Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 287 "The Loving Father's" Fishpond

At this moment, a fierce "car race" is taking place near La Gomera on the front lines of the battlefield.

The garrison stationed in La Gomera, having erected a makeshift defensive line and constructed some simple fortifications, is frantically using all available firepower to slow down the enemy's escape.

Having completely lost command from their superiors, their escape speed actually increased to some extent!

Some enemies even drove the car until it fell apart!

This put pressure on the Pan Madre Group forces, who planned to tighten their grip and drive all the enemies to a small beach for concentrated feeding.

Two heavily armed combined arms battalions, totaling nearly 2000 men, are now desperately racing against the enemy.

Thus, a strange sight appeared on the battlefield—Milton's caravan and the Monte family's private army caravan were desperately heading in the same direction, and they could even see each other!

"Charge! Forget about those people around us, block the gap in the sea, hurry up!"

"Don't stop and block them, run ahead of them!!!"

"Hurry! The enemy defenders aren't stupid. They'll definitely send reinforcements to rescue us. We have to stop them! Quickly!"

"..."

Neither side had any intention of stopping to finish the fight before leaving; instead, they continued to charge forward while exchanging fire.

Of course, there were also a few enemy soldiers who were completely desperate and stopped their vehicles to surrender.

Unfortunately, no one paid them any attention, and accepting surrender became a waste of time in order to quickly plug the gap.

Milton's side had air superiority, and a clear advantage in manpower, equipment, and morale, so they gradually eroded the enemy's "track".

The escape routes for the Monte family's private soldiers were getting narrower and narrower. They were surrounded by enemies on both sides and gradually lost their options, leaving them with no choice but to run wildly in one direction.

"Quick, floor the gas pedal!"

"Damn it, you're still stepping on the brake?!"

"Haven't you heard? Milton is desperately short of building materials. He plans to build a 'Great Wall' in Solora, a 'Great Wall' that can encircle all of Milton's territory. The materials are our bones!!!"

"Have you ever heard of 'primitive voodoo'? Their most senior priests went mad when they saw this 'wall of flesh and blood'."

The reason why many of them were unwilling to surrender was quite simple—they knew what they had done and knew that being caught by the "hellish tax collectors" would likely lead to a bad end.

but……

Almost there, the sea is just ahead!
Although they could no longer contact the two unreliable Americans, their officers assured them that the ship coming to pick them up was real, and that the joint command had indeed sent a ship.

Once we reach the shore...

Finally, the first group of lucky and skilled Monte family private soldiers and government troops arrived at the shore.

To their delight, they could indeed see some civilian boats and some wreckage that had been blown up and washed ashore.

The first batch of shuttle ships should have been more numerous, but they have all sunk to the bottom of the sea.

However, it's impossible to wipe out all those transport ships or the remaining troops on the beach using only aircraft...

Some of the Monte family soldiers knew that whoever ran the slowest would be the defensive line, so they didn't care about anything else. They didn't even have time to turn off the engines; they jumped out of the cars and rushed towards the shuttle boat, shouting, "Quick, let us get on the boat!"

Just as they were about to head towards their escape to the future, a group of Hummers with paint jobs that were clearly different from their own blocked their way.

Defenders!

The defenders on the Escuintla defense line!
Because previously only the Arsu family and Milton were in a standoff, the garrison on the defensive line belonged to the government forces, while the Monte family was only stationed there for supplies. Strictly speaking, the two sides were not part of the same system.

They may even have some conflicts with each other.

Although they were considered allies after becoming an alliance and had a basic understanding of each other and would look out for one another, the situation is now completely different.

Now it's all about running away, evacuating, a true zero-sum game where it's either you live or I die!

A captain in the Monte family's private army flew into a rage upon seeing this, reaching directly for his holster with his right hand and shouting, "What do you mean?!"

Wow!

Following his action, the defending forces showed no mercy, with more than a dozen soldiers raising their rifles and aiming them at the Monte family's private army.

A garrison major jumped out of the vehicle, waved dismissively to his men, and said with displeasure, "Hey, we're all allies, how can we point guns at each other? Don't be nervous!"

But the other party wasn't buying it at all, and remained tense: "Explain yourself clearly, what do you mean? Why won't you let us board the ship?"

The major's expression turned cold: "First of all, you should call me 'sir'... Secondly, you ask why? Do you even need to think about the answer? Because this is our ship, a ship of the National Defense Force!"

"It's not that we won't take you with us, but shouldn't we have the right to board our own ship first?"

The captain roared, "If our commander hadn't sent the message in time, these ships wouldn't be here now! What's the point of saying this now?"

"That was a message from the Americans, and it belongs to the Joint Command, not you..." the major said slowly. "In any case, we must board the ship first, there is no room for negotiation."

At this point, no one could hold back any longer. The soldiers on both sides had their fingers on the triggers, ready to fire at any moment at the sound of an order.

The two sides are about to fight because of the order of evacuation!
Logically, the defending forces were far weaker than the Montgomery private army, which was equipped with American weapons and had a numerical advantage. However, the Montgomery private army suffered heavy losses on the front lines and lost most of its heavy equipment. If the fighting started now, they might not have the advantage.

One of the Monte family's private soldiers, looking at the shuttle boat lowering rope ladders in the distance, was both anxious and angry, cursing repeatedly, "Damn it, boss, let's just fight our way over there!"

"Attack!"

The captain suppressed the urge to fire and said, "Fine... even if what you say makes sense, your men can be the first to board the ship, but we will be the second to board, not the last. If you don't agree, then there's nothing to talk about. We can't leave anyway, so neither can you."

The major pondered for a moment and nodded—as long as he withdrew and superficially secured priority for his soldiers, there wouldn't be any problem.

"Okay, it's agreed then."

"Brothers, let's go! Come on board, let's go home!"

The garrison was overjoyed and followed the major across the beach, climbing the rope ladder onto the fishing boat that had been temporarily converted into a shuttle.

The ship was being piloted by a naval sailor who worked for the Ministry of Defense—they had forcibly requisitioned all the ships they could.

Inside the cabin, the uncooperative old captain had his eyes gouged out, his hands cut off, his tongue pulled out, and was left lying on the ground to bleed to death.

"walk home!"

Behind them, after the first batch of guards boarded the ships, the Monte family's private soldiers also hurriedly boarded the second wave of ships—Milton's pursuers were about to arrive, and they didn't want to die!

"Start the boat now, hurry up!"

The sailor laughed heartily: "It's alright... Milton's plane just came by and killed a bunch of unlucky guys. There are still so many cannon fodder who didn't make it here to cover the rear. We're safe!"

The major scoffed, "Don't forget, Milton also has a warship!"

"We've encountered that before," the sailor shrugged. "Otherwise, why are there so few ships coming this far?"

The air force has come and needs to return for resupply; the warships have come and also need to return to port for resupply... The pursuing troops will be held back by the cannon fodder behind them.

They are indeed safe. Let's go!

The major first casually tossed his gun aside, wiped the sweat from his brow, then went down to the lower cabin, dragged out the dying old fisherman, and threw him onto the deck.

"Damn it, what kind of work are you doing?" the major said, somewhat dissatisfied. "They were so kind as to lend us their own boat, how can we treat them like this? Maybe they have children and wives at home, don't they?"

The dying old captain thought he had met a good officer and became somewhat excited, trying to say something incoherently.

Then he heard a mocking laugh filled with extreme malice: "Hurry up and bandage his wound, hurry up and clean it... Sigh, there's no clean water on the ship, so let's rinse it with seawater!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"Ugh! Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh..."

The people on the ship were extremely pleased with themselves—they were far from the shore, and the gunfire and artillery sounds coming from behind had nothing to do with them. They could finally vent the anger they hadn't been able to unleash on the battlefield.

"Hahaha...wait a minute!" The others joined in the laughter, but before they could laugh for long, a sailor suddenly exclaimed and pointed to a spot, "What's that over there?"

The crowd, who had been laughing maniacally, suddenly turned their heads and looked at the location of the water finger.

A short, fat ship, shaped like a potato, with a row of human heads strung together hanging from its hull, was slowly approaching.

Everyone was stunned.

The ship... they recognized it; it was called the "Guadalajara".

It was once the flagship of the Northern Drug Cartel, and many people believed it could destroy Milton's navy, but in the end, even the flagship was captured...

The major's mocking smile and smug satisfaction at surviving the ordeal froze instantly. After a brief moment of stunned silence, he suddenly screamed:
"Damn it, wasn't this ship already bombed by Milton? I heard it's rendered combat inoperable and going to be converted into a museum?!"

"Why are we here? Milton lied again? That liar!"

"Didn't their navy come here? Why didn't they bring this ship along in the first place?!"

"Run! Move quickly!"

The sailor in charge of steering the ship panicked a bit and quickly asked, "Where are we going?"

"Where can they run to? As far as they can get!" the major yelled. "This ship isn't fast; we should be able to outrun them..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw the terrifying behemoth suddenly spew out flames at an extremely high frequency, so high that the gaps between them were invisible.

Two 40mm twin-mounted autocannons!
Soon, the ship's 78mm main guns and other weapons also began to fire, each with a different target: sweeping away the coalition forces trying to escape on the sea.

A few seconds later, a series of very dense water jets began to burst out on the surface of the water, and one of the splashes even hit the major in the face.

Everyone knows how terrible the fate would be if a small fishing boat were hit by a close-in weapon system with such a rate of fire and such power.

"Quickly, get out of here..."

The sailors frantically turned, trying to evade the close-in weapon system that was firing short bursts at them.

By this time, the "Guadalajara" had gotten quite close, and they could even see that there were many signs on the ship to facilitate the entry of tourists, and even what appeared to be a "ticket checkpoint".

But the shells that this "museum" spews out and fires are so terrifying.

However, as soon as they turned around, they saw a terrifying scene ahead.

The fishing boat carrying the Monte family's private soldiers, including the captain who had just had an argument with the major, was hit by the main gun of the "Guadalajara".

A deep, resounding bang, loud enough to shake one's chest, tore through the air—it wasn't just the sound of a high-explosive bomb exploding, but also the sound of fuel exploding and various pieces of ship parts colliding with each other!

The fishing boat carrying the Monte family's private soldiers, including the captain who had just been vying with him for boarding rights, suddenly arched up from the middle. The keel of the entire boat bent and twisted upwards to a visible degree, and the bow and stern almost simultaneously lifted off the water's surface before snapping in an instant and completely disintegrating under the sweeping shockwave.

In just a few seconds, a shuttle boat turned into several floating pieces right before their eyes.

Not a single survivor jumped into the water to try and swim to safety.

The major stood frozen on the deck, staring at the sunken ship, at the other fishing boats being attacked, and at the several assault boats rushing over to sweep up the fish that had been caught. He was stunned for a moment.

But he didn't have time to be stunned for long, because good luck was no longer on the ship's side, and after several rounds of calibration firing, the 40mm cannon finally hit the target.

The sailor in charge of the fishing boat was hit directly, and his entire body instantly turned into flesh and bone fragments, which were then "stuck" to the wall.

Similarly, several shells hit the waterline of the fishing boat... The already fragile old fishing boat could not withstand such an attack, and the hull immediately began to take on water and list.

It was about to sink!

At that moment, several helicopters flew overhead, some strafing the sea, others heading toward the Guadalajara.

There is absolutely no hope.

The major suddenly awoke with a start, threw down his weapon, jumped high into the air, raised his hands (\O/), and shouted, "Stop fighting! Stop fighting! I surrender, we surrender!"

"Stop fighting! I'm a major, the commander of the garrison, and I have very important intelligence!"

"..."

Seemingly noticing the situation, the main battleship finally stopped attacking the fishing boat, and an assault boat cautiously followed.

After confirming that everyone had been disarmed, Milton's soldiers roughly dragged everyone off the ship and put them on the assault boat.

Before abandoning ship, a soldier saw the old captain lying on the ground, still breathing.

The soldier glanced at the trembling major and used the ship's radio to contact the "Hell Tax Collector" who had just landed on the capital ship by helicopter.

"'Godfather,' we've captured a major... but on his boat we also found, well, the old captain of this fishing boat, with his hand chopped off, his tongue pulled out, fresh wounds, and still alive."

"……okay."

After hanging up the radio, the soldier picked up his pistol and gently patted the old captain's face with his left hand.

boom!
A bullet pierced his brain, ending his suffering.

The fishing boat then slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.

The major was quickly escorted to the "Guadalajara" and brought before Milton.

"'Hell Tax Collector' sir! Hello, hello!" The major, feeling highly valued, fawned over him, "I am..."

Milton waved his hand, pointed to the area of ​​the sea, and asked, "Do you know where this is?"

“Uh… Taiping…” The major was about to say something when he suddenly changed his mind, “No, this is a fishing ground, this is the fishing ground of the great ‘Godfather’, and everything you see is your territory!”

Milton nodded again: "Hmm, that's not bad. So, do you know what you are?"

"what?!"

“You are the feed for this fishing ground.” Milton finished slowly, clapping his hands. “Who brought this thing on board? I’ve told you so many times, warships only carry military supplies.”

"Bring the feed onto the fishing boat!"

(End of this chapter)