"With the authority of His Majesty Horace I, King of Turin, heir of the Markerus family, guardian of the Radiant Cross, commander of the Knights of the Sacred Tree, and His Majesty Horace I, from now on, Anson Marcherus, Duke of Hentu City, has been ordered by the kingdom to reorganize the city, and officially declared a state of martial law, and punished the rebels in accordance with the laws of the kingdom!"

The dark clouds put the entire Hantu City in shadow, the wind swept and the downpour fell from the sky, the whole world seemed to be drowned in the dark rain and mist, the icy rain took away the last trace of warmth in the air, and between the streets and alleys, only the bone-chilling cold remained.

The rain-soaked flagpoles stood on either side of the square like rows of guards, and the flagpoles were covered with bloody human heads—the hideous, desperate faces had long since turned a terrible blue and white, and could no longer be seen in their original form.

The black-cloaked herald stood on the pulpit in the middle of the square, his parchment scroll soaked from the rain, and read the edict to the empty square—but it didn't matter, for not many nobles could hear it, for their heads were now hanging on the flagpole.

Even so, the expressionless herald still read out the gruesome words on the scroll one by one, and issued the edict of the Duke of Hantu City to the ghosts who had died.

"All the nobles, wealthy merchants, freemen, and soldiers who participated in the rebellion, for whatever reason and for whatever purpose, in the name of the Duke of Hantu, deprived all of them of their titles and statuses, and conferred all the charges on the traitors, to be put to death summarily! No matter how noble, they will be stripped of their titles, reduced to slaves, and put to death if they dare to resist!"

"All proud and proud people of Turin, this is a verdict that concerns the stability of the entire kingdom. These people have betrayed you, the kingdom and the Duke to whom they are allegiated, and their actions have gone against the will of the Radiant Cross, and it is with faith and defense of the gods and justice that the Duke has deserved!"

"Anyone who harbours traitors, whether for protection or for their escape, will receive the same fate - the deprivation of all titles and status, the confiscation of all property and land, and the relegation of relatives into slavery. And he will be punished as a traitor, and he will be put to death immediately!"

"In the same way, the Duke will give a reward of 1,000 silver coins to those who provide evidence of the guilt, a tenth of the reward to those who provide the traitor's private property, and 5,000 silver coins to assist in the capture. All the upright people of Turin will be protected by the Duke and will not be harmed in any way!"

"And for the soldiers, wealthy merchants, and freedmen who are willing to renew their oath of allegiance to the Duke. In keeping with the will of the Radiant Cross, the merciful Duke is equally willing to accept their vows - not to be forgotten, people of Turin. The kingdom that has been glorified for three hundred years is built on the maintenance of oaths, and whoever forsakes his oath is tantamount to betrayal, and any Turin man should be extremely careful with that holy word!"

Wiping a handful of water stains on his face, the herald, who was trembling all over, glanced at the Hantu City in front of him, and slowly closed the parchment scroll in his hand: "May the Radiant Cross be with His Highness Anson Marcherus forever." God bless Turin—!"

After saying that, the herald, who was already trembling, finally stepped down from the pulpit, and did not even dare to look back at the town where he had lived for half his life, tears and rain crossed his cheeks together, and he walked towards the solemn palace with no reluctance.

It's over. It's all over, and the city is dead—both for its betrayal and for its loyalty, and that's the price it must pay!

In the city of Hantu, the slaughter had just begun—soldiers with tallowed torches, led by centurions, swept through the streets of the city in formation, hunting down nobles or wealthy merchants who tried to escape, and even hiding in the ditches would be caught and tortured to death.

Each centurion held a copy of the edict in his hand, and this terrifying order spread extremely quickly throughout the streets and alleys of Hantu City, and the sound of horses' hooves and iron boots was like the bells of hell in Hantu City under the rainstorm, constantly beating, resounding death and wailing through the sky.

And the soldiers in charge of "law enforcement" were the army of Hantu City that had rebelled in front of the military formation-Green Turnon specially singled out the descendants of the original rebel nobles inside, and mixed the royal knights and the palace guards brought by Anson to form a "law enforcement legion" of nearly 4,000 people, and eliminated all the "mutineers" one by one according to the list.

These surrendered armies were even more murderous than the vengeful royal knights - and in order to prove their loyalty, they did not even care about the slightest bit of their original affection, and completely turned into a group of bloodthirsty beasts.

Edward's Banner Legion took over the entire defense of Hantu City, controlling all the gates and towers - for Anson, only the Banner Legion, or Edward's army, could be trusted, and only this legion would not betray him for any reason.

After a betrayal, the little prince has become extremely sensitive to loyalty - the entire palace is only in charge of the royal knights and palace guards, and even Edward must be informed in advance if he wants to enter.

The frenzied "sanctions" soon expanded from the rebels to the rebels - not only relatives, collateral and even in-laws of the wealthy families of Hantu City, but also those who were involved in Berion.

The chamber of commerce, mine owners, and farm owners who once financed Berion's military expenses...... Most of the commoners, who were once nothing more than low-level commoners, or ordinary people with some money, have made a fortune thanks to the war that Berion has started in the Vast Lands, and have become a family of super-rich people who even the nobles must treat with courtesy, and now it is time for them to "atone for their sins"!

Blood flowed in the torrential rain, and the piles of human heads and bones were all hyenas that appeared out of nowhere, staring at the already cold corpses with their already scarlet eyes, and the pale fangs tore the corpses into shape.

The slaughter continued, but it was over for Anson - Berion's power in the Vast Lands had been uprooted, and there might still be all the enemies lurking, but that power was too small to turn the tide at all.

As long as they are strong enough, they don't need to take these people seriously - no matter how much wealth Berion once promised them, they can't keep it now, either they can only choose to stand in their own camp and follow themselves to victory after victory and keep their wealth, or they will go to hell and contribute their wealth into army and supplies.

And what he has to do now is to prove himself with victory and spoils, and completely wash away the shame of the past - just like Berrion and all the Dukes of Hantu City have done in the past, prove his ability with the corpses of 10,000, 100,000 or even more Hantu barbarians, and make himself the real Duke of Hantu City!

"All the officers have already arrived?" Anson's expression was quite excited in the palace bedroom, "How many people are there now?" I mean the army that can be mobilized and assembled in Hantu City!"

"First of all, your first request, all the officers of Hantu City, as well as the mayors of various towns, are already waiting to be heard, Your Highness. Edward's expression was not as happy as that of the little prince, and he said very calmly: "You are the Duke of Hantu City, of course they are afraid that they will be included in the list of rebels, as for the army, it can be assembled immediately, the infantry is more than 30,000 people, and the cavalry is close to 5,000, of course, this is still the number on the roster......"

"But......" Anson blinked, he could already hear Edward's voiceover.

"We don't have that much money to sustain such a large army!" Edward finally smiled bitterly, "You will be poored by this army!" (To be continued.) )