The voyage from the port of Long Beach to Puerto Vallarta is not too far, more than 2,000 kilometers away, if it is fast, it can be reached in a week, plus doing business, it can run almost a round trip in a month. Therefore, for Datang, the business from California to the west coast of Mexico is still very profitable, and can bring a variety of raw materials to Datang's industry that are not available locally.

With a little hesitation, Silva said: "I am also willing to help the General Counsellor and your country expand trade, but once the number of merchant ships from Los Angeles to Vallarta increases, and a large number of Tang goods begin to be sold in Mexico, it will definitely attract the attention of the colonial officials, and then the colonial navy is likely to carry out large-scale anti-smuggling activities, which will have a negative impact on this business." ”

Bai Nan had an unconcerned expression and said, "The colonial government of New Spain will find out sooner or later, but I believe that the local officials and the navy who are not very honest will still receive a little benefit." In addition, you should not ignore one point, the military strength of the new Spanish colony cannot be compared with the Tang Dynasty, when necessary, the Tang Navy will maintain this route, relying on the frigates of San Blas, it is far from enough for the mighty Tang Navy to plug the teeth. ”

Bai Nan put the hand on the table on his knees, leaned his back on the back of the seat, and continued with a smile: "I can be honest with you, the current competition between Datang and Spain can only have two ends, war or trade. The Tang Dynasty may not have intended to destroy the entire Mexican colony directly, but if the Spaniards did not know how to do it, we would turn the entire Pacific coast of Mexico into a scorched earth and completely cut off the Manila galleon route. I don't think the Spaniards can afford such a loss. If you choose to cooperate with our Datang, Spain can increase a lot of trade income, and act as a middleman to sell high-quality Datang goods throughout the Americas and even in Europe. At that time, a more formal and legal trade route will be established, or a customs office will be established in Puerto Vallarta, and Mr. Silva, your smuggling business will probably not be able to continue. My advice is to make a lot of money before the Treaty of Tangxi is signed, and to hell with the risks or something. ”

Silva pondered left and right for a moment, and felt that what Bai Nan said made sense. Datang may have more ships anchored in the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach than all the ports on the west coast of the Americas combined, and Datang has a strong military force that New Spain has no way to deal with. He felt that any normal decision-maker would have to choose to compromise. This smuggling route cannot be maintained for a long time, so at least during the period when Datang still supports this smuggling route, he can make as much money as possible.

"I agree with you, Mr. General Counselor, I will do everything I can to help Datang!" Silva hurriedly expressed his loyalty.

Bai Nan was very satisfied with Silva's statement, he took out a piece of paper from the briefcase under the seat, and said: "Datang needs Mexico to provide some of the following goods, we hope that Mr. Silva can carry out relevant walks and financing after returning to Vallarta, the price is negotiable, the trade representative of Datang International Trade Company will personally go to Vallarta, Datang has sufficient funds, and high-value goods to purchase various raw materials." ”

Datang is really rich in gold, silver and precious metals, and there is Chang Kaishen's treasure ship in the fleet of the Republic of China, and the gold and silver reserves of the national government are almost exhausted at that time, and there are even a large number of US dollars, but these pieces of paper are useless in this era when the United States has not been established.

Tens of millions of silver dollars, of different colors, including Longyang, Yuan Datou, Chuanyang, Zhanyang, and even Yingyang a hundred years ago, these silver dollars were all collected by the central bank, some of them were used for industrial purposes, and the rest were all used to mint silver dollars. The Datang silver dollar is not used for market circulation and does not actually have the status of an official currency, but is a trade currency that is used in transactions with other countries.

To a certain extent, this kind of regulation circumvents the Gresham's law of "bad money drives out good money", and when the gold and silver price ratio is stable, it is not much different from the gold and silver double standard system used in Western countries.

The upper end of the front of the Datang silver dollar is written "Datang Central Bank", in the middle is a large Arabic numeral "1", with a striped design to increase friction, next to it is a small character "circle", on the left is "yiyuan" in Chinese pinyin, and below is the year of minting. On the back is a peony pattern, with the book "Tang Republic". The edges are serrate, which is to prevent someone from scraping the silver down. The design of this coin is obviously borrowed from the coin shape of the later People's Republic, but the minting is also relatively beautiful. Regardless of weight or silver content, the Datang silver dollar, known as the "peony silver dollar", is the same as the Spanish eagle ocean, in order to facilitate the transaction.

The list written in Spanish includes agricultural products such as dyes, cotton, sugar cane, coffee beans, etc., which can be obtained by the plantation owners, and the more troublesome thing is that the other party also asks for some ores, such as iron ore and silver ore, which are more difficult to obtain. What's even more troublesome is that there are some minerals on it that Silva doesn't know at all, such as graphite, which will not be named by chemists until more than ten years later, and now it is directly written by Bai Nan, but fortunately, he also knows that the other party will not know what it is, so he wrote some characteristic traits for them to identify.

Silva cherished the list and said, "I will definitely live up to the trust and prepare the goods that Datang needs and deliver them to Los Angeles." ”

Bai Nan smiled with satisfaction: "Then please." ”

Two days later, Silva and his Holy Mary left the harbor of Long Beach, along with two 1,000-material 600-ton Ming schooners, which were smuggling merchant ships without steam power, or even guns, but only some low-grade firearms of the Ming dynasty's own. On the contrary, there were some small arms such as submachine guns and rifles on board.

The main commodities carried by the two smuggling ships were glassware, porcelain, paper, metal products, daily chemicals, and leather products, which are all products that Datang Industry can produce now, and are expected to sell well in other countries.

Three smuggling merchant ships left the port of Long Beach under the escort of a Datang Navy frigate. This frigate is the fourth in the Qi Jiguang class and the last one planned to be built this year, the Xu Da. The Xu Da is equipped with 4 105mm guns and 12 75mm guns, and its firepower has been significantly improved compared to the original Qi Jiguang. The four Qi Jiguang-class frigates have all completed the increase in firepower, and they are all configured with 4 105 guns and 12 75 guns.

The Xu Da will not always escort three smuggling merchant ships to Puerto Vallarta, and the frigate's main mission is to conduct sea trials. In the dockyard of the port of Long Beach, a cruiser is also undergoing final construction work. The predecessor of this Yangwei-class cruiser was a large-tonnage Zheng He treasure ship, and its double-expansion reciprocating steam engine had been installed, and now armor covering the entire hull was being installed.

The cruiser Yangwei will have a displacement of 4,600 tons due to the modification of steam power and the addition of armor and large-caliber artillery, which is already comparable to many cruisers in the second half of the 19th century. The improved twin-cylinder steam engine of the first engine factory allowed the cruiser of more than 4,000 tons to reach speeds of up to 18 knots, making it the largest and fastest naval ship in this plane.

Deng Xiyi and several naval officers were standing here in the port, and they happened to run into Bai Nan, who had finished sending Silva.

"Commander Deng, here you go again." Bai Nan joked that he knew the progress of Deng Xiyi's refit of the cruiser Yangwei that came over twice in three days, and he was very concerned.

Deng Xiyi, a cold-faced man, also showed a rare smile: "In the future, the Yangwei level will be the treasure of our navy, even if our personnel are limited, we can't equip too much." ”

In the Cabinet's naval development plan, the Yangwei-class will be refitted at a rate of one per year, and another Yangwei-class will enter service next year. The Navy will continue to recruit new sailors into the battle sequence, and eventually the Navy may be on par with the Army.

Bai Nanjing asked Yang Wei, who had begun to show a domineering appearance, "Hasn't the 155mm naval gun trial-produced by NORINCO been completed yet?" ”

Deng Xiyi said: "Although their design has already begun, and even there is a lot of information in their hands, but after all, it is not an easy thing to make an artillery, I estimate that the 155mm gun is unlikely to be equipped on the ship this year, and for the time being, the Yangwei is still the same as the Qi Jiguang class, using the army's 75 guns and 105 guns to make up the number." ”

Speaking of which, Deng Xiyi was also more helpless, the artillery used by the navy is an army gun, and many of the performance cannot meet the requirements, such as the 75 infantry gun is a short-barreled gun, and the firing range is extremely limited, which limits the use of warships. Moreover, due to materials and other reasons, some of the guns in service on the ship have even begun to show rust, and they must be maintained frequently, and their reliability cannot be guaranteed.

It was not easy for NORINCO, as a military factory, and the burden on its shoulders was heavy. They had to fulfill the task of copying not only the army's various light weapons, but also the production of replica 60mm and 82mm mortars, the design and production of 76mm naval guns, the replication of 101 M105mm howitzers, the production of 105mm naval guns, and the production of 155mm naval guns. As for the Type 92 75mm infantry gun, it was directly eliminated. Neither the army nor the navy wanted such weapons.

The two Qi Jiguang-class frigates moored in Deng Xiyi's mouth said: "The preparation work of Qi Jiguang and Yuan Chonghuan has also been completed, and sending two frigates to East Asia at one time can be guaranteed to be foolproof." ”

Bai Nan also sighed when he heard it: "Yes, it's time for the 'Migratory Bird Project' to be launched." ”