The South China Sea Squadron of the Pacific Fleet often clashed with pirates, and it was adjacent to Wu and Wu's overseas colony, the Philippines, especially the pirate gangs led by Ling Tong were also often active in the South China Sea.

They robbed all the ships except for the Wu Kingdom, because they were originally sailors turned pirates, and the performance of the ships and the sailors' navigation ability surpassed that of ordinary pirates, and the coast guard of the Han Empire was difficult to arrest, and often needed to be dispatched by the navy.

Lu Bu discussed with Gan Ning, since the Grand Fleet happened to pass by here, it would be commanded by Gan Ning himself, and completely encircle and suppress the pirate gang of Ling Tong and others, even if they could not be completely annihilated, they should also deal a severe blow to their arrogance, and by the way, it should also be regarded as a drill and training.

Gan Ning originally had such an idea, and he hit it off with Lu Bu, he immediately formulated a plan to suppress the bandits, dispatched troops, and the coast guard of Zhuyazhou served as a guide to go straight to the pirates' lair.

The nest of Ling Tong's gang was set up on the coastal islands of the Philippines, relying on the state of Wu, so it was difficult for the navy of the Han Empire to wipe out it completely in peacetime, and the navy of the state of Wu would often act as their protective umbrella and come forward to obstruct it.

This time, Gan Ning dispatched the first detachment under the command of Lu Meng, with an Imperial-class battleship as the flagship, consisting of five Taishan-class battleships, ten Chang'an-class battleships and ten reconnaissance ships, and also equipped with a Marine Corps division.

After Lü Meng was captured, he was originally resolutely unwilling to surrender, but Xu Sheng, Gan Ning and others came to chat with him every day, and also took him to visit the naval base and large sail battleships.

Later, he did not mention the matter of surrendering, but only invited him to the navy's military academy to give some practical lessons on naval warfare.

In the end, he was moved by this sincerity, and attracted him with the great changes in the development of naval construction, many new things, new ideas, and new tactics that Lu Meng had never been exposed to, and Lu Meng was a person who liked to learn very much.

After a long time, Lü Meng took the initiative to ask to join the navy of the Han Empire, with only one request, that is, not to let him command the fleet to engage the Wu navy, Xu Sheng asked Lü Bu and agreed to him.

Lü Meng first went to the Naval Academy for further study to learn the tactical use of new warships and the use of firearms, and then went to the Chang'an-class battleships for internship.

Lu Meng was still very talented in the command of the navy, and he made significant progress, and within a few years he was promoted to the rank of commander of the detachment.

Moreover, the Ministry of Intelligence had already smuggled his family out of Yizhou and sent them to Jiaozhou Bay, so Lu Meng had no worries, and Sun Quan was also dead, and he had nothing to do with Wu Guo.

Lü Meng led the detachment, under the guidance of the Coast Guard, to find the lair of the Lingtong pirate gang, Babuyan Island.

In the northernmost part of the Philippines, it is located on the shipping route between Yizhou and the Philippines, very close to the Philippine coast.

It can be seen from this that without the acquiescence of Wu Guo, how could it be possible to allow the existence of a group of pirates in such a critical shipping lane?

To deal with such an opponent, Lu Meng actually specified a tactic, which is to crush the strength and encircle it in an all-round way.

The reconnaissance ship carefully surveyed the distribution of waterways around Babuyan Island with water spirits, and marked the reefs and other places on the chart.

The big ships were outside, the small ships were inside, and at the same time a fierce attack was launched.

More than a dozen large ships and small boats of the pirates were anchored in the natural harbor of the island, and Ling Tong had two 500-ton galleons as the main warship, and the others were small ships of 2, 300 or even 180 tons.

Only two galleons of 500 tons had numerous guns, and the other small ships had only one or two guns as a façade.

Lü Meng parked the big ships of the Imperial class and Taishan class on the periphery, surrounded Babuyan Island, and sent Chang'an-class battleships and reconnaissance ships to take the initiative to attack, and the Han army's reconnaissance ships also had four guns, and the Chang'an-class battleships had more guns.

The Han warships rushed straight into the pirate flotilla, and at the same time bombarded the opponent with guns on both sides, and the reconnaissance ships also came to shoot at close range.

The dense firepower soon sank the two pirate capital ships, sinking them to the bottom of the sea, and the small ships were also on fire.

The Taishan-class battleships and Chang'an-class battleships lowered their boats one after another, and many officers and men of the Marine Corps landed or boarded ships one after another to eliminate pirates.

Ling Tong was very cunning, he did not participate in the counterattack at all, but secretly led the pirate leaders from the other side of the island, driving a small boat, and fled to the coast of the Philippines.

Although the large ships of the navy on the periphery found that some small boats had escaped, the reconnaissance ships and others were all in the harbor, and the lowered dinghy was not as fast as Ling Tong's small sailing boat, and he escaped.

However, in this battle, the Han naval detachment still inflicted heavy losses on this group of pirates, killing and wounding thousands of people, most of the pirate ships were sunk or burned, and Ling Tong and other pirate leaders were only spared.

Until they are supplemented by Wu, they will no longer be able to harass the merchant shipping lanes in the South China Sea for a short time.

After joining up with Lü Meng's detachment, the Grand Fleet continued southward and made a friendly visit to Cam Ranh Bay in the Kingdom of Ninan, which was also the largest naval base of the Han Navy in this sea area.

Liu Bei, Pang Tong and other officials of the Ninan Kingdom had been waiting for a long time, and they boarded Lü Bu's flagship "Xinghan" and met Lü Bu.

Lu Bu enthusiastically led them to visit the huge "Xinghan", Liu Bei, Pang Tong and others all expressed their heartfelt admiration, this giant ship represents the national strength and advanced military technology of the Han Empire.

Subsequently, Lü Bu and Zhuge Liang had another friendly meeting with Liu Bei and Pang Tong, and Zhuge Liang proposed that the Ninan Kingdom should assist the Han Empire's navy to maintain the security of the Maritime Silk Road and severely crack down on pirate gangs such as Ling Tong.

Liu Bei and Pang Tong had no objection to the fight against piracy, and they were willing to assist the navy of the Han Empire in the conquest of pirates, but they hoped that the Han Empire would assist them with advanced shipbuilding technology and naval guns used by the navy.

Liu Bei is willing to draw a clear line with Wu and stand with the Han Empire, but the naval construction of the Rinan Kingdom is still in its infancy, and even the navy of Wu cannot be compared, so how can he help the Han army?

For foreign military aid, Lu Bu and Zhuge Liang have no objections, there are many countries aided by the Han Dynasty, and there is not a bad kingdom of Rinan, as long as there are reasonable benefits and favorable exchange conditions, everything can be discussed, the two sides are allies!

Lu Bu asked Fa Zheng to negotiate with Pang Tong about specific military assistance and joint suppression of bandits, as long as the conditions are right, everything can be discussed!

After a few days of rest, the Grand Fleet continued its journey, and the Nichinan Kingdom sent a merchant ship to guide the Grand Fleet, as their merchants were more familiar with the routes from here to the Indian Ocean.

Fa Zheng and Pang Tong had already discussed properly, and signed a secret agreement on naval military assistance and joint suppression of bandits, Lu Bu didn't care about these things, and Fa Zheng would definitely not suffer.