Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 225 The Embryonic Formation of Strategic Strike
Comitan, morning.

A woman looked at the few remaining pesos in the cupboard with a worried expression, carefully calculating how long this amount of money could last.

The so-called "Southern War on Drugs" has begun, and there will be no peace in the entire Comitan, no... the entire state of Chiapas.

The peso became increasingly worthless, war raged across the land, and the drug economy, the only source of income, was brutally uprooted...

Border trade, which used to barely sustain a living, cannot be rebuilt in the short term because the CJNG massacred the local Guatemalans.

The woman racked her brains but couldn't think of anything else she could do to earn money—besides going to the slums and doing the lowest-level services, she couldn't think of anything else she could do to support herself and her children.

There was nothing they could do. The once-powerful gangsters were completely wiped out by CJNG without any chance of fighting back.

Despite their formidable strength, CJNG proved as vulnerable as a child in the face of the newly arrived Milton.

She pleaded with Milton with her child, but it was no use. Milton simply had his machines dig up the entire poppy field.

The husband searched everywhere for work, but now everyone is holding onto their wallets tightly, and it's impossible to find a job that can earn even a single peso.

"Mommy, Mommy...where are you going?"

The woman then came to her senses and said, "I'm going to make breakfast. Don't make a sound. Stay home and behave. Don't go out unnecessarily. Don't open the door if anyone knocks, understand?"

The child could sense his parents' unease, and he nodded cautiously, saying, "Okay..."

The woman opened the drawer, counted the remaining banknotes, and took out a portion as protection money to be handed over to the new owner of the land—although this money had been paid once before after CJNG arrived, the new gang wouldn't care about such things.

After carefully taking out the pesos, the woman turned around, took out half a box of corn chips, poured them into a bowl, added some water, and brought it to the child.

The corn chips were leftovers from the drug dealers and thrown away on the roadside. She was quick enough to pick them up and was able to give her child an extra simple breakfast in addition to their two daily meals during this period.

However, as soon as she pushed open the door and stepped out, she saw a long queue not far away.

At the very front of the line was a food cart emitting white smoke, with the words "Relief Station" hanging on it.

Milton soldiers and Tapachula police officers are distributing food!
The woman's eyes flashed, and she was about to take a step forward, but then she stopped in her tracks—she hadn't forgotten that she had been the one to stick her neck out before.

Later she learned how resolute Milton was in his stance on drug trafficking. She was already incredibly lucky not to have been executed on the spot... If she had tried to get food, she probably would have been kicked to the ground.

After thinking for a moment, she still didn't dare to go in that direction. She wandered aimlessly to a small bar nearby and symbolically ordered the cheapest beer, which was diluted with a lot of water.

She mainly wanted to watch TV in the bar and see if she could find a way to make a living through the news.

Of course, this little bar isn't exactly formal, and if you're lucky, you might get noticed...

"This is Televisa... It's morning now..."

"..."

The woman watched television, trying to glean some useful information.

The studio was brightly lit, the host was wearing a dark suit, and the background featured a scrolling red "Breaking News" message, with Televisa Channel 2 and the time displayed in the lower right corner.

"Good morning, everyone. Next, I will bring you news about the civil war in Chiapas."

"We have just received an update from the Chiapas State Police: Between 2 and 3 a.m. the day before yesterday, Tapachula Mayor Vic suddenly assembled an armed police force, which traveled through Guatemala to launch an attack on Comitan City. In just one night, they took control of the Comitan City government and council and declared martial law."

"The firefight was extremely intense. Tapachula police deployed armored vehicles and helicopters. According to incomplete statistics and vague information, at least 200 people have been confirmed dead so far, and the number is still rising."

"This station has received clear video evidence showing a large number of 'living heads' being buried alive in farmland in the Kalman community, with the victims suspected to be members of the CJNG. This horrific act is alleged to be retaliation for the CJNG's previous massacre of Guatemalan immigrants. The Pan Madre Group declined to comment, but sources revealed that the mastermind, Milton, has levied a 'counterterrorism fine' of up to $20 billion against the CJNG."

As he spoke, a blurred video began playing on the screen—heads fluttering in the fields.

The woman who took a sip of light beer was so frightened that she almost fell to the ground.

Isn't this the poppy field that was eradicated?!
Milton, Milton, the Milton he himself "disobeyed," after uprooting all the drugs, he "planted" the seeds of drug trafficking?!
This this……

The woman, while thankful for her good fortune, continued to stare in shock at the television screen.

Not only her, but everyone else watching TV in the bar couldn't help but hiss.

"The government announcement stated that the operation aimed to eliminate and deter the Jalisco New Generation Drug Cartel entrenched in Comitan. This should have been a celebratory war on drugs, but disturbingly, the original Comitan government has yet to provide any information."

"Experts analyze that Vic's motives may not be as pure as he claims. He rented a large amount of military equipment from warlords in neighboring countries and launched unilateral actions against other cities without authorization, possibly with the intention of gaining more land and influence."

"An anonymous professor at the University of Guadalajara claims that this is yet another escalation of the conflict in Chiapas state. In addition to government troops, drug traffickers, and insurgents, there is now a force from Tapachula that is completely beyond the control of the state government."

"He harshly accused the Tapachula government of acting in no different way from the CJNG they had eliminated, both being essentially warlord forces that controlled their own territories."

"The Chiapas state government strongly condemned the act, claiming that Vic's actions were seriously unconstitutional and would be met with armed repression if not corrected immediately."

"The Tapachula government, on the other hand, accuses the state government of being controlled by drug traffickers and demanding its immediate resignation and a new election. Currently, both sides hold their own views."

"..."

"Amid armed conflict and the continued depreciation of the peso, the economy of Chiapas is on the verge of collapse—unemployment has surged and there have been cases of children starving to death."

"As the weather turns colder, experts pessimistically predict that a large number of people will freeze to death in the area."

"..."

The Presidential Office stated that it is "closely assessing the situation." This station reminds border residents to avoid traveling at night and to stay away from military checkpoints and farmland areas. If any relatives are missing, please call this station's hotline…

The more the woman looked, the more depressed she became. After waiting for a long time without any opportunity to make money, she could only stand up and walk outside.

Breakfast distribution time had passed, and the long lines at the relief station had dispersed. The remaining soldiers were filling the nearly empty porridge with the last few people before packing up and leaving.

The remaining mixed grain porridge was about to be poured into the nearby sewer.

The woman finally couldn't resist and mustered her courage to walk quickly to the relief station—she had thought of a good way to test whether she was eligible to receive food.

"Sirs! May I ask who is in charge here? I am a resident of that street, and I don't know who I should pay my protection money to."

If she isn't recognized, the woman can receive food; if she is recognized, she'll know she brought money to pay protection money, so she probably won't be harassed too much.

"We don't have the concept of protection money here!" Hearing someone offer him money, the soldier was startled and instinctively took two steps back. "Don't get me into trouble!"

The soldiers, who hadn't shown any fear when facing the ruthless CJNG gang, revealed genuine fear on their faces when they heard someone wanted to pay them protection money, as if they had experienced something terrible.

The soldier glanced at the woman warily, making sure she wasn't there to cause trouble, before tentatively asking, "Are you here for some porridge? I've told you countless times, you don't need to pay for porridge. Show us your driver's license or other identification, and we'll register you and everything will be fine."

"Remember to come earlier next time..."

When asked for identification, the woman hesitated for a moment, then took out her driver's license and handed it to the soldier.

After registering her identity and finishing a whole bowl of hot porridge to dispel the chill, the woman thanked the soldier profusely and turned to leave.

A soldier's voice suddenly came from behind: "...Oh, I remember now, you're the woman who spoke with Mr. 'Hell Tax Collector,' right? Don't worry too much, as long as you don't become an accomplice to drug dealers, no one will make things difficult for you."

"By the way, the peso is currently plummeting. The 'Hell Tax Collector' wants you all to prepare in advance and quickly exchange your pesos for anything else valuable that can be preserved for a longer period of time, otherwise your wealth will shrink drastically."

"If you really can't find anything to exchange, you can exchange for 'Border Region Coins'. As long as you have Border Region Coins, you can definitely get food from the 'Hell Tax Collectors' - we have the ability to distribute food for free, you know this is not a lie."

"..." Startled by her exposed identity, the woman turned around to beg for mercy, only to find that the soldier had gotten into the car and left without making things difficult for her.

Looking at the soldiers and military vehicles in the distance, feeling the long-lost feeling of fullness in my stomach, and seeing the streets where order had obviously improved, a sense of unreality suddenly welled up in my heart.

The woman suddenly remembered something Milton had said, something she hadn't really paid much attention to.

"If I were a good person, wouldn't I find you a new way to survive?"

At this moment, the woman finally began to waver.

Perhaps, to survive, one really doesn't need to rely on drug dealers?
No! Perhaps drug dealers are the real culprits who stole their hope of living a normal life...

……

Comitan government office building, underground safe house.

Milton is having a brief meeting here with several important figures to report on the work progress.

"How's the food war going?" Milton asked casually, glancing at the reports on the domestic situation on the table. "Is the Arsu government still buying?"

“They’re buying like crazy.” Brandon couldn’t stop smiling after reading the report Veronica sent. “We’ve been putting on a great show, giving the Arsu government the false impression that our current food reserves are just a dilapidated house that could collapse with a single kick…”

Milton nodded, then instructed with some concern, "Keep him hanging a little. If he quits now and closes his position, we won't make much money."

“Boss, I heard that the Arsu government has started a new round of bond issuance. He may have already started borrowing money to buy.”

“Borrowing money is nothing, we haven’t even leveraged it yet.” Milton’s smile was cold. “I need him to keep spending money, spending more money, to buy my overpriced grain!”

"I'm able to distribute mixed grain porridge in Comitan City thanks to our young master Arsu who paid the bill."

"Maybe the money he throws at me can buy me a couple more pieces of new equipment."

The relief efforts for the citizens would normally have cost a lot of money, but Arsu bought so much that the expenses for food distribution in Komitan were practically nonexistent.

"Boss, I thought there would be a lot of people scrambling for the relief food after you distributed it, but there are fewer people than we expected?"

“Because I deliberately chose the unpalatable, barely filling food, just to prevent people who shouldn’t be receiving aid from doing so.” Milton shrugged. “Actually, I could provide better food, and it wouldn’t cost me much more.”

Do you know how much it costs to buy food for a city of 4 people every day to provide relief?

"It only costs $3500. If I replace the grains with bread and the vegetables with bacon, how much more expensive would it be? I may be short of money, but I'm not so short of money that I can't even afford this much."

Brandon's eyes widened: "Only $3500 a day can keep this city from starving? Then how come so many people are struggling to find food?"

“It’s very simple. What’s expensive isn’t the food itself, but the way we get it,” Milton explained. “The seemingly contradictory statement that ‘food for survival is not expensive’ and ‘people are still starving’ is not really a question of whether there’s enough money, but rather that food simply cannot be efficiently delivered to those who need it.”

"Even our attack on Comitan objectively created this problem."

"When order collapses, granaries may be looted or monopolized by armed forces..."

“A $3500 worth of grain might cost $35 to transport, and there will be layers of skimming involved.”

"Moreover, policies are always lagging behind... Often, people have already starved to death before the $3500 enters the funding process."

"By the time the supplies arrived, almost all the people had starved to death."

Brandon nodded: "...I understand."

After Milton finished speaking, he looked at Flora and asked, "How's CJNG doing? After receiving my video, did the bearded man have any thoughts?"

Flora shook her head: "An unexpected silence. It feels like you're playing a pretty clever trick... Judging from CJNG's performance, they would usually retaliate immediately if provoked like this."

"But there has been no movement in either Tustra or Jalisco, which is further away."

"They didn't even utter any harsh words, but quietly began to tighten their defenses and guard key cities."

Milton said, "If Elmenjohn had been a complete madman and psychopath, he wouldn't have been able to grow CJNG to its current size so quickly."

“Most importantly, you not only successfully scared the notoriously crazy CJNG, but you also made one of our old friends beat his chest in frustration.” Flora laughed with interest. “Remember that DEA agent, Winnie? She was already disappointed when she didn’t see your Jing Guan.”

"I almost fainted from anger because I didn't get to see the fields you planted this time."

"Hahahahaha!"

Milton said "Oh": "Winnie, she said the DEA is investigating a major drug lord in Chiapas, which should be Julio. So, is the DEA preparing to take action?"

“Yes.” Flora nodded gently. “Moreover, Winnie brought a very important piece of information—there’s a reason why CJNG has suddenly risen to prominence.”

"CIA."

"And the CIA's goals are very clear, I don't need to elaborate on that, do I?"

Milton suddenly realized: "That was me... We humiliated them, how could they not retaliate? I knew it, how could drug traffickers and the Arsu government cooperate? The CIA was definitely behind it."

Flora continued, "This is the calm before the storm. After the US midterm elections on November 8, the CIA may take its next big move. You are a foreigner here, and the CIA's infiltration of Mexico is very serious, so be very careful."

"So we need to strike CJNG before that time comes..."

“Yes, 'Commander',” Flora said jokingly. “Now that the rear area of ​​Comitan City is basically pacified, it’s time to move on to the next step.”

After Flora finished speaking, she unfolded the map.

The above simply marks the various important cities and the subsequent attack routes.

"Ahead lies San Cristo, a crucial point that cannot be bypassed no matter what—controlling this place is equivalent to gaining the initiative."

"Now we have the freedom to choose whether to attack the power plant, the oil and gas field, or the administrative center, Tustra."

Flora circled the three areas with her palm: "If successful, the situation will be completely reversed. Even if we fight on both sides, facing both the Guatemalan coalition government forces and the Mexican drug cartel warlords at the same time, we will have a huge strategic advantage."

"So, the most urgent task now is to take San Cristo as soon as possible, and then choose an offensive route, right?"

Why does this scene feel so familiar?

We can attack from three directions: resources, administration, and military. Similarly, it's a matter of outnumbered elite troops attacking a larger but less elite enemy...

One wrong move and drug traffickers could turn the tide of the “Southern War on Drugs”.

Milton tapped the table and said, "Bring me all the cannons, rocket launchers, and any other weapons capable of long-range attacks!"

"I want shells, lots of shells, countless shells!"

"Don't move the tanks. Leave them at the front to continue deterring the government forces—let them guard these kings of land warfare, and bring over the real gods of land warfare."

"I want to see the drug dealers and the CIA agents..."

"What is a strategic strike?"

(End of this chapter)