When the fleet arrived in the Americas, the first thing Zheng Zhihu hired several Spanish sailors to do when they landed on the mainland was to kneel on land and thank the Virgin Mary for allowing them to survive the voyage safely.

During the 60-day voyage, all the people on board, except for a few who had accidentally fallen into the sea, did not fall ill, which made them very surprised that this was the shelter of the Virgin Mary for the voyage.

In their past sailing careers, the journey between Manila and Alpulco was a trip to hell, with the deadliest voyage reaching half the crew and the least one tenth of the crew.

Weevil-infested hard biscuits, stinking fresh water, pickled lard, these shoddy foods were the staple food of seafarers in this era. But even such bad food is often limited on the voyage across the Pacific because it is not replenished.

After all, the purpose of the Manila galleon to and from the Pacific Ocean was to trade, and every space on board was used as much as possible, and the amount of food prepared for the crew naturally had to be carefully calculated. Poor and inadequate diet, so that the ship did not stop for 3 or 4 weeks to replenish fresh food, and the crew showed symptoms of bleeding.

On Zheng Zhihu's voyage, the purpose of the expedition was greater than the purpose of trade, so the food was very well prepared. During the 60-day voyage, everyone received enough and nutritious food. In particular, the canned food specially prepared by Chongzhen has almost become the favorite food of sailors.

As a result, when they arrived on the American continent, all the people on board were in good health, except for the fact that they looked a little mentally exhausted. The experienced Spanish sailors were amazed by this, believing that the voyage must have been protected by the Virgin Mary, and prayed to the Virgin Mary as soon as they came ashore.

After listening to their prayers, Zheng Zhihu conveniently noted the local place name on the surveyed nautical chart, Los Angeles, which is a transliteration of the Spanish word for angel.

From Los Angeles to the south, it took them only 8 days to arrive in Alpco, which was the first day of the first month of Chongzhen's second year.

During this coastal voyage, the abundance of offshore resources on the North American continent shocked first-time visitors, including Zheng Zhihu. Not far from the sea, there are thousands of fish that migrate with the currents, and there are so many fish here that the boat can hardly move.

Behind the school of fish are countless whales, dolphins, fur seals and other sea creatures. On the reefs that can be seen along the coast, countless fur seals can always be seen basking in the sun. Further afield, on the continent, there is an endless forest, which seems to be a sea of forests, and you can never see where the end of the forest is.

Zheng Zhihu later realized that the coast they saw after leaving Los Angeles was actually a long and narrow peninsula, and this huge peninsula was almost as long as Taiwan.

However, after entering the coast of Mexico, the endless towering forests finally disappeared, and the coastline of Mexico, which was eroded by the wind and waves of the Pacific Ocean, except for the steep cliffs, was low bushes, and there were no more tall trees of more than 10-20 feet on the northern continent.

Alpulco is a bay in the middle of Mexico's Pacific coast, surrounded by two jutting hills, thus forming a natural harbor. The Pacific Ocean is blocked by two hills jutting into the ocean, so the bay is calm all year round, and there are soft sand beaches in the bay, and there are coconut groves near the beach, which looks like it is no different from the ports of Southeast Asia.

Due to its tropical location, Alpulco has only two seasons of the year, the dry season and the rainy season. Summer is the hot rainy season, while the winter is the cool dry season. Galleons from Manila often arrive in Alpulco in March or April of the following year, so Mexican merchants often leave Mexico City in late December or mid-January and arrive in Alpulco by early February.

Along with these merchants were the tax collectors of New Spain, who stayed here from mid-February to mid-May, completing a trading season before returning to the cool and comfortable Mexican highlands before the hot summer days arrived.

The distance from Alpulco to Mexico City is about 600 miles, but the drop is as high as more than 2,000 meters, and the traffic between the two places is only on a rugged road, with a large area of no man's land in between, and the main means of transport on this path is mules. It takes about 20-30 days to complete the journey.

Because the summer in Alpulco is unbearable, the port is a seasonal city. When the trade season begins, it becomes a bustling bazaar. But once the trading season is over, it reverts to being a secluded little fishing port.

In the past, the Spaniards did not pay much attention to Alpulco, but only used it as a temporary port for trade with Manila, just as they had set up a temporary port on both sides of the Isthmus of Panama.

However, with the decline of Spain's domestic manufacturing industry and the thirst for wealth of the Spanish aristocracy, which increased its control over the economy of the colony of New Spain, the silkworm breeding and viticulture industries that had just begun to develop in Mexico were strongly suppressed by the colonial government.

A large number of mulberry trees and vines were cut down, and the "Gatyuping" merchants who crossed the sea from Spain, relying on the monopoly trade privileges obtained from the king, continued to suck the blood of the entire American colony. But Spain's declining manufacturing industry was unable to meet the material needs of the New Spanish colonies.

As a result, the smuggling trade of British merchants and galleons from Manila became an indispensable source of supplies for the colonies of New Spain. As British seafaring continued to grow, British ships emerged from the Caribbean to the Pacific. In order to ensure the safety of Alpulco, the Spaniards began to pay attention to this excellent port on the Pacific coast.

In 1615, the Spaniards built a fortress on the west side of the Bay of Acapulco to ward off English pirates. When Zheng Zhihu's ship appeared outside the Gulf of Acapulco, the Spanish colonial officers defending the fortress were very surprised, because it was the first time that a Chinese shipowner had appeared here alone.

After receiving a large number of gifts of silk and porcelain from Zheng Zhihu, the officers and soldiers stationed at the fortress immediately became good friends of these honest and reliable Chinese merchants.

The captain commander of Fort San Diego in Acapulco, was a native white man. In New Spain, the whole society was divided into four classes: the "Gatupíping" people who crossed the sea from China to New Spain to make money, the native white people who owned real estate and even mines, the Mestizo people of mixed race, and finally the local indigenous Indians.

The "Gatyuping" were the least numerous, but they held almost all the high-ranking official positions in the colonies and monopolized the privileges of trading in various commodities. Although the native-born whites owned land and were not economically deficient, they were subservient to these poor aristocrats from the country in terms of political power.

Although Andres's father was a large estate owner, he was only the second son in the family, and this property had nothing to do with him. His father had hoped to train him to be a priest, and the Mexican Church had as much wealth as the king.

But as a native white man, Andrés did not regard Spain as his homeland, but rather as his own country. He hated the insatiable greed of the "Gatyupin" and the condescension of the native-born whites to the "Gatyupin".

He also looked down on the clergy who were full of lies and only wanted to drain the last piece of Lille from the pockets of the native people. So Andrés fled the seminary after a few months of schooling and ended up joining the colonial army.

Even in the military, the "Gatyupins" still occupied the positions of senior officers, while the native-born whites served as middle and low-ranking officers, the mestizos served as soldiers, and the Indians were largely not allowed to join the army.

The post of commander of Fort San Diego in Acapulco was not the turn of Andrés, a man of "Gatyuping". But the noble "Gatyupin" spent the rest of his time in Mexico City enjoying his colonial life, except for the trade season when he appeared here to extract the richest bribes from the merchants and shipowners.

In the absence of Gatyuping, Captain Andrés became the highest-ranking officer in the military of Puerto Acapulco. When Zheng Zhihu arrived here, the official commander of Fort San Diego was still on his way to Acapulco, so Andres and his subordinates had a rare share of a large amount of money.

Zheng Zhihu's gift was quite generous, even in terms of Asian value. If calculated in Mexican value, the property he gave to these officers and soldiers was enough to buy a small estate. After all, in the vast and sparsely populated Mexico, land is extremely cheap.

After the young Captain Andrés had received generous gifts from his Chinese friends, the native-born white officer, who had not yet degenerated, felt obliged to warn his newfound Chinese friends.

Captain Andrés advised his Chinese friends not to wait for the trading season in the port of Acapulco and not to sell all their goods there. Instead, he went south as soon as he could, to the Peruvian port of Callao, to sell the goods he had brought with him in the city of Lima.

Captain Andrés said to him, "In the port of Acapulco, the merchants who come to trade are 'Gatyupin', and these people are so greedy that even the goods that come from Manila are bought at a low price.

And you, the Chinese businessmen who have never been seen before, will surely become the target of their cunning. The local tax collectors are also "Gaqiuping" people, and if they join forces, most of the goods you bring with you will fall into their pockets for free.

But this is not the case in Lima, Peru, where the area is remote, supplies are scarce, and the "Gatyupin" people are rarely seen there. There are a lot of people there with silver, and they will not be suspicious of the goods you have brought. For they would prefer to have a trading fleet that would come and go frequently, and bring the supplies they needed, even if the trade relations were not tolerated by the king..."