Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 552
After resting at home for two days, Fanning set off before dawn on the third day.

The [-] sailors have assembled on board at night, and they will take [-] oar boats to Xingang, accompanied by [-] Wanshi supply ships, full of various military supplies and food.

There is no doubt that Fan Ning has been waiting for this day for a long time. From the time when he went to Sri Lanka to buy land and was rejected, he knew that the only way to seize the land in Singapore was by force.

Amidst the sound of drums on the shore, fifty large ships departed from the port one by one and headed for Nanyang
Half a month later, the Song army fleet arrived at Xingang. At this time, Xingang was the busiest trading port in Nanyang. There were more than 340 long-term merchants, most of them were Song merchants, and there were dozens of Western merchants, even from Genoa. And Venetian merchants also set up their firms here.

There are also many local commercial firms in Nanyang, such as Boni Kingdom, Sanfoqi, Chenla, Champa, Luzon, etc., there are more than 30, and there are thousands of businessmen from various countries doing business here.

There are more than 400 large and small warehouses, and the military also has more than a hundred warehouses. Thousands of ships gather in the bay, with sails like clouds. Elephants carrying goods and donkey carts running back and forth appear on the pier from time to time.

Japanese laborers have been withdrawn from Luzon Island and replaced by laborers from Boni Country. They are mainly engaged in port handling. Tens of thousands of Boni Country people bring their wives and daughters to make a living here.

The business district is even more lively. There are thirteen brothels alone, and the prostitutes are mainly from the Nanyang area. There are also more than a dozen restaurants, inns, teahouses, Guanpu shops, grocery stores, fruit stores, clothing stores, Quality warehouses, money shops, etc., were basically opened by merchants in the Song Dynasty.

In addition, there is a small town not far from the port. The small town is a residential area with hundreds of houses. After night falls, except for the brothel until midnight, all other shops are closed. Everyone has to go back to the city to rest. There are several schools that mainly teach the children of Boni people to learn Chinese for free.

Mingren and Mingli were quick-witted, and they simply opened a shipping company in Xingang. Western merchants can rent their Wanshi sea boats to the Persian Gulf. The fees are fair, and they are very popular among merchants. Hundreds of thousands of stone ships transported goods for Western merchants.

Over time, Western wooden boats rarely appeared in Nanyang, and Song boats dominated the ocean.

However, the Nanyang pirates that appeared this year sounded the alarm for the prosperity of Xingang. Although Fan Ning slightly expanded the rampantness of Nanyang pirates in order to fight for the right to war, the signs of this danger have already appeared. If they are not eliminated in time, sooner or later they will lead to become a serious problem.

When the Song Dynasty army arrived, the pier was full of welcoming businessmen, and they welcomed the Song Army to take action from the bottom of their hearts.

Pirates in the South Seas are a malignant tumor that affects the interests of everyone.

When Fan Ning came to the barracks, Mao Nanwu, the commander of the Xingang Garrison, stepped forward to salute, "The humble Mao Nanwu sees the economic envoy!"

In the past few months, Mao Nanwu has led the army to go out to sea to suppress the bandits, which has been quite fruitful, but because of the cover of the Three Buddhas, he was unable to completely wipe out the pirates, and Mao Nanwu had already suppressed his anger.

"General Mao has worked hard these past few months."

"The humble job is not hard work, the humble job only hopes to get rid of the shoulders and work hard, and wipe out the pirates and their masters as soon as possible."

"You'll see the day soon."

Fan Ning said indifferently: "Now I want to know, how to force the Three Buddhas Qi Kingdom to take the initiative to fight against us?"

Mao Nanwu cheered up, and quickly said: "There are two ways. The pirates' lairs are all on their coastal islands. We can directly attack the pirates and force them to take action. The second is to block the coast of the Three Buddha Qi Kingdom. There are three big islands on the outskirts, as long as we occupy these three big islands and set up temporary military camps on the islands, we will block pirates in name, but in fact block their trade, Sanfoji will not last long!"

Fan Ning took two steps with his hands behind his back, and said to Mao Nanwu: "The latter strategy is to subjugate the enemy without fighting, but it does not meet my goal. I want to completely wipe out the navy of the Three Buddhas, and I don't want to give them opportunity for negotiation."

"Then use the first option!"

Mao Nanwu said without hesitation: "Send a few thousand stone warships to suppress the bandits and lure them to attack. The Three Buddhas and Qi Kingdom have tried to attack us several times. Thanks to our quick retreat, I guarantee that they will attack again. At that time As long as the other party strikes first, we don’t have to be polite.”

Fan Ning nodded, "Then General Mao will be the bait!"

Mao Nanwu knelt down on one knee and cupped his fists and said, "The humble job will definitely not disappoint you!"

The fleet that Fan Ning brought from Quanzhou was only a part of the warships. On the Xingang military wharf and in the bay, there were more than a hundred small and medium-sized warships moored, most of which were patrol boats of thousands of stones and warships of about three thousand stones. In inner lake or great river water battles, these warships are big ships, but in the vast sea, in the turbulent waves with countless dangers hidden, this kind of warships are really nothing, at most they can only be used as auxiliary warships and patrol boats.

The real warship still needs to be a sea-going ship of more than [-] stone. The main battleship of the Song Army is [-] paddle boats, all of which are around [-] stone. Among them, the flagship warship is the [-]-stone paddle boat that Fan Ning got on the Yangtze River. , These warships can sail in the strong winds and waves of the Indian Ocean, and the hulls are naturally strong and strong, so there is no problem as a warship.

The navy of the Three Buddhas Qi State is second to none in Nanyang, with more than 300 warships, but the largest warship is a three thousand stone warship, which is refitted from a Song Dynasty cargo ship, and the rest are five hundred to thousand stone Left and right small warships.

This battle is like a duel between a burly man and a child. It's really hard for a burly man to take the initiative. It's better to let the child pounce on himself.

This morning, three thousand-stone warships of the Song Army appeared on the sea about thirty miles away from the coast of Srivijaya. They were chasing a pirate ship. pirates.

As soon as they went out to sea, they were watched by the patrol ships of the Song Dynasty. The pirate ship panicked, turned around and fled back to its old nest. Unexpectedly, the three patrol ships of the Song Dynasty followed closely and gradually got closer and closer to the coast.

On the patrol ship headed by the Song army, Mao Nanwu looked at the pirate ship and said with a sneer, "The old nest is actually on the shore. This is not a pirate, it is clearly the army of Srivijaya."

As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "General, Srivijaya's warship!"

When Mao Nanwu turned his head, he saw more than [-] warships appearing beside them, approaching them. Normally, the Song army could only retreat, but today Mao Nanwu was on a mission.

He immediately ordered: "Stop chasing and prepare to fight!"

The three patrol ships stopped chasing the pirate ship, but they did not retreat north as before. Instead, they lined up and stopped on the sea, waiting for the arrival of the warship from the Three Buddhas.

Sanfoqi's fleet was getting closer and closer, they suddenly dispersed, and a dozen ships sailed from the side to the north, preparing to copy the back of the Song army's warships.

Mao Nanwu ordered: "Turn around and head northwest!"

A soldier waved a semaphore, and the three patrol boats turned around at the same time and headed northwest. There happened to be a Sanfoqi warship in the northwest, about [-] shi. Surrounded by Song Army warships.

The ship of Srivijaya was surrounded by the Song army, and before the ship could react, three Song army warships slammed into it from the side, 'Crack! 'The ship's wall was knocked open a big hole, the sea water rushed in, the ship capsized, and the soldiers on board jumped into the water to escape.

The captain of the Sanfoqi fleet was furious, and ordered the fleet to speed up and rush towards the Song army's warship. The three Song army's warships retreated quickly, but the Sanfoqi fleet pursued closely. On the sea more than a mile away.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Mao Nanwu immediately ordered: "Let Li Dutou abandon the ship!"

A dozen soldiers and twenty oarsmen on the third boat boarded the other two boats one after another, and the two patrol boats quickly retreated northward, leaving one empty boat.

Although one of his own ships was sunk by the Song army, but an advanced Song army warship was seized, the captain of the fleet obviously did not think of the consequences. He was overjoyed and ordered the fleet to prepare to drag the Song army ships back.

At this moment, the main warship of the Song Army, which had been ambushing for a long time, appeared, and attacked more than [-] Sanfoqi warships from two directions at the same time.

Fan Ning finally found an excuse to go to war. The warship of the Three Buddhas Qi State attacked the patrol ship of the Song Army and took one of them.

The captain of the Srivijaya fleet finally realized that he had been fooled. He was shocked and shouted: "Order the whole army to retreat!"

But it was too late, a naval battle with disparity in strength broke out in the sea outside the city of Moluoyu.

(End of this chapter)