Chapter 622： The end of the Russo-Japanese War

When the pace of history entered March 1906, the Russo-Japanese War marked by the outbreak of the Battle of the South China Sea had been fought for a full 20 months! In this war to determine the hegemony of the Far East, whether it is the distant Eastern European hegemony Russia or the newly rising Far Eastern power Japan, they have all taken 12 points to fight! The former is for the coveted deep-water port, while the latter is to fight for survival.

Judging from the scale of the participating troops and the level of equipment invested, this war is much stronger than in history. The peak strength of the Russian army in the Far East is as high as 700,000. The Japanese also invested 550,000 troops without showing weakness. In the end, after more than a year of fighting, the total number of casualties and captured in the Russian Army reached 250,000! The Japanese Army also had 175,000 casualties and 30,000 captured! Among them, at the mouth of Lushun, the Japanese army killed more than 45,000 in one battle. Set a new record!

The battle at sea was equally brutal. Although the Japanese attacked the Makanov fleet unexpectedly by means of an unannounced battle, in the end, a group of warships successfully returned to Vladivostok. Subsequently, the Russian navy, which lost to the Japanese fleet in the frontal battlefield, decisively launched a sea battle. More than a dozen warships of various types played hide-and-seek games with the Japanese navy in the vast area from Vladivostok in the north and the South China Sea in the south.

In more than a year of breaking and anti-breaking battles at sea, the total tonnage of Japan and the fleet that transported materials for Japan reached 450,000 tons! If it weren’t for the continuous support of the British, the ocean-going ships in Japan would have sunk out and they would not be enough for the Russians. The most distressing thing for the Japanese was that in the Sea of ​​Japan, two Rurik-2 battleships formed a formation to successfully ambush. A Japanese army transport fleet. After the two escorted cruisers were eliminated, the two battleships took the 4 transport ships along with 5,500 Japanese troops and 82 artillery pieces and hundreds of tons of ammunition. Sent to the bottom of the sea.

The warfare-breaking operation at sea like a noose has caused huge losses to Japan’s domestic economy. Four months after the war, various food and industrial raw materials began to be in short supply, and textiles accumulated in ports could not be exported. All Japanese ports The lowest month of cargo throughput was only half of the usual! Even the British are worried that the Japanese might not be able to stick to it.

However, with the passage of time and the help of the British, the Japanese succeeded in reversing the decline of the sea after paying a disastrous price. Off the Zhoushan Islands, the Japanese armored cruiser formation led by Hikonojo Uemura successfully blocked it. Two armored cruisers of the Rurik 2 type were taken, and one armored cruiser was sunk on our side and two were hit hard. Successfully forced Gromboy to run aground offshore, and another Russian ship was also forced to enter the British lease and then disarmed.

Subsequently, as Lushunkou was captured, the Russian battleships inside were either sunk or become the spoils of the Japanese navy. With the advent of the winter of 1904, only the Russian fleet at the port of Vladivostok was double blocked by sea ice and the Japanese navy. , And Japan’s maritime transport has finally become normal.

Then the road was stable, and the Japanese who had taken Lushun began to advance north. However, although the Russian army on this plane was still relatively watery, the Japanese were not much stronger. Although they invested far more weapons and personnel than in history, although they still defeated the Russian army in one war, their deepest line of attack did not surpass history!

The Russian economy also failed to sustain. In order to ensure the stability of the ruble and raise sufficient funds, the Russians sold 80% of the precious metals and various gems in the treasury on the international market. And if the prince remembers correctly, less than 60% of the gold in the treasury should be sold in history...

The cruelty of the war not only made Japan and Russia feel unsustainable, but also made Britain and France feel terrified. The result they wanted was to maintain the fundamentals of the Far East, but to win over the Russians who had lost too much blood. Judging from the current situation, Russia is no longer blood loss, but arterial bleeding, maybe it will pass!

In fact, the riots and revolutions in Russia have put the entire Russia in a state of turmoil. France in desperation did not even wait for Japan and Russia to start negotiations, and first provided Russia with an allocation of 300 million francs, and the only request was It was for Russia to verbally promise that the money would not be used in the Far Eastern War. Of course, the French cannot supervise how the Russians spend this money.

The trauma and consumption caused by the war far exceeded the expectations of all countries, and this time the Americans did not act as intermediaries anymore. They wished this war would last as long as possible! As a result, the British stepped forward. On the one hand, they ensured that Russia's rights and interests in North Manchuria were not infringed, and at the same time, they ensured that if Japan's rights and interests in the Far East were harmed by foreign countries, the British could help. This practice of pulling both sides at the same time can also be regarded as a step for Japan and Russia.

I have to say that the British’s methods are really powerful. He caught the pain points of both sides. The Russians have lost in the military. Their current national strength is not enough to continue to support the war, and it is impossible to regain everything they have lost in the military. So what they think is how to make themselves lose less. The British guarantee allowed the Russians to at least keep North Manchuria.

There are also a lot of trouble for the Japanese Let alone the destroyed funds, the army, and the loans to be repaid in the future, the period of weakness caused by the war will make the Japanese extremely uncomfortable. If this time the United States What should I do if people kill again? Even if the Americans are just pretending, they don't need to fight a battle, economically it will be enough to bring down Japan, which is already exhausted! And the British guarantees have undoubtedly made Japan a lot safer. If the British did not fight, then the United States could not pose any threat to the Anglo-Japanese alliance in the Far East.

And when the time came to the end of May, when the results of the Japan-Russia London meeting came out, Ruprecht could only say good luck, because the content of the entire agreement was exactly the same as that signed by Japan and Russia in history. A lot of power resulted in a result similar to that in history. Ah, very good.

By the way, the prince also paid attention to the fate of the two Rurik-2 battleships still staying in the British concession in Shanghai. The two battleships were finally obtained by the Japanese. The Russians did not raise any objections. This result is quite surprising, but it is easy to figure out after thinking about it. After the naval battle, the Japanese Navy also paid a great price, and they continued to supplement their combat capabilities to deal with possible threats. The Russians apparently believed that the Rurik 2 battleship was outdated, and they were preparing to build a newer battleship.

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