163: Chapter 163 Liquidation of the Conglomerates: The Iron Order Issued

Evelyn Strauss responded almost immediately, her tone remaining the same calm and precise one she habitually used at all high-level intelligence joint meetings:

"Mr. President, we must go to the Hopkins Family immediately regarding this matter and explain it clearly to Diana."

Everyone present understood the precise meaning of the words "explain it to Diana" within the current power landscape.

Ever since Zhang Long publicly designated Diana as the sole intermediary for the Longevity Faction's technological aid in the subspace floating city, Diana Hopkins was no longer just the head of that military-industrial giant.

She was now a presence "ruling from behind the curtain" at the White House.

All finished technological products, data, blueprints, and research authorizations obtained from the Longevity Faction had to be signed by her before they could reach the laboratory benches of federal agencies.

If they did not take the initiative to report today's incident to her and obtain her understanding of the reasons,

she only needed to mention to Zhang Long during the handover of the next batch of technological aid that "Solomon was not killed by the White House," and the Longevity Faction might notify the White House that this round of tasks had failed inspection.

Biden nodded slightly after hearing this, and around the entire long table, no one raised any objections on this point.

"Very well," Biden said, gently lifting his fingers from the tabletop, "Madeleine and Sawyer will personally handle the matter of reporting to Diana."

"But even if the Longevity Faction expresses understanding, what comes next?"

"We must produce some actual results for the task of eliminating all targets that affect the 'Blockade Earth' injunction so that we can hand in a report that can withstand scrutiny to those people in the Longevity Faction."

Secretary of Health and Human Services Howard Klein sat in the middle-right position of the long table, having listened quietly to everyone speak since just now, and spoke for the first time:

"Mr. President, although Solomon is dead, the entire network of Jewish Financial Groups behind him has not been wiped out."

"Many financial holding entities, lobbying law firms, and overseas capital agents closely linked to Solomon's funding and intelligence chains are still operating normally."

"Although these people do not possess the level of direct contact with alien forces that Solomon had, they still occupy key nodes in all public opinion, financial, and media channels that could shake the existing blockade policy."

"We can deal with this group first to prove to the Longevity Faction that we are indeed comprehensively advancing the cleanup work for the blockade plan."

Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Treasury Anna Hodgson pushed the coffee cup in front of her to the side, rested her elbows on the table, and spoke in a tone that was neither cold nor hot, but clearly carried the force of a rebuttal:

"Secretary Klein, you are right; there are indeed many people among the Jewish Financial Groups who have not yet been cleared out."

"But I want to remind everyone present of one thing: a significant portion of the Department of the Treasury's current short-term financing channels is tightly bound to the hedge funds, market-making institutions, and underwriting groups controlled by these Jewish Financial Groups."

"If you indiscriminately arrest them all now, the subscription rate for Treasury bond auctions will plummet within forty-eight hours."

"Without obtaining technological aid from the Longevity Faction, the liquidity of the military supply chain will directly contract. By then, we won't even be able to operate our existing fleet, let alone deal with the Zeta Star's million-strong fleet."

Klein turned his hands over and spread them out on the table, his tone remaining steady but becoming more direct:

"Deputy Secretary Hodgson, I understand your concerns."

"But if I am not mistaken, it is the Longevity Faction that currently holds all the technological aid we need."

"If the job isn't done well, none of our positions will be secure."

"If we cannot even complete the cleanup of a batch of Jewish Financial Groups that are hindering the blockade plan, how will Lord Zhang Long view our reliability in the eyes of the Deep State?"

"Have you calculated this consequence?"

He slowly pressed his spread palms onto the tabletop, his gaze sweeping across all his colleagues present, speaking word by word,

"I also know that some of you present have dealings with them that go beyond the official level."

"But in this matter, which has already reached a crossroads, I hope you will cut off all unnecessary relationships."

"Otherwise, when the Longevity Faction refuses to accept our report, we will all fall off the cliff together!"

The air in the entire Situation Room was compressed to an extremely low level at that moment.

Alan Holt lowered his head slightly and pressed a private communication record at his side, marked with his past contacts with several Jewish lobbying law firms, to the very bottom of a thick stack of documents.

Secretary of the Interior Gretchen Russell silently closed the notepad containing a proposal note she had originally placed on the table, intending to speak on behalf of a certain Jewish capital underwriting institution.

Secretary of Education Michael Sanderson pushed the memorandum he had been keeping by his knee, ready to plead for certain Jewish university donors at any time, deep into a kraft paper bag at his feet.

Everyone who might have expressed dissent on this matter chose silence simultaneously.

After all, although those Jewish Financial Groups were good at using money to win people over, relationships bought with money were also the least secure.

When everyone realized that the President had just offended Harris, Graves, and a large group of high-ranking military officials who all wanted to advance cooperation with the Longevity Faction,

and that anyone who blocked any step of this process could be listed on the tacit cleanup list just like Solomon, no one went to speak for those Jewish Financial Groups anymore.

Biden crossed his hands and placed them on the table, his tone returning to his usual conciseness and decisiveness:

"Investigate those Jewish Financial Groups closest to Solomon:"

"Klaus Eberhardt of Goldman Sachs, Yakov Mendelssohn of Manhattan Capital Management Group, the holding company of UnitedHealth Group, and those offshore trust institution managers who have managed money for the Crane Family in the Cayman Islands."

"Regardless of whether they have any connection to Mothman, find a charge and lock them all up first."

"This matter will be a joint operation by the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice; execute it immediately."

After handling the matter of these Jewish Financial Groups, Attorney General Evan McCarthy stood up from the middle section of the long table.

He closed the memorandum in front of him, which he hadn't flipped through much, rested his hands on the edge of the table, and spoke in a tone calmer than when Graves had slammed the table earlier, but every word carried a sense of urgency forced out by a countdown:

"Mr. President, we must speed up now."

"The matter of Solomon has already been disrupted by The Five Great Families, and our own progress has been delayed."

"The next matter, dealing with Prant, absolutely cannot be dragged out."

"If we drag it out any longer, once he speaks at a campaign rally and dumps everything out—the alien data, the government covering up the Deep State blocking communications, and the like—the social chaos we just suppressed will explode again from beneath the blockade within forty-eight hours."

"By then, even if we have obtained the technological aid from the Longevity Faction, the trust of the general public will have already been squandered."

"We must first remove him from the campaign list before we can consider what follows."