For the Mexican crew aboard the Holy Sister Maria, coming to Los Angeles was a novel experience. www.biquge.info Many of them had sailed in ports near the Caribbean Sea and visited the busy city of Alpco, but none of them were trading ports established by the Orientals.

"It's really sad, who knows that the Oriental people are the same as ascetic ascetics, there are no prostitutes and dancers here, and there is not even a bar, can we only taste the different flavors of Datang food when we come to this city?" Thiago, a sailor, sat in the dock canteen, eating a bowl of rice and a salted fish sauce.

Despite all these words, the sailors were thrilled to be able to eat fresh food, even the salted fish, which tasted ten times better than the salted fish found in Mexico due to the special craftsmanship used. Not to mention that these Mexicans have basically never eaten rice, and the special taste of food makes them feel very novel.

In the canteen, the price for the employees of the unit (port company) is relatively low, for example, rice is a dime a piece, basically a strong laborer can eat enough. There are two kinds of vegetarian dishes, one is five cents, which belongs to a larger amount of vegetables, such as cabbage, and one is eight cents, which is a relatively small number of vegetables, such as eggplant, tomatoes, beans, etc. There are not a lot of meat dishes, after all, there are relatively few livestock breeding in Los Angeles, and many of them are game. The larger quantity is all kinds of fish, such as ordinary salted fish in sauce, a serving only costs one dime and two cents, a large piece, and eating a whole steamed fish is only three cents. Other meats, whether they are bred pork, mutton, or hunted venison, wild boar, and bear meat, are basically priced at more than five cents, and some even have eight cents and one piece.

For outsiders, such as these Mexican sailors, the price is a little more expensive, but it is not unacceptable, at least it is about the same as in Mexico, and some are even cheaper.

A Danish sailor said: "I heard an English-speaking dock manager say that because the Tang Dynasty had just colonized here before, the grain was not very sufficient, so they did not make wine, and it was only after their grain harvest in the recent autumn that a small amount of wine was made." However, they also make rice wine, sweet and sour, without any strength, and it is definitely not interesting together. ”

Someone said: "At least go and taste it, if it's not expensive." ”

Thiago slapped the table and said, "Los Angeles is really not a place for us sailors, everything is so orderly here, have you seen how their docks are organized, everyone obeys the overseers like puppets, and even lines up like an army, it's terrible." There's no bad wine, there's no, I'm afraid this is just a good place to buy something strange and take it back to sell. ”

A black crew member said: "But the order and security here are very good, we have not seen any fights since we came, the streets are very clean, it seems that the people here are very rich, if we can live here, we should be happy." ”

Thiago snorted, "You're a fugitive slave, and you're lucky enough to be able to earn a living at sea." Do you think they won't arrest you as a slave in the Tang Dynasty? ”

The black crew did not show weakness either: "It seems that Datang is a much more civilized place than Spain, I haven't made any mistakes, they won't arrest me casually." ”

Thiago added: "Negroes are inferior, and everywhere they go is the life of slaves!" ”

The black sailor's head was bruised, but Thiago's prestige among the sailors was so high that he did not dare to oppose Thiago, and still did not continue to argue with him.

The sailors were not allowed to roam around Los Angeles, but they could apply to be accompanied by a port company staff member to tour the city and do some shopping. In the world of seafaring, it was an unwritten practice for sailors to be able to carry a certain amount of duty-free goods to and from different countries. However, in the Republic of Datang, there is a clear provision in the Maritime Transport Management Law that sailors from other countries may not carry more than a certain weight and a certain amount of goods when they come to Datang. Despite the restrictions, the sailors of the Holy Mary were still able to carry a lot of things, after all, the limit was a bit higher for them poor people, and many of them bought small things, some bought cheap daily chemicals, some bought metal products, and even some bought food with a longer shelf life.

The captain of the Spanish smuggling ship, Silva, was summoned by Bai Nan after the transaction was completed. Silva is also quite a bit of a face-to-face posture, he can vaguely know that Bai Nan should be a more powerful official of the Tang Dynasty, if he can get along with him, then it will have a better impact on his business.

Somewhat flattered, Silva had a working meal with Bai Nan at the Panda Hotel, one of Los Angeles' most exclusive hotels. Coming to this luxurious palace-like hotel, Silva didn't even have the courage to ask how much it would cost to stay here for a night, most of his money was pressed on goods, and there was no extra money to spend.

The standard of the meal that Bai Nan invited Silva to eat was also very high, but Bai Nan had no intention of reimbursing it with public funds, so he simply improved the food himself. A table of dishes is a combination of Chinese and Western, although Bai Nan feels a little nondescript, but it is also very delicious. Except for a vegetable salad, there is not much to talk about, basically relying on the special salad dressing, and the other dishes are very high-grade. A dish of fresh salmon bridley, a dish of braised California perch, a dish of braised prawns, a dish of fried squid rings, a French-style grilled lamb chops, a dish of baked potatoes, and a dish of steamed bear's paws.

Silva is just a mixed-race Mexican, from a poor background, but he can fight and make a career. In Mexico, the highest status is the "Peninsula people" from Spain, followed by the native-born whites, and the mixed race like Silva, Indians, and blacks are the lowest. He had never seen such a luxurious cooking dish in his life, looking at the knives and forks and various cutlery in front of him, the delicate tablecloth, and the two waiters at the table, which made Silva very nervous, for fear of doing something wrong and embarrassing.

Bai Nan didn't think about asking the kitchen of the Yuelai Hotel to cook a high-grade meal for himself, and it turned out that there were so many things, and they all looked quite expensive, but he was not the kind of person who was particularly careful, since the money was spent, then enjoy it.

Shaking the big red wine glass in his hand, Bai Nan was a little distracted, and couldn't help but think about how wonderful it would be to have such an emotional dinner with a beautiful woman like Xu Xin.

He shook his head, dissipated the thoughts, and went to work, "Mr. Silva, please dine at will, don't be overly elaborate, I hate red tape at the dinner table." ”

As he spoke, he reached out and took a finger-thick and short prawn and picked it up naturally. This freshwater shrimp is a local specialty and has been banned from fishing in the other side due to its scarcity, but there are still plenty of it in California.

Bai Nan's "leading by example" made Silva relax for a moment and began to enjoy the delicious delicacies on the table.

"My God, if you want to say that the cooking method is the highest in the world, it must be Datang! I think even if God eats the food made by the Tang people, he will tremble with happiness. If Silva hadn't taken care of Bai Nan, he would have eaten hay stuff at this point, and even then, he kept stuffing things into his mouth.

Bai Nan ate half full, took a sip of red wine, wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and obviously planned to start talking.

Silva is also very observant, he knows that Bai Nan's meal is definitely not for nothing, and immediately sits and listens to Bai Nan's instructions.

"As you know, Mr. Silva, there have been some unpleasant encounters between our country and Spain, and even military conflicts have broken out. However, Datang has a passion for all friendly friends, and we also hope to do trade with friends from all over the world. There is a trade complementarity between Mexico and Datang, Datang has an excellent manufacturing industry and needs all kinds of Mexican raw materials, but for the time being, we can't do business with Mexico unless we start a war with Spain. Bai Nan looked a little distressed.

Silva immediately looked awe-inspiring and said with a look of righteousness to solve the problems for you, and said: "Mr. General Counselor, please rest assured, I am willing to act as a medium for trade between Datang and Mexico, as long as you have any needs, I will definitely help you get it, my way in Mexico is also relatively wild, I have many friends, and doing business with Datang is very profitable, who will not get along with silver coins?" ”

Bai Nan nodded: "Mr. Silva has opened a trade route from Puerto Vallarta to the Port of Long Beach this time, with an admirable pioneering spirit and sincerity. However, Mr. Silva's capacity is still weaker, and Datang needs more imports and wants to export more goods to Mexico. ”

Silva immediately rolled his eyes, to be honest, he didn't want others to participate in this route, if he could monopolize the route, it would inevitably mean that he enjoyed high profits, but he thought about it, what Bai Nan said was indeed right, just like this time, he could only buy a few boxes of Datang goods, and he had no financial resources or capacity to export other more goods.

"Perhaps, I will be able to find some good friends in Vallarta who will be interested in coming to Datang to do business."

Bai Nan nodded again, his expression still didn't seem to be satisfied, and he finally said: "If you want to talk about merchant ships, in fact, Datang has a lot, we can't go to San Blas and Alpco, but there is no one in Vallarta to take care of it, Datang's international trading company, I hope that this time we can send a few small merchant ships to follow the Holy Mary to Vallarta, I expect Mr. Silva to be able to provide useful assistance to our merchant ships." ”

This is Bai Nan's real plan, let Datang's merchant ships participate in this smuggling route!