Given Franz's position today, he had long since ceased to need to cultivate an image for himself. After all, he felt his own image was imposing enough already.
What Franz needed to do was identify these people and investigate them. Separate the fools and the deceived from the lot, then publicly try the villains who wanted to fish in muddy waters.
Franz would once again make the purpose of this war clear: to create a better world.
Those who took the opportunity to abuse their authority, fabricate false cases, or embezzle funds were likewise enemies—scourges that ought to be uprooted along with the rest.
Franz did not like others using his power to do evil, and still less did he want to be the root cause of it all.
Of course, Franz's actions also deepened people's fixed impression of him as an enlightened monarch. After all, if he truly inspired enough awe, so many people would not have dared to take such desperate risks.
Franz had no need to make people think he had been misled. In truth, his response and actions had been swift enough; there were not many who had been wronged, and the persecution they suffered had not been severe.
But Franz's crackdown was exceedingly swift, and he would give the victims ample compensation. Naturally, that compensation would come out of the slanderers' pockets, greatly heightening the satisfaction of those whose long-standing grievances had finally been cleared.
Of course, if those slanderers truly could not be squeezed for a drop of oil, Franz would compensate the victims himself.
Franz's halo as an enlightened monarch shone too fiercely. People would remember only that he was punishing evildoers; they might even believe that everything had been arranged by His Majesty the Emperor from the very beginning.
Normally, the officialdom's