Another World: Naval Storm

Just as the Battle of Promon was about to end, a major war was brewing in the Far East.

Wa-no-Kingdom, Imperial Household Agency

"Your Majesty, I failed! I disappointed you!" Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito stood up and apologized to Emperor Kikuchi who was sitting above him.

"Thank you for your hard work, my dear minister. Didn't everyone expect this to happen? It's not a question of whether I'm disappointed or not." Emperor Kikuchi was very calm.

"The Russians will not stop coveting the Far East. The Tsar wants to expand in the Far East like a disease!" Ito Hirobumi said slowly, "I expressed to the Tsar the Japanese desire to avoid war and seek peace, but the Tsar did not respond on the spot. It seems that a war with Russia is inevitable."

"The Russians are ambitious. It is better to strike early than late. The Kingdom Army has a 23% chance of winning this war. Once the Russians build the Xianbei Lia Railway, the Russian troops will continue to arrive, and we will not be able to protect Goryeo!" said the Army Chief of Staff Tamagegen Jitaro. At this time, the Russian Kingdom only had about troops in the Far East. It was not that the Russians did not want to send more troops, but it was too difficult to transport supplies and troops from Onebaroa to the Far East. There were millions of troops and a large amount of supplies, but they could not be transported there.

"The Kingdom has completed the "Six-Six Fleet" plan to deal with the Russians. Six battleships and six armored cruisers will form the core of the new combined fleet. Several battleships will be commissioned in June." Navy Chief of Staff Tohei Shimosaburo pointed to the giant map hanging in the room and continued, "The Russians' Far East Fleet is not worth mentioning. The squadron anchored in Mashijin has 7 battleships, 7 armored cruisers, and 5 protected cruisers. There are also 2 armored gunboats, 4 small escort ships, 1 gunboat, 25 destroyers, and 21 torpedo boats. The combined fleet can block them in the port and prevent them from leaving."

"The loans provided by the Kingdom of Tarun and the Republic of Yemelica have all been spent. If we cannot defeat the Russians, the kingdom's economy will collapse! So we must win!" Ito Hirobumi reminded.

Japan had been preparing for war, and half of the compensation it received from defeating Xunyang was invested in military affairs. In 1902, it signed the Tarun Kingdom Alliance Treaty and borrowed more than 4500 million pounds from it. The Republic of Yemelica provided Japan with about 5000 million US dollars on five occasions.

"We can also make use of the revolutionary parties in Rakshasa and let them disrupt the domestic situation in Rakshasa!" Foreign Minister Komatsu Jutaro came up with a vicious plan.

"As long as we can achieve victory, go for it! However, no revolutionary party will be allowed in the country!" Emperor Kikuchi said sternly.

"Hi!" Everyone stood up and bowed in response.

The atmosphere was tense, and the strategic situation of the Rakshasa Empire was quite unfavorable. In the view of the Rakshasa Empire Army General Staff, Japan could easily mobilize several times more troops than itself due to its geographical advantage. Once the war started, Japan would not be satisfied with a small Goryeo, and would definitely invade the Liaodong Peninsula, and the first target would most likely be Ma Shijin.

"We should gather all our troops between Liaoyang and Haicheng. If the Imperial Fleet can cut off Japan's fast transportation line on the Yellow Sea and force them to cross the rugged mountainous areas of Goryeo, our chances of winning will increase!" The staff of the General Staff gave advice.

"Let's do it!" The Tsar finally agreed to the plan.

Finance Minister Witte advised the Tsar, "Your Majesty, now is not the best time to launch a war against Japan. We can make appropriate concessions. Wait until the railway is completed and the repairs of Ma Shijin and other fortresses are completed before taking action."

"Are you afraid of those yellow monkeys?" The Tsar picked up the wine glass and threw it at Witte. Fortunately, it just brushed past his ear, otherwise the newspapers would have published a scandal tomorrow that a senior cabinet minister was thrown into the hospital by the tyrant.

"Your Majesty, Witte is just thinking about the empire." Foreign Minister Ramsdorff tried to smooth things over. He also supported postponing the war.

"The Rakshasa Empire has the right to defend its interests in the Far East, even at the cost of resorting to force!"

"The Empire only needs one small victory to stop the spread of the revolution!"

"It's such a small country that it can't withstand a single blow!" Other important officials, led by the Grand Chancellor Alexander Bezobrazov, supported starting the war as soon as possible.

Witte forgot that he had a bunch of pig teammates, and history proved that he was right. Unfortunately, at this time, there was still a bunch of fanatical chauvinists and imperialist adventurers in the cabinet. They wanted to start a war abroad to ease the increasingly intense revolutionary atmosphere at home.

"The Empire is not prepared enough, but is Japan ready? If we give in today, will we give in tomorrow?" The Tsar was convinced that a tough policy was the foundation of the Russian Empire's strength. In this way, Bezobrazov was promoted and began to implement the new policy.

The time left for the Rakshasas was short, and the corruption in the bureaucracy slowed down the preparations for war.

Unfortunately, the officials of the Navy Department did not pay any attention to the plan given by the Army, nor did they intend to cooperate with the Army in combat, resulting in the failure to gain control of the Yellow Sea at the beginning of the war.

In addition, the Far East Governor of the Rakshasa Kingdom, Alexeev, always believed that his fleet was equal to the strength of the Japanese. Seeking a decisive battle, they placed the main fleet in Ma Shijin. The mission of the Vladivostok Squadron was to slow down the invasion of the Japanese by harassing the enemy's transportation lines and creating as much chaos as possible.

At the same time, the Russian Empire and the French Republic issued a decree in St. Petersburg, stating that the two countries would reserve room for free action to protect the interests of the two countries when changes occur in the Far East in the future. This was to extend the military alliance between the two countries to the Far East, and directly target the alliance between Tarun and Japan. However, the French Republic did not want the Russians to invest their main military forces in the Far East, so as not to weaken the alliance's strength in the Onebaroa continent to deal with the Drak Empire. Therefore, it had a certain degree of reservation in supporting the Russian Empire's Far East policy.

The Drake Empire has always been implementing a policy of indulging and pushing the Russian Empire eastward. It hopes that the Russian Empire's occupation of the northeast will intensify the contradictions with Japan and even the Kingdom of Tarun, forcing the Russian Empire to transfer troops from the western border, and indirectly weakening the pressure of the Faroese Alliance on the Drake Empire. Therefore, the Drake Empire basically expressed support for the Russian Empire's Far East policy. After the outbreak of the war, the Drake Empire continued to implement this policy. When the Russian Empire's Sarmatian Sea Fleet was transferred eastward, the Drake Empire expressed its willingness to add coal for it. Later, it even brewed a "alliance" with Rhodes.

Thus, two major groups were formed on the issue of the Far East: one was the Tawo Alliance, backed by Yemelica, and the other was the Faro Alliance. The Drakians opposed the Franco-French Republic on the Onebaroa continent and supported the Russian Empire in the Far East.