After getting the affirmative answer from General Crook's nod, Humberto Olde felt as if the sky had fallen down on him.
Now, regardless of whether he participated in the rebellion or not, he could no longer stay in the position of Minister of Defense. After realizing this, he immediately thought of resigning to save his dignity.
But just as he was about to speak, General Crook beside him spoke first.
“Mr. President, the Intelligence Bureau has fully grasped the details of this incident. From the current situation, it seems that although General Older has some personal flaws, he did not actually participate in this rebellion.
Please forgive him this time for all the hard work he has done for Brazil over the years."
Upon hearing this, Humberto Olde looked at his political enemy in disbelief. He had never expected that at this time, the other party would actually plead for him.
President Scalia also knew about the relationship between the two, and he did not expect that the person who finally pleaded for General Olde was General Crook, who was very strong at work.
Seeing the two men looking at him in surprise, General Crook just looked at the President with a smile, waiting for his decision.
In fact, General Crook was not trying to plead for General Olde, but to save the face of the National Defense Forces. After all, no matter how he pleaded, the position of Minister of Defense would definitely have to be replaced.
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Because neither the president nor he would allow this guy to continue staying in the position of Secretary of Defense.
As an old politician, President Scalia quickly understood General Crook's concerns. He was deeply satisfied that General Crook was able to consider the overall situation and give up attacking political opponents in order to maintain the face of the National Defense Forces at a critical moment.
He immediately decided to appoint the other party as the next Secretary of Defense, because he believed that with such a Secretary of Defense, he would have less worries.
Humberto Olde naturally noticed Scalia's expression, and when he saw that he was first surprised, then thoughtful, and finally smiled, he knew that he should be able to avoid being classified as a rebel this time.
Instantly, he felt like the sun was shining after the rain. Of course, he was a mature politician and did not think that he could continue to be the Minister of Defense after this incident. General Crook's words about his personal morals had clearly told him why he had to protect him.
General Olde did not blame General Crook for this. On the contrary, he admired him from the bottom of his heart, because he would never miss such a great opportunity to strike his opponent.
But the other party, considering the overall situation, chose to plead for him. How could he not be grateful?
After just a brief thought, he decided to resign voluntarily. This would not only preserve his own and the Wehrmacht's dignity, but would also help General Crook take the position and show some respect.
He bowed slightly to General Crook, then turned to President Scalia and said:
"Mr. President, under my leadership, such a serious rebellion occurred. As the Minister of Defense, I cannot shirk my responsibility. In order to give you and all Brazilian citizens an explanation, I formally resign here."
It must be said that Olde was quite responsible. When he resigned, he did not forget to take the leadership responsibility for the rebellion on himself. This not only safeguarded the reputation of the National Defense Force, but also prevented people from knowing that he had a bad moral character.
I can also do General Crook a favor and remove him, the actual head of the Ministry of Defense, from this matter, which can be regarded as repaying the other party's favor.
His words obviously surprised General Crook, and made General Crook look at him with less contempt and more tenderness.
When President Scalia heard that General Older was going to resign, he was not surprised at all. He just looked at him deeply and then slowly said:
“I am glad that you can take on 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 top priority now is to resolve the rebel problem, not to hold you accountable.
Besides, if you suddenly announce your resignation now, isn't that equivalent to telling these rebels that we have noticed their actions?"
It must be said that President Scalia's presidency over the years was not in vain. He was very clear about the priorities of things, so he directly suppressed his resignation application. But he did not directly reject it, and the meaning was very clear that he could resign after this matter was over.
Seeing this situation, General Old could only smile bitterly and nodded, knowing that he really couldn't give up at this time.
General Crook, who was standing by, also spoke up immediately upon seeing this:
“Mr. Minister, there have always been conflicts between the navy and the army within the Brazilian National Defense Force, and this time, the rebels launched a rebellion under the pretext of maintaining the dignity of the army.
As you know, I am a naval officer. If I were to organize the troops and quell the rebellion, it would not be impossible. But I am worried that this would further intensify the confrontation between the mainland navy and be detrimental to the unity and stability within the national defense army.
You are a defense minister who came from the army. If you lead this counterinsurgency operation, this adverse effect can be completely avoided. So, my idea is to let you lead this counterinsurgency operation. What do you think?"
General Old was even more surprised. At this time, General Crook actually trusted him, the Minister of Defense, to organize the rebellion. You know, his adjutant was his confidant. Even his confidant participated in the rebellion, but he was still willing to trust him. He had to admire him.
At the same time, he could also hear from the other party's words that the other party was wholeheartedly considering the Brazilian army, so he just hesitated for a moment and agreed with the other party's opinion.
"I have no objection to carrying out this counterinsurgency operation in my name, but for security reasons, I think the actual command should 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 I were really in charge, I'm afraid the rebels would get the news before we even start the operation."
Seeing the two men yielding to each other, President Scalia smiled with great satisfaction. Without waiting for General Crook to continue to decline, he interrupted directly:
"General Old is right. Out of prudence, I think it is better for General Crook to command the suppression of the rebellion. Of course, the contradiction between the navy and the army that Crook is worried about also needs to be taken seriously.
I think it would be better to do this! The army will still be in charge of the suppression of the rebellion, and the navy will not be involved. General Crook will be the actual commander, and pass on orders to the suppression of the rebellion troops through General Letta.
The nominal commander-in-chief is General Olde."
Upon hearing this, General Older spoke directly without waiting for General Crook to deny it:
“Yes, Mr. President. However, I am still not confident about our army’s troops. If possible, I suggest transferring the Marine Corps from the Navy as a reserve force and stationing them at the naval base in Rio de Janeiro first.
If things get back on track, the Marines will come out to scout out the situation.”
In fact, General Crook wanted to command the battle personally, not only for safety or trust, but also because he wanted to take over the command of that part of the army from Old.
This incident happened too suddenly, and everyone was unable to react for a while, especially General Old, who had just learned that a rebellion had occurred in the army. He didn't even know which specific teams had rebelled, so naturally he didn't dare to take over the task of suppressing the rebellion easily.
However, General Crook was fully aware of the situation. Based on the intelligence the CIA currently possessed, as long as they took direct action and captured those leaders, the rebellion could be easily quelled.
But this was a rare opportunity to reshuffle the army, and General Crook certainly didn't want to let it go so easily. Therefore, when Blackwell reported to the president, he deliberately concealed some intelligence.
President Scalia was not surprised by this. After all, the CIA had never been prominent in the public's mind. The fact that they had discovered the rebellion in advance was already a pleasant surprise. How could he dare to have any other extravagant hopes?
When President Scalia heard General Older's proposal to transfer the Marines, his eyes lit up. This was the ace unit under his biggest sponsor, Fang Lang! The Marines had quelled the anti-government armed forces of the Eddie brothers in a very short time, which really surprised many people.
With such a powerful force as insurance, he would feel more at ease. So, without waiting for General Crook to say more, he spoke again:
"Yes, the Marine Corps is a well-tested team. I think it is necessary to transfer them here. Let General Crook take care of this matter!"
"But their base is in Natal. If we want to get to Rio, we may not make it in time!"
General Crook certainly wanted Fang Lang's force to stand behind him and support him. But this happened too suddenly, and he didn't have time to communicate with Fang Lang about it. So, he still told Fang Lang about the difficulties of the navy.
Unexpectedly, General Older spoke directly as soon as he finished speaking:
"Natal has a fleet of transport aircraft from the aircraft carrier battle group. We can have the Marines take a plane directly to the air force base in Rio de Janeiro and then transfer from the air force base to the naval base.
If the order is given now, they will all arrive at the Rio de Janeiro Naval Base tomorrow morning. If the Air Force is trustworthy, they can also send transport planes to pick them up, so that they can arrive even earlier. "
It must be said that General Old's proposal was very constructive. After hearing this, everyone in the conference room was enlightened. Everyone looked at General Crook who could give the order.
Seeing everyone looking at him, General Crook did not hesitate and nodded directly:
"Okay! Since everyone thinks the Marines should come, I will now give an order to General Fang Lang to airlift his Marines directly to Rio de Janeiro.
Since we need to mobilize his troops, I suggest that we can directly bring General Fang Lang into the command center. After all, his combat capabilities are obvious to all."
Except for the Minister of Defense General Humberto Olde, everyone present had a close relationship with Fang Lang, so naturally no one had any objection to General Crook's proposal.
President Scalia slapped his thigh and said:
"Oh! It should have been done long ago. General Fang Lang's record in battle is very brilliant. At this critical moment, we should indeed transfer him here to help us suppress the rebellion."
Seeing that the President has already expressed his position, of course no one will stand up and sing a different tune.
In fact, at this time, General Old really wanted to ask everyone which troops were involved in the rebellion and who organized the rebellion.
But he knew his own situation. Since he had already 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 things to avoid causing unnecessary suspicion.
In this way, the rebellion organized by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Chiz Whiteman, had just begun when it was already grasped by the Intelligence Bureau. A series of preparations were launched against their rebellion.
When Fang Lang received the order to transfer 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 were going to use the opportunity of suppressing this rebellion to completely control the entire Ministry of National Defense. It must be said that heroes think alike. The two of them unconsciously thought of the same thing.
On the surface, General Crook is holding on to the power of the Ministry of National Defense, but in fact, Fang Lang's layout has gradually taken shape in secret. With the end of this rebellion, his power in the Ministry of National Defense will be further strengthened.
Unlike General Crook who took the superior route directly, Fang Lang's layout was mostly aimed directly at the struggle for power positions at the middle and lower levels. When this rebellion is over, Fang Lang will be able to completely control the power of 60% of the grassroots units of the Brazilian Army.
Most of his people are grassroots regimental and battalion-level officers, and only five are at the division level. But the number of grassroots officers is very terrifying. You should know that most of the grassroots officers from the Brazilian army in recent years are graduates of the Brazilian Military University.
The outstanding students among these will receive funding and help from the Fang family while they are in school, and many of them are even students sent by the Fang family in the first place.
Among them, the number of Chinese is also quite considerable, which shows how great the influence of Fang Lang is at the grassroots level of the army.
It is no exaggeration to say that if the army organized an operation against the Fang family, a rebellion might be triggered as soon as the order was sent to the grassroots level.
But even so, Fang Lang did not dare to relax at all after receiving the 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 to respond at any time.
The reason why he was so cautious even though he knew the rebellion was not large in scale was that just before he received the transfer order, Syrio Recci passed on the latest intelligence from the US CIA.
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