I

Let time go back for a while, back when Charles II was still in Chittagong, Li Quan had sailed to America for the second time.

Let's read a poem first:

it's here,

Spain and China combined,

Italy combined with Japan, finally

Worldwide trade and order are also combined.

Here we enjoy the first-class treasures of the West;

Here we get the essence of all the splendor created by the East.

This poem is called "The Greatness of Mexico", written by the Spanish poet Balbuena and written in 1604 AD, which is the 32nd year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty.

It describes Mexico City. Due to the shortage of Spanish colonial population, Chinese, Japanese, and Italians came to Mexico to integrate into the colonial system.

As early as the reign of Chongzhen, the number of Asian immigrants in Mexico had exceeded 100,000, which is official statistics from Spain. They are mainly Fujianese, Filipino overseas Chinese, Filipino aborigines and Japanese, but when they arrive in Mexico, they are collectively called Chinese (chinos).

The "Chinese" basically lived in the port of Acapulco, and then gradually spread to Mexico City.

The natives of the Philippines mainly worked as slaves and were the henchmen of the Spanish colonists.

The Japanese were in charge of protecting the trade route, the overland route from the port of Acapulco to Mexico City. They are allowed to wear weapons and are hired by officials or caravans. To put it bluntly, they are a group of escorts.

The occupations of the Chinese are varied, such as tailors, shoemakers, butchers, musicians, clerks, embroiderers... and some people have made a fortune and gradually started to do business. There was even Chinese goldsmithing, an industry dominated by Europeans, which once aroused the concern of the Governor of Mexico.

In the early years of Chongzhen, a Dominican missionary said with emotion: "The Chinese became Christians, and they poured into (Mexico) every year. They completely defeated the Spaniards in that industry."

This phenomenon became more and more rare after Zhao Han recovered Fujian.

After the Datong Army occupied Luzon Island, no Chinese immigrated to the Americas anymore, because they didn't have to travel thousands of miles to find a living.

Puerto Banderas (Vallarta).

Li Quan's fleet arrived again, which immediately caused a sensation in the town.

Many well-informed businessmen have been waiting here a month in advance. Those who heard the news were also moved by Mexican colonial officials, as well as... the Mexican fleet!

Before entering the port, the Mexican fleet surrounded it.

The other party sent an envoy to Li Quan's boat in a small boat, and said aggressively: "Leave here immediately. No ship from any country is allowed to dock without the king's order!"

Li Quan sneered: "I can leave, but after I leave, there is no Philippine galleon that can come to Mexico from Asia. Luzon Island, Taiwan Island, and the Ryukyu Islands are all Chinese territories, and there is also a galleon trade there." The Kuroshio zone. The Chinese navy controls the Kuroshio waters, and no ship can pass through!"

As he said that, Li Quan deliberately used Spanish and ordered his deputy: "Turn south and go back to Luzon. No one will do business in the future!"

Seeing the Chinese fleet turning collectively, the Spanish envoy was dumbfounded.

In fact, Mexico has received a letter from the Governor of the Philippines. The governor of the Philippines told the governor of Mexico that if the Chinese merchant ships were refused, the galleon trade would be over, and he could not make decisions about it, so he asked the governor of Mexico to consider it as appropriate.

The governor of Mexico did not report to the king, but called the colonial officials to discuss, and everyone agreed not to interfere for the time being.

As for the naval envoy in front of him, he came here purely to rip off. He wanted to use force to intimidate Li Quan to pay more for the road, but Li Quan would leave without saying a word.

"Everyone, please wait a moment." The messenger hurriedly called out.

This guy rowed the boat back to report to the command, and the fleet commander went ashore immediately to discuss countermeasures with the colonial officials.

Soon, Li Quan was invited to disembark.

After repeated bargaining, the two parties finally decided as follows: the officials of the Governor General of New Spain (Mexico, Central America), the officials of the New Spain Fleet, and Li Quan's fleet formed a cargo auction committee. After the Chinese merchant ships docked, they conducted centralized auctions, and 10% of the total auction price was used as tariffs (bribes).

As for these bribes, the Spaniards will distribute them themselves, and they will definitely not enter the king's pocket anyway.

In addition, a berthing tax will be charged to the Chinese fleet, which is calculated according to the size of the vessel and the berthing time.

Smuggling was "legalized" in this way, and everyone could make money, except the king of Spain.

The mayor of Banderas, guest host of the auction, Li Quan submitted a list of goods.

Inside and outside the town, there are crowds of people.

There are even many small businessmen who cannot afford to buy large quantities of goods, so they temporarily form a group to bid for the goods, and then distribute the goods after buying them.

Li Quan was chatting with Mexican officials when suddenly two Asians walked up and spoke Hokkien.

Li Quan was very surprised. He did not expect that there would be Chinese merchants in America. He quickly interrupted: "I don't know much Hokkien, so I either speak official Chinese or Spanish."

Ever since, the three Chinese communicated in Spanish in America.

"My lord, Wu Chunlin, was born in Quanzhou. He went to Luzon to make a living in the early years. He has been in Mexico for more than 20 years."

"My next man, Chen Fusheng, is from Zhangzhou. He also first made a living in Luzon. He will come to Mexico for twenty years."

Li Quan laughed and said, "You did well."

Chen Fusheng said with emotion: "The money earned is hard work. If it is not possible to survive, who would want to travel across the ocean? When I first came here, I worked as a tailor for several years. After I had a little savings, I went to Mexico City to open a shop."

Wu Chunlin said: "I am worse than Brother Chen. When I first came here, I dug out manure for two years. I partnered with others to reclaim wasteland and specialize in planting sugarcane to boil brown sugar. We have no slaves to call on, so we have to do everything by ourselves. There is no cost to collect manure, and you can make a fortune, these ghosts don’t know how to use manure.”

Chen Fusheng smiled and said: "Haha, Brother Angkor is not only a landlord, but also a dung tyrant in Acapulco Port. Those red-haired ghost landlords have also learned to compost, and they want to grab big dung from Brother Angkor. But, Hong Mao Gui can’t take away the dung, and the people responsible for collecting the dung are all Chinese. With the order of Brother Ang, the port of Acapulco will become a dung port within a few days.”

Li Quan asked solemnly, "How many Chinese are there in Mexico?"

Wu Chunlin said: "The Port of Acapulco is estimated to have 10,000 to 20,000, and Mexico City may have 20,000 to 30,000. I don't know much about other places. The earliest Chinese who came to America even had their grandchildren running around. The wives are locals. Indigenous women, and mixed Spanish women."

"Can you still speak Chinese?" Li Quan asked.

Chen Fusheng said: "Basically they all speak Hokkien, and they can also speak Spanish. The Han people have their own settlements."

Not only are there areas inhabited by Han Chinese, there is even a Chinatown in Mexico City, where a large area is inhabited by Chinese.

Li Quan asked again: "What religion do you believe in?"

Wu Chunlin restrained his smile: "If you want to come to Mexico to make a living, you must first convert to Christianity in the Philippines. All the Chinese here are Christians. The first generation of immigrants can change back to Buddhism and Taoism at any time. But the second and third generations , some bastards have already believed in religion and are stupid, and they really think that Old Jesus is the savior."

Li Quan said: "If there are any Chinese who can't get along in Mexico, the two can connect privately and send them here next year. I will take them to the north to reclaim them. They are all fertile land in the river valley. They can grow food without worrying about starvation. I They are also replenished with cloth and salt every year."

"It's no problem, it's on me," Wu Chunlin slapped his chest fiercely, and then asked, "Can Mr. Li get some goods and sell them to us directly without going through an auction?"

Li Quan said: "You are in the south, choose a place with convenient transportation, and I will put a batch of cotton cloth and silk on the way."

The two were overjoyed immediately, bowed their hands together, and were very grateful.

Chen Fusheng asked again: "Mr. Li, can we get some weapons next year?"

"Yes, we need weapons," Wu Chunlin said. "Chinese and Filipino natives are not allowed to have weapons. Only the Japanese can carry swords. When I reclaimed wasteland, I brought a group of brothers with sticks, wooden Guns fight natives."

Li Quan thought about it carefully, and said: "The firecrackers are too intrusive, and I'm afraid it will bring disaster to you. I will bring a batch of iron gun heads next time, and you can make the gun shafts yourself. When not in use, take off the gun heads and hide them casually." Anywhere is fine. By the way, I will leave two more farmers and soldiers to help you train the Han brothers."

"This is great!" The two laughed happily.

Li Quan asked about the goods they could eat, and the quantity was not much, so he ordered his men to go back to the ship.

Not long after, the subordinates came back and replied loudly: "Commander Li, a batch of silk and cotton cloth has been soaked in water, and they have been soaked and cannot be sold."

"I know, you go down and check."

Li Quan sighed and went to the Mexican officials to explain the spoilage of the goods, and then crossed off the goods from the auction list.

At the end of the auction, although 10% of the sales were used as bribes, Li Quan still made a lot of money. On the way south, he followed the Spanish fleet and merchant ships. Li Quan made one ship pretend to be stranded, and then the whole fleet stopped.

After the other boats left, he let people row the boat to transport the goods to the shore and sell them to Wu Chunlin and Chen Fusheng. This transaction can be regarded as smuggling within smuggling.

Came to Hawaii on the way... Well, Tanzhou, nothing major happened here, and a dozen or so mixed-race children were added.

Half of the people who stayed in Tanzhou were replaced, but the wife stayed here because she would come back next year. Those who had children simply stopped leaving and asked Li Quan to pick up their wives in China.

They think Tanzhou is very good, with a pleasant climate, fertile land, wives, concubines and children, and they can get supplies every year.

This time passing through Tanzhou, Li Quan also transported some sandalwood, which can be sold at a high price when he returns to China.

In another time and space, the sandalwood in Hawaii was cut down because it was popular in the Chinese market.

Of course, the biggest gain of Li Quan's trip is knowing that there have been Chinese in America for a long time, and the number has reached tens of thousands. This is more convenient than immigrating from scratch!