Of course, an equally plausible but somewhat less enlightened response might come from administrators of less exalted qualities.
In response to the ambush of the Lunar patrol, an impulsive, stiff-necked Lunar magistrate demands that the Lunar garrison round up a bunch of usual suspects -- young trouble-making Orlanthi bucks with previous minors seditious offenses -- for questioning.
The governor presses the magistrate for swift and public justice. The magistrate presses the garrison commander for quick confessions from the suspects. A Yanafal Tarnils Lunar inspector questions the suspects under oath before the Goddess. A not-very-remarkable coincidence results in one of the real perpetrators having been included in the sweep. Other suspects, though innocent of the specific charge, are guilty of other minor and major offenses. Some deny their offenses, and are revealed as liars. Others refuse to speak, and are presumed guilty. Others proudly confess their crimes. The actual perpetrator confesses to many, many crimes, in addition to the ones he did commit, and names every name he can recall as an accomplice, and is revealed as a liar.
Those suspects who denied their crimes and are not revealed as liars are released. All others are retained for trial.
A successful rescue of the real perpetrator by enterprising player character companions further frustrates and infuriates the Lunars. However, the rest of the suspects remain in custody.
The trial is swift and observes the legal forms. Those who refused to speak, or who perjured themselves, are judged guilty as charged, and receive the death sentence for sedition. The escaped suspect is also judged guilty, and outlawed. Others are cleared of the present charge, but remanded for trial on other charges.
The magistrate has poles erected in a public place and schedules a public execution. On the execution day, after a long speech about the stern, just, but merciful Goddess, the magistrate reduces death sentences to transportation, and ships the rest off to Riskland.
The escaped perpetrator is now an outlaw. Loyal player character companions join him in a flight to the wilderness where the campaign continues as a picareque or Sartar rebeillion.
The magistrate and inspector congratulate themselves on swift and efficient justice. They have punished only the guilty, and shown mercy in those punishments, in the face of great provocation. Their methods may have been favored expedience, but they worked better than might have been expected, revealing many criminals to the justice of the Goddess. They might be forgiven for choosing the same methods in response to the next anti-Lunar incident.
Given the final expulsion of the Lunars from Sartar, I conveniently assume a decrease in the quality of administrators, troops, and private Lunar citizens in Sartar as time passes, and a parallel rise in the number, complexity, and intransigence of problems facing the Lunar administration in Sartar. I'd be interested in hearing examples from other campaigns supporting this assumption. For example, when Octavian Suppositorius was sent from Jonstown to the Holy Country, I presume he was replaced by a less fastidious man ruled more by political expedience and personal ambition than by Octavian's visionary principles.
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