The next day at noon, Caesar Manuel, dressed in a simple military uniform and light scale armor, arrived at one of the main Grand Company garrisons on the outskirts of Bangkok Pu. He was accompanied by Badars, who led a small but elite five-person guard, and Isaac Arno, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had been specifically summoned to attend.
Unlike the Philaka Legion, an elite guard highly valued by Caesar himself, the Grand Company, as the main standing army, was, as he stated after the war with the Ottoman, divided into two equally status-holding main forces due to political and geographical considerations stemming from their separate locations.
These two forces are now commonly referred to by the Bosporus high command as the Tauris Department and the Pontus Department.
Since the main standing army was divided into two forces, there naturally had to be two Army Commanders, a cabinet position similar to a modern-day Chief of Staff.
As stated after the conquest of Asia Minor, Pontus was led by Dungar de Lapole, a young English nobleman of Irish descent, who was exceptionally promoted to Army Commander by Caesar.
Tauris continued to be led by Tukharovsky, a military genius who had pledged allegiance to Caesar in his youth, and a descendant of Rurik, whose original surname was Izyaslavich-Rurik.
Incidentally, to better control the army, Caesar Manuel also specifically legislated that the two armies held equal status, with no hierarchy, which was also reflected in the Tauris Army Commander and the Pontus Army Commander both being cabinet members of equal standing.
Upon seeing Tukharovsky for the first time today, Manuel immediately asked with great concern about the current state of the members on the corrupt list from yesterday. "Have they all been arrested, without exception?"
"That is natural, Your Majesty," the Tauris Army Commander, Tukharovsky, replied with a respectful bow.
"That's good," Caesar said with a gentle smile, "They haven't been executed yet, have they?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." For a moment, Tukharovsky thought Caesar might have reconsidered overnight and intended to retract his order, and he almost wanted to subtly remind him.
But before he could speak, Manuel continued with a beaming smile:
"Isn't this great? Otherwise, how could I personally oversee the execution and enjoy their miserable deaths?"
For some reason, even the Rus' commander, accustomed to life and death on the battlefield, couldn't help but feel a chill seeing that deeply meaningful smile.
It seemed his Majesty valued this matter even more than he had imagined, Tukharovsky thought with a hint of trepidation.
Soon, Caesar Manuel thus returned to the military camp.
At this moment, the veterans in the camp, who had already heard the news that His Majesty would personally come, immediately stood up from the bottom of their hearts, as their superiors had instructed them beforehand, and loudly cheered the arrival of their monarch with a solemn military salute.
Caesar, who was supported by the army, responded with equal fervor.
However, before he personally greeted his officers and soldiers, Manuel smiled and reminded them that there was still something to be done beforehand.
As soon as he finished speaking, Commander Tukharovsky, now standing beside Caesar, nodded slightly in understanding, then summoned trusted orderlies and commanded them to bring forth the military criminals who had been condemned long ago but only formally sentenced yesterday.
About fifteen minutes later, after Caesar and the officers and soldiers in the camp had been out for a while, several elite peasant soldiers, clad in sharp armor and iron helmets, escorted the two or three dozen corrupt military officials, who had abused their power for personal gain, to the open ground in front of the camp.
Among these prisoners, Manuel could even vaguely recognize some.
Despite this, he remained completely unmoved and unwavering from the bottom of his heart.
Since all preparations for the execution had been made in advance, including the gallows, executioners, and execution platform, everything was ready.
So, after making these pale or ashen-faced prisoners kneel before their monarch, Tukharovsky quietly approached Caesar, who was seated centrally on a chair, and consulted him on how to proceed.
"Your Majesty, these corrupt parasites all had their tongues cut out when they were escorted here this morning, so there's no need to worry about them speaking nonsense.
As for what comes next, whether to reprimand and denounce them, or to parade them publicly before execution, all is at Your Majesty's command."
Manuel couldn't help but feel a little regretful in his heart. If these worms could still speak, he would have liked to try using them to practice his public speaking and incitement skills.
However, since Tukharovsky had already cut out their tongues, he was too lazy to waste his breath on such trash.
"Bring in the peasant soldiers who have suffered greatly because of them, and then, as I told you yesterday, hang or behead them according to military law, then strip them naked and hang these corpses in front of the military camp gate."
"Yes, Your Majesty, loyalty!" Receiving Caesar's direct order, the Army Commander responded solemnly, without any further delay, and simultaneously shouted his command: "Men, bring these corrupt scoundrels before the assembled officers and soldiers, let them come and then deal with them according to military law!"
Upon receiving Caesar's order conveyed by the Army Commander, the execution squad immediately brought these corrupt officials before the soldiers.
While the soldiers were delighted by this, they all fiercely struck these scoundrels, who had feasted on their blood bread, with their fists or broken blades.
Along with the increasing injuries on the prisoners, there were also the soldiers' continuous curses.
But even after enduring such lynching, these corrupt criminals, whose faces were hateful from their usual deceit, kept opening their mouths, from which their tongues had already been cut, forming shapes of pleading for mercy.
But their pleas only increased the desire for violence in these veterans who usually risked their lives on the battlefield.
Before long, these criminals were all beaten to the brink of death.
And watching this scene of almost bloodthirsty cruelty, Caesar Manuel merely smiled faintly with disdain and interest.
After the public lynching before the execution concluded, the peasant soldiers responsible for escorting them dragged these half-dead, bloodied, and even dismembered corrupt officials onto the execution platform, allowing the executioners to grant them their final "release."
"Alas," Manuel, looking at the scene of the execution of these utterly disgraceful corrupt insects, and recalling the descriptions of their usual behavior in yesterday's report, couldn't help but shake his head and softly murmured, "People must pay the price for their actions. That's why it's said, 'Heaven creates all things to nourish man…'"