On the second day of the fifth lunar month, a small fleet of Chinese sailors left the ocean near the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Mexico in a rainy day.

Chinese sailors who have been visiting here since late April have visited several important coastal towns and settlements in San Salva, San José, Salina Cruz and Puerto Angel during these days.

Now they set sail and march further south.

Chai Daji walked on the thick deck of the No. 128 exploration ship in an oilcloth raincoat, a second-hand retired naval warship that seemed to have been reclassified into the naval sequence, and now his ship was about to set sail with the team to Chile.

It's a magical trip. The last time the flying shear fleet carried out the southward sweeping policy, after Lima broke the Peruvian detachment that had not yet had time to join the main Spanish fleet on the west coast, they returned south into Chilean waters with a surprise load of high-quality saltpeter, which was simply a miracle and a big problem for the expeditionary force.

The fleet also brought back some of the information that the Chileans had just revolted more than a decade earlier, and that the interests of the Spaniards were in sharp conflict with the native-born whites, mestizos, and a few natives.

So native-born white, mixed-race people are willing to help China. As long as China is willing to pay for guns, they can send China a steady stream of saltpeter from the Atacama Desert.

Chile is a very resource-rich place, the copper ore here is an important source of interest for the Spaniards in the Americas, the Atacama Desert saltpeter is a lot of no one cares, a large number of high-quality natural ores, 0.5~~2 meters from the ground underground, high-quality saltpeter layer can be 1~~3 meters thick.

The large quantities of saltpeter brought back from Chile by these fleets solved the most difficult problem for the Chinese North American Expeditionary Force - gunpowder.

If the entire army is not able to support itself, it will be difficult for the expeditionary force to be effective in the Americas. Although their goal was only to seize California, the state was so desolate that even the Spaniards had just entered. It was a no-brainer for the expeditionary force to take this place.

The main forces of the navy and army were all engaged in the war and defense against the British, and the military strength retained in California, which had just begun to be operated by them, was as weak as thin paper, and the expeditionary force completely marched all the way, and captured the whole of California, and also took the Baja California peninsula.

The whole operation went smoothly, but everyone in the expeditionary force knew that their real test was yet to come. Therefore, solving the problem of the ammunition required by the expeditionary force as a whole is itself one of the tasks of the expeditionary force's plan.

There is sulfur in North America, and there are hot springs and volcanoes that smell of sulfur everywhere, and there is not too much high-quality natural sulfur.

Charcoal is also a piece of cake.

The only thing that is difficult is saltpeter.

There are no natural saltpeter mines in North America at all, maybe there are, but Chen Ming doesn't know where. The world's largest producer of natural saltpeter that Chen Ming knows is Chile, where the Atacama Desert is buried in a natural saltpeter mine that stretches for more than 1,000 miles.

So he told the top brass of the expeditionary force this truth in the form of a 'secret order'.

The flying shear bow fleet that performs the mission only needs to carry out the mission, and there is no need to care so much.

And how many inexplicable speculations have arisen within the entire expeditionary force by this secret order, Chen Ming doesn't care about it at all.

There is a first transaction between the two sides, so this second time is not far off. Chai Daji is a guide, and the No. 128 exploration ship he commands is also a part of the transport fleet, and that position is still very important in the entire fleet.

There were some winds and waves on the sea, and the ship was very bumpy, but Chai Daji patrolled the deck as if he were walking on the ground. After several years on the ship, he had long since gotten used to it all.

From the day he could not endure the loneliness, from the military academy to the First Overseas Exploration Bureau, he had to get used to this bump in the sea.

"Captain, this man from Tehuantepec Bay is so poor that he has been here for ten days and has not caught anything."

In order to stimulate the fighting spirit of the expeditionary force, Chen Ming announced before that half of the spoils obtained by the army during the North American War could be kept by themselves, one-third would be handed over to the troops, and the remaining one-sixth would belong to the state, and the proportion would be much higher all of a sudden.

The fleets that had swept south earlier were all full of oil, but it was their turn, but they were catching up with a poor place like Tehuantepec Bay.

"That's why the social contradictions here are so acute. The Spaniards took too many benefits. Even many native whites are on their side. Chai Daji pouted. He once had a detailed understanding of the country of Spain, and as one of the first people in the European world to eat crabs, Spain could really be said to be very awesome when it was brilliant. The original Spanish phalanx was also rampant in Europe.

But it has been two or three hundred years since colonization, and it is also drunk that people have not been able to effectively digest the fat that has been eaten into the stomach, and they have played a good hand of cards to the current bad state.

The current big duck is very contemptible.

The rain became heavier and heavier, Chai Daji turned around and returned to the cabin, a cabin next to him, through the gap in the door panel, Chai Daji could still see a person facing the west, holding the cross on his chest with one hand, and pressing the other hand on a thick tome, praying sincerely.

Chai Daji said with emotion in his heart: "Faith kills people." "Spain is on its knees in faith, and these Portuguese don't learn to be obedient.

Because the expeditionary force had to operate in the Spanish colony, when the army was formed, Chen Ming actually selected dozens of Portuguese to accompany the army. They can at least do translations, right? And when communicating with the locals, the Portuguese with a European face is more suitable than the Chinese with a yellow face.

Chai Daji prayed that the fleet would arrive in Chile smoothly.

While the Chinese naval fleet was struggling to move forward in the wind and rain, the main force of the Spanish West Coast Fleet under the command of Sucre Alicaru was slowly sailing out of the port of Panama City.

It was one of the first cities built by the Spaniards in the Americas, and it existed in 1519 A.D. It was the starting point and base of the Spanish invasion of the Inca Empire in Peru, and was one of the important trading centers of Europeans in the New World of America.

It was a gathering place for the Spaniards to loot their wealth and trade slaves, and the Spaniards gathered gold, silver and jewellery from all over the city and transported them overland from the narrow Isthmus of Panama to the port of Colón on the Caribbean coast, where they were shipped to Spain and then transshipped to the Spanish mainland. Panama City's vast wealth naturally aroused the coveted pirates.

In 1671, the English pirate Morgan invaded Panama City by force, sacked it and set fire to the entire city.

Two years later, the Spaniards rebuilt Panama City about 8 kilometers west of the ruins of the old city.

The status of Panama has declined considerably, but it is still an important port on the west coast of North America.

The Spanish naval fleet commanded by Sucre was originally based in the port of Acapulco, which was another end point in the American-Luzon galleon trade, but the Spanish fleet on the west coast of North America was scattered and fragmented, and with only the little power directly in Sucre's hands, he was not confident that he could win against the Chinese.

So Sucre retreated to the port of Panama with the fleet, and ordered all warships from all over the country to gather in the port of Panama.

After the catastrophe of that year, the Spaniards learned from the pain and spent a huge amount of money to block the forts in Panama Bay and the castle in the harbor. Today, the fort in the depths of the harbor has been built for hundreds of years, and although the artillery is still the same as it was added decades ago, it is a great threat to any warship that dares to invade, and the Spaniards have deployed some army soldiers to defend it.

The pursuing fleet of Chinese sailors could only be blocked.

Of course, Panama City, where so many troops are stationed, must be a very densely populated [American Zone], and after hundreds of years of development, the population here has long exceeded that of the year, and the economy and agriculture are firmly in the first gear on the west coast of North America. Without the influx of Chinese, the good life here would have lasted for thirty-four years, and then with the tide of independence of the whole of America, free from Spanish rule, to become part of the Republic of Gran Colombia.

Sucre set out with his fleet, and his destination was the Colón Islands, a thousand kilometers southwest of the Gulf of Panama.

It is an uninhabited desert island, discovered by the bishop of Panama on his way to Peru, with many huge turtles and some fragments of Inca pottery, proving that the islands were occupied before the Spaniards. Many Spanish navigators stayed on the island in the 16th century. At the end of the 17th century, some pirates used these islands as hideouts, so it was not inaccessible to humans.

Sucre did not want his fleet to be blocked in the Gulf of Panama by the Chinese, although they could not get in. In that case, the long west coast would become a hunting ground for the Chinese, and he, as rear admiral, must put an end to this phenomenon.

God knows if the unrestrained Chinese ships will break out of the Strait of Magellan and run to the other side of North America.

So Sucre has to act.

In addition, the Colón Islands belong to the equatorial region, where there is no wind zone, no wind zone.

It's not really that there is no wind at all in the windless zone, but the wind is relatively small and the wind direction has not been fixed. It is a very annoying thing for large sail warships, they turn the sails slowly, once the wind suddenly comes, before the sails can be adjusted, it changes the wind direction again, which is equivalent to tossing in vain, and the utilization rate is extremely low, and it is almost the same as nothing. At this time, ships are more likely to use tail rudders, as well as small currents. The latter, on the other hand, requires the pilot to be familiar with geography.

This environment is very unfavorable for any sailing ship, but it is the most disadvantageous for the flying shear bow warship, which is more dependent on the direction of the wind. The Chinese came to the west coast of North America for the first time, and Sucre was the head snake here.

A windy scissor bow is a dragon, and a windless scissors bow is a boneless worm.

The fact that the Coron Islands have been a hiding place for pirates for more than a hundred years is closely related to the geography of the Colon Islands.

As long as Sucre leads the fleet here, he will be able to rely on the windless belt to find an opportunity to attack and launch a wave of counterattacks. Out of the windless belt is the equatorial countercurrent, even if the Chinese chase him, he is not afraid.

Sucre wants to tell the Chinese not to think that with one or two powerful things, they can really cross the ocean. There are many secrets of the sea, and the importance of geography and climate is no worse than that of equipment.

In the wind and rain, the two fleets passed by perfectly.

The commanders of the two fleets did not notice each other, and whether they could reach their destination smoothly will not be said for the time being, but only their current luck, which is relatively good.

Taking advantage of the cover of night and wind and rain, Sucre managed to sneak out of Panama Bay without being discovered by the Chinese. Although this phenomenon simply cannot be concealed for a few days.

As for the Chinese fleet heading south, this is a fleet whose main purpose is 'transportation', and their combat effectiveness is far worse than that of the main fleet blockading the Gulf of Panama.

……

On the other side of Mexico, on the east coast of the Americas, Puerto Veracruz, an important port not far from Mexico City, a city the same age as Panama City.

Quintanaloo Comar from France frowned as he looked at the Mexicans who were picking at their goods, and a bad feeling came over them. The current situation seems to have taken on some new and unpredictable changes compared to the old market that remained unchanged in previous years.

To put it simply, these Mexicans don't seem to be very interested in his cargo. God, what's going on? The textiles from Lyon are definitely of the best quality in Europe, although the price is slightly higher than the Brits across the Channel. But France is Spain's loyal friend, and if you want to buy textiles, of course, you have to buy them first. What's more, now that the Fasians are at war with the British, it is impossible for the latter to come and trade directly here.

But Komar's eyes told him that these old Mexican friends were not very interested in the cloth they had brought, and not only that, but they were also less enthusiastic about other necessities of life, such as knives and forks, small hardware, high-end candles, soaps, brushes, leather goods, etc. These old friends seemed to be only willing to pick and choose among the woollen and linen, and they also shouted that the price was too expensive, and asked Komal to lower the price slightly.

Quintanaloo Comal and his captain looked at each other, and both saw a grave horror in each other's eyes.

The Mexican market must have changed dramatically, and I don't know it.

Komal is a veteran of traveling between the Atlantic and has a keen sense of business. Even many of the so-called Lyon textiles he brought this time were British goods that were purchased at low prices. These British were the first major textile producers in Europe, and when Spain and France said no to the British, and when the Netherlands, Prussia, and Russia expressed their dissatisfaction with the British, the overproduction of cloth by the British seemed to be an absolute phenomenon. Then they can only sell the cloth at a lower price through the Dutch and the Portuguese.

A middle-aged native Mexican white man walked over and said, "Komal, we're old friends, you can't cheat me like that." ”

"Woven fabric of almost the same quality, your price is actually three pesos a horse! God, Chinese cloth is of better quality than European woven fabrics for two pesos a horse, and if I had bought your cloth, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to sell a single one. ”

The middle-aged businessman seemed to be quite excited, looking at Komal like he was looking at a madman. And at this moment, Comar looked at him even more excitedly, and really became a madman.

"Aren't the Chinese at war with Spain? Why can you receive cloth from the Chinese? "Komar's head is swollen, oh my God, China is also involved in the Mexican cloth market? This is a fatal threat to his fortune plans.

"No, Komar. It is only the peninsulars who fight with the Chinese, we are Mexicans! ”

The war between China and the Spanish colonial government did not stop the native Mexicans from smuggling more and cheaper goods throughout Mexico. (To be continued.) )