Just as the Japanese army in Incheon were about to land, the main force of the joint fleet also arrived at the last gathering place - the East Ocean of Lushunkou, where the Qingzhou and the Japanese joint fleet converged.

At this time, it was almost dusk. With the afterglow of the sunset, you can still see the shape of the ship of the Qingzhou. After the two sides greeted each other with flags and greetings, the Qingzhou and the Joint Fleet maintained a distance of about 3,000 meters.

Hirahachiro Togo stood on the bridge of the flagship Mikasa, the United Fleet, put down his glass and said, "Akiyama-kun, is this type of warship?"

The first adviser Akiyama Masasa, who was next to him, said: "Yes, in the Java Navy, overseas Chinese used two warships to defeat six Dutch warships. Although the Dutch Navy's strength was not very good, it was quite good to sink five of them with 2-to-6. Moreover, considering that this warship was just received from Germany by overseas Chinese, the commissioning and running-in had not yet ended, and the crew was all novice. It is estimated that they only played 60% or 70% of the combat power at most, and they could still achieve such results, so it can be described as "very good".

Although the Java naval battle was a very small naval battle, firstly, after entering the era of steam iron armor, there were actually not many naval battles, so every naval battle is worthy of careful study by the naval naval wars of various countries. Although nearly 10 years have passed, countries are still tirelessly studying every detail of naval warfare. Moreover, the experience of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 still has a profound impact on the naval construction and warship manufacturing of various countries. Therefore, even the smallest naval warfare has a value for research; secondly, the People's Army Navy has indeed achieved excellent results with 2 wins and 6, and various countries have been constantly digging out new data in their research. For example, the two warships participating in the war showed excellent navigation performance during German trial voyages, which naturally attracted the attention of all countries.

Akiyama Masaki said again: "According to the information we have collected, in terms of the combat effectiveness of a single ship, among our existing warships in Japan, only 12 warships from the 'Six Six Fleet' can defeat this type of warship. Other warships are probably not opponents, including the two warships of Kasama-class."

Togo Heihachiro nodded and said, "So in the future, this type of warship will be a major threat to us?"

Akiyama Matsuyuki shook his head and said, "After all, this type of warship is just a protective cruiser and cannot serve as a battleship. Now overseas Chinese are still building two types of armored cruisers in Germany. One type of battleship is designed drawings provided by overseas Chinese. But judging from the performance of this type of warship, the strength of the next types of warships should not be bad. It should be said that these warships are our major threats, so after defeating Russia, we will still encounter a powerful opponent."

Togo Heihachiro was silent for a moment before saying, "Okay, Japan is destined to fight a path from countless battlefields. Let's start by defeating Russia, ordering the destroyer troops to attack as planned!"

With the order from Hirahachiro Togo, among the destroyer troops, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fleets drove out of the joint fleet and headed to Lushun, and the Mikasa sent a signal: "I wish you success!" The 1st destroyer flagship Shiraoshi hung a signal flag: "I will win!"

At this time, Lushun did not rebel, without any war atmosphere, but was a little cheerful. Although there were rumors that Japan and Russia were about to go to war and the reality that Japanese expatriates were evacuated, most of the Russians in Lushun believed that it was because of the Japanese's own fear. Japan would never dare to launch a war on Russia. In the eyes of the Russians, the Japanese were still unevolved monkeys. If Japan had not been on an island and was too barren, it would have been conquered by the great Slavs. Unless the Japanese had a brain disease, they would never dare to be attacked by the fighting nation.

Therefore, the whole of Lushun is still running and dancing. February 8 is January 26 of the Russian calendar, and it is the Mary naming day of the Orthodox Church. On this day, women with the same name as the Virgin Mary will be blessed. Therefore, there are many gatherings that night. After the night comes, the clubs, restaurants, theaters, and bars on the street are even more noisy, adding a cheerful atmosphere to Lushunkou. It lasts until late at night.

It just so happened that Lieutenant General Stark, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, was also called Maria, so Lieutenant General held a grand banquet for his wife at his residence, and most of the officers of the fleet gathered here to participate in the carnival. Even Governor Alexeyev was invited to attend. The guests were singing glasses and spoke lightly. The band played wonderful music. The young and handsome officers and beautiful and elegant ladies danced, without any tension as the war came.

At 12 o'clock in the evening, the atmosphere of the banquet was at its peak, but at this moment, only "boom" was heard, two loud explosions came from outside the window, which caused panic among the guests. Many people quickly thought of the rumors of the war between Japan and Russia, so some people couldn't help but exclaim, "Did the Japanese call?" Even the host Lieutenant General Stark was a little surprised.

At this time, Governor Alexeyev let go of his dance partner and said in his majestic voice as possible: "Don't panic, this is the warships of the Imperial Navy conducting night shooting training."

Sure enough, after the Governor's speech, the VIPs immediately settled down. Although Lieutenant General Stark was a little uneasy, because he knew that there was no warship shooting training tonight, he was stopped by Alexeyev's wink. At this time, Alexeyev's dance companion just now patted his chest and said, "So that's the case. I thought it was the Japanese who called him?"

Alexeyev laughed and said, "Dignity Madam, I can assure you that this will never happen, because the Japanese are still monkeys who have not fully evolved. They would not drive warships. I suspect they would drive the warships heading to Lushun to Shanghai."

The governor's words immediately caused a burst of laughter in the audience, and a young naval officer jumped out and said, "Please rest assured that even if the Japanese monkey is really here, our soldiers can protect the safety of Lushun."

The officer's bold words immediately aroused a lot of cheers, and Alexeyev seized the opportunity to raise his wine glass and said, "Cheer to the loyal warriors of His Majesty the Tsar."

"Boom boom boom boom boom!"

Just as the guests raised their wine glasses toast to the Tsar's warriors, loud explosions came one after another, and even those who did not understand the military would find that the situation was wrong. This was definitely not the shooting training of Russian warships.

Sure enough, with a bang, the gate of the mansion was suddenly knocked open. Two officers stumbled in and knocked down two people who were waiting to follow the dishes, and said furiously: "Governor General, Commander's Pavilion, Japanese Fleet, the Japanese Fleet attacked us..." Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by another series of explosions.

The banquet hall suddenly became chaotic, people fled, crowded and pushed each other, women screamed, the table was overturned, the chair was knocked down, the glass bottles containing fine wine and the tableware containing food were smashed, and the wine and food fell all over the ground. Alexeyev, Stark's face turned pale, Stark comforted his wife a few words, and then hurried out.

In fact, on the way to Lushun, the Japanese destroyer was discovered by two patrolling Russian destroyers. However, the fleet commander Lieutenant General Stark had long ordered: "If an unidentified ship is found, you must verify the identity of the other party before reporting it. You must not fire arbitrarily." Therefore, the two Russian ships did not fire, but chose to return to the target to report, and they missed their last chance.

Because the water in Lushun Port is shallow and narrow, with only a 170-meter-wide estuary, it is divided into inner port and outer port. Russian warships are anchored at the outer port, which also gives Japan the opportunity to take action. First, the leading Baiyun fired a * at the battleship Letevizan. Although this * did not hit the target, the loud bang of the explosion kicked off the sneak attack, and it is usually believed that this is the official beginning of the Russo-Japanese War.

Immediately afterwards, the Shiraki and Shiraki also fired at the Russian ships, and the Russian ships who came to their senses fired back fire. Huge columns of water and fireworks emerged from the sea. Of course, at this time, a considerable number of Russian officers and soldiers did not think it was a Japanese attack, but a night assault exercise conducted by themselves.

The attack of the Japanese destroyer fleet ended at around 1 a.m. on February 9. The 11 warships fired a total of 20* and hit 3, hitting the ships Letvizan, Crown Prince, and cruiser Parada. The Russian warships fired about 800 shells in total, but none of them hit. The Japanese destroyer escaped, but it was dark, so it was impossible to clearly judge the results of the battle. At this time, the commander of the Far East Fleet Stark finally returned to the flagship Petropavlovsk, and immediately ordered the three hit warships to be dragged into the inner port and sat in the shallow sea area for salvage and repair, and at the same time ordered other warships to prepare for battle.

At 5 a.m., Togo Heihachiro ordered the commander of the 3rd team, the Major General of the Rear Admiral Ideaha, led the cruisers Chitose, Takasaki, Kasai, and Yoshino to conduct reconnaissance and attack, and strive to lure the Russian fleet out of the port to fight the decisive battle.

Originally, when Stark saw another Japanese ship appear, he really wanted to order the fleet to attack and at least find some face to come back, but Governor Alexeyev ordered all ships not to pursue them. As a result, the Japanese fleet's lure into the enemy did not succeed and reunited with the joint fleet at 9:10.

Izuki Shige far away reported to Hirahachiro Toyo: "The main enemy force is outside the port, with two tilted ships, five tilted ships and smoked, and they have not set up a formation. Now the attack can achieve results."

Hirahachiro Togo thought for a while and believed that although the fleet would be attacked by artillery fire from the fortress, it was worth taking a risk. Only by annihilation or severely damaging the Russian Far East Fleet could it ensure the sea control power. Obtaining sea control power was Guan Jian, who won the victory of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and this was also the experience left to Japan by the Sino-Japanese War. So Hirahachiro Togo ordered the attack, and the joint fleet led the lead in the six battleships of the first combat team and five armored cruisers of the second combat team, and advanced towards Lushun.
Chapter completed!