When the Nanyang Fleet squadron led by Liu Wei arrived here, the opponent's Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok also set sail and began to move south.
Speaking of the current opponent's Pacific Fleet, due to the attention given by its government, its strength is still very strong.
Among the capital ships, there are several of the most cutting-edge battleships of the Rakshasa Kingdom in the Pacific Fleet.
These warships include:
The Sevastopol battleship is a former Dreadnought-class battleship with a displacement of 11,500 tons, a length of 115 meters and a width of 21 meters, a horsepower of 10,600 horses, a speed of 16 knots and a range of 3,750 nautical miles.
The battleship Poltava is a former Dreadnought-class battleship with a displacement of 11,500 tons, a length of 115 meters and a width of 21 meters, a horsepower of 10,600, a speed of 16 knots and a range of 3,750 nautical miles. The ship's armament includes 2 twin 305mm main guns.
Petropavlovsk battleship, a former Dreadnought-class battleship, has a displacement of 11,842 tons, a length of 115 meters, a width of 21 meters, a horsepower of 16,600 horses, a speed of 18 knots and a range of 5,500 nautical miles. The ship's armament includes 2 twin-mounted 305mm main guns
Guns, 6 twin 152mm guns, 10 single 47mm guns, 28 single 37mm guns, 6 381mm torpedo tubes. The armor thickness of the main turret and deck are 254mm and 76mm respectively, and the waterline belt is 203
-305mm.
In addition to these three giant ships, the Russian Pacific Fleet also has 12 cruisers, 25 torpedo boats and 7 gunboats.
If it were the Nanyang Fleet without bangs, this fleet could be said to be the largest navy in East Asia at that time.
At this time, the person leading the Pacific Fleet was Starck. This man had a very strange character. He was both arrogant and timid.
If he becomes arrogant, he can even fight any fleet, but once he becomes timid, anyone can easily scare him.
This time, the dozen or so Pacific Fleet warships he led have been in fear ever since they left their home port.
To be honest, this Stark is still very capable, otherwise he would not have been appointed commander of the Pacific Fleet, responsible for the empire's main deterrence in the Far East.
This commander had heard about the Nanyang Navy's battle with the United Fleet and the Geely reinforcements fleet some time ago.
He didn't pay attention to the United Fleet at all, but he knew the expedition fleet of the Gili Kingdom. He was still shocked by the news that this behemoth with seven battleships was completely wiped out by the Nanyang Fleet.
Because of this, he felt that if his Far East Fleet wanted to fight against the Nanyang Navy, it might not be a match.
Therefore, he has been cautious since he left Vladivostok. Although he knew that he would eventually encounter the Nanyang Navy, he still thought that it would be best to resolve it peacefully. Otherwise, if a war breaks out, the country's Far East Fleet will not be able to do so.
exists again.
Sure enough, after four days of maneuvering towards North Korea, they met the Nanyang Navy Squadron led by Liu Wei 500 nautical miles off the coast of North Korea.
This time, Liu Wei relied on the radars on the two battleships Yandi and Han Gaozu to discover the Russian Pacific Fleet in advance.
After Liu Wei discovered the Pacific Fleet, he ordered the Nanyang Navy Squadron to greet it.
When the two sides were close to a distance of 10 kilometers, the other side's Far East Fleet discovered the approaching Nanyang Navy Squadron.
After Starck discovered this fleet in the telescope, his heart began to beat loudly.
He was completely frightened. The psychological quality of a fleet commander should be above the standard, but the first thing the commander saw were the two behemoths at the head of the Nanyang Navy.
The size of these two battleships is so huge that they can equal the entire tonnage of the Far East Fleet.
What's more, behind these two powerful battleships, there are two smaller brothers, namely the two Sovereign-class battleships.
In Starck's view, he didn't even need those two behemoths. Just two British-made Sovereign-class battleships were enough to feed his Pacific Fleet.
Because of this mentality, after Starck discovered the Nanyang Navy, he ordered the fleet not to advance, but to start taking a circuitous route on the sea.
When Liu Wei saw that the opponent's fleet had stopped advancing, he did not press too hard. Instead, he led the fleet to monitor from a distance, so the two sides faced off.
While the two sides were confronting each other at sea, Rakshasa's minister to the Qing Dynasty, Bobai Fu, also received a telegram from St. Petersburg, asking him to immediately go to the Far East Fleet and deliver the order to the Far East Fleet, asking the Far East Fleet to quickly break through the Nanyang Navy's defenses.
Besieged and headed to Seoul to support the legation there.
It turned out that after this period of time, Zhou Wu surrounded the legation, and the legation was almost running out of food.
Therefore, Weiberu sent several telegrams to St. Petersburg asking for reinforcements, asking the government to immediately send army reinforcements. Otherwise, the embassy in Korea would be forced to hand over the King of Korea.
How could the St. Petersburg government let this happen? If the King of Korea was returned to Liu Hai's hands, it would mean that the empire's interests in Korea were completely lost.
But now the land border between Rakshasa Kingdom and North Korea has been blocked by the Japanese army, and they don't want a full-scale war.
Therefore, an urgent telegram was sent to Bobaifu, the minister to the Qing Dynasty, asking her to take a ship to rendezvous with the Far East Fleet immediately, and then supervise the commander of the Far East Fleet to quickly break through the encirclement, enter Seoul, and reinforce the legation.
After Bobaifu received the order from St. Petersburg, he did not dare to neglect. He immediately came to Tianjin from Beijing, and then rented a Qing ship. He only made a secret circle. After seven days of confrontation between the two sides, the envoy
Finally, we rendezvoused with the Far East Fleet.
As soon as Bobeifu boarded the battleship Petropavlovsk, the flagship of the Far East Fleet, he immediately asked to meet with the commander of the Far East Fleet, Stark.
Starck knew that the minister to the Qing Dynasty was looking for him in an urgent matter, so he met with the minister in his private room.
As soon as Bobai Fu saw Stark, he didn't even have time to exchange greetings. He said directly: "St. Petersburg has an order asking you to immediately rush to intercept the Nanyang Navy. The embassy in Korea can no longer hold on. Once the King of Korea falls again,
In the hands of Liu Hai, it will cause serious damage to the empire's interests in Korea."
Stark was a little dissatisfied when he heard this. These St. Petersburg gentlemen did not care about the actual situation and only gave random orders.
"Mr. Minister, I am more anxious than you about the reinforcement of North Korea. My fleet has been drifting at sea for nearly half a month. I also want the boys to rest ashore, but this is completely impossible.
.”
Bobaifu had been staying in the Qing Dynasty. Although he had heard about Liu Hai's naval strength, he did not pay as much attention to it as Stark, so he glared: "The Nanyang Navy of the Qing Dynasty, although its strength during this period,
There is a certain growth, but I think he will not dare to compete with the Far East Fleet anyway. As long as you are determined and courageous, the other party will not dare to intercept it."
Starck was immediately offended by such ridiculous remarks. Liu Hai's Nanyang Navy was not as cowardly as the other navies and officials of the Qing Dynasty. It was a powerful sea force that dared to fight the Jili Kingdom on the sea.
So Stark suddenly opened the curtain of his bedroom, pointed outside the window at the Nanyang Navy Squadron cruising in the distance of the Pacific Fleet, and roared: "Open your eyes and look at those two behemoths.
The tonnage of these two warships alone has exceeded the total tonnage of the fleet I currently lead."
"You ask me to fight these behemoths, don't you think about it, if the Far East Fleet is completely annihilated, then the empire will have no protection for its interests in the Far East."
Bobaifu actually saw these two warships from a distance when he arrived. Although he was not a naval officer, he still agreed with the view of the navy's giant ships and cannons.
Now he was helpless after hearing the other party's rebuttal. He shrugged, "Dear Commander, I understand your mood very well, and I can also see clearly the gap between the two navies. But this is an order from St. Petersburg after all.
If we retreat without taking some action, I'm afraid we won't be able to deliver a message to His Majesty."
Stark was helpless after hearing this. He knew that the other party was telling the truth. If he did not take any action at all and just broke away from the other party, His Majesty would never let him go.
Stark thought for a while and then said: "The opponent's naval strength is obviously greater than ours. What we can do now is to use the reputation of the empire to forcefully attack the opponent's defense. If the opponent does not give in, we will not break through the opponent's defense.
, if the other party is afraid of conflict with our country, we can take advantage of the situation and head south to Seoul."
Boba Fu was happy that Stark had finally decided to take action. As long as the commander took action, he would have reason to communicate with St. Petersburg.
"Then I hope your Excellency, Commander, will take action quickly. Regardless of whether we can break through the opponent's blockade, we must give the legation in Seoul time for negotiations."
Starck understood Bobai Fu's intention. If he could break through the interception of the Nanyang Navy, then everything would be just right.
After the Far East Fleet arrives in Seoul, whether through negotiation or force deterrence, the empire will gain a certain advantage.
If the Nanyang Navy decides not to let the Far East Fleet go south even if there is a war with the Far East Fleet, then the fleet will have no choice but to return to Vladivostok.
If this happens, the only way is to reach an agreement with Liu Hai as soon as possible while the North Korean embassy still has some food, and try to ensure the existence of our country's interests in North Korea.
However, Starck believes that the second option is more likely, because the opponent cannot give in when it has the advantage.
After Stark figured it out, he said to Bobaifu: "Then I will direct the action now. I hope there will be a result today, no matter whether the result is good or bad."