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

Even the formation hasn't changed much.

Only a Sea Gull attack ship on the southern left wing suddenly changed its course and headed southwest.

"What's going on?"

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

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

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

Therefore, except for large-scale legionary battles, which were often led by civil servants such as Jinshi (Jinshi) officials like Fan Zhongyan and Zhang Kang, civil servants were not allowed to intervene in ordinary wars, even smaller-scale wars of annihilation.

For example, when Di Qing conquered the Western Regions, he did not send any civil officials; the entire process was led by Di Qing. Envoys such as Sun Youtong and Li Tao only played a minor role.

Therefore, when Tan Wenxue and his envoys went to the West this time, they did not have command power during the voyage. They only had diplomatic power when they went ashore to negotiate with foreign countries.

The military leadership was under the charge of Wang Shining, commander of the Jinghai Army.

The only exception is when they arrive at the country where they are sent as envoys and encounter war, they can discuss with Wang Shining whether to start a war or negotiate through diplomatic means.

"Doctor, it's a pirate."

There are naturally soldiers guarding the main ship.

A captain of the Jinghai Navy was in charge. He stood by the side of the ship, observing the distance with a telescope, and then reported to Tan Wenxue and his men, "A pirate ship appeared to the south, but it has been driven away."

"pirate?"

Tan Wenxue also asked for a pair of binoculars from the soldier next to him and looked towards the southwest. Sure enough, he saw their Sea Gull attack ship chasing a black dot.

But the black spot was so tiny that it couldn't be seen clearly even when viewed through a telescope from a high place on the sea with an excellent view.

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

"Liu Dutou."

Zhang Youwei wondered, "Didn't they say that the Jinghai Navy, along with the Guangzhou and Qiongzhou navies, had fought pirates so many times that they were practically extinct?"

"How could it be completely extinct?"

Captain Liu smiled and said, "It's just that the waters near the coast are gone, so they don't dare to come ashore and cause trouble."

"Hmm?"

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

Liu Dutou explained, "You don't know, Doctor. The South China Sea is too vast. Even if the Jinghai Navy were expanded tenfold and had a hundred ironclad ships, it would be impossible to patrol the South China Sea at all times and ensure maritime safety. Moreover, it is impossible to completely eliminate all pirates."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, merchants carry hundreds of thousands of strings of cash and valuables with them on a single voyage, naturally attracting the attention of bandits. The South China Sea is relatively safe, but before our Jinghai Navy went to Puluozhong, places like Srivijaya and Chola were rife with bandits. It's said that there are even more pirates in the Arab world, and many merchants are even bandits themselves. If they encounter a weaker caravan at sea, it's common for them to plunder it on the spot."

"Is it really that bad?"

Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei were both very 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, and many of our Han people are also bandits. The Guangdong Transportation Bureau even suspects that some countries around the South China Sea are behind them. Although we are invincible at sea, it is still easy for them to escape. It is really difficult to kill them."

"So that's how it is."

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

The South China Sea route is currently the most prosperous and bustling route in the world, connecting the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. The cargo carried by any ocean-going fleet is worth at least hundreds of thousands of strings of cash, and at most millions of strings of cash.

Since ancient times, money has attracted people's attention, and where there is wealth, there will naturally be looting.

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

The Song Dynasty's navy was powerful, so it was able to eliminate pirates in the surrounding areas, but it was difficult to deal with pirates in the offshore waters.

Firstly, the naval power of neighboring countries is very weak.

The navies of Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Champa, Srivijaya, etc. cannot be said to be very strong, but they can only be considered better than nothing.

Some pirates are even driven by these countries.

For example, there is a record in the fourth year of Gandao in the Southern Song Dynasty that the Arab merchant Wu Shidian was robbed of his goods by local pirates when he passed through Champa.

Later, the Champa King Jaya Indravarman IV sent envoys 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 the goods that had been robbed from him, so he reported it to the Quanzhou Maritime Customs, which involved a case of the state robbing merchants.

This shows how complex the forces behind these pirates are.

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

Faced with this situation, the Song Dynasty Navy cannot go ashore and massacre villages in other countries.

So for now, the only pirates that the Jinghai Army and the navies of Guangzhou, Guangxi, Fujian and other places can attack are basically pirates in the near-shore waters.

In particular, the Guangzhou, Guangxi and Fujian navies were established to defend the offshore coasts, and at most they would patrol and guard the South China Sea.

The Jinghai Navy is the only fleet that can sail to the distant seas, but relying on just a few thousand of them, even though they have strong combat capabilities and can destroy some small countries in Southeast Asia, they can't do anything about distant sea pirates.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!