I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 401: Changing generals on the spot
When Japanese Amur workers joined the army enthusiastically, Busan was being attacked by the Japanese army.

On February 2, the 9th Squadron of the Third Fleet, led by Rear Admiral Nishitani Tsuji, launched a probing attack on Busan.

The 7th team consists of 10 warships, including the armored coastal defense ships "Fuso" and "Kaimon", six gunboats including "Iwaki", "Ukai", "Maya" and "Uji", as well as "Pingyuan" and "Uji". "Jiyuan".

The Goryeo Navy only had three destroyers. After the war broke out, in order to avoid heavy losses, the Goryeo Navy withdrew to Vladivostok and joined the Siberian Fleet to jointly carry out maritime strike missions.

Although Alexeyev's 305 train gun was not equipped in Busan, the 254 coastal defense gun of the Busan Fort still caused the 7th Team to suffer a lot.

Within just half an hour of the start of the battle, "Haimen" and three other warships were damaged, and the 7th team voluntarily evacuated.

On the 11th, the First Army, led by General Kuroki Weizhen, landed in Busan under the cover of the heavy cruisers of the Second Division of the First Fleet.

Lieutenant Colonel Felix, who was responsible for commanding the defense of Pusan, did not hesitate and followed Yankov's order to voluntarily withdraw to the northern mountainous area.

Almost at the same time as the First Army landed, the Second Army led by Obo Gon landed in Inchon and marched directly to Seoul.

Yangkov also did not resist, and continued to lead his troops to withdraw northward, taking the initiative to make way for the Japanese army.

At that time, there were strong waves in the Dalini waters. After completing the minelaying mission, the "Yenisei" accidentally discovered that two mines had separated from the anchor chain and floated into the normal channel.

Depanov ordered the sailors to evacuate and stayed on the ship, vowing to live and die together with the warship.

Tragedy happened again. At 5 p.m., the "Hereditary Noble" hit a mine two nautical miles south of Sanshan Island, and the port side boiler room was blown open. Although the damage control personnel closed the watertight door in time to control the water intrusion, Captain Saloi Colonel Cheev ordered the ship to be abandoned.

The Goryeo army was trained completely in accordance with the Russian Empire method, with a full set of Russian equipment and a large number of artillery and machine guns. Dashanyan thought there would be a fierce battle, but he did not expect it to be so easy.

The minelayer "Yenisei", under the protection of the protected cruiser "Hereditary Noble", headed for Dalini.

What Depanov did not expect was that more than two mines entered the channel.

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Before the sinking of the "Yenisei", the ammunition on the ship exploded, and the sound of the explosion reached Port Arthur. The "Hereditary Noble" thought that the "Yenisei" was being attacked by the Japanese army, so it hurriedly returned with four destroyers .

On the 14th, the Second Army occupied Seoul with such success that Dashanyan could not believe it.

Three minutes later, the "Yenisei" sank, and 95 people including the captain, Lieutenant Colonel Depanov, were killed.

Daesanyan did not pursue the Goryeo army. After controlling large cities such as Seoul and Busan, the Japanese army began to prepare for the Kantung campaign.

After detonating a mine that drifted into the waterway, the "Yenisei" was preparing to return to Port Arthur, but unfortunately struck a mine.

In order to prevent Japanese sneak attacks, fleet commander Starck ordered the deployment of mines in Port Arthur and off the coast of Dalini.

The "Yenisei" deployed a total of 230 anchor mines in the outer port of Dalini.

In order to avoid affecting the normal passage of the ship, Lieutenant Colonel Depanov, the captain of the "Yenisei", ordered the gun to be fired to detonate it.

The "Hereditary Noble" returned to Port Arthur after completing its escort mission, leaving the "Yenisei" in Dalinibre.

At 12 a.m. on the 9th, Colonel Matsevich, commander of the First Destroyer Fleet, rode the destroyer "Thunder" from the side of the "Hereditary Noble" and discovered that the "Hereditary Noble" had not sunk yet.

Colonel Matcevich sent people to board the ship for inspection and found that the "Hereditary Noble" was still buoyant and could be towed back to the military port for repairs.

Something magical happens again. While the Thunder was towing the Hereditary Noble back to Port Arthur, the Hereditary Noble struck a mine again.

Although the "Hereditary Noble" sank, the farce was not over yet.

When the "Thunder" entered Port Arthur, because of its speed, it collided with the destroyer "Combat" which was preparing to leave the port, knocking a large hole in the middle of the "Combat", and the bow of the "Thunder" was also seriously damaged.

Thanks to the efforts of the sailors, neither the "Combat" nor the "Thunder" sank, but a shadow hung over the Pacific Fleet. The war had only begun for five days, and everyone felt exhausted.

On the 13th, an order came from St. Petersburg. Pacific Fleet Commander Stark was dismissed from his post due to dereliction of duty. His replacement as Pacific Fleet Commander was Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov, Commander of the Kronstadt Fortress.

Makarov is recognized as the best naval admiral in the Russian Empire. He is not of noble origin, so he is not liked by other admirals.

It is probably for this reason that Makarov was appointed at the critical moment, otherwise it would probably not be his turn to serve as commander of the Pacific Fleet.

George was impressed by Makarov. The caps of the new artillery shells at the Vladivostok Arsenal came from Makarov's invention.

However, George was skeptical that Makarov could save the Pacific Fleet.

On February 2, Makarov took a train from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur.

Before boarding the train, Makarov sent a telegram to Alexeyev, hoping that the Pacific Fleet would increase the number of light cruisers and destroyers.

It is too late to say this now. Even if the Vladivostok Shipyard lays the keel immediately, it will not be able to catch up with the decisive battle between the Pacific Fleet and the Japanese Combined Fleet.

After defeating Port Arthur on the morning of the 9th, Togo Heihachiro changed his strategy and sent a blockade fleet to sink at the entrance of Port Arthur, hoping to block the Pacific Fleet warships in the port.

Since the attack on the night of the 8th, the Pacific Fleet has stepped up its vigilance. The searchlights at the entrance to Port Arthur have been on all night. Togo Heihachiro organized three blockade fleets in succession, all of which ended in failure.

On March 3, Makarov arrived in Port Arthur, and the morale of the Pacific Fleet gradually recovered.

Arriving in the Far East with Makarov was Army Minister Alexey Kuropatkin, who was appointed by Nicholas as Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Army.

Kuropatkin did not go to Fengtian, but came to Vladivostok as his first stop in the Far East.

Kuropatkin came to Vladivostok to ask George for troops.

Before the war broke out, the Russian Empire deployed a total of 10 troops in Kanto, stationed in various places.

After the war broke out, the Russian Empire gathered troops from Europe to the Far East, with approximately 2 people arriving every month.

Kuropatkin was worried that the Japanese army was advancing too fast and would not have time to increase troops from Europe, so he hoped that George could send troops from the Amur Military Region to fight in Kantung.

George refused decisively.

The Amur Military District did not receive a mobilization order before the war, and there were only two divisions in total.

After the war broke out, the Amur Military District began to mobilize, converting two reserve divisions into regular troops. At the same time, Japanese workers were recruited to form a servant army and were undergoing training.

It is only because spring has not yet begun and ships cannot pass through that the Amur region has not been harassed by the Japanese navy.

Otherwise, Amur's small number of troops would be insufficient for defense and would not be able to support Kanto at all.

(End of this chapter)