The moment Liu Tiezhu was stunned, footsteps arrived right in front of him.
Without a word, he raised his compound crossbow and aimed ahead.
"Brother Zhu, it's me."
Yang Hua's soul nearly flew out of his body when he saw this, and he quickly shouted.
Back in the bamboo grove, the moment he heard the hoofbeats, he thought of Liu Tiezhu's warning and led his men sprinting toward the rear of the grove.
Even with his quick reaction, he still paid a heavy price.
His team had nine men in total, and in the end, only he escaped.
After getting out, he circled around before daring to come find Liu Tiezhu.
Seeing it was Yang Hua, Liu Tiezhu lowered his compound crossbow.
"Where are the others in the team?"
Yang Hua said, "All dead, taken down by the bandits."
"I was damn foolish, still dreaming of killing a few more bandits."
"This isn't the place to talk."
Liu Tiezhu reminded him, quickly pulling his horse away.
Yang Hua hurriedly followed.
The two stopped only when they reached the thorny thicket.
After Yang Hua started a fire, he couldn't help asking, "Brother Zhu, how did you know it was a trap?"
"Liu Gang is a bandit informant. His old man ran off to tip off Zhang Mingtao. Don't you think that's just sending the Zhang brothers to their deaths?" Liu Tiezhu said.
Yang Hua cursed, "Damn it, that son of a bitch has some nerve."
"Tomorrow, I'll go tell Zhang Mingtao and have him skin Liu Gang and his father alive."
"Zhang Mingtao and his brother aren't good birds either. That bastard wants my life."
Liu Tiezhu didn't hide anything and told him everything that happened in the bamboo grove.
"Fuck, that bastard's really shady."
After hearing Liu Tiezhu's words, Yang Hua couldn't help cursing.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Those two brothers never saw us as human."
"Do you want to spend your whole life by his side, fighting for him?"
"Of course I don't want to fight for a bastard like that."
"But I don't have any resources. Without him, it's hard for me to survive," Yang Hua said.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Doesn't the Zhang family have resources? Can't we find a way to take them?"
"Since they don't treat us like people, let's stop acting like ones."
Yang Hua was stunned, then his eyes lit up.
"Brother Zhu, you mean rob the Zhang family's resources?"
Liu Tiezhu said, "The Zhang family's resources were stolen too. We're just borrowing them to develop."
"If you want to survive well, find a way to form a new team."
"Then I'll provide you with guns and ammo, and we'll hit the Zhang family."
Yang Hua thought for a moment and immediately nodded.
"Brother Zhu, give me a few days. I'll first stabilize Zhang Mingtao's side."
"Find out where he hides his valuables, then we'll team up and hit him."
"Time is tight. With the bandits keeping Zhang Mingtao busy, you need to hurry."
"Five days from now, we'll meet here again."
Liu Tiezhu left behind a rifle, twenty rounds of ammo, and two hundred jin of meat, then led his horse away.
By the time he returned to the stone cave, it was already late at night.
The noise immediately woke Uncle and the others.
Seeing Liu Tiezhu back safely, leading several horses, everyone's faces lit up with joy.
"Zhu, where did you get so many horses? From the bandits?"
Uncle pointed at the horses outside, asking in shock.
"Yeah, all from the bandits."
Liu Tiezhu nodded and recounted the night's battle between the bandits and Zhang Jingyang.
He kept quiet about the ambush in the bamboo grove to avoid worrying Uncle and the others.
"Gouzi, go bring the meat inside."
"There's another bag with some bandit loot—bring that in too."
Er Gouzi nodded, excitedly walking out to unload the dried meat and the bandits' belongings from the horses.
Aside from the two hundred jin of meat given to Yang Hua, there was still nearly three hundred jin on the horses.
The items scavenged from the bandits were also a hefty haul.
Especially the bandit leader—over two hundred dollars were found on him alone.
Plus, two gold pieces were discovered.
The other bandits had anywhere from dozens to over a hundred dollars each.
Beyond the cash, over three hundred rounds of ammo were also found.
These bandits had come prepared, each carrying plenty of ammunition.
Besides bullets, two WWII-era pull-pin grenades were also recovered.
Er Gouzi was ecstatic. Now he finally understood that the chaotic times Liu Tiezhu had mentioned weren't necessarily bad for them.
At this rate, they wouldn't have to worry about resources.
"Brother Zhu, if we could get a few cannons, we'd be safe."
"Set them up at the entrance, and any bastard who dares come near, we'll blow 'em to hell," Er Gouzi said excitedly.
Liu Tiezhu shot him a look and said, "You're dreaming. Even if the bandits have cannons, they keep them in their strongholds for defense."
"If you want cannons, are you willing to attack their stronghold?"
Er Gouzi was momentarily speechless, drawing laughter from Uncle and Big Brother.
"Zhu, since Zhang Jingyang and his brother want to carve out their own territory, they'll definitely be back."
"What's your plan next?" Uncle asked.
"Uncle, I'm planning to use a knife to kill someone else."
"I still need to go back to the village."
"Right now, the village is the easiest place to get resources."
Liu Tiezhu didn't hide his plan with Yang Hua.
Yang Hua was worth grooming.
Even if the plan failed, the loss would just be some guns and ammo.
Liu Tieshan said, "The village is definitely occupied by bandits now. Going back rashly could be dangerous."
Liu Tiezhu said, "Big Brother, they're in the open, we're in the shadows."
"As long as I'm careful, those bandits won't spot me."
There was another reason he insisted on returning to the village: to find a chance to kill that bastard Liu Gang.
That scumbag had tried to take his life several times. If he wasn't dealt with, he'd be a constant threat.
Now that they were in cahoots with the bandits, they were surely getting plenty of resources.
If he could grab all those resources, it might feed the family for a month.
But he didn't voice these thoughts to avoid worrying Uncle and the others.
"By the way, the vines and branches you needed—Uncle and I have them ready."
"When do we start setting up the traps?" Big Brother asked.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Setting those traps requires some special parts. I plan to go to town again tomorrow."
"In this environment, going to town is too dangerous," Uncle said with concern.
"It's fine. We have rifles and compound crossbows."
"Right now, town is actually safer."
"The bandits are bold, but they still don't dare attack the town. As long as I'm careful, I'll be fine."
"Brother Zhu, I'll go with you tomorrow."
"One more person means more backup," Er Gouzi said.
This time, Liu Tiezhu didn't refuse.
Early the next morning, Yang Yulan stuffed freshly made meat buns into Liu Tiezhu's arms, urging him to be careful and come back early.
Liu Tiezhu took the buns, grabbed his gear, and headed out of the mountains with Er Gouzi.
Five hours later, as they neared the town, five militiamen with rifles stopped them.
Without a word, the men aimed their rifles at Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi's heads.