Located on the right side of the Tamsui estuary, Tamsui Port is one of the earliest ports on Taiwan Island, and Anping Port in Tainan is the earliest port with trading activities on the island.

Although Anping Port was built earlier, when it comes to history, it is still inferior to Tamsui Port. Why? Because Anping Port is strictly calculated, it only began to become an important port after the arrival of the Dutch colonists. And the Tamsui port, when the Japanese were rampant during the Jiajing period, was a transit point for the trade of traditional Chinese medicine with Japan. Of course, it is also an important area for the Japanese to rest.

Because, the location of the freshwater port is too good. To the west of Tamsui Port, it is facing Hujian Putian. A little north, is the port of Fuzhou. Moreover, the merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty to Japan had to stop here to replenish fresh water. In addition, when sailing, the Datun Mountain in the east of the Tamsui Port will be used as a natural navigation beacon to locate the navigation position.

The navigation industry in the Ming Dynasty was not developed, although there was Zheng He's feat of going to the West in the early Ming Dynasty, but it was only the official that advanced ocean-going navigation technology such as star pulling. As for the people, there is no such thing as navigation. Moreover, the boss of the folk boat has no culture. Their seafaring skills consisted of using a compass to find directions. Then, starting from Daming, taking the Datun Mountain in the north of Taiwan Island as an important reference, we first sailed eastward to the Ryukyu Islands, and then took the Ryukyu Islands as a reference landmark, with the help of a compass, sailed to Japan. The same is true for sailing from Japan to Daming.

Unlike Marin's Beihai Country, which has already come up with a sextant as a nautical killer. As long as there are coordinates provided by the ancestors, an ordinary young captain who knows how to calculate the coordinates can easily take the old route. The boss of the Ming folk ship in this year is purely relying on experience to mix at sea.

So, in any case, Tamsui Port is a key point of sea traffic in the northern part of Taiwan Island. At the same time, it is also very convenient to contact Daming. From Tamsui Port to Fuzhou, the straight-line distance is about more than 200 kilometers, and the ship can arrive in two days, which is very convenient.

If the Ming Dynasty sent officials from the Ministry of Rites to inspect, the preferred landing point would definitely be Tamsui Port. And the starting point, most of them will also be in Fuzhou.

Because, Fuzhou itself is a vassal state reception point, mainly receiving the important vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, the Ryukyu State. The envoys of the Ryukyu Kingdom generally followed the Datun Mountains in the northern part of the island, passed through the mouth of the Tamsui River, and then went to the port of Fuzhou for tributary trade.

In the previous life, because the three links between the two sides of the strait have always been an important issue, and during the reign of Ma Jiuge, there were frequent cross-strait exchanges, and there were also projects to travel to Taiwan Island. In those years, traveling to Taiwan Island was very popular, and there were many graphic introductions to Taiwan Island tourism on the Internet. Although Marin had no money in his previous life, he liked to read travel pictures and texts to "satisfy his hunger". Therefore, he also has a certain understanding of many scenic spots on Taiwan Island.

For example, Tamsui Port has famous scenic spots such as Tamsui Hongmao City, Huwei Fort, and the official residence of the former Qing Tamsui Customs Tax Department (Little White House).

And Marin attacked the Tamsui Port this time, so he chose the location of the Hongmao City and the Customs Wharf in the later generations, that is, the Tamsui River went into a little bit, rather than directly at the mouth of the sea.

This is because, if you are directly at the mouth of the sea, you are susceptible to the impact of the tide when you encounter strong winds at sea. In those days, the ships were all made of wood, and they could not withstand the huge sea storms. Therefore, it is safer to enter a little from the estuary.

……

Marin brought all 800 soldiers this time, and put them all in battle plate armor and rhinoceros leather armor to resist the attacks of the local natives. Among them, hundreds of elite people in the front row were dressed in plate armor. Others, on the other hand, were dressed in rhinoceros leather armor.

This is because the physical exertion of the infantry wearing plate armor is very high. The 1,000 people brought by Ma Lin, although they were the elite of the Beihai Kingdom, only more than 100 people could fight for a long time wearing dozens of pounds of plate armor. Others, not yet able to do this, including Marin himself. Therefore, Marin only let a hundred of his subordinates put on a full set of moves, and used them as meat shields in front. He, on the other hand, led the rest of the 800 men to follow in lighter rhinoceros leather armor......

……

Sure enough, as Ma Lin imagined, although the aborigines of Tamsui Harbor are the same as those on the Keelung side, they are also the Kaida Gran people of the Pingpu tribe. However, because the people of Kaida Gran near Tamsui Port had never seen Kong Tai dancing the Great God with a sun cooker, they naturally had no fear of Marin and the others.

When Ma Lin's army landed, several local fan societies (the constituent units of the aborigines of Taiwan Island, equivalent to the tribes or villages of primitive society) gathered eight or nine hundred strong men, armed with rudimentary and primitive weapons such as stone spears and javelins, and rushed to stop Ma Lin and others.

However, this is of little use......

Marin's men, especially the number 100 men in the front row, were dressed in full-body armor that was not afraid of knives and guns, and all the attacks of the locals were ineffective. The javelin was thrown and the stone spear pierced, and he didn't feel it at all......

On Marin's side, the elite warriors in plate armor on the hundredth, under the leadership of Marin's number one fierce general, Karn, armed with wooden sticks, bravely launched a counter-charge against the other party. At the same time, Marin and his men in rhinoceros leather armor were still landing......

With just one charge, eight or nine hundred aboriginal warriors on the opposite side were crushed. It's really ...... This battle can't be fought—your own attacks are completely ineffective against the enemy, so how can you fight this?

Karn and the others, armed with sticks, rushed up viciously and brought down the native warriors one after another......

This is also the reason why Marin did not want to kill innocents indiscriminately, so Karn and the others switched to using wooden sticks. Therefore, most of the defeated indigenous warriors were only knocked down or slightly wounded outside the skin, and none of them were in danger of life. If it had been replaced with a normal sword, it would have been full of corpses long ago......

Once Marin landed with the remaining 800 men, the task was simple - they were to help capture the fleeing native warriors......

Because, the 100th elite warrior who wore plate armor, because the armor was too heavy, he couldn't outrun the natives who couldn't wear those clothes. The pursuit and capture of prisoners can only be done by Marin and others, who wear relatively light rhinoceros skin armor......

In this way, after a short battle, the eight or nine hundred indigenous warriors dispatched by the aborigines of the five communities near Tamsui Port were easily defeated, and more than 700 people were captured......

And these more than 700 people are basically the majority of the indigenous men of the five nearby Fan Societies. Even, the leaders of the three Fan Societies were among the captives......

The war reached this point, and several local fan societies completely collapsed. The men are gone, do you have to rely on women and children to fight against Marin's army?

After Marin sent several representatives of the Kaidagran people from Keelung to negotiate, several local communities announced their surrender. Because, Marin's requirements were relatively lenient, and he did not make excessive demands, only asking for the right to use the flat land by the Tamsui River. In addition, I want to hire local young people to help build a castle......

Yes, the castle......

Marin originally planned to build a new city about the size of Keelung City in Tamsui Port. However, at the moment, there is not enough building materials in hand, only some red bricks, lack of stone, and lack of cement.

Therefore, Ma Lin simply planned to build a temporary small walled city with red bricks at the location of the Hongmao City in the future.

This walled city is not as big as Keelung City, its length and width are only 50 meters, which is equivalent to the size of a small campus playground in later generations, and smaller than the Hongmao City in later generations. Its function is mainly to defend against the retaliatory attacks of the natives, or the attacks of the Japanese invaders.

Therefore, this small fortress made of red brick does not need to be very big, there is a small playground that is enough in size. Moreover, only a few dozen people were stationed inside.

In addition, the reason why small castles were built was because of the speed with which small castles were built. After all, once his application for qualifications was successful, the Ming Court would have to send someone to check it. When the time comes, it will be necessary to deal with it. If you build a city, you won't have time. Therefore, it is better to build a small fortress to cope with the inspection. Anyway, in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, he was a barbarian. Isn't it the right thing to do with a small castle?

Then, it is enough to reclaim some farmland along the nearby Tamsui River to create the illusion that this is a developed site. Moreover, those small civil officials sent by the Ministry of Rites to inspect had absolutely no courage to go deep into the interior to investigate in those aboriginal communities. Just cultivating some farmland along the Tamsui River is enough to fool around......

……

And this small castle, Marin named Freshwater City. Unfortunately, Van de Beek, the prefect of the Freshwater garrison he appointed, had red hair, and the entire castle was made of red bricks. Then, people actually called this little castle "Red Hair City......