Chapter 761 The real trial
Maybe he is repenting for not always being kind, maybe he is hating that he can no longer protect his family, maybe he is hating himself for not being a great villain.
Vihliu Yasusky was so inspired that he shouted "Long live Vladimir Worcester! You are the pride of Schlachta!", and other prisoners waiting for execution also shouted in unison, which was very impressive. The power of generous lamentation.
(Schlachta refers to Polish nobility.)
Seeing that Vladimir Worcester was about to be regarded as a god, Franz quickly stopped the execution. At this moment, the latter suddenly felt that the death penalty was too light, really too light, and it was not enough for such a person.
Looking at the group of sinners who were aroused to their ferocity, and then at the aggrieved executioners, Franz took one last look at the victims who had turned into lambs to be slaughtered again.
He made a decision that would be condemned by later generations of jurists and human rights scholars - to use torture.
He gave this right to the victims. Franz did not want to return to primitiveness and engage in homomorphic revenge, but he felt that simple justice was what was needed most at this time.
Civilization does not mean that the more restrictions there are, the more civilized it is. It should be that there are prisons but no criminals; there is torture but no one commits crimes.
When the proposal to ask the victims to vote on the criminals was announced, it caused an uproar, because most of the serfs and civilians were illiterate. This caused the criminals to laugh, and some even jeered.
"Come and draw me a bed, I want to sleep in it to death!"
"No! He must be exhausted! Haha!"
But they soon stopped laughing, because after a simple vote, the victim's choice of punishment was stabbing.
The so-called impalement torture refers to using a sharpened wooden stake to stand in the soil. The victim sits on the tip and lets the wooden stake slowly penetrate the victim.
Impaler's favorite, the Black Thorn Spear.
This was definitely not a merciful punishment. At this time, Vladimir Worcester could still pretend to be calm.
But as a deliberately blunt wooden stake was brought up, he began to shout for hanging, but his throat was injured and he couldn't shout loudly.
However, at the moment when the wooden stake was inserted into the body, the entire execution ground heard screams that were not like human voices.
Vladimir Worcester was just poked on the stake and ignored, and the criminals finally did not dare to act recklessly.
The second prisoner who went to the execution ground was so frightened that he peed his pants. He honestly confessed all his crimes, repented sincerely, and then walked to the gallows with some gratitude.
In the end, only three of the 753 people were tortured, including the butler Vladimir Wooster, the guard captain Bodrowski, and a dog trainer.
Another 200 people were hanged, and the rest were exiled.
The trial lasted for eight days in total. On the eighth day, the most critical day, there was only one trial, and that was the trial of Vihliu Yasusky.
In these days, 257 pages of incriminating evidence alone had been collected, and more than 700 pages of confessions from the victims and other accomplices had been recorded, and thirty people were employed as transcribers alone.
The final verdict was that Vihliu Yasusky was deprived of his noble status, his territory was confiscated, and his property was used to compensate the victims.
Then all the farmland newly assigned to the royal estate was opened to the new freemen, and the previous village community system continued to be applied, that is, large public ownership and small private ownership.
Vihliu Yasusky was no longer a noble, and his rights were naturally no longer protected. All the serfs' contracts were burned on the spot.
The farmers who successfully got rid of their status as serfs, had extra money, and cultivated land were naturally rejoicing.
The final punishment for Vihliu Yasusky was also torture, that is, he was made to share a cage with his own fierce dog.
But whoever wins will be buried underground forever. By the way, the gentle beast from before died on the stake the next day.
The last battle in Galicia was Krakow, but the people of Krakow surrendered before the three continental armies completed the encirclement.
At this time, the city defense commander Bem and King Landry Promi were missing, and most of the remaining people were kidnapped.
Franz still conducted a simple trial, but the subjects of the trial were mainly prisoners of the Polish Restoration Army captured on the road.
In addition, some rectification was carried out against those who behaved in Krakow during the uprising.
Franz had done everything before in the name of the serfs and the Krakow City Council. Although there would not be any big problems if he did it, it would still make some nobles feel grudges.
In order to make everyone look good, Franz put the blame on others at will.
The entry of the Austrian army into Krakow was warmly welcomed by the locals, and the public trial of the criminals for them was supported by the majority of the people.
As for the power of the Polish Nationalist Army and the Polish Peasants' Union in Galicia, they suffered a devastating blow. During the entire rebellion, about 12,000 Polish nobles were killed, four times the number in history.
Franz allowed the royal estate to occupy 50% of the arable land in Galicia through confiscation, redemption, and reclamation.
It also obtained the mining rights for most of the mines, as well as Dorobiqi's oil resources. It's just that at this time, people don't know what the black liquid is used for.
At the same time, Franz also created a new market. After the new farmers in Galicia became rich, their demand for consumer goods increased greatly.
They are different from the aristocratic lords in the past. Their needs are relatively low-end, but this is in line with the development trend of this era.
So the money Franz sent came back to his hands. In order not to lose it, Franz chose to invest, but this time the goal was not land, but technology.
After all, it is difficult to expect farmers to spontaneously improve technology, especially when they have enough to eat and drink.
Although professional scientific research has certain advantages, the role of the front line cannot be ignored. Therefore, Franz’s strategy for agricultural reform is to go hand in hand with scientific research and reward inventions. In short, it doesn’t matter whether the cat is white or black, if it catches mice, it is a good cat.
In fact, the threshold for scientific research in this era is relatively low. It is not only experts sitting in the laboratory who can make technological progress, especially in the agricultural field.
The main result of Franz's trip to Galicia was not how much land he obtained, nor how many nobles he killed, nor how many serfs he liberated.
As for the Free City of Krakow, it is just a small piece of chicken ribs. Due to the existence of the railway, it has long become half of Austria's territory.
In fact, turning serfs into bankrupt farmers is more suitable for the development of capitalism, because it can provide a large amount of cheap labor for factories.
It's just that this is inconsistent with Franz's original intention. What he wants to give is not the freedom of nothing.
Franz's biggest achievement this time was to kill something and establish something new in the hearts of Galicians.
Historically, after 1846, the Polish nobles changed their strategies and began to win over serfs. Later, they even directly promised to abolish serfdom and expand their voting rights.
Although the group never succeeded, it continued to cast a shadow over the Galician sky.
This time Franz took the initiative and shattered the shadows in the sky.
I haven’t been writing very well lately, so I want to open another volume.