The twilight of dawn had just pierced the horizon, and the first round of tribute collection day arrived in an eerie silence.
Representatives of seventeen villages, with their respective motorcades, like sheep driven by invisible hands, slowly merged into the huge square in front of the New Hall that had been baptized by blood and fire.
The air was filled with the fishy smell of earth and people's fear. They did not dare to speak loudly, and only exchanged each other's guesses and uneasiness with their eyes.
However, when the tributes were unloaded one by one, that awe was quickly replaced by a tacit perfunctory.
Most of the grains are old and second-hand goods, even mixed with moldy grains that exude a sour smell; the ore texture is mixed and dull, obviously inferior products from the outermost layer of the veins; the so-called ninja tools are defective products that have long been eliminated on the battlefield. Kunai with rolled blades and broken steel wires can be seen everywhere.
Baba's burly body patrolled the square, and the burning anger in his one eye almost turned into reality.
He suddenly grabbed a handful of blackened rice and let it slip from his fingers, making a rustling sound that seemed to mock the majesty of the new order.
"Xuan!" He strode into the hall with a voice like thunder, "This is a blatant provocation! They think we are beggars collecting rags! We must wash away this shame with blood and hang the leader's head at the entrance of the village, otherwise no one will fear us!"
In the hall, Xuan Zheng was sitting on a high-backed chair, his fingertips tapping the armrests lightly, his red eyes sharper than the morning light outside the window.
He didn't look at the furious Baba, but still looked at the fearful but lucky crowd in the square.
"Killing," he said, his voice flat but with an undeniable coldness, "Is the most efficient means of rule. It can only create fear, and fear will breed more decisive resistance."
"What should we do?" Baba was puzzled.
"Pass my order," Xuan's lips curved with a cold arc, "Category all the tributes and carefully screen them. Find the five best-quality ones among them."
The order was promptly executed.
Soon, tributes from five villages were picked out.
Although they are not superior, at least they are not shoddy to the point of being outrageous.
Just when everyone thought that these five villages were about to receive some kind of "reward" and the remaining twelve villages were about to face the wrath of thunder, Xuan's next order plunged the entire square into deathly silence.
"Return the best grains, refined ores and standard ninja tools in our warehouse to these five villages according to double the quota of tribute." Xuan's voice clearly reached everyone's ears through the increase of chakra, "And attach my words: Lord is sincere, so reward sincerity."
After the words fell, the people in the square were shocked at first, and then there was an uproar in disbelief.
The representatives of the five villages were dumbfounded. They were at a loss for a moment as they watched the vehicles loaded with fine supplies drive towards them.
The faces of the representatives of the remaining twelve villages instantly turned from white to green, and then from green to earthy gray.
They expected the butcher's knife and the punishment, but they did not expect this situation.
Compared with direct violence, the psychological impact of this differential treatment is like a big invisible hand, tightly grasping their hearts.
The fear did not disappear, but penetrated into their bones in a deeper and more lasting way.
Soon, a quiet discussion spread among the crowd. "Scarlet Eye... not only can kill people, he... he can also give blessings."
This is just the beginning.
Chiyo's figure appeared beside Xuan, holding a strange-looking bronze medal in her hand.
"According to your idea, 'Crimson Eye Ledger' has been completed." She said softly.
People in the square saw special teams composed of puppets walking towards the representatives of each village.
These puppets have expressionless faces and precise and uniform movements. They are the so-called "tax collectors".
Each tax collector holds a palm-sized bronze medal in his hand, with a faintly glowing crystal core embedded in the center of the bronze medal.
"From today on, this will be the tax tag for each village." Chiyo's voice was cold and penetrating. "Every time you hand in tribute, just bring the tribute close to the bronze plate, and its purity and quantity will be automatically recorded in the record, exactly. For those who commit fraud, the tax tag will issue a red warning."
No one knows that behind this cold bronze medal lies Chiyo's most proud design.
The coating on the surface of the bronze medal contains specially treated Divine Tree spores that are so trace that they cannot be detected by any ninjutsu.
People who have held and been in contact with this bronze medal for a long time will have an extremely slight sense of pleasure in their nerve endings when performing the obedient act of "turning in tribute."
This feeling is so weak that it is almost undetectable, but it will subtly bind the two concepts of "obedience" and "satisfaction", bit by bit, disintegrating the will to resist deep in their hearts.
This is a more subtle and gentle form of slavery than Thought Imprint.
The gears of order seem to be turning smoothly, but human greed and disputes will not stop.
Three days later, bad news came.
A large-scale fight broke out between two neighboring villages over the source of water upstream. More than ten people were killed and injured on both sides, and the stream was dyed red with blood.
Baba once again called for war and asked for troops to be sent to suppress it.
Xuan rejected him again.
"No need." He just looked at the two light spots representing villages on the map with indifferent eyes. "I am issuing an order to suspend the distribution of any materials to all villages in the area, including the two villages that are fighting." At the same time, a notice was posted at the entrance of all villages. "No tax on messy land, no tax and no shelter."
These eight words are more lethal than any army.
In the land of chaos, tribute will not be collected from you, but it also means that you will not receive any protection and supplies from the new order.
At first, the villagers were able to rely on stored grain to survive, but as the cold nights fell and there was a lack of uniformly prepared charcoal and food, hunger and cold struck like gangrene in the bones.
Panic quickly replaced the fighting rage.
Finally, on the fifth day, the villagers from the two villages united, tied up the leaders of the fighting, elected representatives, and kowtowed step by step before coming to the New Hall to plead guilty.
Xuan met them in the palace.
Facing the faces that were pale from hunger and cold, he did not give a long lecture, but only asked, "Can you defeat me in a fight? Or do you win in hunger?"
This question was like a heavy hammer, completely shattering their last bit of luck.
They fell to the ground and cried bitterly.
Xuan waved his hand, and the supply of supplies was restored immediately.
But at the same time, he also put forward new conditions. "As punishment, both sides of the armed struggle will send ten children aged five to seven to the New Hall and enter 'Scarlet Eye Academy' to receive education."
Late at night, Baba found Xuan who was leaning on the railing alone. The confusion in his eyes finally overcame his fighting spirit. "We have already controlled them, why do we need to raise the descendants of these enemies? They will only remember hatred in their hearts."
"Hatred?"
He has already planned the future for "Scarlet Eye Academy".
In the first three years, these children will learn farming, labor, understand the most basic writing, and recite <Crimson Eye Edict>, which he personally compiled, word for word.
In the next seven years, they will undergo brutal basic Taijutsu training and endless loyalty tests.
In this ten-year selection process, those eliminated will be reduced to coolies in mines or workshops, while the remaining elites will be incorporated into the "Scarlet Eye Guard" that belongs directly to them.
Their family affection, hometown and hatred will all be forged into the purest loyalty under the watchful eyes of Scarlet Eye.
However, external threats never stop because of internal integration.
One night, a dull explosion came from the eastern border.
A tax collector puppet responsible for patrol was blown to pieces by a violent Lightning Release Ninjutsu.
Next to the wreckage, the murderer left a mutilated emblem - the unique mark of the Kumogakure border safari team.
"This is a naked declaration of war!" Chiyo's eyes were filled with murderous intent. "Retaliation must be organized immediately and let them know that destroying Scarlet Eye's property will require a hundred times more blood to repay!"
"Retaliation?" Xuan picked up the blackened fragment of the emblem and rubbed it slowly with his fingertips. "It's too direct and too boring." He issued an order that no one expected, "Take this fragment back, melt it, and cast it into a new tax tag. Send this copper medal with added materials back to the border outpost of Kumogakure."
The envoy returned the bronze medal and also brought back a message from Xuan, which was a short and chilling sentence. "One day the tax is late, the medal increases by one pound."
This is not only a silent humiliation, but also a precise deterrent.
It is telling Kumogakure: Instead of irritating me, your provocative behavior was absorbed by me and became part of my ruling system.
Your shame will remind you day after day, and every time you resist will only make the rules I set more burdensome.
That night, Xuan entered the secret room alone.
He opened his palms, a complex technique lit up in his palms, and the virtual interface of [Civilization Reconstruction] unfolded in front of his eyes.
He input all the resource flow data collected during the day - food production, ore purity, population movement, material consumption - into it.
On the cold system screen, a rapid "financial deduction" began.
A few seconds later, a conclusive line of text appeared: If the current collection rhythm and efficiency are maintained, within eight months, the reserve resources will be enough to support a standing army of 100,000 people to complete pre-war mobilization.
At the bottom of the screen, a line of bright red "Countdown to Empire Expansion" was beating silently.
Xuan's eyes passed over the numbers, and he finally whispered, as if he was declaring to himself and the world. "War is not the end... taxation is the completion of conquest."
The moment he finished speaking, the Eternal Mangekyō pattern in his eyes seemed to undergo some strange change.
On the edge of the pattern, a circle of fine and delicate gear-like patterns slowly emerged, just like the movement inside a clock. It began to rotate silently with a cold beauty that controlled the operation of all things.
At this moment, Chiyo's figure appeared silently at the door of the secret room, with a rare trace of confusion on her expression.
"Master Xuan," she handed over a data scroll she had just summarized, "There are some abnormalities in the account data of several villages on the border. The quantity and quality of their tributes are above the standard line, but according to our monitoring, the material consumption in their villages... is far lower than what is needed for normal survival. But their people do not show any signs of hunger or hardship."