On December 11, after confirming that all the warships in the port had been sunk, the Japanese army stopped the artillery bombardment of the port of Lushun and turned to attack the city of Lushun. As a result, there was no trace of people in Lushun during the day and they all hid in the basement and dead corners. At this time, in Lushun City, the lives of the troops and residents became more and more difficult, and the hospital was full of scurvy patients, with scarce medicines, insufficient food, and prices soaring. The garrison commander Steser ordered the collection of strategic reserves. Even several shops of the East China government were collected by the Russian army as temporary hospitals, and most of the supplies were called. The British cargo ship "King Arthur" docked at Bailang Bay on the 12th and transported 50,000 bags of wheat flour from Mumbai. Steser instructed the collection to make strategic reserves and not be distributed, which made the citizens and officers and soldiers very dissatisfied.

At this time, Lieutenant General Stexel, the commander of the Lushun Defense Zone, recruited officers and proposed that the 203 Highlands were lost, the Pacific Fleet was completely wiped out, and the importance of Lushunkou as a fortress has been lost; for the sake of the wounded and tired officers and soldiers, we should consider ending this situation, and it is time to discuss the issue of surrender."

Major General Smirnov, the commander of the fortress, believed that the 203 Highlands were just an outpost stronghold, and the main resistance line was still alive. Although the Pacific Fleet was completely wiped out, the essence of Lushun's defense should not be changed. Moreover, Lushun restrained at least 100,000 Japanese troops, which was of great significance to supporting the northern front war. In addition, the amount of artillery shells was enough to deal with the two major battles, with 10 million bullets and a month's reserve of food. Therefore, it has not yet reached a desperate situation. Even if you want to surrender, you have to wait until January of the next year to discuss it.

On December 15, Major General Kondrachenko was killed by artillery while inspecting the Dongjiguanshan Fort. This was not only the first senior officer to be killed in the Russian army, but also the main designer of the Lushun defense plan and defense line, and the right-hand assistant of the fortress commander Major General Smirnov. Therefore, Major General Kondrachenko's death was a heavy blow to the morale of the Russian army and herald the fall of Lushun became a matter of time.

On December 18, after hard work, the 2,300 kilograms buried under the Dongjiguanshan Fortress of the Japanese army was detonated, destroying this almost impossible fortress. The Japanese army took advantage of the opportunity to capture Dongjiguanshan. The gateway to the northeast of Lushun was opened.

On December 28, the Japanese army captured Erlongshan Fortress in the north of Lushun and continued to expand the gap in Lushun defense line.

At this time, the Russian army finally couldn't resist it. After three days of negotiations, on January 1, the first day of the New Year in 1905, Lieutenant General Stexel, commander of the Lushun Defense Zone, and Major General Smirnov, commander of the fortress, sent people to submit a letter of surrender to the Japanese army. The remaining 32,500 people of the Lushun garrison troops became prisoners of the Japanese army.

The Battle of Lushun lasted nearly a year. The Japanese army invested a total of 136,000 people, with casualties of 62,000, with more than 30,000 people killed and more than 30,000 people killed and 23,000 Russian soldiers killed. It can be said that the Japanese army paid a serious price to conquer Lushun. However, after the capture of Lushun, the Japanese army also gained hugely. Not only did they further consolidate the advantages of the Japanese army strategically, they finally relieved the Japanese army's worries in tactical terms, allowing the Japanese army to concentrate all their efforts to deal with the battle on the northern front without fighting on two fronts. Moreover, after conquering Lushun, more than 60,000 Japanese troops besieging Lushun were finally freed and could go north to reinforce. The increase in this force was extremely timely and important for the Japanese army, which had been suffering from insufficient troops in the battles of Liaoyang and Shahe. Now Japan can also concentrate its forces to deal with the next stage of battle.

For the Navy, conquering Lushun is more meaningful, because the Navy was the first to participate in the war, and the main battlefield has been reduced in Lushun and paid the painful price of two battleships. Now that it has finally conquered Lushun, it has also completed a phased task for the Navy. After annihilated the Pacific Fleet, Japan has fully obtained the sea control power, so the joint fleet can also return to Japan for a comprehensive renovation.

Since the war started, the joint fleet has been fighting continuously for 11 months. Not only the officers and soldiers on the ships have been extremely tired, but even the warships are a little overwhelmed. In the previous battle, the main warships were somewhat damaged. However, due to the tense warships, they would not return to Japan to repair them if they did not have a great impact on the combat effectiveness of the warships. In addition, the mechanical wear of the warships in continuous combat is also very serious, and the parts below the waterline are covered with shellfish, which has a great impact on the speed and performance of the warships. Now, the warships can be fully repaired and maintained, so that the fleet can face the Second Pacific Fleet in the best condition.

Moreover, in the previous battles, the navy also exposed many problems. The two biggest problems are that the hit rate is too low and the tactical command is too rigid. Therefore, we can also use this period to speed up artillery training, study tactical command, and attack with a new look.

The most important thing is that the Japanese cabinet finally breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, it captured Lushun before the time node, which restored Japan's confidence and saw the hope of defeating Russia independently. At this time, the battlefield was temporarily in a state of resistance, and both Japan and Russia were accumulating strength for the next battle. So the inner cabinet joined forces with the base camp and the military commanded the cabinet to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss the next battle process.

Although Japan has taken absolute strategic initiative, Russia still has resistance and is still quite far from a comprehensive victory. There are two key points of the next stage of the war, one is to advance to Fengtian, and the other is to defeat the Second Pacific Fleet. In contrast, the second goal is better achieved, because after annihilation of the Pacific Fleet, the strength of the Japanese Joint Fleet is not worse than that of the Second Pacific Fleet, and there is still 3-4 months of renovation time. The Second Pacific Fleet came from afar and became a tired army when it arrived in the Far East. The Joint Fleet was waiting for it, so it is very likely to defeat the Second Pacific Fleet.

But it is much more difficult to advance Fengtian, because according to the report of intelligence personnel, the Russian army had gathered more than 250,000 troops in Fengtian at this time, and was still sending more troops to Fengtian. Obviously, they planned to fight against Japan in Fengtian. However, this is also an opportunity for Japan. If they can completely defeat the Russian army in Fengtian and annihilate the main force of the Russian army, it will be of great help to force Russia to surrender. Therefore, they must win the Battle of Fengtian at all costs. If the troops are insufficient, they can recruit troops in the country.

However, some people also proposed that according to the previous battle results, Japan basically killed 1,000 enemies and suffered 800 damage to itself. Therefore, even if Japan can eventually defeat the Russian army in Fengtian, it will inevitably suffer huge casualties. Even if it is not a serious injury to the vitality, its combat effectiveness will definitely decline significantly. If the East China government takes the opportunity to send troops to participate in the war at this time, it can overwhelm Japan and Russia with strong strength and collect the final war dividend. Such a situation will be quite unfavorable to Japan.

This is a difficult problem. Cabinet officials are very clear. In fact, the East China government has always been eyeing the battlefield in Northeast China, and is actively preparing for war. It is probably to wait for both Japan and Russia to fight for a defeat and take the opportunity to reap the benefits of the fishermen. Although Japan and the East China government have an agreement, and the East China government must agree to send troops, this agreement is unreliable. Japan must not only defeat Russia alone, enjoy the benefits of the war, but also preserve its strength and suppress the East China government. This fish and bear's paw can have both.

In the end, the cabinet decided to communicate with its allies Britain first. If the UK is willing to help Japan suppress the East China government and not participate in the war, it can solve the difficulties Japan is facing now. After all, Britain has always not wanted the East China government to participate in the war.

Soon the British government replied that it could come forward to help Japan and suppress the East China government from participating in the war. But I hope that Japan can first make it clear to the East China government that it does not want the East China government to participate in the war. Only in this way can Britain come forward to coordinate. After all, Japan and the East China government have a cooperation agreement, and Britain is only an ally of Japan and has no relationship with the East China government.

In fact, this is just an excuse for Britain. The purpose is to completely cut off the idea of ​​the East China government participating in the war. In fact, at this time, the Japanese government still had some speculative mentality. Although he wanted to take over the dividends of the war, he did not dare to completely break up with the East China government. After all, Japan was not sure about the Fengtian Battle to be held. Moreover, Russia's national strength was too strong. Just look at Russia easily and formed another Pacific Second Fleet, you will know what kind of behemoth it is. Therefore, even if Japan won the Fengtian Battle, it is not daring to say that it is sure to win. Who can guarantee that Russia will not reorganize a Far East Army? The East China government has some trump card. Japan's wishful thinking is: don't be busy completely turning against the East China government, in order to prevent the war from being unfavorable, and when it really turns against the East China government, it will bring Britain to endorse itself.

However, the British Empire was not a waste of money. The British had long seen Japan's little thoughts clearly. If you want to take advantage of it, you don't even want to lose at all. That's such a good thing. For Britain, the result is very satisfied with the current result. No matter what the outcome of the Battle of Fengtian? Russia's strength in the Far East will be weakened and it is not a threat to Britain. This is enough. As for whether Japan can win and get the bonus of the war, it is not the content of Britain's concern. Britain hopes that Russia can still maintain a certain strength so that it can maintain a balance in the Far East. Japan, the East China government, Russia, the Qing Dynasty, and many American forces are intertwined, but none of them can stand up independently. This is the situation that Britain likes the most. It can get along with each other, and play the trick of offshore balance.
Chapter completed!