Since a considerable number of local natives already believed in Allah, in order to expand the congregation, the Spanish missionaries set their sights on Manila in the north, where there were a large number of Han Chinese who had not yet believed in God and who had already believed in God.

So the missionaries, with the support of the king and the Holy See, began to systematically recruit Han Chinese to develop here, and it is said that the conditions were quite favorable, both in terms of business and land distribution in this area.

Of course, the prerequisite for these benefits is that you and your family must believe in God.

In other words, unlike the Dutch, who fell into the eyes of money, the Spaniards built fortresses and cities here not because they were rich and business-oriented, but because of religious reasons.

Zhu Beiguo was well aware of this, and as a professional in history, he understood very well this almost paranoid fanaticism of the Spaniards, who at that stage of history were at the line of contact between the two major religions, which had become the forefront of the religious wars.

After all, when the green flag of the crescent moon swept across North Africa and its front pointed to the southwest of Europe, it was the people of the Iberian Peninsula who stubbornly resisted the tide of green flags by faith and the spirit of sacrifice for the sake of their faith.

If the people of the Iberian Peninsula had not historically relied on the Christian faith as their spiritual support, there would have been no nation-states, Spain and Portugal, and the green crescent flag would probably have flown on the shores of the English Channel......

Now, more than 20 years have passed since the construction of the Christ Castle in Zamboanga, and there are very few records in the history books about the actual effect of the missionaries' efforts for many years, and Zhu Beiguo naturally does not know, so he wants to go there to see it with his own eyes.

At noon on June 26, the Pride finally appeared off the coast of Zamboanga Harbor, the sea was very calm at this time, and the distant tropical storm did not affect the area, and the crew of the Pride walked out of the cabin one after another, picked up binoculars and observed the land in the distance.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, the rainforest undulates in the distance like waves along the topography, and on the shore of the headland stands a stone castle made of black and gray volcanic stone, about three to four meters high, surrounded by several stone towers in the European medieval style, on which more than a dozen colorful flags with intricate insignia flutter, between the towers there is a semicircular vaulted building, on which the towering hard mahogany cross glows golden in the sun, and the church spire in the distance.

However, the marina facilities on the beach are much more rudimentary, with wooden piers running east-west, and the T-shaped pier pier is less than 100 meters long, and it is somewhat dilapidated, and looking out onto land along the pier pier, there is disappointing to see nothing but low bushes and coconut groves.

This is Zamboanga?

In addition to the castle and the church, plus a few meters wide bluestone road that connects the castle entrance to the church in the distance?

Is that all?

The more the crew looked, the more disappointed they became.

Moreover, the so-called square on the pier is only a slightly leveled, bare red clay open field, and it is conceivable that if it rains, it must be muddy.

And in broad daylight, there are no people on the dock!

The whole wharf is so quiet that you can hear the chirping of seabirds clearly, and there is no commercial port scene with crowds and masts.

Obviously, this so-called port is currently nothing, and it is indeed disappointing for the crew of the Pride who have seen the bustling waters of Holo and Macau Harbour that everything before them is so desolate and shabby.

However, as the Pride approached, there was a sudden burst of energy near the docks, first of all, a group of men in red and green robes and green turbans suddenly poured out of the bushes and coconut groves, apparently these people saw the Pride, judging from the things in people's hands and arms, it should be some local souvenir.

As the people flocked to the pier pier, the castle bell rang suddenly, and a group of soldiers in armor and armed with spears and arquebuses appeared at the entrance of the city wall, and a moment later a man wearing a boat-shaped wide-brimmed hat, dressed in a pair of red and blue shirts, black bloomers, and white leggings appeared on the pier, and this man took out his monoculars and began to look at the Pride.

"Raise the trade flag!"

"Raise the trade flag and receive!"

Li Sanduo's shout was immediately echoed by the lookout.

After a few moments, the officials on the trestle in the distance put away their binoculars, turned back to say a few words to their attendants, and then turned and led the group back to the castle, leaving only a few soldiers and two men in gray cloth robes with account books in their hands waiting on the trestle for the Pride to approach.

"Is this a tax?"

"I heard that the amount of tax collected by Spaniards depends on the person, and the tax rate is different for people with different statuses."

"Watching people put dishes on the plate, in this world, everywhere is the same......"

Listening to the various discussions of the crew on the deck, Li Sanduo and Zhu Beiguo silently prepared to get off the ship, and at this time, the boatswain Peng Qiang was also arranging the crew to guard the ship on duty.

As for the safety of the crew, Li Zhu and the others think that the problem is not big, as long as they don't run away alone, and adhere to the principle of collective action and non-provocation, there will be no danger, not to mention that everyone has a Colt python pinned to their waists, and they will not suffer a loss if they really fight.

The point is that this is not the port of Jolo in Sulu, it is a port controlled by the Spaniards, after all, we have not offended the Spaniards until now, and according to common sense, the Spaniards of Zamboanga are not guilty of hating us.

And looking at the colorful aborigines and men gathered in the dock square from afar, none of them came empty-handed, and looking at the smiling faces of this group of people, it was obvious that they had come to do business rather than fight.

So Li Zhu and the others decided that each of them would take twelve people to take turns to disembark for three hours, and the scope of their activities would be limited to the dock square, and the farthest distance would be near the coconut grove and the castle gate at the edge of the square, so that the crew could relax, because in principle, the rest of the voyage would not stop at any port except to arrive at the destination.

The first batch to go ashore was the twelve crew members brought by Zhu Beiguo, including Liu Yishuang and Guan Hongyu, who were born in fishermen's families, these two are the same as Wan Ming and Ye Jialiang, and they are sworn brothers, and the brothers are fellow villagers in southern Fujian.

The reason why Zhu and Li want to divide these four people into two teams is because of language considerations, these four are all Hakka, although Hakka is also a complex genre, but it can be generally translated, according to historical records, if there are Han people here, it should also be based on Hakka, if they really meet, it should be conducive to the exchange between the two sides.

The first thing to do on the shore is to pay the berthing fee of the ship, which is the rule of each port, and it does not matter whether you trade or not, it is the ship that will charge you a sum when it comes to the port, there is no certain rule for the collection of berthing fees in this era, and each port also has its own way, but it is generally charged according to the size of the ship, and the cheap boat charges a Spanish silver dollar, and the large ship charges a maximum of 100 silver dollars.

This is not Europe and America, and people don't know what the Peso, the currency unit of the Spaniards, is, in short, to count the number of silver dollars or take the corresponding equivalent of the goods to pay, Zhu Beiguo estimated before going ashore, our ship is also quite large, although it is not taller than the Spanish galleon, but the length is about the same, so how much also to pay sixty or seventy Spanish Eagle mooring fees, Zhu Li and Li discussed it, and decided to take a few jars of sweet potato wine to offset the mooring fee, the purpose of this is not to feel sorry for the dozens of taels of silver, But thinking that we finally came here, why not take this opportunity to take our goods to explore the market?