To attack Srivijaya (the largest island in western Indonesia), one must first capture Lingyamen (Singapore).

Lingyamen and Sanfoqi are almost separated by the sea.

In fact, Zhao Huan had long wanted to attack Srivijaya, not only for trade reasons, but also because Srivijaya had a large amount of gold.

In ancient Chinese texts, Srivijaya was also called "Golden Continent," meaning a place where gold was produced.

Gold is a hard currency that can, to a certain extent, withstand financial crises caused by the devaluation of paper currency and stabilize the economy.

During the Song Dynasty, the mining volume of gold and silver in China was very low.

The Imperial Bank of the Great Song Dynasty has been operating for seven years, and even Jiaozhou has begun to use the Great Song Dynasty paper money.

With the Song Dynasty's economy doubling in size, Zhao Ding's main task in recent years has been printing paper money (Jiaozi) and distributing it to the people through infrastructure projects in various regions.

This led to a surge in private production, as well as a sharp increase in the money supply.

There is actually a great danger hidden here.

For example, in economic growth, the value of consumer goods production may not keep up with the value of infrastructure investment due to constraints on productivity, leading to excessive money supply and triggering terrible inflation.

At this point, the purchasing power of Jiaozi (paper money) will decline, and not only will the money in the private sector become increasingly worthless, but the money in the imperial court will also become less valuable.

In order to stabilize the purchasing power of the imperial court, the court would certainly want to print more paper money.

But this is undoubtedly killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, or drinking poison to quench thirst.

The best approach is to strictly control the issuance of paper money and use gold reserves to stabilize economic fluctuations. Once the value of consumer goods produced accumulates to a certain level, it will naturally offset the bubble of excess paper money and stabilize the economy.

Therefore, from the perspective of the overall economy and finance of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty was short of gold.

Within the Chinese cultural sphere, Japan is a country with abundant gold resources.

Therefore, Zhao Huan conquered Japan.

Srivijaya is also a country with abundant gold resources.

Zhao Huan was still worried about not having an excuse to send troops when, sure enough, Srivijaya started courting disaster.

Now, Li Bao has received orders to lead 3,000 elite Song Dynasty naval troops from Japan all the way to Guangzhou. After a brief stop in Guangzhou, they head straight for Jiujiang Port.

Li Bao mobilized 7,000 naval personnel from Jiujiang Port, forming a 10,000-strong army. He led six warships and set off from Jiujiang Port in a grand procession to Lingyamen.

Taking down Lingyamen first was a strategy decided by the emperor and Zhong Shidao.

Lingya Gate was the strategic focus of the Song Dynasty's war against the countries of the South China Sea.

That place was also a world of pirates.

The current ruler of the Lingya Sect is a Han Chinese man named Zhao Yan.

He was not a member of the Zhao Song imperial family; in fact, he had absolutely no connection with the current imperial family.

However, he is related to Zhao Tuo, the King of Nanyue more than a thousand years ago, and he is a descendant of Zhao Tuo.

Later, the King of Nanyue submitted to the Han Dynasty, and the area became a prefecture.

One branch of Zhao Tuo's descendants remained in China, while another branch sailed south from Guangzhou.

The Zhao family is a prominent family in the South China Sea region, and they control strategic locations like Lingyamen.

Zhao Huan did not intend to change the surname of the place; he only thought of changing the Zhao from Zhao Tuo's Zhao to Zhao Huan's Zhao.

Zhao Huan did not intend to resolve the matter through amnesty.

Because the goal is to destroy Srivijaya, from this day forward, only one voice will be allowed in the South China Sea: the voice of the Song Emperor.

Merchant ships in the South China Sea must be approved by the Song Dynasty; otherwise, they are considered pirates and will be subject to annihilation by the Song Navy.

This is the most basic principle.

On this day, the sea was calm and the sunlight made the silk-like seawater shimmer.

Six ocean-going Song Dynasty warships have already broken through the waves and are heading towards Lingyamen.

Four pirate ships appeared ahead, moving very swiftly.

They headed towards the Song Dynasty warships.

After Li Bao used his Thousand-Mile Vision to spot the four pirate ships, he gave an order: "Prepare your longswords, accelerate, and sink those four enemy ships with all your might."

The leader of the four enemy ships was a Han Chinese named Li Guiyi. He was a ruthless man and one of Zhao Yan's most trusted generals. He had killed many people in this area.

All merchant ships passing through this sea area had to pay him a huge toll.

Their warships were light and agile, and their main tactic was to quickly board the target ship, with all the pirates swarming up to seize the merchant ship by brute force.

It can be said that every one of his pirates was a master of the water.

However, this time is a little different.

Li Guiyi swore that he had never seen a ship of such enormous size in the first half of his life.

A single ocean-going warship of the Song Dynasty could carry nearly 10,000 shi of grain and more than 1,500 people.

This is far beyond Li Guiyi's duties on the warship.

Li Guiyi couldn't even imagine how much it would cost to build such a warship.

The nimble little boat that was sent out quickly returned and told Li Guiyi that it was a warship of the Great Song Dynasty, with the Great Song flag flying on it.

Li Guiyi was startled. Although he was active in the South China Sea, he still knew about the Song Dynasty's conquest of Jiaozhi and Champa.

It is no secret that nobles from both Champa and Jiaozhi fled to the South China Sea region.

"Damn it, how did Song Dynasty warships end up in the South China Sea? We've always kept to ourselves!"

After pondering for a moment, Li Guiyi ordered someone to immediately report to Lingyamen. At the same time, he sent an envoy to the Song warship to negotiate, hoping to avoid any military conflict.

Li Guiyi didn't want to fight the Song Dynasty. He advised against provoking the central government of China, or he would be wiped out.

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