Ma Lin inquired, and Feng Xu's reputation was not bad. Although he also has the reputation and greed of the factory guard, he is still honest, and he will do things when he takes the money. Moreover, the heart is not too dark.

In fact, as a factory guard, you can't be innocent. Because, the top bosses of Changfan and Jinyiwei are all eunuchs (Jinyiwei may not be led by eunuchs, but many times in the Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei was controlled by eunuchs), and most of them are greedy.

Having a greedy boss is an absolutely terrible thing. If you don't give gifts and money to your boss, you're bound to be put in shoes. Even, some Jinyi guards were unlucky to be sent to the grassland outside the Saiwai to inquire about intelligence because they didn't send money or didn't send enough. And to find out information outside the plug, it is not like being able to walk sideways in the Central Plains. On the territory of Outer Mongolia, if you reveal your identity, there is only one way out.

Therefore, in order not to be sent to other bitter cold places, the officials of the Jinyi Guard had to give gifts to the above. High-level Jinyi officials give gifts to the great eunuchs in the palace, middle-level Jinyi officials give gifts to high-level Jinyi officials, lower-level Jinyi officials give gifts to middle-level Jinyi officials, and ordinary Jinyi officials give gifts to lower-level Jinyi officials......

But they can't always pay out of their own pockets to send money, right? Therefore, in order to raise money for their superiors, the brocade guards had no choice but to extort the people. Or, take bribes and take money to help others.

Of course, Jin Yiwei will not blackmail ordinary people, because there is no oil and water. The people they extort are generally rich and businessmen, because these people have money.

Needless to say, businessmen have a low status. Unless there is a tough backer, if you are targeted by Jinyiwei, you will definitely have to break the fortune and eliminate the disaster, and you will be charged some protection money or something. And for those rich people, 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 Jinyiwei's blackmail, and the extortion methods are similar to those for the rich and powerful in those places.

That's the general situation, though. When the factory guard was more powerful, Jinyiwei not only dared to extort illegal rich and corrupt officials, but even dared to arrest people and extort them without evidence. For example, now that Liu Jin is in power, the factory guard is very powerful, and all the officials have to retreat when they see it.

But it should be pointed out that Jin Yiwei is not like in later TV movies, everyone is a master, and everyone is like 007, not only strong in martial arts, but also good at hiding and probing intelligence......

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

The way they get information is quite crude and straightforward – recruiting a bunch of scoundrels as helpers, or informants. Then, let the informants go around for information. And Jin Yiwei himself stayed at home or in the restaurant and waited for information. When you encounter valuable information, you will be rewarded with some money, but it is all copper coins, and you will not give silver or silver tickets like on TV. Usually, they would also take those informants to ordinary merchants to extort protection money to support them...... Generally speaking, Jin Yiwei is a group of powerful gangsters......

Moreover, Ma Lin gave Feng Xu 2,500 taels of silver, which was by no means a small amount. Because, in the Ming Dynasty, prices were very cheap. 2,500 taels, you can buy hundreds of cattle. sent it to Liu Jin, and he could get it. With this money sent over, Feng Xu could completely seek to be transferred to a wealthy area in the south of the Yangtze River, or be promoted to a deputy thousand households or something. Of course, sending money at this time is destined to be wasted. Because, Liu Jin will soon fall......

……

However, Marin will not be kind enough to remind the other party. Because, it's hard to say. Perhaps, Feng Xu will report Ma Lin's words. Then, Marin's begging for Liu Jin was also in vain......

Therefore, Ma Lin didn't care what Feng Xu and Feng Baihu were going to do when they got this money, he just had to do his own thing.

However, it was three or four thousand miles to send someone from Quanzhou to the capital to report the news. If you ride a horse, you will have to walk for more than a month. It's not that there is no 800-mile expeditious, 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 it cannot be done by this means. Otherwise, if you use the means of expedited delivery, you may lose your head. Therefore, Feng Baihu naturally sent people to ride horses into Beijing as an ordinary person, and he would not change horses non-stop along the way. If you walk normally, it will take more than a month. The team escorting Baiyin into Beijing will take even longer, estimated to take more than two months.

……

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

Coincidentally, a dozen earthen kilns set up by Kong Tai near Keelung City fired a large number of bricks, and there were too many bricks to be used. Marin thought about it and decided to build a little more.

And looking at the map of Kantai Island, Ma Lin suddenly remembered one thing - if he used Tai Island as a territory to submit to the Ming Dynasty, but Keelung's point was not enough for the Ming Dynasty to make him a local Tusi. Because, Keelung is too small......

Keelung only has some flat river 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 effect is somewhat similar to that of a lighthouse. A lighthouse during the day, of course.

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

Needless to say, sulfur was an important ingredient in gunpowder. Moreover, there was no natural sulfur in the Central Plains of ancient China, and the cost was higher mainly by refining sulfur from pyrite.

The Datunshan sulfur mine is natural sulfur, no need to refine, just dig in the past. As for how to find sulfur ore? This one is too simple, smell it with your nose......

The smell of sulfur ore is very strong, and the sulfur dioxide gas produced by its oxidation is unusually pungent. Moreover, the sulfur mines in the Datun Mountains seem to be located on the surface. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were many mainland merchants who came to Datun Mountain to buy natural sulfur from the local aborigines. It is impossible for the indigenous people to know how to dig the sulfur underground, so the natural sulfur mine of Datunshan is obviously located on the surface. As long as you send people into the mountains to look for and smell the smell, you can easily find the sulfur mines.

……

Sulfur mine is also an important bargaining chip to join Daming, after all, Daming does not produce natural sulfur, and the price of sulfur is higher than saltpeter. However, sulfur ore alone is not enough.

Ma Lin is seeking to become a local prefect or a local governor, and if you want to be a local prefect or a local governor, you must at least have enough territory.

Therefore, Marin decided to send troops to win more plates in order to deal with the officials sent by the Ming Dynasty for inspection......

If there is only a small area in Keelung Bay, it is estimated that it will be difficult for the officials sent by the imperial court to pass Ma Lin's request. Because, that piece of land is too small, it is equivalent to a township, and it is a small township. Or, it's a big village. This bit of territory, not to mention the Tuzhi Prefecture or Tuzhi Prefecture, Tuzhi County can't be mixed.

Therefore, Marin needs to take a bigger turf to show his strength. When the Ming Dynasty sent officials to verify, it was able to make a difference.

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

Or, more precisely, Marin is looking at the Taipei Basin......

……

The Taipei Basin is about 240 square kilometers, which is already a large plain area in the mountainous island of Taiwan. Moreover, there is the famous Tamsui River in the Taipei Basin, and the river basin is definitely the best area for rice cultivation. Even in areas that are not near rivers, sweet potatoes can be grown.

Even if only 100 square kilometers of land are developed into farmland, that is 150,000 acres......

A rough development of the Taipei Basin is enough to deal with and fool the Ming Dynasty. After all, the territory is not small, and it is suitable for agricultural development.

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. Originally, I was going to take them to the Ming Dynasty to pretend to be compared, but now I happen to have nothing to do. Therefore, Ma Lin planned to take this thousand soldiers and horses to attack the Taipei Basin and bring it into the 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, the Tamsui Port at the mouth of the Tamsui River......

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

Therefore, Marin organized a fleet and a large army, set off from Keelung Bay, and soon came to the Tamsui port at the mouth of the Tamsui River in later generations, and launched a landing here......