Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 73: Setting up two machine guns here would allow us to control the entire street.
Even a month later, after winning a gunfight with the enemy using superior marksmanship, you might still feel lingering fear when you think about it.

But if the booby traps you set yourself were triggered by the enemy, blowing them to pieces; or if you watched the enemy muster the courage to charge out and fight, only to be overwhelmed by a hail of shells, you could laugh out loud in bed that night.

The subordinates may not understand this principle today, but they will understand it someday.

Milton waved his hand: "Go train, and remember, listen to the instructors during training. Brandon, if you feel you can still move, you can go and watch and learn by observing."

Brandon, not wanting to be left behind, immediately said, "I definitely have to go see it!"

"Boss, we definitely won't hold you back!"

"Let's go! I want to see whether I collapse from exhaustion first or the instructor collapses first..."

"Remember to wear earmuffs, or your ears will be deafened."

"..."

Milton was actually quite satisfied with the attitude of his men.

A healthy team is one where everyone has their own interests, yet they are not brought together solely for those interests.

If there is only a link of interests, then the team is just a mob that can only fight when things are going well, and will fall apart when things go wrong.

However, if there are no benefits at all, and it becomes just empty promises, the team can easily fall into confusion and find it difficult to truly unite.

A healthy development model requires both.

Milton also realized just how much his desperate attempt to save Brandon had affected the team's morale.

If this team was previously just a group of people who didn't want to die, banding together for survival—a rather broad and abstract goal—then...

The team is now able to work together towards a specific goal.

As long as no major changes occur, the team should be easy to manage.

Milton was already envisioning many future developments in his mind, until Flora nudged his shoulder.

“'Tax collectors,' those two, no, now there are four… those four people you ostracized seem to be waiting for you?”

There are four people in total: the traitor and the surrender faction who were lured out. No problem.

Milton first sadly realized that he seemed to have accepted the nickname "tax collector" before he looked up.

The four men, especially the two traitors, noticed Milton and cautiously approached only after confirming that no one was stopping them.

Milton stopped, glanced at his watch, and asked, "What is it?"

Having been intimidated once before, the mole dared not be arrogant this time. He whispered, "Mr. Pedro and Mr. Varta said that your conditions are negotiable, but the reparations must be returned no matter what."

“No problem, we can discuss the specific figures later.” Milton waved his hand, took two steps forward, then stopped casually and asked, “By the way, you were actually Pedro’s people, right?”

The two traitors looked away, not daring to answer directly.

“I need to remind you of something,” Milton said slowly, “that even though you are his people, you still have properties near the Old Street. And the Old Street is my territory, understand what I mean?”

“Understood, understood!” “If the peace talks go smoothly, we’ll be in the same boat.” Milton’s voice suddenly softened, and a smile appeared on his face. “Since you are both Pedro’s men and have properties in the Old Street, you can come with me to the negotiations the day after tomorrow.”

"You should know without me saying that this is an opportunity for you."

Should we go to negotiate together?

If we can facilitate peace talks, it would indeed be an opportunity...

Moreover, the "hellish tax collector" is right. As long as the peace talks are successful, they will be "one family" and will be able to pay taxes and do business normally in the future.

“No problem, no problem!” one of them laughed. “I heard that Mr. Varta also plans to send someone over. Everyone is very sincere and looking forward to this peace.”

"Hmm, Mr. Otto likes his sirloin cooked medium-rare..."

Milton waved his hand impatiently: "I know."

After the four men had walked away, Milton turned to Flora and said, "It seems there are more enemies than we thought? Are they trying to send more people to maintain order and get better terms at the negotiating table?"

"It seems they really didn't expect us to turn on them so easily. They even had to tell me what they wanted to eat? Did they expect me to try to please them?"

Flora, on the other hand, was quite indifferent: "Let them come. It's just a bunch of zeros added together. No matter how many come, they're just going to their deaths."

In their plan, everyone involved in the negotiations was a dead man.

What the dead like to eat is really not a particularly important thing.

Instead of deciding how well-done you want your steak, you should scout out the area around the steakhouse and see where you can launch a thermobaric bomb to cook them perfectly.

Even 30 years later, in an era of incredibly advanced electronic information technology, close-range reconnaissance will still be important.

Because much information, such as the internal structure of buildings, possible firing positions, and ambush points, can only be obtained through on-site investigation.

A precise and detailed reconnaissance can even determine the success or failure of an operation to some extent.

"'Tax collector,' how do you plan to investigate?"

“We definitely can’t just drive over there openly,” Milton said. “We’ll change our clothes and dress up in the evening, then sneak over to the vicinity of the Central Church… There are plenty of people walking or begging around there at that time, so we won’t attract too much attention.”

"can."

After finalizing their plan, the two quickly changed their clothes, put on some makeup, and waited until 7:30 in the evening before quietly sneaking out with other black market customers.

The distance from the old street to the central church is not far, only 2 kilometers, but the environment is at least as bad as hell on earth, if not heaven on earth.

In a place where the vast majority of houses are made of wood or low-quality sheet metal, you can see a large number of brick and concrete houses.

Seeing that they were almost there, Flora naturally reached out and took Milton's arm—they didn't go directly to the restaurant area, but instead went to the church square, pretending to be taking a stroll.

Flora casually remarked as they walked, "This steakhouse is a corner shop, occupying the intersection of two streets. It's quite wide and has a great view... It's in a very strategic location."

Milton nodded slightly: "Yes, if we set up two machine guns here, I think we can control the whole street. The enemy will definitely occupy this position first, so we need to find a suitable firing point nearby."

(End of this chapter)