It took less than a week to sail from the port of Los Angeles Long Beach to Alpulco, Mexico's largest port. Riding the cold California current and trade winds, the www.biquge.info of the pen and the fun pavilion ride the wind and water, coupled with the steam power on the ship, with a speed of more than a dozen knots, the route of more than 3,000 kilometers does not take much time. The speed of this really shocked Pérez, and it took him more than a month to sail from San Blas to the waters near Los Angeles, but although the return trip was helped by wind and currents, this speed was still beyond his imagination.

"The Tang people have set off a revolution in world shipping, and if Spanish sailing ships can be raised to such speeds, then the benefits of trade can at least be doubled!" Pérez was thinking about how he could get a way to increase the speed of the ship from the Don. He was already sure that this increase in speed had nothing to do with the size of the ship, because the previous fishing boats of similar size could not even outrun his Santiago. And although he was restricted from moving on the ship, he could see clearly, the ship was emitting the roar of machinery, and there was a huge chimney emitting thick black smoke.

"It's a steam engine!" Pérez is also insightful, although the British are leading in this regard, but Spain is not completely detached from the technological progress of the world, and there are also mine owners in Spain and in the colonies who use these things to increase the efficiency of their work.

Pérez didn't need to know exactly how the steam engine propelled a ship to that speed, he was not an inventor, but he thought he knew how it worked, and then told his country's technicians that Spain could also develop its own fast warship.

The Perez and Santiago were from San Blas, but since the merchant ships of the Tang Dynasty came for trade, it was obviously not suitable to dock at San Blas, whose main role was a military port. The pearl of the galleon trade route and the largest port on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean, Alpulco is the destination of the Tang people. The Manila galleon trade, which began in the fifteenth century, was a sign of Spain's imperial hegemony over the centuries, bringing millions of taels of silver from Alpulco every year to buy Chinese raw silk, tea, cotton and porcelain from Manila, and then returning to Alpulco to trade, and these Chinese goods were sold throughout the colony of New Spain and brought huge profits to the Spanish crown and colonial government.

However, in the second half of the eighteenth century, as the Spanish economy withered, the galleon trade gradually declined. This was due to Spain's successive defeats in wars, its lack of progress in the Industrial Revolution, and its greedy and short-sighted colonial development strategy. Although the galleon trade was coming to an end, the prosperity of the port city could still be felt when the Tang merchant ships arrived in Alpulco.

Flying a flag that the Spaniards had never seen before, or six large ships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, frightened the Alpulco side, and at this time there was only one best way to express their horror - to open fire.

"These Franco-machine ghosts, they are still a few miles away from us, so they don't have a brain, Commissioner Bai, as soon as you give the order, the miscellaneous family will burn this port to the ground." Yang Zhen, who was the captain of the Qi Jiguang, pulled the voice of a half-man and not a woman, but the words he said were quite manly.

There is such a phenomenon in the Datang Navy, that is, there are many "eunuch officers". This kind of thing has been criticized in private, but both Zhao Daling and Deng Xiyi have tried their best to override public opinion and insist on letting a few "physically unsound" fathers-in-law serve as naval officers. These eunuch officers still have real skills, Hong Bao, Zhou Man, Yang Zhen, Zhu Liang, Li Xing, etc., have all gone to the West with Zheng He many times, and their ability to command the army is not necessarily worse than that of the PLA naval officers.

For example, this Yang Zhen not only commanded the fleet, but also has some martial arts, is literate and hyphenated, and is also quite talented. After learning some knowledge about the modern navy, it was absolutely no accident that he was appointed as the captain of Datang's first frigate. Yang Zhen's military rank is also a lieutenant colonel now, but because Bai Nan is the commissioner of this operation, it is still subject to Bai Nan's judgment.

Bai Nan smiled lightly and said, "There is no need to use force with these Spaniards, send a sampan over, and let a Spanish priest explain our intentions, it is better not to fight or not to fight." ”

Bai Nan also knew that Yang Zhen was just "pretending to be ****", Alpulco had been run by the Spaniards for centuries, and the Tang Republic was not unable to capture such a port, but with only two frigates and less than a hundred marines, it was still a bit troublesome. Besides, the port batteries are full of Spaniards' coastal defense artillery, if it is a steel-armored battleship, the Tang army is naturally not afraid, but Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou are ordinary wooden sailing ships, and they can't withstand too much blow.

A small sampan with a white flag was manipulated by a Spanish priest to Alpulco, and the Spanish officials at the port rushed to the priest.

"Father, may I ask from which country these ships are coming from?"

The priest was obviously very excited to see his fellow Spaniards, and he wanted to complain about his misery, but remembering Father Cruzzardo's thousand instructions, he held back and replied to the official: "My lord, this fleet comes from the Tang Republic, our country north of New Spain, and they have established their own colony in California, and have built it into a prosperous country. This time they came to Alpulco to trade with us. ”

The official was taken aback and said, "Isn't Upper California being colonized by order of His Majesty the King, and when has it become something else?" ”

The priest said: "Obviously, the other party is one step ahead of us, they came from the East, originally Chinese, with a long civilization and bright technology. And you see, they have a very strong force, this fleet is just the tip of the iceberg, they have hundreds of ships, including hundreds of such huge warships, and there are even bigger and more terrible warships. Our expedition ship, the San Diego, has been sunk for offending their fishing boat. ”

The official was even more shocked and showed anger: "This is war! We're going to get rid of these shameful yellow-skinned monkeys! ”

The priest hurriedly waved his hand and said, "My lord, I advise you not to do this. The strength of the Don Army is very strong, not only has a powerful fleet, but their army weapons are also advanced, and they can destroy an army ten times larger than themselves, you can find out about the details from Mr. Perez, the captain of the Santiago. Now, I beg you to allow the Tang merchant ships to enter the port, and the four merchant ships carry millions of riyals of cargo, including fine porcelain made by the Tang people, as well as many valuable goods. ”

Hearing the word porcelain, the port official's eyes lit up, and then the priest hurriedly added: "The people of the Tang Kingdom are willing to pay customs duties and port entry fees in accordance with the regulations." ”

Seeing that the official was still hesitating, the priest hurriedly said: "My lord, there are only two frigates coming now, if you refuse this trade, the next time you come to Alpulco, you may have a dozen warships, hundreds of cannons, and thousands of well-equipped Tang soldiers." Gold or war, it's up to you, sir. ”

In the end, the official chose to compromise, perhaps the priest may have been alarmist, but if these merchant ships really brought a large amount of valuable porcelain and other goods, then Alpco, which was already in a slump, might make a fortune as a result, and these colonial officials would enrich their pockets. The rule of officials in the colonies has always been corrupt, and many officials go to the colonies to make a fortune. They will never refuse a good opportunity to make a fortune, as for how the Tang State and Spain deal with the ownership of California, it should be a matter for the senior colonial officials and His Majesty the King, and they just need to get rich.

However, even so, the Spaniards only allowed four merchant ships to anchor in Alpulco, while two frigates had to be in the harbor, and Bai Nan agreed to this condition, and the two frigates were cruising in the open sea, and they could immediately support anything.

Stepping on Mexican soil, Bai Nan immediately identified himself: "I am a special envoy authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Tang Republic, and I have come to New Spain this time to hold talks and consultations on the ownership of land between the two countries on the west coast of North America and the issue of trade between the two countries. ”

The official was a little stunned that this young oriental diplomat could speak fluent Spanish, but he still said quickly: "I'm sorry, Mr. diplomat, first of all, your so-called Tang Republic, Spain has not recognized, Spain has declared sovereignty over the entire west coast of North America, and we do not recognize the occupation of this region by any force, as for what you have to say, you can go to Mexico City to talk to His Excellency the Governor." ”

Bai Nan said again: "So, what about the issue of trade? ”

The port official's face suddenly became a little weird, and he rubbed his hand below, Bai Nan immediately understood, walked into his ear and said, "If the trade can go on normally, you can get 1,000 pesos for the benefit fee, what do you think?" ”

You must know that in order to limit the impact of a large number of Chinese goods on the sales of Spanish goods in the colonies, the Spanish royal family limited the goods carried by a Manila galleon to no more than 250,000 pesos (which was almost never seriously enforced), and a bribe of 1,000 pesos was already a sky-high price.

The official also wanted to bargain with Bai Nan, and even threatened Bai Nan, but Bai Nan never relented, and finally the tax collector agreed to pay a bribe of 1,000 pesos, and imposed heavy taxes on the merchant ships of the Tang State as usual. In any case, the merchant ships of the Tang people still sailed into the ports of New Spain, and Bai Nan's mission had already made a good start.