Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 233 Self-propelled Artillery, Unlocked!
"Whoosh—hiss hiss..."

Boom boom boom...

Within the city of San Cristóbal, the terrifying roar from the sky arrived as expected.

Accompanied by vast stretches of sea of ​​fire.

To further intimidate drug dealers in the city, Milton commissioned a batch of aircraft sound-emitting devices and required pilots to use them before dropping bombs, as needed.

From its initial low, muffled sound to its later piercing shriek, the sound exerted greater psychological pressure on the CJNG drug dealers than the incendiary bomb itself.

The newly arrived peacekeeping guards were doing well, but the defending troops, who had been bombed for several days, had their psychological defenses broken down after seeing that reinforcements had also failed, and many of them had already shown signs of stress.

Stuka's favorite product, everyone who uses it says it's great.

woo woo woo...

As the plane disappeared into the distance, Magnus, now in a terrible state, finally emerged from the basement of a small, dilapidated house. Looking at the sea of ​​fire before him and the drug dealers dancing and gesturing wildly within it, his face turned extremely grim.

With each incendiary bombing, people could be seen being burned alive in the inferno...

“Boss…” one of the drug dealers said, his face ashen, “Nathan has really gone too far!”

After the reinforcements fled into San Cristo, Nathan, as the commander of the garrison, not only failed to greet them but also attempted to disarm them!

This move was of course strongly resisted by the garrison that had fled in. After a long standoff, Milton's squadron seized an opportunity to bomb and kill a lot of people, and the two sides finally compromised.

Magnus's peacekeeping guards could remain armed, but they were deployed to some of the most dilapidated and dangerous areas—anytime Milton attacked, Magnus and his men would be the first to be hit and become cannon fodder.

The drug dealer was still complaining to Magnus, saying, "I just sent someone over to ask them for some food, but that guy hasn't come back yet. Nathan has some nerve; he actually dared to detain one of our men!"

"Not only are they not giving us food, but they're also not giving us fuel or ammunition... He's wary of us!"

San Cristó is located near the tropics, but in a high-altitude region, and it has recently cooled down to around 10 degrees Celsius!
It will be even lower at night.

Although the temperature isn't freezing, it's still freezing cold if you don't keep warm!
Combat is a high-intensity activity. In temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius, a strong wind can cause a person to rapidly lose heat and die. The high-incidence range for hypothermia is not in the extreme cold below 0 degrees Celsius, but in the range of 0-10 degrees Celsius.

The core issue with hypothermia is that the rate of heat loss exceeds the heat production capacity, rather than the fact that many people do not have sufficient and adequate warm clothing in extremely cold weather.

For example, the garrison at Magnus and San Cristóbal.

Many drug dealers and state police officers have begun to show mild symptoms of hypothermia.

"Ha..." Magnus sneered, "We came all this way, so many of us died, we even sacrificed ourselves, just to save these idiots, and now they won't even give us a single thing to eat?"

"What do we do?" the drug dealer asked fiercely. "The brothers only have enough food for one day, and we'll be out of food after today!"

Looking at the flames before him, Magnus gritted his teeth and said, "We surrender!"

The drug dealer was shocked: "Surrender? If we surrender, will Nathan give us food? Boss, I think he won't give us food at all, but he'll just let Nathan take the opportunity to charge us exorbitant prices."

"Idiot!" Magnus cursed. "I said surrender to Milton, not Nathan, understand? Nathan has already betrayed CJNG, so don't blame me for being even more ruthless."

The drug dealer's mind was starting to malfunction. After thinking for a long time, he asked with a hint of surprise, "We... surrender to Milton?"

However, although he was surprised this time, he was clearly not as strongly opposed as he had been when he thought he was going to surrender to Nathan.

Surrendering to Milton is acceptable, but surrendering to Nathan is absolutely impossible.

“Yes.” Magnus nodded. “Although we are now in dire straits, we still hold the city firmly… Milton has surrounded us and will surely take the city, but if we launch a direct assault, the cost will be devastating.”

“Milton’s men are all elite soldiers. He can’t bear to lose them, nor can he afford to lose them.”

“Famine can kill many of us, but it cannot wipe us out completely in a short time… Don’t forget, Milton has just finished a major war and simply cannot afford another one. The cost of this war must have come from his ally, Tapachulavik.”

“Milton is here to make money. The longer the war goes on, the more he loses, and the more his allies complain! He also wants a quick victory and doesn’t want to suffer heavy losses with us in Mexico, which would affect the war in Guatemala.”

"If we surrender to Milton now, we might be able to negotiate a good deal, understand?"

After this analysis, the drug dealer understood immediately, but he still asked with some worry and grievance, "I heard that Milton hates drugs as much as we honest businessmen have offended him... Will he accept our surrender? What if he turns around and kills us as soon as we surrender?"

Magnus thought about it carefully, then shook his head somewhat reluctantly, as if trying to convince himself: "No... As far as I know, Milton's only breach of contract was against the Americans, against the CIA."

"There are rumors circulating that Milton is targeting us because he has a deep collaboration with the DEA and is trying to undermine the CIA. You know, after being tricked by Milton, the CIA acted impulsively, reportedly costing more than a dozen lives. It suffered a fatal blow at this crucial juncture of the US midterm elections. The midterm elections have already started, and the Democratic Party is in a very unfavorable position. Didn't the Democratic deputy director of the CIA finally succumb to the pressure a few days ago, take full responsibility, and resign?"

"This shows that Milton's breach of contract was politically motivated..."

"Tricking us into surrendering and then killing us wouldn't directly harm the CIA. The DEA's drug enforcement operations only arrest people; they wouldn't ask Milton to execute us."

"So, as long as we pay the money, Milton will most likely just lock us up and not kill us... As long as we don't die, there's always a chance!"

Magnus's analysis was very logical, finding reasons from various angles, and even connecting it to the upcoming midterm elections in the United States on November 8, and the news that the Democratic Party was trying to win back votes by making the CIA deputy director take all the blame, which finally convinced himself and others.

Another CJNG drug dealer nodded in agreement: "I heard, I heard, that some people in Quetzaltenango were being clever and went into prison when Quetzaltenango was about to fall... One of them bragged to one of my brothers that he was living in a mansion in prison."

"I heard that one time they were caught by Milton himself while they were talking badly about him. But Milton didn't kill them in the end, and now it's said that these guys are still picking bananas and haven't been killed."

"He will definitely let us go as long as we sincerely surrender!"

"Then surrender!"

Magnus's small team quickly reached an agreement to surrender to Milton.

However, new problems soon arose.

“But boss… how are we going to get out and contact Milton?” a drug dealer asked. “Should we just take off our clothes and leave the city? But Nathan’s men will definitely find us.”

"Yes, we absolutely can't let Nathan find out, otherwise he'll definitely be wary of us, and then things will get complicated."

"Hmm... For example, we could secretly eliminate Nathan's men, or take over his troops and completely control the city. Only then would Milton be willing to let us off the hook. If we surrender, Milton's army will still suffer heavy losses when they come in. If he's in a bad mood, he might just wipe us out!"

"I... I don't want to be put in a museum and viewed by so many people..."

"Being planted in the ground is too tragic; they definitely won't be able to go to heaven that way!"

"..."

Magnus thought for a while, then suddenly had an idea: "Wait, doesn't Milton have a radio listening system... As long as we don't use code words, he can definitely hear our radio conversations!"

“So, send a few men to tell Milton by radio that we are willing to surrender, and that we can surrender unconditionally as long as we are allowed to live.”

The drug dealers were overjoyed: "Boss, you're a genius! You even came up with this method! I'll pass the word down right away... Milton's team is very efficient, we should get a reply today. If all goes well, we might be able to get some food and clothing from him!"

"We'll send someone right away, please wait a moment!"

"..."

Magnus watched his men leave, nodded, and felt somewhat anxious.

After waiting for a full hour, until Magnus was getting anxious and had smoked several cigarettes, the drug dealer who had gone out to tip off the others finally returned.

Magnus, somewhat expectant, stood up and asked, "So, what did Milton say? Did he agree to our surrender?"

“Agreed…” The drug dealer in charge of delivering the message didn’t look too good. “But the treatment he’s offering isn’t very good.”

Magnus couldn't care less about anything else; his survival instinct outweighed everything else. He was willing to sell anything now, and quickly pressed for an answer: "What are the conditions?"

"He demanded that we clean up all the garbage in the city. He didn't want to see even a speck of pollution on the street corners after he entered the city."

Magnus interrupted impatiently, "No problem, absolutely no problem... It's just dealing with such a small city, no problem at all. Just provide food and clothing!"

“That’s the next problem…” the drug dealer gave a wry smile. “The people in Milton mocked us, saying they would provide us with heating every day, dropping it down from the sky, but they certainly wouldn’t give us any food.”

Magnus, enraged, roared, "No food? Has Milton ever been to school? How can people survive without food? No matter how many orders he gives, how many times he points a gun at me, how many times he bombs us with planes, he can't order someone to live without food! Is he insane? What's the difference between this and just killing us?!"

The drug dealer hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice considerably: "The people over in Milton said there's plenty of food in San Cristori..."

Magnus instinctively retorted, "Where is there any food left? We'll be out of food after today..."

As he spoke, he realized something and his voice gradually lowered.

Everyone understood what Milton meant.

The reinforcements that entered the city had no food, but Nathan's side certainly had food... Milton's point was that surrender was possible, but only if the garrison was wiped out and the city was completely cleared; otherwise, he would never accept the surrender!
"Boss, we..."

A drug dealer's eyes were filled with a thirst for life, and his murderous intent grew stronger. He raised his hand and made a chop to his own neck.

"That bastard Nathan isn't going to give us any food anyway, so why be polite with him? Let's just kill him and take his food!"

Another CJNG drug dealer thought for a moment and said, "Boss, but the garrison's food reserves probably aren't enough either. Even if we take care of all of Nathan's men, we might still not have enough food... You know, fighting takes a lot of energy, so we'll definitely need a lot of food."

Magnus gave a sinister laugh: "No... we actually have plenty of food. Plenty, plenty, enough not only to eat staple foods but also meat."

"Ah..." The drug dealer was stunned for a moment, then reacted, "Ah?!" "To save our lives, and to punish that ungrateful traitor Nathan!" Magnus roared, "You've all come from the 'Extinction Camp,' haven't you already experienced this little thing? What's there to hesitate about? Do you want to be planted in the ground? Do you want to face Milton's punishment?"

Upon hearing these words, the already twisted CJNG members finally remembered what they had been doing before.

There's no way around it; compared to Milton, they subconsciously become obedient children.

"Then kill them. When?"

Magnus put on his bulletproof vest, picked up his rifle, glanced at the earthen tanks outside that still had some fuel left, and said coldly, "Distribute all the remaining food we have, let everyone eat their fill!"

"Then, let's take action tonight!"

"Yes!"

Soon, all the food and all the combustibles were distributed.

The middle and lower-ranking soldiers were unaware of the specific food reserves. Exhausted from a long day, they devoured the food as soon as it was distributed, frantically filling their empty stomachs with calories.

Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they were suddenly summoned and locked up tightly.

Magnus walked in with his gun, looked at the uneasy soldiers who seemed terrified of Milton, and asked loudly, "Have you eaten enough?"

The CJNG drug dealers and state troopers exchanged bewildered glances, but ultimately nodded listlessly, replying, "We're full..."

“That meal just now was our last food,” Magnus said calmly. “Now, we can’t find a single grain of flour.”

This statement caused an immediate uproar among drug dealers.

"what?!"

"Then what do we do in the future?"

"Will there be no food tomorrow?"

Magnus roared, "What's all the noise about? Just because we're out of food, does that mean the whole city of San Cristós is out of food?"

"We risked our lives, we braved enemy machine guns and artillery fire, just to come and help them!"

“And Nathan, that damned, selfish, stingy, ungrateful traitor, he didn’t even give us a tortilla, a crumb, or a grain of rice, just watched us starve to death… Does he, a man who has eked out a living in the city for so long, deserve it?”

The drug dealers were enraged upon hearing this.

"Yes! We came here to rescue them, so why aren't we given food? Why are we being put in such terrible housing!"

"My brother was burned to death this morning because the house didn't have a basement!"

"It was so cold last night, I was shivering, but I didn't even have a decent piece of clothing..."

"Nathan demands an explanation!"

"..."

These drug dealers dared not cause trouble for Milton, nor dared to curse Milton, but they did curse Nathan, and quite a lot of them did.

If you can't handle Milton, you can at least handle Nathan, right?
Seeing that his men's emotions were being stirred up, he said, "Tonight, everyone grab your guns, take our weapons, get on our tanks, and raid Nathan's house... then, we'll have a feast! Now, everyone rest where you are and conserve your energy."

The drug dealers' morale was completely boosted, and they shouted, "Kill them, and have an extra meal!"

Boom boom boom... Hiss hiss...

As Milton continued his relentless bombardment, the drug dealers present began to force themselves to sleep so that they would have more energy to do Nathan at night.

23: 50.

The city of San Cristó, completely without power, appeared exceptionally dark.

At the same time, a convoy in the east of the city turned on its lights and sped toward Nathan's headquarters, exuding a menacing aura.

Magnus, sitting in the car, thought about Nathan's repulsive face and stroked the military knife in his hand: "After this fight, I'm going to personally cut Nathan's scalp off!"

"Boss is really..."

Suddenly, one of the soldiers on observation shouted, "Boss, there seems to be a convoy ahead of us! I can see their headlights!"

It was almost midnight, and the headlights were still heading in my direction...

Magnus paused for three seconds, then suddenly roared, "Damn it, that's Nathan! He had the same idea; he wanted to ambush us too!"

"That damned beast! Not only did he not thank us, he even attacked us!"

"Fire in that direction! Open fire! Quickly!!!"

"..."

Boom boom boom...

Boom boom boom!
On the turrets of the earthen tanks, the firepower that both sides hadn't had time to unleash on Milton's army was now being hurled at their former allies.

One by one, the drug dealers, operating turrets, machine gun turrets, or AKs, charged towards their opponents with bloodshot eyes, all displaying a fearless and heroic spirit.

Seemingly dissatisfied with the darkness of the battlefield and the lack of intense fighting between the two sides, Milton's squadron returned, dropping incendiary bombs that illuminated the entire battlefield...

……

Comitan, Milton's forward command post.

Flora stood outside the command post, staring blankly at the intense gunfire coming from afar, completely bewildered.

After a while, she turned and went into the command post, sitting down in front of Milton: "Damn it! Magnus was desperate, which is understandable... But that idiot Nathan, did he really listen to you and try to drive Magnus to his death? He even handed over his brain as tax to you just to surrender to you?"

Yes, it wasn't just Magnus who wanted to surrender to Milton; Nathan did too.

Milton agreed to both sides, and the conditions he offered were actually quite similar.

And so, tonight's drug cartel civil war, which Flora finds utterly absurd and even comical, came about.

“Don’t talk nonsense. His brain is worthless and can’t be used as tax,” Milton corrected. “Besides, it’s not that he’s crazy, but that he doesn’t want to die and doesn’t really want to share the already scarce food with Magnus. I just pushed him a little further.”

“You’re really ruthless…” Flora sighed. “What if, I mean what if, they realize that your attempt to recruit them is actually to incite infighting?”

“Don’t say they didn’t realize it; even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.” Milton shook his head. “It’s a classic prisoner’s dilemma.”

"If both sides cooperate and continue to resist me and try to break through, it is the optimal solution for the collective; if one side betrays, the betrayed side will suffer the greatest loss; if both sides betray, they can gamble on the optimal solution for themselves, or avoid maximizing their losses."

"Individual rational behavior will ultimately lead to a worsening of the overall outcome—which is the scenario you are seeing now, with both sides fighting each other."

"Whether Nathan and Magnus are driven by emotion or reason, as long as they are selfish enough, their final choice will inevitably lean towards the worst one."

Flora rubbed her head: "So... you agreed to their surrender terms? You really won't execute them?"

“I’ve said it before, execution is the cheapest way to kill these drug dealers.” Milton’s eyes revealed a cruelty he had for drug dealers. “I want to squeeze every last bit of value out of them in their despair, pain, and hunger.”

"Whether it's Magnus, Nathan, or any other drug dealer, they all need to rebuild San Cristóbal and other post-war cities for me, maintaining a high intensity of calorie expenditure every day... and I will precisely calculate their consumption and intake, providing the most unpalatable food based on that data."

"I'm going to starve them to death, but this process will take one to two years..."

“Give them hope for life, let them struggle in that hope, and then give them a death of despair and agony.”

“Anyone who dares to resist, anyone who dares to do anything outrageous, or even anyone who dares to commit suicide, I will immediately send them to the museum to serve as new building materials.”

They will starve to death in a year!

This will make these drug dealers regret not dying on the battlefield.

Flora smiled and shook her head: "As expected... I knew these people wouldn't have a good ending in your hands."

Milton didn't reply. He looked in the direction of San Cristo, pondering when he could take the city.

Because once this place is taken, the Pan Madrecart's power will be enough to unlock new equipment on the panel.

[Type 2S19 152mm Self-Propelled Howitzer]

[BM-30 Tornado, 300mm, 12-tube self-propelled rocket launcher]

After Milton used towed artillery for so long, the complete form of the God of Land Warfare has finally arrived.

Self-propelled artillery!

(End of this chapter)