Peasants form the basis of your economy. Make sure you have enough to generate a steady inflow of resources, but remember they are weak in combat. Have your Peasants build Storage Pits to drop off Wood, Gold and Food, and Gardens to generate Favor and other resources.

Farming and laboring peasants by far made up the highest percentage of ancient Chinas population. According to legend, it was Shennong who first taught them to till the soil and separated Chinese peasants from the barbarians surrounding them. Chinese villages first clustered in the highlands surrounding the Yellow and Wei Rivers, and the imperial bureaucracy was responsible for keeping them abreast of the latest farming techniques and technologies so that their productivity matched their explosive population growth. Nevertheless, drought or river floods could wreak havoc on these villages, and regular labor drafts for the sake of irrigation canal and dyke improvements were the norm.