Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 308 War begins

After the first flight test, technicians made another emergency adjustment to the aircraft.

Meanwhile, another officer asked Milton a very important question: "'Godfather,' are you going to give this plane a name?"

“Let’s call it ‘Winter Wind’,” Milton said without much thought. “Final testing is underway; the soldiers on the front lines need us.”

"..."

……

Frontline in Guatemala City.

Nelson, the joint commander in charge of the Northern Group warlords and Honduran mercenaries, was hiding in a bunker. Only after the thunderous artillery fire subsided did he dare to peek out and look towards the battlefield.

He peered across the other side through binoculars, his nervousness undisguised.

Because everyone knew that the sentry posts and scattered troops stationed outside were losing contact at an extremely rapid pace, and just recently, everyone outside had lost contact.

The reason Milton's army has not yet attacked is that they are still preparing ships... Three temporary docks have been built beside the Tagu River!
While the Pan-Madre Army was building the docks, Nelson did attempt to attack, but in several sporadic skirmishes, the coalition forces were relentlessly suppressed by the enemy.

And he dared not launch any more large-scale attacks.

Although the coalition forces were not completely cut off from their logistical supplies, they lost a huge number of warehouses in a short period of time. The weak and long supply lines could not quickly fill the gaps, and Nelson did not dare to launch a large-scale offensive unless the best opportunity came.

The enemy commander wished the allied forces would waste more ammunition on insignificant things.

This resulted in a situation where the Allied positions were being unilaterally and relentlessly bombarded from the opposite bank of the river—and many of the shells that bombarded them were their own.

Boom boom boom...

Another round of small-scale artillery bombardment came, scattering several positions that had disobeyed orders and were boiling water.

“…Heh.” Nelson chuckled self-deprecatingly at the officer beside him. “I didn’t know I had such a good temper. Back home, if the president dared to treat me like this, I would dare to storm the presidential palace.”

Even at this point, the adjutant didn't forget to flatter him: "This shows that you, sir, know what forbearance is. That's true wisdom."

Nelson waved his hand and sighed, "It's no use talking about this now. The soldiers may not know what's happening in Honduras, but do you think we don't? Milton got the AC-130 and blew up two F-5Es... Now our country is protesting our military's actions."

The adjutant scoffed, "They're not protesting a military operation, they're protesting a failure."

"We can't bring in the fighters that we can maintain air superiority right now. With limited individual air defense, it's hard to do anything effective against the AC-130. The only chance of winning now is to gain an advantage on the ground before Milton completes the arming of the AC-130."

The adjutant seemed relatively relaxed: "Sir, I heard that Arsu is already conducting a general mobilization. The attack on Guatemala City should be able to generate a lot more troops in a short period of time."

"Our supply lines haven't been completely blocked, and we've recently received a small number of new soldiers..."

Upon hearing this, Nelson couldn't help but think of these so-called "support" troops.

Each of them had a resentful expression and a different build. They were holding the worst guns and had no other equipment. If they hadn't been scattered into the army, or if the supervising officers hadn't been pointing guns at them at all times, they would have definitely defected!

Even on the battlefield, they were probably thinking about how to rebel.

Fortunately, this war was a river crossing war, so it wasn't so easy to rebel—Milton's cannons didn't know they wanted to rebel.

"Leave these people on the front line. When we attack later, have them draw as much enemy fire as possible to buy us time for the attack."

The adjutant nodded and said, "Yes..."

Just as he finished speaking, a message came over the radio.

"This is Guatemala City. A large-scale offensive has been launched against the enemy's rear. Your cooperation is requested. Over."

Nelson was jolted awake—so fast?!
Is this still the Guatemalan government army?
Is this the combat efficiency after a general mobilization?

"Sir, us?"

Without much hesitation, Nelson shouted, "Attack! Cross the river! Let Milton see that he's not the only one with the courage to launch an attack!"

The current situation is actually quite clear—Milton is the attacker, preparing to cross the river; the Allied forces are the defenders, intending to hold their ground.

Nelson's way of thinking was different... If everyone thought this way, then when the Allied forces suddenly became the attackers and suddenly crossed the river to fight, wouldn't they be able to catch Milton off guard? As the attackers, they naturally wouldn't set up too many defensive positions, right?
This "tactic" can only be used once, so it must be used at the most critical moment.

The Guatemalan government forces are launching a fierce attack on the enemy's rear. Isn't this the most crucial moment?

"Cross the river! Cross the river!"

"Kill all these scum!"

"Reconnaissance team, keep a close eye on the enemy and break through their weakest point! First, find a way to destroy their ships. The new recruits will lead the charge and tell them this is their best chance to make a fortune!"

"All mortar positions, prepare to bombard the enemy's docks and densely populated areas immediately after the battle begins!"

"receive."

"Roger that!"

The radio crackled with responses from various mid-level officers.

Soon, the actions on the battlefield began to unfold as he had imagined—the Allied forces had begun to move, various units began to assemble behind the reverse slope, and one unit even rushed toward a well-hidden assault boat on the riverbank!

Looking at the deployment, Nelson decisively continued to issue orders: "Communications squad, tell everyone that there are two main attack directions. The locations are simple: the two docks that Milton first built—the most suitable directions for the enemy's attack, and also suitable for us. The river is narrow there, which can shorten our landing time and the time for the ships to travel back and forth!"

"understand!"

Upon hearing the news, officers sprang into action. Large numbers of poorly equipped and poorly trained troops were forced to move out of the reverse slope under the aim of cannons and began to charge toward the opposite bank of the river.

These newly recruited line-filling babies can't even ride in an amphibious armored vehicle or a speedboat; they're just wearing tattered life jackets!
They could only carry a rifle, jump into the icy river, and desperately swim towards the other side, hoping that the enemy was a bunch of blind men who couldn't see anything.

But it was clear that this elite force, which had achieved brilliant results on many battlefields, was not "blind." Before the conscripts even arrived at the riverbank and began to cross, the machine gun positions on the opposite bank began to fire wildly!

If they are wearing heavy body armor, if they are in an assault boat, or if they are on an infantry fighting vehicle, at least a general-purpose machine gun like the PKM would be unlikely to cause too much damage.

However, these people only had life jackets on them.

Let alone full-power rounds like 7.62 NATO or even .50 BMG, even intermediate-power rounds, even the most ordinary pistol rounds, could cause fatal damage to these conscripts at this time!
Boom boom boom!!!
A barrage of machine guns and rifles rained down on the mobilization team. The first group of men at the front jerked their bodies, and several bowl-sized holes burst open in their life jackets, revealing fragments of cloth, flesh, and internal organs.

Batch after batch of lives were ruthlessly harvested on the riverbank!

Even though many of these conscripts were gang members with lives on their hands, they had never seen such a bloody scene... Here, human life had become the cheapest thing.

Boom boom boom…

But because it happened so suddenly and there were so many people involved, quite a few conscripts were lucky enough to escape being hit. They jumped into the river and swam desperately toward the other side.

Behind them, the Allied artillery and machine gun positions seemed to have launched a counterattack, but judging from the frequency of the sounds, the counterattack didn't seem very strong. Finally, someone couldn't hold on any longer and shouted into the radio, "The enemy's firepower is too intense, we can't hold on much longer!"

"We must hold on! No retreating! Charge forward! Anyone who doesn't want to be roasted and eaten by Milton, that devil, must charge forward! Reinforcements are on their way!"

"..."

"rush!"

"Charge to the other side!!!"

"Damn it, as long as I can get to the other side, I'll surrender immediately..."

"..."

However, once a person enters the water, their forward speed immediately becomes extremely slow.

Some people sank straight into the murky river without even uttering a sound, leaving only a rapidly spreading ring of blood and a few churning bubbles on the surface. Others had their limbs severed by bullets, flailing their broken arms or legs in agony and terror, before being swept away by the rushing water.

What's even more frightening is that Milton's equipment is not just limited to machine guns.

The conscripts had barely been in the water when a violent explosion rang in their ears.

A large number of shells were fired into the river and exploded in the water!
The propagation efficiency of shock waves in air is completely different from that in water. Air can act as a buffer for shock waves, but water, which is difficult to compress, cannot!
Even an ordinary shell with a 10kg charge can cause tremendous power.

With each explosion, a large number of conscripts fell to the ground, and those whose life jackets were damaged immediately sank to the bottom of the water!

Before they had even swum halfway across the river, the casualties among the conscripts had reached a terrifying level.

Watching one life after another being taken, these conscripts, who had only trained for a few days, finally felt a deep fear. Chaos erupted on the river – some were dragged to the bottom by the ankles of those struggling for their lives; some recruits, in extreme terror, suffered mental breakdowns, dropped their useless rifles, and frantically thrashed and screamed in the water, trying to swim back and climb back.

Thump thump thump...

Another burst of gunfire erupted, sweeping towards the soldiers crossing the river.

However, this time the gunfire did not originate from Milton's defensive positions, but from the Allied positions.

The moment the supervising team saw someone trying to crawl back, they pulled the trigger of their machine guns and executed several conscripts who were the fastest to escape.

Soldiers were crossing the river in the middle, but both enemy and friendly forces were firing wildly at the river. This kind of unbearable spectacle can only be seen in Latin America and Africa.

The Tagu River had by then become a slaughterhouse.

Boom boom boom…

The bright red color was clearly visible on the river surface.

Ultimately, even the few conscripts who managed to land could not escape being shot dead.

Nelson felt no remorse for the losses of these conscripts—the next wave of conscripts was already waiting to die on the riverbank. Their only purpose was to wear down Milton's firepower. Only when the firepower on the opposite bank was significantly weakened would it be the turn of the main force.

Terrified by the scene they had just witnessed, and with machine guns pointed at their backs, the conscripts had no choice but to jump into the river one by one and swim to the other side in despair.

As Nelson had predicted, it was another bloody massacre.

However, Nelson clearly noticed that this time, the enemy's firepower did not seem as fierce as before, and there were significantly more conscripts who swam to the other side of the river.

Of course, they ultimately couldn't escape the fate of being taken away by a thermobaric bomb.

After organizing three waves of conscripted soldiers to charge, Nelson discovered that the enemy's firepower had weakened considerably compared to the beginning...

Was the gun barrel overheating? Were they running out of ammunition? Were they caught off guard by this counterattack? Or did they realize these conscripts were cannon fodder and were unwilling to waste their precious firepower?
If the cannon fodder hadn't already been almost completely used up, Nelson would have sent in a couple more waves of casualties.

Of course, although it's said to be in waves, the river-crossing operation is actually continuous and doesn't involve any turn-based system.
Nelson picked up the radio and connected to his adjutant: "Report the overall losses."

"Approximately, approximately 500 people."

The battle had barely begun when 500 people were killed!
Such a staggering loss did not shake Nelson for a moment.

"Hmm... it should be about time now."

"Third wave of assault... Place all conscripts at the front to cover the main force and armored units as they prepare to charge! Infantry fighting vehicles and assault boats, prepare! Once ashore, try to disperse as much as possible, unless someone wants to take Milton's shells!"

"Artillery positions, bombard all enemy firing points!"

"receive."

"……clear!"

Boom boom boom!
At that moment, neither side held back any longer. Artillery fire roared, machine guns raged, and hidden armored vehicles rolled over the reverse slope and charged toward the other side.

Nelson watched the two directions of attack with some tension—the number of conscripts killed was not important, but the losses of these armored units and main forces were not something that could be ignored.

However, seemingly to confirm Nelson's earlier optimistic prediction, the enemy's firepower was indeed weaker than expected. After losing some conscripts and a few armored vehicles, the main force successfully landed and attempted to disperse.

boom!
Suddenly, an armored vehicle on the riverbank exploded without warning...

"Anti-tank mines! Damn it, as the attacking side, they actually laid mines? That's fucking insane..."

"Quickly clear the mines on the beachhead! Have them spread more firepower across the beachhead to further cover our follow-up landing forces! The follow-up forces, get up there, get up there as fast as you can!"

A smile appeared on Nelson's face. At this point, at least the goal of "landing" had been basically achieved.

Without beachheads, the enemy could not stop the landing; now that there are beachheads, subsequent landing troops can be continuously sent up.

One piece of good news after another was delivered to the command center.

The amphibious landing operation went exactly as Nelson had predicted, and the land was successfully reached.

Nelson picked up his binoculars again and glanced in the direction of the battlefield.

This time, however, he frowned slightly.

Because... the login process seems to be a bit "congested"?

The beachhead was successfully established, but several attempts to expand outwards failed, and the landing force remained confined to a small area... while subsequent landing forces continued to arrive.

This forced many troops to crowd together, leading to congestion for subsequent landing forces.

The sheer number of people gathered on that small beachhead gave Nelson an instinctive feeling of great danger.

P.S.: Hehe, the National Day holiday is over! Have a great time back at work everyone!

(End of this chapter)