Faced with the aborigines of several Fan Societies around him, Van de Beek, who had just been appointed as the commander of the garrison, was so frightened that he swallowed his saliva. You know, his name is the garrison commander, but Marin only gave him 10 soldiers. Even with the help of the walls and muskets, he was not confident that he would be able to withstand the attack of thousands of natives.

Therefore, Van de Beek asked Marin to send more troops to defend Freshwater City. Or, it's more appropriate to call it Fort Freshwater.

But the problem is, Marin doesn't have any troops to send now. The 1,000 men and horses he brought were all elites of the Beihai Kingdom, and they would definitely be brought back. As for Comté, the total number of fighters is only a hundred, and it is good to be able to divide 10 to Van de Beek. After all, Keelung is Kongtai's base camp, and security over there is more important.

But seeing that Van de Beek said pitifully, and that it was indeed difficult for 10 people to hold Freshwater Castle, Marin thought for a moment and said:

"Why don't you recruit some indigenous soldiers?"

Van de Beek quickly shook his head, joking, these natives and locals are together. If they act as the inner door, Tamsui Fort will be captured by them in a matter of minutes. And the biggest enemy of Tamsui Fort at present is the local natives, recruiting the natives as soldiers, isn't it to wash their necks and give them to the natives? As a result, Van de Beek was reluctant to recruit local natives as soldiers.

"Why don't you recruit some people from the Han people in Jilong Village to help defend the city?" Marin asked.

Van de Beek nodded hurriedly, he still trusted those Han people in the chicken coop village on Heping Island. They get along well with Conté, and, like them, they are outsiders to the local natives, and it is impossible to collude with the natives.

But Liu Laogen, who acted as an interpreter for Ma Lin on the side, quit:

"Master, there are only more than 50 people left in our chicken coop village, and there are only more than 20 strong men (that robber attack, many old and weak people were killed, resulting in a relatively high proportion of strong men), how can I help Lord Fan defend the city? Besides, we still have to farm! ”

Ma Lin was right when he thought about it, there were indeed very few people in the chicken coop village, and they were not enough to send......

"Uncle Liu, look, can you get some immigrants from Daming to enrich the population? By the way, also recruit some troops to help guard Tamsui Fort? ”

Liu Laogen shook his head again and again:

"The eldest lord doesn't know that the Ming household registration system is strict, and it is difficult for ordinary people to leave the county, and they don't have much courage. Also, if life is stable, who wants to leave their homeland? And those smugglers who dare to go out of the county are all people who forget their righteousness, and you don't dare to use it, sir......"

"Then aren't you also uprooted?"

"We have suffered a natural disaster......

"That's right, I want those disaster victims, I don't believe that there have been no natural disasters in Hu Jian in the past two years! The victims have nothing, and I'm here to feed them. Presumably, there are still people willing to come! Marin said confidently.

Liu Laogen thought for a while and said:

"My lord, what you said reminded me, listening to the businessmen who are responsible for smuggling goods to us on Meizhou Island, it seems that last year, Ningde suffered from wind (typhoon) and frost disaster one after another, and Lianjiang also suffered from frost, and there were many victims. Moreover, Ningde and Lianjiang are close to the sea, so they can secretly pick people up from the sea......"

Ningde ...... "......Ma Lin remembered that these two places seemed to be in the north of Fuzhou, close to the sea, and it was indeed convenient to transport people by sea.

"In this case, you are responsible for liaison and finding someone to go to Ningde and Lianjiang to find refugees. Then, in the middle of the night, it was smuggled out by a fishing boat and transported to the side of Tamsui Fort. Tell the refugees that here, the food is full! "With sweet potatoes, Marin really doesn't worry about the starvation of those victims.

"But...... But...... Lao Yu only has contact with the smugglers on Meizhou Island, and Ningde and Lianjiang have no connections......" Liu Laogen hesitated.

"Hey, what am I going to do. It's just that people are looking for people, you send someone to find the smuggler on Meizhou Island, give him a large sum of silver, and ask him to introduce the smugglers from Ningde and Lianjiang to you to know...... "This kind of thing, Ma Lin has seen a lot in later generations." Moreover, Marin had heard of a theory in his previous life that there should be no more than 6 people between you and any stranger......

According to this theory, even if the smugglers on Meizhou Island have nothing to do with the smugglers in Ningde and Lianjiang, they can easily catch up with them through some well-traveled brokers. In the middle of the process, it only costs a little introduction. What's more, Ningde and Lian Jiang both belong to Hu Jian, so it is not troublesome to find.

"But the smugglers on Meizhou Island are not afraid that the smugglers from Ningde and Lianjiang will steal their business?" Liu Laogen asked suspiciously.

"When you send someone to contact him, it means that you are fighting those refugees. Also, give more money, the other party will say. "Marin brought a lot of money on the ship this time, and he is not afraid of spending money.

So, Liu Laogen sent Qingzhuang, who was in charge of smuggling materials in Jilong Village, to contact the smugglers on Meizhou Island. After throwing some silver, and the other party just wanted the refugees of Ningde and Lianjiang, not to improve the goods channel, the other party also readily agreed. And, it didn't take long to find a way......

Coincidentally, Meizhou Island is the hometown of Mazu, the god of the sea, and there is a Mazu temple on the island, and it is a Mazu temple, which is a holy place in the hearts of the coastal residents of Hu Jian who believe in Mazu. Moreover, many people with the surname Hu Jianlin like to call themselves descendants of Mazu. Of course, Mazu herself has no children, and they generally claim to be descendants of Mazu's brothers, or descendants of cousins. Every year, there are not a few people who come to the Mazu Temple on Meizhou Island to make pilgrimages and incense.

And in Ningde and Lianjiang, there are naturally people who come to Meizhou Island to worship Mazu. Every year on the 23rd day of March of the lunar calendar, it is the birth festival of Mazu, and there are many outsiders who come to worship the Mazu Temple on Meizhou Island. It just so happened that people from Ningde and Lianjiang came, and they were still stranded on the island and were not in a hurry to leave.

Through these people, plus the money, Liu Laogen soon contacted the big smugglers in Ningde and Lianjiang. Then, the two sides sent representatives to secretly reach an agreement that the smugglers in Ningde and Lianjiang would be responsible for sending people to sea in the middle of the night by fishing boats, and Marin would arrange for boats to pick them up. When the "goods" were delivered, the price was 2 taels of silver for a family with a strong man......

It is said that thousands of people in Ningde and Lianjiang were displaced at this time, waiting for relief. According to the estimates of those smugglers, there may be more than 3,000 victims who can operate to Taiwan.

Hearing that three or four thousand refugees would come, Marin was happy and felt the pressure at the same time. After all, there are more than 3,000 people, and if each person consumes an average of three or four hundred catties of grain per year, he also needs more than one million catties. And Kong Tai's sweet potatoes in Keelung don't seem to be enough to eat.

So, Marin ordered that a large amount of land be reclaimed to grow sweet potatoes by the Tamsui River near Tamsui Fort. As for the labor force, it is natural to employ the local aborigines. And this kind of employment is definitely compulsory. Marin's army is still there, and these aborigines don't dare to play tricks. And when the more than 3,000 victims are sent over, Tamsui Fort will have enough manpower, and it may not be afraid of those people. When the time comes, I will leave with the army, and there will be no problem......

The introduction of more than 3,000 victims was enough to reclaim the Tamsui River near Tamsui Fort into fertile land, which was enough to cope with the inspection of officials sent by the Ming court. The only problem is that there seems to be a shortage of cattle again......