Chapter 1051: The Trial

"Pedro, hello. I hope I haven't interrupted anything you were doing."

"I could have waited before calling you, but I am somewhat anxious. You know, the current situation and future development of Rapa is not merely a domestic Rapa issue, but also concerns the entire deployment of the Yalan Alliance (YA)."

"We need to have a sincere discussion."

The President of the Jede Republic spoke with an air of seriousness. This was indeed no small matter; it would have a tremendous impact on all nations in the Yalan region.

Pedro responded, "I deeply agree with your point, Mr. President."

"Yalan is now at a crucial crossroads. If we choose the wrong direction, we will only arrive at the wrong destination."

"Every choice requires increased caution. In terms of maintaining the interests of the YA, I will stand in the same camp as you."

Pedro's forthright statement brought some relief to the President. "Excellent. Then I won't waste time with meaningless pleasantries."

"You need to quickly elect a president, or a premier—the highest ruler of the country, in any case."

"This person must quickly acknowledge that Rapa remains a member of the YA, pledge not to withdraw from the YA, and maintain a high degree of unity with the YA in military, economic, political, and cultural affairs."

"We need everyone to stand united to ensure our sovereignty remains independent and complete. I believe this is what you also wish, is that correct?"

He did not explicitly state that the purpose was to counter the Federation, but he believed Pedro would understand his meaning.

Pedro nodded, saying, "Yes, I strongly agree with these viewpoints."

"Very good. It seems there is a possibility for us to have a more in-depth discussion. I know you are extremely busy right now; the formation of the new government will require much of your energy."

"Once the new government is formed, I will invite you to the Jede Republic for a state visit, where we can sit down and talk."

"Some matters cannot be discussed in sufficient detail over the phone; they can only be clarified face-to-face."

Pedro did not refuse and thanked the Jede Republic President for the invitation. The other side would convey the message through the YA, and by then, he simply needed to bring the key officials of the new Rapa government.

The call did not last long. The President of the Jede Republic promised that as soon as the new government was established, they would provide some funding, and there was no need to worry about weapons and equipment, as they were already working to resolve the issue.

This included the production of bullets; equipment purchases had been finalized, and they would soon be self-sufficient.

Furthermore, he suggested that Rapa could completely abandon Federal standard weapons and adopt Jede standard weapons, as they planned to promote their own designed weapons as the YA standard.

Of course, such matters were still somewhat far off. The most critical issue now was the public trial of Diego.

The trial was originally scheduled for four days later, but due to a series of changes, Pedro decided to move it up by two days.

The entire public trial would last three days, with the originally planned date for his sentencing now serving as the execution day. No one objected.

They now realized the urgency and necessity of forming a new Rapa government as quickly as possible.

The following morning, while Pedro was attending to some work, Ross entered his office.

This forced Pedro to temporarily stop his work and look at his "classmate," comrade, and partner.

"You want to talk to me?" he asked.

Ross casually sat on the sofa and picked up a piece of fruit, taking a bite. It was sweet and full of moisture. Such fresh fruit was hard to come by in winter; only a very few orchards that supplied the former Rapa government high officials had the capability to provide fresh fruit in winter.

When faced with Pedro's question, he answered directly, "I want to talk to you."

"About the presidency."

Pedro frowned. "We discussed this already..."

Ross interrupted him directly. "We need a president!"

The two stared at each other without flinching for over ten seconds. Neither avoided the other's gaze.

"You have changed, Ross," Pedro stated.

Ross sneered. "I have simply become less naive, Pedro."

"A country must have a president or an emperor. This is an inevitable outcome."

"We overthrew the Ravila family's rule. We have the opportunity and the prestige to take this position."

"I know you might think I want it. I can let you be the first, and then it would be mine..."

Pedro suddenly cut him off. "Enough!" His voice was so loud that Ross flinched slightly.

"What do you think the presidency, this country, and the new government we are building are?"

"Your personal toy?"

"You can just do whatever you want?"

"Ross, we overthrew the Ravila family's rule precisely so we wouldn't create another Ravila family, or even several new ones!"

"This country does not belong to you, nor does it belong to me. It belongs to the people!"

Ross's face darkened. "So, what are you trying to say?"

Pedro pursed his lips. "Elections, a democratic decision. Fair, and just."

As he spoke these words, Pedro genuinely believed them. But Ross couldn't help but laugh—a mocking laugh.

"You know better than anyone how high your prestige is among them right now. So you've known from the beginning that if there's an election, it will certainly be you, and only you!"

"I just said I'm willing to give you the position of the first president, but you want everything!"

"You say I want to create a new Ravila family?"

"No, I think it's you. You want to become the next Diego!"

With that, Ross stood up and walked out without looking back. "You had better think this through, Pedro. Overthrowing Diego was not your achievement alone; others contributed too!"

"If you can't give us a satisfactory answer."

"Then I, we, might just give you one!"

Watching Ross's retreating back and listening to his threatening words, Pedro felt a massive headache coming on.

He had expected this to happen, but he hadn't thought it would be so soon.

With almost no breathing room, Diego had just been overthrown, and internal conflicts were already erupting. He couldn't help but light a cigarette, hoping the nicotine might soothe his current anxiety.

He was now wondering who the "we" Ross spoke of actually referred to.

The country had only just stabilized after more than a year of civil war; they couldn't allow a new civil war to destroy everything just as a glimmer of hope appeared!

He was in no state to continue working. Leaning back in his chair, he began to ponder a counter-strategy.

Another day passed. From the morning, the radio announced that Diego would be publicly tried in Zhuolan. Anyone who wished to attend could go to the designated location to watch the public trial.

By shortly after eight, the area outside the public trial venue was already packed with citizens from Zhuolan, as well as some people who had come from the concession to watch.

The theme of the public trial was decided from the start, focusing on events that could incite public anger: Diego's atrocities, his cruelty toward the populace, his cowardice toward the Federal people, and his corruption, bribery, and treason—all things that had already occurred and were known to the public.

Pedro, as one of the judges, was present at the trial. He sat in the chief judge's seat, and when the trial finally concluded, he would be the one to pronounce the final verdict on Diego.

They had initially planned to hire lawyers to handle this, but the invited lawyers all refused. With no choice, they had to arrange for their own people to preside over the trial.

As the questioning began, the entire trial venue was exceptionally quiet; very few sounds could be heard.

The public prosecutor stood beside Diego and began reading the first charge: Cruelty.

The entire trial process was being broadcast via radio across all of Rapa and the entire Yalan region. Thus, the audience for the trial included not only those present but also many listening via radio waves.

Lance was also listening via a radio receiver.

After listening for a while, he shook his head. Among the evidence of "cruelty" the prosecutor read out, only a few pieces might have been truly factual; most were collected from other sources, likely hearsay.

For example, the prosecutor claimed that the Ravila family had once murdered over ten thousand people to seize a piece of land.

Juan was beside Lance, and Lance looked at him. "Is that true?"

Juan was becoming increasingly mature. Although he was still young, he was beginning to exude that unique temperament only adults possess.

The position of Police Chief was intensely demanding, and the effort he put in to succeed was significant.

He shook his head. "That is just a rumor. In reality, that piece of land had belonged to the Ravila family since its inception."

"I heard another version: a group of people farmed the land, and the Ravila family initially charged them no fees."

"Later, after some time, something happened, and the Ravila family decided to reclaim the land. But the farmers refused and resisted."

"Some people were injured, and some died, but it was not as exaggerated as they claim. Everyone else was simply driven off, nothing more."

The Ravila family owned vast amounts of land. Since the land was just sitting there, they would rent some out to ordinary people for farming or other purposes, charging a small fee or nothing at all.

Furthermore, that specific piece of land did not belong to Diego; it belonged to a member of the Ravila family and had nothing to do with Diego personally.

Regardless of the later dispute, the Ravila family was at least legally in the right on this matter.

Lance nodded after hearing Juan's explanation. He could tell that Pedro was anxious. Additionally, Pedro was not a local, and neither were the people he brought with him.

They were unable to gather substantial, authentic documentation and evidence of the Ravila family's atrocities in such a short time, so they had to take portions of rumors and forcibly attribute them to Diego's actions.

After the prosecutor finished reading this, he asked Diego, "Do you admit to the charges and crimes I have stated?"

The even thinner Diego looked somewhat strange; his physical condition was clearly poor.

Since the moment he was imprisoned by his butler, he had barely eaten, and combined with anxiety and other psychological stresses, he was in a terrible physical state, constantly losing weight.

He also now had noticeably gray hair.

The drastic weight loss made him look much older than his actual age; loose skin piled up into wrinkles, which perhaps explained why some people suddenly appear to age significantly.

It was due to weight loss, physical condition, and skin condition.

However, his spirit seemed different; there was little cowardice left in him.

Fear was still present, but far less than before, and there was a hint of mockery on his face.

When faced with the prosecutor's inquiry, he answered dismissively, "If you think so, then so be it!"

"You are the victors now. Whatever you want to say is what will be. Do you truly believe you will spare me if I say no?"

"The truth is, we all know you don't care about what I did."

Diego's words caused the prosecutor to turn and look at Pedro. Pedro cursed silently, then picked up the microphone and asked, "You only need to answer if you plead guilty or not guilty. You do not need to answer anything else."

Diego looked at Pedro from a distance of about forty or fifty meters. His vision was blurry, and he couldn't clearly see Pedro's face.

Having been under chronic high sugar and high-stress conditions, his body had actually developed issues long ago, though he hadn't noticed them himself.

For example, his tendency to feel dizzy, post-meal sleepiness, and blurry vision or floaters.

He could only vaguely make out a general silhouette, unable to see the person's specific appearance or expression, but he knew it was Pedro.

Diego stared at the blurry figure for a while, as if trying to focus, but eventually gave up. "I do not plead guilty."

The crowd suddenly stirred, and Pedro and the other judges felt confused, but the noise was quickly suppressed.

The public trial continued.

Just as Lance had said, there was too little solid evidence, mostly hearsay, and even some charges and crimes they had fabricated themselves. This evidence failed to sway the public.

The public trial scene Pedro had envisioned did not materialize.

The people did not passionately wave their fists and join them in condemning Diego and the Ravila family's crimes, nor did anyone throw anything at Diego. People merely observed the trial, rather silently.

They had no deep involvement, being purely spectators. This struck Pedro as unreasonable and strange; he could not understand it.

If the people hated Diego and the Ravila family so much, why weren't they stepping forward now that they had the chance?

The trial, which was meant to last all day, hastily concluded around three in the afternoon.

After returning, Pedro summoned the prosecutor and a few others. "The effect of today's trial was very poor. If tomorrow and the day after are the same, this public trial will become a joke."

"Arrange for some of our people to mix into the crowd tomorrow. If necessary, have them step forward to accuse Diego as victims."

"We must defeat Diego completely through procedure, justice, and law. Only then can we gain the people's support, and his execution will not lead to negative consequences for us."

He might not have done this before; this was fabrication.

But now, he had no choice. The person he was now was not a middle school teacher who needed to teach scholarship and morality.

He was a politician. Lying and acting were his primary duties.

The public trial the next day was indeed better. Some people began to cooperate with the prosecutor's work, stepping forward to accuse Diego of committing various monstrous acts.

Perhaps due to the involvement of these people, the atmosphere at the trial site improved slightly, but only for one day.

In fact, the improvement in the atmosphere largely came from the changing emotions of people from outside the city.

As for the locals?

They actually did not harbor much hatred toward Diego, because there were no direct conflicts of interest or relationships between Diego and them.

Regardless of what Diego did, it rarely affected the poor in the slums. Since there was no vital connection, they didn't have that kind of deep-seated hatred.

The entire trial felt like watching a movie or a performance to them. As pure spectators, they felt no sense of emotional connection or immersion.

On the third and final day of the trial, Diego had an extensive list of "accumulated crimes." He was charged with many crimes.

These included "murder" for killing civilians, "massacre" for killing a small ethnic group, and "war crimes" for starting the civil war.

He was, by all accounts, an arch-criminal, lacking only the final blow.

When the prosecutor read the final indictment, accusing Diego of causing over a million deaths by illegally selling grain and hoarding it during famine, stating he should bear the guilt for these million departed souls, the public trial finally saw some clear emotional feedback.

After all, everyone had indeed gone hungry and struggled to afford food; this was truly Diego's fault.

It was at this moment that a soldier, bent over and with a pale face, rapidly approached Pedro and whispered, "Five Federal warships have appeared near the port. They are not docking, and their cannons are pointing toward the city..."

Pedro was startled. He almost instinctively looked at Diego, thinking this was Diego's final move, but then decided it was impossible.

He first dismissed the soldier, then requested a temporary recess for discussion, and immediately called Lance.

"You, or rather the Federation, what are you doing?!"