Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 113 You didn't expect this, did you? I was the one who answered the phone.

After a while, several cars were driven over, and the remaining seven members of the "investigation team" who were still alive were roughly shoved into them like livestock.

As Milton was putting everyone into the car, a police officer suddenly ran over from the side.

“‘Hell Tax Collector’ Mr. Chief, something’s beeping, would you like to take a look?”

Milton turned his head slightly and saw that the officer was holding a mobile phone—the only mobile phone in their "investigation team," which had been found in their car.

At this point, someone actually called these people?

"Interesting. It looks like the enemy is about to come out on their own."

Brandon understood immediately, took the phone, and handed it to Milton.

Milton pressed the call button, but before he could speak, the other end asked impatiently, "Mok, how's the situation on your end? Let me tell you, I brought more than 20 men from my checkpoint to support you this time!"

“I also contacted photographers and Mendoza gangs. Let me tell you, they’re great actors. I can imagine Milton’s face when they stand around the mine crying.”

"Heh... We need to let Milton, this new country bumpkin, know that good things like this, which are located at the border of everyone's territory, cannot be monopolized."

"Mok, how are things on your end? Everyone's getting impatient. Mr. Lopez is still waiting for your news... Why aren't you saying anything?"

This "neighbor" was clearly a chatterbox and very unhappy that Milton wasn't paying him.

Milton thought for a moment, and finally said sincerely, "I am Milton."

"..."

There was an extremely awkward silence on the other end of the phone.

So much so that the other party forgot to hang up immediately.

More than ten seconds later, a distraught voice rang out: "Milton?! It's you! Where's Mok?! Where is Mok?!"

Upon hearing this question, Milton made a judgment in his mind: this person's strength level is definitely not as good as Varta's; he's far too weak.

"Mok, which one of you is named Mok?"

A sense of panic swept through the car, and no one dared to speak.

“Alright.” Milton didn’t press them, turning to Brandon. “I just received a notification that the mining accident seems to have escalated?”

Brandon immediately stepped forward, dragged a woman out of the car, and threw her into the mine. Several other officers picked up shovels and began to bury her little by little.

Milton watched this scene and asked again, "Who's Moke? Hurry up, the phone's about to die."

Hearing his colleague's screams, Moke forced himself to speak and said, "I... I'm Moke. What's the matter?"

Milton nodded, picked up the phone, and repeated, "The 'Mok' you mentioned is indeed with me. He kindly asked what you needed him for."

The person on the other end of the phone was silent for a while: "Milton... this doesn't seem like a friendly visitor?"

Even a fool could have guessed that Milton not only withstood the attack, but also captured the "investigation team" alive!
Given Milton's penchant for recording videos and his tendency to make a big fuss about everything, the fact that someone deliberately attacked the mine and caused a mining accident must have been recorded.

The trouble is big.

If it were simply a matter of repelling or even eliminating the investigation team, it wouldn't have involved this much trouble.

It would be virtually impossible for Milton to intervene in the town's investigation by "faking a mining accident" afterward—with this example, Milton could claim that any future acts of sabotage were terrorist attacks rather than mining accidents.

Even if attacks are launched again in the future, they will only be simple military offensives, without any other factors involved. And this station chief knows Varta's fate, so he is even more reluctant to risk his own armed forces.

“First, you are the ones who have come,” Milton then pointed out. “Second, I will not allow you to slander the great Senator López. You wait, I will arrest you and put you on trial, and in front of Senator López.”

"Also, I really like your checkpoint. It's a perfect compensation for your involvement in the attack on my mine."

"Beep beep..."

The other end of the phone hung up immediately.

Milton looked at Brandon with a hint of helplessness: "It seems our neighbor doesn't know much about manners. He just hung up the phone like that without even telling me his name."

"Boss, this station chief is called Lyman. He's not as strong as Varta, but he's also less independent. In other words, although he's not as powerful, he's involved with more and deeper people."

“Excellent, excellent!” Milton nodded vigorously. “How’s the revenue at this checkpoint? How are the nearby towns? How do they compare to ours?”

“Well… as far as I know, it’s slightly worse, but not by much.” Brandon gave a wry smile. “You know, it’s hard for this place to get any worse.”

"Can……"

As the two were talking, the sound of several car engines could be heard nearby.

The miners, full of hope, finally arrived.

However, after they got off the bus, they looked at the scene before them with blank expressions.

Why are there so many armed guards near the mine? Why are there even helicopters?

What just happened here? Why is there such a strong smell of blood?

"Alright, alright." Milton clapped his hands. "Go on, we'll talk about it when we get back. Don't let it affect my taxpayers' work. Remember, security must be top-notch. If we are attacked, we'll defend according to plan. We have aircraft, and reinforcements will arrive soon."

The foremen immediately saluted and said, "Yes, sir, Godfather!"

Milton turned around, got into the helicopter, and flew back to the checkpoint's helipad.

Flora parked the plane and casually asked, "Boss, who are we going to fight this time? What new enemies have we encountered?"

Flora's team has been given a lot of projects lately, and she's finding it hard to keep up—mainly because there aren't enough people.

She wasn't joking when she said she wanted to bring the people from headquarters over as well.

After all, it's not easy to recruit people with relevant skills and common sense locally. Even though Milton has been focusing on education, it will take at least one or two years to see results.

“There’s not much to say about the north, the Sinaloa Group. But I remember they’re currently very divided internally; Guzman and Parma have officially fallen out. And as I said before, Chiapas and San Marcos provinces aren’t their territory yet,” Milton said. “Besides, there’s the insurgents holding them back, so the pressure from the north isn’t too great for now. The main pressure right now is actually the bounty.”

At this point in 1994, although Guzman was at the pinnacle of power, it would still be a year before he could completely restructure the Sinaloa Group and form a "modern Sinaloa Group structure".

“Currently, there are two parties that are clearly hostile to us. One is Lopez, and the other is the military, and these two parties are also in an alliance.”

Flora rubbed her forehead: "So that means we're actually surrounded by the enemy?"

Milton laughed: "Covering eggs with an iron bucket is called encirclement, but can you call surrounding a fire with toilet paper encirclement?"

“But we can’t go on like this. Being surrounded is very dangerous. We have to consider our logistical support. Being encircled is a sure way to suffocate,” Flora said. “What do you plan to do next?”

“Let’s stick to the original plan,” Milton said. “Let’s fight to the south, where the Pacific Ocean is… Only with a port can we truly have money and solve the logistical supply problem you mentioned.”

"There are big cities to the east, so there's no need to rush."

Flora drove to the police station, glanced at the tax office which was still under construction, and said, "South, port... you'll have to fight your way to the neighboring province."

Although the province of San Marcos is also located by the sea, there is no suitable location to build a deep-water port.

The port city of Ciampelli is located in a neighboring province and can be considered an extremely important economic lifeline. If it can be captured, it will be a devastating blow to the enemy!

“It doesn’t matter.” Milton shook his head. “It’s not like we’re in a province or a war zone. Our province, the province of Quetzaltenango to the east, and the port city we’re going to fight are all in the same war zone. They’re all our enemies.”

If we're going to fight, we should treat the enemy's sphere of influence as a whole and fight it together, eventually bringing the entire war zone under Milton's control, rather than simply looking at administrative divisions.

Milton's strategy was simple: first, capture the port cities and see if he could unlock the navy in the system.

With a navy, even the simplest and most basic gunboats are enough to give an overwhelming military advantage over the enemy in a local area.

With military superiority, we can seize the enemy's economic lifeline and form a semi-encirclement of major cities in the east before attacking the cities themselves.

"After capturing the port, we will advance eastward and take Quetzaltenango province... In this way, border trade, port trade, and the economic center will all be under my control."

Quetzaltenango is the second largest city in the country and is undoubtedly the economic center!
Flora took a deep breath and shook her head: "The Mexican border to the north, the port to the south, the economic center to the east... You really want to be a warlord!"

If Milton's idea comes true, and he can achieve his goal of controlling the provinces of San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, and Retaluleu, he will truly be a powerful warlord!
“It’s just future planning,” Milton laughed. “This is no small operation. The army here is no joke… They have more than one brigade of mechanized troops stationed in this area. And the special forces aren’t dead; they won’t just stand by and watch us fight our way in.”

Flora glanced at the map and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Well, it's not too bad. We're not completely surrounded... The provinces above us are still under the control of the rebels, so at least they're not our enemies."

Although the civil war is nearing its end, it is not entirely over. Moreover, if Milton can successfully annihilate the official regular army in these three provinces, it's uncertain whether the civil war will end in 1996 like it did in the previous life!

“It’s too early to talk about that now,” Milton shook his head. “Let’s take down the nearby checkpoints first and open up more import and export channels.”

Flora muttered under her breath, "You're not going to go fight Mexico again, are you...?"

"Hard to say."

"You really want to fight? Are you planning to fight the United States then?"

"..."

As the group chatted, the car from the mine returned, and the officers hurriedly threw the six surviving members of the "investigation team" into the police station's jail.

After Milton finished explaining the future plans, he glanced at the "prison," then at the members of the "investigation team" inside, frowned, and asked with dissatisfaction, "How can the police station be placed next to the prison? We still need to build a prison."

"Boss, we're out of money! We're really out of money!" Brandon quickly stopped him. "We've robbed a lot, but we can't keep spending like this!"

After sweeping away Fan Kangbang, the checkpoint, the hospital director, and all other remaining forces, the team obtained a total of more than $400 million in cash flow.

Of that, 100 million must be reserved to maintain the town's operations, reserves, and emergency response.

The remaining $300 million is enough to power the entire town, install cameras, build a tax office, allocate funds to repair defenses, and hire and pay so many people. There won't be much left over.

Many of these things are not purely expenses; for example, mining can generate revenue, but this also takes time.

As for purchasing equipment, Milton can use points to buy it—now he can also exchange his regular points for rifles.

"Sigh, so poor." Milton wasn't one to wage war and build extravagant projects. Knowing he didn't have enough money, he didn't force it. He just sighed, "Looks like I need to rob a little more... That stationmaster, what's his name, Lyman, right? Hopefully he can deposit some more money for me."

"It's alright," Flora comforted her. "From now on, you'll be a shareholder in our company, and you'll get a share of the profits."

Milton almost rolled his eyes: "...Come on, I'm too lazy to even talk about all the debt your company has. Just focus on keeping yourself safe from bankruptcy."

How can you say such hurtful things?!

"Stop talking nonsense." Milton interrupted Flora's rambling. "Does anyone know any legal professionals? Do you know how a trial is conducted? Don't forget, we have to try these six people tomorrow."

To be honest, the six men in jail were going crazy—they arrived late and didn't hear the whole of Milton's "strategy," but they did hear a good part of it.

What terrified Moke the most was not Milton's extremely frightening and insinuating statements that resembled those of the rebels, but rather the fact that Milton was discussing such an important matter right in front of Moke and the others, as if no one else was there!

Discussions at this level are only for the absolute core of a power; they are not something they can listen to.
Is it something a living person can hear?

Milton's open discussion in front of them suggests only one thing—this "Hell Tax Collector" already considers everyone in the prison to be dead!
Brandon shook his head: "Boss, I found a few carpenters and requisitioned a small hut, uh, it can temporarily serve as a court, but... it seems like no one here really knows anything about trials."

“What about that lawyer?” Milton asked again. “Where did the lawyer who was the hospital director go?”

Lawyers definitely know the law.

"I heard he bought a plane ticket to Tijuana; he's going there to fight a lawsuit. Well, he's not a local."

“Well… talent, our town is really short of talent right now.” Milton sighed again. “Flora, quickly hire a few legal counsel in the company’s name.”

Milton is willing to offer a slightly higher salary – that's how it is during the startup phase, there's no other way.

“We’re hiring.” Flora sighed, mimicking Milton’s expression. “It won’t be that fast. In our small town, even if the salary is relatively high, there aren’t that many people willing to come. And we also have to screen out those who aren’t very reliable.”

“It is indeed troublesome… After all, it’s a televised trial, so we can’t be too casual. At least we need to maintain a sense of ceremony.” Milton frowned, turned to look at the prison, and then at Moke. “By the way, among you six, is there anyone who knows the law and knows how you will be tried tomorrow?”

Moke was almost driven mad by this "hell tax collector" who could be so calm even when he was insane.

Does this sound like something a human would say?

However, the judge in their team couldn't help but retort, "You even know the word 'law'? You should first consider whether you're qualified to preside over a trial. Besides, there isn't even a prosecutor. How are you going to prosecute?"

Milton immediately looked over: "This gentleman seems to know quite a bit. What did he do before?"

As he said this, Milton waved his hand, signaling Brandon to bring him a piece of paper.

He wrote himself a simple letter of appointment.

Letter of Appointment to the Malacan Magistrate's Court

“Now I should be qualified, right?” Milton asked earnestly. “What’s the next step? How exactly should the verdict be made? Can a verdict be made without a lawyer?”

"you……"

Milton picked up a Taser from the table and fired it directly at him.

The judge immediately collapsed to the ground, convulsing in pain.

"I advise you to think carefully before you speak, and it's best not to let me hear any profanity. I know you were about to curse at me."

The judge, nearly electrocuted, finally dared not throw a tantrum and gritted his teeth, saying, "Even if you skip those steps, even if you sentence us to death, you have no right to carry it out!"

“Milton, no, ‘Hell Tax Collector,’ aren’t you short of a legal professional? Spare my life, and I can work for you, how about it?”

“I know you can’t let me go back after hearing what I just said… but I’m useful! I can be your judge, I can help you conduct this trial, as long as you spare my life.”

Sending people to be strangled in the tracks, burying them directly in the mine... the judge already knew Milton was going to silence them.

But he didn't want to die, so his only option was to seek refuge with Milton!
The other members of the "investigation team" immediately glared at them angrily.

In fact, many of them wanted to beg for mercy, but they hadn't yet realized their own worth.

Now, a teammate has betrayed them before they even got there! How outrageous!
Moke was filled with shock and rage: "You, you're going to betray me... Ah!!!"

Milton picked up a new Taser and fired it at Moke, silencing his nonsense. At the same time, he looked at the judge with interest and said, "Good, I'm very interested. Go on, Your Honor. You must be a judge, or a prosecutor, right?"

“I…I am a judge, but only a judge in the local trial court. I’m here today hoping for a promotion, to see if I can be promoted to the appellate court. I have no grudge against you, and no one in that attack hurt you. Believe me, Mr. ‘Hell Tax Collector,’ I genuinely want to cooperate with you.”

These words were actually spoken from the heart!

Milton saw on his panel that this person really wanted to join the team.

Once he agrees, he will truly be considered an "ally".

"Hmm...that depends on your performance." Milton nodded slowly, giving a perfunctory reply. "Then I, the tax officer, will temporarily step down as judge, and tomorrow's trial will be yours."

As for recruiting him into the team?

Milton was being merciful by not turning him into soap.

"Okay... thank you!" The judge exhaled, subconsciously distancing himself from his companions, and gave a wry smile. "By the way, your letter of appointment is actually useless. Even if you are the local administrative head, you have no right to appoint judges."

"Even judges in the trial courts need to be appointed by the Supreme Court."

“Once you get to the Court of Appeals, you need to be appointed by Congress… The reason I agreed to help Lopez was that he had almost secured a seat in Congress and promised that once the matter was settled, he would cast his vote and use his connections to get others to vote in favor, so that I could become a judge on the Court of Appeals.”

"Of course, I think you probably don't care about being appointed or not..."

Milton nodded: "That's settled then. You'll be in charge of the trial tomorrow. We have the charges and the evidence. I only want one outcome—the death penalty. They must be sentenced to death."

"Tomorrow is a live television broadcast, so I advise you not to pull any tricks... Don't gamble that your words can outrun bullets. I still have some gangster remnants on my hands that haven't been executed, understand?"

If the panel hadn't shown that this person genuinely wanted to join them, Milton wouldn't have entrusted the trial to him, just in case of unforeseen circumstances.

But now... heroes can check heroes, and good men can check good men.

“Yes, sir.” The judge nodded without a shred of shame. “I guarantee that the final verdict will be exactly what you want.”

“Brandon.” Milton said no more, waving his hand, “Move him to a slightly larger, slightly more comfortable room, give him a pen and some paper, and let him prepare for tomorrow’s trial.”

Flora watched the judge leave, then whispered, "'Tax collector,' are you really planning to bring this person in?"

“How could that be?” Milton shook his head with a smile. “Don’t worry, all I want is a unique trial… Oh, by the way, give me Lopez’s phone number. This trial is specially prepared for him; how can we not notify him?”

P.S.: This government doesn't recognize the University of Tokyo, so they just kill them all. No one is innocent, so don't have any sympathy.

(End of this chapter)