After discussing the political layout and the action against Vargas with Xin Shiliang, Fang Lang then stayed at ease in the Natal Naval Base, diligently training his soldiers.
After all, he should not have known about the Labour Party's plan to deal with him. As a military general, his job was to lead his soldiers well and improve the combat effectiveness of the troops.
Regardless of whether the Labour Party really wants to use this incident to find evidence of Fang Lang's involvement in politics, Fang Lang intends to keep a low profile in Natal to accumulate strength while remotely directing the actions of the outside world.
About a week after Audrey Hepburn went to the United States to visit her elder sister Lilith, she returned to Natal to take care of Fang Lang's life and began to take the initiative to maintain social activities for the wives of officers at the Natal Naval Base.
From time to time, she organized salons for the officers' wives, and because of her Dutch aristocratic status, she quickly gained popularity among the officers' wives.
At the same time, Fang Lang asked Fangyuan Group to open a ballet school for Audrey Hepburn in the city of Natal, not far from the naval base. Because this was a ballet school founded by Fang Lang's woman, many officers sent their daughters to the school.
The worry about not being able to recruit students did not occur at all. Instead, because there were not enough teachers, Audrey Hepburn had to ask her alma mater for help and hired several ballet teachers to teach in Brazil at a high price.
A week after Xin Shiliang left Natal, a very niche newspaper in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was the first to report that former Brazilian President Vargas had colluded with Captain Orlando of the Brazilian Navy and privately promised to add a new aircraft carrier fleet after taking power.
Because the newspaper was very niche, it did not attract much attention on the first day, but on the second day several larger newspapers began to follow up with reports, and things began to slowly ferment.
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...
On the third day, the Brazilian Times, the most widely circulated newspaper in Brazil, published a headline on its front page: "Former President Contacts Senior Military Officials Again, What's His Purpose?"
The report did not give an answer, but the whole incident was thoroughly uncovered, and it was hinted that Mr. Vargas came to power through a coup d'état by officers from the lieutenant faction.
Everyone began to wonder whether the other party was preparing to launch another coup. Non-Labor parties in Congress were immediately in an uproar and began to criticize the party in Congress.
Various media outlets also flocked to Vargas and Orlando, the two parties involved, and even the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Navy were surrounded by the media.
"General Crook, we can't waste any more time. We must cut the Gordian knot in Orlando."
Marshal Moraes stood by the window of his office with a grim face, looking at the turbulent crowd outside the window, and spoke in a firm tone.
Sitting on the sofa in his office, Navy Minister General Crook tapped his fingers irregularly on his knees. He looked at Marshal Morais hesitantly and said:
"I also want to get rid of this guy as soon as possible, but in this situation, simply withdrawing him is obviously not enough, and it will make the public doubt our military's position on this matter."
Marshal Morais glanced at General Crook and understood what he meant. This incident was obviously an opportunity for General Crook to eliminate dissidents.
But after knowing this, he did not make any move. He just reported the matter and said nothing more. Obviously, he was waiting for such an opportunity.
"So what do you want to do?"
"I want to bring Colonel Orlando to a military court for a public trial. Only in this way can we show the outside world that our military will not participate in political struggles."
Marshal Moraes' brows jumped when he heard this, realizing that the other party was not going to let Colonel Orlando off easily.
After all, if the military dealt with it directly, the most that could be done would be dismissal or demotion. But if it involved a military court, Colonel Orlando would have no chance.
Judging from the current situation, this guy will have to spend at least two or three years in a military prison before he can get out.
However, it didn't matter to Marshal Moraes. After all, Colonel Orlando was not his man. Besides, given the current situation, even if Colonel Orlando was his man, he had to sacrifice his pawn to save his king.
Otherwise the entire army will be implicated.
"Yes, then your Navy Department will send out military police to arrest Orlando immediately."
Marshal Moraes looked at General Crook meaningfully. Logically, they should not have disclosed the collusion between Colonel Orlando and Mr. Vargas this time.
After all, this is not a glorious thing for the army. Besides, whether Mr. Vargas has had any contact with other soldiers besides Colonel Orlando is still under investigation.
But now this matter has been exposed by the media, which will inevitably lead to the failure of their original secret investigation. He now doesn't know what the purpose of the person who exposed this matter was.
As the Secretary of the Navy and one of the people who knew about this matter, General Crook was of course one of the suspects of the leak. Therefore, Marshal Moraes was not sure whether he was the one who exposed the matter to the media.
General Crook naturally noticed Marshal Morais's look, but he didn't know what to say. After all, there were only a few people who knew about this matter, and almost all the insiders were suspects. There was no need to argue about this issue now.
"Yes, Your Excellency the Marshal. I wonder if the Marshal has any instructions on the punishment for Colonel Orlando."
"Since it is to be sent to a military court for trial, we will naturally follow the law. All officers involved in this matter will be tried by the military court. We must make our military's attitude clear to the public."
After receiving a clear answer, General Crook breathed a sigh of relief, slowly stood up from the sofa, straightened his clothes, and saluted Marshal Moraes with a standard military salute.
"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal!"
There is a reason why General Crook needs to get clear instructions from Marshal Moraes. After all, Marshal Moraes’ achievements today are actually inseparable from former President Mr. Vargas.
It was former President Vargas who, against all odds, agreed to General Moraes' request to send troops to join the European war, making Brazil the only country in South America to participate in the European war.
It also gave Marshal Moraes unprecedented prestige. After President Dutra came to power, he was awarded the only rank of marshal in Brazil. This was actually an appeasement and solicitation of Marshal Moraes by President Dutra, who was a former Minister of the Army.
Fortunately, Marshal Moraes is a military general with his own principles, otherwise it might not be so easy for President Dutra to come to power.
Just as Navy Minister General Crook received clear instructions from Defense Minister General Moraes at the Ministry of National Defense, Labor Party leader Chairman Vargas was furious in his office at the Labor Party headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.
"Asshole! Orlando is such an idiot. He can't even do such a small thing properly. Before the thing is even done, the whole city knows about it."
Several senior Labor Party officials in the office were all silent, fearing that the other side would vent its anger on them.
"Mr. Chairman, now that the truth has been exposed, getting angry won't solve the problem. Our most urgent problem now is how to deal with the criticism from the media."
A thin middle-aged white man in a suit and tie, with a slicked-back hair and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looked at Mr. Vargas in a serious tone.
Upon hearing this, Vargas looked at the middle-aged man deeply, a gleam of shrewdness flashed in his eyes, and he heard the reproach in the other party's words.
If it were in the past, the other party would never dare to talk to him like this, but now it is obvious that because of the exposure of this matter, some people within the Labour Party have begun to feel dissatisfied.
He believed that this was definitely not an isolated imagination, and if he did not handle this matter well, his prestige in the Labour Party would be seriously damaged.
Therefore, even though he knew that there was something wrong with the other party's attitude, he could not get angry at the other party.
"Senator Virgil, how do you think we should deal with this problem?"
"It all depends on Mr. Chairman's attitude towards this matter. We only have three ways to deal with it. The first is to take the initiative to admit it and publicly apologize."
As soon as Virgil, the councillor with his slicked-back hair, finished speaking, the senior Labour Party officials in the office began to whisper and discuss among themselves.
“The second option is to deny it directly. After all, there is no clear evidence for this matter, and we can put all the blame on Colonel Orlando.
The third is to remain silent, remain unchanged in the face of change, and let things continue to ferment until they become uncontrollable. "
Congressman Virgil mentioned three directions, but there are actually only two options. After all, the third option may not be an option. As a political party, if it chooses to remain silent when faced with such a thing, it is likely that the party's image in the eyes of the people will plummet.
He has already said that things will get out of control, so naturally he does not recommend this method.
After listening to Virgil's advice, Vargas' face turned grim. Although he said he was giving three suggestions, he was actually forcing himself to make a choice. If he agreed to the first option, he would take the initiative to admit it and stand up to apologize publicly.
That would be a huge blow to his personal prestige, and when he wants to run for president again, this incident will become a stain that he cannot erase.
If you choose the second option, although you may be able to escape danger temporarily, there are also huge hidden dangers. When you want to win over some people in the future, it is hard to say whether your credibility is still worthy of trust.
Politics is dirty. There is no such thing as friendship or alliance. The reason why these people under his command can get together with him is not entirely because everyone agrees with the Labour Party's ideas.
It is more because of the former president's huge influence among the people. Everyone can unite closely because they can see a bright future by following him.
But now that this incident has been exposed, Vargas' image in the public's mind has suffered a serious blow, and the rapidly developing Labor Party may come to a standstill as a result.
This will naturally cause dissatisfaction among the powerful within the Labour Party, and Virgil's current attitude is very telling.
As for whether there is a better way to deal with this matter, Vargas believes that there must be, but the current situation is urgent and they did not pay attention when the matter was first exposed.
By the time the Brazilian Times published the article, it was too late for them to respond. Looking at the dense crowd of reporters outside the Labor Party headquarters, Vargas had a headache and wondered how he could come up with a better way to respond.
“The first method won’t work. Right now is a period of great development for our Labor Party. If we proactively admit this, it will inevitably create a huge obstacle to our presidential campaign two years later.
Even the momentum of our Labour Party could be directly curbed. I will never allow this to happen."
After thinking it over again and again, Vargas did not continue to ask for the opinions of other people present. He was worried that if he continued to ask, some opinions would come out that would make it difficult for him to step down, so he directly rejected the first method.
This statement meant that he chose to follow the second method, directly denying that the Labor Party was involved in the incident and putting all the blame on Colonel Orlando.
All of this was Colonel Orlando's wishful thinking. As a democratic party, the Labor Party had never considered contacting military generals in private and making any promises to them.
His attitude did not surprise everyone in the office. Now everyone thought that this was undoubtedly the best way to deal with the situation. As for what kind of hidden dangers this would bring to the Labour Party, they no longer cared about it.
"In that case, we will immediately gather the reporters outside and hold a press conference. However, I think the reporters will definitely want to see you in person at this press conference and ask you to answer this matter in person."
Virgil had obviously anticipated this and expressed his opinion directly in a calm tone. Upon hearing his words, everyone in the office looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Vargas knew in his heart that he had no other choice now. The news media's shield was pointed at him, and he had no way of escaping.
He turned his gaze to the trusted subordinate who was in charge of the party's propaganda work and nodded to him. Seeing this, the other party nodded and stood up and said:
"Then I'll arrange it now."
After saying this, he quickly walked out of the office and organized this press conference.
The next day, major news outlets began reporting on the statement made by Mr. Vargas, chairman of the Labor Party. Public opinion was in an uproar for a while, and the public was somewhat confused about who to believe.
However, the military's direct arrest of Colonel Orlando and sending him to a military court for trial made the media sense a different meaning.
However, the Labor Party's approach of putting all the blame on Colonel Orlando personally may make ordinary people somewhat confused about the situation.
But anyone with a little political acumen and political status understood the truth of the matter. The first to react were the other officers in the military who were on good terms with Mr. Vargas. They all wisely chose to cut off contact with Mr. Vargas.
This also indirectly saved their own lives. After all, the military investigation had already found some directions. As they took the initiative to cut off contact, the clues were immediately interrupted and the investigation came to an end.
When these officers thought that everything was over, someone came to them with evidence of their collusion with the Labour Party. These people did not use this as a threat, but said that they just wanted to be friends with them.
As for whether they are willing to be friends with these people, these people don't care.
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