Togo Heihachiro stared at the joint fleet in Sasebo Port with concern. In more than a month, he led the joint fleet to fight with the Yellow Sea Fleet in China several times, hoping to seize the control of the Yellow Sea and relieve the pressure of the Imperial Army in North Korea.

However, after several confrontations, the Joint Fleet did not achieve much results. On the contrary, the Joint Fleet lost several warships, and the power compartment of one of the battleships was hit by the torpedo launched by the Dragon Wei of the Yellow Sea Fleet, and is still under repair.

Although the joint fleet caused certain losses to the Yellow Sea Fleet, it did not have much impact on the combat effectiveness of the Yellow Sea Fleet. The control of the Yellow Sea is still firmly in the hands of the Yellow Sea Fleet, and the sea supply line on China above the Yellow Sea is still safe and sound.

To this end, Army General Yoshima Oshima also protested against Hirofumi Ito, protesting against Hiroshi Togo Heihachiro's inaction. The Chinese Army's troops and strategic materials were still invested onto the Korean battlefield through the supply line above the Yellow Sea.

Togo Hirahachiro did not strongly refute the "inaction" protested by Oshima Yoshima, except for helpless acceptance. The current Yellow Sea Fleet is no longer the Beiyang Fleet that has been in the past ten years, and Togo Hirahachiro is not fully confident that he can defeat the Yellow Sea Fleet.

What Togo Hirahachiro is most worried about now is the East China Sea fleet that visited the United States, because there is one of the most advanced Fearless ships in the world. If the East China Sea fleet returns to the Yellow Sea, Sasebo may have to repeat the previous road of destruction.

Before the empire's return fleet returned to China, Hirahachiro Togo always dared not fight the main decisive battle with the Yellow Sea Fleet. At this time, the empire's return fleet had just arrived in West Africa, and there was still a long distance from the far east. Hirahachiro Togo only hopes that Tang Jian can stay in the United States for a longer time. In that case, the returning fleet could return to the empire when the East Sea Fleet returned.

Just as Togo Heihachiro was pondering, Yamamoto Iroru came over and said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency Togo, there is a bad news."

Togo Hirahachiro turned his head and smiled bitterly: "Tell me!"

"Hi! Your Excellency Togo!" Yamamoto Iroji bowed and said: "According to the call from the intelligence department in the United States, the East China Sea Fleet in China had left the San Francisco port on the west coast of the United States half a month ago and entered the North Pacific!"

"What?" Although Heihachiro Togo guessed that it was about the East China Sea Fleet, he really didn't expect Tang Jian to return from San Francisco so soon. When China announced that Tang Jian was about to visit the United States, Heihachiro Togo guessed that Tang Jian was going to the United States to deal with the domestic affairs of the United States. It was expected that Tang Jian would stay in the United States for at least half a month to a month. He didn't expect that he had already dealt with this issue in less than half a month and returned early. Could it be that the US government and Tang Jian reached an agreement that would return so quickly?

When he thought of this, a strong sense of uneasiness arose in Togo Heihachiro's heart. Tang Jian's early return means that the East China Sea Fleet will return to the Far East in advance, and then the entire battle situation will be one-sided.

"Hawaii's intelligence department has found traces of the East China Sea Fleet? They have to pass through Hawaii when they return!" Hirahachiro Togo asked. Knowing when the East China Sea Fleet passed through Hawaii, you can calculate when the East China Sea Fleet will arrive in the Far East as soon as possible.

Yamamoto Iroku hesitated for a while and said, "The intelligence department in Hawaii did not find the East China Sea Fleet docking in Pearl Harbor!"

"You mean, we have completely lost the trace of the East China Sea Fleet?" Hirahachiro Togo said in a lost voice. The situation he was most worried about was still happening.

"So, Mr. Togo!" Yamamoto Izuru replied with his head down.

"Okay, I understand!" Togo Hirahachiro took a deep breath and calmed his shock.

After a long time, Togo Heihachiro asked, "Yamamoto, what would you do if the Joint Fleet encountered Sasebo's situation again?"

Yamamoto Izuru did not dare to answer, but lowered his head.

"Yamamoto, I want to hear what you think!" Hirahachiro Togo asked again.

Yamamoto Iroji raised his head and replied firmly: "Only Togo, Yamamoto will live and die with the joint fleet!"

"Oh? Why? You could persuade me to surrender at the beginning, why did you make a different choice when the situation is so close?" asked Hirahachiro Togo.

Yamamoto Izuru replied: "This time is different from last time. Although the Beiyang Fleet of the Qing Dynasty was strong, the Qing Dynasty was invincible. Even if the Qing Dynasty defeated the joint fleet, it could not defeat the empire! However, China is different from the Qing Dynasty. Now China is fully capable of invading the empire's land and can fight against the empire's soldiers. The surrender was to preserve its strength, and today's resistance was to prevent the people in the empire from being invaded by the Chinese army. It is a battle of survival and death of the empire. There is an essential difference between the two."

Togo Heihachiro nodded with appreciation. He did not misjudgmentally see the young man in front of him. His thoughts were basically the same as him. When the empire was alive, he could only serve his country with death!

Togo Heihachiro said solemnly: "Yamamoto, I will send my order and the whole joint fleet will be ready. After asking Prime Minister Ito, the joint fleet will sail to the Yellow Sea and find the Chinese Yellow Sea Fleet to fight the main force!"

Yamamoto Iroli bowed and said, "Hi!" But Yamamoto Iroli had some questions: "Only Togo, if you find the Yellow Sea Fleet to fight the main force in this way, the joint fleet will likely be wiped out!"

Hirahachiro Togo said tragically: "I know, but if the empire's return fleet has not returned to its homeland when the East China Sea Fleet returns to the Far East, then with the strength of the joint fleet at this time, it is no match for the Chinese Navy at all. At that time, there will be nothing but annihilation. It is better to take advantage of the fact that the East China Sea Fleet has not returned to the Far East and fight to the death with the Yellow Sea Fleet above the Yellow Sea. This may cause some huge damage to the Yellow Sea Fleet, and in the future, it will reduce the threat of the Chinese Navy to the empire's homeland."

"Hi, Mr. Dongxing, Yamamoto understands!" Yamamoto Iroku's nose was a little sore. He knew that this time he would probably never come back, but Togo Heihachiro was still so determined! He was already determined to die at this time.

Donggo Heihachiro's life idol was Wang Yangming of the Ming Dynasty. He had a certain study of China's history. At this time, facing the vast sea, Donggo Heihachiro couldn't help but wet his tears and murmured: "The wind is whistling and the Yishui is cold, and the hero will never return once he leaves."

The next day, the documents that Togo Hirahachiro requested the battle were handed over to the desk of Ito Hirofumi of the Prime Minister's Office. Ito Hirofumi's eyes couldn't help but feel wet after reading it.

Hirofumi Ito specially invited the father of the Japanese Navy, Yamamoto Homoto, to discuss this matter in detail. In the end, Yamamoto Homoto agreed to the request for a suicide attack. The Tokyo Wartime Base Camp discussed this matter overnight, and finally agreed to Hirahachiro Togo.

The news of Hirahachiro Togo's request for battle also reached the ears of the Japanese Emperor Meiji. Emperor Meiji specially issued a handwritten order, that all soldiers of the United Fleet who died in the Battle of the Yellow Sea will be admired by all citizens of the Empire, and at the same time, the families of all the soldiers who died will be permanently funded by the Imperial Royal Family.

In this way, the tragic joint fleet set sail from Sasebo and headed above the Yellow Sea, determined to fight to the death with the Yellow Sea Fleet on the Yellow Sea.

However, when the joint fleet sailed above the Yellow Sea, the actual situation was beyond the expectations of Hirahachiro Togo. No warships were found in the vast Yellow Sea, and even a troop transport ship or merchant ship was found, as if all the ships of Huaxia on the Yellow Sea had disappeared.

After several investigations, Dongxing Pingbalang discovered that the Yellow Sea Fleet was actually huddled in Lushun Port and could not escape the battle! Including all the troops transport ships, merchant ships were well protected in the port.

The current joint fleet cannot find an opponent on the Yellow Sea!

However, the calmer the Huanghairo Togo was, the more frightened. He realized that the Yellow Sea Fleet deliberately avoided the battle and preserved its strength. After the East Sea Fleet returned, it took the initiative to join forces with the two fleets to attack at the same time.

After this information was confirmed by Hirahachiro Togo, Hirahachiro Togo felt that the danger had slowly come. So Hirahachiro Togo took the initiative to lead the joint fleet to attack Lushun without the support of the army, luring the Yellow Sea Fleet out of the port to fight!

However, Lushun is worthy of being the number one port in the Far East. After experiencing the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the war between China and Russia, Lushun's defense has increased by several levels.

The densely packed artillery on both sides of Lushun has made Hirahachiro's joint fleet unable to approach Lushun Port. Even though he luckily broke through the firepower network of the shore artillery, the channel of the Lushun Port was covered with thousands of mines. The minecraft of the joint fleet was sunk by powerful shore artillery before the channel approaching Lushun Port was sunk by powerful shore artillery, not to mention that the main ship of the joint fleet could pass through the channel within Lushun Port.

Moreover, no matter how provoked Hirahachiro Togo provoked, the Yellow Sea Fleet would just be closed to the port, which made the Japanese Joint Fleet cruising on the Yellow Sea a little helpless.

Days passed by Hirahachiro Togo day by day. At this time, the East China Sea fleet led by Tang Jian had already sailed above the Sea of ​​Japan, and it had only one day's voyage with the East China Sea.

The Fearless Bridge Command Room.

Tang Jian asked: "How is the situation of the Joint Fleet now?"

Cheng Biguang smiled and said, "Haha, Dongxiang Heihachiro can no longer find an opponent on the Yellow Sea now, so he can only hurry up and go around. In addition, two new submarines built by the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Factory are already on standby in Weihaiwei, and can attack with the Yellow Sea Fleet at any time with the other five submarine dragon-class submarines!"

ps: The second update today.
Chapter completed!