Just as the East China government was bargaining with the Qing government, Japan had already requested to deliver the first batch of supplies to the East China government on February 15, and indicated to send them to the Korean Peninsula, enter the Datong River at Nanpu Port, and all the way to Pyongyang.

It turned out that after Japan occupied Seoul, all the Russian troops evacuated the Korean Peninsula. The two sides only fought a few small-scale battles on the border between the Korean Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula. Japan basically controlled the Korean Peninsula and sent additional troops to the Korean Peninsula to attack Liaodong. The army naturally needed a large amount of supplies to enter, so the delivery location of the first batch of supplies ordered from the East China government was set on the Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang is the largest city on the Korean Peninsula, and is located in the northwest of the peninsula, only 180 kilometers away from the Yalu River, which is nearly half from Seoul to the Yalu River, so it is naturally the most suitable location for the Japanese army base camp.

The Central China government immediately organized a fleet and each organized a fleet on February 16 and 18, and delivered all the supplies to Pyongyang on the 19th. Departing from Yantai, it was about 400 kilometers to Pyongyang, which only took one day to reach. The distance from Sasebo or Wugang in Japan was more than 1,000 miles, which took more than two days. Therefore, purchasing supplies from the East China government has indeed greatly improved the efficiency of transportation demand.

The Japanese government and the Japanese military command expressed their gratitude to the East China Government on the 20th, and on the 22nd, they notified the East China Government that the joint fleet is expected to attack again on February 24 to attack Lushun Port.

After the sneak attack on Lushun, the Japanese army sent two small troops to test the movements of the Russian fleet on February 13 and 20. After the Russian army lost the Varyag and the Koryo people in the Incheon Naval Battle on February 9, the Ainise ship and the Bao Yalin cruiser were sunk by their own bombs. The Sivich gunboat sunk due to ice in Yingkou. In addition, the warships injured in the Battle of Lushun, the Russian army lost 8 warships at once, which was a heavy blow to the morale of the fleet.

Governor Alexeyev once wanted to dispatch warships to actively attack Incheon and carry out a demonstration to increase the morale of the fleet, but the officers of the navy had lost the courage to take risks and had to give up. Alexeyev felt that the officers of the Far East Fleet were now difficult to bear the heavy responsibility. In addition, the Japanese army had landed in South Korea, Alexeyev was preparing to move the headquarters to Fengtian and command the overall war in the entire Northeast region. This required the establishment of an independent Far East Naval Command in Lushunkou, and the fleet commander needed to be his own side. The current commander Stark obviously could not bear this important task, so he proposed to the country that Lieutenant General Makarov would go to the Far East to serve as the new Far East Fleet Commander.

Lieutenant General Stepan Osipovich Makarov was the best naval general in Russia of this era, a naval tactical strategy expert and marine scientist. He was born in a family of naval officers and graduated from the Nikolayevsk Naval School.

In 1876, Makarov worked in the Pacific Squadron and Baltic Fleets, and began to study the problem of ship non-sinking. He suggested that the ship be divided into several watertight tanks, installed drainage pumps and drainage pipes with high power, and equipped with special leak plugging pads to block damage. He was hailed by the Russian navy as the founder of the theory of ship non-sinking. In 1877, Makarov participated in the war as the captain of the * boat mothership, and carried out unexpected attacks on the Turkish fleet and merchant ships, sinking and injuring many Turkish ships. In 1881, he used Vaitched automatic* in the Russian Navy to sink the Turkish warship Inchbach, creating the first battle example of the * sinking warship in history;

In 1881, Makarov visited the Bosphorus Strait, and for the first time he discovered deep water currents in the strait, and won the prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1886, Makarov commanded the Warrior cruiser for three years to conduct a global voyage, systematically inspecting the vast areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and won the reputation of a world oceanograph. In 1899 and 1901, he conducted two large-scale polar expeditions on the icebreaker Yermark, and soon he became a polar expeditioner.

In 1890, Makarov was promoted to lieutenant general. Since then, he served as deputy commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet and director of the Russian naval artillery. During his tenure, he invented the capped ones, which greatly enhanced the penetration of artillery shells, but was not loaded due to the obstruction of Russian bureaucracy. In 1895, Makarov was promoted to lieutenant general of the naval forces. In 1897, he published a masterpiece "On Naval Tactics Issues", which comprehensively discussed the basic principles of armored fleet ship combat, and had a huge impact on the world naval community.

Japan's intelligence personnel based in St. Petersburg immediately passed the news back to the country. The Japanese military command and the Navy believed that if such a naval expert with great achievements and practical experience came to Lushun to take over the Pacific Fleet, of course, it would not be good news for Japan. However, Makarov set out from Petersburg on February 17 and it would take about 18-20 days to arrive in Lushun. Japan should solve the Pacific Fleet in Lushun Port during this period and allow the army to land on the Liaodong Peninsula.

But now the Russian fleet is shrinking into the port and cannot come out. If the attack on the port is subject to a joint attack by the fort and warships in the port, it is not advisable. Therefore, the first supervisor, Akiyama Masao, proposed a blocking combat plan.

In fact, the first person to block the combat plan was not Akiyama Matsuyuki, but another staff officer Arima Liangju Nakasa. Before the war started, Arima Liangju Nakasa, the then chief mate of the Takapan, submitted a plan to the Deputy Chief of the Military Order, Goro Ijiyuan. Given that the narrowest part of the channel between the inner and outer ports of Lushun was only 273 meters wide, and large warships could only pass within 91 meters of the central channel. It was proposed that two internally filled with stone cement after the outbreak of the war. Old ships rushed into Lushun Port at night and sank on the waterway between the inner and outer ports, thus blocking the waterway, making it impossible for the Russian fleet to enter and exit. Even if the Russian fleet does not annihilate, the Russian fleet's combat effectiveness can be cleared. This is the most cost-effective way of combat. After all, there are 7 battleships and 1 armored cruiser in the Russian fleet, and their strength is not weak. If you fight hard, even if Japan can annihilate the Russian fleet, it will definitely cause considerable damage.

Ijiyuan Goro was disdainful of this plan, but it aroused great interest from Akiyama Matsuyuki, because Akiyama Matsuyuki studied in the United States in 1898. His mentor was Alfred Sayer Mahan, the famous inventor of the theory of maritime power. He also visited the US Navy's battle to block the port of Havana, Cuba as an observer. Akiyama's blocking operation plan was quite similar to this battle. So with the recommendation of Akiyama Matsuyuki, Akiyama was promoted to staff.

Although Akiyama Matsuyuki is now just a Navy sect, he is known as a naval combat genius. Of course, Mahan's student status also added a lot of points to him. Therefore, after Togo Heihachiro served as the commander of the Joint Fleet, he appointed Akiyama Matsuyuki as the first staff officer (i.e., the chief staff officer) of the Joint Fleet, responsible for the formulation and implementation of specific tactics. Moreover, Togo Heihachiro's evaluation of him was as wise as the fountain.

Now the naval battle cannot be started, so Akiyama Matsuyuki thought of the blocking combat plan proposed by Akiyama Ryoguchi, and this plan was immediately adopted by Hirahachiro Togo and submitted to the Navy Command, and it was quickly approved. Akiyama Matsuyuki appointed Akiyama Ryoguchi to formulate specific combat plans.

Arima Liangju also made certain adjustments to his plan, increasing the two ships to five, and using white and red lights to indicate whether the sinking position is correct or not, and also formulated a evacuation plan for the crew. After all, Japan was not so perverted that it was playing Kamikaze at this time, so it set up a lifeboat on the ship. After the detonation, the crew evacuated on a lifeboat and was accommodated by the destroyer following behind.

It is planned that each ship has two officers, serving as captains and pilots, with 12-15 crew members. Both officers and crew recruit volunteers from various naval ships. As a result, sailors from each ship actively signed up, with as many as 2,000 volunteers, and some even wrote blood letters, and finally selected 77 people.

The five ships were identified as Tianjin Maru, Incheon Maru, Takeo Maru, Takeshu Maru, and Jokuni Maru. The commanders of each ship were Arima Ryoguchi himself, Hirose Takeo, Captain Shigoro Saito, Captain Yoshita Masaki, and Lieutenant Tosaki Jose. Originally, Captain Akama Rokuro also wanted to participate in the recruitment, but was rejected by Commander Hirahachiro Togo. After all, despite the evacuation plan, the danger of blocking operations was extremely high. Asama is one of the main warships of the "Six Six Fleet". If the captain fails, it will be a great blow to morale.

The originally planned blocking operation started on February 20, but due to the impact of the storm weather, the joint fleet set off from Incheon Port on the 22nd, and the East China government still sent the Qingzhou to visit.

The two sides met at 2 pm on February 23 at the Outer Sea of ​​Lushun. Captain Xia Ruichen was also invited to board the flagship Mikasa, the Joint Fleet, and met with Togo Heihachiro and Akiyama Matsuno. Because the East China government and Japan are in a period of good cooperation, the first batch of supplies are in place, which also makes Japanese soldiers feel a little favor towards the East China government, so the atmosphere of the meeting is relatively harmonious. Akiyama Matsuno represented the Joint Fleet and introduced in detail to Xia Ruichen.

The talks lasted for about an hour before Xia Ruichen bid farewell to the Mikasa and returned to the Qingzhou, and kept a distance of 3,000 thousand from the Joint Fleet.
Chapter completed!