Interstellar: Start as a cleaner.

Chapter 1349 Peace talks? I disagree.

Yang Bo watched with a smug look as the intelligence department of the Federal Central State contacted him.

Yang Bo provided intelligence to the Federation, which enabled the Federation to win a war against the Pirate Alliance.

However, some problems arose later, and the two sides did not cooperate.

Later, Madhya Pradesh contacted them several more times, offering increasingly higher prices each time, but Yang Bo did not respond.

This robbery by pirates has left Madhya Pradesh in a truly bitter situation.

Because this was originally a smuggling operation, it couldn't be made public at all.

Once made public, it could cause trouble for the company in the alliance, thus cutting off their source of information.

But the people of Madhya Pradesh are heartbroken because they have lost too many warships.

The loss of two more squadrons has only worsened Madhya Pradesh's situation.

The materials from the two transport ships were not worth nearly as much as those from the two squadrons.

"There must be a mole inside!"

"Check it for me!"

"What are you intelligence agencies doing?!"

"The number of people who know this is limited." The federal president and vice president cursed loudly.

The federal president and vice president are both appointed by the financial groups behind them.

The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that there are many dissenting voices within the conglomerate.

But what made the president and vice president furious was that no one wanted to be president or vice president!

People used to be eager to take the job, but now nobody wants to.

The two of them now have to do it even if they don't want to, and they will be ridiculed and pointed at by others.

So the two of them are extremely agitated right now.

"I think the intelligence community should bear the main responsibility for this incident."

"The responsibility for this doesn't lie with our military at all; the enemy's ambush location was too clever!" The Federal Minister of Defense quickly shifted the blame.

The head of federal intelligence sneered upon hearing this: "We in the intelligence community have absolutely no reason to do this!"

"On the contrary, some departments want to replace their warships with new ones and also want to settle some old accounts!"

"There are many more motivations for doing this!"

The head of the Ministry of National Defense was furious upon hearing this: "What do you mean? Are you saying that people from our Ministry of National Defense deliberately betrayed intelligence?"

"Humph!"

"Who knows? Anyway, the warships need your inspection."

"Why do you say it's our intelligence department's responsibility? Did you even investigate yourselves?" The head of the intelligence department was unconvinced.

“All the people in our intelligence department who know about this are under centralized management, and we have the entire process recorded on video.”

"It can also access all their communications."

"Therefore, I don't believe it's our intelligence department's responsibility." The head of the federal intelligence department directly deflected blame.

"It's also possible that the other party leaked this information."

"Don't you know who's behind the Pirate Alliance?"

"Many conglomerates in the alliance have pirate crews!"

"The company that sold us the materials might be trying to rip us off!"

"There are also government departments, the Ministry of National Defense, and quite a few people who know about this."

"Why are you saying it was our intelligence department that leaked it!" The head of the intelligence department, anyway, would not take responsibility.

The head of the intelligence department was also someone put forward by the Madhya Pradesh Consortium, and was even a core member of a certain consortium family.

The reason why the head of the intelligence department is to directly deny this matter is because...

Because if they admit it, they will be blamed, and the intelligence department will be blamed.

Upon hearing the head of the intelligence department's words, the federal president and vice president immediately retorted, "You intelligence department think you're right? How much valuable intelligence have you provided in our conflict with the pirate alliance since then?"

"Our Madhya Pradesh has suffered such great losses, and it can be said that you bear the vast majority of the responsibility!"

The head of the intelligence department sneered when he heard the president's words: "The military also has its own intelligence department, which is also well-funded every year. They are even more useless than us."

"Back then, someone proactively provided us with intelligence, which led to our great victory!"

"It's all because you short-sighted bastards are unwilling to agree to other people's conditions!"

"Now look what's happened. You've suffered huge losses one after another. Are you satisfied now?"

"I'm not afraid of god-like opponents, I'm afraid of you bunch of pig-like teammates."

"I'm not doing this anymore, whoever wants to do it can do it." The head of the intelligence department simply quit.

The head of the intelligence agency has realized that the situation in Madhya Pradesh is now too dangerous.

Pirate gangs are everywhere, sometimes attacking smuggling teams, sometimes going to pick up mineral planets!
We have no idea who the spy is.

Even the head of the intelligence department wasn't sure if his own people would leak information.

Because the various departments of the federal government, including the Madhya Pradesh government, are involved in power struggles between conglomerates.

For these conglomerates to gain more profits, the only option is to break the existing power structure.

Pirates would be a perfect tool for this!

So as long as this internal strife continues, the pirate crew will be able to get what they want.

The head of the intelligence department also knew that certain federal conglomerates had considerable influence within the pirate alliance.

It cannot be ruled out that the pirate group involved in this operation was controlled by certain financial groups.

The head of the intelligence department realized that this matter seemed to be directed at him.

It's clearly because those idiots in the Ministry of National Defense are incompetent.

Now they're making their own intelligence department take the blame.

So the head of the intelligence department simply quit.

The federal president and vice president are also having a lot of headaches.

I'll be cursed and pointed at by those people from the Madhya Pradesh conglomerate again.

Neither of them knew who had leaked the information, because anyone could have been the source.

This involves not only political interests but also commercial interests.

Because the pie of revenue in Madhya Pradesh is not evenly distributed to begin with.

Just like with the money distributed this time, some conglomerates are in industries with more disputes, such as war and cybersecurity, and therefore received more funds.

Other consortia received less funding.

In addition, some conglomerates whose mineral planets were destroyed are already furious.

However, the Madhya Pradesh Parliament did not pass the relevant bill on mineral compensation.

Of course, it's also very possible that the intelligence chief said he was sold by the seller.

Because smuggling is the easiest way for smugglers to double-cross each other.

The main problem is that the other side has the Madhya Pradesh government completely under their control, and the price they paid for this batch of supplies was already 20% higher than the market price!

Now that Madhya Pradesh has no mineral planet, those sellers will definitely take advantage of the situation and kick us while we're down.

It cannot be ruled out that the other party double-crossed them and then sold the materials to Madhya Pradesh.

Of course, this possibility is relatively small, because the materials were all checked by people from Madhya Pradesh. "This matter will be handled by your Ministry of Defense. Your Ministry of Defense's military intelligence department receives so much money every year, it's time for it to play a role!" The Federal President and Vice President had no choice but to hand over the reins to the head of the Ministry of Defense.

“Where in our Ministry of National Defense can we now shoulder this responsibility?”

"How much funding do our military intelligence departments receive each year!" the Minister of Defense protested.

If I agree, then what if I fail?

The responsibility lies with yourself!
"Then everyone should just quit!"

"Why don't we just surrender to the pirates!" The president and vice president were also quite angry!

"Actually, I think this is a good idea!"

"We have no fundamental conflict of interest with pirates," the defense official suddenly said.

The president and vice president exchanged glances.

"Although Madhya Pradesh is now wealthy, its economy has still been significantly impacted!"

"If we don't solve this problem, the consequences will be unbearable for Madhya Pradesh!" The head of the Ministry of Defense didn't actually want to go to war because his subordinates were all cronies.

These cronies are experts at embezzling salaries and making money without working, but they're complete idiots when it comes to fighting a war!

Although officers are being replaced, these replacement officers do not have much combat experience.

Fortunately, Madhya Pradesh had an advantage in equipment; otherwise, it would have been conquered by pirates long ago.

The true quality of the newly appointed officers remains to be seen and will be tested in war.

It will take a long time to develop combat capability.

Of course, the head of the Ministry of Defense also knew that there were many internal conflicts within Madhya Pradesh.

There are fewer people from conglomerates in the military now.

This would have another side effect: if the military suffers another defeat, the person in charge of the Ministry of National Defense would be pushed out to take the blame.

In the past, when the army suffered defeats, the officers at all levels were all from major conglomerates.

So everyone just turned a blind eye and let it slide.

The Minister of Defense is also a member of a conglomerate.

Therefore, if they take the blame, the conglomerate will also be affected.

"Of course, we don't necessarily have to negotiate; we can use negotiations to buy time!"

"Use this time to accelerate the development of our military."

"The pirate alliance has also suffered heavy losses so far; they have paid out so much in compensation."

"The Pirate Alliance was originally just a tool used by certain people to attack their opponents." The Minister of Defense seemed to feel that his previous words were somewhat embarrassing, so he quickly added.

After all, as the Minister of Defense, he couldn't win a fight and had to seek peace.

You definitely need to find an excuse for something so embarrassing.

The president and vice president both nodded in agreement upon hearing this explanation.

"Also, now that we have money, we might as well spend more money to buy intelligence."

"The Pirate Alliance has also ordered quite a few warships from the Empire."

"Given the character of those damned nobles, they'll surely balance the number of warships we deliver to the pirate alliance."

"If those pirates replenish their warships, then we'll be in even bigger trouble!" the Minister of Defense said again.

"Then who will go and negotiate?" the federal president asked.

"Naturally, the intelligence department should handle the negotiations!"

"If the Pirate Alliance wants to make a fuss about this, we'll just deny it."

"We've made efforts in many ways: on the one hand, we've held peace talks; on the other hand, we've purchased intelligence; and on the other hand, we've accelerated military development." The Minister of National Defense still feels that things were better before.

I dislike war the most. Wouldn't it be better for everyone to make money peacefully?

"The intelligence agencies certainly don't want to talk about it?" The vice president shook his head.

"Cough cough!"

"Just give the order to the people in the intelligence department," the Ministry of National Defense official coughed.

The president and vice president understood immediately.

Didn't the head of the intelligence department just shirk responsibility? He can just have someone issue orders to his subordinates, since they won't know anything about it anyway.

If anything goes wrong, the intelligence department will be held responsible.

Then Yang Bo learned of this news, because it was the Secret Intelligence Division that was carrying out the mission!
"Tsk tsk!"

"Madhyama State actually wants to negotiate!"

"Looks like they really can't take it anymore!"

“In that case, we can’t let you stop.” Yang Bo certainly wouldn’t let Madhya Pradesh and the pirates stop.

When the pirate alliance attacked the security network of Madhya Pradesh, Yang Bo learned about the personnel structure within the Ministry of Defense.

Every country's army has three factions: hawks, doves, and fence-sitters!
Although the officers in the Madhya Pradesh army, from top to bottom, are all from conglomerates.

However, a few of them are still very capable.

Therefore, Yang Bo only needs to contact these people and get them to perform meritorious service.

Then the peace talks between Madhya Pradesh and the pirate alliance would be a joke.

Yang Bo has set his sights on one target: the First Squadron of the Third Fleet of the Federal State of Madhya Pradesh!
The Madhya Pradesh Third Fleet is the same fleet that we gave them intelligence on last time, which led to a great victory.

The Third Fleet's First Squadron possesses one Class A warship, three Class B warships, nine Class C warships, twenty Class D warships, and other warships of various other types.

The Third Fleet of Madhya Pradesh is more accurately described as the Third Fleet of the Federation.

The commander of the First Fleet was himself from a large conglomerate in Madhya Pradesh.

This person has real ability, but lacks experience, so he can only serve as the commander of a squadron.

This time, there was a major reshuffle of officers in the Madhya Pradesh army, but none of the officers in the First Fleet resigned.

Because the officers of the First Fleet were basically all from this conglomerate.

The commander of this detachment is named Zhang Han!

I'm forty-five years old this year!

They performed exceptionally well in the last operation against the pirate alliance.

However, Yang Bo will wait until the time is right before sending a message to Zhang Han.

He would only provide intelligence when the federal intelligence agencies and the pirate alliance had formal talks, which would enrage the pirate alliance!
Then make this public.

The federal government will definitely have to defend itself then, saying it was just a delaying tactic!

This will only make the pirate alliance even more furious.

They believe that Madhya Pradesh has played a trick on them.

Then I'll contact the other pirate crews I'm working with and pull off a few more heists.

"Hehe!!" Yang Bo thought of Madhya Pradesh's prestige, which would be further damaged in the future.

Yang Bo wanted this effect, because once Madhya Pradesh had the resources, it would definitely deal with John Lee, this internal disharmony figure, first.

Yang Bo also wants the Pirate Alliance to continue fighting in the Central State, otherwise he won't be able to seize the materials he wants.

Yang Bo wanted to push Zhang Han forward to prevent the Central State from being defeated by the pirate alliance, which was not what he wanted.

"Peace talks? Did you even ask me?" Yang Bo sneered inwardly.

(End of this chapter)