Chapter 487 Dragon Flags Everywhere

The fleet of the envoys sailed from the Pearl River into the South China Sea.

The dragon flag of the Song Dynasty on it covered the sky.

As an official envoy, they were fully prepared for this voyage.

On the voyage, they had experienced sailors and guides.

In terms of logistics, they had clothes for all seasons to keep warm, and all kinds of pickled meats, pickled vegetables, and tea to supplement the required nutrition.

In terms of weapons and equipment, there were a large number of muskets and artillery, and the ammunition reserves were extremely abundant. It was not a big problem to destroy a few small countries in the Middle East.

More than a hundred ships of various types were spread out in a triangular cone.

The ironclad ships led the way in the front, and the Pearl River Navy supported the left and right wings, and the ships of the envoys were escorted in the middle.

If a general familiar with military affairs looked closely at the whole formation, he would find that this was not a defensive formation at all.

It was an offensive formation!

The Song Dynasty Navy was full of martial virtues. Even when protecting the envoys, they never thought about defense, but destroyed all enemies they saw!

In the Song Dynasty, the navigation between China and the West was very smooth, and there were many routes to choose from.

They sailed steadily along the Guangzhou coastline at an average speed of 6 kilometers per hour to the southwest, and lighthouses were built along the coastline islands to illuminate and guide.

This is because they slowed down to protect the envoys.

Otherwise, with a favorable wind, they could reach a speed of 6 knots, or 10 kilometers per hour, at full speed.

For example, Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty could maintain a speed of 100-130 nautical miles per day when he sailed to the West, which was equivalent to traveling 200 kilometers a day, with a speed of more than 8 kilometers per hour.

The fleet of the Song Dynasty recruited all experienced sailors and guides who were able to master the trade wind laws and current patterns on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean and the entire Indian Ocean, and could make full use of them.

Therefore, the voyage was naturally smooth.

In late March, the weather was clear and the South China Sea was cloudless. After one night, they arrived at the waters of Hailing Island south of Yangjiang City in the future by the afternoon of the next day, with a journey of about 160 nautical miles.

The biggest feature of sea transportation is that it can travel day and night. At night, if there are no clouds in the sky and the moon is bright, you can sail by the stars.

But if there are too many dark clouds in the sky and the vision is blocked, you can rely on the compass to slow down the speed.

In this way, you can sail for 24 hours without stopping.

Whether it is for the Jinghai Navy, the Pearl River Navy, or the recruited crew members and sailors, the South China Sea is like their own backyard.

The fleet has almost no obstacles and is walking on the familiar road.

On the contrary, the more than 100 people of the envoys and the 2,000 musket soldiers dispatched from Guangzhou are like outsiders. They are full of freshness in the first two days, looking around on the board and seeing the scenery.

Then it became boring. Those who should read novels read novels, those who play chess play chess, those who play cards play cards, and live a boring marine life.

The good thing is that the entertainment culture of the Song Dynasty is relatively rich now. Although there are no computers, mobile phones, or wifi, all kinds of novels and chess and cards are popular. Occasionally, you can catch some sea fish to relieve this boring life.

On the afternoon of the third day, they passed Maoming in the future and arrived at Xuwen County.

Generally, sea-borne merchants would take two routes here. One is to cross the Qiongzhou Strait, go to the Jiangnan Prefecture of the Yue Dynasty first, trade Vietnamese specialties there, and then go south along the coastline to Champa.

The other is to go directly south, go around Hainan Island half a circle, from Haikou to Sanya, and then continue south to Vijaya, the capital of Champa.

Tan Wenxue and his team did not need to go to the Yue Dynasty.

Because the many envoys sent out by the court had their own goals, each went their own way, and did not interfere with each other.

Later, the court would send another team to the southwest by land to Dali, Yue Dynasty, Bagan, Halipunkhai, Angkor, Pegu, Alayu, Sina, Polo and other countries.

These places are Yunnan, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other places in my country in the future.

There are some inland countries in them, and the envoys to the Middle East would not be convenient if they took sea transportation.

Therefore, the envoys directly chose the second route, and the first stop was Champa.

Soon on the evening of the fourth day, they traveled more than 100 nautical miles, spent four and a half days, and the total journey reached more than 800 kilometers. Starting from Guangzhou, they traveled about 180 kilometers a day and arrived at Zhuyazhou, which is Sanya.

This is the southernmost tip of the territory of the Song Dynasty today. Although the Jinghai Navy has military bases in Mayit Island and Puluozhong, that is, the Philippines and Singapore, it is not the territory of the Han people after all.

In the future, it will also require a large number of immigrants to become Han territory. Therefore, it can be said that after going south from Hainan Island, they officially went overseas.

The capital of Champa is called Vijaya, which is the Thai Binh Province of Vietnam in later generations. It is about 400 kilometers away from Sanya. Under normal circumstances, it takes 6-7 days to depart from Guangzhou to Vijaya, the capital of Champa.

The envoys are still very smooth here.

Although there was a strong wind along the way, it was a southeast wind, which provided a steady stream of power for the ship. It did not rain, and the weather was very clear, with high visibility at night.

Therefore, the fleet did not stop in Sanya. After bypassing Hainan Island, it headed straight for Vijaya.

But on the fifth day, something strange happened.

In the early morning, Tan Wenxue and others were awakened by the sound of a horn.

There was a panic in the cabin. Many officials of the envoys got out of bed, put on their clothes quickly, and ran to the deck.

"What's going on? What's going on?"

"Why is there the sound of a horn? Have you encountered pirates?"

"Go and have a look."

The officials looked around and saw that the fleet was still sailing steadily, with sails floating around as if there was nothing.

Even the formation hasn't changed much.

Only a Sea Falcon attack ship on the left wing in the south suddenly changed its course and headed southwest.

"what happened?"

Tan Wenxue was confused and didn't understand why the horn sounded.

He and Zhang Youwei were the chief officers on this voyage.

However, the Song Dynasty is gradually stripping away the power of civilian officials to lead wars.

Therefore, except for large-scale legionary operations, which were often led by civil servants such as Fan Zhongyan and Zhang Kang, ordinary wars, and even smaller-scale wars to destroy the country, no longer allowed civilians to intervene.

For example, when Di Qing invaded the Western Regions, he did not send any civilian officials there, and Di Qing led the whole process. Envoys such as Sun Youtong and Li Tao only played some envoy roles.

Therefore, this time Tan Wenxu and others went on a mission to the West. They did not have command rights during the sailing period. They only had diplomatic rights when they went ashore to negotiate with foreign countries.

The military leadership was provided by Wang Shining, commander of the Jing Navy.

The only exception was when they arrived in the country where they were envoys and encountered war, they could discuss with Wang Shining whether to start a fight or negotiate through diplomatic means.

"Mr. Zhong, he is a pirate."

Naturally, there are soldiers guarding the main ship.

A captain from the Jing Navy was in charge. He stood on the side of the ship and looked into the distance with a telescope, and then reported to Tan Wenxue and others: "A pirate ship appeared in the south, but it has been driven away."

"pirate?"

Tan Wenxue also asked for a pair of binoculars from the soldiers nearby and looked to the southwest. Sure enough, he saw their Sea Falcon attack ship chasing a black spot.

It's just that the black spot is so small that even if you look at it with a telescope from a high place on the sea where the view is excellent, you can't see it clearly.

Judging from the magnification of the telescopes in their hands, the other party may be at least thirty kilometers away from them.

"Liu Dutou."

Zhang Youwei wondered: "Isn't it said that the Jing Navy and the Guangzhou and Qiongzhou Navy have repeatedly attacked pirates, making them almost extinct?"

"How can it be completely extinct?"

Liu Dutou smiled and said: "It's just that the offshore sea is gone and they don't dare to come to the shore to cause trouble."

"Well?"

Zhang Youwei frowned slightly, this was different from what he had heard.

Liu Dutou explained: "What the doctor doesn't know is that the South China Sea is too big. Even if the Jing navy expands ten times and has hundreds of armored ships, it is impossible to patrol the South China Sea at all times to ensure maritime safety. What's more, it is impossible to eliminate all pirates. "

"Is that so?"

"Yes, this businessman carries hundreds of thousands of pounds of property when he goes to sea, which naturally attracts bandits to covet him. The South China Sea is considered good. Before our Jing navy went to Puluo Zhong, Srivijaya, Cholu and other places were full of bandits. It is said that there are countless pirates in Dashi, and even many merchants are bandits themselves. If they encounter another caravan that is weaker than themselves at sea, it is common for them to rob them on the spot. "

"Is this so?"

Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei were both shocked. They didn't expect the sea to be so chaotic.

"Um."

Liu Dutou nodded and said: "In addition, these pirates are bandits when they go out and fishermen when they come in. They are from all the surrounding countries. Most of our Han people are bandits. The Guangdong Transportation Department even suspects that some countries around the South China Sea are behind them. Even though we are invincible at sea if we are driven from behind, it is still easy for people to run away and it is really difficult to kill them.”

"So that's what it is."

The two of them suddenly realized why pirates appeared after arriving overseas.

The South China Sea route is currently the most prosperous route in the world, connecting the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. The cargo carried by any ocean-going fleet can range from hundreds of thousands of guan to millions of guan.

Since ancient times, wealth has attracted people's hearts. Wherever there is wealth, looting is inevitable.

Therefore, as long as this route exists, it is impossible to eliminate piracy. The only difference is the intensity of attack by each country.

The navy of the Song Dynasty was powerful, so it was able to eliminate pirates in the surrounding area, but the offshore waters were difficult to deal with.

First, the naval forces of neighboring countries are very weak.

The navies of Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Champa, and Srivijaya cannot be said to be very powerful. They can only be regarded as better than nothing.

Even some pirates are driven by these countries.

For example, in the fourth year of Qiandao in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was recorded that the Arab merchant Wushidian was robbed of all his goods by local pirates when he was passing through Champa.

Later, King Jayavarman IV of Champa sent an envoy to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, and it happened that Wushidian was also in Quanzhou.

He discovered that the goods that Champa paid tribute to the Song Dynasty were all his goods that had been robbed, so he reported it to the Quanzhou Shipping Department, which involved a case of state robbery of merchants.

This shows how complex the forces behind these pirates are.

Secondly, many of those pirates were fishermen from neighboring countries. The boats they used were very fast, and the navy chased them. They fled back to their countries dozens of kilometers away, and then immediately transformed into fishermen and villagers.

Faced with this situation, the navy of the Song Dynasty could not go ashore and massacre villages in other countries.

So for now, what the Jinghai Navy and the navies of Guangzhou, Guangxi, Fujian and other places can attack are basically pirates in offshore waters.

Especially, the establishment of the Guangzhou, Guangxi and Fujian naval forces is to defend the coastal coast, and at most they can patrol and escort in the South China Sea.

The Jinghai Navy is the only fleet that can sail to the distant seas. Just relying on their thousands of troops, even if they are powerful and can destroy some small countries in Southeast Asia, they can't do anything about the pirates in the distant seas.

"But you don't have to worry."

Liu Dutou smiled and said, "My Song Dynasty Navy is strong. Those pirates have always fled when they saw my Song Dynasty dragon flag. This time they just watched from a distance and didn't dare to get close."

"Since our navy is strong and they run away when they see the dragon flag, why do they dare to come and spy?"

Tan Wenxue found the problem.

"Doctor, look over there."

Liu Dutou was about to explain, but suddenly noticed countless black spots in the distance. He took a look first, and then pointed to the distance.

Tan Wenxue was puzzled and raised the telescope in his hand again.

He saw another fleet in the distance, which was mighty. Under the observation of the telescope, the original small black spots became clearer and clearer. It was vaguely seen that in addition to the sails, there were many flags fluttering on the ship.

"What is that?"

Tan Wenxue was very surprised and said, "Is that our own caravan of the Great Song Dynasty?"

He saw that the bows of the ships were full of dragon flags of the Great Song Dynasty.

"No."

Liu Dutou shook his head and said, "It should be merchants from the Arab Empire."

The dragon flags of the Great Song Dynasty were flying on the ships of the Arab Empire merchants?

"I understand."

Tan Wenxue was not stupid and quickly guessed the reason: "Is it because the pirates fled immediately when they saw the dragon flag of the Song Dynasty at the beginning, so the merchants followed suit and put up the dragon flag to protect their safety. Later, the pirates noticed this and were afraid of our navy and the merchants who were bullying us, so even if they knew there was danger, they had to send ships to spy?"

"Yes."

Liu Dutou nodded: "Although this may be seen through by pirates, it is much better than being robbed by pirates directly as before. Moreover, the pirates came to spy and were afraid of being annihilated by our navy, so they dared not come in large forces. They only sent one or two fast boats. Even if they saw through that they were merchants, they had to go back to report. This back and forth would delay a lot of time, which might allow the merchants to escape smoothly, or delay time until the cruising navy appeared, so that the safety of the merchants could be guaranteed."

"This is also a good thing, but I remember that there are rules and laws for the use of national flags. "

Tan Wenxue put down the telescope and asked in confusion: "They are foreigners. The court allows them to fly the flag of our Song Dynasty?"

"Of course not, but the new decree of the Political System Council was issued the year before last, saying that as long as the company is registered with the Song Dynasty Industry and Commerce Bureau and taxes are paid locally, the flag of the Song Dynasty can be flown and protected by the navy. If the company is not registered and the dragon flag is used to bully others at sea, once it is caught by the navy, it will be punished to death."

Liu Dutou said: "The doctor also knows that the court has always attached great importance to commerce. After this decree was issued, the commercial tax of the Guangzhou Industry and Commerce Bureau was indeed much higher. Many people registered locally, and the Guangzhou treasury was full for a while."

"Yes, I remember that the Political System Council did have such a decree before, and it turned out to be here."

Tan Wenxue looked at the distance. The fleet in the distance was getting closer and closer. As expected, they were all flags of the Song Dynasty. In the whistling southeast wind, they looked very majestic.

"In this case, the sea is probably full of dragon flags!"