“How ridiculous! The Americans are not invincible! Why are you so convinced that our soldiers cannot possibly beat their soldiers?! Nothing can convince someone who is so bent on being doubtful!” General Ji said.
General Ji was so enraged and indignant that all that was left was for him to point directly at Speaker Long’s nose and call him a coward!
Speaker Long had never been condemned in such a disparaging way. “Old Ji, you are crossing the line here. I already explained myself to you! I have faithfully served this country for decades, and I can say with my conscience fully-intact: I swear on my life and those of my family that I will never betray my beloved country in any way!!” he said with a solemn face.
General Ji had been so enraged that he had hurled some impulsive insults at Speaker Long.
Seeing how upset Speaker Long had gotten, he raised his hand and nodded. “Okay, I apologize. I got too worked up and crossed the line just now. But where did Hong Kangquan get this document? Did the Americans give it to him, or did he obtain it himself?”
“I asked that question right away,” Chairman Long said, trying to be a little more considerate toward General Ji’s feelings. He did not mention anything about Huo Shaoheng again. “Hong Kangquan said that his Secret Service’s field staff are based in the United States.”
General Ji shook his head. “I still don’t believe a single word he says. Old Long, think about it carefully. What was happening at that time? A nationwide effort to deal with a single person? Wouldn’t the Americans basically be searching for a needle in a haystack? Or did they check every single one of the 200 million people living across the country, one by one? It is precisely because Shaoheng had been alone at the time that he was able to effectively negotiate with the Americans and successfully rescue Prime Minister Tan’s daughter. It was also why he was able to escape unscathed.”
Speaker Long frowned. “But he was in danger at the time, and encountered an ambush.”
Although the video from the American broadcasting station had not been released in the Huaxia Empire at the time, it had nevertheless been seen by all of the high-ranking officials.
General Ji slapped his thighs in frustration. “That’s right! Shaoheng was framed by someone! Think about it. We all witnessed the ambush, but why was there an ambush in the first place? Isn’t it because someone within our ranks sold us out? How else could the Americans have learned about him? And who was the one who did everything possible to ensure that Shaoheng was the person sent on that rescue mission? When you think about it that way, don’t all the mysteries somehow connect?”
Speaker Long looked at General Ji warily. “So you mean to say that all of this is part of a conspiracy?” he asked.
“Exactly!” General Ji gave Speaker Long an enthusiastic thumbs up. “Old Long, how could you out of all people not see this before? It’s as if you know nothing about our capabilities and how critical the central control room is. If Shaoheng really had questionable loyalties, I can tell you that he wouldn’t need to employ so clumsy of a method as cyber warfare if he needed to deliver a message. If he really wanted to defect and sell out his country, not only would he have the means and ability to do so, but you can bet that we would be forced to be subordinate. It wouldn’t take someone like Hong Kangquan to condemn him at that point. Not to mention, Hong Kangquan taking over the central control room? How would that change anything?!”
Speaker Long thought it over for a moment, then after a while, he asked, “Shaoheng, was he captured or not? You can tell me the truth! I promise, even if he were really captured, I wouldn’t spread word about it. I’ll find a way for him to voluntarily resign while saving face at the same time. ”
“No!” General Ji spat out. “I told you the truth. At that time, Shaoheng suspected that someone within our country was after his life, so after he escaped the ambush, he only contacted me on a private line. No one except for me knew where he was. He was never captured, and I am willing to vouch for this with my reputation and rank!”
After a pause, seeing that Speaker Long was still silent, he gritted his teeth and threw out another witness. “In fact, if you don’t believe me, you can ask Prime Minister Tan’s daughter, Tan Guiren. As far as I know, when Shaoheng was in the United States, he remained in contact with Tan Guiren.” General Ji himself was supposed to be the key witness, but since he had been passionately vouching for Huo Shaoheng and had therefore shown his inability to remain impartial, Speaker Long had to be especially cautious to ensure that General Ji wasn’t being blinded his bias.
Speaker Long breathed a sigh of relief, closed his eyes, and said, “Of course, I will ask Tan Guiren. But today, I will partially trust you for the time being.”
“Only partially?!” General Ji could barely resist the urge to grab Speaker Long by the collar and shake him hard to knock some sense into him. “How on earth can I make you trust my words?! Let me tell you, it doesn’t even matter whether you believe me or not. The central control room must not fall into Hong Kangquan’s hands!”
Speaker Long felt distressed. If Hong Kangquan could not be trusted either, then who should take over?
“I recommend that Zhou Qiyuan, the leader of the Special Operations Forces’ disciplinary team, lead his team to take command of the central control room. What do you say? Let’s both take a step back,” General Ji proposed. Seeing that he was unable to persuade Speaker Long completely, he knew that he needed to compromise.
That way, Hong Kangquan wouldn’t be able to take over the central control room, even though it meant that Huo Shaoheng would be excluded as well.
Speaker Long thought long and hard about it, then said, “That would be for the best. But Huo Shaoheng must be investigated by the Secret Service. You know as well as I do that the Secret Service and the Special Operations Forces act as balances for each other. That is the rule we implemented when we established the Special Operations Forces.”
General Ji sneered and rejected the proposal. “That wouldn’t work, either. Shaoheng is still investigating Hong Kangquan, and you’re suggesting that he be handed over to Hong Kangquan for interrogation? You are basically signing his death warrant. Or do you ironically want to prove that we are more capable than the Americans by killing the hero that stood up against them by himself? That we’re more capable in terms of persecuting our own people?”
Speaker Long was especially embarrassed by General Ji’s words. “Old Ji, you are misinterpreting my words. You have to know, Hong Kangquan is in charge of the Secret Service. He will not betray our country’s interests for the same reasons you vouched for Huo Shaoheng just now. If Hong Kangquan wished to defect, he would have done so long ago, around the same time that Bai Yusheng defected. But you see, has he leaked all our country’s secrets? If he had even the slightest inclination to do so, he would have done it already without having to request my permission to assume command of the central control room. For many years he has been the Director of the Secret Service department. His annual assessment is always excellent. There really is nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.
Other than Huo Shaoheng’s allegations against him, Speaker Long had no reason to doubt Hong Kangquan.
He still hadn’t changed his mind. What he truly wanted to see was evidence, solid evidence, not two people making baseless accusations against each other.
General Ji nodded. “I understand what you mean. But, even if you want to interrogate Shaoheng, you don’t want the Secret Service to be the ones doing it. Yes, I know that the Secret Service and the Special Operations Forces are meant as balances for each other, but the situation is different now. Since the Director of the Secret Service is also on our list of suspects, I have a valid reason to refuse to hand Shaoheng over to them.”
Speaker Long sat there, sulking, and did not speak.
“Old Long, since you are so impartial, then I must also ask – if you hand Shaoheng over to Hong Kangquan, can you guarantee that Shaoheng will emerge with all of his limbs still intact?” General Ji asked. “Think hard about this. If we really handed Shaoheng over to the Secret Service, whether he is innocent or not, that move alone would be enough to ruin his future career within the military. I’m afraid he would be forced to retire.”
Speaker Long was caught off guard. “If he is innocent, I will vouch for him,” he said.
“Old Long, you have been in the Senate all your life. You are facing the people, the masses, unlike us. We face soldiers, our own team. Within the team, the most crucial thing is for subordinates to truly trust and obey their superiors because they sincerely have faith in them and are loyal. Yet a person who has been suspected of treason, even if the rumor were proven to be false afterward, would have difficulty staying in the army, since nobody would know whether or not they should trust him. The number one taboo in the military is unverified suspicions.”
General Ji did his best to try to persuade Speaker Long to have more faith in Huo Shaoheng rather than Hong Kangquan.
Speaker Long sat in silence for a full five minutes, thinking, before finally nodding, seemingly distressed. “Alright, then. Zhou Qiyuan will lead his team and assume command over the central control room. But Huo Shaoheng will also be locked out. I entrust you, Old Ji, with the task of being the one to quarantine Shaoheng. How does that sound?”
That was as far as Speaker Long was willing to go in the compromise.
General Ji’s anger subsided somewhat, and he patted Speaker Long’s back with vigor. “Now that’s more like it! Well then, rest assured, I will thoroughly interrogate Shaoheng and see to it that he divulges all the details concerning the incident in the US. That way, there will be absolutely no more room for doubt!”
“That’s good, that’s good,” Speaker Long muttered, wiping away the beads of sweat on his forehead with a tissue.
His heart felt heavy.
He didn’t know whether or not he had made the right decision.
At that point, Huo Shaoheng accused Hong Kangquan of being a traitor, while Hong Kangquan accused Huo Shaoheng of the same, and the two of them were almost evenly matched in terms of rank and authority.
However, regardless of who the true mole turned out to be, betrayal by either one of them would cause the country to suffer huge losses.
Of course, Hong Kangquan’s betrayal could not cause nearly as much harm as the catastrophic damage Huo Shaoheng’s treachery had the potential of producing.
When considering that aspect, Speaker Long was slightly more biased towards Huo Shaoheng, and sincerely hoped that he was not the mole.
