By the second half of the eighteenth century, Mexico had developed into a large colony, with a population comparable to that of Spain, and an economy of great activity, with colonists and Indians growing a variety of crops, mining silver, and living in large quantities of goods. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 InfoAlpulco was also Mexico's most important trading port, and not long ago, Manila galleons laden with silver coins left for Southeast Asia.

Mexican merchants did not expect that after the departure of the Manila galleon, several more merchant ships would visit the port. The laborers on the docks were hired to unload boxes and boxes of goods from the ship, and boxes of goods were removed from the ship to reveal their faces to everyone.

"Oh my God, what a fine porcelain this is!" A Mexican merchant exclaimed, trying to get closer to observe, but was stopped by a tall oriental man.

These porcelains are not too many, in fact, they were collected from several fleets, and there are a number of modern craft porcelains exported to Africa on the Changmao ship, which is estimated to be a set of fifteen or twenty yuan in the small commodity market, but in the eighteenth century, this is simply a skillful handicraft.

"Look, those crystal clear glasses, there seem to be patterns on them, I really don't know how they blow out!" In the late eighteenth century, with the progress of the steam engine and the chemical industry, glass was no longer a cherished thing in the Middle Ages, but even so, glass did not enter the homes of ordinary people, and was still regarded as a more precious luxury consumer product.

Compared to eye-catching porcelain and glass products, the relatively large number of metal products are relatively less noticeable. These metal items are mainly all kinds of tools that are not used in Los Angeles, axes, hammers and the like, and even springs. Other products that are also among the export goods are kerosene lamps, eyeglasses, leather goods, etc.

Almost all the merchants of Alpco were eager to get to the front and talk to Lin Youde, who was in charge of trade, but unfortunately even if they rushed forward, it would be useless, because Lin Youde could not speak Spanish.

Lin Youde took a look at the hot scene, nodded and expressed his satisfaction, and then he said to Lu Xiaojia, who was in charge of translation beside him: "Tell them that bulk commodities such as porcelain and glass will be marked and then auctioned, and if you are interested in other commodities, you can buy them directly." ”

This cunning businessman also understands that there may be a little market for practical goods such as kerosene lamps, but ordinary metal products and other products will not sell well in Mexico, and may even lose money. Mexico already produces a lot of iron, and although there is no steel industry or anything, there are not a few iron shops for tens of millions of people. There may be a certain demand for steel with better strength, but there is almost no industry in Mexico, so Lin Youde is also not optimistic.

As for leather products, Lin Youde can only cover his face. The tanning industry was one of the first practical industries in Los Angeles, where people bought furs from the Indians and made them into leather coats, gloves, and pants. Unfortunately, Mexico is definitely not a good market, it is located in a tropical and subtropical region, and the demand for leather goods is low. It is estimated that there will be some second-hand dealers who buy and sell to the Thirteen Colonies or Spain mainland, but the price will be relatively low.

Lin Youde's strategy is very simple, don't ask for goods to make money, just sell it, because this time the merchant ships are sailing, the purpose is mainly to open up trade routes and buy grain. The goods that Los Angeles really developed to sell couldn't be more than just these things.

Miscellaneous things are not sold slowly, Mexico as a colony produces relatively little, and the price given by the Tang merchants is also relatively realistic, so including metal products that were thought to be not selling well at the beginning have also been sold. As for high-end porcelain and glass products, it can simply be described as a snatch. These containers of goods, counting in one box, totaling more than 170 boxes, were finally packed by the Spanish merchants who flocked to the city in three days.

The four merchant ships sold an astronomical sum of nearly four million pesos, and the proportional tariffs on these goods also made the trade officials at the port customs so excited that they did not sleep for several days.

"It's just another galleon route!" Mexican merchants who bought Datang goods celebrated their harvest in taverns, and once the goods changed hands, they could at least double the profits, and some even planned to pull the goods to Central or South America to make a fortune.

The more optimistic merchant continued: "You know, these merchant ships came from Upper California, where the Chinese established colonies and directly produced high-value goods. In other words, they can make three or four more trips on this route and bring more cargo than the galleons in Manila. ”

Such optimism was immediately retorted: "Are you stupid? The Manila galleon was a collection of goods from the great China, and how big could a colony be? I've heard that there are only tens of thousands of people, and even if tens of thousands of people are all craftsmen, how many goods can they bring to us? I think that this trip is over, and these Tang merchants will not come again for a year. ”

Someone else said, "What if they can bring a lot of goods?" This time, it was the Tang people who bought off the customs, but sooner or later the news would reach the ears of His Majesty the King and his ministers, think about how these bigwigs restricted the Manila galleons, they must have worried that a large number of Tang goods would hit the Mexican market, so as to restrict, and even prevent them from trading in Alpurco. ”

"Look at what you said, the king has been restricting galleons for hundreds of years, but who has ever seen anyone really trade according to the amount of the limit? Even if it is officially banned, we can still smuggle, California is not too far, we can organize a fleet to go to Tang to receive goods, and then land and sell in a few smuggling ports in the north, it is estimated that we will make more money. ”

A 300 percent profit would allow people to risk guillotines in business, and it is clear that these Mexican businessmen have all sorts of plans in place to get on this free ride and make a fortune.

The smooth sale of domestic goods does not make Bai Nam show his face. On the contrary, he encountered some difficulties. One of the most important tasks of the fleet in Mexico this time was to buy local food to supply Los Angeles, which was short of food. However, Bai Nan did not expect that Mexico, which is famous for its corn production, does not have much surplus grain now.

This is inseparable from the mercenary approach of the Spanish colonizers. All they thought about was how to extract the most profits from the colony, and they didn't care about the development of the colony itself. For example, in order to obtain a rare red dye, the Spaniards cultivated cacti in large quantities in Mexico to feed a creature called cochineal. The fact that good fields are planted with cacti instead of corn naturally leads to a shortage of food production, and even Mexico needs to import food from other colonies to meet local needs.

Even if it was difficult to purchase grain, Bai Nam could not afford not to buy it. In addition to corn, as long as it is edible, Bai Nan buys it, especially the seeds of some crops, Bai Nan needs it. For the local merchants who did not have a great desire to sell grain, Bai Nan sacrificed a magic weapon, anyone who can sell a large amount of grain to Bai Nan will get a cooperation quota for the next transaction, and sell Tang goods to these merchants who help buy grain.

At first, Bai Nan thought that it would be more reliable to buy grain with real money, but now it seems that it is more effective to attract with commodity quotas.

After exhausting all means, Bai Nan only purchased less than 100 tons in the end, which is a huge gap from the 2,000-3,000 tons of grain that Bai Nan expected to buy before. It was easier to buy livestock than grain, and Alpulco traded with other colonies in South America, where there was also a regular market for livestock. Bai Nan bought 200 horses, more than 100 cows, and even 45 cute alpacas here.

Los Angeles has always been short of horses, whether it's riding horses or pulling horses. Cattle can be used to plow fields, but soon after the construction of the Los Angeles steel and oil industries is completed, a preliminary version of the tractor may replace the ploughing ox. In fact, by buying these livestock, Bai Nan also made a plan to kill and eat meat when there was not enough food.

In fact, Bainan is also overly worried, and Los Angeles is doing well in agriculture, after all, California is one of the best agricultural areas on the West Coast of the United States. High-yielding crops are beginning to mature, and with abundant catches, the food crisis is almost over. Starting next year, there will be a large amount of surplus grain in Datang, and for a long time to come, Datang's grain output will inevitably increase year after year.

Since he could not continue to purchase enough food, Bai Nan had no choice. He had another mission, which was to travel to Mexico City to meet with Baccarelli, the governor of the colony of New Spain. In fact, Zhao Daling didn't want Bai Nan to "go into danger" at first, but this task seemed to be completed by few people except Bai Nan. There are no more than twenty Spanish speakers in Los Angeles, and even fewer are adaptable and politically savvy.

With a few retinues, escorted by colonial troops, Bainan arrived in Mexico City, the center of the Spanish colony. His task is very arduous, how to deter the Spaniards, ensure the sphere of influence of the Tang Republic, and promote the international environment conducive to the survival and development of the Tang Dynasty, these are all things that Bai Nan needs to solve.