During the imperial period, the Russian army used troops in a very rough way, and did not treat soldiers as people at all, so Russian soldiers were called "gray cattle", which on the one hand means that their "cost" is low, and on the other hand, it also means that the combat effectiveness of the Russian army is quite bad.

When it comes to Russia, people often think of the "fighting nation", in fact, this is not the case at all, Russia during this period is called the "European gendarmerie", "European steamroller", but the most widely circulated is still the "gray livestock".

In the ongoing Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army behaved relatively amateurishly from top to bottom.

In 1903, the Minister of War of Russia, General Alexei Kuropatkin, after visiting Japan, came to the conclusion that one Russian soldier could deal with three Japanese soldiers, and we would only need 14 days to gather 400,000 troops in Manchuria, which was already three times the number needed to defeat the Japanese army.

General Alexei Kuropatkin probably did not expect that the "military walk" he called would be carried out so tragically.

In the Battle of Arthur and the Battle of Liaoyang, which had already broken out, the Russian troops were still able to inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese troops by virtue of their strong fortresses.

However, once the Russian army left the fortress, its performance in the field was quite amateurish, and it should be noted that at this time the military thinking dominated by the Russian army placed special emphasis on bayonet white-knuckle warfare, advocating the methods of Kutuzov and Napoleon about 100 years ago.

However, once the Russian army encountered the Japanese troops in the field, the Russian army showed vulnerability, and the Japanese troops were often able to defeat the Russian troops in the field, which were several times their own number.

During the battle, the "gray livestock" were demoralized and undisciplined, and in order to escape the battle, many soldiers left the front line under the pretext of helping to carry the stretcher, and there was even a funny scene of nine soldiers rushing to carry a stretcher in front of General Alexei Kuropatkin.

Suo Chao did not know about these circumstances, and if he knew, Suo Chao would have despised the Russians even more.

Of course, the combat effectiveness of the Russian army is not a matter of concern to Suo Chao, the new First Cavalry Division is estimated to have no chance to fight the Russian army in his life, and Suo Chao is still concerned about the money in the pockets of the Russians.

Compared with Japan, although the materials prepared by Russia before the war have been consumed, at least the Russian Empire still has money, and there is no need to find a loan from the RAND Bank.

The weapons sent by the Nyasaland Arsenal this time are 37mm grenade rapid-fire guns, and the northern Rhodesia division has now been replaced with 40mm rapid-fire guns, and these 37mm rapid-fire guns are facing obsolescence, and now they are being sold to the Japanese and Russians, both of whom have a strong demand for rapid-fire guns, especially Russia.

Before the outbreak of the war, the Russian Far Eastern Governor's Office ordered a total of 246 machine guns, 411 heavy machine guns, 240 mountain guns and 48 rapid-fire howitzers from domestic arsenals.

The relatively backward Russian military industrial system, coupled with serious corruption and other problems, led to the fact that the Russian army in the Far East could not deliver the weapons orders in time, until the outbreak of the war, the Russian army in the Far East only got 16 machine guns, 56 heavy machine guns and 128 mountain guns, and none of the other orders were delivered.

Even these already delivered orders have a lot of quality problems, the logistics of the Russian units are very bad, most of the artillery lacks even ordinary grenades and can only be fired with anti-infantry grenades.

The quality of Russian shrapnel is inherently unstable, so the damage to the Japanese positional fortifications is very poor.

Comparatively speaking, the weapons produced by the Nyasaland Arsenal were of more stable quality and more powerful, and the Japanese and Russians who participated in the tests were very satisfied.

Then the problem comes, the production of the Nyasaland Arsenal is also insufficient, Yamaguchi Muxiang wants to order a hundred 37mm rapid-fire guns from the Nyasaland Arsenal, and the Russians want 150, but Nyasaland even if the 37mm rapid-fire guns on the Marine Police ship are removed, plus the inventory is only 80, the next batch of orders is estimated to wait until three months before delivery.

These 80 rapid-fire guns became the focus of contention between the Japanese and the Russians.

"There is no doubt that these rapid-fire guns should all belong to us, and I will pay all the necessary expenses immediately, cash!" Russians have a lot of money.

"I will also pay cash, and I will pay a higher price than the Russians." Yamaguchi Sho is also rich now, and when the money is spent, he can ask the RAND Bank for additional loans, and as for the interest, he can't take care of it.

Now is not the time to be thrifty, if all 80 rapid-fire guns are bought by Yamaguchi Kisho, then the Russians will get nothing, and it will be worth it even if it is a higher price.

"The price is not a problem, I can pay in gold, and no matter how high the price is for the Japanese, my price is ten percent higher than the price of the Japanese." The Russians are really simple and rude.

"Whatever you want, Mr. Nathaniel, I'm going to see Lord Nyasaland, and then we'll talk about it." Yamaguchi Kisho also has a backup plan.

"What a coincidence, I also want to meet Lord Nyasaland." The Russians have the same demands.

"Alright then, we'll talk about that tomorrow." Nathaniel, the head of sales at the Nyasaland Arsenal, was steady and not in a hurry at all.

Yamaguchi's purpose in meeting Roque was to stop the Nyasaland Arsenal and the Russians through Roque.

In the Russo-Japanese War, the British were very inclined to go to war, and without British support, the Japanese would not have dared to go to war with the Russians.

In this war, in addition to the army component, there was another theater of operations at sea.

After the outbreak of the war, the tsarist government decided to transfer ships from the Baltic Fleet to form the "Second Pacific Fleet" and send them to the Far East for reinforcements.

Later, the strength of the Baltic Fleet was insufficient, and a part of the warships from the Black Sea Fleet were withdrawn to join the second detachment and go to the Far East together.

This mixed fleet consisted of 38 major warships of various types, about 20 auxiliary ships, two battalions, and later one more group to three, under the unified command of Vice Admiral Rozhdestwinsky.

In this hastily patched together fleet, some of the ships went to sea before they were fully built, and they were installed while sailing, and the tactical and technical level of the officers and men was low, and some even lacked the minimum training; communication and liaison relied on German-made radio stations, and as soon as the German technicians left, the radio stations were like waste, and the contradictions between the officers and men were very deep, and their morale was low; in particular, the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet were influenced by revolutionary ideas and had the spirit of resistance.

The Second Pacific Fleet was originally scheduled to depart in mid-July 1904, but due to the inability to keep up with preparations, it was postponed to October, and the route was scheduled to run from the Baltic Sea to Vladivostok via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.

At the time of the fleet's departure, due to a series of victories by the Japanese army, there was a serious fear of Japan among the Russian army, almost to the point of being full of soldiers, and it was even rumored that Japan's secret fleet had reached the waters of Northern Europe.

In this atmosphere, the officers and men of the Second Squadron were extremely nervous, and they sometimes blindly opened fire when they saw foreign ships thinking that they were Japanese fleets, and even Russian ships that were far away had misunderstandings and opened fire on each other.

On the night of 21 October, the Second Squadron mistook a British fishing boat for a Japanese fleet in the North Sea and opened fire, injuring the fishing boat, which aroused strong opposition from the British.

The matter had just been heard in public at the International Court of Justice in Paris, and the British government used it to coerce neutral countries not to facilitate the Russian fleet.

The second squadron had no choice but to split the fleet into two, with Rozhdestwinsky continuing the voyage along the Cape of Good Hope with newer and larger ships, while the others were led by Fawkesum and entered the Indian Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, where the two fleets would meet in the waters near Madagascar.

The purpose of the Russians wanting to see Roque is also very simple, according to the provisions of international law, warships of belligerent countries are not allowed to anchor in the ports of neutral countries, this provision has caused great difficulties for the Russian Pacific Second Fleet, starting from the station of the Second Fleet, the distance to Vladivostok is nearly 30,000 kilometers, on the way, Russia does not even have a supplementary base, so the Russians hope that Roque can send supply ships to replenish the Russian Second Fleet on the high seas.

"Mr. Konstantin, why do you think that I will agree to your request?" Roque is ridiculous about the demands of the Russians, and Roque is a baron of England who also has a position in this war.

"Don't get me wrong, sir, it's just a simple business and has nothing to do with anything else." Konstantin tried to circumvent international law and did whatever it took to achieve this goal.

"I'm sorry Mr. Constantine, I can't agree to your request, I am a baron of the British Empire, and I must be aligned with the British Empire on this issue." Roque is righteous and awe-inspiring, and what Konstantin said is wild, and Roque will resolutely not agree to Konstantin's request.

"Sir, I will give you a price that will satisfy you, please be sure to consider it." Konstantin was fighting for it.

"No, that can't be!" Roque decisive.

Seeing Konstantin away, Yamaguchi was full of gratitude when he saw Roque again.

"Thank you very much for your integrity, my lord, the Japanese Empire will not forget your help, you are our eternal friend-" Yamaguchi Sho was grateful to Roque, this is the truth in adversity.

"You're welcome, to be honest, I'm also embarrassed, treating Russians like this will bring huge losses to Johannesburg and Nyasaland." Roque seemed to be heartbroken, and his words were full of copper stench.

Sho Yamaguchi is very clever, and immediately decided to place an additional order.

Konstantin, who was expelled from the Baron's palace in Nyasaland, was depressed, he had expected that it would be difficult to meet Roque, and was ready to be slaughtered by Roque, but he didn't expect Roque to still not give him any chance.

Back at the De Beers Hotel, where he was staying, Konstantin met a new friend in the restaurant.

"Hello Mr. Constantine, I'm Sam, the general manager of the umbrella company—"

Roque won't give up the opportunity to make money!