It must be said that Song Xia's guess was very accurate. Because the Fog Sea Pirates' operation went more smoothly than expected, the council and the church began to suspect Ling Chengrong, and the three parties argued endlessly in the council hall.
Ling Chengrong's face darkened: "This is my First Legion's goods. Would I collude with pirates to destroy my own goods?"
"Who knows what the Grand Marshal is planning?" Council Speaker Dival stared at Ling Chengrong with his snake-like eyes. "After all, this batch of goods was ordered by the Federation. Even if some of it is destroyed, the rest can be completely taken over by the Federation."
Ling Chengrong suppressed his anger: "The Speaker of the Council should be mindful of the evidence when he speaks."
"What evidence do you want? You chose the Song Group to transport the goods yourself. There has never been such an easy hijacking before. It's as if those pirates knew that Marshal Ling's weapons would pass through there. Everything was handled by you, Marshal Ling. Isn't this your problem?"
"I, Ling Chengrong, have a clear conscience." He glanced at the crowd, frowned, and snorted coldly, "I will find out who is behind this."
"Marshal Ling," the Pope said with suspicion, "don't tell me this is all a show you orchestrated yourself, where you'll get the Federation to provide you with weapons once the dust settles. Is this how you earned your First Legion's reputation? How many resources from the Federation are you wasting?"
Ling Chengrong felt he couldn't explain himself even with ten mouths, because this was a deliberately set trap for him. Was it the Speaker of Parliament? Or the Pope? Or both?
He took a deep breath. How had the Federation become like this? Even pirates were colluding with them? Did these people even care about the safety of the Federation? With the Zerg attacking relentlessly in front and pirates eyeing them covetously from behind, what good would it do them to disrupt the Federation?
"You know who's behind this. Do you even remember your vows?"
Council Speaker Dival said with a gloomy face, "Marshal Ling, are you trying to shirk responsibility and shift the blame onto us? Ling Chengrong, don't think that just because you are the strongest in the interstellar space, you can do whatever you want. The fact that we haven't put you in a military court is already a sign of our tolerance."
"What grounds will the Speaker of Parliament use to send me to a military court? Is it my responsibility for the leak?"
"If it's not you, then it's the Song Group that you commissioned. You were the ones who handled the transportation of the goods, so how could it be someone else?"
"There are so many people traveling with the cargo ship, who knows who planted them?"
"At this point, Marshal Ling is still making excuses. As such, we have to doubt whether Marshal Ling still has the ability and loyalty to lead the First Legion."
"What, is the Speaker of the Council trying to take this opportunity to seize my command?" Ling Chengrong stared at them with sharp eyes. "You dare to make me, Ling Chengrong, lose face? I'm not one to be trifled with. I haven't even settled accounts with you for my youngest son's matter yet. Have you forgotten what happened back then?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the room fell silent. He was talking about the murder of his first wife on the capital planet. When he failed to catch the pirates, he vented his anger on the security of the capital planet. At that time, countless people were dismissed because of his anger, and everyone was worried that he would turn on them in his madness.
Ling Chengrong slammed his fist on the table in front of him and said, “You all know perfectly well what happened and whether I orchestrated this whole thing. You think you can offend me, Ling Chengrong, and use the First Legion for your own purposes? No way!”
After saying that, he scanned the crowd and said, word by word, "Don't let me catch you doing anything wrong, or I will not let things go smoothly."
He then turned and left, leaving the Speaker of Parliament, Duval, and Pope Zamen with faces as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Arrogant! He's far too arrogant!"
"That's right, Speaker of the Council, this is clearly his fault, yet he's suspecting us."
"Speaker of the Council, you must take action as soon as possible. Ling Chengrong's actions may cause turmoil in the Federation and make the people of the Federation feel fear."
Duval crumpled the parliamentary document in front of him into a ball: "Then let's make this matter public and let the people of the Federation see what losses their First War God has brought to the Federation."
Manipulating public opinion is something the parliament excels at. Soon, the federal public learned that Ling Chengrong and his in-laws had lost a large batch of the federal government's latest weapons. Although the news didn't mention that he was behind it, the internet was already buzzing with speculation that he and the Song Group were traitors, and that he might even have orchestrated his youngest son's disappearance for the sake of those weapons. He was probably being pampered somewhere by now, otherwise why hadn't Ling Chengrong's wife been seen for so long? Wasn't she taking care of their youngest son?
Ordinary people have always resented the rich and powerful. Ling Chengrong used to be the number one combatant in the interstellar space, and everyone admired him. But now that this kind of public opinion has emerged, everyone is suddenly suspicious again. After all, there is an old saying that there is no smoke without fire.
Ling Chengrong, being in the military, would at most face difficulties from the parliament and the pope, and would not be granted a second batch of weapons for the time being. The impact of public opinion would be almost negligible on him, but it would be troublesome for the Song Group.
The first thing the public boycotted was Song Group's products. On the second trading day, Song Group's stock price plummeted, but they were helpless. They dared not go to Ling Chengrong, so they placed their hopes on the missing Song Xia, hoping that she could come forward and explain that Ling Wenye was not hidden away, but was really kidnapped.
Still no news?
"No, the message has already been sent out through all the branch offices. Either she knew about it and deliberately didn't reply, or she has already been harmed."
"This wretched child!" The head of the Song family raged, yet was utterly helpless.
Song's daughter-in-law suggested, "Dad, should we release a press release to distance ourselves from Marshal Ling?"
The head of the Song family sneered: "Don't you think it's too late to sever ties now? Everyone knows about our relationship with him. Although the Song Group has suffered a heavy blow, without Marshal Ling's protection, the Song family would only have one path: to be swallowed up."
"Are we just going to stand by and watch the stock price drop?"
The patriarch sighed, "This is not our problem, nor is it Marshal Ling's problem. The Federation is rotten from the inside out. Even if it doesn't collapse now, it may still be swallowed up in the future and become someone else's meal. Give the order that, effective immediately, the Song Group will shorten its operations, concentrate its capital, retreat to the Song Main Star, and strengthen the defense of the Song Main Star."
The Song family was shocked: "Dad, is this really necessary?"
"Things haven't gotten that serious yet, have they?"
The head of the Song family shook his head: "Sooner or later this day will come. The loss of money is nothing. Preserving the foundation of the Song family is the most important thing. Only by surviving this crisis can we preserve our foundation and have a chance to rise again in the future."
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