When history entered March 1906, the Russo-Japanese War, marked by the outbreak of the South China Sea War, had been fighting for a full 20 months! In this war that decided the Far East overlord, both the distant Eastern European overlord Russia and the newly emerging Far East power Japan, all put in 12 points of strength to fight! The former was for the deep-water port I had dreamed of, while the latter was for survival.

Judging from the scale of the troops participating in the war and the equipment level, this war is much stronger than in history. The Russian army's peak force in the Far East was as large as 700,000. The Japanese invested 550,000 troops without any weakness. In the end, after more than a year of fighting, the total number of people killed and injured by the Russian Army reached 250,000! The Japanese Army also had 175,000 casualties and 30,000 were captured! Among them, in Lushunkou, the Japanese Army even died in a battle of more than 45,000, setting a new record!

The battle at sea was also brutal. Although the Japanese unexpectedly attacked the Makanov fleet by relying on undeclared battles, in the end, a group of warships successfully returned to Vladivostok. Subsequently, the Russian Navy, which lost to the Japanese fleet on the front battlefield, decisively launched a battle of sea breaking. More than a dozen warships of various types played hide-and-seek with the Japanese Navy in the vast area of ​​Vladivostok in the north and south to the South China Sea.

During the more than a year of maritime break-up and anti-breach war, Japan and the fleets transporting materials for Japan lost 450,000 tons! If it were not for the continuous support of the British, the ocean-going transport ships in Japan were sunk and not enough for the Russians to fight. What made the Japanese most sad was that in the Sea of ​​Japan, two Liurik-2 battleships formed a formation to successfully ambush a Japanese army's transport fleet. After destroying the two dome-armored cruisers, the two warships sent 4 transport ships, 5,500 Japanese troops on it, 82 various artillery and hundreds of tons of ammunition to the seabed.

The maritime war like noose caused huge losses to Japan's domestic economy. Four months after the war started, various food and industrial raw materials began to be inadequate, and the textiles piled up in the port could not be exported. The lowest cargo throughput of all Japanese ports was only half the usual one! Even the British were worried that the Japanese might not be able to hold on.

However, as time went by and the help of the British, the Japanese successfully reversed the decline at sea after paying a heavy price. Outside the Zhoushan Islands, the Japanese armored cruiser fleet led by Hikono-seong Uemura successfully blocked two Liurik Type 2 armored cruisers. After being sunk an armored cruiser and severely damaged two. Successfully forced Grombao to strand near the sea, while another Russia was forced to enter the UK for loan and then disarmed.

Subsequently, with the capture of Lushunkou, the Russian battleships inside were either sunk or became the spoils of the Japanese Navy. With the arrival of the winter of 1904, the Russian fleet, which was only one port in Vladivostok, was blocked by the sea ice and the Japanese Navy, and Japan's maritime transportation finally became normal.

The Japanese who took Lushun began to advance northward, but although the Russian army in this plane was still relatively watery, the Japanese were not much stronger. Although they invested far more weapons and personnel than in history, and although they still defeated the Russian army in many wars, their deepest attack line did not surpass history!

The Russians' economy was also unable to support it. In order to ensure the stability of the ruble and raise enough funds, the Russians sold 80% of precious metals and various gems in the treasury in the international market. If the prince remembers correctly, the sold in history should be less than 60% of the gold in the treasury.

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

In fact, the riots and revolutions in Russia have put the entire Russia in a state of turmoil. In desperation, France, before Japan and Russia even started negotiations, it first provided Russia with a grant of 300 million francs. The only requirement was to make Russia verbally promise that the money would not be needed in the Far East War. Of course, the French could not supervise the Russians how they spent this money.

The trauma and consumption brought by the war far exceeded the expectations of all countries, and this time the Americans did not become intermediaries anymore. They wished that the longer the war would be, the better! So the British stood up. On the one hand, they guaranteed that Russia's rights and interests in North Manchuria were not infringed, and on the other hand, they guaranteed that if Japan's rights and interests in the Far East were damaged by foreign countries, the British could provide help. This approach of pulling both sides at the same time can also give Japan and Russia a step forward.

It has to be said that the British were indeed powerful. He seized the pain points of both sides. The Russians had already lost militarily. Their current national strength was not enough to continue to support the war, and it was impossible to regain everything they had lost militarily. So what they thought was how to make themselves lose less. And the British promised that the Russians at least saved North Manchuria.

Similarly, the Japanese have a lot of trouble. Not to mention the funds that have been destroyed, the army, and the loans to be repaid in the future, the weak period caused by the war will make the Japanese extremely uncomfortable. What if the Americans come to kill again at this time? Even if the Americans just pretend to behave and don’t have to fight a battle, the economy will be enough to drag down Japan, which has been exhausted! The British guarantees undoubtedly make Japan much safer. If the British do not fight, then the United States will not be able to pose any threat to the British-Japanese alliance in the Far East.

When it was late May and the results of the Russian-London Conference came out, Ruprecht could only say that luck was aroused in his heart, because the content of the entire agreement was exactly the same as that signed by Japan and Russia in history. Both sides invested more efforts to achieve a result similar to that in history. Well, it was very good.

By the way, the prince also paid attention to the fate of the two Liurik Type 2 battleships that were still stuck in the British Concession in Shanghai. These two warships were finally obtained by the Japanese. The Russians did not raise any objections. This result was quite surprising, but it was easy to figure it out. After the naval battle, the Japanese Navy also paid a great price, and they continued to replenish combat power to deal with possible threats. The Russians obviously believed that the Liurik Type 2 battleship was outdated and they were preparing to build newer warships.
Chapter completed!