Captain William didn't actually hang all those merchants, even though he could have done so, and Perfikot wouldn't have minded.
But after carefully considering the consequences, Captain William chose to only hang them up.
Don't get it wrong, Captain William was not just letting them go, or thinking this was enough.
The reason he didn't order their immediate hanging was because he hoped to better execute Perfikot's orders and implement the will of the Lord of the North exactly where she desired, rather than simply becoming a dirty-handed glove for Perfikot.
In Captain William's view, Perfikot aimed to resolve the resistance to the child labor law and the New Continent merchants wanting to oppose the authority of the Northern Lord.
Rather than simply hoping to kill the merchants who offended her authority, although it is indeed the simplest, most brutal, and direct method.
If Captain William merely killed these merchants opposing the Northern Lord, he might leave a deeper impression on Perfikot, but he couldn't escape the fate of just doing dirty work.
For a knight, especially a knight with aspirations and ambitions, this is not a good choice at all.
If given a choice, he naturally hoped to gain a better status through a relatively positive positioning, thereby realizing his ambitions or ideals.
So he hoped to make these merchants bow their heads and cooperate with the Northern Lord's orders, rather than continue stubborn resistance and then truly be hanged.
"Pah! You tyrant's lackey! Don't expect us to relinquish the sacred inviolable right to private property!" Even when hung from streetlights, some still insisted stubbornly: "The Empire's laws protect my property, my speech enjoys freedom! That tyrant goes off course, ignores our legitimate demands, and damages our interests in this way, she will not meet a good end!"
From these merchants' perspective, these remarks are rather brainless.
After all, although they think their money can bring them sufficient social status, they are not so brainless as to face the Steam Knights directly, still being stubborn when they are already hung on streetlights.
But it's clear that certain individuals, pampered and used to commanding all their lives, even in the New Continent colony as the Governor's distinguished guests being treated with respect, have developed a certain cognitive bias about their identity.
Suddenly being rudely treated and hung on streetlights is something they can't immediately understand.
But they wouldn't need to worry about it for long, as Captain William ordered the ropes originally tied to the wrists of the most vocal ones to be looped around their necks instead.
The world became quiet instantly. Google seaʀᴄh novel✦fire.net
"Gentlemen, can we now calmly discuss the matters concerning the child labor law?" Captain William walked over to the other merchants who had shut their mouths tight, asking them thus.
The situation forced them to assess the circumstances correctly.
So soon they expressed their willingness to yield, promising to fully support any decisions made by the Northern Lord.
"It's good to have your understanding, which will certainly please the Lord. After all, those children are indeed too miserable, and the Lord empathized with them, thus enacting the child labor law to improve their living conditions. Your previous protests have made the Lord very angry." Although it sounded like mere rhetoric, Captain William indeed understood the relevant details of the child labor law and personally investigated the living conditions of those child laborers, so his words could be considered his real thoughts.
"Our awareness was lacking; we didn't grasp the Count's intentions, and we request that you speak favorably of us before the Count!" Several merchants looked at their former cheerful companions, now with faces purple and devoid of life, tongues hanging long out of their mouths, dead in a hideous manner, almost wetting themselves from fright.
The reason they dared oppose Perfikot was essentially because they thought of her as someone like the Governor of the New Continent, needing their support and having to win them over.
Thus, they dared to directly resist Perfikot's decrees, attempting to force her into submission and gain advantage in negotiations.
However, Perfikot did not compromise as they expected, instead directly demonstrating how an Empire aristocrat with real power and military force could implement her will.
Actually hanging people was just too frightening.
When Mr. Thomson was hanged initially, they thought this incident was just a case of Mr. Thomson speaking disrespectfully before Perfikot, handled by this unruly young lady aristocrat, and simply caught at the wrong time.
And Thomson was just one person; indeed, if killed, it didn't matter much, as matters like these hardly had any significance for the actual ruling Lord of the Empire.
Perfikot didn't even need to fabricate charges in this matter; killing him directly for disrespect to nobility sufficed.
Nevertheless, they thought their collective influence should suffice to compel the Northern Lord to surrender, particularly since in their view, the construction and development of the North indeed relied on the New Continent's resources and industrial capabilities.
From a macro perspective, this kind of recognition isn't wrong; after all, if replaced with other Empire nobles, they would probably choose negotiation or compromise.
Even if they did not compromise, they wouldn't use such harsh methods as directly killing people or deploying military forces to suppress.
Given sufficient interests, the deaths of lower-class civilians are inconsequential to nobles.
Even the hardest-nosed noble Lord facing a united front of merchants would have to consider the Northern Territory's future development issues if these merchants stopped doing business with them.
Even the Imperial Center would have to consider this, making certain concessions to these merchants in policy.
But due to an information gap, they misjudged the situation; Perfikot wasn't here for developing and constructing the Northern Territory, but to build humanity's last sanctuary.
Facing the impending apocalyptic winter, she wouldn't consider so-called future development issues at all.
Because in the future, the New Continent will be abandoned by the Empire, then only the North will maintain a complete industrial system and relatively intact Empire structure.
So whether it's the Imperial Center or the Northern Lord, under the imminent apocalypse, stability is the priority, and other matters?
Sorry, even if it requires blood to stain the entire Northern territory, Perfikot will firmly commit to creating a stable environment.