Chapter 36 In the Name of the People
On the day after recapturing Port Fulan, Paul Greiman ordered the townspeople to be summoned to the square in front of the church, where he was going to hold a meeting The public trial held a public trial for the pirates.
Soldiers began to go from house to house shortly after dawn. At about nine o'clock in the morning, the whole town gathered in the square. People found that there were four gallows erected in the square, and they all speculated on how many pirates the lord wanted to hang.
More than two hundred pirate prisoners from the Shark Gang were tied and kneeling in front of the steps of the church door. The townspeople were in high spirits when they saw these villains who had been wreaking havoc in Port Fulan in recent months. got up.
Nowadays, these pirates are like lost dogs. They are no longer a threat. People have brought out rotten fish and shrimps to greet them. Some people just throw stones. Many unlucky captives were hit with bloody heads. .
Many people tried to break through the cordon and directly greet the prisoners with fists and kicks, but were immediately forced back by the soldiers who showed their weapons.
If it weren't for the vigilant soldiers around them, the pirates would have been beaten to death by the angry crowd.
“They robbed my family’s life-saving money!”
“My daughter was ruined by these bastards, wuwu...”
“The Lord of Light is above. , let these devils go to hell!”
Complaints and curses like this came one after another, and the square became noisy and chaotic.
......
Paul stared blankly at everything happening below on the balcony on the second floor.
He suddenly asked: "Did you see it? Schroeder."
The person behind him immediately replied: "Yes, Lord Earl. It seems that the townspeople are interested in The pirates hated it.”
Paul continued: "I suddenly thought, if I was the one who lost yesterday's battle, if I was the prisoner tied down below, how would these townspeople treat me."
Schroeder was silent , he didn't know how to answer.
Paul said in a daze: "I guess he is no different from these pirates. They will still throw rotten fish, rotten shrimps and rocks at my head."
"This... How could that be? Lord Earl, you are their lord." Schroeder comforted him, but the lack of confidence in his words was easy to hear.
Paul sneered: "Yes, this lord's family has left them to the pirates for more than twenty years, and they even come here to collect taxes shamelessly."
The old knight didn't know how to answer the question, so he had to remain silent.
“Did you see the way the townspeople looked at me yesterday? I can see that it’s actually no different from the way they looked at the shark later. It’s just that the big stick in my hand is heavier, and the stick in my hand is heavier. After the shark was beaten down, they showed some superficial respect for me. If the shark beat me down, it would be nothing more than a different lord for them. Anyway, it would be the same domineering and extortion. "
The young earl sighed: "We have a long way to go to restore people's hearts. Let's let these pirates vent their anger first."
......
Ten o'clock in the morning. , the public trial began.
Captain Holman, who had a louder voice, was chosen to read out the pirates' crimes.
The captain unfolded the scroll and began to read aloud:
"June of the Holy Calendar, nineteen ninety-nine...in the name of Count Paul Greyman, Lord of Arda, it is convened here The public trial meeting announced the criminal acts of the pirate gang Shark Gang, which were summarized as follows..."
"Looting money and amassing countless amounts of money"
"Rape women, there is no shame."< br>
"Slaughter of innocents, cruelty."
"Obstructing trade routes, greedy."
"Resisting the law violently, unrepentant."
... Charges one by one. After being read out, the pirates below the steps all turned ashen.
"Kill them! Kill them!" The shouts of the townspeople gathered into waves of sound, repeatedly impacting the hearts of these guilty people.
After the charges were pronounced, the sentencing of the pirates began. According to yesterday’s discussion, Shark was dead. Just killing the old lord was enough for him to die several times. Even if Paul did not sentence him to death, Other senior officials in the territory will not let him go.
Other leaders, big and small, cannot be spared. Those who can become leaders in the Shark Gang are all ruthless people, and their hands are stained with the blood of countless people.
As for the minions at the bottom, they need to be screened out. Those who have killed people or raped women will be put to death, and those who have committed other crimes will have to serve hard labor.
Leave the screening work to the common people, so as long as a town citizen claims to have been bullied by pirates, he can enter the security circle and line up to identify the individual crimes committed by the minions.
One of the townspeople grabbed a pirate and dragged him out of the prisoner pile: "It's him. That day I saw with my own eyes that this man wanted to leave without paying for food. When poor old Glenn chased after him, this bastard stabbed him with a knife. His belly."
An aunt kept scratching the beast that raped her daughter: "My daughter was raped by this villain, you have to make the decision for my daughter!"
Similar things continued to happen, and it was not until three o'clock in the afternoon that all the pirates were identified and the pirates who had committed serious crimes were dragged out. They knew that their death was coming, and they closed their eyes and waited for the upcoming final trial.
Paul stood on the balcony and shouted to the crowd below:
"Townships of Port Fulan! I, Paul Greiman, Lord of Arda, am here Announce the sentence for the pirates! The remaining ones with less serious crimes will be sentenced to 3 to 5 years of hard labor.”
He slowly turned his gaze to the imprisoned felons, and said solemnly: "For these convicted criminals, the death penalty is not enough to quell your anger, so I sentence them to hanging! In the name of the people, Execute immediately!”
The soldiers immediately led the serious criminals to the gallows for execution. They put the noose around the prisoners’ necks and kicked away the stools under their feet. The prisoners struggled needlessly. Then they lost their lives, and then the second batch, the third batch... As the sinful souls left one by one, the crowd kept erupting in cheers.
After the execution, Paul shouted to the crowd again: "People of the Territory of Arda, in order to offset the losses caused by pirate plunder, I declare the coastal areas of the Territory of Arda tax-free for one year!"
"Wow!" The townspeople exclaimed, this is indeed great news.
Before they were surprised, they heard the lord shout loudly: "Under the witness of God, I, Paul Graiman, swear that from now on -"
Paul hesitated for a moment, and someone from behind gently poked his waist.
“No matter who the enemy is, no matter how powerful the enemy is, no matter whether they come from sea or land, I will never abandon you, and I will always share weal and woe with you.”
“ I will regard your safety as my own safety, and I will regard your happiness as my own happiness."
"I will devote my whole life to defending your safety and happiness!"
The people of Fulangang were moved, they were really moved. After all, people in this era are relatively simple.
They all thought of the noble legends told by the bards, in which the nobles were fair, compassionate, and loved the people. They used to laugh it off as a joke, but now there is a living example in front of them.
Paul turned around and complained quietly to Cecil: "Damn, you copied this paragraph from some third-rate poet's manuscript. It's so disgusting. I have goosebumps all over my body now."
Cecil chuckled: "Sir, this is the effect we want. The more disgusting it is, the more sensational it is. The people here are just like this."
Father Merson hides Watching the entire public trial in the corner, he silently clasped his hands on his chest and prayed softly: "O omniscient and almighty Lord, may your glory always shine on Mr. Paul Grayman."
With the conclusion of the public trial, the pirate chaos that had lasted for several months since the beginning of spring in Arda finally came to an end.
I spent a day correcting the typos and punctuation errors in the previous chapters. I didn’t expect there to be so many, so I’m really sorry.
Another thing is to change the daily address of the protagonist from last name to first name, which feels a little smoother.
Thanks again to "seed198903", "Hu Tugui" and others for their recommendation votes!
(End of this chapter)