russo-Japanese War broke out

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

One group is represented by Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte and Foreign Minister Ramsdorf. They saw that Russia was facing difficulties domestically and internationally (including in Europe and the Far East), and suggested that they should not easily launch a war against Japan, but should make certain concessions. At the same time, strengthen economic plunder and war preparations for the Northeast. Wait for the opportunity to fight decisively after the Trans-Siberian Railway is fully opened to traffic, the transportation capacity is improved, and Lushun and its peripheral fortresses are completed.

The other faction was represented by Alexander Bezobrazov, former imperial minister, Vyacheslav Previ, minister of internal affairs, and Alekseyev, governor of the Far East.

This is a group of fanatical chauvinists, imperialist adventurers. They despise Japan's power very much, thinking that it is a small country and vulnerable to a single blow.

"It can be overthrown by throwing a hat", "Russia needs a small victorious war in order to stop the revolution", "only if Japan understands unequivocally that Russia is ready to defend its interests in Manchuria, if necessary, that is Only by resorting to force can we count on the success of the negotiations," and other remarks, so he advocates being tough on Japan.

In addition, the closer the revolutionary climax in Russia is approaching, the more this group of people wants to find a way out from the war.

As for Tsar Nicholas II himself, he hated Japan very much. Because he was assassinated when he visited Japan when he was the crown prince, he was even annoyed and cursed in Russian in the hospital: Damn Japanese ape, barbaric dwarf!

Of course, the assassination alone made Nicholas unforgettable, let alone the fact that the Japanese dwarf dared the great Russia to compete for the Northeast.

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

Knowing that Russia was not prepared enough, he hoped to postpone the war, believing that "time is Russia's best ally" and that "every year will strengthen our strength." However, he was convinced that the best way to postpone war was to adopt a tough policy, and that "concessions always beget new concessions". His thoughts are actually supporting the tough claims of Bezobrazov's 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. At the same time, the Russian Navy had more than 200 warships, of which the Pacific Squadron It has more than 60 combat ships (more than 192,000 tons).

As for its opponent, the Japanese Navy has about 80 warships (more than 260,000 tons), and most of the main battleships are new ships built in the UK, with good performance and uniform specifications. The total army strength is 245,000 (1,170 guns), of which 210,000 can be used for operations outside Japan.

Judging from 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 dare not offend the great Russian Empire at all.

As for Japan, 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. Togo Heihachiro, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, summoned his subordinate commanders on May 3 to convey the government's instructions, and ordered the entire fleet to sail to the Yellow Sea to attack the Russian ships anchored in Lushun and Incheon respectively.

At this critical moment, Russian officers and soldiers are still in a state of peaceful paralysis. The Pacific Squadron is moored at the outer port of Lushun, and the ship's security is still in accordance with the usual regulations. It has been decided to take supplementary measures to strengthen the security, but the implementation has not yet started. At night, the lightning protection net is not turned on, but the entrance and exit of the inner harbor are illuminated brightly by the searchlights on the warship.

Governor Alekseyev and his cronies knew the news of the breakdown of the Japan-Russia negotiations, but did not take contingency measures. Until a few hours before the Japanese attack on Lushun, the Chief of Staff of the Fleet, General Whithoft, said that "the war cannot be fought".

At this time, the Russian Pacific Fleet was divided into three parts. The main force was moored at Lushunkou under the command of Admiral Stark. In addition, there is a squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Essen in Vladivostok, which has two cruisers "Diana" and "Baukadir" and several destroyers. In North Korea's Incheon Port, two Russian cruisers, the Varyag and the Korean, are moored.

Togo Heihachiro sent Vice Admiral Hikonojo Uemura to lead the second detachment northward to prepare for the attack of the Russian Vladivostok fleet. He sent Vice Admiral Yushigeto led the third detachment to take charge of the response near the coast of North Korea. Incheon attacked "Varyag" and "Koreo", and the main force of the rest of the joint fleet was personally commanded by Togo Heihachiro, and went to Lushunkou for a sneak attack.

At 9:30 pm on May 4th, the Japanese fleet arrived outside Lushunkou 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 Lushun.

Faced with so many obvious signs of war, Russian Far East Governor Alexeyev and Pacific Fleet Commander Stark turned a blind eye, didn't take it to heart at all, and did not take any measures to strengthen combat readiness.

At midnight, a group of Japanese torpedo boats sneaked into the port of Lushunkou. The battleship Perthwaite moored outside the port first realized that something was wrong, so she immediately turned on her searchlights to search. Seeing that they had been spotted, the Japanese torpedo boat immediately launched a torpedo. As a result, both the battleship HMS Perthwaite and the nearby cruiser HMS Parada were hit. The fleet's flagship, the Crown Prince, was also unfortunately hit by a torpedo.

The roar of torpedoes and the indiscriminate artillery fire from Russian warships reached the shore. General Stark and the other monks were puzzled. During the exercise, until someone came to report the attack of the Japanese ship, everyone was shocked, and General Stark was stunned.

After dawn, Togo Heihachiro commanded the main force of the fleet in an attempt to destroy the Russian fleet in one fell swoop. However, the fortress at Lushunkou was repaired by the Qing Dynasty and Russia for two generations, so it was extremely strong after all. The forts on the shore opened fire quickly, and the Russian warships also fired at them one after another. Seeing that they couldn't get any cheap, the Japanese fleet had to leave angrily.

The battle in Incheon, North Korea was an overwhelming victory. The two Russian warships were not opponents of the Japanese warships at all, and they were finally forced to sink to the bottom of the sea.

Regarding the news that their own fleet was attacked by the Japanese, all the senior officials in Russia were quite angry, especially Nicholas II.

As for Foreign Minister Ramsdorf, the next day was as uncomfortable as eating a fly, and he received a declaration of war from the Japanese ambassador Kazuo Iwase. Regarding Iwase Kazuo's argument that the delivery of the declaration of war was delayed because the telegraph machine was broken, Ramsdorf said with contempt. Your country's shameless remarks are quite disgusting, and our country will make your country pay the price.

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

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :