Chapter 1409 - 758: Forcefully Advancing New Policies

Chapter 1409: Chapter 758: Forcefully Advancing New Policies

Those who were identified had only three reactions: either they begged for mercy, argued that they were wronged, or tried to shirk responsibility, saying they were forced.

Or they tried to escape, knowing themselves what they had done, even if their names weren’t called, they sought a chance to flee.

Finally, of course, those who couldn’t escape and wanted to struggle a bit were met with a heavy blow from Boudica.

No killing, but Boudica’s surprising ingenuity always had some unique take, breaking limbs but leaving them alive.

A punch instantly broke a person’s arm, a kick twisted an entire lower leg in a split second.

If Boudica wasn’t afraid of making it too unpleasant for Lance’s reproach, she would really want to kill them all.

Those who resisted couldn’t even match Boudica’s single hand. In one confrontation, the three fell down, letting out painful wails.

Lance felt slightly uninterested; it wasn’t as intense as a rat duel.

More speechless, wondering if there was any value in treating someone beaten like this?

But in the eyes of those people, they were totally terrified, too ruthless!

Not daring to make trouble again, they obediently came out when called to follow orders.

The population registration was incredibly fast because Lance brought over a hundred specially trained officers, and the related tasks were clearly defined. They immediately started work, even if many were assigned to interrogations, they finished quickly.

"My Lord, this is the situation we’ve audited and summarized."

The other side also quickly provided Lance with what he wanted. After a glance, he indicated to proceed to the next step.

"Public trial, mobilize people to air grievances, then promote our policies..."

"Yes!"

With one word, someone came to execute; trained them but didn’t let those people handle it, they never learned, practical pursuit was Hamlet’s style.

Moreover, Lance couldn’t possibly do everything himself right now; he’s here to control the scale, and in such intense reforms, some special situations might inevitably arise.

The mayor’s family, just taken away for questioning, along with his cronies were re-tied and brought up.

Originally, many people didn’t quite understand what was going on until those officers started encouraging people to speak out their crimes, and the Lord of Hamlet would make decisions for them.

The mayor, usually enough of an authority, initially scared everyone into silence.

But there’s always someone bold enough, especially young people; the one who was caught and beaten by the mayor just now stood up, pointing to his injuries and accusing those people.

The mayor urgently wanted to defend himself, but he was bound, mouth stuffed, scaring people with his movements, but a soldier kicked him down. He collapsed, unable even to stand, thrashing like a fat maggot.

Once someone stepped forward, things became easier, not to mention the mayor’s years of accrued authority was also kicked down.

Those officers knew why a public trial was needed, thus more important not to let the situation get chaotic. Otherwise, it would be meaningless like a marketplace.

"One by one!"

"No noise!"

"You go first..."

Forcibly holding the scene, they selected one by one to speak the mayor’s and cronies’ crimes.

The content revealed how the mayor rose to power through violence, debt, encroachment...

You could compare it to the Hamlet’s mayor and farm owner’s actions during the bandit invasion, or Ovando’s grain crisis incident.

This guy’s means weren’t so high-end, but the bloodshed and cruelty weren’t less than those people, often injuring or killing, under his rule shattered many families.

Lance didn’t react much, just sat beside watching the scene, listening to one grievance after another being aired, seemingly predicting it all along.

The so-called public trial merely extracted a few representative cases. In fact, it had already been determined in earlier reviews, so this was controlled within the script, even though things were true.

Summing up involved just those situations; it’s impossible for hundreds of people to slowly narrate one by one, leaving the rest for an evening grievance airing meeting.

"The main offender posed as the mayor, organized a criminal gang..."

At this point, an officer summarized the mayor’s crimes in a few words, pushing all evil deeds onto him, ensuring Lance, the Lord of Hamlet, steered clear of any involvement.

The truth was also in line; these matters didn’t have much to do with others.

"Sentenced to thirty years of labor reform!"

These officers were trained to say the simplest words, reading out charges that everyone could understand.

Though not calling for divine fury, those people wished the mayor would roast on a grill, being so fat, it’d likely last long.

Yet, the announcement of the verdict left them bewildered; what did labor reform mean? What kind of punishment was that?

That person dutifully explained briefly what labor reform entailed instead of glossing over it lightly.

Repairing roads, cultivating land, doing labor... In simple terms, public services.

"Might as well kill him!"

"Burn him!"

"I say behead him..."

Only, the response wasn’t huge; to ordinary people, wasn’t it just work they did daily? What kind of punishment was that?

Communicating with ordinary people is an art; one sentence easily dispelled the crowd’s dissatisfaction.