With a series of rumbling, the territory of Xia Village expanded outward as it was upgraded from a Level 2 village to Level 3. A cob wall about 1.5 meters in height appeared on the outer perimeter of the village, and beyond the cob wall was a layer of wooden fences.
Xia Village was officially transformed into a large-scale village from a small-to-medium one.
[Territory]: Xia Village (Level 3 village)
[Feudal Lord]: Chu Tian (Level 2 Shangzao)
[Jurisdiction]: Langya Nation, Xu Prefecture, Eastern Han
[Specialties]: Crude Celadon (Level E specialty), Rice Wine (Level D specialty)
[Population]: 812/2000
[Popular Sentiment]: 75
[Public Security]: 87
[Level of Prosperity]: 221/500
[Administrative Efficiency]: 10/100
[Agricultural Efficiency]: 13/100
[Economical Efficiency]: 17/100
[Cultural Efficiency]: 15/100
[Military Score]: 1012 (1 royal special hero, 1 silver hero, 1 bronze hero, 2 light cavalrymen, 50 elite light infantrymen, 252 local soldiers)
[City Defense Works]: Wooden Fences (Defense power +1), Cob Walls (Defense power +1, can effectively fend off arrows)
[New Constructions]: Tudi Temple (value of blessings can be increased by gathering joss sticks and incense, increasing probabilities of propitious omens), Level 1 Farm Product Market (increases the prosperity levels of agriculture and commerce of the village), Level 2 Prchard (for fruit-planting), Level 2 Rice Mills, Level 2 Timber-Processing Mills
...
Several previously absent constructions were added after Xia Village was upgraded to Level 3. It was beginning to develop in the direction of a town, with cob walls serving as city defense works in the meantime. Cob walls were the prototype of future city walls.
The feudal lord's residence where Chu Tian lived was finally improved as well. The residence was reconstructed into a stone house from a wooden house. There were even asphalt tiles, which added a touch of luxury to its appearance.
The size of the population under his management was 800 now. Most of the feudal lords were still struggling with Level 2 villages. Some did not even manage to upgrade their Level 1 villages to Level 2 before they were destroyed by bandits or wild animals.
The feudal lord's residence was separated into the front yard, the stone tablet, and the backyard. The front yard was, of course, for administration and management of the village's policies. The stone tablet was the core of the place. If the tablet got destroyed, the entire territory would turn into ruins. The backyard was where Chu Tian lived.
"Build two wooden arrow towers at the entrance of the village. Besides that, build one wooden arrow tower in each of the three directions apart from the entrance, serving as watchtowers."
Chu Tian allocated labor forces for building wooden arrow towers. Wooden arrow towers required large amounts of timber.
The timber reserve of Xia Village alone was far from sufficient, but Chu Tian had consigned the commerce centers of Xiaozhu Village to collect timber from nearby villages.
A team of commercial horses arrived from Xiaozhu Village, shipping in a steady supply of timber. Besides, with the exploitation done by the great manpower of Xia Village, the timber was finally enough for use.
Carpenters were busy building wooden arrow towers with their labor forces. Carpenters belonged to the category of special talents as well. In the ancient times of war, craftsmen would be spared even in massacres, because they could serve a wide variety of purposes.
The hunters of Xia Village could set up hunting traps in the perimeter of the village. Once the Yellow Turban soldiers stepped on the traps, they would be wounded or killed straight away.
Zhao Qi reported the progress to Chu Tian. "Apart from the entrance of the village, from where people and cargos have to pass, 253 traps have been set beyond the cob walls."
"Take note of the locations of these hunting traps and prohibit all villagers from going near the cob walls for a couple of months, allowing them to use only the entrance. We'll clear the hunting traps after we're done with the Yellow Turbans. Bring your people and set more traps. The more the better."
"Sure."
Zhao Qi began setting more traps nearby the cob walls with the help of the hunters.
The advantage of hunting traps was that no resources had to be expended, only labor forces. However, the disadvantage was that they couldn't cover the entrance with traps too, could they… Besides, if the Yellow Turban soldiers focused on attacking a certain spot, they could destroy the traps in that spot with the human wave attack.
Hua Mulan was training the elite infantry in the Level 2 drill ground of Xia Village. The troop of infantrymen was using long spears, large knives, or iron swords as weapons. A minority of infantrymen had changed into rare leather armor, but most of them were still in sackcloths.
Long-term training and military expeditions could enhance the grades of the recruited soldiers, gradually making them into an experienced troop.
Hua Mulan had been upgraded from Level 30 to Level 32 for killing many Yellow Turban soldiers and the renegade general. Her current command was 72 and strength was 82, which could result in greater reinforcement.
"Weapons aren't standardized, and there aren't enough protective gears either."
When Hua Mulan brought up the current predicament of the first defense troop of Xia Village, there was worry in her eyes.
"I have ordered the blacksmith stores and timber-processing workshops to forge a long spear and a wooden shield for each infantryman, and for the protective gear workshop to forge a piece of leather armor for each of them. As for standardizing blades and bows, it will be considered in the future."
Chu Tian was proactively preparing for the war. The material for the leather armor was the skin of wild boars which could be obtained by hunting. As for the weapons of the infantry, Chu Tian's first choice was long spears. The effects of a long spear formation could be achieved with a troop of spear-holding soldiers forming a matrix.
With Hua Mulan training the infantry of Xia Village, Chu Tian ordered two light infantrymen to go on a reconnaissance outside the village.
"Lord Village Chief."
While walking the dirt roads of the village, Chu Tian saw a group of villagers chasing their domestic pigs into the hoggery.
Xia Village had been systematically divided into zones.
There were seven zones in Xia Village. The residential zone, the market zone, the military zone, the administrative zone, the manufacturing zone, the resource zone, and the spare grounds.
The buildings in the residential zone were residences, mainly consisting of wooden houses. The number of thatched houses were dwindling, and a small number of stone houses had begun to emerge. Chu Tian needed not to worry about the villagers' houses, because they would figure out ways to reconstruct their houses once they gained wealth. They couldn't expect the feudal lord to worry about each and every house of the village, could they…
The market zone had taverns, farm product markets, hospitals, private schools, Tudi temples, and tailors.
The administrative zone housed the feudal lord's residence, barns, and arsenals.
The military zone was made up of the Level 1 cavalry camp and the Level 2 infantry camp.
The manufacturing zone consisted of blacksmith stores, protective gear stores, timber-processing mills, rice mills, and celadon factories.
The resource zone housed farmlands, minelands, logging lands, orchards, fishponds, hoggeries, as well as chicken farms.
The spare grounds were reserved for building new constructions and future selling in exchange for money. Once Xia Village developed into a town, the price of the land would start to rise.
As the population size and number of constructions of Xia Village gradually increased, the development of Xia Village was gradually getting on the right track.
Xia Village had a thatched school now, which could enroll 50 children. Besides enhancing the cultural efficiency of the territory. Chu Tian selected a teacher from among the refugees and appointed him as the teacher at the school. The school even had hidden effects. When this batch of children turned into adults in the future, their mental attributes would be higher than ordinary villagers.
The fragrance of rice wine wafted from the taverns. Behind the taverns was the place where wine was brewed, the manufactured rice wine could be sold to other villages as well.
"Ha!"
A light infantryman of Xia Village was riding fast on the rural dirt road, sending dust and dirt flying from the ground.
The infantryman barged through the entrance of the village, and the passing villagers stared at the infantryman from Xia Village in awe.
The infantryman dismounted from the horse and got to Chu Tian with an anxious look on his face. "Village Chief, a large group of Yellow Turban soldiers have turned up outside the village. Some villages have been ransacked already!"
"Chase all the livestock back to the village and gather all the local soldiers. Get ready to fight to our deaths with the attacking Yellow Turban soldiers!"
Chu Tian acted as if faced with his worst enemy. This time, the number of Yellow Turban soldiers were far more intimidating than the 60 of them previously, and their grades were higher.
If they could kill enough Yellow Turban soldiers and attain a place in the ranking, there might be handsome rewards in store for them.