Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 306 General Mobilization!
Guatemala City.

Milton! You despicable, shameless scoundrel!!!

Every moment, intelligence officers are watching Milton's television station—not just for work, but also because the programming is genuinely excellent.

At the moment Milton was giving his speech, Arsu learned on television that his enemies had organized a special operation, flying directly to the airport in Honduras and destroying all of his "weapons of mass destruction" before they even took off!
The attack aircraft squadron consisting of two F-5Es, A37s, and AC-130s, responsible for air superiority, was tasked with acting as "gun emplacements" in the air. By all accounts, this would have inflicted huge losses on Milton's forces, putting this "elite" force, sandwiched between two sides, into a desperate situation.

Even a minute ago, Arsu was still making various arrangements, spreading all sorts of false information and misleading intelligence...

He believed that no matter how powerful Milton's intelligence agency was, it would be impossible to sift through so much intelligence before the AC-130 weapons were fully installed, to guess that his "decisive weapon" was actually an attack aircraft fleet composed of several weapons, and even less possible to guess that the AC-130 was hidden in the normal fleet and disguised as a C-130.

As it turned out, Milton indeed hadn't guessed it.

This "hellish tax collector" didn't even "guess" it; he just sent 100 people to the airport to "check" it out!
Arsu's civil servant-politician mindset instantly failed when faced with warlords, turning into a self-inflicted circus act.

Milton's televised remarks were a resounding slap in the face.

What's even more tragic is that Honduras pretended to know nothing after the incident and didn't notify them at all. The top leader of their ally had to learn about such important information through a televised address by the enemy!
"Get me the Honduran military chief immediately!" Arsu roared. "A bunch of useless idiots! They can't even protect their own airport!"

The secretary didn't dare to breathe and quickly dialed the number.

It took a full 30 seconds for the call to be connected.

The other person's voice lacked confidence, and they said somewhat weakly, "Hello?"

"Crab, what the hell are you guys doing?!" Arsu was furious. "Why the hell can someone just walk right into your territory, blow up my plane, and then leisurely walk out?!"

Crabbe said helplessly, “What can we do? Milton flew in on a commercial airliner. You know, our military and government have a very bad relationship. Forget about whether the airport can find any problems. Even if the airport can find any problems, it will report to the administration first... By the time that process is completed, Milton will have already finished his mission and left.”

"What about the garrison?" Arsu asked, barely containing his anger. "F-5Es, gunships... so much important equipment, where are the garrison?!"

Crabbe was utterly speechless at this military ignoramus. He practically rolled his eyes and said, "Please... this is the rear area, the rear area! We have many important warehouses, factories, ports, and a whole bunch of high-value locations. Are we going to send heavy troops to guard every single one of them? The airport guards did put up some resistance, but Milton sent 100 special forces soldiers—damn it, you've fought Milton before, his special forces are like Superman, how many of our defenders have died?"

“If we hadn’t sent the army to assist you, we might have had more manpower, more troops to guard the airport, and the gunships might not have been lost, or at least wouldn’t have fallen into enemy hands…”

"But does that make sense?"

"Isn't the reason things have come to this point because we've been desperately supporting you? To pin the outcome of a battle on one or a few weapons is inherently unhealthy, and it indicates that the battlefield situation is extremely dire. Even without today's defeat, we would have suffered defeat tomorrow!"

"Do you understand, President Arsu? This is not the time to argue. Don't we have soldiers with you? We are all in the same boat now. We shouldn't be blaming each other, but rather thinking about how to win this battle!"

Arsu felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about the "gunship" currently in Milton's hangar, with an engineering team and technical experts urgently installing weapon systems on it.

But... our allies are right, we've reached a point of life or death.

What's even more frightening is that there is currently a force pressuring him to continue resisting to the end, and that if he goes abroad now, he may be completely purged... This even includes several cabinet members!
There's no need to guess who's behind them.

If you can't run away, then you have no choice but to fight...

Arsu took a deep breath and asked, "What other options do you have? Can you send special forces to recapture the plane?"

Crabbe rolled his eyes to the sky: "Do you know which airport Milton put the planes at? Milton has infiltrated us like a sieve, so he can guess where our airports are based on the scheduling of various combat aircraft, okay? You, and I, don't have that kind of information."

Arsu took a deep breath, deciding not to continue humiliating himself on military issues, and turned to ask, "Since your relationship with the government is so bad, why don't you just find a way to seize power by force and establish a military government?"

Guatemala and Honduras are not an alliance between two countries; in fact, the Honduran government strongly opposes it!

Such an alliance may seem fine, but in reality, it harbors enormous hidden dangers—the biggest one being that Honduran territory cannot serve as a truly secure rear area.

The fact that the Honduran government has not yet issued any condemnation of Milton is enough to show the government's attitude.

It's hard to say whether they colluded with Milton in private.

“It’s not that simple, because the public is also extremely opposed to us.” Crabbe sighed. “It’s already 1995. It’s not that easy for the military to seize power through a coup. The international pressure alone is enough to give us a hard time.”

"So, we can just wait to die now, is that it?"

“Uh…” Crabbe changed the subject, “At least for now, all our airports are temporarily refusing commercial flights from Chiapas. It will be much more difficult and slower for Milton to infiltrate quickly by plane.”

"Is it any use saying all this now? You can still put pressure on the civilian government now, but once your army is wiped out on the battlefield, will you still be able to keep things under control at home?"

"..."

Both sides fell silent.

In fact, both of them knew what they should do, but they also knew the consequences of doing so.

So neither of them wanted to do it, and they both wanted to push it onto the other.

If the Honduran army wants to reverse its decline and unleash more power, it must seize administrative power, and it must pay a huge price to stage a coup...

Conversely, Arsu also has a card he hasn't played yet.

Crabbe finally stopped pretending and slowly said, "Even at this point, aren't you going to mobilize everyone?"

General mobilization for war.

Yes, even now, Milton and Arsu have not mobilized their forces to the fullest extent.

General mobilization is a strategic measure that shifts all social resources and national power from a peacetime state to a wartime state in order to cope with war. It will concentrate all resources, including manpower, material resources, financial resources, scientific and technological resources, diplomatic resources, etc., to the maximum extent possible... with only one goal: to win the war.

Just imagining it makes one realize how much damage this would cause to a country.

Once the entire operation is mobilized, there is no turning back; it's like a gambler who's lost everything and throws all their chips onto the table.

It's either victory or utter defeat.

Seeing Arsu remain silent, Crabbe continued, "Only a general mobilization can quickly gather strength and potentially defeat Milton's ground forces before he completes the weapon installation on the AC-130."

Arsu took a deep breath: "What if we still fail?" "Then you'll at least still have enough strength to continue retreating, just no longer as a national government," Crabbe said. "You can hold out for a while longer and wait for full aid to arrive. At that time, there's still a chance of a counterattack."

Milton was right about one thing—perhaps no one could understand him, but now everyone respects him.

"..."

After much struggle, Arsu finally agreed, but he still made a request: "I can mobilize the entire population, but you can't remain completely inactive. No matter how heavy the cost, you can't be a leaky rear area. Even without a military coup, you must temporarily take over the administrative power of Honduras. Let's each compromise, otherwise if we fail, you won't fare any better."

“Think about Chiapas, Mexico. If you defeat me, Milton will definitely take revenge and wipe you out.”

Crabbe's voice trailed off for a long time before finally replying, "Okay."

"..."

……

Guatemala City one day later.

As the capital of the entire country and the front line of the civil war, almost everyone watched Milton's televised news address.

The vast majority of people are discussing this matter.

Most of them are waiting to see the government forces make a fool of themselves, a small number remain silent and neutral, and only a very small minority openly oppose Milton.

At this moment, many people who had lost their jobs due to the war were crammed into a cheap pub, drinking the cheapest beer and discussing the great war that would determine the future of the country.

"Haha! Have you heard? The 'Hell Tax Collector' went to Honduras and gave those invaders a good beating. I heard he even stole a plane."

To many Guatemalans, the Honduran army, which is helping the government forces, is already seen as an "invader."

"Sigh, I wish the war would end soon... As long as the 'Hell Tax Collectors' are here, we can finally end our current lives."

"Really... Haven't we had so many presidents before? They made all those promises during their campaigns, but once they took office, they treated them all as empty words."

“Really.” A fairly presentable-looking man took a sip of beer. “I’ve been to Quetzaltenango. How should I describe it? If you didn’t tell me, I would think it was a medium-sized European city, but much more orderly. I saw a construction crew building a railway, a very new and well-maintained railway.”

"You've been there?" someone questioned. "Then why did you come back, you poor wretch? Are you just bragging?"

Now, anyone with a little money or connections is trying to escape to Milton's territory.

Many people, in order to get to Milton's territory, even went so far as to sneak to the beach, take a raft, or even swim there!
These people didn't go because they simply didn't have the means.

"Heh..." the man sneered, "I've become a pauper because Arsu robbed me of my warehouse and convoy! Damn it, I better not get my hands on a gun..."

Before he could finish speaking, the television, which was broadcasting local news, suddenly malfunctioned.

The host listened intently to the content through the earpiece with a furrowed brow, and nodded.

"Excuse me, we are now broadcasting an breaking news report."

Almost simultaneously, people in the pub heard various emergency alarms, and not only on television, but also on the loudspeakers on the street, the president's voice was broadcasting.

woo woo woo...

The piercing alarm made most people uneasy.

"My fellow countrymen, I am President Arsú."

"It's 11 a.m., and I should be in my office as usual, processing tomorrow's farmland irrigation report or approving the children's applications for the school field trip. But today, the documents in front of me are not these—the battle report that just came from the front."

"Just yesterday, Milton, the shameless rebel who tore the country apart..."

"He crushed it with a tank..."

“I am not here today to ask you to ‘fight,’ but to tell you to ‘defend your home.’ The country has reached its most critical moment, and all citizens have a duty to pick up their wrenches, sickles, pens, and even syringes to defend peace and the country.”

"All citizens, the day has come to protect your nation... today!"

"..."

Most people were still confused, but a few knowledgeable people had a bad feeling even before they finished listening.

This...this seems to be a general mobilization speech?
Once a general mobilization begins, what will happen to the already brutal conscription offices? With all resources poured into military production, where will those without the necessary skills be sent?

General mobilization means everyone must participate in the fight—either help the soldiers on the front lines or become a soldier on the front lines themselves; homeless people will no longer exist!
"Damn it, we have to run!"

At this moment, a man made up his mind to do everything he could, even if it meant walking, to leave Guatemala City, even if it meant crossing mountains to get to Solora.

However, the moment he pushed open the tavern door, what appeared before him was an armored jeep—with a machine gun turret.

The gun was pointed directly at his head.

A soldier carrying a Type 56 rifle rushed forward, patted the man's face, and said with a cold smile, "By order of the President, everyone in this tavern, come with me to the recruitment office."

“Anyone who doesn’t follow me will be considered a traitor and executed on the spot.”

"..."

woo woo woo...

The piercing alarms blared throughout Guatemala City and in the areas still under government control.

A few hours later, one dilapidated bus after another set off from various cities, heading towards the front lines.

(End of this chapter)