Ch.267To the Edge of the Cliff (7)

[The ringleaders who stood trial received sentences of at least 10 years, and those with more serious crimes faced the ultimate punishment of death—]

“Uh… umm…”

“Certainly, it was too extreme…”

The trials for each ringleader weren’t swift, but they carried appropriate gravity.

Not a single punishment was light. Everyone was paying the full price for their crimes without any reduction.

Whether they committed those crimes out of loyalty or not had absolutely no bearing on the verdicts.

From the beginning, Claude himself had set an example by adhering to the law, so it was impossible to reduce punishments merely because someone claimed to be loyal in words alone.

“Excuse me…?”

“What is this about…?”

Of course, the response to the riot didn’t end there. The matter was too serious to simply deal with the ringleaders and move on.

While there were many who had been incited, the crimes couldn’t be quietly overlooked. Claude decided to punish those participants whose offenses were particularly severe.

“What are you doing? Put it on.”

“Wasn’t it your desperate wish to become a soldier?”

“We welcome your voluntary enlistment.”

Thus was established the penal battalion, officially called a conscription army but functioning as a labor corps.

Though sharing only a name with the Soviet version, with fundamentally different characteristics, it was still a unit composed of criminals.

Like the legions of pre-modern Rome, they would be mobilized for all kinds of civil engineering projects—roads, bridges, tunnels—while simultaneously being indoctrinated with a strict military culture of obedience to superiors.

What remained was the punishment for those who were neither ringleaders nor serious offenders, but merely ordinary participants in the volunteer army.

“…A fine?”

“No… what do you mean a fine? We did this for His Imperial Majesty—”

“Why? Did you just ask why? For you lot who acted on your own, outside the Emperor’s orders and control, a fine is extremely lenient treatment. Perhaps you don’t like it? If so, you could serve in the penal battalion like those others.”

“N-no! I’ll pay it!”

Their crimes were by no means at a level that could end with just a fine. They had participated in an illegal volunteer army tantamount to armed insurrection and committed various serious crimes including murder.

However, to properly punish all of them would require enough prisons, which was nearly impossible.

The simple participants alone numbered roughly ten thousand, and prisons capable of accommodating them all did not exist in current Lothringen.

Yet putting them all in penal battalions would create the significant problem of eliminating too many civilians who could contribute to economic activity.

For these reasons, Claude decided to end the matter with fines for the ordinary participants.

“T-this is…!”

“Is there perhaps some mistake? No matter how I look at it, this…”

“What mistake? Originally, you would be headed straight to prison, but due to the shortage of prisons, we couldn’t do that. So shouldn’t the amount of the fine be increased to compensate?”

Of course, this resulted in enormous fines. Since criminals who would normally have received prison sentences were unavoidably given fines instead, the amount had to be increased to maintain fairness in punishment.

And these excessive fines reached levels that even the Lothringen citizens, who had grown wealthy due to various policies, could not readily pay.

“It’s unfair!! I truly did this for His Majesty—”

“If you truly acted for His Majesty, you wouldn’t have committed such acts that consumed His Majesty’s authority! Do you truly not know that all military power in Lothringen belongs solely to His Majesty!?”

“…I don’t have money to pay the fine, so what should I do? Please send me to prison instead.”

“How dare you, a criminal, choose your own punishment? Your penalty has already been determined as a fine. If you fail to pay, the punishment for that offense will also be determined through another trial, so be warned.”

“This can’t be…”

“If it’s too difficult, look into installment payments. Truly, His Majesty has worked so hard to help the lower classes become wealthy, yet you can’t even pay this level of fine? What did you do with all the money you earned? Don’t you know about saving?”

Unlike the trials for the ringleaders, punishment for ordinary participants was surprisingly quick.

This was partly because there were fewer factors to consider compared to the ringleaders, but mostly because the majority lacked the qualifications and assets to appeal, and most importantly, because it was Claude’s intention.

“We need to deal with these people first. Otherwise, all policies will remain at a standstill. Mobilize all resources for legal enforcement.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Having never experienced such a large-scale riot before, Claude intends to burn this seedling down to its roots.

Only by focusing all officials who should be working elsewhere on legal processing, and completing all sentence executions, can policies be equally applied to the rioters.

“…Rudolf, this is your last chance.”

“I will not disappoint you, I swear…!”

The first of these policies is to make them realize what terrible acts they have committed.

Having already received numerous yellow cards for eugenic incitement, excessively radical incitement, and unintended incitement, Rudolf begins to carry out Claude’s orders with the determination that one more mistake will cost him his life.

……….

“Is this really…”

“Ugh…!”

The citizens gathered in the square have various reactions, but one thing they all equally feel is disgust.

“Indeed! This is just a fragment of the terrible acts the rioters committed in the Empire! Look at this horrific picture!”

What Rudolf points to is a detailed painting by Claude depicting the atrocities of war.

A woman whose house has burned down sits on the ground wailing, a starving child lies face down with eagles watching nearby, and even a nobleman’s severed head is carelessly discarded like a roadside stone.

For medieval commoners who had never seen professional artwork, such realistic depictions were nothing short of the embodiment of shock.

Following this, testimonies of war victims were distributed throughout the city at regular intervals in the form of imperial edicts, which was enough to make citizens whose eyes had been blinded by fanatical loyalty and nationalism face reality.

“You must know your shame! These so-called loyal servants of His Majesty disobeyed His orders and laws, formed illegal private armies, invaded another country without any justification or orders, indiscriminately massacred people, and slaughtered nobles of high birth as if butchering animals. Are you who participated in this mob calling itself a volunteer army truly His Majesty’s loyal subjects?!”

“But… Teacher Rudolf, let me ask you one thing. Didn’t you tell us to do those things?”

“What are you saying? I never once said we should wage war without His Majesty’s consent! How can subjects, rather than following His Majesty, presumptuously push ahead of him? Do you think this is normal behavior?!”

“Well… no.”

Some people pointed out Rudolf’s hypocrisy, but such attempts were instantly shot down by his dazzling rhetoric.

They only realized their sins again and fell into solemn guilt.

“For subjects, control is essential! The biggest difference between a subject and a bandit is whether one accepts His Majesty’s control or not. In other words, those who reject control and disrupt order are no different from bandits! Those who disobeyed His Majesty’s orders, started an armed riot, and invaded another country must all criticize themselves!”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

“Long live the Emperor! Long live order! Long live control!”

Those who just months ago were so excessively loyal that they wanted to crush His Majesty’s enemies had their loyalty drastically twisted into conformity and order under control.

Those who still maintained their loyalty to Claude even after punishment, realizing their mistakes, decided to change their method of showing loyalty.

“I cannot hide my profound distress over the unfortunate events that have occurred. It seems that my dedication to my subjects has led them to overestimate their position. I find myself questioning the many things I have done until now.”

Claude’s speech drove the final nail into this change of thinking.

Until now, Claude’s speeches had only been given when something good happened, but that was no longer the case.

If a Lothringen citizen could feel nothing while watching a great emperor who transcended the ages hanging his head in sorrow with such a dejected face, that person would have sensibilities closer to a modern person than a medieval one.

It didn’t take long for the people’s loyalty to Claude to change from a fanatical form that would unhesitatingly declare holy war, to a form that unquestioningly conformed to control and order. Even the punished volunteer army members changed.