My Italy

Italy's meddling has not yet yielded results, but the war waits for no one, and neither Japan nor Russia can stop.

First, after the Japanese sneak attack on Port Arthur, they immediately sent troops to land from Busan and Inchon on May 9th and 12th, quickly taking control of the small Korean court.

Then on June 2, more than 30,000 Japanese First Army troops carrying more than 100 artillery pieces, under the leadership of General Kuroki Nozhen, landed at Nampo, North Korea and headed north. In late June, the Japanese landing troops arrived on the left bank of the Yalu River without encountering resistance, eyeing the Russian troops stationed in the northeastern region.

At this time, Russia had already taken action. Admiral Stark, who first showed his incompetence in this Japanese sneak attack, was dismissed and replaced by Lieutenant General Makarov, Russia's last famous general.

Makarov is worthy of being a famous general. As soon as he took office, he took a series of emergency measures to strengthen the operations of the Lushun fleet.

First, he decided to lay mines in the coastal areas of the Liaodong Peninsula to prevent Japanese troops from landing and threaten the Lushun base from behind. At the same time, the defense of Port Arthur was improved, repairs of damaged ships were stepped up, fleets were frequently dispatched to sea activities, and combat readiness training was strengthened. He also ordered the Vladivostok fleet to actively disrupt the Japanese sea lines of communication in the Sea of ​​Japan in order to distract Japan's pressure on Port Arthur.

This series of actions quickly restored the morale of the Russian Navy officers and soldiers. Especially after he personally led several attacks and repelled the Japanese fleet attack, he was even more recognized by the Russian Navy officers and soldiers. I believe that given him a while, the Russian Pacific Fleet will definitely give the Japanese Combined Fleet a headache.

In fact, after Makarov's arrival, the United Fleet had a headache with this man. To this end, Commander Heihachiro Togo of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Chief of Staff Shinyuki Akiyama and others came up with an impossible solution. Since the Russian Lieutenant General Makarov is so difficult to deal with, shoot the people first and shoot the horses first to capture the thieves. To capture the king, first get rid of Lieutenant General Makarov.

The combined fleet made careful preparations for this purpose. First, it dispatched warships to secretly lay mines outside Lushun Port late at night on June 2, and then dispatched warships of the Third Team to lure the enemy outside Lushun Port at dawn the next day.

At that time, the Russian destroyer was returning to Hong Kong from overseas activities and was besieged by Japanese destroyers. Makarov rushed the battleship "Bayan" to rescue him, but was besieged by the warships of the third Japanese fleet. Therefore, Makarov personally led the fleet out of the port to fight, and pursued the retreating Japanese ships.

When it was discovered that the main Japanese fleet had already been lined up and waiting, they made a prompt decision and ordered all ships to return home. On the way back, the battleship HMS Victory he was aboard unfortunately hit a mine fifteen kilometers away from Lushun, and a violent explosion severely damaged the HMS Victory. However, thanks to Italy's excellent underwater defense system, the speed of the Victory was not greatly affected and was only reduced by one knot.

Seeing the Victory struggling to return to Port Arthur, Togo Heihachiro led the main force of the combined fleet to beat it hard all the way. In half an hour of fierce bombardment, the Victory suffered heavy losses, including 7 secondary guns and 2 main guns. More than half of the officers and soldiers on the ship were injured and killed. The whole ship was full of scars, which was very desolate. If it weren't for the fact that the Krupp armor steel on the Victory had excellent performance and a very reasonable structure. Any other Russian warship would have been sunk long ago.

The Victory, covered in scars, finally hid in Port Arthur under the stunned gaze of Japanese fleet officers and soldiers.

At this time, Lieutenant General Makarov, who did not know that he had escaped a kill, only suffered some minor injuries. But when he looked at the seriously injured Victory, he had a sad expression on his face. Because the current seven battleships of the Pacific Fleet, the Kronprinz and the Perthwaite were hit by torpedoes and are still undergoing emergency repairs. Now that the Victory is seriously injured, there are only four battleships left in the fleet.

Although there are still four battleships left, they are all four with poor performance. The three Petropavlovsk-class battleships can only reach a maximum speed of 16 knots. Although there are 2 twin-mounted 1895-style 305 mm L/40 guns; 4 twin-mounted and 4 single-mounted 1892 The firepower of the 152-mm L/45 secondary gun looks good, but the standard displacement of 10,960 tons results in insufficient defense of the ship. Although the defense is good on paper, with a waterline armor belt of 254 to 368 mm, its armor As you can imagine, the width must be a very narrow armored belt.

As for the other Oslibia, the ship's speed protection is pretty good, but is the firepower of its four 254mm main guns and 11 152mm secondary main guns too weak?

It can be said that the current three most combat-effective warships in the fleet have been damaged and repaired, so Lieutenant General Makarov's idea of ​​continuing to attack can only come to an end.

On the United Fleet side, the Victory was seen struggling back to Port Arthur under the siege of many ships. To the disappointment of the Combined Fleet and others, Togo Heihachiro, the fleet commander, immediately sent a telegram to Tokyo, asking the government not to let the Russians obtain Italian battleships under any circumstances, especially the three Genoa-class battleships, which were too resistant.

Of course, Togo Heihachiro still gave very high praise to the two purchased Garibaldi patrol ships. Although the cost of the ship is extremely high, its performance is too powerful. With a displacement of 15,000 tons, it can actually reach a high speed of 23 knots. What's more, the eight 254mm main guns it is equipped with are so powerful that they can be called cruiser killers.

As long as you are seen by him, don't even think about escaping. Therefore, these two cruise ships were commanded by Uemura Hikonoshima, along with several other cruise ships, preparing to capture the Pacific Fleet cruisers in Vladivostok Port.

However, although the Japanese armored patrol formation was well prepared, the Russian warships hiding in Vladivostok Port did not come out at all. No matter how you devise, I am as stable as a rock.

There was nothing Uemura Hikonoshima could do about his willingness to be an otaku at home. It was impossible for him to rush into the harbor with a patrol uniform.

With no choice but to stay outside Vladivostok for a long time, Uemura Hikonosei had no choice but to leave first. But as soon as the front leg left, the rear leg of the Russian cruiser formation slipped out and wandered around the sea off Japan, sinking and capturing several merchant ships and fishing boats, which made Uemura Hikonoshima feel angry inside. As a result, when he led the fleet in pursuit, The other party returned to Vladivostok again, which made people jump anxiously.

At this time, the Japanese navy was feeling a little uncomfortable. The Russian fleet was hiding in the harbor and could not come out, and it had nothing to do with it. Fortunately, Japan still has an army, and it needs the help of the army at this time. However, if you want the army to help, you need to at least temporarily block the threat of the Russian navy.

So for Combined Fleet Commander Togo Heihachiro, this is a thorny issue. Because the Russians are not stupid, they can block the port of Port Arthur if they want. They have already sent two groups of ships to block the port and failed. It is extremely difficult to block the port without the sight of the Russians.

However, in order to ensure that the army could land on the Liaodong Peninsula this time, Togo Heihachiro became ruthless and took out more than a dozen ships for blocking purposes. So on the night of July 4th, more than a dozen Japanese blocking ships were controlled by the death squads. , swarming directly towards the port waterway.

Although they suffered heavy shelling from the Russians and blockades from mines along the way, these death squads, desperate for their lives, rushed through the interception without hesitation, and five ships rushed to the waterway entrance. Immediately afterwards, five ships loaded with blockages opened the sea gates and directly blocked the waterway with sunken ships.

Now, even a famous naval admiral like Makarov has no choice for the time being.

Taking advantage of the Russian navy being blocked at the port, Japan launched an offensive from the Yalu River. Within two days, the Russian East Manchu detachment was defeated and withdrew from Jiulian City and retreated towards Liaoyang.

At the same time, the Japanese Second Army, consisting of more than 40,000 people, commanded by General Obao Gong, landed at Piziwo in the southeast of the Liaodong Peninsula on July 9 in an attempt to capture Lushun from the north.

On July 13, the Japanese Second Army arrived in Jinzhou. The Russian 4th Infantry Division was responsible for the defense here. After a battle, the 4th Infantry Division was defeated and retreated all the way to the vicinity of Lushun to stabilize the defense line. The Japanese army took the opportunity to occupy Jinzhou and Dalian. At this time, Lushun, a strategic point, was completely surrounded.