The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 592 What Should We Do

Seeing that no one was in a hurry to ask further questions, Alexeev smiled, drank the coffee in the cup, and then shook his head hard to make his still heavy brain clearer.

"Generals, I received three telegrams yesterday afternoon."

Alexeev's words made Stessel and other generals in Lushun stunned.

They had not heard Alexeyev mention yesterday what telegrams he had received, three telegrams at that.

"The first telegram was an encrypted telegram from the capital of Qing. It was sent by our Consul General in the capital of Qing, Plasson. In the telegram, he said that he had arranged for the embassy staff to inquire about all Russian merchants in the capital on the fourth of this month, and no one had sent that telegram."

The so-called encrypted telegram is a telegram with code words, which is also an early code.

After all, at that time almost all telegrams had to be sent through civilian telegraph facilities. Many telegrams with confidential content would naturally not be handed over to telegraph office staff to send at will. Instead, they had to be encrypted using code words and other means before being sent.

However, it is still in the early stages of sending telegrams in code, and the code words are extremely simple.

Alexeev continued casually, "Moreover, Plasson bribed the staff of the Qing capital telegraph office to check the telegram records of that day."

"But the strange thing is that there is no record of the mysterious telegram in the telegraph records of the Qing capital telegraph office."

Alexeev smacked his lips and smiled. "Plasun thought that although the address of the telegram was signed as Beijing, it might not necessarily be sent from Beijing, so he asked the French and German ministers for help and tried to find a way to check the Tianjin Telegraph Office."

"At the same time, Plasson has also instructed the Russian consul in Tianjin, who has moved to the French Concession, to send someone to investigate the situation."

It is easy to understand that although the telegram was signed with the capital of the Qing Dynasty, it was actually sent from other places.

This is the case with wired telegraphs. No matter where the telegram comes from, it must be forwarded from one station to another. The place where the telegram was originally sent is only the address signed on it, and the person who finally receives the telegram will know where the telegram came from.

Tianjin, in particular, was not only a telegraph hub connecting Beijing and Manchuria, but also a hub connecting Shanghai to Beijing, so this mysterious telegram was most likely sent from Tianjin.

There was only one telegraph line leading to the outside of the Great Wall, from Tianjin to Fengtian, and then from the Fengtian Telegraph Office to Lushun and the two provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang.

Even if this telegram was sent from Fengtian, as long as the address was signed as the capital of the Qing Dynasty, what Alexeev saw was that it was sent from the capital, unless he checked the sending and receiving records of the Fengtian and Tianjin telegraph offices.

It is absolutely correct for Prasong to send personnel to Tianjin for inquiries, and perhaps some clues can be found there.

Alexeev had already picked up the glass of wine beside him, took a sip of brandy and said.

"Generals, I want to talk about the second telegram from St. Petersburg. Yesterday afternoon, Lamsdorff and Kuropatkin jointly sent me a telegram saying that the Japanese had officially handed over a note of severance of diplomatic relations to us, Russia, at midnight on the 6th."

Alexeev's words were like dropping a huge rock into a calm lake, immediately stirring up huge waves in the hearts of the generals in the conference room.

Lamsdorf, whose full name is Vladimir Nikolayevich Lamsdorf, is the Russian Foreign Minister.

Kuropatkin, whose full name is Alexei Nikolayevich Kuropatkin, was the Russian Minister of War.

The person who knew the content of the Japanese cabinet meeting two days in advance and sent them a telegram was definitely not an ordinary person. He should be someone who was close to the Japanese top leaders, or at least someone who had access to these secrets. Moreover, it seems that he was someone who had a good impression of them, Russia, or at least someone who did not want to see them, the Russians, suffer losses.

Lianavich said nervously, "My dear Governor, such a high-level secret can only be known by people in the Japanese cabinet, or at least by people who have access to such secrets. The only person who can know such a secret in the Qing Dynasty should be the Japanese ambassador to the Qing Dynasty. Of course, consuls in various places may also know about it, such as the Japanese Consulate in Tianjin."

"If this news came from the consulate, it would be incredible."

Alexeev waved his hand and said, "My dear General Lenavych, I need to remind you that the British and the Japanese signed an alliance treaty. The Japanese dared to challenge the dignity of our Russian Empire because they had the support of the British. The Japanese severed diplomatic relations with us. This should be the result of the British's secret instigation. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the British may have known this news in advance."

Lianavich asked in disbelief, "Your Excellency means that the British secretly leaked this news to us! But why did they do this?"

Alexeev smiled complacently and said, "My dear Lenavic, don't think too highly of those British gentlemen. I think those sanctimonious British gentlemen are very happy to see us fighting with the Japanese."

"But it doesn't matter now who is warning us."

Alexeev pursed his beautiful mustache above his lips with his hand and continued.

"The Governor-General's Office had received information that as early as last August, forces in Japan that were stubbornly hostile to Russia had established the so-called "Anti-Russian Comrades Association" and were creating strong public opinion to declare war on Russia. Only a few people, such as Kotoku Shusui, Sakai Toshihiko, and Uchimura Kenzo, insisted on opposing the war."

"Since October last year, public opinion in Japan has turned to a hardline war theory. Therefore, the Japanese broke off diplomatic relations with us. This is very likely that they are about to launch a real war against us, with the goal of seizing our interests in the Far East."

"Generals, now is the time to discuss what we in the Far East can and need to do before the war begins."

Seeing that except for Lennavich and Renningkamp who looked thoughtful, the other generals did not show any nervous expression, Alexeev shook his head helplessly.

"My dear generals, you know that Lamsdorff and Kuropatkin have always been opposed to going to war with the Japanese before we have completely consolidated our rule in the Far East, especially in Manchuria."

"But it was Kuropatkin who repeatedly warned me in his telegrams to step up preparations to prevent the Japanese from launching an active attack on us."

As soon as Alexeev finished speaking, there was a burst of disdainful laughter in the conference room. Stessel even laughed and said, "Dear Governor-General, the Japanese will go to war with us!"

Kontrachenko also smiled and said, "My dear Governor-General, the higher the position Kuropatkin holds, the smaller his courage becomes. He is no longer suitable to be the Minister of War."

"How dare the Japanese start a war with us! Are they crazy?"

"We, the Russian Empire, have more than 200 warships, while the Japanese only have more than 150 warships added together. As for the army, we have a powerful army that Europeans fear, and we have the world's largest standing army of over one million."

"And since last year, in order to prevent the Qing general in Zhili from harassing us, we have even increased the standing army to 2 million. Once the war breaks out, we can mobilize more than 3 million troops in a short period of time."

"And our artillery is far superior to the Japanese in terms of quality and caliber. What can they use to fight us?"

"Also, our soldiers are all tall and strong. When dealing with short Japanese, one can beat several of them."

"Not to mention, our military strength in the Far East has reached 800,000, while the Japanese regular military strength has just expanded to less than 700,000. With this number of people, even if they transfer all their domestic troops to Manchuria, they will definitely be vulnerable."

Stessel's words were immediately greeted with applause. Alexeev noticed that Lenavich and Rennenkamp were the only ones who neither applauded nor laughed.

Alexeev also smiled and clapped his thick, ruddy palms and said, "General Kontrachenko's analysis makes sense. We really shouldn't be afraid of going to war with the Japanese. Once the war breaks out, I don't mind incorporating Japanese land into our Far East territory."

Alexeev changed the subject and said, "However, although our powerful Russian nation is not afraid of these yellow monkeys riding on big rats, we have to pay attention to them. At least we should be prepared. Kuropatkin's suggestion is still very reasonable."

"Since the Japanese have severed diplomatic relations with our Russian Empire, it is almost certain that they will openly overestimate their capabilities and go to war with us. Therefore, we must make corresponding preparations. Tell me, what can we do now?"

Seeing that Alexeev was preparing for battle, Lianavich hurriedly spoke.

"Your Excellency, if the Japanese go to war with us, they will certainly attack us from both land and sea."

"On land, they will certainly launch an attack through Korea, just like when they fought against the Qing Dynasty. They want to cross the Yalu River into Manchuria, and then threaten Lushun from the flank by controlling strategic locations such as Jiuliancheng and Fenghuangcheng."

"As for the sea route, they will definitely send out a fleet to attack the main force of our Pacific Fleet in the Port Arthur area, and then threaten the flank of our Port Arthur troops at sea. If the Japanese succeed in the above operations, Port Arthur will likely be attacked by the Japanese army at sea and land, or even be surrounded by them."

"In order to prevent the above situation from happening, I suggest that, first, the Pacific Fleet in Port Arthur should go out to sea as soon as possible and conduct a strategic cruise within 50 to 100 nautical miles of Port Arthur."

"Once you find that the Japanese naval fleet is hostile, you should open fire immediately. Even if you cannot destroy the enemy, you should isolate the Japanese fleet in the open sea and prevent them from getting close to important coastal areas such as Lushun, Haicheng and Yingkou."

"Second, we will set up the East Manchuria Detachment, the South Manchuria Detachment and the Guandong Island Detachment, and station them along the Yalu River, Yingkou, Haicheng, and Jinzhou in Lushun."

"Specifically, Lieutenant General Mikhail Zasulich, commander of the Second Siberian Army Corps, will serve as the commander of the East Manchuria Detachment. The specific troops will be composed of two infantry divisions and one brigade each of cavalry and artillery to form the East Manchuria Detachment;"

"Appoint Lieutenant General Shtakliberg, commander of the 1st Siberian Army, as the commander of the South Manchuria Detachment, commanding to battalions of troops, with more than artillery pieces, to garrison the Yingkou and Haicheng lines."

"With the Kontrachenko East Siberian Infantry 7th Division as the main force, form a Kwantung Province Detachment and station it outside of Lushun Jinzhou."

"Third, to prevent any accidents, all military supplies such as coal, food, weapons and ammunition should be immediately stockpiled in the Lushun Fortress and the Lushun and Dalian ports, and the construction of the fortress and the outer positions should be improved as soon as possible."

"Fourth, Vladivostok, Sakhalin and other places should not only increase their defensive forces, but also step up the construction of defensive fortifications."

"Sixth, immediately transfer the troops stationed outside Lake Baikal and East Siberia to assemble near the Amur River. It would be even better if some of them could enter Manchuria."

Although Lenavich's suggestion was quite conventional, it was also a relatively correct move before the war began. However, before Alexeyev, who was frowning slightly, could speak, Stessel started laughing.

"Oh, I think Lord Lian Navic seems a little scared! And he is not familiar with the Port Arthur Fortress. I dare not interfere with other deployment suggestions, but the Port Arthur Fortress definitely does not need to make a fuss about increasing troops and stockpiling any supplies."

Although Stessel was nominally a subordinate of Lenavicius, Stessel, who was also a lieutenant general, did not take Lenavicius seriously. Not only because he, as the commander of the Port Arthur Fortress, was not entirely under the management of Lenavicius, but was directly under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General Alexeev, but also because he was dissatisfied with Lenavicius's series of defeats in Zhili Province of the Qing Dynasty.

To prove his point, Stessel continued, ignoring the blushing Lenavic.

"Now I will give Lord Lenavich a brief introduction to the situation of Port Arthur."

"The Lushun Fortress took several years to build. During this period, a team of experts from China conducted a comprehensive survey and design of the Lushun Fortress, which cost a total of 1100 million rubles. More than fortresses and more than artillery batteries were built, forming a complete fortress defense system that includes attacking enemy ships at sea and fighting on land."

"The sea-based artillery batteries are equipped with 280 cannons with a caliber of less than 133 mm. Among them, there are 4 artillery batteries in Laoluzui, equipped with 36 cannons, responsible for the defense of the sea and Yanchang Bay, and can completely block the entrance to Lushun East Port;"

"Golden Mountain has 7 artillery batteries equipped with 36 cannons, responsible for attacking enemy ships at sea and supporting land operations;"

"There are 11 artillery batteries on the Tiger Tail Peninsula, equipped with 61 cannons, which are mainly responsible for attacking enemy surface ships, preventing enemy ships from approaching the port, and supporting land operations."

"The land defense line is divided into two defense circles, the inner and outer defense circles, with a total depth of 60 kilometers. The outer defense circle has three positions. The first position focuses on Nanshan, with a defense area of ​​nearly 5 kilometers wide and a maximum depth of 9 kilometers. There are permanent and semi-permanent fortifications;"

"The second position is located along the Shuangtaigou and Longwangtang lines. The defensive front is 20 to 25 kilometers wide and 4 to 5 kilometers deep. It has semi-permanent and field fortifications."

(End of this chapter)