Qingtai Town is surrounded by vast plains that stretch as far as the eye can see. The water blockage next to it is an important tributary of the Tangbai River, which not only has the advantage of shipping, but also has a series of ponds in the upper reaches, which is convenient for irrigation. During the Han Dynasty, agriculture was developed here, the population was dense, and rice was cultivated in large quantities. Later, after the war, the population fled, and the water conservancy was not repaired, and the scene at that time was never recreated. In the early Tang Dynasty, when the world was stable, it was briefly restored, and then after the turmoil of the late Tang Dynasty, it was desolate at this time. For nearly a thousand years, this area has never reached the population size of the Han Dynasty.

There are also a few villages scattered around, most of which are located on the main traffic arteries and are very small. Large areas of abandoned farmland are full of thorns and thorns.

Not far from Qingtai Town, on the east bank of the blocked water, is a demonstration area of camp field selected by Du Zhongxiao, and he personally manages it. If there were peasant households in the selected areas, they would either be relocated or merged into the farms, and the administrative divisions and agricultural layout would be completely overturned.

According to the established plan, there are 50 households in one village, and 10 villages are exactly one battalion, which is roughly connected with the military establishment.

The battalion, also known as the command, was the basic unit of the Song Dynasty army, with a full infantry army of 500 people and a cavalry force of 400 people. Although it is not uniform, the armies of the world are roughly like this. Theoretically speaking, battalions are fixed formations, and the armies and chambers that go up are all temporary establishments, and the number of people is not uniform, and they can be organized according to the needs of war. The size of the army, whether it is the Privy Council or the Third Office, is based on the number of battalions.

The reason why it is called a battalion is because the army of this size is stationed together, and unless there are special circumstances, it will not be dispersed, and the garrison is a battalion. The iron-clad battalion is the soldier who runs the water, and the battalion is the military camp under command. However, in this era, not only the camp was iron-clad, but the soldiers were also fixed.

Based on a radius of 12 miles, it is the territory of the planned battalion field affairs command. Each village has 50 households, and the distance between villages is about three miles, with the command station in the middle, and the remaining nine villages are evenly distributed around. Each village is fine-tuned according to the geographical environment, and the general principle remains unchanged.

Each household shall be subject to 30 acres of cultivated land, in principle, 10 acres of paddy field and 20 acres of dry land. Within the scope of a village, the cultivated land accounts for about 40%, the rest is orchard and vegetable land, and there are set aside river beaches, ponds, and grasslands, and the rest of the land is idle fields.

The model village selected by Du Zhongxiao, which occupies a radius of 60 li, is divided into five battalions, distributed on the plain opposite the blocked water, and extends to Zhongyang Mountain in the east. There are a total of 2,500 households, which is about the same as a middle county.

The weather is getting warmer day by day, the river is clear, the willows are green, and there are more birds flying in the air. The breath of spring is getting heavier day by day, the vast plains are waking up from the slaughter of winter, and both man and nature are busy.

Du Zhongxiao passed the water blockage, rode a horse, and took Cui Zhushu and other officials to inspect the selected place.

The arable land was scarce, and there were large forests on both sides of the road, and from time to time a pheasant flew out of the grass and flew into the distance. Occasionally, I would see groups of peasants going out into the woods.

Du Zhongxiao saw a lot, and asked Cui Zhushu beside him: "This season, although it is not spring ploughing, there is not a lot of farm work in the fields and fertilizer in the fields and ridges." Why are so many people not busy with farm work, but wandering around in the wilderness, and the villagers here don't pay attention to farming? ”

Master Cui said: "Not really. There are a lot of oak trees in the wild in this area, and they are looking for a suitable place to graze silkworms in a few days. ”

Du Zhongxiao said strangely: "The climate here is humid, and the mulberry trees are planted well, why don't you raise silkworms?" ”

Cui Zhushu said: "It takes a lot of effort to raise silkworms, there are many oak trees in the wild, and there is a lot of profit from stocking silkworms, who will bother to pick mulberry leaves?" ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, it seems that it is still a habit formed by more people and fewer places. Since ancient times, there have been two kinds of silkworms in China, one is the silkworm, which is mainly distributed in the north, with Jingdong Road as the main production area, and there are many here on Jingxi Road. One is the silkworm, which is mainly distributed in the south, with the two Zhejiang provinces in the south of the Yangtze River as the most. Mulberry silkworms are mostly domesticated, planting mulberries around the house and picking mulberry leaves. Silkworms are mainly stocked, and suitable places in the wild are selected as silkworm farms, and silkworm ants are stocked on suitable trees in spring. There are slight differences between the two silks, but the prices on the market are basically the same.

This place in Tangzhou is said to be suitable for raising silkworms. Although the silkworm is labor-intensive, the yield is stable, the breeding is convenient, and the process is more mature. However, it has been sparsely populated for a long time, and the geography and climate are suitable for the growth of oak trees, and this era is dominated by free-range silkworms.

The village planned by Du Zhongxiao has a special mulberry land and requires every household to raise silkworms. I don't know if the slender men who came to reclaim the fields and the local villagers can adapt to the new production methods. This is the direction in the future, and the mulberry silkworm will inevitably replace the silkworm.

After passing through several small villages, we arrived at the place selected by Du Zhongxiao. The five commanders waited at the entrance of the village early, and took the small officers below to welcome Du Zhongxiao and his party into the village.

Looking at the neat houses on both sides of the street, Du Zhongxiao said: "Are these houses newly built?" ”

Sun Commander, who led the way in front, said: "The Huiyun Judgment was built these days. Originally, there was no shortage of grass and reeds around, so it was easier to build a thatched house. However, the command of the yamen always had to be built with earth, which took a little more effort. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Although the earth construction is labor-intensive, the house can be lived for a long time, and it is not difficult to pass it on for several generations." When all the farmland is planted here, you can set up a few places to burn bricks, and then build brick houses in the future, it will be even better. ”

Sun commanded: "Yun Juan is right, but where are there so many people? I had to wait for more people to talk about it later. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It won't take long, as long as it takes two or three years, everyone has some savings at home, and you can do it." When you open your fields, pay attention to the surrounding soil, and write down where it is suitable for burning bricks and tiles. ”

Several commanders said yes together, but they didn't think so in their hearts. It took a lot of effort to build these earthen houses, and the people under him have not been idle for a day since they arrived here. The other slender men do not have these hard and fast rules, and their lives are idle, and there are many complaints below.

In this area, it was Commander Sun's subordinates, and in the middle of the village was the Commander's Yamen, which was now renamed the Battalion Yamen. Corresponding to the local administrative division, a command is about a township, and this is considered a township government.

There are very few officers in the army who command this level, that is, commanders and deputy commanders, and there are no officers. They are the basic units of the army, and they are all based on battalions. In fact, the two commanders and deputy commanders can't do so many things, and they usually have a few shrewd and clever soldiers to deal with chores by their side. With such an organizational structure, it is far from enough to manage the civil affairs of a township.

Du Zhongxiao demanded that the chief and deputy commanders must be literate, and the illiterate battalion and field affairs yamen should open literacy classes and get a good grasp of learning. If you really learn it, you will be transferred to other places directly under the camp and become a petty official. In addition, each battalion must be supplemented with two scribes, corresponding to the local village scribes, to handle various official documents. Now everything is hastily created, and there are too few literate people among the slender men, and they are being recruited locally.

After entering the yamen, Commander Sun ordered tea to be served, pointed to a picture painted on the wall, and said: "According to the instructions of the Yun Judgment, we have drawn a map of each village here, so that people can see at a glance what each village is like." This is a map of the subordinate here, not only the village, but also the nine nearby villages. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at this picture, it was very simple, just drawing a rough idea with lines. The names of ten villages are written on a map, and if they are connected by lines, they are considered roads, and the mileage is marked, and I don't know if it is accurate. Another map is the village, where is the cultivated land, how many paddy fields, how much dry land, where is Pitang, where is the orchard, where is the mulberry field, where is the vegetable field, roughly marked.

Du Zhongxiao knew in his heart that this picture was inaccurate, but he just dealt with himself. But something is better than nothing, and it will be slowly improved later. With such a picture, the village will not be chaotic, and it will not be messed up by the thoughts of the grassroots officials.