Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 206 Navy
Guatemala City.

Although Arsu’s government is essentially a military government, and its parliament is essentially a territory where warlords from other regions share the spoils and reach basic consensus, the government still has a cabinet that looks somewhat legitimate.

Of course, from the president and vice president to the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, as well as the special anti-corruption committee, the National Ports Committee, and the Civil Aviation Administration, every high-ranking official is an absolute member of Arsu's inner circle.

Some mid-level officials or adjutants would be considered for positions with other warlords.

After all, many matters involve different regions—for example, the Caribbean Sea, which is the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean, is not within Arsu’s sphere of influence, so the National Ports Committee can only delegate some important positions.

At that moment, there were only two people in a high-end club in Guatemala City.

Even the service staff were dismissed at this time.

"Why send high-ranking officials from the 'Ministry of Foreign Affairs' to handle a matter that is clearly an internal affair of our own country?"

The one who spoke was a large, fat man dressed as a priest, unsurprisingly covered in various symbols, and holding a staff in his hand.

Although he was a priest, his various ornaments were significantly better than those of other priests, which was enough to show that his status was more noble than that of other priests.

"The High Priests..." The man sitting opposite the High Priest chuckled. His voice was naturally the one he had used to talk to Milton on the phone. "Things aren't going to be so bad for us anymore. It's not like we were the ones who came to you first, is it?"

Yes, when Milton and Lopez were fighting, the Alsu government also communicated with the original Voodoo cult, hoping that they could do something in the territory Milton had just occupied.

But it was ignored.

But today, it was a high-ranking priest of this church who took the initiative to come to their door.

It's very simple. Things are different now. This religion is now in need of people's help.

“Mr. Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Koch, what’s the point of saying all this now?” The high priest said with displeasure. “Now we have a common enemy, but back then, we didn’t have much of a foundation for cooperation. Isn’t that something even a child can understand?”

"If you were in Milton's shoes, what action would you have taken? Could you have stopped his army?"

Before they could convert cash into fighting power, only the combined forces of the other four warlords possessed the paper strength to rival Milton.

Koch chuckled. "Alright...you make a good point. Perfect, we need you to delay Milton."

The high priest sneered: "So you were all prepared all along, politicians?"

Koch picked up a tortilla chip, put it in his mouth, and shrugged: "You don't have to agree."

"The evil Khorne from the north has thoroughly defiled the gods, murdered several priests, and slaughtered countless believers... He must pay the price in blood," the high priest solemnly declared. "But the evil forces from hell are too powerful; we need help."

After news spread among the townspeople that Milton had swaggered to the church a few days earlier, hanging the bloodied head of a priest on his chariot and openly robbing the offering box, Milton's reputation in the primitive Voodoo cult was further enhanced.

No, it's no longer a nickname.

It was the "title" that the High Priests officially bestowed upon Milton.

Koch nodded: "Of course it will help... The president isn't a fool like Lopez. On the condition that you also fulfill our requirements, otherwise the assistance will be cut off immediately."

The high priest slammed his fist on the table twice in anger, nearly spilling some of the snacks from the bag: "The evil Khorne has declared war on us! He's declared war! He wants to wipe us out completely, he's waging a massacre! And you, are you still negotiating with your allies?!"

"If we lose, who will help you restrain evil and terror from within?"

"Rely on those gangsters? They see Milton like mice seeing a cat, willing to hand over all their money to avoid being slaughtered—or even just to avoid being killed, not to be innocent! These cowards are unreliable; only unwavering faith is trustworthy!"

Lopez's policy on grassroots governance is simple: large and medium-sized cities are managed by gangs, while rural towns are handed over to cults.

But the gangsters had already knelt down, and the city's grassroots had completely fallen into Milton's hands.

The only remaining internal threat that can be exploited is the primitive Voodoo cult.

But the original Voodoo cult was, after all, just an evil cult. No matter how many followers it had, it couldn't withstand Milton's complete and utter destruction.

"Unfortunately, it seems your faith can't stop Milton's chariot." Koch chuckled, still not mentioning his conditions, "Otherwise, no one's head would have been hanging on the chariot."

“Oh…maybe one day Milton will collect all the heads he’s killed until they’re piled up into a small mountain, then load them onto his transport plane and airdrop them over your church.”

Koch was just saying that to better establish his advantage in negotiations and put maximum pressure on the other party; he didn't really think Milton would do that.

But the high priest's expression was clearly even more unpleasant.

Since he needed their help, he finally showed weakness in the negotiations.

"In that case, tell me how you plan to help us and what you want us to do."

"In order to counter Milton, we have decided to upgrade our equipment." Koch, as the deputy foreign minister, spoke slowly and deliberately. "Don't think this is an easy thing. Don't think that we just need to tell the Russians and Americans, pay and place an order, and wait for the transport ships to bring the equipment over."

“We have many, many neighboring countries. If we rashly expand our military, it will disrupt the regional balance and cause diplomatic problems. Of course, during this period, thanks to the President’s efforts, such problems have been resolved, and now everyone can expand their military within reasonable limits.”

Of course, in order to prevent being attacked or suppressed, neighboring countries will also have to strengthen their own armed forces.

Military procurement is not simply a matter of buying and selling goods; it also involves political issues.

Koch explained why he had remained inactive and watched Lopez fall, before saying, "After upgrading our equipment, we will retire some of the older firearms and individual weapons."

"These weapons can be provided to the primitive Voodoo cult."

"President Arsu has already sent people to contact drug lords in Mexico and Colombia. They will bring you a new type of drug with even stronger effects... which can replace your ayahuasca and temporarily enhance your combat capabilities."

"And the original Voodoo cult can distribute these guns and drugs to its followers, so that they can use weapons to defend their faith... Haha, Milton once occupied the village, occupied the town, and besieged the city of Lopez."

"Now, it's time for us to use towns and villages to surround and occupy Milton's city... After the shift in power, let's see what other options he has."

After thinking for a moment, the high priest nodded: "No problem. No matter how strong Milton is, he only has an army of a little over 1000, at most 2000 men... He needs to occupy the port, defend the city, establish a defensive line against you, and guard the coastline to protect his salt production. He certainly can't spare many troops. Fighting guerrilla warfare is no problem."

Koch nodded and continued, "The second requirement is that Milton has acquired the port... He will definitely rely on this port to do business and collect tariffs for himself. What you need to do is find a way to disrupt his trade routes. For example, by using speedboats to attack merchant ships. In short, you can't let Milton have peace."

The high priest nodded again: "Excellent, a very good idea."

“Third,” Koch held up his third finger, “find a way to stage a terrorist attack, preferably one that causes significant casualties and attracts widespread attention. Let everyone know that this is the price of following Milton—they will live in fear forever.”

"However, I've heard that Milton has a very formidable and efficient secret police force. Nobody knows where this secret police force is, who its members are, or even what their names are."

“Lopez has tried sending men to Milton’s territory to cause trouble before, but they were caught almost every time and couldn’t make any waves at all… Be careful not to let your men die in vain. It’s best to plan an attack on him outside his territory.”

"Milton was extremely ruthless. All the bounty hunters he captured ended up in America—as spare parts."

"This invisible and intangible secret police force is now referred to within the government as 'Milton's Gestapo'."

The high priest then asked, "In that case, what kind of attack should we launch?"

Koch leaned back in his chair and laughed: "That's your problem."

"Are there a fourth, a fifth?"

Koch shook his head: "If you're willing to take initiative, that's fine too... but His Excellency the President's requirements are these three points: mobilize the followers to wage guerrilla warfare against Milton, disrupt his flight routes, and launch a terrorist attack."

“Very well.” The high priest nodded. “I can grant your request on behalf of the High Priests and His Highness the High Priest… I also hope that the support you mentioned can arrive sooner. Milton is no longer the ordinary Khorne; every minute of delay will cause him massive and irreversible destruction.”

"Three days later, in the town of Tiquisat, you will see what you want."

The high priest asked in confusion, "Isn't that on your territory?"

“Of course,” Koch said matter-of-factly. “We don’t want this shipment to be blown up by Milton before it even reaches you, leading to a messy situation… Anyway, the weapons have been delivered to you, so you have to keep your word. How you bypass Milton’s defenses and how you sneak in is your own business.”

“…Very good.” The high priest said, “Heh, Milton’s naval forces are weak, and his secret police can’t monitor the sea. Not bad, you’ve hit his weakness.”

"Then, happy working together."

"..."

……

boom!
A high-explosive shell flew out of the barrel of a 152mm howitzer and crashed straight into a primitive voodoo church.

boom……

The shell hit the bullseye, and the huge fireball and shockwave leveled the small church.

Immediately, cheers erupted from the artillery position.

"That was a really good shot!"

"Great!"

A few days ago, after Milton carefully extracted information about the original Voodoo cult, a crackdown on the cult began in full swing.

No, according to the "Hell Tax Collectors," their enemies are not only the original Voodoo cult, but also the warlords who have begun to join forces.

Cults may appear to be an internal problem, but in reality they are entirely "foreign forces".

Milton took this opportunity to train his troops, starting with the artillery. His artillerymen could fire, but because it was difficult to control factors such as humidity and wind speed, their accuracy was poor and their proficiency was low. They had to fire salvos to be effective. To accurately hit targets, they still had to rely on extremely expensive guided shells.

Unlike Lopez, where it's a direct clash between regular troops, Milton now holds an absolute firepower advantage, allowing his artillery to train freely. The same applies to tank crews.

Milton's heavy combined arms battalion previously had a total of 24 tanks. Although the number may seem small, Milton had exhausted all his efforts to assemble the crews of these tanks—the Warwind Company offered high salaries to recruit mercenaries, people were recruited from the surrendered army of Lopez, people were recruited from the resistance forces, and technical personnel were mobilized throughout the region...

This barely managed to gather a mere 24 train sets.

Now that he finally has the opportunity to practice in real combat, Milton certainly won't miss it.

At this time, Milton also left the front line and returned to headquarters to prepare for the next operation.

Quetzaltenango, Parliament Building.

This building, along with the adjacent administrative center, together formed the highest ruling framework of the former López military government, allowing López, as a member of parliament, to control a large area.

However, this place now belongs entirely to Milton.

"Hmm... who are you planning to appoint as officials in each government department?" Flora felt a little overwhelmed. "You've already purged the civil service, so for officials, shouldn't you appoint trustworthy people?"

“It’s alright,” Milton said. “Don’t forget our two town officials from before… they proved themselves and did a good job governing the town. They can be given a bigger stage to continue showcasing their abilities.”

"And the people on the resistance side, they have completely handed over their army to us. We can also let their capable people come and take up official positions as a reward—provided that they absolutely cannot be corrupt."

"This can also promote reconciliation between the people on both sides."

Flora thought for a moment, then asked, "What about Sheriff Riley, whom you met in town before? He's doing a pretty good job, and seems quite eager to advance. What do you think?"

That sheriff...

He has indeed governed quite well—the fact that the townspeople under his command have remained quite rational, even though other towns have been completely taken over by cults, shows that he is indeed quite capable.

“We need to test him again.” Milton pondered for a moment, not giving a quick answer. “I’ve seen the documents that Quetzaltenango has compiled. This sheriff has reported on his work many times, hoping to be promoted. He’s a bit too eager for advancement… This isn’t entirely a bad thing, of course, but we still need to be careful.”

"Once the nuclear contamination issue is completely resolved, I will arrange a new job for him."

"It now appears that Arsu's attack on me has begun."

"Neither side is currently capable of launching a large-scale direct attack, but Arsu has been significantly more proactive and resourceful than Lopez during the temporary ceasefire."

"After all, he's the president, even if he's only in name. He can indeed mobilize a lot of resources that Lopez couldn't..."

"We cannot sit idly by and wait to be killed; we must fight back."

Flora nodded, and just as she was about to say something, the phone on Milton's desk suddenly rang.

And it's a red-line telephone!
This means the operator considers the caller to be important!

"No prior notice?" Milton frowned, but still walked over and reached for the phone. "So sudden?"

After the call was connected, the voice of the operator came through.

"Mr. 'The Godfather'!"

“Who’s looking for me?” Milton glanced at Flora and pressed the speakerphone button. “Speak, and tell me in detail.”

“A warlord,” the operator said simply. “It’s one of those warlords, the Ubico family, who are said to control the Caribbean.”

Milton immediately looked up and met Flora's gaze.

"Don't transfer me yet. Give me a brief introduction to this warlord and his family's story so I can start talking to them later."

The operator immediately said, "The 'ancestor' of this family, Jorge Ubico Castaneda, served as president for more than ten years and had ties with United Fruit. He was later overthrown... But even now, their family maintains influence and military power in northern Guatemala, controlling all of Guatemala's outlets to the Atlantic Ocean. They wield immense power."

"The income from just the port of Barrios made their family a fortune."

"The current head of the Ubico family is Wyatt, who has two of his most capable children, his son Heinz and his daughter Eunice."

"I don't know any more specifics... their family's internal affairs have always been very secretive."

"Mr. Godfather, will you answer this call?"

Milton agreed without hesitation: "In that case, let's see what they want to say to me. Take it."

"Yes... the person you spoke to on the phone is Eunice. There are no rumors or nicknames about her outside the company."

"understood."

Five seconds later, the static in the receiver changed very subtly.

The transfer is complete.

Before Milton could speak, a slightly lazy and magnetic female voice came from the other end.

Eunice's voice came through: "'Hell Tax Collector', sir?"

Explain your purpose.

"Haha... Just as rumored, he's a very cool man." Eunice's laughter was pleasant. "I have some very important, very important information here, which will be very useful to you. Do you want to know?"

Milton replied coldly, "The moment you utter those words, I will know the 'information' you're referring to; it's only a matter of time."

"Heh..." Eunice's voice was deliberately seductive, "I brought you some information about Arsus, and you're this cold?"

Milton remained unmoved: "You must want something—and if your next sentence is just nonsense, I'll hang up immediately and get this information my own way."

"Sigh~" Eunice sighed, "Alright, alright... You should already know that Arsu is going to unite with other forces to target you, right?"

“Our family is also among his allies.”

"However, my father had a slightly different view on this alliance."

“Our family’s intelligence officers have analyzed this carefully and discovered that you have a deep hatred for drugs. And coincidentally… while our family doesn’t actively combat drugs, we don’t run a drug business either. Our main business is smuggling goods from the Caribbean to Cuba, transporting many things that Americans like to Miami.”

“My father said that organizations bound together by the drug trade will eventually become very loose. Even if a strongman forcibly binds them together, the organization will eventually fall apart after that strongman dies. For the sake of family stability and unity, we do not engage in this business.”

"Similarly, my grandfather, known as the 'Napoleon of Central America,' did not launch an extermination campaign against the resistance forces. Therefore... there is no irreconcilable enmity between us and you, but rather a basis for cooperation."

“My brother made a strong statement to you in front of Arsu, but that doesn’t mean we should act tough on you.”

“You manage your Pacific Ocean, and we manage our Caribbean Sea. We’ll keep to ourselves and even cooperate to some extent… Of course, the current government is in Arsu, so on the surface, we still need to cooperate to some extent. But I can guarantee that if the bridge of cooperation is successfully established, our family will only provide the work without contributing anything in the future.”

As expected, in this alliance of warlords, each person had their own agenda...

Milton's tone remained calm: "You still haven't said what the message you're talking about is."

“Father believes you are far more capable than Lopez. As long as you are not besieged from all sides, the outcome of your struggle with Arsu is still uncertain. He thinks your power is a great investment opportunity.” Eunice was still in no hurry to say, “He also discovered that you are still unmarried. That’s perfect. I am very satisfied with you, really satisfied. I am not opposed to this marriage.”

“You may have seen my photos… I believe that any man would be dissatisfied with me.”

I'm sorry, I haven't seen it.

Milton muttered a curse to himself.

It seems the Ubiko family has grand ambitions; they want to return to the very center of the political stage, seeing an opportunity in the civil war…

Eunice and her family had a simple idea: they believed Milton's forces had a chance of winning in the end, and that the benefits of helping Milton win would be far greater than helping Arsu win.

Offering help in times of need is always better than adding to someone's already good fortune.

Of course, they believe that the prerequisite for victory is that the Ubico family sides with Milton.

This person is treating themselves as the deciding factor in the game.

Unfortunately, they overestimated themselves—even if these four warlords were united, Milton wouldn't be afraid.

However, Milton never minded dividing the enemy from within. He said, "I can agree to a temporary non-aggression pact. As for other matters, we can discuss them later."

"Now, tell me what you know."

Eunice seemed to love to laugh, and her voice was as alluring as ever: "Haha... The goal is clear. Well, according to reliable intelligence, Arsu has reached an agreement with the higher-ups of the Primal Voodoo Cult. The Primal Voodoo Cult's power will be greatly enhanced, and their main force against you will not be on land."

"They're going to attack your merchant ship."

"You have a port, but you don't have a reliable fleet. It's like having a gold mine but no security."

I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do.

"Oh...and also, they're planning a terrorist attack. Nobody knows what kind of attack it is, so be very careful. I'd be heartbroken if you died."

“‘Hell Tax Collector,’ it’s time you had a navy.”

(End of this chapter)