Puerto Vallarta, where the Holy Mary departed, was originally built to provide supplies and a safe haven for Manila galleons. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info But in reality, it slowly developed into a smuggling port on the west coast of Mexico. There is no customs here, there is no relevant official management, and the goods can go to sea when they are on the ship. With smuggling, then piracy can also be expected, and Puerto Vallarta is perennially inhabited by some unruly pirates, who are not armed and strong enough to rob the Manila galleons that cross the ocean every year, at most small merchant ships.

From this scruffy mixed-race Spaniard named Silva, Bai Nan could sense a rough bandit, and if Bai Nan guessed correctly, although Silva was a smuggler, he might also work part-time as a pirate.

The Tang Dynasty had no position to clean up the pirates for New Spain, and the smugglers had escaped the colonial government's tariffs, and they would never be able to escape the Datang tariffs when they came to the port of Long Beach to trade.

"Look, sir, I have brought 200 sheaves of sugar cane, 200 pounds of dried chilies, 400 pounds of indigo and 90 pounds of carmine, and a large amount of corn, and some livestock, which I think will sell for a good price." Silva looked at Bai Nan expectantly, his hands still frustrating.

Bai Nan heard that these Mexican specialties brought by Silva, Datang really had a demand. In addition, although Datang is no longer short of food, it still maintains the attitude of more and more, and there is no problem in importing some at the right price. As for spices, they have always been relatively scarce in Datang, and there is no pepper cultivation in California, so there will be as many Datang as there are. As for natural dyes, Datang is also needed, Datang already has a preliminary textile industry, although Anhua Chemical is also synthesizing artificial dyes, but the price of natural dyes is not expensive, the purchase and use is also very good.

As for sugar cane, Bai Nan was very excited when he heard this. The last time he went to Alpulco, he imagined buying sugar cane locally, but he didn't receive much. Sugarcane is an important raw material for sugar production, and Datang is now relatively short of granulated sugar.

Although both the East and West Bai Nan wanted, he did not show any particular eagerness, in case the Spanish smuggler raised the price, he said: "It's late now, let's talk about the official business tomorrow." I think Mr. Silva must have come to Datang to buy Datang products, and you can also go and see what you need tomorrow. ”

Silva showed a slightly lost mood and said: "I thought that Datang was a country established by the Chinese, and there would be a lot of silk and tea, but I didn't expect that you all had such things." Porcelain is not selling as well as these two things. ”

Bai Nan smiled slightly and said, "Silk tea is produced in East Asia, and we naturally don't have it, but Datang has extraordinary manufacturing power, maybe you can find better selling goods than silk and tea." ”

Silva put a smile on his face again: "I'm sure it will be like this. ”

Silva stayed overnight in the harbor of Long Beach and was transported to Los Angeles in a horse-drawn carriage the next day. The bustling city of Los Angeles was an eye-opener for the mexican, with neat and straight streets and rows of houses that shocked Silva, who had never seen much of the world.

"I'm sure Los Angeles must be the prettiest city in the Americas! I've been to Mexico City, but it's a big slum compared to here. "Say beautiful things without money, whether it's true or not, anyway, Silva thinks that if you make a sound, your business can do well.

First of all, in the office building of the Ministry of Commerce, the officials of the Datang Ministry of Commerce issued a list, and they were not affectionate or familiar with Silva, and said directly: "This list is the price list of the goods we purchased on the Holy Mary, you can take a look, all your goods, we will buy them at a price of 11,867 dragon yuan, that is, 7,306." 37 pieces of Eagle Ocean, our customs will charge customs duty 2373. $4 tariff. We will help you deposit this money into a Datang Bank account, you can withdraw it at will, or you can store it here, it will generate 3% interest per year. ”

Regarding the prices of various commodities in Mexico, Bai Nan conducted a lot of economic intelligence when he went to Alpulco last time, and the Ministry of Commerce also made some cost considerations for the reprocessing of raw materials purchased by itself, so some prices were given. It's definitely not kind, but it won't cause maritime merchants to lose money, and even make a lot of money. All in all, at this price, Datang earns a little cheaper, and maritime merchants also earn, but relatively less.

This was already satisfying to Silva, whose Holy Mary was nothing more than a small schooner with a displacement of one or two hundred tons, with less than thirty sailors combined, and could not carry much cargo. He collected all these Mexican products, and the money spent was only about 3,000 eagles, which was all his belongings, and many of them were obtained by robbery at sea to get money and goods. Silva made a trip to Datang, the sailing distance was not too far, and after deducting his other costs and tariffs, he had already made more than 100% of the profit.

What's more, the focus of Silva's business this time is to buy Datang goods and sell them back to Mexico.

Then Silva was led into the department store in Los Angeles, and Silva had been struck by the huge hypermarket. There were thousands of goods on display that he had never seen before, giving Silva a new understanding of the wealth of the Tang people.

As soon as he entered the department store, he saw the area decorated with classic daily chemicals, and the perfume in special glass bottles was like a beautiful work of art, some of the perfume bottles had intricate patterns on them, some were like a beautiful dancer, and some were like a small sailboat.

With the permission of the salesperson, Silva opened a few bottles of perfume and tasted it, and was immediately enchanted by the beautiful aroma.

The Spanish translator of the Ministry of Commerce who followed him said: "This is a perfume configured by my country with a unique secret recipe, with a total of eight series and more than a dozen varieties, which are not only fragrant and moving, but also beautifully packaged, and are a commodity that can only be used by a noble person." “

Silva naturally understood that this was a great luxury, and that if he sold it to the ladies and ladies of the aristocratic lords, he would definitely make a lot of money, so he asked the translator: "How do you sell these perfumes?" ”

"Different varieties and different prices, for example, this lavender-scented eau de toilette, the price is 39 dragon yuan, and this imperial perfume costs 199 dragon yuan."

Silva hurriedly asked, "I don't know how your country's currency is exchanged with the New Spanish Eagle." ”

Translation: "The dragon dollar in our country is a gold-based currency, but generally our trade does not use the local currency, gold, and uses silver like New Spain. In order to facilitate trade, our country minted silver coins of the same weight and gold content as the New Spanish Eagle Ocean, and the exchange ratio to the dragon dollar was 1. 6,242 dragon dollars to 1 silver coin, which is 8 riyals. ”

This is actually a bit similar to the gold and silver double standard system, but silver coins are a kind of commodity in the Tang Dynasty, and they are not enough to be a currency.

Silva calculates, the cheapest perfume costs 24 Yingyang, which is really staggeringly expensive. But Silva also believes that he can sell more than twice the price in Mexico, not to mention that the fragrant perfume can be sold as a work of art in a beautifully made glass bottle alone.

This Mexican smuggler, who is full of business, didn't know that the price of 39 dragon yuan perfume was only 6 yuan in the department store for Datang National......

Silva walked around the department store and thought that every item might be very popular in Mexico, and many of the products he didn't know knew had to ask a translator to explain it to him.

"Well, it's a light bulb, do you see it, it's this thing that's glowing on the ceiling, but it can't emit light on its own, it needs electricity, and you can't use it even if you buy it."

Silva was puzzled and asked, "Then how can I buy electricity?" ”

The translator was a little frantic and said, "This is a very complicated matter, and it involves a lot of my country's industrial secrets, so you don't have to think about it anymore." ”

Silva was disappointed that if he could bring the light-emitting light bulb back to Mexico, the average household would consume it, and it would be a big sale. But soon Silva found his own replacement, kerosene lamps. When Bai Nan went to Mexico before, he sold a batch of kerosene lamps. Although Datang has electric lights, some of them have been tried because the Ministry of Commerce believes that it will be very marketable in other countries. By the way, the crude oil extracted by Datang Petroleum, after refining, can also be sold as lamp oil.

Silva's eyes are still mainly focused on luxury goods, he is a smuggler, and there are not many sales channels, so small and high-value luxury goods are very suitable for him to buy. In addition to perfumes, Silva also bought some leather bags, apparently the Tang people are extremely skilled in tanning, and can also print patterns on leather goods, which makes Silva breathtaking, although the price of each leather bag may be as high as hundreds of dragon yuan, but Silva still gritted his teeth and bought it. In addition, he also purchased some high-end porcelain and high-end tableware with exquisite workmanship. Finally, there are some extremely noble-looking watches, as well as several jewels made of pearls, gemstones and gold.

Just buying these luxury goods, containing only a few large boxes, Silva spent more than 8,000 dragon dollars, and the rest of the money he bought some small industrial products such as kerosene lamps, which often cost only a few yuan of dragon dollars, and were also extremely practical, and Silva also wanted to get them to Mexico to try their sales.