Looking across the long history of humanity, there has never been any warfare tactic suitable for all scenarios in any war. Most tactics need to adapt to specific situations. Changing even one element of the considerations of timing, location, and people can result in drastically different outcomes.
However, there is a necessary premise to this conclusion: in wars fought for victory, no tactic is universally applicable.
But if we alter the premise slightly--not pursuing victory as a necessary condition, but just hoping to make the opponent fail or even just feel uncomfortable--then we must mention a tactic that can be effectively used under any circumstances--exploding faeces.
Please note, this is exploding faeces, not throwing faeces. Throwing faeces is just an advanced version of the tactic of slinging mud. Its main characteristic is that it is premeditated and targeted; if the opponent is alert enough, they can avoid it.
However, exploding faeces is different. This is a tactic where even the strategists and implementors cannot fully predict the consequences. When you throw a bomb into a latrine, you cannot predict exactly where the feces will fly or even if it will splatter onto you.
This is the brilliance of the exploding faeces tactic. If even the strategists of a tactic do not know the final outcome, then who else can predict and avoid it?
Many people used to be puzzled about the situation with Bruce Wayne and Gotham. Basically, what Bruce Wayne did in Gotham was equivalent to having a smart toilet but obstinately refusing to use the automatic flush, stubbornly researching various ways to dislodge the faeces glued to the toilet bowl.
But it's one thing to study how to flush faeces in your own toilet; it's quite another thing if, unable to dislodge the faeces, you explode the septic tank in frustration.
The matter that Bruce Wayne announced is closer to the situation where there's a stubborn piece of faeces in his toilet that he can't flush. Since he hasn't yet found the proper technique, Bruce Wayne just leaves them there.
One day the chunk of faeces evolves arms and legs, breaking the toilet. Unable to receive timely support from his neighbours and coworkers, and thus to clean up his house, Bruce decides to blow up both his house and the chunk of faeces.
Of course, in general, this would at most contaminate one street, just making people a little disgusted. However, if the faeces belong to Godzilla, then it would be a huge problem.
And to be precise, each of the criminals in Gotham is roughly equivalent to a piece of faeces from a giant monster. Scattered, they are pieces of faeces; together, they form a mountain of feces.
Bruce Wayne blew up the mountain of feces.
The worst part is that everyone present is right in the center of the explosion. The amount of faeces accumulated in Gotham could contaminate not just the whole Americas, but at least the entire United States.
I have to introduce the miraculous American judicial system and prison system here.
In simple terms, state courts in each state are completely independent, with no connection to the US Supreme Court, having independent legislative and judicial powers, resulting in the widely-acknowledged phenomenon of different states in the US having different laws.
Furthermore, in cities with strong mayoral systems, the legal system is almost independent. In extreme cases, you might have different laws every ten miles, and it's not rare for a criminal from a certain city or state to escape judicial sanctions by fleeing to another state.
Even more amazing than this magical judicial system is the American prison system. In general, prisons in the United States are not public facilities, but profit-making private enterprises.
Many US prisons are fully commercialized, meaning they have no difference from the stores people see in commercial districts. They are privately owned with dedicated prison managers who manage the prison for the owners.
The goal of prison management is not to imprison criminals properly, nor to reform criminals or help them return to society, their goal is to profit.
The result of this is that prisons are not accountable to the government or society. They are only responsible for fulfilling the government reception quotas. As for the conditions of the prisoners in the prisons, private prisons uphold completely market-driven standards.
Of course, not all prisons in the United States are private. However, inevitably, bad money drives out good and ends up constricting the living space of some government-controlled prisons, gradually making them decline and be deserted.
The government certainly can't stand by and watch this happen, so they adopt measures such as allowing more public prisons to accept private funding, especially funding from private enterprises needed to maintain a security environment, and adopting a joint public-private operation model.
All prisons in Gotham are in this situation. The only prison fully owned by Bruce Wayne is the Bat Cave Jail, while others such as the Blackgate Prison, Gotham Police Department Prison, and Gotham Police Department Extraordinary Prison are all funded by Wayne Enterprises.
No extra allocation of Gotham's municipal funds can be used to maintain the normal operation of these prisons, at least not in the short term. Once Wayne Enterprises decides to withdraw its investment, it becomes inevitable for these prisons to shut down.
But just because the prison's gone doesn't mean the criminals are gone, nor does it mean Gotham's law enforcement agencies are gone. As long as the law enforcement system under the federation in Gotham is still operating normally, they can demand that the federal government provide them with the capacity to detain criminals.
If the federal government cannot provide this, it would mean they are completely giving up their law enforcement rights in this city, leading to a series of severe consequences that nobody present could bear.
But if they are to provide detention quotas for these criminals, it means they are allowing the madmen of Gotham to leave Gotham and head for all parts of the United States, or at least all parts of New Jersey State.
It can be imagined that these king bugs, rolled out of the world's largest cesspool, will not obediently ride the prison car to the prison to be imprisoned.
If this shitshow is bound to implode, who can guarantee they won't be caught in its fallout?
Even if all the prisons dispatch a large number of security personnel to contain this group of criminals at the highest security level, who can assure they'd sit quietly in prison rather than striving to stand out, bringing a new gospel to the criminal world in various states?
In goes a madman of Gotham, out come a bunch of Gotham criminals. It's clear to everyone now that Bruce Wayne is not just trying to be a Godfather; he's trying to mass-produce Godfathers.
At this point, the Federal Government simply does not possess the firm enforcement ability of the Roosevelt era. It is unrealistic to build several prisons to detain Gotham criminals overnight. If people here do not want to get splashed by shit, they are left with only one choice, and that is to let Bruce Wayne take the reins.
Seeing congressmen almost burst with anxiety, the military's representative couldn't help but wipe his forehead with a handkerchief. He wanted to speak, to dissuade, but he didn't know where to start, after all, Bruce Wayne still had a trump card left to play.
If he opens his mouth to say, "You're endangering the safety of Gotham," Bruce could immediately counter with, "When you dared to bring the missile here, who exactly was jeopardizing the safety of Gotham?"
The only hope now is that the two teams sent out could bring back some good news. Originally, the military's plan was to grasp a handle on Wayne Enterprises, such as illegal trade, illegal emissions, or the like. But now the situation forces them to adopt more aggressive measures.
If they can't turn the tide, and the madmen of Gotham actually get released, for the sake of their own votes, all the political parties will point their fingers at the military. Once things get to this point, a power purge inside the military won't be far off.
The military called for a halftime break, the reason being the spokesperson was feeling unwell, which wasn't far from the truth. The young officer looked like he was about to have a blood pressure explosion.
Then there was one other person who was excited as they left the meeting, and that was Amanda Waller.
She was close at Bruce Wayne's heels, as if she had completely left the FBI, and became a subordinate of Wayne Enterprises. Although the FBI director was furious, no one dared to challenge Wayne at this point.
"Are you serious, Bruce?" Amanda stared at the handsome profile of Bruce Wayne, her voice wavering. She was very sure Bruce Wayne could tell.
This was a great opportunity for Amanda Waller, as so far, only her division in the FBI had experience dealing with supercriminals. Granted, their track record was poor, but even in a group of dwarfs, a giant should stand out. And that should be her.
"Afraid so, Ms. Waller," Batman stood still, expressionless, still turning his ring lightly in his hand.
"Then where do you think they'll end up?" Amanda's voice was dry, the greed in her tone was a little too explicit. But she had no time to consider that now, as she felt how rapid her heartbeat was and how dry her mouth had become.
"There will always be a prison," Batman's answer was ambiguous. What he meant was clear: if things really turned for the worst, they would always need someone to clean up the mess.
Amanda swallowed hard, looked at Batman with a wolf-like gaze, and asked, "What do you want?"
"If possible, ma'am, I'd like to meet your superior. We need to talk," he replied.
Just as Amanda was about to say something, Batman's cell phone rang. He made an apologetic gesture and walked out of the room to take the call.
Glancing at the caller ID, he found it was Nightwing.
Dick usually wouldn't call Bruce Wayne's cell phone under these circumstances; they communicated via the Bat communication system, which helped Batman maintain his secret identity. Nightwing was the most understanding of shifts in priorities among the Robins. This meant he must have a pressing matter at hand.
So, despite being in a crowd, Batman answered the call at the fastest speed possible.
"Listen, Bruce," Nightwing was panting on the other end of the line. This made Batman slightly frown. He had a feeling that Dick was calling to talk about the cape. Sure enough, Nightwing shouted on the other end of the line.
"That kid Peter Parker you brought in has gone crazy! He not only broke into the Oracle System but also stole your cape from the Batcave. We suspect he's the one who drugged the whole city. Batman, you need to hurry..."
"He did it," Batman's voice remained steady.
Nightwing was taken aback. He was about to ask, but all he heard was Batman saying, "I told him to do it."
"Including hanging the military people on Gotham Bridge, hanging your cape up there, and inviting reporters from the whole city to watch?!"
Batman clenched his fist.