My Italian

Lushun was besieged, allowing the Far East war to slide in a direction unfavorable to Russia.

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

And more importantly, the task of annihilating the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet would be difficult to achieve. As an island country, if Japan wants to win this war, it must ensure that it has control of the sea, otherwise it will be the same as the Sino-Japanese War. After losing control of the sea, it is useless for the army to work hard, and no matter how many victories, it will be consumed by the supply line after being cut off.

Therefore, after encircling Lushun, the Japanese army began to prepare to attack it. To this end, Japan set up a third army, with 50,000 troops and more than 400 artillery pieces, which is the force that Japan is preparing to attack Lushun. On the Lushun side, there are 38,000 Russian troops stationed there, with 113 artillery pieces. However, because Lushun is a fortress, many Russian artillery are large-caliber coastal defense guns, and they are still new coastal defense guns that can be turned 360 degrees.

In addition, the Russian army still has 51 Maxim machine guns in Lushun, and this kind of killing weapon is also equipped for the fortress guards.

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

However, at this time, as a naval commander, Makarov was also clearly aware of the danger of the fleet in Lushun.

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. In just two days, the Japanese army suffered 3,000 casualties.

Although the casualties of the Japanese army were not small, in order to remove the nail in Lushun, the Japanese army also continuously attacked.

When the offensive and defensive battle in Lushun 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.

After getting the news that the Russian fleet came out, Togo Heihachiro immediately rushed over with the main force of the combined fleet. This time, in addition to his six battleships, he also took the risk of taking out two Garibaldi-class cruisers Kasuga and Hijin.

On September 17, the two sides met unexpectedly on the surface of the Yellow Sea, 80 kilometers away from Port Lushun. At this time, Makarov had only six battleships and some other auxiliary battleships (the Victory was damaged so badly that the shipyard in Port Lushun estimated that it would take at least five months to repair it). Among them, the Crown Prince and the Perthwaite still have some hidden dangers. After the emergency repair of the torpedo attack, they also brought some hidden dangers.

On the combined fleet side, six battleships plus two combined fleets led by Garibaldi, the officers and soldiers cheered when they saw the Russian fleet.

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

In contrast, the Russian side, affected by the three Petropavlovsk-class battleships, can only reach a speed of 16 knots. Faced with this predicament, even a famous general like Makarov can only bite the bullet and fight first, and there is no way to escape.

So the two fleets were in the Yellow Sea, and a large-scale naval battle began. The naval battle started at around 13:30 and continued until the end at around 16:45.

After the hard fighting of the naval officers and men of the two sides, the combined fleet finally left the Russian fleet Perthveit, Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol at the expense of the two battleships Fuji and Yashima. Three battleships. Of course, in addition to this, the small battleships on both sides were also damaged.

Makarov is worthy of being called a famous general. He was able to take away two battleships of the opponent at the cost of three battleships while he was at a disadvantage.

It is worth mentioning that in this naval battle, the two Garibaldi-class ships performed well. In addition to suppressing their opponents in the duel with the two Perthwaite-class battleships, they also dragged each other in the subsequent pursuit battle. In the footsteps of , made an outstanding contribution to the sinking of the Sevastopol.

And Lieutenant General Makarov, who was defeated and returned to Lushun, now has only three battleships left in his hands, and each of them is injured. Among them, the Crown Prince was the most seriously injured, because in the naval battle, it took on most of the firepower. According to information from the shipyard, it will take at least four or five months to repair the Crown Prince. At this point, Makarov had no choice but to ask St. Petersburg for help with the remaining two battleships that could be used.

Of course, the combined fleet lost two Fuji-class battleships in this naval battle, so Commander Togo Heihachiro also returned to Tokyo for help. However, Togo Heihachiro's request for help was somewhat different. He hoped that the army could capture Lushun as soon as possible and wipe out the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet. The second is to prevent the Russians from acquiring the Italian fleet.

In the face of Makarov's request for help, Tsar Nicholas II immediately convened a royal meeting to gather the important officials to discuss countermeasures. It is said to be discussing countermeasures, but in fact, it is more about seeking the batch of warships sold by Italy.

Because the Russian Navy's battleships in Europe are currently not available, only five Borodino-class battleships can be removed. However, currently only two Borodino-class battleships have been launched, Borodino and Alexander III. As for 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 Italian and French battleship technology.

This class of warships is a forecastle ship type, with a size of 114.6 meters (full length), 23.2 meters (board width), and 8 meters (draught) with a standard displacement of 13,500 tons. Equipped with 4 twin 305mm main guns, 12 twin 152mm secondary guns, and 20 75mm guns.

The steam from 20 coal-fired boilers drives two steam engines, and the maximum power output of the main engine can reach 16,500 horsepower, 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 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 point alone, we can see the great ambitions of the Russian Empire for the far seas.

"Your Majesty, after our contact, the Italians asked for a high price, and they sold all the warships in a package of 110 million rubles (300 million lire), but according to my understanding, there is currently competition from Japan, and our country wants to take Italy at this price. A human warship is simply impossible."

The speaker was the Russian Foreign Minister Ramsdorf, who was solely responsible for the purchase of the Italian warship.

After listening to the words of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicholas II looked at the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Sergei Witte.

Werther, who was concerned by the tsar, of course knew what this meant, so he said. "I have discussed with the French ambassador that the French side is willing to provide my country with a loan of 150 million rubles, but it conveyed the attitude of Paris, which is the last war loan provided by France to our country. Because the French government is under great pressure. , and its people do not understand very much about giving loans to our country for the war in the Far East."

The Prime Minister's words~www.wuxiamtl.com~ made Nicholas II frown, because the war would be very difficult without the French loan. You must know that Russia's finances are not good. In recent years, there have been many civil uprisings because of tax issues. If France no longer contributes, how will this war of spending money be fought like water?

As for the Tsar's mind, the former minister Bezobrazov had already figured out what he was thinking when he saw His Majesty's silence. I saw him speak immediately. "Your Majesty, our country cannot afford to fail in this war. If we lose to the Japanese monkeys, other countries will look down on our country, which is very detrimental to our country's prestige in the world."

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

"The purchase of the warship must be carried out. I think everyone has seen the telegram sent by Lieutenant General Makarov. As long as the navy wins, our family can choke the Japanese by the throat."

Now that the tsar has spoken, what is there to say, it will be good to compete for the battleships for sale in Italy.

It is also annoying to say that this Italian does not only sell ships, but bundles sales, either buy all or not buy, and the price of warships is still very expensive, it is simply a robbery.