Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Acapulco is a newly developed city.

This harbor is wide and deep, with a bay extending inland to shield it from wind and waves, making it an excellent anchorage for sailboats.

After the Age of Exploration began, the Spanish built a port here in 1550 AD and officially established the city in 1599.

From here, it's about 600 miles from Mexico City. And from Mexico City, you can reach Veracruz, the first Spanish settlement in the Americas, and from there take a ship to Spain.

For this reason, the city was an important transit point for the galleon trade.

Many goods from China dock here. The mountain road from Acapulco to Mexico City is also known as the "China Road".

From Acapulco, it takes three months to reach Manila.

However, the journey from Manila to Acapulco takes six months.

Because ships need to travel north with the Kuroshio Current, then east along the North Pacific Current, and then south with the California Current.

The entire voyage is a long detour, and once the ocean currents are lost, the speed will slow down when encountering headwinds or countercurrents.

As a result, although the two routes are both 1.4 kilometers long, the time required to travel them differs by a factor of two.

Shang Kexi was unaware of these two shipping routes. Although he knew about ocean currents from the emperor, he was not familiar with how to utilize them.

On both of his trips to North America, he sailed along the coastline and around the islands, exploring step by step, much like Zheng He's voyages to the West.

For this reason, they all sailed after the ice age had ended. Not long after arriving in the Americas, they encountered another ice age.

Geng Ruqi did not want to return to the Ming Dynasty in disgrace, so after the Yukon River froze in September, he led them south to a place that the emperor called Wencheng.

This area was indeed warm, and it rarely froze even in winter, which allowed them to explore the canyon's gold mines.

Shang Kexi therefore believed the emperor's prophecy even more and explored the existence of ocean currents more diligently.

During this voyage south to Mexico, he clearly felt the ocean currents. The journey was smooth sailing, and he soon arrived at the California Peninsula, named by the Spanish.

After sailing to the southern tip of the peninsula, he realized it was a peninsula and belatedly remarked:

"This place has been occupied by the Spanish, and the emperor has enfeoffed the Prince of Zhou in the north."

"From now on, King Zhou will be at the forefront of the fight against the Spanish. I hope he can hold on."

The mission of the North American Governor's Office was to develop North America and resist the Spanish invasion.

The Princes Rui, Huai, and Zhou, who were enfeoffed in the south, all had this task; they would serve as a bulwark for the Governor-General's Office in North America.

Shang Kexi was quite envious of this, because he had heard that the fiefdom granted to the King of Zhou also contained gold mines.

That place, which the emperor called Jinshan (Golden Mountain), will be divided between the emperor and the King of Zhou.

Having heard of the gold mines discovered along the Yukon River and Wencheng River, which the emperor had pointed out, Shang Kexi was already thinking that next time he passed through Jinshan Bay, he could go and explore it.

They might discover gold and "help" King Zhou find a gold mine.
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With his mind wandering, Shang Kexi directed the sailboat to continue south.

One of the sailors recruited from Manila in the fleet suddenly shouted:
"Acapulco!"

"Acapulco is just ahead."

"General, we've arrived. We can go to Manila from here!"

He had been here on a Spanish ship before and recognized the port from afar.

Shang Kexi was also somewhat excited, because he wanted to obtain supplies from here and find a route across the Pacific Ocean.

He held up his binoculars and gazed at the harbor in the distance, but his mood suddenly turned serious:

"One, two..."

"A total of five points, this is the bastion named by the emperor, where the Spanish built a star-shaped fortress!"

Seeing the dense array of cannons on the fortress, Shang Kexi knew this posed a threat to his ships and immediately gave the order:
"Lower the sails!" "Lower the small boat and go explain your purpose."

“I am here on behalf of the North American Governor’s Office of the Great Ming Dynasty to discuss trade.”

He ordered the small boat to be lowered, and the Chinese men, who were recruited from Luzon and were fluent in Spanish, rowed the boat to Acapulco for negotiations.

On the port, the Acapulcoans, seeing ships approaching in the distance, were also cheering.

Because they recognized it as a large sailing ship that had come from Manila.

Each time these ships came, they brought a large amount of Chinese goods, generating huge profits for them.

For example, raw silk costs 200 pesos to buy a load in Manila, but can be sold for as much as 1950 pesos in Lima, Peru.

Acapulco, as a transit point, can also share a portion, allowing them to sell their goods throughout Mexico.

Although the decorations on the ship before them were somewhat different from what they had seen before, and they had never seen anything like it before, they knew that this style of large sailing ship was not a Dutch Viking ship.

In 1615 AD, the Dutch plundered the port. It was after that that a fortress was built in Acapulco.

They watched the large sailing ship approach from afar, intending to unload their cargo. Unexpectedly, the ship suddenly stopped and sent a small boat over.

This puzzled the people at the port:
"What happened to them?"

"Has the ship broken down?"

Amidst the commotion, someone saw the boat lower a small vessel. The people on board waved flags, gesturing to them.

As the ship drew closer, those observing through binoculars realized it wasn't one of their own; the people coming looked very much like Chinese.

"Chinese?"

"Or are they Chinese from Southeast Asia?"

How did they get here?

The soldiers at the port asked:
"Sir, what should I do?"

Should we let them come over or not?

Sanchez, who was in charge of guarding the port, hesitated for a moment before saying:
"A small boat, with fewer than ten people."

“Let them come over and talk to them, and ask them why they're here.”

He ordered the soldiers to row out to meet them, and to unload their weapons and bring them over.

They then sent people to find Chinese people living in Acapulco to serve as their translators.

At that time, there were about five or six thousand Chinese in the Americas, most of whom were craftsmen from China, and some were people they had plundered.

In Puebla, a city not far from Mexico City, there lived a famous Chinese woman. She was attacked by pirates and enslaved. She eventually arrived in Mexico and was adopted by a general in Puebla.

Her clothing designs are very popular in Mexico, and the Mexican national costume, China Poblana, is based on her design.

(Statue of Catalina de San Juan in Puebla)

Acapulco also has a relatively well-known Chinese man, a mercenary who once defeated nineteen Japanese samurai in a row.

Although the Spanish did not value this kind of unarmored swordsmanship, they still acknowledged his ability.

At this moment, Chen Shouzhen, the renowned Chinese martial artist from Mexico, was summoned by Sanchez. He pointed to the Chinese who had been brought over by sea and said:

"Go and ask them where they came from and what their purpose is in coming here."

"Also, find out where they bought their sailboat?"

"Why have I never seen a large sailing ship of this style before?" (End of Chapter)