The work of bringing in the victims of the disaster is still relatively smooth, and Ma Lin has given enough money, so how can the smugglers in Ningde and Lianjiang not want it? Therefore, the land snakes in the two places immediately took action and went to find those victims.

Last year, Ningde and Lianjiang were hit by typhoons and frosts, and there were many victims, about seven or eight thousand people in total. However, some of the victims later took refuge with relatives who were in good condition, and they were able to get by for the time being. And those who have no relatives who can help, can only gather outside the county to wait for the government's relief.

The relief system of the Ming Dynasty was still relatively perfect, and the imperial court had four major warehouse systems (reserve warehouse, Changping warehouse, righteous warehouse and community warehouse). Among them, Yicang is located in the prefecture and county, which is specially used for disaster relief. Under normal circumstances, the two counties of Ningde and Lianjiang (here Ningde refers to Ningde County, which belongs to Funing Prefecture) can solve the problem of disaster victims by releasing grain from Yicang.

However, this is not the normal situation at the moment......

Why? Because of Liu Jin's dictatorship, he wantonly blackmailed local officials, resulting in local officials having to make a lot of money and "honor" Liu Jin. Otherwise, you will definitely be wearing small shoes.

It is precisely that the magistrates of Ningde County and Lianjiang County went to the capital to report on their work before, and Liu Jin extorted a large amount of "filial piety" silver. In order to fill the shortfall, the magistrates of the two counties coincidentally chose to advance the rice of Yicang to fill the hole.

But unfortunately, there were natural disasters in both places last year, and the two prefectures were a little dumbfounded......

Lianjiang County is a little better, because it is close to the provincial capital Fuzhou, and Tao Yongwen of Lianjiang County has a good relationship with the provincial capital boss, so he borrowed some rice from Fuzhou Changping, and finally stabilized the general trend. However, because of the previous deficit, there are still hundreds of people who do not have enough food. The porridge in some porridge sheds is so scarce that you can't see the rice.

And Ningde County is more miserable, Wang Feng of Ningde County has no way out, he can't borrow food, so he can only hold on. Because of the lack of rice, there is almost no rice grain in Yicang in Ningde County. The porridge in the porridge shed is basically similar to clear water. In order to raise rice grain, Wang Feng took out all his money to buy rice subsidies, but it was still not enough.

In addition, seeing that this term of office is about to end, Wang Feng never wants any twists and turns. Therefore, he decided to conceal the facts and lie about the disaster to avoid leaving a stain on his political performance and influencing the new envoy after his term of office ended. To this end, he used strong tactics and ordered the relatives of the victims to help help them. However, there are still 2,000 or more victims who have no relatives who can receive them, and they are living in shantytowns outside the county seat.

Therefore, smugglers in Ningde and Lianjiang can directly send people to the shantytowns outside the city at night to mobilize.

When they heard that immigrants to Dongfan Island could eat enough food and eat some fish and venison if they had nothing to do, many of the victims couldn't stop drooling just by hearing this. Then, without much difficulty, the victims obediently followed the boat and went to sea......

And Marin's fleet also came to the sea near Ningde and Lianjiang, waiting for the arrival of the smuggler's fishing boats......

The transaction between the two sides was on the sea, and after Marin's people counted the number of people (mainly strong men), they paid according to the number of people, and the money and goods were cleared. And when the victims were transported to sea, many were so hungry that they couldn't climb the ship. It was Marin who arranged for his soldiers to help him bring the victims onto the ship.

But after getting on the boat, and then the firelight saw that the boat was full of blonde and blue-eyed "ghosts", these victims were shocked. Some people were so frightened that they peed out when they saw the strange-looking Marin and others. After all, in the middle of the night, everyone was afraid to see a group of strange-looking foreign devils.

However, this was not a problem, Marin directly asked people to take out the baked sweet potatoes that had been prepared a long time ago and handed them over, which quickly dispelled their vigilance. The sweetness of the roasted sweet potatoes soon made the victims forget their fears and began to eat them. But roasted sweet potatoes are in a hurry, and it's easy to choke. Therefore, many of the victims on the ship were choking and rolling their eyes because they were in a hurry to eat. Fortunately, Marin also expected this, and prepared a large bucket of cold boiled water to feed the victims, but there was no choking to death.

……

Marin's warships were huge, 10 500-ton warships, and more than 3,000 victims were loaded in one trip. Then, at dawn, the fleet returned to Tamsui.

During the daytime of the next day, when the officials of the two county towns of Ningde and Lianjiang opened the city gates and came to the shantytowns of the victims, they were stunned to find that the victims were gone......

The officials were shocked and hurriedly reported to the two magistrates. The two magistrates were also taken aback and hurriedly sent someone to investigate. Soon, word came that the victims might have sailed to Dongfan Island to make a living......

This news was deliberately released by Marin to those smugglers, after all, Marin will have to deal with the Ming Dynasty in the future. This time, these victims will definitely be known in the future. So, instead of hiding it, it's better to put some news out first.

The feelings of the two magistrates are very complicated, Tao Yongwen, as the magistrate of Lianjiang, is still a little uncomfortable about the loss of hundreds of people. Because, the population is decreasing, which means that he is incompetent in this county order. But at the same time, he also had some joy in his heart - he finally got rid of these burdens......

And Wang Feng, the county governor of Ningde, was pleasantly surprised, he was about to leave office at the end of the year, and at this time he was most afraid of the exposure of the problems of the victims, especially the death of the victims or trouble. Therefore, when I heard that these victims left Ningde for Dongfan Island, I was greatly relieved.

Although there were 2,000 or hundreds of people lost, they were all victims of the disaster and a factor of instability. In this reshuffle...... Ah is not at the critical juncture of promotion, he can't ask for someone to get rid of the victims without causing trouble......

In this way, with the acquiescence of the two magistrates, the matter passed. And Marin, too, got the coveted population......

……

After returning to Taiwan Island, Marin divided the population - he divided 1,000 people to Keelung to reclaim the land near Keelung Bay. In this way, Conté and his soldiers and craftsmen were able to escape from the heavy labor of agricultural production. Before, due to the shortage of labor, Kong Tai and his soldiers also had to plant sweet potatoes together.

As for the other 2,000 or so victims, they were all resettled by the Tamsui River near the Tamsui Fort. In order to ensure their safety, Marin organized these strong men to build ten large defensive walls and house the victims inside. The walls were made of rammed earth, which was not very strong, but it was sufficient to withstand possible attacks by the local natives.

Then, naturally, Marin organized the victims to build adobe houses with mud as well. This type of house is low-cost, quick to build, and most importantly, low cost......

Marin then paid a high price and bought a large number of farm implements and some cattle from the smugglers. After the farm tools and ploughing cattle are in place, it is natural to plant sweet potatoes......

The climate of Taiwan Island is warm, and it is not cold in winter. What's more, it's late spring, which is a great time to plant sweet potatoes. Under the guidance of farmers sent from Jilong Village, the strong men and young women among the victims began to grow sweet potatoes. However, when planting, Marin particularly emphasized that when planting sweet potatoes this year, when weeding, be sure to pinch off the flowers of sweet potatoes......

The farmers were stunned - can they still bear fruit if they pinch off the flowers? But Marin stresses that this is not a seed crop, and it is not a seed, but a tuber, so it does not need to flower and bear fruit......

……

While organizing the immigrants to plant sweet potatoes, Marin also ordered 200 sturdy and brave young men to be selected from the victims to serve as militia to assist Van de Beek in guarding Fort Tamsui.

However, when it came to how to train these Ming youths, Marin had some difficulties. The young and strong people among these victims are relatively thin and short because of long-term malnutrition, similar to those indigenous people. It stands to reason that they should be allowed to practice muskets. Because, the musketeers don't need to be too strong.

But Ma Lin is not very worried about these people, after all, don't look at these people as disaster victims, but they are disaster victims of the Ming Dynasty, and they may not be able to afford Ma Lin, the "ghosts" of Beihai Country. Therefore, Marin did not want them to master the powerful muskets, so as not to be attacked by them.

In addition, it is rainy on the northern coast of Taiwan Island, and muskets may not be of much use. Because, most of the defenders of Taiwan Island used arquebuses, and arquebuses were most afraid of rain......

If you are guarding the city wall, you can ignore the problem of rain as long as you add a roof. But the army must not be confined to the city, but must go out. Especially, in the event of the need to conquer the Taipei Basin.

And these militias, Marin's plan, were to use them against the rebellious natives. Therefore, they only need to be able to maintain a military advantage over the indigenous people. As for the Wako? Don't think about it, let's hide in the castle and resist......

Ma Lin began to plan to train the militia selected from these Hu Jian disaster victims into European-style pikemen, but when he thought of the javelins of the aborigines of Taiwan Island, it seemed that the spearmen suffered more...... Because, the aborigines can run away after throwing the javelin. And relying on the familiarity with the local mountains and forests, the spearmen could not catch up with them......

Since you want to guard against the javelins of the aborigines, the sword and shield soldiers are the best choice...... But the wooden shield is not of good quality and is too heavy...... It seems that rattan is the best...... Ma Lin thought of the rattan players in Qi Jiguang's Mandarin Duck Formation......

So, he found Liu Laogen again and instructed:

"Send someone inland to find out who can make rattan and who is good at using rattan ...... Then, he was hired to be an instructor for a lot of money......"

"Sir, this is ......"

"I'm going to form a rattan soldier!"