Captain Andrés' suggestion was indeed well-intentioned, and in a way the white captain also hoped to establish a solid relationship with the Chinese businessmen.

Although the "Gatyupin" people of New Spain discriminated against all colored people, the native whites and Mestizos of the colonies had an inexplicable affection for China.

On the one hand, this goodwill comes from high-quality and cheap Chinese goods, and on the other hand, a small number of Chinese from the Philippines are very good-natured and have a lot of skills.

After seeing the insatiable greed of the "Jiaqiuping" people, they also have a special affection for the Chinese.

In the past, the sailing ship from Manila would not have been approached by him. The appearance of Zheng Zhihu and others undoubtedly gave him a chance.

Although Andrés looked down on the stupid and greedy "Gatyuping", he did not want to waste his life in this seaside fortress.

Although Fort San Diego was built to protect against pirates, there were not many trading ships on the Pacific coast except on certain dates. And the ports from Mexico to Cape Freud were under the control of the Spaniards.

The pirates preferred to rob Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean, and secondarily from Peru at the entrance or exit of the Isthmus of Panama. As for Alpulco, there is nothing to rob except for the galleon trade in March and April every year.

As a result, pirate ships rarely crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and after the construction of Fort San Diego, the pirates were less interested in the port of Alpulco.

Therefore, the commander of Fort San Diego was able to run back to Mexico City for most of the year, only to appear there during the trade season.

But for Captain Andrés and the other soldiers guarding the fort, it became a harsh retirement home. But anyone who still has some ideas will try to get out of the area and return to the Mexican highlands with the right climate, or the Caribbean coast where they can establish their feats.

More than 100 years since the colony of New Spain was founded, the Spanish aristocracy and adventurers who were brave and enterprising at the beginning also began to degenerate and corrupt.

In the colonial government of New Spain, with the exception of a few high-ranking positions that had to be filled by "Gatyupin", all other official positions were clearly priced. As a native white man, Andrés could afford to move himself from the castle on the edge of the Pacific Ocean back to bustling Mexico City.

It's just that, in the past, when it came to the trade season, all the items that should be collected were controlled by the commander of the "Gatyuping". The rest of the castle can only collect a small amount of money to improve their lives.

Now that he is able to catch a ride with a businessman from China, Andrés certainly hopes to be able to bypass the greedy boss and raise some pension for his future.

He didn't want to abandon the route because of the greedy "Gaqiuping" merchants, who made it impossible for these generous Chinese merchants to make a profit.

For the "Gatyuping" merchants and the upper echelons of the kingdom, the smaller the quantity of Chinese goods from the west, the better, so that the merchants of the kingdom, who had a monopoly on New Spain's foreign trade, could make super-profits.

For the majority of New Spaniards, the more goods on the market, the better, so they don't care whether these goods come from Spain or elsewhere, they just hope that the market can provide enough daily necessities for them to consume.

Alpulco will never be a real port city with the goods transported by those Manila galleons, and the people who live here cannot change their lives.

For the residents of Andrés and Alpúlco, the more ships that travel to and from the port of Alpulco, the more prosperous the market becomes, the better their lives will become. Instead of eating tortillas for seven or eight months a year, as is the case now, they simply can't afford lamb, beef, and wheat bread except for cheap sea fish.

However, for Captain Andres's kind reminder, Zheng Zhihu and his two deputies did not fully accept it.

If they were just a bunch of businessmen, then Andrés' proposal was clearly extremely valuable. But the purpose of their trip was not just a transpacific trade, but a trial voyage to find a route.

In addition to exploring the shipping routes to and from the Pacific Ocean, Chongzhen arranged another ship and man for Zheng Zhihu, and was also tasked with exploring settlements on the North American continent and collecting flora and fauna from the Americas.

To put it simply, Chongzhen didn't care how much money he could make on this voyage, he just asked Zheng Zhihu and others to try their best to transport some special plants or animals from the Americas back to China.

For example, cotton, rubber, sisal, cocoa and coffee beans from the Americas, or high-quality long-haired sheep and Andalusian horses brought from the country by the Spaniards.

Therefore, when Captain Andrés expressed his goodwill, Zheng Zhihu also bluntly told him that their voyage to this place was just a test voyage.

On this voyage, they did not intend to take with them much silver and gold, but hoped to take with them some flora and fauna endemic to Mexico.

They will leave a small ship of cargo in Alpulco to exchange for those special flora and fauna, while Zheng Zhihu's ship will set off for Lima as Captain Andrés suggests.

Zheng Zhihu's lieutenant suggested to Captain Andrés that if he could find the special plants for them and arrange for a guide who was familiar with Lima's routes, they would pay a tenth of the transaction amount as a commission for Andrés and his men.

This suggestion immediately impressed Captain Andrés and his men, and the animals and plants that the Chinese were looking for could be found in or near Alpulco, except for rubber trees, cocoa, and coffee.

Cocoa and coffee can be found further south in Guatemala in Central America, while rubber trees are abundant in the east of Mexico City.

Cocoa and coffee are edible foods, but rubber trees don't do much at all. Rubber juice has little purpose other than making it into a ball, and it also ages easily.

In Andrés' view, the Chinese exchanged valuable silk and raw silk for these rubber trees, simply giving him money. He didn't need to prosthetize anyone else, just send a team of mules to the rubber grove and order the local Indians to dig up the rubber saplings and take out the seeds, all at great cost.

As for the domestic animals that the Chinese need, they can be found almost everywhere in Mexico. Since the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the establishment of the colony of New Spain a hundred years ago, the comfortable climate and vast grasslands of the Mexican highlands have become the best grazing grounds.

Cattle, sheep and horses brought from Spain quickly flooded the Mexican plateau for more than a hundred years. There are now more than 6 million sheep in Mexico, almost several times the population.

And the number of cattle and horses is also difficult to count. When Spain introduced these large animals, they were not initially bred in captivity, so many cattle and horses began to reproduce themselves in the wild.

In the Mexican highlands, where natural predators are scarce, these large animals soon become masters of the inaccessible highlands, reproducing on their own so much that they are known locally as bison or wild horses.

Had it not been for the second decade of the 17th century, when the climate in New Spain had become harsh, with a decade of poor agricultural harvests and a weakening of animal husbandry, the number of cattle and horses in the Mexican highlands would have been even more staggering.

The things that the Chinese demand are extremely cheap or worthless things in Mexico. Therefore, Captain Andrés was very dedicated to the requests of his Chinese friends, and he kept arranging for people to collect the flora and fauna, and he found two sailors from Alpulco who could not go to sea because of their disabilities.

The two sailors were very familiar with the routes between Manila and Peru, so three days later, Zheng Zhihu took them south to Callao, the port of Lima.

On the other hand, some of the cattle were loaded onto the ship and transported north to the settlement in Los Angeles. Although they brought with them a large number of iron tools, the native tribes living in Los Angeles did not have large animals such as cattle and horses.

It was clear that it was not enough to reclaim a field by manpower, so the first animals from Alpcoco were transported to Los Angeles and handed over to the settlers.

In addition, some of them went to the Mexican highlands with the mule caravans. Nominally, they were there to inspect the environment in which the rubber trees grow, but in fact they also visited the road from Alpulco to Mexico City.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Zheng Zhihu drove his own ship and left Alpulco. At the suggestion of the two guides, the ship did not sail inshore.

First, the inshore voyage takes too long, and it will not take 5-7 months to reach Callao. The second is that the Spaniards were very wary of foreign ships along the Pacific coast. Chinese ships with valuable cargo docked in these central ports are likely to be detained by greedy colonial officials.

However, if you go from the outer ocean, although the distance is shortened, you have to observe the ocean currents and use the southeast trade winds. If you have a smooth journey, you can reach it in about 60 days, but if you have an accident, it will take at least 5 months.

But the most worrying thing is crossing the equatorial windless zone. With bad luck, it's normal to stay in the windless zone for a month or two. According to the European practice, when encountering such a situation, they had to put down the dinghy and use human paddles to drive the big boat.

But to the surprise of the two sailors, the Chinese equipped the stern with a large oar, something called a turret. A few people shook the oar in shifts, but it was much lighter than the small boats in Europe to tow the big boats.

It took seven days to pass through the equatorial windless belt, and then the ship encountered a southeasterly wind and made its way to Callao. The voyage took a total of 75 days, and even the two experienced sailors considered it a very smooth one.