After receiving the affirmative answer from General Crook's nod, Humberto Alder felt that his whole sky had fallen.
Now, regardless of his involvement in the rebellion, it is impossible for him to remain as defense minister. After he figured this out, he immediately thought of resigning to preserve some dignity for himself.
But just when he was about to speak, General Crook on the side had already spoken first.
"Mr. President, the Intelligence Bureau has fully grasped the whole process of this matter. From the current situation, it seems that although General Alder has bad personal ethics, he did not really participate in this rebellion.
Please look at the fact that he has worked so hard for Brazil over the years that you can let him go this time. "
When Humberto Alder heard this, he looked at his political opponent in disbelief. He never expected that at this time, the other party would intercede on his behalf.
President Scalia also knew about the relationship between the two, and he did not expect that the person who finally interceded for General Ald would be General Crook, who was very powerful at work.
Seeing the two people looking at him in surprise, General Crook just looked at Mr. President with a smile on his face, waiting for his decision.
In fact, General Crook did not want to plead for General Alder, but actually wanted to preserve the face of the Wehrmacht. After all, no matter how much he pleads for mercy, the position of Defense Minister will definitely need to be replaced.
Because neither the president nor he would allow this guy to continue to be the secretary of defense.
As an old politician, President Scalia quickly understood General Crook's concerns and was sincerely satisfied that he could take the overall situation into consideration and give up the practice of attacking political opponents in order to protect the face of the National Defense Forces at critical moments.
He immediately decided to appoint the other party as the next Minister of Defense, because he believed that with such a Minister of Defense, he would be able to worry a lot less.
Humberto Alder naturally noticed Scalia's expression. When he saw the other person, he was first surprised, then thoughtful, and finally smiled directly at the corner of his mouth. He understood that he should be able to avoid being classified as a rebel this time.
There was a feeling that the rain had cleared up in an instant. Of course, he was a mature politician and did not think that he could continue to stay in the position of Minister of Defense after this incident. General Crook's words about personal ethics just now clearly told him why he should be protected.
General Alder did not blame General Crook for this. On the contrary, he admired the other party from the bottom of his heart, because he would never let go of such an excellent opportunity to attack his opponent.
But the other party took the overall situation into consideration and directly chose to intercede on his behalf. How could he not be grateful for this?
After just a moment's thought, he decided to resign, not only to preserve the dignity of himself and the National Defense Force, but also to help General Crook ascend to power and save some favor.
He first bowed slightly to greet General Crook, then turned to President Scalia again and said:
"Mr. President, as the Minister of Defense, I cannot absolve myself of the blame for such a serious rebellion under my leadership. In order to give you and all Brazilians an explanation, I am here to formally take the blame and resign to you."
It has to be said that Alder was quite responsible. When he resigned, he did not forget to take the leadership responsibility for the rebellion on himself. This will not only maintain the reputation of the National Defense Forces, but also avoid letting people know that one's personal ethics are lacking.
They can also sell General Crook a favor and remove him, the actual leader of the Ministry of Defense, from this matter, which can be regarded as returning the favor to the other party.
His words were obviously beyond General Crook's expectations, and made General Crook look at him with less contempt and more gentleness.
When President Scalia heard that General Ald was going to take the blame and resign, he was not surprised at all. He just looked at him deeply and then slowly said:
"I'm very pleased that you have such a responsibility, but now is not the time for you to resign. After all, the rebels will arrive in Rio de Janeiro in two days.
Our priority now is to solve the problem of the rebels, not to hold you accountable.
Moreover, if you suddenly announce your resignation now, isn't it equivalent to telling these rebels that we are aware of their actions? "
It has to be said that President Scalia did not serve as president for nothing these years. He knew the priorities of the matter very well, so he directly suppressed his resignation application. But there was no direct veto, and the meaning was very clear. It was okay to resign, and then resign after this matter was over.
Seeing this situation, General Alder could really nod with a wry smile, knowing that he really couldn't give up at this time.
General Crook on the side saw this and quickly said:
"Mr. Minister, there have always been many conflicts between the navy and the army within the Brazilian Defense Force, and this time, the rebels launched the rebellion on the grounds of safeguarding the dignity of the army.
You also know that I am from the Navy. If I were to organize the troops and put down this rebellion, it would be impossible. Rather, I am worried that this will further intensify the antagonism between the mainland navies and is not conducive to the unity and stability within the National Defense Forces.
And you are the Minister of Defense with a background in the Army. If you lead this counter-insurgency operation, you can completely avoid this adverse impact. Therefore, my idea is that you should preside over this counter-insurgency operation. What do you think? ? "
General Alder was even more surprised at this time. At this time, General Crook was able to trust himself, the Minister of Defense, to organize the counter-insurgency. You must know that his adjutant is his cronies, and even his cronies participated in the rebellion, but he is still willing to believe in himself. This made him admire him.
At the same time, from the other party's words, he could also hear that the other party was thinking about the Brazilian army. Therefore, he only thought for a moment and agreed with the other party's view.
"I have no objection to carrying out this counter-insurgency operation in my name, but for security reasons, I feel that the actual command must be handed over to General Crook. Because even my adjutant has joined the rebellion, I really don’t know how many people around me can be trusted.
If it were really under my command, I'm afraid that the rebels would have received the news before we even started taking action. "
Seeing the mutual humility between the two, President Scalia smiled with great satisfaction. Before General Crook could continue to decline, he interrupted directly:
"General Alder is right. Out of caution, I think it is better for General Crook to command this counterinsurgency. Of course, the conflict between the navy and the army that Crook is worried about does need to be taken seriously.
I don’t think it’s better than this! The army participating in the counter-insurgency this time will still be the army, and the navy will not participate. General Crook served as the actual command, passing orders to the counter-insurgency forces below through General Leta.
The nominal commander-in-chief was General Alder. "
Hearing this, General Alder did not wait for General Crook to deny it, and then said directly:
"Mr. President, but I still don't feel confident about our army's troops. If possible, I suggest that the navy's marines be transferred over as a reserve force and first be stationed at the naval base in Rio de Janeiro.
If things go wrong, the Marines will come out to raid the formation. "
In fact, General Crook naturally wanted to personally command this battle, not only out of safety or trust considerations. He wanted more to take over the command of that part of the army from Alder.
This thing happened so suddenly that everyone couldn't react for a while, especially General Alder, who had just learned that there was a rebellion in the Army. He didn't even know which teams were involved in the rebellion. Naturally, I dare not take over the counter-insurgency work easily.
General Crook, however, knew the situation clearly. Based on the intelligence currently possessed by the Intelligence Bureau, as long as he took action directly and captured the leaders, the rebellion could easily be put down.
But this was a rare opportunity to reshuffle the Army, and General Crook certainly didn't want to let it go. Therefore, Blackwell deliberately concealed some information when reporting to the president.
President Scalia was not surprised by this. After all, the Intelligence Agency has not always had a prominent image in the minds of the public. It was an unexpected surprise for them to be able to detect the rebellion in advance this time. How dare he have any other extravagant hopes.
President Scalia's eyes lit up when he heard General Alder's proposal to mobilize the Marine Corps. This was his biggest financial backer, Fang Lang's ace unit! The Marine Corps was able to put down the Eddie brothers' anti-government armed forces in a very short period of time, which really surprised many people.
With such a powerful force as insurance, he can feel more at ease. Therefore, before General Crook could say more, he spoke again:
"Yes, the Marine Corps is a team that has withstood the test. I think it is necessary to transfer them here. Let General Crook arrange this matter!"
"But they are based in Natal. If they want to get to Rio, it may be too late!"
Of course, General Crook also wanted Fang Lang's strength to stand behind him and support him. But this happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to communicate with Fang Lang about it. Therefore, the difficulties of the navy were stated.
Unexpectedly, General Alder said directly as soon as he finished speaking:
"There is a transport aircraft group of the aircraft carrier battle group in Natal. We can have the Marine Corps fly directly to the air force base in Rio de Janeiro. Then transfer from the air base to the naval base.
If the order is given now, it is estimated that they will all arrive at the Rio de Janeiro Naval Base tomorrow morning. If the Air Force is trustworthy, it can completely allow the Air Force to send transport planes to pick them up, so that their arrival time can be further advanced. "
It must be said that General Alder's proposal was very constructive. Everyone in the conference room brightened up after hearing this. Everyone's eyes were turned to General Crook, who could issue orders.
Seeing everyone's gazes, General Crook did not hesitate and nodded directly:
"Okay! Since everyone thinks that the Marine Corps should come over, I will now give an order to General Fang Lang and ask him to airlift his Marine Corps directly to Rio de Janeiro.
Since we need to use his troops, I suggest that we can directly bring General Fang Lang into the headquarters. After all, his combat capabilities are obvious to all. "
Everyone present, except for General Humberto Alder, the Minister of Defense, actually had a close relationship with Fang Lang. Therefore, no one had any objection to General Crook's proposal.
President Scalia even slapped his thigh and said:
"Oh! It should have been like this a long time ago. General Fang Lang's record is very brilliant. At this important moment, he should be transferred over to fight the rebellion with us."
Seeing that Mr. President has already expressed his stance, of course no one will stand up and sing the opposite.
In fact, at this time, General Alder really wanted to ask everyone which troops were involved in the rebellion and who organized the rebellion.
But he knew his situation. Since he had taken the initiative to let General Crook take charge of the actual command, he could only suppress his curiosity and not take the initiative to ask about these contents to avoid causing unnecessary suspicion.
In this way, the rebellion organized by Chizzy Whiteman, the deputy chief of staff of the Army Department, had just begun and was already under the control of the Intelligence Bureau. And began a series of preparations for their rebellion.
When Fang Lang received the order to mobilize his marines to Rio de Janeiro in case of emergency, he understood that General Crook did not treat this rebellion as a simple rebellion.
Instead, they are preparing to take advantage of the opportunity to suppress this rebellion and completely control the power of the entire Ministry of Defense. It must be said that everyone is a hero and sees the same thing. The two of them unconsciously thought of each other.
On the surface, General Crook is clinging to the power of the Ministry of Defense, but in fact, secretly, Fang Lang's layout has gradually taken shape. With the end of this rebellion, his strength in the Ministry of Defense will also be further enhanced. strengthen.
Unlike General Crook who directly took the route of taking advantage of the situation, Fang Lang's layout is mostly aimed directly at the struggle for the real power positions of the middle and lower levels. By the time the rebellion is over, Fang Lang will be able to completely control 60% of the grassroots of the Brazilian Army. The real power of the army.
Most of his people are grassroots regimental and battalion-level officers, and only five of them are division-level officers. But the number of junior officers is very scary. You must know that most of the junior officers who have graduated from the Brazilian Army in recent years are students who graduated from the Brazilian Military Academy.
The outstanding ones among these students will receive support and help from the Fang family when they are in school, and many of them are even students originally sent by the Fang family.
The number of Chinese among them is also considerable, which shows how huge influence Fang Lang has at the grassroots level of the army.
It is no exaggeration to say that if the Army organizes an operation against the Fang family, a rebellion may be triggered as soon as the order is sent to the grassroots.
But even so, Fang Lang did not dare to relax at all after receiving this order, and directly airlifted his marines over.
Not only that, he also ordered the army officers and soldiers who had surrendered to him to be prepared for emergencies at any time.
The reason why he was so cautious even though he knew that the scale of this rebellion was not large, was because Sirio Reich passed on the latest intelligence from the US CIA just before receiving the transfer order.
(End of chapter)
