Chapter 152 Japanese-Russian melee

At 12:30 a.m. on May 29, 1905, the Japanese Combined Fleet, which galloped at high speed from the northeast, was less than seven kilometers away from the Russian navy. Less than five minutes later, the main ships of both sides opened fire one after another.

At this time, the two huge fleets of the two sides met at an angle of nearly 120 degrees. The Russian navy went up from the southeast, and the direction was very clear, that is, to go straight to the journey, while the Japanese navy went down from the northeast, and the strategic intention was also very obvious, that is, trying to rely on the direction and speed to seize T At the beginning of the word, fight against the bow firepower of the Russian ship with all the firepower of the side.

At 1 p.m., Rozhdevinsky, the commander of the Russian navy, saw that if he continued to go straight to the brigade at high speed, it was estimated that the range of the brigade shore gun would be stopped by the T of the Japanese navy, so he ordered to turn right 70 degrees.

This turn is quite important, because this turn not only avoids hitting the sidefire network of the Japanese Combined Fleet, but also causes a situation where the two sides are close to each other. If this continues like this, then a battle between the Japanese navy and the Russian navy will break out on the most standard front.

However, Dongxiang Pinghachiro was unwilling to give up. He took advantage of his own speed and once again ordered to turn left in an attempt to seize the T-head again.

As a response, Rozjiestvinsky of the Russian navy ordered to turn left again in just 20 minutes. He not only tried to avoid the T-head of Heihachiro, but also hoped to correct the direction to the north and move closer to the first fleet that came forward.

After the top commanders of both sides issued a series of steering, acceleration and deceleration instructions, Togo Heihachiro did not get his ideal T-head, and Rozheestvensky also failed to grab the T-head.

After a series of tactical manoeuvres, the two sides not only did not form their own ideal tactical conditions, but also caused chaos in the formation of the fleets of both sides. The first and second detachments of the Russian navy plunged into the Japanese fleet, and their respective capital ships were only a few thousand meters away from each other. Bombarded, while the third column finally broke away from most of it and ran to the front because of the chaotic maneuvers.

Although the overall situation of the Japanese Combined Fleet was better and maintained its overall formation, it still failed to seize the crucial T-head, and finally the battle could only break out in a melee way.

Two hours later, the two sides broke out the largest fleet battle in human history, and hundreds of thousands of tons of fleets were constantly fighting off Lushun.

In this melee, although the Russian navy gathered three Pacific fleets, and the total number of warships and tonnage exceeded the Japanese joint fleet, the training gap between the two sides was relatively large, and Japan had a large advantage in quick-fire guns and speed.

In the two hours of large-scale melee, the Borodino, Eagle and Sisoy of the first detachment of the Russian navy were severely damaged. The two ships of the second detachment, Osriabia and Navarin, were also hit by Japanese naval gunfire, and even several turrets were blown away. Shortly after the battle began, it was forced to withdraw from the battle because of the munition explosion.

The Osriabia was even more tragic. It was besieged by many Japanese ships and sank after supporting until 245 p.m. Because the ship was the flagship of the second detachment, its sinking caused the second detachment of the Russian Navy to lose command and fall into a separate battle. Noodles.

The Russian navy suffered heavy losses, and the Japanese navy on the opposite side could not go there. You should know that this was a scuffle. The two sides gathered dozens of warships in this narrow sea, and rudely said that the gunner could hit the enemy with a random shot with his eyes closed.

Mikasa, the flagship of the Japanese combined fleet, was hit by multiple shells by the Russian navy and caused a big fire, forcing Togo Heihachiro to take the fleet headquarters to move to the Rishin. In fact, the attack of Mikasa caused Togo Heihachiro to lose command of the fleet for a while, and he was also a guide. The main reason for the outbreak of large-scale melee between the two sides.

In addition, in the melee, the Fuji of Japan's 1st team, Izumo and Asama of the 2nd team were seriously damaged, and the rest of the ships were more or less shot.

It can be said that although the Japanese Combined Fleet of the capital ships did not sink, it still suffered a lot of losses.

As for the battle between the cruisers, it was much more cruel. In just a few hours, the Russian navy sank three cruisers, and the other ships also suffered a lot of damage.

And one of the Japanese cruisers sank.

Just speaking of the naval battle between the two sides, there is no doubt that Japan has won a tactical victory. It has been crushing the Russians, not only hitting many Russian warships, but also sank a battleship of the Russian navy on the spot.

However, from a strategic point of view, the Japanese Combined Fleet has undoubtedly suffered a major failure, because what the Japanese navy needs is not to sink one or two Russian naval warships, but to send the entire Russian navy to the bottom of the sea or stop them from Lushun.

However, after a few hours of fighting between the two sides, after 5 p.m., although the Russian navy suffered heavy casualties, it finally got rid of the entanglement of the Japanese navy and successfully merged with the same loss of the First Fleet, and then the two sides sailed to Lushun Port.

At about 6 p.m., the capital ships of the two sides had officially left the battle, and this world-famous battle in the Yellow Sea finally came to an end.

The news of the Battle of the Yellow Sea has not been concealed for too long, because the First Fleet, Second Fleet and Third Fleet of the Russian Navy have just successfully arrived at the port of Lushun. Although the fleet suffered heavy losses, the fleet commander Rozhestvensky still shamelessly announced to the outside world that his fleet has arrived smoothly. Lushun!

Although outsiders do not know the details of the naval battle, there is no doubt that this naval battle has affected the situation of the entire Russo-Japanese War, the situation in the Far East and even the world situation.

The next day, Zhao Dongyun looked at the information about the return of the Yellow Sea War between Japan and Russia and couldn't help meditating. Due to the limited sources of intelligence, Zhao Dongyun only knew that a super-large-scale naval battle had broke out in the sea of Lushun. As for the history of the naval battle, the losses of both sides did not know.

However, from the information announced by the two sides to the outside world, both Japan and Russia claimed to have won the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and Japan claimed that it had sunk at least three battleships of the Russian navy, and Rozhestvensky also announced to the outside world through telegram that they led the fleet to sink at least four Japan's capital ship.

God knows how he got the result of sinking four ships, and it is estimated that all the injuries were counted.

However, regardless of the actual situation, according to the news released by the two sides, the fleets of the two sides should be intact.

"It seems that the navy on both sides still have a fight!" Zhao Dongyun put down the report in his hand, and he was actually not worried much about the war between Japan and Russia.

Now Japan and Russia are almost deadlocked on land, and the naval battle may have a great impact on Japan, but it has little impact on Russia. Even if all the navies are sent away, it will not affect the victory or defeat of the Russian army around Liaoyang and Fengtian.

In Japan, if the navy is defeated, it will lose the victory of this war!

Now that the Japanese navy has not completely killed the Russian navy, it is not difficult to predict that various naval battles will certainly continue to break out in the next few months, and Zhao Dongyun estimated that the Japanese navy will continue to block Lushun Port as before, so for the Japanese navy, although There is a lot of pressure, but it is relatively unlikely that the Russian navy can break through the blockade of the Japanese navy and completely destroy Japan's maritime transportation line.

The Russo-Japanese War is completely different from the historical Russo-Japanese War, so it is actually difficult to predict the development of the subsequent wars. However, no matter what the victory or defeat is, Zhao Dongyun does not pay attention to it now. On the one hand, it can't change anything, and on the other hand, there are still a lot of Fengtian. Things are waiting for him to do.

Since taking office as General Shengjing, most of what Zhao Dongyun did in the early stage was to recruit talents to form a shogunate. In addition, he asked for money everywhere. He first asked the court and provinces for cooperation in the name of relieving refugees and restoring people's livelihood. After the imperial court approved it, the Ministry of Household took out 200,000 taels of silver for relief funds and ordered the provinces to Fengtian. Provide support.

Yuan Shikai of Zhili took the lead in setting an example and took out 400,000 taels of silver to Fengtian in one breath, and then Shandong and Henan, which were also under the control of Beiyang, took out 100,000 taels of silver. With Beiyang as an example, it is not good for other provinces not to give. Several Xinjiang ministers in the south, especially Huguang, Liangjiang, Guangdong and other places The guys saw that Yuan Shikai had taken out 600,000 taels. It was not easy for them to explain to the court, so Zhang Zhidong in Hubei gave 300,000 taels, Hunan, Guangdong and Jiangning each gave 20 taels, Jiangsu and Zhejiang also paid 150,000 taels, Shaanxi gave 80,000 taels, and other Jiangxi, Anhui, Shanxi and Sichuan gave 50,000.

In addition to being limited by the economic strength of the provinces, these money also reflect Zhao Dongyun's connections and prestige.

In order to ask for money from the provinces, Zhao Dongyun did not tire of it. He sent telegrams to the governors of each province one by one. After they gave the money, they had to send a report to thank them one by one, whether it was more or less. Then some provinces originally gave less, and Zhao Dongyun would brazenly say that it was not enough. He used telegrams to negotiate and agree on the final amount, such as At first, Shaanxi thought it was a perennial fund and was only willing to give 20,000 yuan a year. However, Zhao Dongyun went to explain that it was a one-time fund and did not dare to burden the provinces for a long time. Therefore, Shaanxi only increased 50,000 yuan, but Zhao Dongyun still thought it was not enough and brazenly asked for 30,000 yuan, and finally set it to 80,000.

After pulling down his face and asked for a side of money from the governors of the provinces across the country, Zhao Dongyun finally got 1.2 million yuan of funds from each province, plus 200,000 yuan given by the Ministry of Household and 100,000 yuan raised by Zhao Dongyun in Fengtian. The starting fund of 500,000 taels of silver.

This money is hundreds of thousands more than Zhao Dongyun previously expected. Previously, Zhao Dongyun thought it was good to get 1.5 million from all provinces. In addition, it is estimated that it will not exceed 2 million from the Ministry of Household and self-funded, but now it has got 2.5 million. With this money, at least the early stage of refugee relief and recovery Don't worry too much about people's livelihood.

Although there is no shortage of funds in a short period of time, this kind of shameless ask for money from other provinces can only be urgently needed for a while. It is still up to you to solve Fengtian's financial difficulties.

Zhao Dongyun, who has unconsciously entered the business site and developed the industrial business model, invited rich businessmen in early June to hold the first investment attraction in his life history.