When Granaries Are Full, People Know Propriety; When They Are Well-Fed and Clothed, They Know Honor and Shame; When Those Above Follow the Rules, the Six Kinship Bonds Are Secure (Please Vote Monthly)

"Good evening, Lord Yun Chuan."

Amid the rippling sounds of the lake breeze and waves, the two guards at the city gate bowed slightly and respectfully said to Yun Chuan, "Please present your identification."

The moat, several yards wide, and the city walls, over thirty yards high and more than twenty yards thick, made Yahiko and Konan gape slightly.

That single wall and moat might not stop Amegakure’s Ninja, but they were enough to make most bandits abandon any thoughts of raiding the place.

When had a small city appeared out of nowhere here?

Had the Lord and those officials really not noticed?

Yun Chuan was practically founding a nation right under their noses, wasn’t he?!

Those idiots really were beyond saving!

Just as Yahiko was still reeling from the sight, the guard’s words snapped him back to his senses.

"Huh? What identification?"

As though he had heard something unbelievable, Yahiko’s eyes widened instantly as he watched Yun Chuan smilingly pull out a card and hand it over.

It was a card engraved with a few words, its surface covered in strange patterns.

Only after one of them examined it did they step back slightly and make way for Yun Chuan’s group, handing him a black umbrella at the same time. "My apologies, Lord Yun Chuan. Please forgive us."

"There’s no need for that." Yun Chuan took the black umbrella, shook his head, and smiled. "You did well. You were only carrying out your duties."

With that, under the watchful eyes of the two guards, he opened the umbrella and entered the city amid the drifting rain.

Passing through the gate, the wide bluestone road left the little ones slightly stunned. It felt as though they had arrived in the capital.

No, it looked even cleaner and more orderly than the capital they had seen before!

"Um, Brother Yun Chuan."

After glancing back at the two guards one last time, Yahiko moved closer to Yun Chuan and asked in a low voice, "Are you sure this is a city you built? Why do you need to show identification to enter your own home?"

"…I didn’t build it." Yun Chuan glanced at him and answered perfunctorily, clearly bored. "I built it together with everyone else."

Tch.

Yahiko curled his lips disdainfully and grumbled inwardly, You took the lead in building it, so just say you built it. Why insist on saying everyone built it together?

This guy really loves showing off!

"You’ll also need to register your household records later. Only after receiving identification will you be allowed to enter and leave…"

At that moment, Yun Chuan shot Yahiko a warning look and reminded him, "Also, those two are highly responsible men. Even if I tried to force my way in, they would find a way to capture me. You’d better behave yourselves!"

Of course, putting aside whether they could actually catch him, if that happened, they would probably commit suicide afterward to apologize for their failure.

After all, "duty is duty," and "when the lord is humiliated, his subjects die."

There was no need to explain that to Yahiko. Even if he did, Yahiko would not understand.

"Got it!" Yahiko dragged out his reply before asking again, "What are household records?"

"It mainly contains information like your name, date of birth, relatives, marital status, and so on." Yun Chuan gave a simple explanation. "You only need to know that it can reduce the number of spies and sleeper agents that might appear in the future."

He did have quite a few capable people under his command.

The so-called "household registration certificate" was not a "card" that could be casually forged. It was a form of identification with a special encryption method that was extremely difficult to decipher or detect, recording relatively detailed information such as physique and appearance.

As for the two unremarkable men at the gate, before meeting Yun Chuan, they had been Rogue Ninja driven away because they could not accept Hanzo’s ideals. Both possessed sensory secret techniques.

Unless someone like Orochimaru, who had undergone soft-body modifications, used the B-rank forbidden technique, the Vanishing Facial Copy Technique, with real human skin, it would be difficult to fool those two with simple disguises and Transformation Techniques.

Of course, if someone’s illusion techniques were strong enough to make them fall under a spell without realizing it, there was nothing they could do for the time being.

Fortunately, they were not too conspicuous yet and had not become thorns in anyone’s side. Yun Chuan could replace them with more suitable people later.

The Uzumaki Clan would be a good fit, Yun Chuan thought. Guarding the gates is also an extremely important job!

However, aside from reducing the risk of spies, sleeper agents, and infiltrators entering, household registration also offered enormous benefits for taxation, population management, and conscription. It made population censuses and adjustments to population structure and gender ratios much easier.

The sooner this was established, the better. Occupations could be divided into "scholars," "farmers," "craftsmen," "merchants," and so on. Once the population grew and the group became harder to manage, separate specialized departments could handle each category.

In order to tailor the household registration system to reality, Yun Chuan had spent quite a bit of effort persuading people and working out the details. Naturally, he had to set a good example himself.

"Lord Yun Chuan! You’re back!"

Though a misty drizzle still hung in the air, the village looked lively.

Some people had put up small rain shelters, while several shops had stretched out awnings and were energetically calling out to customers inside.

As Yun Chuan pondered these matters, they had unknowingly arrived in front of a tavern. The woman at the entrance immediately lit up when she saw him.

"Have you eaten? Would you like to come in for a late-night meal?"

Yun Chuan came back to his senses, recognized the woman before him, and smiled gently. "Good evening, Mrs. Yoshikawa. But I’ll pass on the late-night meal. I’m not used to eating four meals a day."

Just as the woman was about to say something, a shout came from inside the tavern.

"Mrs. Yoshikawa! We’re out of alcohol! Bring another bottle of sake! I made a little money today, so I have to drink to my heart’s content!"

"Quit rushing me, you old drunkard! I’m coming! Please excuse me for the moment, Lord Yun Chuan!"

"Please don’t mind me." Yun Chuan waved lightly, his expression a little helpless.

"Lord Yun Chuan, you rescued four more poor children this time?"

"Yes. Since I saw them, I couldn’t just leave them there. I’ll have to trouble everyone to help me look after these little ones in the future."

"You’re as kind as ever, Lord Yun Chuan!"

"…"

Along that short stretch from the village entrance, whether merchants or commoners, everyone greeted Yun Chuan with a smile or came over to chat for a few words, trying to force something into his hands.

Even Yun Chuan, who had been leisurely leading the little ones, could not take it anymore. He repeatedly waved his hands in surrender, but it did not help in the slightest.

Even Yahiko, who had originally been smiling as he watched the spectacle, began to feel awkward under their enthusiasm.

In the end, they simply started running. Only after they ran out of the designated commercial district did people finally stop coming up to them.

That was because they had entered the expanding residential district.

The pungent smell of cement, the dull sounds of hauling, the noisy cries of workers…

"Work harder! We’re almost done… Hey! You old bastard! Where are you going? Watch your feet! If you break your leg right under my nose, Lord Yun Chuan will tear my bones apart!"

The men worked with their faces toward the dirt and their backs toward the sky, carrying baskets of sand and soil on their shoulders while holding two buckets in their hands. The hat-wearing supervisor shouted orders everywhere.

The rain, carrying a trace of chill, did nothing to dampen their determination.

"This… feels so strange."

Looking at the scene before them, where everything was waiting to be rebuilt yet overflowing with astonishing vitality, Yahiko and the others could not help feeling an indescribable shock.

"I came here with my father three years ago."

Jiyun’s gaze flickered slightly as she said in a strange tone, "If I remember correctly, mountain bandits were still running rampant here back then. It was so rundown that it was worse than an ordinary village, but now…"

If the Rain Capital was like a forest of steel, filled with towering structures and exposed pipes, cold and imposing at first glance but increasingly chaotic the longer one looked at it…

Then this small city before them might not compare to the capital in size, but it had already surpassed most cities and villages. In particular, the bustling sight of labor before them far exceeded anything the little ones had imagined.

Looking out from where they stood, although many buildings also had pipes, it was obvious that everything had been planned. There was no haphazard construction.

The buildings did not differ much in size either, only in style. Nothing looked chaotic at a glance. Clearly, strict standards had been imposed, with customized interior decoration carried out afterward.

They even saw supervisors berating workers who failed to meet standards, while those workers could only smile bitterly and beg for forgiveness.

"Brother Yun Chuan, this…" Konan’s face was full of confusion and surprise as she curiously asked, "How did you make them so self-disciplined and obedient?"

In her few memories, workers like these had always been of poor character. They often slacked off and dragged their feet, and without threats, they refused to obey.

"Hmm, it’s a little complicated to explain." Yun Chuan narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment. "Simply put, it comes down to one sentence."

"What?" Yahiko subconsciously stepped forward and blurted out.

"When granaries are full, people know propriety; when they are well-fed and clothed, they know honor and shame; when those above follow the rules, the six kinship bonds are secure."

The moment those words came out, Yahiko’s pitifully small brain completely froze.

Granaries what propriety? What know what? Those above what kinship bonds?

I understand every word, but when they’re put together, I don’t understand anything!

"What that means is…"

Yun Chuan sighed, rubbed Yahiko’s head hard, and smiled. "Only when the granaries are full will people understand propriety. Only when they have enough food and clothes will they understand honor and shame. When leaders take the lead in following the rules, those below will learn from them."

Unlike Yahiko, who stood there as if struck by lightning, Jiyun frowned and then gave up thinking about it.

She did not need to understand principles whose significance she did not know.

She only needed to know…

When the whole world was filled with locked rooms, the person holding the key was the "king."