Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 226 Why Did the Governor Plot a Rebellion?
Flora listened to Milton's plan to mobilize a large amount of long-range firepower, pondered for a moment, and asked, "So, you're planning to bombard San Cristo indiscriminately?"

“It’s not that bad.” Milton shook his head. “Although indiscriminate bombing is a type of strategic strike, it doesn’t mean that strategic strikes mean directly covering an entire city with firepower.”

The US incendiary bomb attack on Japan was a strategic strike, and so was the Houthi attack on an Israeli cargo ship.

Tactical strikes focus on local battlefield objectives, such as eliminating an enemy regiment or destroying a bridge, serving the purpose of operational-level victory or defeat; while strategic strikes directly target the "foundation" supporting the war, aiming for the ultimate victory of the entire "Southern War on Drugs".

Milton wanted the Chiapas state government, and everyone else, to know that shells could fall on their heads at any moment. Anyone working for CJNG—oil refineries, food processing plants, power plants, grain silos, hospitals…everything, everyone involved—would become a target.

Collaborating with drug dealers is a dead end; you'll never have peace again!

Only by cutting ties with drug dealers can one avoid the baptism of gunfire.

"Let those drug dealers and officials who collude with them realize that even when they're having sex in their rooms, a random bullet could land on their heads and make them unable to get an erection!"

"Understood." Flora snapped her fingers. "I'll arrange it right away... I never thought that such a day would come when we would have the advantage in firepower."

Milton pointed to the location of San Cristo and asked, "Is the preliminary reconnaissance work almost done? Let's do a final check on the enemy's strength here."

Omar had already memorized the enemy's situation perfectly, and he spoke without hesitation: "CJNG and the state government have completely fortified San Cristó... This is another piece of irrefutable evidence that they are targeting you, or rather, targeting us."

"There are many M2 Brownings, and the only vehicles we can currently defend against this weapon are tanks; infantry fighting vehicles are very easy to penetrate."

"Moreover, they also modified a lot of 'homemade tanks'," Omar continued. "They modified civilian trucks, added steel plates and rotating machine gun turrets, making them very powerful and well-protected. They could withstand most intermediate-power rounds without any problem, and they were also able to defend against some full-power rounds at a distance of 100 meters."

Despite Milton's ability to pull out all sorts of 7.62x51mm M61 armor-piercing rounds and other special rounds, the vast majority of his NATO rounds are actually the most basic M80 standard rounds.

“We have reliable intelligence indicating that, with the help of some foreign forces, namely the CIA, drug traffickers have even mounted some old cannons onto ‘homemade tanks’ in preparation for taking over Chiapas state completely.”

Milton knew this information, but hadn't asked for details before. Now he added, "What reliable information?"

"Our customs officials seized a batch of ZIS-3 76mm cannons at the border. The Soviet Union produced 10 of these old guns during World War II. They are cheap, easy to use, weigh only one ton, and have a very simple structure. They can be easily mounted on a makeshift tank and can be used as a simplified version of a tank destroyer."

"Given their industrial level, the quality of their equipment must be very poor, the modifications are very rudimentary, there is no fire control, no stability, and no good anti-recoil system. In other words, it is only capable of moving and firing."

"But the problem is that they have enough numbers and they can indeed suppress the infantry."

"With so many rocket launchers, taking San Cristo directly won't be such a simple task."

"Moreover, they are continuing to send equipment and personnel to San Cristo, and it seems that they have no intention of letting us get through this hurdle."

"..."

Milton chuckled. "They think I only launch concentrated tank attacks at night? They're sorely mistaken."

"Let them keep sending things to San Cristo, the more the better..."

"Then they'll know what it means to be trapped in their own web."

Brandon asked curiously, "Boss, shouldn't we take advantage of this opportunity to attack them sooner and capture the city before they can deliver all their equipment? Are we going to wait?"

"War is about equipment, money, personnel, and fighting spirit... but is it possible that it's also about logistics?" Milton tapped the table. "CJNG was scared by me and panicked by piling all their people and equipment into little San Cristo, trying to scare me away or drag me into this quagmire."

“Elmenjo is not stupid. He knows that they only need to defend San Cristóth now. If San Cristóth is lost, they will be forced to spread their forces across three fronts, and they cannot afford to lose any of them.”

"But we, as the attackers, can concentrate our forces to attack."

"From the perspective of troop deployment, it is a good choice to pile as many troops and equipment as possible in San Cristóbal."

Brandon blinked slowly and continued listening to Milton's deployment.

“But the problem is, they didn’t consider another very important factor: logistical supply routes,” Milton said. “San Cristóleo can concentrate its defensive forces and won’t be dispersed due to the expansion of the front line, but there are only two roads leading to the city… what does two roads mean?”

"With just a gentle pinch, the entire already severely overloaded city of San Cristo will roll its eyes and spit out its saliva."

"Retreating to defend the three key locations may seem like it would disperse our forces, but behind them lies the vast expanse of Mexico, from which supplies can be continuously delivered. On the contrary, as the battle lines are stretched out, the cost of our logistical support will become increasingly high."

"The statement 'dividing forces is a foolish decision' is not an absolute truth; it depends on the situation. If combining forces guaranteed victory, there would be no losers in the world."

Brandon finally understood. He slapped his thigh excitedly and said, "I know! Boss, you're going to wait for CJNG to continue sending reinforcements and equipment to San Cristori, and then cut off their supply lines when the time is right, surrounding them without attacking."

“San Cristós is too small. It will collapse soon after losing its logistical support. Apart from airlifts and small-scale infiltrations, which are extremely costly supply methods, they will not receive even a single grain of food!”

"And with Vevetnango right behind us, supplies can be sent over continuously. We can wear them down with money?"

"Once the tanks in the city run out of fuel and the people run out of food, they will naturally lose their fighting ability. At that time, we can launch an attack and take the city without bloodshed?"

Flora sighed, "It's all about logistics... Actually, there's a solution, but CJNG just can't think of it or can't do it."

Of course there is a solution, and there are quite a few solutions.

For example, relying on the soldiers' strong willpower and combat power, they fight hard with meager supplies, crushing all fancy tricks with sky-high numerical values.

For example, they could launch planes and airdrop supplies like crazy, using a strategy of attrition to wear down the enemy by overwhelming their numbers.

Use countless tens of thousands to exchange for the other party's limited eight hundred.

Or look for other breakthroughs on a larger, more macro level... and so on.

Milton smiled mysteriously: "There are indeed many solutions to this arrangement, but a drug cartel with such a loose structure wouldn't have that capability... Besides, I never said that I would send troops to attack the city once San Cristo's logistics were cut off."

Brandon humbly learned: "Not attacking?"

“You need to think from Elmenjohn’s perspective.” Milton slammed his fist on the table. “Once we blow up the roads and blockade San Cristo, the state government and Elmenjohn will only have two choices.”

"The first option is to cleanly and decisively admit defeat. We don't want San Cristo, we don't want the people inside, we don't want the equipment. We should give up everything and focus on setting up the defenses of the three major cities that follow."

"The second option is to take advantage of the fact that San Cristo has not yet fallen and still has fighting capacity, and immediately send troops to attack us, break the encirclement, and rebuild our logistics and supplies?"

Brandon paused for a moment, finally realizing what Milton was planning. He gave a wry smile and said, "If it were me, I would choose 2. Choosing 1 would be too disastrous; it would be equivalent to giving up that part of the chips. Nobody can afford to lose that much."

"Boss, are you... are you forcing the enemy to keep betting so they can lose even more badly?"

Milton smiled and said, "This tactic is called besieging a point to attack reinforcements... It may not work, but we can give it a try."

Flora stared at the map, Milton's plan swirling in her mind. After a long pause, she finally said, "I agree with the overall tactics, but there's a risk."

Milton turned slightly to look at Flora: "Our encirclement is a bit thin compared to the enemy inside and the supporting enemies... It's like a pie, but with too much filling, and it might burst if we're not careful."

"Yes! There are still risks."

“There’s no such thing as a guaranteed victory. Besides, we need to leave the enemy with a glimmer of hope so they’ll commit more resources,” Milton said. “Trust our soldiers… they’re not in the same league as those drug dealers.”

Drug dealers are just a bunch of people who are after money; what morale do they have?
The soldiers in Milton's team, the Tapachula police who had experienced the victory in the war on drugs and tasted the fruits of victory, not only had a blood feud with drug traffickers, but also shared a belief—that they were fighting to liberate others.

An army with strong convictions, even with average combat skills, can still be incredibly powerful.

"Okay, let's set it up like this!" Flora was also a little excited. "If it succeeds, just this one battle will cripple the state government and CJNG!"

The people, troops, equipment, and reinforcements that had been stockpiled in San Cristóbal... were all wiped out.

To say hemiplegia is an understatement.

If the CJNG does not receive assistance from the CIA after this battle, this once-powerful top drug cartel may very well collapse on the spot.

The state government's fate won't be much better; stepping down is the bare minimum.

To put it bluntly, if Milton's military government had suffered such a defeat, it would have taken at least five years to recover.

"Then I'll go conduct the final mobilization for the war..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a military officer's voice came from outside the door.

"Report sir!"

Milton turned around: "Speak."

“Something happened at the city government, and the state government called to say they need to contact the mayor.”

Milton almost laughed out loud: "At this point, you still think a phone call will do any good? Are all these people who were elected by vote so naive?"

The soldier quickly said, "Then shall we just refuse to communicate?"

“No need.” Milton shook his head. “Since they’ve contacted us, let’s see what they have to say. Maybe we can find out their attitude?”

"The tactical arrangements are almost complete. Let's get ready to depart and see what the state government has to say." Milton patted himself, got up, went downstairs, and got into an armored vehicle to head to the Comitan City Hall.

Along the way, there were many people receiving relief who looked at the armored vehicles driving by with fear in their eyes, but unlike when drug traffickers occupied the area, they did not throw away what they were holding and find a place to hide.

Many people even raised their bowls of mixed grain porridge high towards Milton's team.

Brandon glanced at them and said, "It's not expensive to support these people, but it's not a long-term solution... The war needs to end soon."

“No need to rush,” Milton said. “These people will be useful later on… Once we take over the oil field and power plant, there will be a huge shortage of workers, except for the technicians who will stay.”

"Laying power grids, transporting and refining oil, building railways... which of these doesn't require manpower?"

"They're eating my food for free now, but they'll have to work twice as hard in the future, giving me far more in tariffs than this relief."

"..."

Soon, the convoy arrived at the heavily guarded municipal building.

Seeing Milton get out of the car, the soldiers quickly stepped forward, gave a brief salute, and said, "Reporting, 'Godfather,' he's inside, being held captive."

Milton casually asked, "How's the food?"

“Uh… since you didn’t give any instructions beforehand, we’ve been providing the food according to the standard treatment for ordinary prisoners of war,” the soldier said. “It’s potatoes or corn as the staple food, some mixed vegetables, and occasionally some offal to supplement protein.”

Generally speaking, according to international standards, prisoners of war should be treated in a manner equivalent to that of their own troops.

But Milton certainly wouldn't do that; he slightly reduced the prisoners' food rations, but still ensured they received adequate nutrition.

The food provided to Milton's army now not only needs to be nutritious, but also "fresh".

Canned meat, a luxury in the eyes of many, is something that can only be used when other options are unavailable.

Drug dealers and enemies would never receive this kind of treatment.

“These are people who collude with drug dealers, and can also be considered drug dealers,” Milton said calmly. “I didn’t say this before, but now I’m going to set a rule—drug dealers do not enjoy prisoner-of-war treatment. They are not prisoners of war, but heinous criminals.”

"The only criterion for their treatment is 'not starving to death'."

"Want to eat potatoes, offal, and vegetables? Dream on. Just disinfect the rat and feed it rat meat."

The soldier immediately saluted: "Yes, sir! Starting with the next meal, we will use the new standard!"

Milton waved and strolled into the city hall, arriving at the room where the mayor was "detained"—since the city government was captured, high-ranking officials had been locked in rooms completely cut off from the outside world, with only limited freedom.

Upon seeing Milton, Mayor Bodo of Comitan, who was still in relatively good spirits, suddenly flashed anger across his face: "Milton, Guatemalan! You, you... you are seriously violating our sovereignty, you are causing a diplomatic disaster."

“First, I am a ‘security guard’ hired through legitimate channels. This is your civil war, and I am here to make money. It has nothing to do with violating sovereignty—does hiring a few Americans to fight for me mean I can go to Clinton and say that the United States is violating our sovereignty?” Milton had a faint smile on his face. “Second, there are no cameras here.”

"Wha, what..."

Snapped!
Milton punched Bodo in the stomach, and Bodo fell to the ground, his eyes wide, clutching his stomach and howling.

Milton, however, felt no pity for him. Seeing that this mayor, who had sold out all his interests to drug dealers and still dared to accuse others, could still shout, he immediately stepped forward and kicked him hard in the stomach twice more.

"what!!!"

"Ugh... Ugh!!!"

Hakata's stomach churned violently, and he finally couldn't hold it in any longer and collapsed to the ground to vomit.

He vomited all the food he had eaten onto the ground.

Hakata only recovered a little after vomiting everything out, starting with acidic bile.

But the mayor, who was originally dressed in a suit and had the air of an old-fashioned Western elite, was now in a sorry state and could no longer maintain his composure.

Milton glanced at him and kindly reminded him, "Remember this mess you just threw up. You'll miss it terribly for a very, very long time to come."

Hakata dared not say anything more to this madman, staring at him in fear, and asked, "What...do you mean?"

Milton ignored him and waved his hand, saying, "You have hands and feet, clean up this mess yourself."

After saying that, Milton turned and walked to the mayor's office.

A soldier was already holding a phone. When Milton came in, he quickly stepped forward and handed the phone to him.

Milton picked up the receiver, and the person on the other end, clearly having heard the commotion, shouted somewhat exasperatedly, "Milton? Is that Milton, or Omar?!"

The nominal leader of this operation, Mayor Vic of Tapachula, did not directly participate in the operation—he did not concern himself with military matters, but only organized domestic affairs.

"You should introduce yourself first."

"Governor of Chiapas!" The man's tone was clearly proud and smug when he mentioned his identity. "Fred Whittaker! Milton, it's time to end this farce. You must be under a lot of pressure yourself, right?"

“With your strength, it’s impossible to take down San Cristo City—I’ve heard you’re good at intelligence gathering, you know I’m not bluffing.”

“If you withdraw, I can guarantee that we will end our full cooperation with the Arsu government, and at the same time, we will absolutely not violate your borders.”

"There's no need to inflict such heavy casualties, is that alright?"

"On the condition that you withdraw your troops first."

Milton immediately understood the message the Chiapas state government was trying to convey—with the pressures of civil war and economic crisis looming, they believed they had secured victory, or at least were in an invincible position, and therefore wanted to resolve the conflict in the least costly way.

So they could continue making money and continue to devote all their resources to suppressing the civil war.

The two sides are already at each other's throats, yet they still think about resolving the issue through negotiations...

Milton countered, "Or else?"

“Otherwise?” Fide threatened, “Otherwise I’ll march straight into Comitan and send you back!”

In fact, Federer had a backup plan; he had the call recorded.

If persuasion to withdraw fails, he will try to gain the upper hand in public opinion.

"I understand, you want to rebel."

Fid was taken aback at first, then felt a tremendous sense of absurdity and insult: "Rebellion?! I am the governor, and you, a foreigner, drove tanks into my territory, killed so many people, imprisoned the mayor, and caused a tragedy that shocked the world... I rebelled? No one in the world has ever heard of a top leader rebelling!"

Milton calmly said, "Right now, there must be CJNG drug dealers pointing guns at your back, forcing you to say these things, right? Don't worry, keep them calm. There are no drug dealers in Tapachula. Our forces will help you get out of danger. Wait for us."

Fede was so angry at this thuggish rhetoric that he snapped, "You're fucking talking nonsense! What CJNG? Don't spout off!"

He has completely given up on the idea of ​​releasing the recording—releasing it would be a disgrace beyond measure, and the phrase "Governor, why did you rebel?" would likely go down in history as a pillar of shame for the loss of state sovereignty, and Fede himself would be forever nailed to it.

“I know, it was ‘Shooter’ Julio who made you say that,” Milton continued. “He’s terrifying. I understand your caution. Don’t worry, Mayor Comitan has been rescued by us, and we’ll come to rescue you soon.”

"Ungrateful!" Fede finally abandoned all thoughts of peace talks. While lamenting the further devastation to their already dire financial situation, he also issued a threat, "Very well! I'll be waiting for the day you flee back to Guatemala in a sorry state. That day won't be far off!"

"A warlord from a cesspool country, thinking he's something special. Doesn't he know where he is? This is Mexico, not a place where he can do whatever he wants!"

"Just wait for your doom! Get ready to be sent to hell, 'Hell Tax Collector'!"

"Beep beep..."

Flora listened in the whole time, and only after confirming that the call had ended did she jokingly say, "Looks like the governor is very tough. That head of a field didn't scare him?"

“It’s not that he wasn’t scared, but that he felt he was far away in Tustra, that such things were very, very far away from him.”

Milton tapped the receiver: "Arrogant politician... In that case, I'll tell him how this war he started will be retaliated against him."

"Once the artillery is in position, the army will immediately launch an attack on San Cristo. First, we will launch a feint attack on the city center to force the enemy's outer defenses to retreat as much as possible, and then take the opportunity to occupy those areas and complete the encirclement of the entire city."

"Destroy the supply route and use drones for high-intensity reconnaissance of other possible supply routes."

"Aim the cannons at Tustragutierrez..."

"Let those politicians in their offices feel the 'war'!"

(End of this chapter)