Back at the place where the supplies were released, Du Zhongxiao stomped his feet hard, looked at the white reed marsh, and summoned Jin Shu beside him: "There are too many reeds in this area, which is really annoying. Without these reeds, it would be much easier to cultivate them."

Between the Huan River and the Bian River, especially because the Bian River bed is high, there are many puddles and are covered with reeds. In this era, there were no large machinery and insufficient power, and it was particularly difficult to develop this terrain.

Jin Shu summoned: "It is better to go west than an official to dig a large ditch and drain water. If you want to dig a large ditches and choose a place close to the Huan River. Digging from here is too far away and requires a lot of manpower. But now there are not many people who are recruiting to reclaim, so I am afraid it will be difficult to do it."

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's still early now, there are many boats on the Bian River, and those who are stretching can't get idle. Wait for another month, and when there is no ship to the capital on the Bian River, there will naturally be people. As long as we prepare food and rice, we don't have to worry about insufficient staff. The most important thing now is to prepare."

After saying that, he ordered his followers to put away the rope ruler and take a break for the time being. In this era, the land was mostly calculated by calculating the steps, which was quite inaccurate. Of course, there were methods for accurate measurements. The Tang Dynasty had already measured the length of the meridian, but it was expensive. Du Zhongxiao ordered people to find a long rope and make a rope ruler for engineering measurement in this area.

Sitting down at the blacksmith shop not far away, Du Zhongxiao summoned Jin Shu: "Kongmu, I will find a few smart young people in the past two days to come here to be apprentices. If you want to reclaim the fields, farm tools are indispensable. It is best to make them yourself. The one you bought is not useful and it is not convenient to repair them in normal times."

Jin Shuzhao agreed and wrote down what Du Zhongxiao said one by one.

After drinking tea for a while, Du Zhongxiao ordered to take out the pre-drawn layout drawings and pointed to Jin Shuzhao to discuss how to arrange personnel.

Chai Xin on the side looked at him and suddenly said, "Hey, the newly built farmhouses just surrounded Ma Meng's farmhouse. In this way, it would be convenient to transport things from his farm."

Du Zhongxiao nodded silently and did not say anything. This was originally a set strategy. There was only Ma Meng, a village in this area. The people in the village did not rely on farming to make a living, so of course they had to take advantage of this convenience. Moreover, many illegal things about Ma Meng rely on that village to cover it. Letting the new village in the farm surrounded Ma Meng's village was equivalent to leashing a dog on a chain, which was what Du Zhongxiao had wanted to do long ago.

The so-called Taitian and Tiaotian are in places where flooding is prone to occur. Large trenches are dug at any distance, and each trenches are connected, and the water is finally discharged into the river. In this way, each field of renovated is either like a high platform or in long strips. The large trenches dug not only drain rainwater, but also lower the groundwater level of the land. If irrigation and alkali washing are added, the saline-alkali land can slowly be restored to fertile fields.

In this area, the biggest project is to dig trenches, which is the most labor-intensive work.

Seeing a middle-aged man trying to make a new iron shovel by the blacksmith's fire, Du Zhongxiao said: "Have you done farm work before?"

When he saw the official asked himself, Shi Qiang hurriedly stepped down the iron shovel and saluted: "The official returned to the official, who has worked since he was a child, has done all kinds of work. Although he has never farmed, he has done all the work of dredging rivers and digging sand in previous years."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, as long as you do it well and renovate the land here, you will settle down. Although farming is hard, it is as strong as pulling fibers on the river, even boatmen can't compare. It's really not easy to make life on the river, and it's really hard to go in the wind and rain on the river."

Shi Qiang nodded repeatedly: "The official said it is right. The people on the river are the hardest. If there is no way, who would live a life by guarding a boat? If one is not good, if the goods are lost, they will have to be compensated, let alone mention it."

Because of the recognition of a few words, Shi Qiang was appointed as a small leader. Not only did he have food and accommodation, but he also received a few chunks of money every month. He was much better than his days on the boat before, and he was very energetic these days.

After chatting for a few words, Du Zhongxiao went to the side to sit on the chair and looked at Bai Fan on the Bian River not far away and thought about his thoughts.

In this area, building a new village was not a whim, but a purpose. In addition to dealing with the harm of Ma Meng to stabilize the place, it also has the intention of conducting social experiments. After taking the Jinshi and becoming an official, he inevitably stepped into the political vortex. With a thousand years of experience, of course, we should not just be as vulgar as being a high-ranking official, but we should build some achievements.

In this era, the first issue of politics and economy was agriculture and rural areas. Du Zhongxiao had to start with the establishment of a new village and slowly explore the governance methods that adapt to the times. The Song Dynasty had originally not suppressed annexation and basically let the grassroots go to an end. Almost all knowledgeable people were considering the issue of rural reform. One faction was dominated by Li Yue and others, advocating the restoration of the well-field system and the average land. Another faction advocated key issues such as unchanging land, but instead governed independently with the clan as the core, such as establishing a village agreement. The lessons of history told Du Zhongxiao that these practices were unreliable, let alone that the two sides were still fighting and were deeply involved in party struggles.

The well-field system is not restoring the slave system of the pre-Qin period, but a semi-public mode of production, or it can be said to be a combination of collective economy and private economy. The core of the well-field system is to equalize the land and reduce tax costs, and the main purpose is to fantasize about using this method to eliminate the landlord class. Historical processes have proved that without a strong organization, this fantasy cannot be realized.

Du Zhongxiao also thought about how to reform the rural economy if he made the decision. After thinking about it, there was no perfect way. He had to start from scratch and try all the methods he had seen, learned, and what he had in his previous life, and what he had existed in history, and what he had existed in this era, and whether he could find a suitable system. The violent land reform has no foundation, and this is not an era of general bankruptcy in rural areas. Du Zhongxiao wanted to try other collective economies, large manors, small self-cultivated farmers, etc. No system is the best. In the historical process, almost every land system has gone bankrupt. The way out for agriculture is to develop other industries and transfer people. In this process of development and transfer, which systems are the most suitable and efficient.

In these newly built villages, Du Zhongxiao also wanted to mix experiments with Baojia, militia, etc. to find suitable organizational forms in the countryside. This is an era facing urgent reform. I have truly experienced and have facts to prove my own propositions. It is much more reliable than talking about theory alone when I confront my thoughts in the future. Otherwise, if I really have one day to preside over the reform, I can't tell the opposition that this is a summary of a thousand years of history. Not to mention, historical summary is not necessarily correct, and even if it is correct, it does not necessarily conform to the current actual situation.

Du Zhongxiao remembered that his previous life was like some basic national policies, which would develop over time and had to turn around for decades. Taking some political ideas as absolute truths will result in party struggles, which may not be beneficial. Politics is human politics, and it is not a religion to recite scriptures. How can we use slogan-like dogmas to guide everything? Everything must be based on practice.

After being an official for several months, Du Zhongxiao thought about the history he learned in his previous life, but found that it was not very useful. Apart from the general trend of history, he knew nothing when it was explained clearly, especially the social foundation of this era was almost blank. With the textbook, he could not find a ready-made solution, and he still had to rely on himself to explore everything.
Chapter completed!