Historically in Vietnam, a large-scale embankment system was established in the Red River Delta from the Tran dynasty as a state project.
Running alongside the national projects, small-scale reclamations were also promoted. The royal families and some high-ranking aristocrats forced slaves and peasants to construct small-size banks and reclaimed new rice fields (Manor).
These landowners were swept aside by Ho Quy Ly who usurped the Tran dynasty and the Ming government that dominated North Vietnam at the beginning of the 15th century. Accordingly, it is said that this type of land ownership had little influence on society in the Le period.
But after the battle for independence, the Le government prompted land reclamation using the same reclaiming technique. In 1481, King Le Thanh Tong established 30 state farms ("Don dien so" in Vietnamese) in the Red River delta.
Ph. Nguyen Duc Nghinh pointed out that most of these locations, which were along big rivers, took the same names as villages or cantons ("tong" in Vietnamese, groups of villages). According to his analysis, they would have been relatively small, and he emphasized their supplying function for the army.
Ph. Yumio SAKURAI also has been researching the history of reclamation in the Red River Delta. According to his theory, most farms would have been located in areas that had a long history of reclamation and already had not much land for new cultivation. So in terms of the size of state farms, I agree with Dr. Nghinh. In this paper I would like to add a little perspective on the farm functions.
The sources of labor, I shall divide them into 2 types: Guardsmen of the Five Chief Commissions and villagers around farms.
Farms were concentrated around the capital (Hanoi now), Nam Sach area (the junction of major rivers), and along the strategic line (Langson - Bacninh - Hanoi - Ninhbinh). But State farms didn't have any military power of their own, but had a supply function. In these cases, the main source of labor was the army. For example, in and around the capital, there were the Palace Guards and 6 guards units belonging to the Central Chief Commission. Soldiers were local peasants enlisted by the government. So it may safely be said that they fed themselves.
On the other hand, there were also many farms outside these areas. In such cases, villagers living nearby were the main source of labor. Besides establishing farms, the Le government recommended peasants to reclaim new land, but suspected that most new land would be unrecorded, and changed into private land at the same time. In the early Le period, private land was exempt from taxation, so there was no merit for the state finances. In addition, some high-ranking counselors still managed manors and often illegally occupied nearby land.
State Farms had appeared to feed the army, protect public land, and maintain the land redistribution system (Quan dien).