The Rise of the European Emperor

Marin had inquired that Feng Xu, a hundred households of Jinyiwei, had a good reputation. Although he also has the reputation of factory guards and greed, he is still honest and will do things when he gets money. Moreover, the heart is not too dark.

In fact, as a factory guard, it is impossible to be innocent. Because the immediate bosses of both the factory fan and Jinyiwei are eunuchs (Jinyiwei may not be led by eunuchs, but in Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei was controlled by eunuchs in many cases), and most of them are very greedy.

Having a greedy boss is definitely a scary thing. If you don't give gifts or money to your boss, you will definitely be punished. Some Jin Yiwei were even unlucky enough to be dispatched to the grassland outside the Great Wall to inquire about information because they did not send money or did not send enough money. And looking for information outside the Great Wall is not like being able to walk sideways in the Central Plains. On the territory of Mongolia outside the Great Wall, if the identity is revealed, there is only one dead end.

Therefore, in order not to be dispatched to the outside of the Great Wall or other bitterly cold places, the officials of Jinyiwei had to give gifts to the higher-ups one after another. The high-level Jinyiwei officials gave gifts to the chief eunuchs in the palace, the middle-level Jinyiwei officials gave gifts to the high-level Jinyiwei officials, the lower-level Jinyiwei officials gave gifts to the middle-level Jinyiwei officials, and the ordinary Jinyiwei officials gave gifts to the lower-level Jinyiwei officials...

But they can't pay for it out of their own pockets, can they? Therefore, in order to raise money for their superiors, Jin Yiwei had no choice but to blackmail the people. Or, accept bribes and use money to do things for others.

Of course, Jin Yiwei will not blackmail ordinary people, because there is nothing lucrative. The people they blackmailed are generally wealthy households and businessmen, because these people have money.

Needless to say, businessmen have low status. Unless you have a strong backer, if you are targeted by Jin Yiwei, you will definitely spend money to eliminate disasters, and you will be charged protection fees or something. As for those wealthy households, Jin Yiwei mainly collects illegal evidence from the other party, and then uses this as a threat to extort money. There are also corrupt officials, who are also the targets of Jin Yiwei's love of extortion. The extortion methods are similar to those of the rich and powerful in those places.

However, that is the general case. When the factory guards were more powerful, Jin Yiwei not only dared to extort lawless rich households and corrupt officials, but even dared to arrest people for blackmail without evidence. For example, now that Liu Jin is in power, the factory guard is very powerful, and all officials will shy away when they see him.

But what needs to be pointed out is that Jin Yiwei is not like in later TV movies, everyone is a master, making everyone look like 007. Not only is his martial arts strong, he is also good at lurking and spying on intelligence...

The actual situation is—Jin Yiwei has no kung fu masters at all, although there are, but the number is definitely not many. Moreover, they don't want those spies in spy movies to be so awesome.

The way they inquired about intelligence was quite rough and direct—recruiting a group of rogues as helpers, or informants. Then, let these informants go around to find out the news. Jin Yiwei himself stayed at home or in a restaurant waiting for information. When you encounter valuable information, you will be rewarded with some money, but they are all copper coins, and you will not give silver or silver tickets like on TV. Normally, they would also bring those informants to ordinary merchants to extort protection fees in order to support them... Generally speaking, Jin Yiwei is just a bunch of powerful and well-known gangsters...

Moreover, Marin gave Feng Xu 2,500 taels of silver, which is by no means a small sum. Because the prices in the Ming Dynasty were very cheap. 2,500 taels can buy hundreds of cattle. Send it to Liu Jin's side, and it's easy to get it. With this money sent over, Feng Xu can definitely seek to be transferred to a wealthy area in the south of the Yangtze River, or be promoted to a deputy thousand household or something. Of course, sending money at this time is destined to be in vain. Because, Liu Jin will fall soon...

...

However, Marin would not kindly remind the other party. Because, this is not easy to say. Maybe, Feng Xu will report what Marin said. Then, the matter of Ma Lin begging Liu Jin also fell through...

so,

Marin doesn't care what Feng Xu and Feng Baihu do with the money, he just needs to do his own business well.

However, it takes three or four thousand miles to send people from Quanzhou to the capital to report. If you ride a horse, you have to go for more than a month. It's not that there is no rush at 800 miles, but it is an emergency military situation at the bottom of the ship. The matter of Marin's tribute is not an emergency military situation, and this method cannot be used. Otherwise, if you use the expedited delivery method, you may lose your head. Therefore, Feng Baihu naturally sent people to Beijing on horseback, and would not change horses non-stop along the way. If you go normally, it will take more than a month. As for the team escorting Baiyin to Beijing, it will take longer to travel, it is estimated that it will take more than two months.

...

Marin didn't want to just wait like this, so he decided to do something...

Coincidentally, Kong Tai set up more than a dozen earthen kilns near Keelung City to burn a large number of bricks, which were too many to run out. Marin thought about it and decided to build more buildings.

And looking at the map of Grandstand Island, Marin suddenly remembered one thing - if he used Taiwan Island as a territory to surrender to Daming, but the point of Keelung was not enough for the Ming Dynasty to designate him as the local chieftain. Because Keelung is too small...

Keelung only has some flat valleys in the Keelung Bay area, and most of the other areas are mountainous. For example, to the west of Keelung is the famous Datun Mountain. Datun Mountain is also an important landmark reference for ships sailing in the nearby waters, and its function is somewhat similar to that of a lighthouse. Of course, a lighthouse during the day.

Moreover, Marin knows that in Datun Mountain, there are huge reserves of natural sulfur mines, with reserves reaching more than 2 million tons.

Needless to say, the importance of sulfur is an important ingredient in gunpowder. Moreover, there was no natural sulfur in the Central Plains of China in ancient times, and sulfur was mainly extracted from pyrite, which was expensive.

The Datun Mountain Sulfur Mine is natural sulfur, so there is no need to refine it, just dig it in the past. As for how to find sulfur ore? This one is so easy, smell it with your nose...

The smell of sulfur ore is very strong, and the sulfur dioxide gas produced by its oxidation is extremely pungent. Moreover, the sulfur mines in the Datun Mountains seem to be located on the surface. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, many mainland merchants came to Datun Mountain to purchase natural sulfur from the local aborigines. It is impossible for the aborigines to know how to dig underground sulfur, so the natural sulfur mines in Datun Mountain are obviously located on the surface. As long as people are sent into the mountains to search and smell, they can easily find sulfur mines.

...

Sulfur mines are also an important bargaining chip for joining Daming. After all, Daming does not produce natural sulfur locally, and the price of sulfur is higher than saltpeter. However, sulfur mine alone is not enough.

Marin is seeking to become a local prefect or a local prefect, and if he wants to be a local prefect or a local prefect, he must at least have enough territory.

Therefore, Marin decided to send troops to win more land, so as to deal with the officials sent by the Ming Dynasty to inspect...

If there is only a small area of ​​Keelung Bay, it is estimated that the officials sent by the imperial court will find it difficult to pass Marin's request. Because that piece of land is too small, it is equivalent to a town, and it is a small town. Or, it can be regarded as a larger village. With this little territory, let alone Tuzhifu or Tuzhizhou, Tuzhi County can't even get involved.

Therefore, Marin needs to win a larger territory to show his strength. Only when the Ming Dynasty sent officials to check and verify, can the business be handed over.

So, Marin set his sights on Taipei not far from Keelung...

Or, to be more precise, Marin took a fancy to the Taipei Basin...

...

The Taipei Basin covers about 240 square kilometers. On the mountainous island of Taiwan, it is considered a relatively large plain area. Moreover, there is the famous Tamsui River in the Taipei Basin, and the basin along the river is definitely a good area for rice cultivation. Sweet potatoes can be grown even in areas that do not rely on rivers.

Even if only 100 square kilometers were developed as farmland, that would be 150,000 mu...

A rough development of the Taipei Basin is enough to deal with and fool the Ming Dynasty. After all, the land here is not small anymore, and it is suitable for opening up as an agricultural area.

At the same time, the Taipei Basin is very close to Keelung, which is convenient for Kong Tai to control and manage...

...

In addition, Marin happened to bring a thousand soldiers and horses over. Originally, I planned to take them to the Ming Dynasty for a costume competition, but now I just have nothing to do. Therefore, Marin intends to take this thousand soldiers and horses to attack the Taipei Basin and bring it under its jurisdiction first.

However, the Taipei Basin is surrounded by mountains. If you want to enter the Taipei Basin, you must first occupy the exit of the Taipei Basin - Danshui Port at the mouth of the Tamsui River...

The Tamsui River is the most important river in the Taipei Basin, and its outlet is located in the later Danshui Port. And going upstream through Danshui Port, you can also enter the Taipei Basin smoothly...

Therefore, Marin organized a fleet and army, set off from Keelung Bay, and soon came to the Danshui Port of the Danshui Estuary of the later generation, and launched a landing here...

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