My Italy

The siege of Port Arthur made the Far Eastern War slide in a direction unfavorable to Russia.

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

And more importantly, the task of annihilating the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet will be difficult to achieve. As an island country, if Japan wants to win this war, it must ensure that it has sea control, otherwise it will be the same as the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894. After losing control of the sea, no matter how hard the army works, it will be useless. No matter how many battles it wins, it will be eaten alive by cutting off the supply line.

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

In addition, the Russian army still has 51 Maxim machine guns in Lushun, and the fortress defenders are also equipped with such murderous weapons.

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, Lushun Port dredged a channel that could barely pass at high tide.

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

At this time, the armies of the two countries started a fierce fight around Lushun. With no way to retreat, Lao Maozi 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 Japanese suffered a lot of casualties, in order to remove the nail in Lushun, the Japanese army continued to be ruthless. Under the command of the Third Army Commander Nogi Nogi Nogi, the Japanese army launched successive attacks on Lushun.

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

After receiving the news that the Russian fleet had come out, Togo Heihachiro immediately rushed over with the main force of the combined fleet. This time, in addition to six battleships, he also took the risk of deploying two Garibaldi-class patrol ships, the Kasuga and the Nichishin.

On September 17, the two parties met unexpectedly on the Yellow Sea, 80 kilometers away from Port Arthur. At this time, Makarov only had six battleships and some other auxiliary battleships (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 Kronprinz and the Perthwaite still have some safety hazards. After they were hit by torpedoes and repaired urgently, they also brought some hidden dangers.

On the Combined Fleet side, the six battleships plus two Garibaldi-led Combined Fleets cheered even more after seeing the Russian fleet.

Because the combined fleet at this time is basically new ships, their speed is relatively fast.

On the other hand, Russia, affected by the three Petropavlovsk-class battleships, can only reach a speed of 16 knots. Faced with this dilemma, even a famous general like Makarov can only bite the bullet and fight first. There is no escape.

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

After a fierce battle between the two naval officers and soldiers, the combined fleet finally lost the two battleships Fuji and Yashima, leaving behind the Russian fleet's Persvet, Petropavlovsk, and Sevastopol. Three battleships. Of course, in addition to this, the small warships on both sides also suffered damage.

Makarov deserves to be called a famous general. He was able to take away two of the opponent's battleships at the cost of three battleships when he was at a disadvantage. This is already a great display of skill.

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 held back the opponents in the subsequent pursuit battle. made an outstanding contribution to the sinking of the Sevastopol.

Lieutenant General Makarov, who was defeated and returned to Lushun, now only has three battleships left at his disposal, and all of them are injured. Among them, the Kronprinz suffered the most serious damage because it took most of the firepower during the naval battle. According to information from the shipyard, it will take at least four to five months to repair the Crown Prince. At this time, Makarov had no choice but to ask for help from St. Petersburg. He still had two usable warships left in his hands.

Of course, it was uncomfortable for the Combined Fleet to lose two Fuji-class battleships in this naval battle, so Commander Togo Heihachiro also asked for help from Tokyo after returning. However, Togo Heihachiro's request for help was somewhat different. He hoped that the army could capture Port Arthur as soon as possible and annihilate the main force of the Russian Pacific Fleet. The second is to prevent the Russians from obtaining the Italian fleet.

Faced with Makarov's request for help, Tsar Nicholas II immediately convened a royal meeting to bring together his ministers to discuss countermeasures. It is said that they are discussing countermeasures, but in fact they are more interested in seeking the batch of warships sold by Italy.

Because the Russian Navy currently does not have many battleships available in Europe, and only five Borodino-class battleships can be used. However, only two Borodino-class battleships have been launched so far, Borodino Hao and Alexander III. As for the other three ships, Prince Suvorov, Eagle, and Glory have not yet been completed.

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

This class of warship is a forecastle ship with dimensions of 114.6 meters (full length), 23.2 meters (breadth), 8 meters (draft) and a standard displacement of 13,500 tons. It is equipped with 4 twin-mounted 305mm main guns, 12 twin-mounted 152mm secondary guns, and 20 75mm guns.

The steam from 20 coal-fired boilers drives two steam engines. 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 when sailing at a speed of 10 knots. Such a huge range has never been seen among Russian self-built warships in the past. From this point alone, we can see the Russian Empire's ambitions for the open sea.

"Your Majesty, after our contact, the Italians asked for a very high price. They offered 110 million rubles (300 million lire) to sell all the warships in a package. However, according to my understanding, there is currently competition from Japan, and our country wants to take away Italy at this price. A human battleship is simply impossible.”

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

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

Werther, who was paying attention to the Tsar, certainly knew what this person meant, so he spoke. "I have discussed with the French ambassador. France is willing to provide our country with a loan of 150 million rubles, but he conveyed the attitude of Paris. This is the last war loan provided by France to our country. Because the French government is under great pressure , its people don’t understand very much about giving our country loans for the Far East war.”

The Prime Minister's words made Nicholas II frown, because this war would have been very difficult without French loans. You must know that Russia's finances are not in good shape. There have been many civil riots over tax issues in recent years. If France no longer contributes, how should we fight this wasteful war?

Bezobrazov, the imperial minister, had already figured out the Tsar's thoughts, and knew 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 upon our country, which is very detrimental to our country's prestige in the world."

Well, Bezobrazov’s words immediately woke up Nicholas II. Russia really couldn’t afford to lose this war against the Japanese. If it lost, I don’t know how the monarchs in Europe would view his rule. of the Russian Empire.

"The purchase of battleships must proceed. I think everyone has seen the telegram sent by Lieutenant General Makarov. As long as the navy wins, we can choke the Japanese."

Now that the Tsar has spoken, what else is there to say? The next step is to compete for warships for sale in Italy.

It's annoying to say that the Italians don't just sell ships, they sell them in bundles, either buy them all or not. Moreover, the warships are sold at very high prices, which is simply a clear-cut robbery.