Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 235 Oil May Also Breed Milton

31st Brigade of the Mexican Army, northern Chiapas.

As military personnel stationed long-term in Chiapas, all soldiers feel that things are getting increasingly difficult lately.

Since 1970, the Mexican army has been phasing out tanks and equipping its troops with only light armor. Like the armies of other Latin American countries, the Mexican army has been declining day by day.

There have even been cases of military personnel being owed wages.

Fortunately, the Zapatista uprising broke out relatively "timely," and the 31st Brigade undertook the task of suppressing the rebellion, which improved its equipment level.

The intensity of the war is currently very low, and the president has been forced to announce a ceasefire, with both sides guarding their respective spheres of influence.

At this moment, in the 31st Brigade's barracks, a brigadier general was eating and watching the news.

"The US midterm elections have ended, and the Democratic Party suffered an epic defeat. Under President Clinton, the Republican Party ended the Democratic Party's 40-year monopoly on the House of Representatives, gaining a huge advantage with 245 seats to 182 seats. Republicans call it a 'revolution.' According to reports, the CIA's major failure, heavy losses, and high level of corruption in Guatemala in the lead-up to the election had a huge impact on the election, changing the stance of a large number of voters."

"In the Senate, the Republicans gained 10 seats, bringing their total to 54 to 46, a huge victory for them as well, and they gained control of both the House and the Senate."

"Republican congressmen believe that Clinton will become a completely lame-duck president and the ninth president in U.S. history to lose a re-election election..."

"The Clinton administration claimed it would abandon radical reforms for the remainder of its term and instead support welfare reform and a balanced budget bill."

"..."

"Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gotari's term ends on December 1st this year, and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Ernesto Zedillo will be sworn in on the same day..."

The officer looked at the news about the domestic election and couldn't help but sneer: "Salinas... that corrupt bastard that even crows wouldn't gnaw on his corpse, has finally stepped down."

Even a dog on the side of the road in Mexico knows that Salinas has huge connections with drug traffickers, both domestically and in Colombia.

During Salinas's tenure, the military and police were consistently owed wages, causing these institutions, which were supposed to maintain national order, to become thoroughly corrupt and degenerate at an alarming rate.

One of the adjutants laughed along: "Let's hope the new president will act like a human being."

"It doesn't matter." The brigadier general shrugged, his expression one of nonchalance. "Our 31st Brigade doesn't need the government to feed itself."

"Hehe... The state government rented our equipment a few days ago, and the money they made is enough to cover all their expenses for this month."

"Fighting has broken out on the border! Fighting! Good! The fiercer the fighting, the more money we have to spend!"

Recently, both the newly emerging CJNG and the state government of Mexico have had to strengthen their ties with the military due to the increasingly serious violence.

The adjutant couldn't help but chuckle: "General, I think we've gone a bit too far. Have we given those CJNG bugs and the state government too much equipment? If they drive away the people in Tapachula and Guatemala in one go, who will come to us to rent equipment in the future?"

The brigadier general nodded slightly: "You're right... It's mainly because they gave too much. They definitely won't do that next time."

“It’s alright… My staff and I have analyzed it. Milton’s failure this time shouldn’t mean he loses all his territory. At most, he’ll have to retreat to Comitan City.”

“He has Vevetnango behind him, and there’s a whole bunch of retired guerrilla veterans there. I think Milton can afford to lose this time.”

The adjutant nodded: "Next time they want to rent equipment from us, we'll have to make an excuse that the insurgents are causing trouble again and we can't lend it to them. If they're under less pressure, we won't make any money..."

The brigadier general was watching international news when he took a bite of an extremely spicy Mexican chili pepper, enjoying the dual stimulation of his mind and mouth, when the hotline next to him suddenly rang.

"Heh..." The brigadier general took a sip of water. "Calling me now, I guess they've got good news to report, right? Come on, let's bet $20 that these damn politicians will immediately switch their tune after winning a battle."

"From this point of view, the brothers in the drug cartel are more savvy... as long as you are willing to cooperate, they are willing to pay."

Drug cartels typically try to win over the military first. If they can't win over individuals, they'll assassinate them. Only when they can't win over the entire force will they resort to violent confrontation with the military.

After placing the bet, the comrade answered the phone.

"'Shooter'? Or our esteemed Governor, Mr. Fied?" the Brigadier General greeted him. "You took out Milton in such a short time? Looks like you're quite efficient."

"Now that the battle is over, shouldn't you return our equipment? Don't forget, the insurgents are still in front of us... those assault guns are our most important equipment."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time.

Finally, Fide's somber voice rang out: "...Your equipment is gone forever."

He had initially thought the state politicians would revert to their arrogant attitude, but he hadn't expected this response. The brigadier, disregarding his $20 win, immediately erupted in a tirade: "Fed, what the hell do you mean?! You're going to confiscate our equipment?! You dare confiscate military equipment?!"

"You've got some nerve! I bet you don't want to be governor anymore!"

“Let me tell you, the rebels aren’t causing trouble now because we’re here on the front lines; and Vic of Tapachula is wary of you now because we’re here!”

"If you dare to seize the army's weapons, you can just wait to die, wait for the insurgents to tear you to pieces, wait for the incredibly wealthy Vic to storm into the parliament building and drag you, along with all those greedy, insane members of parliament next to you, to the Jingguan Museum next door as a tourist attraction!!!"

The brigadier general panicked; he was really panicked.

The ERC-90 assault guns and various ZIS-3 howitzers mounted on local tanks are all treasures of the army. The army must have been prepared for losses when they were leased out. If they were all seized, it would be an absolute huge loss.

The rent is completely insufficient to buy this equipment!

After Brigadier General Federer finished his tirade and vented all his anger, he slowly spoke up, "It wasn't us who seized your military equipment."

The brigadier general, who was originally planning to continue hurling insults and threats, wanted to keep going. If it wasn't the state government that seized the equipment, could it be Milton who seized it?

He then remained silent for a long time, as if suppressing something: "So, you mean you didn't beat Milton and lost a lot of equipment?"

Fide felt a sense of humiliation, like a civil official being openly insulted by a military general, yet forced to rely on them to save his life. "...Yes."

"Damn it!" The brigadier general was even angrier. "You have over 2000 men! Over 2000 men! Aren't you supposed to be the most ruthless and powerful CJNG? And you can't even beat Milton's team, which is mostly made up of police officers and a few veterans?"

"waste!"

"And we even provided so much advanced equipment!"

Fide also wanted to say that in the early stages of the uprising, the Mexican army deployed nearly 2 regular troops in Chiapas, but in the end, they still failed to completely suppress the uprising.
The rebel army numbered only two or three thousand...

But Fide took a deep breath and said, “This is not the time to talk about this… Milton has won a great victory and has already advanced and occupied San Cristo. Do you understand what that means? Vic of Tapachula, and that madman Milton, they are fundamentally different from the rebels. You are a soldier, you are a general, you have fought the rebels head-on, you know very well what I am talking about.”

The Zapatista Army is a decentralized organization that integrates civilian and military personnel. Its members are farmers, teachers, or community leaders in peacetime, and take up arms to fight in wartime. Unlike regular soldiers, it has no fixed organizational structure.

The insurgents were not an isolated armed force, but rather a "community defense force" embedded in the local society, and their political demands were simply "anti-discrimination, Mayan land rights," etc.

But Milton and his gang of lunatics are completely different!
Tapachula is a city government dissatisfied with the state government. It launched an uprising on the grounds that the local legally elected government violated the constitution, and its political demand is to overthrow the current state government!
To put it bluntly, this is another regular army, one with a political program, a centralized regular army!

How can this be compared to the mother of the rebel army?

If Viktor succeeds, all the old interest groups will lose their heads!

The brigadier general wanted to continue his tirade, but after hearing what Fede said, he opened his mouth but didn't finish.

"...Tell me how you were defeated, how much strength we have left, when we can regroup, what the extent of Milton's losses are, and how long we need to rest."

"Where will his next move be? Will he head north to attack oil fields, directly seize the administrative center, or head south to attack hydroelectric power stations?"

“Alas! With the loss of San Cristo, Milton has completely seized the initiative. If we want to support these cities, we can only enter from the rear and fight Milton head-on. We can no longer cut off his retreat.”

Chiapas has a complex terrain and poor infrastructure; San Cristó is a city built at a crossroads. Without roads, heavy equipment has no way to flank, and light infantry without heavy equipment are no match for Milton's ridiculously powerful elite soldiers, except to die.

After listening to the brigadier general's words, Feder took a deep breath and said, "We have no strength left. All the men, all the equipment, all lost—we have been wiped out."

"Completely annihilated?!" the brigadier general roared. "2000 men, completely annihilated?! Completely annihilated?! Do you know what it means to have 2000 men wiped out in a single battle? The whole world, the whole world, hasn't seen a battle like this for at least 20 years!!!"

"Milton only has that small force, how could he possibly annihilate 2000 men?"

"We couldn't even wipe out 2000 pigs, let alone 2000 people?!"

"What about Milton's losses? His losses must have been very heavy. No matter how elite his soldiers were or how powerful his equipment was, to annihilate 2000 people, even with tanks, assault guns, aircraft, and heavy weapons, he must have suffered huge losses!"

"How many people died?" Fied paused for a moment: "The plane crashed... Milton's losses were almost negligible."

Brigadier General: "...Are you fighting against the elite of the US military? Why don't you just declare them the victors and see if Milton will let us off the hook?"

“It’s no use talking about this now.” Fiddle also felt a deep sense of exhaustion and fear. “Let’s find a way to stop Milton! How many people do you have left? The rebels and the government are negotiating right now. Evacuating some people shouldn’t cause any problems?”

"It's precisely because the insurgents are negotiating with the government that we don't have many men left!" The brigadier general was so angry that he was dizzy. "We used to have more than 2 men, but now we only have our 31st Brigade left, with a total of 3000 men!"

Fiddler then asked, "Can we ask the federal government and the military for help?"

"How do we ask for help?" The brigadier general took a deep breath. "The current government is just a lingering government; it won't be back in a few days. In this semi-anarchic state, who will come to our rescue?"

"And the military... You know, the military that can come right now is either fighting various drug cartels or has been bribed by other drug cartels. They'd love to see CJNG suffer a huge loss, so who would come?"

Filipino's tone gradually hardened: "Don't forget who the current president Salinas is, how much he's involved with drug cartels... Don't forget that the next government declared in its campaign slogan that it would never coexist with drug traffickers!"

"What awaits Salinas once he falls from the presidency?"

"NAFTA, accepting bribes from drug dealers, the sharp drop in the peso, the Zapatista uprising, election fraud, the killing of a presidential candidate (questionable)... and so on. How many people believe that Salinas is likely to be killed after stepping down?"

"Does he want to prolong his political life? Does he want to prolong his biological life? Of course he does, he dreams of it, but the election results don't allow him to do so!"

"Now that such a large-scale civil war has broken out in Chiapas, with 2000 people killed in a single battle, will he consider declaring a state of emergency and using temporary legislative power to prolong his political life?"

The brigadier general suppressed his heartache: "So, you support Salinas in continuing his political career, but only on the condition that he substantially helps us, right?"

“That’s right…” Fied began, “This is a war we cannot afford to lose.”

“I can agree to your terms, but only on the condition that the military demands compensation for those equipment when the spoils are divided in the future.” The brigadier general’s tone was firm. “And I have priority in the allocation… Otherwise, I would rather leave here in defeat, and the federal government won’t do anything to me.”

"No problem, you can start preparing now... Where do you think Milton will attack?"

The brigadier thought for a moment and said, "Tustra and the oil and gas fields are both possibilities. The former could directly eliminate our brains, while the latter could bring him economic benefits. No matter how powerful Milton pretends to be, he is definitely short of money."

Fide said a few words to Julio next to him, then said in a heavy tone, "Now, at least in the short term, he won't be short of money... Milton has arrested several CJNG low-level leaders, and even some high-level leaders. They have a lot of stolen money and drug money, enough for Milton to make a small fortune."

“Tustra and Palenque are likely to be attacked, but what about Concordia? That has a hydroelectric power station. If it is lost, the impact will be huge. We are almost in the 21st century. Without electricity, we can't do anything.”

The brigadier thought carefully and shook his head slightly: "The reservoir is said to be very important, but a lot of it has already been sold to Coca-Cola. That's an American company, a giant, with huge lobbying funds in the United States and Mexico... At this stage, no matter how crazy Milton is, it's unlikely that he would use force to attack an American company."

"The Coca-Cola that's there now is the former United Fruit Company."

“Milton took over there because he wanted the reservoir, but if he doesn’t touch Coca-Cola, it’s a waste of effort. So he shouldn’t put in a lot of trouble for nothing.”

Fide was relieved by the 31st Brigade Commander's understanding and composure, and then asked, "Concordia has American companies, so Milton wouldn't dare to attack recklessly. But no matter what, we must split our forces into two groups to defend Tustra and Palenque, right?"

"Nonsense, this is the price of defeat!" the brigadier general scoffed. "This is the initiative Milton gained by trading a victory!"

"Then prepare as soon as possible. I will seek assistance from the federal government. You should strengthen the defenses... All state police forces will cooperate with you. As for the financial allocation, I will recruit as many soldiers as possible."

The brigadier general knew that internal conflicts had to be addressed only after external conflicts were resolved, so he had no choice but to swallow the heavy losses. However, his attitude remained unfriendly: "By the way... tell 'Shooter' Julio to stop acting so abnormally and try to improve relations with other drug cartels to free up some resources."

"If the CJNG and other drug cartels can stop being so hostile, I and other military commanders in other places can have more opportunities to communicate and even make deals, understand?"

"Shooter" Julio had already taken the phone and replied, "I understand. I will pass on your suggestion to Elmenjo, but the final decision is up to him."

"Hmph... then so be it." The brigadier general said finally, "Don't worry, Milton is just a brute. He's cunning, but his cunning is only in the battlefield. He doesn't understand that military affairs are actually a continuation of politics."

"Given his size, he was destined to be no match for us."

"Victory will surely belong to us—finally, quickly send me the battle report, I need to carefully analyze the reasons for the defeat."

After the brigadier finished speaking, he hung up the phone and turned to his adjutant: "Have the brothers get ready. We'll send 1000 men to guard Tustra, and the rest will be stationed in Palenque to protect our oil!"

"Recruit soldiers in Palenque to replenish our manpower, procure weapons from any conceivable source, and fully arm our people!"

"Hurry up! Milton's losses aren't too big. If you drag your feet, his tanks might be at our barracks gates by now!"

"Exchange everything that can be exchanged for pesos for pesos. Don't worry about anything else now. If we lose everything, we can earn it back after we win the war; if we lose again, well, hehe!"

"..."

While everyone else was making urgent preparations, the brigadier general also quickly and carefully read through the battle reports that had been delivered.

"Heavy artillery, tanks..."

"There is also a light tank unit that can quickly penetrate behind enemy lines and has a very strong combat capability."

"A very high level of technical and tactical skill."

"Skilled in psychological warfare...using information superiority to make the defending forces attack each other, haha, this is CJNG, this is the drug cartel that's been hyped up to the skies, don't make me laugh."

"..."

After reading the battle report, the brigadier general shook his head: "Milton is indeed very strong, but the reason he was able to achieve such results is because the defending forces were divided into many factions, had internal discord, and outsourced their logistics. Holy crap... it's unbelievable."

"As long as he doesn't make any mistakes, Milton's objectively insufficient troop strength will make it difficult for him to capture and hold these three key cities."

"Our defensive pressure and costs will be very high... It's okay, the financial costs are for the congressmen to consider, I just need to reach out and get the money."

"If you don't pay me, then the oil and gas fields that account for 45% of the nation's oil production will be left to the federal government to see! The 31st Brigade will die in front of them, let's see if they dare not pay!"

As the brigadier general thought about it, he suddenly realized that Milton taking down San Cristo might not be so bad after all... The lost equipment could perhaps be recouped double from subsequent military spending.

Just as the brigadier general's shock from the defeat at the front was gradually subsiding, another phone call came through the command center's dedicated line.

"Hello?" The brigadier general was not very impatient.

"General Bader!" the other party exclaimed in alarm. "Please hurry, send troops over immediately! I am Mayor Palenque!"

Palenque, an oil and gas field!
Badr was shocked: "Milton attacked? How is that possible?!"

Damn it, unless Milton can open a portal or has optical cloaking technology, it's impossible for him to be at the city gates now.

“No, no…” Mayor Palenque panicked. “The city is now experiencing massive protests. You know, the economy is terrible right now, everyone is poor… so, so many people are demanding that the profits from the oil be returned to them.”

"They said that Chiapas's oil should be enjoyed by the people of Chiapas, and they were protesting the federal government's monopoly on oil profits... Even many police officers participated in the demonstrations!"

War is imminent, and internal stability is paramount; otherwise, San Cristós will serve as a cautionary tale!

The brigadier general said without hesitation: "I will send troops to suppress it immediately."

……

San Cristóbal, frontline command post.

Milton listened to his subordinates' messages and read the reports transmitted back by the drones. He sighed, "It's a pity... It seems there are still some sensible people in the state government or the Mexican army."

After learning from the CJNG drug traffickers that the Mexican army might take action, Milton really intended to continue the blitzkrieg!

If the state government and the Mexican army dare to show even the slightest sign of being stunned, Milton would seize the opportunity to crush them completely with tanks, letting them experience the joy of oil breeding "hellish tax collectors".

Unfortunately... they realized what was happening and quickly made adjustments to their plans.

Flora sipped her non-alcoholic cocktail, sighed unsatisfiedly, and asked, "What's next? Where should we attack first...? This time we can't besiege the city, nor can we cut off their supply lines. We can't outlast the enemy in a war of attrition."

Milton smiled and said, "Even in war, you need to wait for the right opportunity."

"Don't worry, the opportunity will come soon."

(End of this chapter)