African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1016: The Russo-Japanese War breaks out
1903 12 Month 27 Day.

"The Russians have not responded to our reasonable demands. Russian diplomats are stalling for time, which will only be more advantageous to Russia's war preparations. Russian troops are continuously coming from Europe to Asia. If we do not respond, we will not only be unable to infiltrate the Far Eastern Empire, but will even lose the Korean colony. When I return, I will explain Russia's attitude to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. War is inevitable."

At the end of 1903, after the negotiations between Japan and Russia broke down again, Ito Hirobumi said angrily to his entourage.

In the face of Russia's aggressiveness, the current Japanese government actually mainly adopts a tolerant attitude. After all, anyone with a discerning eye knows that Japan and Russia are not countries of the same size. Even if Russia's power in the Far East is relatively weak, that is only with respect to Russia itself. In the eyes of neighboring countries, Russia's Far East military power is very strong.

Although the Japanese government likes to be a gambler, they are not stupid, so their attitude towards waging war with Russia is relatively positive.

Therefore, in the early diplomatic negotiations with Russia, Japan did not expect to expel Russian forces in a short period of time, but hoped that Russia would guarantee Japan's interests and status in Korea. However, Russia not only rejected the "reasonable" demands of the Japanese government, but also opposed Japan's request to use Korean territory for military purposes, which was obviously unacceptable to the Japanese government.

Negotiations between the two countries began at the end of last year. After a year-long negotiation, the patience of the Japanese government has been exhausted. Of course, Japan's weak performance in the negotiations does not mean that Japan loves peace. The reason is simple. Russia needs time, and so does Japan.

After a year of delayed negotiations, it is hard to say whether Russia is ready, but Japan's navy has basically been expanded.

After the breakdown of negotiations in December, the Japanese Imperial Government finally made up its mind to strike first.

……

Lushun.

Fast forward to 1904, and Lushun, once the most important port in the northeast of the Far Eastern Empire, is now illegally occupied by the Russians.

Today, it is one of the important bases of the Russian Navy in the Pacific region. The number of warships is maintained at more than 40 all year round, and a matching Port Arthur Fortress has been built. While tens of thousands of ground troops are stationed here, it is equipped with more than 100 coastal defense artillery. At this level, Port Arthur should be considered impregnable for Russia.

On the night of January 1, Port Arthur was unusually quiet. The Russian sailors were asleep and their warships were parked in the harbor without any alert, unaware that disaster was approaching quietly.

"It is now 12:30 midnight. The Russian warships are ahead. The rise of the empire depends entirely on this battle. We must annihilate the Russian Far East Navy here!" said Kodaira Yataro to his subordinates.

As a rare year-round ice-free port in the northern Far East, Lushun has a very favorable geographical location, which enabled the Japanese Navy to achieve its goals and risk sailing at night to reach nearby waters, which also indirectly shows Japan's adequate preparation.

At 1:13 in the morning, the Japanese troops were basically in position, and the mine officer of the Baiyun heard a knocking sound coming from the receiver.

"Ding-ding, ding-ding-ding", two short beats followed by three short beats, this was the captain's order to prepare for battle. "Torpedoes ready!" the minemaster shouted in a low voice.

The torpedo soldiers immediately started moving. They skillfully unscrewed the tail bolt of the launch tube, filled in the powder bag and connected the firing circuit, then turned off the safety of the torpedo head. The mine officer himself tried hard to adjust the sight and estimated the distance to the surrounding Russian ships with the help of the flickering lights.

At this time, Russian patrols identified at least seven Japanese warships on the dark sea and quickly reported them. During this gap, the Japanese Navy launched an attack.

"boom……"

"?" Lyles, an intelligence officer of the East African National Defense Security Agency lurking in Lushun, was awakened by the sound of artillery fire.

The sound of artillery continued to sound. Lyles hurriedly stood up and went to the window. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the Port of Lushun was already ablaze with flames. "Has it started?"

At this time, Lyles did not dare to confirm his guess. He picked up the telescope on the windowsill and began to observe carefully. With the help of weak light, he vaguely saw the body of the warship floating on the sea, and the source of the shells was precisely these countries that were still uncertain.

However, thinking of the instructions from his superiors, Lyles did not dare to delay. He did not bother to put on his clothes, turned on the lights, and began to operate the telegraph machine in the room.

Lyles checked the time and then began to send a message: "At 1904:1 a.m. on January 4, , the Russian Port of Lushun was attacked by unidentified armed warships. Several Russian warships in the Port of Lushun were bombed. The specific casualties are unknown..."

Soon, East Africa received the news and called back: "Continue to investigate the specific situation and provide timely feedback."

……

Rhine City.

Under the close attention of the East African government, the news of Japan's attack on Port Arthur was quickly fed back to East Africa, and Ernst convened a special meeting for this purpose.

"According to intelligence, Japan launched an undeclared war against Russia yesterday afternoon (East African time). The Russian Far East Fleet suffered heavy losses, and Japan blocked the Port of Lushun. It is now basically certain that the Russo-Japanese War has officially broken out."

Ernst's news caused a huge uproar. Although the East African government had predicted it long ago, the sudden outbreak of war and Japan's unethical way of war still caused heated discussions among East African government officials.

The Russian Far East Navy should not be underestimated, and its strength can even be said to be very strong. This Far East Fleet has a total of seven battleships, including "Crown Prince", "Petropavlovsk", "Retvizan", "Peresvet", "Victory", "Poltava" and "Sevastopol", and their displacement is more than 10,000 tons. There are also a large number of cruisers and other combat ships.

Even the East African Navy could not guarantee victory in the face of the Russian Far East Fleet. As a result, this huge Russian Far East Fleet lost its combat effectiveness overnight. It is simply unimaginable.

One has to sigh at the strong foundation of the Russian Navy. Although the combat effectiveness of the Russian Navy is easily questioned, before the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Navy was ranked third in the world in size for many years, second only to the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.

The total tonnage of the Russian Navy was as high as 500,000 tons, while the British Royal Navy was only about 1 million tons at that time. From this point of view alone, the Russian Navy was nearly three times the size of the East African Navy.

Without participating in naval military competition, the East African Navy's total tonnage has reached nearly 200,000 tons. This is mainly due to the large number of battleships and submarines built in recent years, which is not much different from the lightly militaristic Japanese Navy.

The total tonnage of the Japanese Navy is about 200,000 tons, slightly higher than that of the East African Navy. After all, Japan has been desperately expanding its navy, and most of the national funds have been invested in the bottomless pit of naval construction, while East Africa has fully entered the stage of economic development.

"We must keep a close eye on the actions of the Russian government. They will certainly ask us for help. At this time, if Russia does not want to lose the war, it can only withdraw troops from the Baltic Sea or the Black Sea Fleet and go to the Far East to participate in the war. The Black Sea Fleet can be excluded. After all, Britain will not allow Russian warships to pass through the Dardanelles controlled by the Ottoman Empire."

"Even if Russia takes the risk of passing through the Dardanelles, it will be blocked by Britain at the Suez Canal, so Russia can only mobilize the Baltic Fleet, which is likely to pass through the east and west coasts of my country. This is our bargaining chip for further negotiations with Russia."

"At the same time, we definitely cannot participate in the war between the two countries in the Far East. We will only do the preparations for the first half and provide certain services to the Russian Navy. As for the direction of the war, it is impossible to change because of this slight change."

(End of this chapter)