"According to the laws of Zenit, except for the execution of the head of the Miller Family, the family will be stripped away their hereditary nobility status. All males who are younger than 16 shall be made into ordinary civilians, and all men who are older than 16 shall be placed into Suicide Squads in the military and help with the defense of the city. All women shall be turned into civilians as well. Also, all the properties of the Miller Family will be confiscated and turned into the funding for the military!"
Shevchenko announced the punishment.
No one objected to this verdict; perhaps they were all terrified of the king's power and domination.
However, all the nobles here had to admit that this punishment was very lenient compared with the sentence some other noble families in the history of Zenit received. Only Miller was killed, and the men under the age of 16 and all women were turned into civilians; in other cases when a noble family was charged with treason, all the men were executed, and all women were turned into military prostitutes.
"Since everyone agrees that the verdict is fair, continue to the next one," Fei lightly waved his hand and said. He was calm; in his eyes, killing a guilty and disgusting noble was no different to killing a pig.
"The Adam Family committed the following crime. First..."
Shevchenko opened up the second scroll, and it contained all the crimes that the Adam Family committed in the last ten years; every single incident was recorded in detail. As Shevchenko continued to announce them, all the nobles felt an unusual coldness, and the leader of the Adam Family collapsed onto the ground.
"Execute!" Fei said after Shevchenko finished reading.
Chop!
The head of the leader of the Adam Family dropped onto the ground like a watermelon.
The west side of the defense wall was destined to be stained by the blood of the nobles.
"Next," the king's voice was still very calm.
"The Max Family committed the following crimes. First..." Shevchenko opened the third scroll and read all the crimes this family committed; this was the third noble family that went against Fei's order from earlier.
"Execute!" after Shevchenko was done, Fei ordered again without hesitation.
Each of the crimes these nobles committed would result in the death penalty, and some of the crimes were so cruel and so disgusting that a reasonable person couldn't even comprehend them. These crimes weren't made up by Fei; all of this information was gathered and processed by Zolasc using the [Letter Office], and Fei was confident that all these crimes were linked back to the right perpetrators. As a result, Fei didn't feel bad at all when he ordered their executions.
Bam!
Another corpse fell onto the ground.
"The Lody Family committed the following crimes. First..." Shevchenko's calm and just voice sounded again, and all the nobles shivered in fear as if they heard the call of the Grim Reaper.
"No...no!! Your Majesty! King Alexander, please forgive me! I'm willing to hand over all my properties, and I'm willing to fight for Dual-Flags City! Please..." the leader of the Lody Family was crapping his pants. He kowtowed repeatedly, and blood came out of his forehead.
"Execute!" Fei ordered calmly; he didn't even look at that noble.
Chop!
Another head rolled on the ground, and another headless corpse fell onto the ground as blood flowed out of the neck.
"Alexander, you are this young, yet you are this vicious... You are a murderer! You are a bloody butcher! The Royal Family of Zenit won't forgive you for this! Your ending will be similar to ours!..." after seeing this, the leaders of the other three noble families knew that they wouldn't be spared. They all shouted angrily, and it looked like they wanted to charge at Fei and tear him into pieces.
Fei didn't respond; he just sat in his chair calmly.
The golden sunlight in the winter shined on the king's body, and he looked like a beautiful yet terrifying statue.
"The Kurt Family committed the following crimes. First, 11 years ago..." Shevchenko opened the fifth scroll and read from it slowly.
"Execute!" the order was the same.
With his back facing the nobles, Fei looked at the sun that was setting. His voice didn't contain any emotion as if nothing significant was happening.
Chop!
The blades in the hands of the Saint Seiyas had no mercy.
"The Dinus Family committed the following crimes. First..."
"Execute!"
Chop!
"The Lesi Family committed the following crimes. First..."
"Execute!"
Chop!
Chop!
Chop!
In less than 20 minutes, the leaders of the seven noble families who disobeyed Fei's order all got executed. Although they were powerful and influential before, they were no different to dead animals in a forest. The seven corpses lied on the defense wall, and their blood stained the ground below them. The blood flowed between the stone tiles, and the smell of blood was everywhere.
"Hang their heads on top of the west gate. Anyone who dares to disobey military orders shall get the same treatment!"
Fei gave another order, and the soldiers around him picked up the seven heads and put them into a small rusty metal cage. This cage was hung on top of the west gate of the city, and blood dripped down to the ground from time to time; this was a warning to all soldiers and nobles about the consequences of disobeying orders.
"Pierce and Drogba, you guys lead 500 soldiers and confiscate the properties of these seven noble families; they shall be used as the fund for the military. Also, make sure that the Military Judge would finish counting all the military merits for each soldier and compile the list of the brave soldiers who died in the war so far. They shall be rewarded according to the structure I just mentioned!"
"As you wish, Your Majesty!" Pierce and Drogba replied and left the defense wall.
"Move their corpses and give them back to their families," Fei said as he looked at the seven corpses on the ground and frowned. He waved his hand, and soldiers walked up and moved the bodies away.
After all that was done, Fei stood up from his chair and walked over to Soroyov and the nobles who were shivering in fear.
A series of merciless executions had already terrified these nobles.
It was way too surprising to see people they were familiar get executed, and it was way too shocking to look at these people's heads that were being hung on the city's gate as warning signs. Five nobles already fainted due to the trauma, and other nobles including Mayor Soroyov sweated a whole lot and didn't dare to move; it felt like their knees were already cracked from kneeling down too long.
They all knew that the king of Chambord was trying to establish his dominance.
By using the heads of these arrogant and guilty nobles, he was able to build an absolute dominating image in the shortest time.
With their heads lowered, the nobles could only listen to the footstep of Fei. When Fei's boots that were stained by blood appeared in their vision, their heads turned blank; as if the sickle of the Grim Reaper was placed on their necks, they were so nervous that they forgot to breathe.
This was a critical moment.
Their lives were under the control of King Alexander.
"You guys..." the devil-like voice sounded, and the hearts of the nobles started to race. As they licked their dry lips, that voice continued to speak, "Your crimes are all recorded in those scrolls. If I follow the law of Zenit, none of you could escape the execution."
Puff!
One of the nobles was so scared by what Fei said that he lost control of his lower body; he defecated all over himself, and it smelled disgusting.
"However, since you guys obeyed my order this time and helped with the defense, I will give you guys an opportunity. If you guys could earn enough military merits in battles, I will pardon you guys from the death penalty. If some of you earned a lot of military merits, they could cancel out all the crimes that you committed; I will treat it as if nothing had happened," Fei said.
"Ah? Really?
"Thank god! Thank you, King Alexander!"
"Really? We don't need to die?"
After hearing this, the nobles were stoked. As if they escaped from the hug of the Grim Reaper, they quickly praised Fei for his generosity and justice.
Some of the nobles were so excited that they cried, and even Soroyov shouted, "Thank you, King Alexander, for your generosity."
At this moment, a strange smiled appeared on Fei's face. He recalled a famous phrase that a novel commenter liked to use and said it out loud, "You can be pardoned from the death penalty, but you can't escape from punishments."