New Gods of North America.

Chapter 229 Robbery Case and Shooting Range

If we want to make an assessment of the overall status of the gangs,
So if we rank the dangers from high to low, "being ambushed by them" is greater than "being chased by them", which is still greater than "confronting them head-on".

Unless they are forced into a dead end by law enforcement officers, most gangs gather together for profit.
Therefore, when the obstacles they encounter exceed their tolerable limits, the probability that the gangs will retreat on their own is actually quite high.

Anyway, in Wayne's memory of more than ten years of life in the West, he only encountered a gang that pursued him to death even though half of its members were reduced once.

It's different when dealing with them.
The best situation is to sneak attack their base, the second best situation is to sneak attack their camp where they are going to divide the spoils after the crime is committed.

As for ambushing gang members on the move, it is actually not a good idea for bounty hunters.

When gangs are preparing to commit crimes, they usually ride on horses. If the situation is not right, it is easy for them to flee in all directions, and they may even come back to retaliate the next day.

To completely block the route, not only suitable terrain and preparation are needed, but also sufficient manpower, which is not economically viable.

Wayne tried to find a balance between "minimizing losses for all parties" and "protecting the interests of the detective agency":

"With a gang of more than 30 people, unless they all hold their ground, it would be a bit difficult to completely wipe them out given the size of our detective agency.

“So, without intending to let them succeed, we need to try our best to attract their hatred and prevent them from escaping quickly.

"So my initial idea is that we should also send a few people to deal with the gang that destroyed the railway while keeping silent. As for the rest of the people, after the main force of the gang begins to attack, they should keep a distance and harass them.

"The overall purpose of our operation this time is to attract the attention of the gangs, and achieve the goal of 'luring' or 'driving' them away in disguise, without destroying the railway. Only then can we strike at the gangs."

Steam train robberies are not uncommon in America today, so there are many existing cases that can be analyzed.
According to the convention, robbers usually arrange a team to destroy the railway before robbing the steam train.
Usually, the launch will not be too far in advance. Even if the explosives are placed in advance, they will usually be launched after the target train can be seen through the telescope.
The large force would then sound the alarm at a position relatively closer to the direction in which the steam train was coming, force the steam train to stop in advance, and then carry out the looting.

Although it is not uncommon to blow up bridges or railways, most robbers tend to take certain measures to avoid serious accidents that result in the destruction of vehicles and loss of life.

For example, try to choose relatively flat terrain to carry out destruction, or use gunshots and explosions to provide timely warnings, leaving enough time for emergency braking for the steam train.

This may be considered a manifestation of "civilization", but the gangsters are actually calculating economic accounts:
The first and most intuitive thing is that the corpses usually cannot cooperate with the bandits and actively contribute the property on their bodies or in their luggage. Doing so will not improve the efficiency of the robbery and may even greatly reduce it.

Moreover, if they just robbed the cargo on the steam train, or robbed the passengers, then in America today, this kind of thing would only be regarded as a "small case" that people are familiar with in newspapers - it's nothing more than "seeking money" or "a few casualties" - basically they just need to evade the pursuit of local police and bounty hunters.

However, if a serious accident occurs and heavy casualties occur, the abnormally large number of casualties can easily irritate the nerves of the people.

After all, attacks and even massacres against towns, as long as outsiders are far enough away, they may not be affected at all.

But the vicious crime against the "steam train" is, in a sense, a threat to "every citizen" of the Commonwealth of America.

Once public opinion boils over, the criminals may face a carnival-style "encirclement and suppression" -

Politicians with a keen sense of smell will not miss such a good opportunity to earn votes and personal reputation. Politicians from different parties and positions will even use various resources to compete for this. In reality, the federal government and state and local governments will be angry about this.
Rich people and landowners everywhere would also be happy to donate money and use their connections in “major events” to demonstrate their benevolence and generosity;

The Church will respond to people's expectations, mobilize the dioceses to exert their strength, and proclaim the protection of the "Holy Spirit" for believers.

Reporters will frantically follow up before the heat fades, reporting in an avalanche of reports in newspapers to continue to attract the public's attention.

Anyway, the most famous gang in America is the seven-member gang that caused the steam train to fall off a cliff.

It is said that before they were wiped out, they were faced with a blockade of at least 8,000 National Guards from neighboring states and the Federal Army, as well as countless bounty hunters who swarmed in to hunt them.

Not only did some cult organizations and local gangs issue statements and take the initiative to distance themselves from them, but even many other criminal organizations seemed to have gone silent during that period.

So since then, local gangs have tacitly restrained their arrogance and tried their best to avoid causing indiscriminate "mass deaths and injuries" and to control the nature of the case within the scope of "random individual casualties". If there is no other purpose, don't make such a big fuss.
Just kill some people who fight back and resist, just for the sake of showing your respect...

After Lina heard this, she was the first to raise her hand:
"I need to eliminate the enemy squad while keeping silent. I'm good at this. I can also bring Chameleon and Vine. Swamp is also suitable. It should be enough to deal with a few people."

These are the extraordinary abilities of the agents or peripheral members.
Although Wayne understood, he couldn't help but glance at Lina, "Please call your own people by their names in the future, don't give them these random nicknames..."

After assigning the named members to Lina, the remaining people belong to the "main team".

Wayne continued to inform everyone of the preliminary plan:
“If the Silent Squad can deal with the gang members responsible for sabotaging the railway and ensure that the steam train can run normally, then what the large force needs to do before the steam train leaves is to lure or harass the gang members.

"The ideal scenario for us is to lure the gangs to the ambush point, detonate high explosives to reduce their numbers, and then strike back.

"Considering that there may be other bounty hunter teams around, we should leave as many as possible behind while avoiding casualties. Don't pursue them over long distances, and be on guard against attacks from other teams. Does anyone have any questions?"

Willy honestly didn't understand so he asked, "Mr. Wayne, why do we have to wait until the steam train comes over? Wouldn't it be better to attack their camp in advance?"

Lina tilted her head to look at Willy, and continued to tease the little brat:

"The gangs haven't started robbing yet. Without the staff and passengers on the steam train as witnesses, who can prove that we are 'stopping crime'? Even if we want to attack a camp, we should attack the camp where they plan to divide the spoils after they succeed. Otherwise, the benefits will not be high."

Although this is not a very straightforward statement, it is indeed true.

Before gaining enough trust from employers, detective agencies need to "leave traces of their work" and "third-party witnesses".

Wayne has tried his best to avoid losses for his employer and passengers, and he can't let go of even this part of the profits.

Then a peripheral member tried to raise a question, "We don't have the advantage in numbers to begin with. If we split a few more people, wouldn't it be too dangerous for the remaining ten or so people to attract the main force of the gang, which is at least 20 to 30 people?"

Wayne responded relatively formally:

“According to my conception, if the railway had not been destroyed, the large force would only need to ‘interfere’ or ‘harass’ the gangs before the steam trains left.

"We kept the longest distance and just fired at the gangsters. We didn't have to worry too much about bullet consumption and accuracy. As for dodging bullets, that was something they needed to consider.

"If a small group of gangsters come to chase us, we will try our best to counterattack and eliminate them. If the main force of the gang comes, we will directly evacuate to the ambush point. I think the risk of this plan is not too high. Of course, if you have other plans, you can bring them up now for discussion."

In the end, after a little research, everyone decided to basically execute according to this plan.

This involves the so-called "maximum range" issue.

Taking the common lever-action rifle as an example, the effective range of normal shooting is about 200 yards. If you want to hit the target farther, you need relatively high skills and suitable fate.

But if the requirement for hitting the target is not high, you can actually perform "projectile firing", so that the bullet can be fired at a farther distance and can still effectively kill soft targets.

Theoretically speaking, according to the range formula, excluding the same initial bullet velocity and gravity acceleration, if the bullet is fired at a 45-degree angle, the ammunition will fly the farthest distance.
However, in reality, the bullet is also affected by complex factors such as air resistance and its own weight, and the maximum range angle is actually about 30 degrees upward.
In actual tests, the longest distance at which a projectile can still cause damage is about twice the effective distance on average. If you don't want to cause damage, you can actually reach even further.

Unfortunately, doing so basically means giving up on accuracy. Even a slightly stronger wind can cause the bullet to deviate far. Except for the military with dense enough bullets, basically no one would do this. In America, where arithmetic is not yet widely popularized, some people don't even know that such a thing exists.

Wayne finally placed his hands on the table:
"So the code name for our operation this time is 'bite the tail'. The damage we can cause in the early stages may not be great, but as long as the insult is strong enough, it'll be fine."

(End of this chapter)