The night before the Taiping Fleet set off, the thick smoke produced by the ignition of the Russian boilers was observed by a Japanese boat outside Lushunkou, so the captain immediately reported to the joint fleet's flagship Mikasa. After discussing the discussion, Hirahachiro Togo and Masashi Akiyama Masaki judged that the Pacific Fleet might break through.

This is of course good news for the joint fleet, because the Pacific Fleet hides in the port, and the joint fleet really has no choice but to rely on the army to capture Lushun from the land to annihilate the Pacific Fleet. In the Sino-Japanese War of 10 years ago, the Beiyang Fleet, which failed the Dadonggou naval battle, also hid in the Liugong Island Military Port of Weihaiwei, and the joint fleet was also helpless. In the end, the army conquered Weihaiwei and bombarded the Beiyang warships in the port with the Weihaiwei's artillery, which annihilated the Beiyang Fleet.

However, before annihilation of the Beiyang Fleet, the joint fleet won the Dadonggou naval battle after all. So far, the joint fleet has not achieved a decent victory in this battle. Therefore, if we rely on the strength of the army to annihilate the Pacific Fleet, then the navy will not be able to raise its head in front of the army in the future.

Now that the Pacific Fleet wants to break through, it must sail out of the Port of Lushun. It is just right to take this opportunity to fight the Pacific Fleet in a decisive battle, striving to wipe out or severely damage the Pacific Fleet.

Akiyama Masayuki also calculated the strength comparison of the two sides. The Pacific Fleet now has 6 battleships, 1 armored cruiser, 3 protective cruisers, destroyers, and 16 boats in total. As the Joint Fleet withdraws the 2nd Fleet to protect the shipping line, it can only dispatch 4 battleships, 2 armored cruisers, 8 protective cruisers, destroyers, and 40 boats. Overall, the strength of the two sides is roughly the same on paper, but the morale and fighting spirit of the Joint Fleet are significantly higher than that of the Pacific Fleet. In addition, in terms of the number of destroyers and boats, the Joint Fleet has a clear advantage. Therefore, Akiyama Masayuki believes that if the two sides engage in a decisive battle at sea, the winning rate of the Joint Fleet will be more than 70%, and it is expected to achieve another victory in the Dadonggou naval battle. Moreover, from the location, it is similar to the battlefield at that time, both in the waters between the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula.

So Hirahachiro Togo immediately ordered the fleet to attack, rushed to the Yellow Sea outside the Liaodong Peninsula, blocked the main channel outside, and prepared to face the enemy. Before setting off, he also sent a telegram to the East China government, indicating that the joint fleet had attacked again.

Since the East China government made great concessions to Japan on the issue of forming a joint command between the two sides, Japan does not want to have any rigor with the East China government in other aspects. Because it informs the East China government in advance, it has no impact on Japan's operations. After all, Japan still hopes that the East China government can continue to provide itself with supplies. The three blockade operations and the attack of the Russian Vladivostok squadron have caused Japan to lose nearly 90,000 tons of transport ships, accounting for nearly 10% of Japan's national transport ships, which also put a considerable pressure on Japan's marine transportation.

The East China government can not only provide a large amount of supplies to Japan, but also deliver goods to the door, which can greatly alleviate Japan's transportation pressure. Therefore, the Japanese government does not want to lose this collaborator now, so the Military Command simply requires the joint fleet to actively inform the East China government before each attack, so as not to pass through Tokyo and delay time.

In fact, without the need for the joint fleet to inform the East China government, the East China government had long known about the Russian army's movements, because several businesses established by the East China government in Lushun have been actively engaged in collecting intelligence and monitoring the Russian army's movements.

Because at this time, the East China government was still transporting materials to the Lushun commercial banks, and Japanese warships did not intercept the transport ships of the East China government. Therefore, during the war, several merchants opened by the East China government in Lushun still had sufficient goods. When the Lushun land and sea line were cut off by the Japanese army, the East China government's commercial banks were almost the only ones with sufficient goods.

Moreover, the business now uses credit to the Russian army and the companies opened by important Russian personnel, which has won a lot of favor. Moreover, the Russian side also knows that this is the only external window in Lushun, so it focuses on protecting the East China government's business banks and sent a company of troops to guard the surroundings of the business banks to prevent someone from looting.

Now the business staff of the East China government are very fed in Lushun and have made friends with many Russian military officials. They can easily get a lot of useful intelligence information. Therefore, the major actions of the Russian army are basically under the control of the East China government. There are two radio stations in the business bank, so they don’t need to send telegrams to the telegraph bureau to directly contact Qingdao. The East China government’s grasp of information and intelligence is much faster than that of Japan.

The Pacific Fleet is preparing to evacuate from Lushun. Intelligence personnel from the East China government have long known that after the Pacific Fleet made a decision to break through, some Pacific Fleet officers' families also decided to break through with the fleet. Now Japan has completely cut off Lushun's external ties, making Lushun an isolated city. It is too dangerous to stay in the city. It is better to follow the Pacific Fleet to break through, or there is still a glimmer of life.

The officers' families would not be empty-handed if they wanted to leave together. They cleaned up a lot of things, which made the dock and port very lively, making it known to everyone, and of course they could not hide it. However, the Pacific Fleet did not intend to hide it. Anyway, they were leaving, so they didn't care about anything.

After Qingdao received the news, Wang Hailong, the commander of the First Battleship Detachment, joined forces with several other fleet commanders to make suggestions to the Navy Department that the People's Army Navy could no longer sit idly by and should take active action in this breakthrough battle of the Pacific Fleet.

It turned out that Wang Hailong had carefully studied the Russo-Japanese War process in the old time and space. In the old time and space, although the Pacific Fleet's breakthrough battle failed, it did not lose a single warship. Except for some of the warships retreated to the Port of Lushun, more than 10 warships fled scattered on the battlefield. Only one warship was captured by Japan, and the rest fled to the port of the neutral country and were disarmed. They did not return to Russia until the end of the Russo-Japanese War. Most of the warships stayed in China's ports, such as Weihai, Qingdao, Shanghai and other places. The farthest even ran to Vietnam.

Wang Hailong believes that although this is not the time for the East China government to participate in the war, it should also do something. It can dispatch fleets and arrange intercept fleeing Russian ships in the waters outside Qingdao. First, it can train the fleet's cooperation capabilities, test the results of training some time ago, and increase the practical experience of fleet officers and soldiers; second, if it can intercept and capture several Russian ships, it can also supplement the strength of the navy.

Since Lushun Port is located in a nearly closed sea area, the encirclement formed by mainland China and the Korean Peninsula determines that ships coming out of Lushun Port can only cross the Yellow Sea south first, and then go north of the Korean Strait or the Tsushima Strait, or continue to move south along the southeastern coast of China. Therefore, this also creates very convenient conditions for intercepting Russian warships.

The proposals of the naval officers were sent to the Military Commission and were soon recognized by the Military Commission. However, the East China government has not officially participated in the war, so this trip cannot be decided by the military, but it must be officially approved by the Executive Yuan.

The Executive Yuan also discussed the proposal overnight and finally believed that the plan was feasible. Although the East China government did not officially participate in the war, the statement issued when the Russo-Japanese War broke out, said "take any action", which included military action. Moreover, the purpose of this attack was to intercept Russian ships. Considering the current international environment facing Russia, no country would have any strong reaction. Of course, Japan may feel a little uncomfortable. After all, the East China government is suspected of taking credit for doing so, but the East China government has made major concessions before, so Japan can only recognize this result.

In addition, after half a year of the Russo-Japanese War, the East China government's severe statements on both Japan and Russia formed a sharp contrast with the Qing court's strict neutrality, and also triggered a public opinion trend for a period of time. However, the strong anger of public opinion has gradually subsided and a diversified situation. In addition to some people continuing to criticize the Qing court, there are also many calm attitudes of admitting defeat, believing that both Japan and Russia are big countries, and now the Qing court is unable to confront the two countries at all. After all, the East China government has a short-term foothold and lacks foundation. Therefore, it is not appropriate to be provoked by Japan and Russia at this time. Maintaining neutrality is a completely correct decision; there is another voice that supports Japan, believing that Japan is fighting on behalf of Asia and Russia. The Qing court, which is both Asian countries, should share honor and disgrace and share the same hatred of the enemy. Therefore, the Qing court should support Japan's war against Russia and provide it with necessary help.

In the diversification of public opinion, there are also voices attacking the East China government. First, it accused the East China government of speaking beautifully, but more than half a year has passed, but there is no actual action to protect the Northeast; second, some people reported that the East China government was providing supplies to Japan, accusing the East China government of actually colluding with Japan.

Of course, the East China government will not allow public opinion to accuse it, and respond and clarify it very quickly. In response to the remarks that it had not actually done it, it said that the Qing court is China's legal government, but it did nothing to the war between Japan and Russia, and it also demarcated a war zone. This brought great difficulties to the actions of the East China government. However, the East China government will not allow Japan and Russia to act recklessly on China's territory and are actively preparing, and will take action at the right time. However, the East China government firmly denies the provision of supplies to Japan, claiming that this is a slander of the East China government. Since the East China government returned to China, everything it has done with purpose and will never do anything to sell China's interests.

Of course, from the overall perspective of public opinion, it is quite beneficial to the East China government. After all, the East China government can see what it has done in recent years, and the people will not forget it. But we should not be too careless. If the East China government can intercept, whether it is captive or sinking several Russian ships, then there will be some topics that can be discussed in terms of public opinion.
Chapter completed!