Empire Conquest

Chapter 639 - 635: Military Mutiny

Onboard the "Qinling".

After the banquet ended, the Communication Advisor only then delivered the telegram from Zheng Jiangming to Bai Zhizhan.

Bai Zhizhan was speechless about Wang Kaiyuan’s "ultimatum", or rather found it superfluous, since Wallace had already been cornered with no way out.

Having been busy all day, Bai Zhizhan did not take this matter to heart.

The key point was that the 5th Fleet was already under control, and Nizi had already ordered a surrender.

Moreover, the Marine Corps arranged by Nizi had taken control of all the airports, seized all the operational aircraft belonging to the Newland Army Air Force, and had detained a batch of Land Air Force officers and soldiers.

As for the Army combat troops deployed in the Howay Islands, they too were under control.

According to the message previously sent by Zheng Jiangming, before Nizi issued the surrender order, he had summoned the main Army generals and officers to Treasure Harbor under the pretense of discussing defense deployment, and then controlled these personnel in one fell swoop to ensure they were unable to issue orders to their respective units.

Moreover, the naval security forces controlled by Nizi had taken over all long-range communication facilities.

In any case, Nizi being so cunning and calculating, having decided to pledge loyalty to Wallace, surely must have anticipated various possible contingencies.

Besides, Marshall, the Chief of General Staff of the Army, had also joined the rebellion.

The Army combat troops commanded by Patton had entered Gold Bay and, under the pretext of capturing traitors, had imposed war-time control on the city of millions.

Gold Bay became the first Newland city to be controlled.

According to the news received, in the last two days, Gold Bay had been swept by turmoil, with tens of thousands of innocent civilians becoming victims.

The cause of all this was the occupation forces led by Patton.

The Army combat troops on the islands would definitely need to be strictly supervised.

Unfortunately, including Bai Zhizhan, everyone had overlooked a very serious issue.

Inside the base units of the Newland Army, many soldiers had radios. Even for the Navy, nearly all the soldiers’ families were on the mainland.

The key point was also that, apart from the President, the other two major institutions of the Newland Federation, Congress and the Supreme Court, were both located in Huacheng.

Before this, Congress had passed the legislation submitted by Hale, declaring Wallace’s swearing-in as president as illegal. Based on this, Hale formally signed the arrest warrant for Wallace. The key here was that Marshall, under this pretext, dispatched the military to take over Gold Bay.

In addition, Marshall was now the supreme commander of the Newland Army and essentially the highest commander of the Newland military forces.

What this operation lacked was actually presidential authorization.

Simply put, the legislation passed by Congress had to be signed by the president before it officially came into effect; otherwise, it could not become law.

The problem was stuck here.

Even if Wallace’s act of swearing-in as president was illegal, it did not negate the fact that he was the first in line of succession for the presidency. Therefore, it was only after his right of succession were nullified that the Speaker of the House of Representatives could succeed him.

Hence the arrest of Wallace.

Unfortunately, Wallace had already fled to Treasure Harbor, and the Huacheng Authority clearly could not deny the fact that Treasure Harbor was a Newland Federation overseas territory.

That is to say, Newland Federation law was still valid in the Howay Islands.

After going in such a big circle, the key fell to the Supreme Court’s side.

Simply put, in the situation where the president’s authorization could not be obtained due to special circumstances, the legality of the legislation could be determined by the Supreme Court.

Although this would take some time, under Hale’s push, four days were definitely more than enough.

It was while Bai Zhizhan was sleeping that the Huacheng Authority released the latest news, the Supreme Court’s final judgment on Wallace’s treason.

The outcome was naturally no surprise.

After obtaining this crucial judgment result, Hale immediately did two things.

First, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was to be inaugurated as the Federation President in Congress, while the President of the Senate was appointed as the Federation Vice President.

Next, the newly sworn-in President signed a wartime decree against Wallace and all military and political personnel supporting Wallace.

Since it could not be vetoed by Congress, the decree was the law in its truest form.

The key was this very decree.

At its core, there was just one content.

All Newland military and civilians who supported and assisted Wallace, regardless of whether they participated in Wallace’s group’s treasonous activities, were considered members of the Wallace treason group and would be charged with treason.

Of course, if that was all, there wouldn’t be much impact.

But the problem was, it was far from just that.

The events that followed not only proved that Hale was a bona fide politician but also possessed ruthlessness that was second to none.

Almost at the same time as the issuance of the "Traitor Act," the Huacheng Authority had all the nation’s radio stations broadcast a message—which was actually a set of pre-recorded tapes. The tape’s content featured talks by direct relatives of dozens of officers and soldiers from the Newland East Ocean Fleet.

It must be said that this was the most powerful form of psychological warfare.

And importantly, Hale was well-prepared.

The so-called talks were merely family members of the military reading scripts on cue, some of which were delivered by voice actors, only declaring their identities as military relatives at the end.

The messages were almost identical, calling on the deceived and misled officers and soldiers not to serve the treasonous group.

The military relatives that he had brought forth were all very representative, half of them being the mothers of active-duty officers and soldiers.

For the officers and soldiers of the Newland East Ocean Fleet, these mothers’ talks were devastatingly powerful.

It was on this night that something happened that Bai Zhizhan had not even anticipated.

Mutiny!

It wasn’t until the morning of the 24th that Bai Zhizhan received news of it.

Fortunately, about half an hour before the mutiny broke out, the Sixth Bureau obtained reliable intelligence and warned Wang Kaiyuan in time.

Thanks to that half-hour, Wang Kaiyuan took Zheng Jiangming and others, and boarded a patrol aircraft on standby at Treasure Harbor.

Crucially, Zheng Jiangming disregarded personal safety at this critical point, located Wallace, and then took Wallace and Missy to the harbor.

Regrettably, because of the rush, there was no time to take Nizi, who was only warned by telephone.

Along with the news came orders from the Navy headquarter.

Immediate control over the Newland 5th Fleet was to be taken, ensuring that the fleet’s battleships reached the northwest maritime area of Transfer Island and then proceeded with the pre-planned assault on the Howay Islands.

Of course, it would be more accurate to say that the decision to assault the Howay Islands would depend on the actual situation.

Bai Zhizhan did not hide this matter from Spur, as he needed Spur’s help to stabilize the officers and soldiers of the 5th Fleet.

While Spur used the radio station to order the captains of all the ships of the 5th Fleet to continue to follow the orders of the Fleet Commander and join the Liangxia Fleet at the temporary anchorage, the patrol aircraft carrying Wang Kaiyuan and others arrived above the 21st Special Mixed Fleet and directly landed near the flagship.

Wang Kaiyuan not only brought Wallace and Missy over, but he also brought an extremely important piece of news.

When the patrol aircraft left the harbor, the rebel troops attacked the Fleet Headquarter, and Nizi was inside the headquarter at that time.

According to Wang Kaiyuan’s judgment, Nizi’s chances of survival were slim.

The reason was simple; on the list of treasonous personnel published by the Huacheng Authority, Nizi was second, with Spur being third.

For the personnel on the list, the Huacheng Authority was indifferent to their life or death!

Moreover, according to Zheng Jiangming, Nizi refused to be a fugitive leader and mentioned lastly that he would not accept the insult of a traitor.