The third closure operation ended at 6 a.m. on May 3. Although the wind and waves were still very strong, the joint fleet did not return to Incheon Port, but waited for the army's transport fleet at the sea surface of the Datong River Estuary, and then covered the army's landing. The landing location was set at Piziwo (Plandian District, Dalian City), northeast of Yantai O. The two sides met on Xidao, and Dongxiang Heihachiro sent the third fleet to escort the transport fleet.

On May 4, the mixed fleet of the Navy and Army set out and arrived at the landing site in the early morning of May 5, while the Russian army was still unsuspecting. Although Alexeik Yve immediately mobilized troops to stop the Japanese army from landing, it was too late. The reinforcements marched along the coast and were bombarded by Japanese warships on the way and retreated. At 11 a.m., the first wave of Japanese troops landed successfully and set up beachhead positions on the shore.

After learning that the Japanese army landed on the Liaodong Peninsula in two groups, Alexeik Yves knew that the land war began and did not dare to stop in Lushun. At 11 o'clock that night, Major General Witgeft was appointed as the temporary acting commander of Major General Witgeft. Before leaving, the Japanese landing in Piziwo had not yet ended. Alexeik Yves asked Vitgeft to send a fleet to attack the Japanese landing fleet.

But at this time, the Pacific Fleet had no courage to attack from Lushun Port again. Therefore, Witgeft believed that the number of fleets that can be dispatched is insufficient now. It took about 90 nautical miles from Lushun to Piziwo, and it took 8 hours to sail. Once the retreat was cut off by the Japanese fleet, the entire army would be wiped out and refused to attack. Alexeyev did not insist, but instead instructed the fleet to avoid losses.

Just when the Japanese army landed in Piziwo, the 1st Army that captured Jiuliancheng continued to advance northward and captured Phoenix City. However, the Russian army voluntarily gave up, because the commander-in-chief of the Far East, Kuropatkin, believed that the troops should be concentrated in Liaoyang to fight the Japanese army. First, the Russian army operated for many years and was backed by Fengtian, which was conducive to the Russian army concentrating its forces and decisive battle with the Japanese army; second, it could lengthen the Japanese army's replenishment line, disperse the Japanese army's distribution of troops, and weaken the Japanese army's combat effectiveness.

At this time, in Japan, there was a fanaticism in supporting the war again. Since May 1st, it can be said that it was a succession of good news, the third victory of the closed battle, the victory of Jiuliancheng, the successful landing of Piziwo, the capture of Phoenix City, etc., the victory was almost one after another. Therefore, Tokyo held another "lantern parade" to celebrate the victory, and a total of more than 200,000 people participated.

As a result, there were two stampede accidents in the crowd at night, killing 20 people and injuring 25 people. Among them, 16 of the dead were teenagers under the age of 18. However, the accident did not stop the Japanese people from celebrating the war. Moreover, in the eyes of Japanese people, victory in the war against Russia has become the only thing in their pockets, so the lantern-style parades across the country have become the norm.

However, this series of victories did change the attitude of countries around the world towards this war. At the beginning of the war, most countries were not optimistic about Japan. After the Japanese army successfully landed on the Liaodong Peninsula, the balance of public opinion had turned to Japan. Countries around the world generally believed that Japan had a higher chance of winning, and Britain was even optimistic that Japan was actually invincible.

Driven by a series of victories, the bonds issued by Japan in the United Kingdom and the US financial market were optimistic all the way, and the sales volume was excellent. As a Jewish consortium between Britain and the United States, Japan raised a large amount of funds. Therefore, the three batches of materials purchased from the East China government also paid very readily without delaying it.

In addition, the continuous victory also made the Japanese navy and army full of confidence, believing that the Russian army was just a little bit, and relying solely on the strength of Japan was enough to defeat the Russian army and achieve victory. There was no need to ask the East China government for help. The navy and army reached a very rare consensus and were colluding with the flow and formally proposed to the government, and simply rejected the East China government.

But soon Japan realized that it was too optimistic about the progress of the war and was too insufficient to estimate the cruelty of the war.

After the successful landing, the next plan of the Japanese Army was to take two steps to send the 3rd Army to land in Piziwo, head south to Jinzhou, completely cut off the liaison between Lushun and the outside world, and then jointly capture Lushun. At the same time, the Navy also dispatched four armored cruisers from the 2nd Team to be responsible for the security tasks of the Sea of ​​Japan, and find and eliminate the San Vladivostok. The 2nd Army led its division northward to join forces with the 1st Army stationed in Phoenix City and Jiuliancheng, concentrating its forces to advance to Liaoyang and further threaten Fengtian. If both operations can be successful, the overall situation of the Japanese-Russia battle will be decided. Of course, the navy and army armies are also full of confidence in this combat plan.

The army was actively transporting personnel and supplies. In addition to drawing warships to guard the Sea of ​​Japan, the navy cruised outside the Port of Lushun from time to time, monitoring the Russian army in the port, maintaining its power and covering the army's transport fleet. Although the third blockade battle was not successful, after Makarov's death, the morale of the Pacific Fleet fell sharply and he had no courage to go out to fight again. Occasionally there were ships that left the port to patrol and mine, but when the Japanese fleet came, they immediately retreated to the inner port to hide, so the United Fleet gradually became a little relaxed.

However, although the Pacific Fleet did not dare to fight, it still often set mines outside the port to strengthen the defense of the port. On May 12, the No. 48* boat sank when it was performing a mine-sweeping mission in the Dayaokou northeast of Dalian Bay. On May 14, the communication ship "Miyaokou" sank when it slid mines near the Dayaokou.

At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Ivanov, the captain of the Pacific Fleet's mine-burning ship, observed and discovered the Japanese fleet's route. The Japanese warships basically entered 10 nautical miles south of the port to launch shelling. Therefore, they suggested to the acting commander Witgeft to lay out * in this area, which was approved by Witgeft. It happened that heavy fog occurred that day, so Amur left the port and laid 50 * at the location recognized by Ivanov.

At 1 a.m. on May 15, when the 3rd team was monitoring the Port of Lushun in heavy fog, a warship crash occurred. The armored cruiser Kasumi, which Japan had just purchased from Italy, collided with the meritorious warship Yoshino, a warship in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. The corner of the Kasumi crashed through the port side of the Yoshino, causing a large amount of water inflow. However, because the field of view in the thick fog was nearly zero, other ships could not start rescue. By 2:10, the Yoshino sank, and a total of 318 people died and 90 were rescued.

The accident did not affect the joint fleet's action plan. After dawn, the fog gradually dissipated, and the 1st team still headed to the Russian ships in Weishe Port in the southeastern waters of Laotiai as planned. This happened to be the sea area where the Russian ship had just laid mine yesterday.

At 9:50, the battleship Shinse's stern touched a thunder, and a huge explosion sounded, and the hull shook violently, and the water near the flagship was reddish-brown.

The accompanying battleship Kasai, the Yashima, immediately took rescue operations. However, at 10:15, the starboard rear of the Yashima, which was preparing to rescue the Hatsuse, also touched the lightning at the back of the starboard rear. In less than a minute, the starboard front touched the lightning again.

At this time, the joint fleet was also at a loss, not knowing whether it was a mine or a submarine attack. Togo Hirahachiro ordered other ships not to act rashly and be careful of the submarines. While ordering the Kashikashi to release ropes and prepare to drag the Kashikashi, but at 11:35, the Kashikashi touched the mine again under the turret at the rear of the Kashikashi, which triggered the explosion of the cannon drug depot. In less than two minutes, the Kashikashi sank into the water. The other Yashikashi also had a large amount of water in this time and could not be swayed and sank at 5 pm.

However, although the Russian army at the Golden Mountain Fortress in Lushun had observed the mines of the Chuse and Yashima, the acting commander Wittgeft only ordered the ships to send officers and soldiers to the shore to observe the results of the battle, but did not dispatch the fleet to attack and took advantage of the opportunity to attack the joint fleet. As a result, he missed this great opportunity to turn the tables.

The Hachise and Yashima were both the main warships of the joint fleet, and they sank at the same time in one day, which was a heavy blow to the joint fleet. After receiving the report from Togo Hachiro, the military command was also shocked. The military command was afraid that such a major loss would affect the emotions of the officers and soldiers and the people in the country, so he ordered the blockade of the news and announced to the outside world that the two warships were injured and repaired. In order to supplement the combat effectiveness of the 1st team, Hirahachiro Togo was only waiting to incorporate the two armored cruisers Hiraki and Kasuki into the first team, barely gathering up to six ships. The Kasuki was also on the same day and just sank the Yoshino.

However, the Hirigen and Kasumi are Italian Galliporti armored cruisers with a displacement of only 7,700 tons and the main gun is 4 203 mm. The combat effectiveness is not even comparable to several 10,000 tons of armored cruisers of the 2nd Team. The Hatsuse and Yashima all have a displacement of about 15,000 tons, and the main gun is 4 305 mm caliber cannons. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the 1st Team is naturally greatly reduced.

Moreover, the bad luck of the joint fleet was not fast. Two days later, the gunboat Oshima and Akagi collided with each other. The destroyer Akagi sank again. In just 5 days, Shijian, the joint fleet actually lost 7 warships in succession, including two main battleships of the core force and one meritorious cruiser. Fortunately, the army's landing was basically over at this time, so Togo Heihachiro ordered the fleet to suspend all operations and return to the port to repair.

But the Pacific Fleet still failed to seize this opportunity to take action, and thus missed the last chance to turn the situation around.
Chapter completed!