Could we not confuse 8600 people, men, women and children with varying personalities and ideas, with one asshole, who is the emperor? That latter guy is an idiot and I won't shed any tears if he dies. But at least a significant number of the others are guaranteed to had nothing to do with this plan of his, and they do not deserve this sort of collective punishment that's barely better than death. Both sides are goddamn extremists in this story, seriously. :/