Construction of the castle was difficult work, and many of the slaves
died in the process. Many were forced to work naked, for their
clothes had fallen off from wear. Needless to say, Vlad Dracula in no
way considered these people human beings, and he treated them worse
than animals, severely punishing and torturing his captives, whether
or not they had done anything to provoke him. He abhorred
weakness of any kind, and was determined to be the ruler of a Kingdom
which would only be host to the rich and powerful.
 One day,
Vlad Dracula decided to cleanse his Kingdom of those he considered to
be lazy and unproductive, those who suffered from illness, a handicap, or
were simply born in poverty. He decreed that no one should go hungry in his
Kingdom, and invited all the poor, unfortunate souls who tainted his
concept of what society should be to a banquet in the great hall
in Tirgoviste. Once he felt his "guests" had been well fed, not to mention drunk
and complacent, Vlad made his appearance, asking
them how they would enjoy never having to feel the pain of hunger ever again,
or if they wished to never have to worry about anything ever again, to
be without a care in the world.
Of course, their reply was enthusiastic, so he obliged, ordering
his men to board up the hall, which was then set ablaze. No one
escaped. Vlad Dracula's treatment of his own subjects paled in
comparison to the atrocities he committed against his enemies, and any
who opposed him. On St. Bartholomew's Day, he impaled 30,000
merchants for disobeying trade laws, having their bodies left to rot
outside the city walls as a reminder of what would happen to any who
disobeyed him.
Rumours abound that Vlad also ate the flesh, and drank the blood of
his enemies, often holding dinner parties next to the freshly impaled.
He was very proud of his work, and anyone who showed disdain while
looking upon the thousands of putrefying corpses would soon suffer the
same fate. Vlad liked to arrange the impaled in circular
patterns, the length of the stakes determined by the victim's rank;
this way, wealthy, or powerful opponents would plainly see they were
not above the law. Impalements were carried out in a variety of
ways,
During his reign, Vlad Dracula also had people decapitated, had
their eyes gouged out, had them skinned alive, boiled, burnt,
dismembered, eviscerated, or sometimes just physically disfigured for
his own amusement. In one particular incident, Turkish
ambassadors who had refused to remove their Phrygian caps in his
presence were asked why they insulted him in such a manner. When
they replied it was because their hats had to remain on their heads
according to custom, he graciously honored their tradition by ordering
their hats permanently nailed to their heads, never to be removed again.
  
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