If Heaven hadn't given birth to me, I would be arrogant.

As soon as the old prime minister said this, everyone nodded in agreement. Even the old nobles who had always looked down on the main family and wanted to cause trouble for this newly established noble family at any time had no room for rebuttal!

The most conflicted among them, besides Fox who has always been suppressed by the main family, is also His Majesty the Blue Chess Emperor of the Rune Empire!

However, Lan Qizhan's feelings were conflicted at this moment. He wanted to suppress the Zong family to prevent them from becoming too powerful and ultimately overshadowing the ruler. But even more so, he wanted to establish the empire's air force, making the Rune Empire the master of the entire Holy Word Continent!

Finally, Lan Qizhan gritted his teeth and ordered, "Order General Zong Ze of the Divine Machine Battalion to come to the main hall immediately!"

Before long, Zong Ze, dressed in specially made small-sized general's armor, arrived at the main hall. As soon as he entered, Zong Ze called out, "Your Majesty, what is it that summoned me? You should know that I am currently selecting soldiers for the air force, and time is of the essence!"

"Insolence!" Whenever it came to the main family, Fox always liked to be at the forefront: "His Majesty summoned you here because he must have something to ask you. How dare you question His Majesty?"

"Questioning?" Zong Ze looked astonished. "Did I? Lord Fox, I don't know how I, Zong Ze, offended you. Why do I feel like you're deliberately targeting me?"

Fox was about to continue speaking when Lan Qizhan, sitting on the throne, spoke up: "Fox, stop talking. Xiao Zongze, I summoned you here naturally to ask you something, so there's no need for you to complain."

"Hehe, Your Majesty, I would never dare to complain!" Zong Ze said with a forced smile. "It's just that I'm preoccupied with the air force selection process and I'm a little impatient!"

"I summoned you here precisely because of the Air Force selection!" Lan Qizhan's face was expressionless, and his tone was somewhat cold: "According to feedback from the officials, you have many problems with the Air Force selection. Soldiers with excellent qualities have been eliminated by you! The officials believe that you are suspected of favoritism and malpractice!"

“Forgiveness and corruption?” Although Zong Ze looked young, he had actually seen far too many such things on Earth over the past five hundred years. Some people would even betray their country for their own selfish interests, let alone frame him, a mere general of the Divine Machine Battalion!

Clearly, his selection process yesterday had infringed upon the interests of certain individuals. Zong Ze had seen plenty of those civilian officials trying to infiltrate the military, but he had a good way to retaliate against them. Heh, I'm truly sorry everyone, but what can I do when I'm in a monopolistic business?

"Your Majesty!" Thinking of this, Zong Ze stepped forward, a hint of anger and grievance already flashing across his face: "This humble subject built the air force for the empire without thinking of seeking any benefits for himself. Even when Your Majesty bestowed this title upon me that day, this humble subject initially refused!"

"However, I later thought that His Majesty bestowed this title upon me because he trusts Zongze and has faith in my clan. In order not to fail His Majesty's favor, I took office yesterday and personally selected the elites. After a whole day of strict screening, I finally selected eleven people!"

"I did this entirely for the sake of the Empire and Your Majesty! If I must say I have any selfish motives, it is only that I want to do this well and bring honor to my clan! But now, someone actually suspects me, Zong Ze, of favoritism and corruption. I would like to ask, who is it that suspects me?"

As he said this, Zong Ze glared at the nobles with hatred on his face, and his body trembled in unison, showing his anger at that moment!

I doubt you!

Seeing that none of the nobles dared to stand up when Zong Ze directly questioned them, Fox, that clueless fellow, jumped out again, pulling out a stack of papers from who-knows-where: "I have detailed records here, listing the information of the more than 500 people you selected yesterday!"

At this point, Fox wore a victorious expression: "Elhao, 23 years old, First-Class Baron of the Empire, currently a squad leader in the Imperial Guard, was seriously injured while bravely rescuing Princess Hanli from assassins and was personally awarded the Imperial Warrior Medal by His Majesty!"

“Wang Ben, First-Class Baron of the Empire…”

“Elson, a third-class viscount of the Empire…”

In one breath, Fox read out the resumes of seven or eight people, and without exception, all of them belonged to the Imperial Guard!

After reading a few more names, Fox stopped, looking smug, like a fox who had caught a chick: "These people are all highly decorated, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them heroes of the Empire. But I can't understand why all of them were eliminated in yesterday's Air Force selection."

No one spoke; the entire room was completely silent! Even Zong Ze stood there dumbfounded, not uttering a word. Seeing this, Fox was even more smug. In his view, Zong Ze had been terrified by the overwhelming evidence he had presented!

"General Zongze, please answer my question!" Fox said in a loud voice!

"What question do you want to answer?" Seeing that Fox was asking him by name, Zong Ze looked bewildered: "Lord Fox, since you suspect me of favoritism, you should tell me your reasons for your suspicions first. But you went on and on about the deeds of the heroes of the Empire, but you didn't say anything about why you suspect me."

“You…” Fox almost vomited blood from Zong Ze’s innocent gaze: “These imperial heroes are the reason I suspect you. These people are all elites. If you didn’t abuse your power and take bribes, why weren’t you selected for any of these imperial elites? Is it because they didn’t give you any benefits?”

"So that's how it is?" Zong Ze nodded slowly, but his expression was full of grievance and sorrow: "Just because of this, you can arbitrarily suspect a high-ranking general of a military unit. Lord Fox, to be honest, you are the Minister of Finance of the Empire, in charge of the Empire's finances, but your intelligence... I truly feel sorry for the Empire!"

After saying this, Zong Ze turned around and bowed to Lan Qizhan, saying, "Your Majesty, since Lord Fox suspects that I have engaged in favoritism and fraud in the selection of soldiers for the Shenji Battalion, then in order to prove my innocence, I request that Your Majesty dismiss me from all my posts. I do not want to have worked hard for nothing and be wronged!"

At this point, Zong Ze seemed to choke up for a moment: "In addition, I recommend Lord Fox to be the commander of this Shenji Battalion. Lord Fox can even get such detailed information about the Royal Guard. I'm sure that a mere Shenji Battalion will be a piece of cake for Lord Fox!"