Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 298 Self-rescue
The Allied Forces, the Northern Group of Warlords.

Inside a command vehicle, a flood of information caused an officer with a huge number of medals hanging around his neck to frown.

"Report, there are sounds of gunfire ahead... but we should still be quite a distance from the front lines!"

"A soldier reported that Milton may have breached the defenses of Guatemala City."

"Some officers thought we should stop."

"..."

A barrage of battle reports reached the commander's ears, and he frowned deeply.

There's no other reason than that it's too contradictory and too fragmented.

With information from all sorts of channels and directions converging, he, whose command skills were not particularly high to begin with, was completely unable to judge the specific situation on the battlefield.

The joint command was wiped out. The intelligence from the government forces on the front lines and other channels was completely different. Some people said that enemy traces had been found in the vicinity, while the Ministry of Defense said that everything was normal. Milton's offensive had been thwarted, and now they were busy cleaning up the mess in Chimaltenango...

As the commander, he dared not get too far forward himself, and even dared not disperse the guard company's forces to conduct examinations.

The man, who was nearly 60 years old, pushed the information in front of him aside slightly and muttered, "This stuff is too messy. How am I supposed to judge it?"

"Why hasn't the joint command been rebuilt yet... I'm such an old man, why do I still have to get involved in all this nonsense?"

"If it weren't for the pressure from behind, and Arsu's pressure, I definitely wouldn't have done this stupid thing."

"..."

After complaining, he took a sip of black tea, waved for several staff officers to come over, and asked, "You guys analyze this... What do you think is the current situation at the front, and how should we make arrangements?"

These staff officers were extremely conservative, to the point of disapproving of sending troops. Without even thinking twice, they gave the same advice: "As long as we turn around and leave now, there will definitely be no problem."

“Impossible…” The commander gave a wry smile and shook his head. “If we stand by and watch, and the Alsu government is wiped out by Milton, then it will be our turn next.”

The Monte family has been completely destroyed, and the Ubico family is said to be embroiled in internal strife, with the faction supporting Milton and the faction supporting Arsu locked in a fierce struggle that is unlikely to end anytime soon.

Of the other neighboring countries, only Honduras appears to have a clear intention to send troops to support the Alzu government.

This unit represents the last hope for victory.

The question now is not whether to help Arsu, but how to help, what is the situation on the front lines, and how to deploy resources to ensure the highest chance of victory?

With intelligence so chaotic and the joint command cut off, the government forces were essentially in a "passive mode," leaving the commanders of the northern warlord groups completely at a loss as to how to deploy their troops.

"Never mind... I'll make a call and ask a friend for advice."

One of the staff officers asked curiously, "Your friend?"

“Yes.” The commander nodded. “A military consulting firm… I’ve hired retired officers from the British Special Air Service as consultants, but the fees are very high, and I don’t want to consult them unless absolutely necessary.”

"To be honest, after seeing that even Americans can't beat Milton, I don't think this consulting service can change anything."

"Now... well, let's give it a try. I really don't understand what's going on at the front. Let's see if the British can figure it out."

There is a 6-hour time difference between the UK and Guatemala, but UK time is earlier, so what is evening in Guatemala is afternoon there, so there's no need to worry about not being able to contact anyone.

It took a full 20 minutes for the commander to hear the lazy voice of the British.

“Nelson, my old friend, how have you been lately? It’s been so long since we last got together.”

We're not that close...

Nelson didn't bother with further explanation and went straight to the point: "You know, we're at war here. I've run into some trouble and I'm gathering some intelligence. Can you help me analyze the situation?"

"Oh... I heard." The Englishman's voice was full of schadenfreude. "I heard the Americans secretly sent some special forces over, and they were all wiped out, right? Killed by a few aerial bombs?"

The US government will naturally not admit that it secretly dispatched active-duty special forces to other countries' territories to directly intervene in civil wars.

These losses will be kept buried deep inside and never acknowledged.

However, the specific details of this bombing had already been leaked by corrupt Guatemalan government officials—two squadrons of fighter jets, with F-5s providing escort and Su-25s delivering precision bombs, worked together perfectly to wipe out the coalition's joint command.

In order to eliminate the target in the basement, the Su-25 carried out multiple rounds of precision bombing. The bombs in front were responsible for "opening holes", and the bombs behind were thrown into these "holes" to complete the indoor explosion.

Everyone in the joint command at the time perished.

All equipment was destroyed on the spot.

Although this decapitation strike was very shameful for the Americans, it has already been compiled into textbooks by many people—some have even contacted Warwind Corporation, offering to pay them to hire instructors!

Nelson paused for a moment before replying, "I have heard about the destruction of the 'Joint Command,' but I'm not entirely clear on the specifics... Now, something seems wrong with the Alsu government, and communication between our high-level officials has been largely cut off."

"Hehe." The British man still had the attitude of enjoying the show. "Now quite a few people think that the ranking of the world's top 10 special forces should be changed."

"What India, what New Zealand... how can these special forces compare to Milton's 'Tax Police Corps'?"

Top 10 Special Forces in the World...

Delta Force, SEAL Team Six, and Alpha Group are also prominently featured.

Although the Englishman's tone sounded like a joke, Nelson didn't dare to take it seriously—as Milton's rivals, they knew better than anyone how powerful Milton was.

Perhaps... the troops led by this "hellish tax collector" are already the real, true "Top Ten," and to some extent, they have truly stood on the same level as the Americans?
Nelson spoke again: "It's no use talking about this now... I've run into some trouble. Since you know the 'Joint Command' was destroyed, you should be able to imagine how chaotic the command and communication of the coalition forces are right now, right? If I were faced with a completely black 'fog of war,' that would be one thing, but you and I are now dealing with a whole bunch of contradictory intelligence."

"My abilities are really limited... You're amazing, why don't you analyze it?"

The British man's laughter abruptly stopped. He asked with great confusion, "How long has it been since the 'Joint Command' was beheaded? Has the Arsu government not been rebuilt yet? Even if it's not professional enough, at least they should re-establish high-level communication among the coalition forces."

Nielsen responded in a low voice, "As far as I know, the 'Joint Command' has not been rebuilt yet."

"..."

At this moment, even the British, known for their inefficiency, fell silent.

"How many days has it been since it was bombed?! And they just leave it like this? It wouldn't matter if there was a pig in the joint command post, as long as the joint command post is still there, right?"

"During this period, the Arsu government and you have been fighting without a 'joint command'?" "Your intelligence sharing has been completely paralyzed?"

Nelson's voice was filled with helplessness: "There's nothing we can do... You know, we don't have many talented people here to begin with. After Milton's bombing, I don't even want to imagine whether the people sitting in the Department of Defense are still human."

"Then what the hell do you want to ask me?!" The Englishman completely abandoned his so-called "gentlemanly manners" and roared, "Damn it, who is Milton? How much could he have done while you were blind? And you haven't even realized that after you've gone blind and deaf?"

"Holy shit! Holy shit! A terrifying enemy is making some kind of preparation while you're blind. Don't you find that terrifying? Don't you have any sense that disaster is about to strike?!"

Where is your sense of urgency?

The British can hardly imagine what terrible arrangements Milton made during the time the "Joint Command" was offline.

But he knew that the Arsu government was likely on the verge of collapse!
Damn it, he really didn't expect that the "Joint Command" hadn't been rebuilt yet.

If he had known sooner, he would have screamed.

Nelson's voice sounded completely innocent: "I was going to tell you this, but since you seem to have so much free time, I thought I'd chat with you for a bit."

"...Stop talking nonsense and quickly gather all the intelligence you can currently gather!"

"We'll call a meeting right away to analyze the situation!"

Nelson glanced at the intelligence report, waved for his staff to come over, and relayed it word for word to the British on the other side.

This includes Solora's retreat plan, speculation about Milton's current offensive progress, intelligence from Guatemala City that everything is fine, and various reports from junior officers that something is amiss...

The British listened to a barrage of conflicting messages.

The British, who had originally planned to enjoy an afternoon tea, had now gone to the meeting room, gathered several experienced colleagues, and divided the work of recording this seemingly messy information.

It took a full 30 minutes for Nelson to finish reporting this huge pile of junk mixed with a few useful pieces of information.

"So, do you have any leads?"

The British replied impatiently, "What kind of garbage have you sent us? Garbage sorting takes time, so don't rush us... Don't sleep tonight, wait for our reply. Tell your soldiers to prepare the highest level of protection, understand?"

"Forget it, let's just stay in touch!"

"understood……"

Nelson shrugged and, following the British plan, issued new deployment orders to the entire Northern Group of warlords and Honduran mercenary groups.

It was called a new deployment order, but in reality it was just a temporary halt to the advance on Guatemala City, and the deployment of the most basic defensive formation.

In fact, the components of their coalition are essentially still a "coalition".

Because Nelson couldn't actually fully command the people on the Honduran side.

But at least for now, communication is still going smoothly.

Time quickly passed to 23 PM, and the sky had completely darkened.

Nelson didn't sleep either, waiting for a response from the British—if it weren't for the occasional noises coming from the side, he would have almost thought the British were asleep.

A while later, just as Nelson was starting to feel a little hungry, several of his personal guards came over.

They were carrying some very high-end dishes.

"Sir, here's your midnight snack."

Nelson smiled and took it, praising, "Not bad..."

Before he could finish speaking, and before Nelson could even take a bite of his midnight snack, a familiar roar suddenly rang out.

"Hold!!!"

"Nelson, are you listening? If you are, answer me now, now!!!"

Nelson sighed and replied, "Of course I'm listening... Old man, relax and tell me what happened."

"Stop what you're doing right now!" The Englishman's voice trembled slightly. "Milton's target is you, there's a 90% chance it's you!!! From this moment on, every single second you have the potential to suddenly run into Milton's army and be completely annihilated by him!"

"Huh?" Nelson hadn't even put the food in his mouth yet. "The target is me? How is that possible..."

"Stop fucking impossible! You still haven't realized that those scattered intelligence reports are your dying army desperately trying to save itself? The Allied forces are brain dead, but their bodies are still instinctively trying to save themselves, understand?!" The Englishman's tone was extremely urgent. "Haven't you realized that the decisive battle is here? Milton has already chosen the battlefield and the opponent for the decisive battle!"

"Right here, it's you all!"

Milton has no intention of fighting you in city battles or large-scale battles... He wants to wipe you out just like he wiped out the Monte family's private army!

The current tragic state of the Monte family...

Nelson snapped to attention: "Okay... I trust your judgment. What do we do now?"

"Defense! Information!" The British pointed out the two most important things. "Organize a defense so that Milton cannot eliminate you in a short time; tell the Arsu government how urgent the situation is and get them to cooperate in encircling Milton!"

Nelson tried to keep his voice calm: "I'll find a way to notify Arsu... What about defense? How are we supposed to defend?"

Their army is in such an awkward position that there is simply no time to set up a defensive line.

As for a direct confrontation...

Fight Milton's army head-on? What kind of modern-day joke is that?

The Englishman took a deep breath, seemingly examining a map: "Now, have all your troops retreat north to the other side of the Montagu River. It's very close to you, and you have mountains behind you. You only need to defend two directions!"

"But this river is very narrow and shallow... it's really a bit of a stretch to use it as a defensive line."

"There's no other way! This is your only advantage of terrain, or do you want to fight Milton with bayonets?" The Englishman was anxious. "Hurry! Milton is coming! Do you want to be built into a wall of flesh and blood? Can't you hear Death dragging its scythe, ready to knock on your carriage door?"

“I understand. I’ll deploy immediately… I’ll urgently set up defensive lines along the riverbank, using the complex terrain to protect our support firepower and logistics.” Nelson felt a chill run down his spine, as if Milton’s army was gathering and heading straight for him, ready to chop off his head. “Sigh, I wonder what Arsu is doing right now?”

(End of this chapter)