Encirclement

Arthur and Davey's work proceeded either smoothly or not so smoothly, but there were no major issues.

However, Javier and Bill's work was a complete mess.

"Buzzing…"

The roar of an engine, like that of a motorcycle, echoed through the wilderness of West Elizabeth, a sound that immediately brought to mind the old hand-cranked internal combustion trucks.

"Toot toot toot toot…"

The sound was loud and noisy, and it didn't seem to be just one vehicle.

This sudden noise scared the Skinners Brothers Gang members, who were hiding in the woods carefully slicing meat, half to death.

"Ahhh, they're here again! They're here again!"

"Run!"

"Don't kill me, please don't kill me!!"

The moment they heard the sound, the Skinners Brothers Gang members hiding in the woods trembled with fear.

It was truly astonishing that these twisted devils, who enjoyed scalping people, would one day be scared like startled ostriches.

One must know that these damned devils even dared to attack the army!

Even though they now only had a small remnant left, they still numbered five to six hundred people; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to withstand the pressure from Colm's forces.

But now, these five to six… two to three hundred people who had gathered together completely lost the desire to resist after hearing this sound, which was rare for these desperadoes who risked their lives.

However, as the sound approached, it became clear why this scene unfolded.

The remaining two to three hundred Skinners Brothers Gang members screamed, their faces filled with endless fear, and tried to scatter and flee into the dense forest behind them.

However, they hadn't run two steps before hundreds of dense figures burst out of the man-high bushes and various weeds in the direction they were fleeing.

Wearing steel armor, like Central European heavy cavalry, hundreds of figures pushed aside the grass, holding Marko semi-automatic rifles, and raised their guns to shoot as they met the Skinners Brothers Gang members head-on.

"Bang bang bang bang…" Dense gunshots rang out in the forest, and the fastest fleeing Skinners Brothers Gang members were almost instantly shot down.

Tanks couldn't enter the forest, so heavy armored soldiers were clearly better firing points. They could reduce soldier casualties and also form a steel defense line, preventing these damned perverts from running deeper into the woods.

"Ahhh!!"

Piercing screams accompanied the gunshots. The shock of hundreds of steel soldiers leaping out of the dense forest was incredibly terrifying, especially when these damned Skinners Brothers Gang members could barely even get one gun per person.

These steel soldiers, wearing steel armor and holding semi-automatic rifles, couldn't even be penetrated by bullets, let alone attacked with knives or shot with arrows.

Most of the Skinners Brothers Gang members were still nomadic Indians or Mexican Spanish who fled because they were dissatisfied with the collapse of the colonial system. They couldn't afford guns, so they used Mexican machetes or played with bows and arrows.

Weapons of this level, let alone penetrating heavy armor, would be considered skilled if they could even draw a bow before being killed by organized firepower.

So, under the continuous gunfire, these damned scumbags kept falling like reaped straw.

Those who ran slower saw that the situation behind them was not good, and they screamed in terror and fled forward.

However, as soon as they ran out of the forest, they were met by more than a dozen internal combustion engine-driven motorized infantry vehicles.

Motorized infantry vehicles were vehicles developed by Van der Linde Arms research personnel to replace Tanks in forests.

Of course, in World War II, they could also be called armored vehicles.

The outside was also wrapped in steel to achieve bulletproofing, and there was an exit at the front of the vehicle, equipped with a Maxim gun, serving as the main output point.

The vehicle could carry at least eight soldiers, making it particularly useful for assault and jungle warfare.

As this group of Skinners Brothers Gang members desperately saw more than a dozen Maxim guns aimed at them, the Maxim guns on the vehicles finally opened fire in their desperate eyes.

"Gurgle…"

Dazzling blood soaked the ground in the forest, intestines and internal organs were shattered, and even the corpses were incomplete.

The Skinners Brothers Gang, who had committed evil in West Elizabeth for many years, thus completely became history.

These damned scumbags didn't even qualify to enter the mine; they only had one way out: death.

Previously, when the major gangs from New Hanover and Lemoyne fled to West Elizabeth, they were mocked by the Skinners Brothers Gang, who thought they were trash for being driven out of their territory by some gunmen in the West, in this era.

And now, they finally witnessed Mr. Van der Linde's firepower and power.

But even this scale was still a small skirmish, because the true elite of Mr. Van der Linde's troops dispatched for this bandit suppression were in New Austin targeting the Howling Wolf Gang. A small-scale guerrilla operation like this only required one battalion.

At this time, in New Austin, it was a completely different scene.

New Austin.

As the Howling Wolf Gang, jointly supported by Mr. Cornwall and several big warlords, its scale of power was astonishing.

Throughout the game, whether it was the Lemoyne Raiders selling arms, the numerous O'Driscoll Gang, or The Murfree Brood in one village, at most they were just larger bandit gangs.

Only the Howling Wolf Gang in New Austin could be called a warlord.

It not only had its own mines, but also its own ranches, granaries, ports, and military fortresses.

Although it occupied the remnants of the American Civil War, this was still a symbol of strength.

In this era, when gangs were at the end of their rope, for it to still possess such power, it could no longer be called a gang; using the term warlord was more appropriate.

And the leader of the Howling Wolf Gang, who was previously Mr. Cornwall's subordinate, gradually rose in status as his power grew, and can now be called a partner.

This place was the fruit of years of struggle for tycoons like Mr. Cornwall. If combined with the Mexican warlords Mr. Van der Linde eliminated some time ago, their personnel numbers could even reach five thousand, making them the largest force in the West.

This was why Mr. Cornwall, a small mine owner and oil magnate, could be so rampant in the military.

If they truly wanted to unleash their full power, Mr. Cornwall and these capitalists were the true warlords of the West!

However, the Howling Wolf Gang had not been doing well lately.

Mr. Cornwall and Mr. Amalfetano died unexpectedly some time ago, and the entire Mexican force was completely eradicated. Although it didn't significantly impact the Howling Wolf Gang's power, their source of income instantly decreased by more than half.

Business couldn't be done, smuggling collapsed, and the deaths of Mr. Amalfetano and Mr. Cornwall caused the market in Jon City, Mexico, to completely collapse. Even if the Howling Wolf Gang had gold, they couldn't find a place to sell it.

The food supply was also gone. They used to be able to smuggle food from Jon City, but now the port and Jon City were occupied by Mr. Van der Linde, and food became a strategic material, no longer allowed for large-scale sale.

Local robberies also had no business.

Everyone in West Elizabeth ran away, train lines stopped, leaving only a few impoverished gangs. Robbery was meaningless; there was no one left to rob.

All these reasons combined made life very difficult for the Howling Wolf Gang nowadays.

And it also gave Joseph, the leader of the Howling Wolf Gang, a terrible headache.

As a local warlord, Joseph was no longer content with being a mere gang member, which is why he established various warehouses, ranches, and other ventures to transform himself into a true warlord, while also trying to restrain his subordinates from harassing the remaining two or three small villages in New Austin, to bring genuine development opportunities to this area.

However, their income had sharply decreased during this period, and the brothers under him were already becoming dissatisfied, with increasing instances of invading villages.

This gave him a damned sense of urgency.

If he didn't come up with some idea to divert their attention, he might even be overthrown as the leader.

But fortunately, when Joseph was most helpless, Mr. Van der Linde's troops finally appeared.

Why is the battle in West Elizabeth considered a minor skirmish? Because Javier and several key figures are in New Austin, the main target of the extermination is also in New Austin, and the main elite forces deployed by Mr. Van der Linde are also in New Austin.

New Austin, a forgotten state, a true wild frontier of the West.

This place where countless people have died, this place that even Easterners dread, today, its doomsday is finally arriving.

Because Mr. Van der Linde wants New Austin.

A division's worth of troops is being continuously transported into New Austin by troop trains via railway.

Thirty diesel Tanks were the first to be transported as primary combat members, followed by fifty infantry armored vehicles, five hundred horse-drawn Maxim guns, fifty howitzers, and individual anti-Tank infantry cannons.

This battle is a training exercise and also an invasion.

Any gang members will collapse and be utterly destroyed under Mr. Van der Linde's army.

Yellow sand filled the air over the cactus-covered plains beneath the Great Gobbi Desert of New Austin.

As a desert with few plants, it's easy for such natural phenomena to occur.

But this time, the natural phenomenon was not naturally generated by the environment, but by human factors.

"Buzzing..."

Thirty diesel Tanks spearheaded the charge, crushing the cactus trees in front of them into flat pancakes, causing dust and smoke to fill the land.

Fifty armored personnel carriers followed closely behind, their wheels kicking up yellow sand into the sky.

Five hundred carriages pulling Maxim guns and gunners followed, with yellow sand and smoke swirling, but unable to disperse the intense killing intent.

Thirty thousand soldiers followed closely behind, jogging to keep up with the front lines, each man looking excited and brimming with killing intent.

If armed forces of this scale were transported to Washington by train now, Washington would be captured within half a day, and the current American President would have to issue an abdication decree.

But Dutch wouldn't do that. Capturing only Washington is useless. Moreover, for an invasion, occupation and governance are crucial for continuous strengthening, unlike America, which constantly invades but fails to govern any occupied territories, gaining no profit and dragging itself into a bottomless pit.

This method might still be useful for America's hegemony, as long as the big financial magnates don't rebel, it doesn't matter. But for Dutch, it would be an act of exposing his true intentions.

The swirling yellow sand lashed against the ancient, dilapidated military bunker, causing a Howling Wolf Gang gunner on guard to spit and curse incessantly.

"Sh*t! I'm really tired of this damn place! There are no women and no money to be made, I really don't know what's left to stay for!

That damn Joseph is even more useless, can't he lift the restrictions on looting?"

The Howling Wolf Gang gunner complained incessantly while standing next to his companion.

Even though Joseph was their boss, and even though Joseph was right there at that moment, he still didn't care. To these gang members, Joseph was nothing; he was only a boss if he could lead them to make money, otherwise, he was nothing!

Joseph, who had just come out of his room feeling uneasy to inspect, happened to overhear these conversations. His face darkened, and he felt an uncontrollable sense of grievance.

F*ck, what could he do? Mr. Cornwall couldn't be contacted, what was he supposed to do?

Joseph quickly ascended the city wall, then stood with a grim face in front of the two talking sentries, coldly shouting, "Hmph, if you two are not satisfied, then... sh*t! Oh, my God! Oh, no! My God, what in the world is that?"

Joseph, who was facing the outside of the city, happened to see the swirling yellow sand in the distance.

And he could also clearly see that amidst the swirling yellow sand, one steel Tank after another was emerging from the sand.

"Whoosh..."

The yellow dust obscured everyone's vision on the city wall, but accompanied by a faint mechanical roar, a massive black silhouette slowly became clearer in the yellow sand.

Under everyone's confused gaze, a strangely shaped train slowly emerged from the yellow sand's shroud on the desert ground.

And this wasn't the end; closely following, one black silhouette after another slowly emerged from the yellow sand.

"Humming..." The roar of the machines could already be heard by everyone on the fortress.

One Tank after another continuously formed a massive formation, slowly emerging from the yellow sand.

Arranged in five rows, a total of thirty steel fortresses drove out of the yellow sand. Before the Howling Wolf Gang members could exclaim in surprise, dense black shadows rushed out of the yellow sand.

Joseph and his two subordinates, who had just been cursing him, stood rigidly on the fortress's battlement, staring blankly at the Tank and armored vehicle convoys below, which had already formed a military formation, and at the dense, ant-like soldiers pouring out of the yellow sand. He felt his throat go dry, his eyes glaze over, his mind turn to mush, and he even forgot what he wanted to do.

However, he forgot, but that doesn't mean Mr. Van der Linde's army, which was approaching, also forgot.

"Fire!"

With the Tank commander's order, the Tank formation, still at a considerable distance, aimed and suddenly opened fire on the bunker.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

A series of explosions and flashes of fire finally jolted Joseph out of his shock.

However, just as he came to his senses, the shells fired by the Tanks had already hit the bunker.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The entire bunker shook, filled with the sound of explosions and the smell of gunpowder.

The dilapidated bunker gate was blown open by a single shot, and the bunker walls were blasted with large craters and holes.

Joseph was thrown to the ground by the blast wave of the shell, the impact almost knocking the breath out of him, and his consciousness even began to blur.

But even so, he endured like a true God of War, forcing himself to sit up on the ground with a fierce expression, then shouted loudly, "Quickly raise the white flag! Surrender, we surrender!!!"

He surrendered immediately upon contact.

This was Joseph's unique wisdom.