194: Chapter 194 A Real Slap in the Face!

Only those who wrong you truly understand how wronged you are.

Zhao Zhenyuan had been in The Military for many years; it was undeniable that there were indeed scoundrels within, but they were a very small minority.

Most soldiers still considered protecting their home and country as their duty, let alone having any ulterior motives against the government.

Yet, the government's suspicion of The Military grew with each passing day, so Zhao Zhenyuan needed to change this status quo.

And Li Mo was his vanguard.

Therefore, in front of all the high-ranking government officials, he turned the topic directly to Li Mo.

"Everyone, I must clarify that the reason we were able to win this battle of the Qiyuan Mountains is not because of me, but because of Li Mo!"

"Li Mo is the greatest contributor to our victory in the Qiyuan Mountains! If he hadn't risked his life to hold off the five hundred thousand troops of the Black Earth Tribe with only two thousand soldiers from the Vanguard Battalion, it would have been very difficult for us to win this war! Perhaps the Qiyuan Mountains would have already been occupied by the Black Earth Tribe!"

"I believe that for this war, Li Mo should be credited with the top honor!"

Zhao Zhenyuan's words instantly shocked everyone present.

Most of them had not read The Military report; although they knew Li Mo was the primary contributor, they had not expected his battle record to be so illustrious.

Two thousand troops holding off an enemy army of five hundred thousand—this was a battle that could go down in history as a feat of defeating the many with the few!

"Is this Li Mo really that formidable?"

"It seems we really underestimated him! Those people from the Black Earth Tribe are not pushovers!"

Whispers broke out among the high-ranking government officials, and this was the first step Zhao Zhenyuan wanted to take.

Only if Li Mo possessed certain merits could the higher-ups permit him to station troops in the Misibi Mountain Region.

Of course, there were actually supporters of Zhao Zhenyuan within the government.

And this person was one of the six current government committee members, Liu Quan, who was sitting on the far left!

Liu Quan had actually come from The Military; after retiring, he entered politics, gained the favor of the previous committee member, and then rose step by step to this position.

Because of this, he was extremely favorable toward the Daxia military. Two hundred years ago, when Marshal Chen Han led The Military to purge the capital, it was only because the Daxia government at the time was too corrupt.

If not for that, why would The Military confront the government? That would be a self-defeating action.

Liu Quan always believed that as long as the government was a government of the people, then The Military would be an army of the people and would never turn against it.

In fact, if not for Liu Quan's backing, even as a marshal, Zhao Zhenyuan would likely have been held back at every turn.

The political views of Liu Quan and Jiang Wanchao belonged to two completely different extremes.

Jiang Wanchao's view was that The Military must be completely controlled by the government, and that many high-ranking positions in The Military should even be removed and replaced by government civil officials.

Only in this way could the events of two hundred years ago be prevented from happening again!

Just after Zhao Zhenyuan praised Li Mo, Liu Quan immediately stood up, walked over to Li Mo, and continued to praise him: "Li Mo, to see you complete such a magnificent feat at such a young age! You are truly comparable to Huo Qubing of the ancient Han Dynasty! This is a world-shaking achievement!"

Liu Quan directly compared Li Mo to Huo Qubing, and those in the government high-level aligned with Liu Quan immediately applauded and cheered.

However, the coordinated performance of Zhao Zhenyuan and Liu Quan also caused dissatisfaction among some people.

For example, the two old officials, Elder Gu and Elder Jiang, who had been cursing Li Mo earlier.

These two were already over a hundred years old and came from legitimate civil service backgrounds. Even in this era of Martial Artists, they only possessed the cultivation of the Hidden Edge Realm.

Most importantly, they had no faction within the government, a status that made them easily manipulated by others, such as those who did not support Li Mo stationing troops in the Misibi Mountain Region.

Once instigated, the two immediately stood up and reprimanded with ringing voices.

"What young hero? And Huo Qubing! He is nothing but a wet-behind-the-ears child, a mere brute! How dare he beat the Deputy Minister of the Department of Military Supplies in the street; it is simply tyrannical!"

"Such a little brat, and yet he is actually named a general! What is The Military trying to do by putting such a person in power? Are they planning a dictatorship in the future? Our government is not some military junta!"

Because these two held considerable prestige within the government, their words caused some worry among the crowd.

After all, Li Mo's act of beating a government official in the street was really giving no Face.

Even if Deputy Minister Zheng was at fault first, there were laws and courts specifically to sanction him; it was not up to Li Mo himself to carry out a lynching.

But they forgot that it was clearly Deputy Minister Zheng who was picking a fight and carrying out an extrajudicial punishment, and Li Mo was merely fighting back.

Moreover, Li Mo believed that his counterattack was not excessive.

In fact, if Deputy Minister Zheng had only picked a fight, Li Mo would not have punished him like that.

As the Deputy Minister of the Department of Military Supplies, Deputy Minister Zheng's reputation was already bad.

Usually, taking bribes, extorting, and withholding military pay were common occurrences.

The most outrageous thing was that once, when a regiment commander from The Military went to him to request weapons and equipment, he actually accepted a large red envelope from that commander before he was willing to issue the equipment!

And that incident didn't happen at an ordinary time, but before a war!

Not killing him directly was already Li Mo saving some Face for the government!

The next moment, Zheng Jiahao, who had been prepared for a long time, took out a document and placed it on the table.

"Everyone, please look at these documents! Deputy Minister Zheng has served as the Deputy Minister of the Department of Military Supplies for a total of fifteen years; look at how much private property he has accumulated in these fifteen years!"

Before long, this shocking document was circulated among all the high-ranking government officials, and the numbers on it were simply staggering!

Deputy Minister Zheng had over fifty properties under his name. Among these fifty properties, twenty were top-tier villas in various large domestic cities, and over thirty were properties in prime locations in various first-tier cities.

The value was immeasurable!

And this was just the tip of the iceberg; when soldiers from the Independent Regiment were searching for Deputy Minister Zheng's private assets, they discovered that he had buried over a thousand kilograms of star crystals in a warehouse in the suburbs!

One must know that the amount of star crystals a Martial God Family usually stores year-round is at most only a few thousand kilograms!

A mere Deputy Minister of the Department of Military Supplies possessed over a thousand kilograms of star crystals all by himself!

Furthermore, Deputy Minister Zheng had an account in the central bank of the Baiou Empire, which contained over two billion new currency!

This account was opened for him by the Baiou Empire individually, and the implications were self-evident.

It could be said that Deputy Minister Zheng had long planned to commit treason; if he couldn't make it in the country, he could completely run away to a foreign country immediately!

After seeing this evidence, even Elder Jiang and Elder Gu were instantly rendered speechless.

They had compared Li Mo to a brute, out of a sense of their own cultural superiority, believing Li Mo was nothing more than a reckless brute.

However, not to mention whether Li Mo was purely a brute, there is a saying: "Loyalty and righteousness are often found among the humble, while the educated are often the ones who betray."

Now, the "cultured person" in their mouths had become the number one traitor selling out the country to the enemy, and he had also embezzled so much of the people's wealth in the country; this was what you call a true slap in the Face!

The crisp sound of a slap seemed to ring out on the Faces of every high-ranking government official at this moment!