Er Gouzi's face turned pale, and for a moment, he didn't know how to speak.
"Bro, we're on the same side."
Liu Tiezhu, relatively calmer, said to the leading militiaman.
The leading militiaman, Tan Guohui, scowled and said, "Damn it, who's on the same side as you?"
"I'm a soldier, and what the hell are you? Don't try to cozy up to me."
"Bro, I'm a member of the security team, under Zhang Mingtao."
As he spoke, Liu Tiezhu pulled a document from his pocket.
Since Zhang Mingtao's father was a big official in the county, the town militiamen must have heard of him.
At this point, he had to rely on Zhang Mingtao's identity and take a gamble.
If these guys insisted on making a move, he'd have no choice but to fight.
"Zhang Mingtao?" Tan Guohui paused, his expression softening.
He wasn't with the Zhang family, but he'd heard of their influence.
Unless absolutely necessary, they didn't want to offend the Zhangs either.
"Since you're with the Zhang family's security team, go ahead."
Tan Guohui didn't bother checking Liu Tiezhu's credentials and waved them through.
"Bro, you've worked hard. Here's a little something."
Liu Tiezhu knew how to handle people. He pulled out a dozen one- and two-yuan notes from his pocket and stuffed them into Tan Guohui's hand.
As the saying goes, money makes the world go round.
Keeping Tan Guohui and his men on good terms would make future trips in and out much smoother.
Tan Guohui was taken aback, quickly pocketed the money, and pulled out cigarettes, offering them to Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi.
After they lit up and took a few puffs, Tan Guohui took out a booklet and handed it to Liu Tiezhu.
"Bro, this is a pass for entering and leaving the town."
"With this pass, you won't need to be checked anymore."
"Then I thank you, brother."
After expressing his thanks, Liu Tiezhu didn't linger. He led the mule into the town.
Once Liu Tiezhu had left, Tan Guohui pulled out the notes from his pocket.
Good grief, it was twenty-six yuan—a sum equal to two months of their military pay.
"The Zhang family is really wealthy. Even a security team member can pull out this much cash."
Watching Liu Tiezhu disappear into the distance, Tan Guohui and his men looked on with envy.
"Brother Zhu, we probably didn't need to give that much money."
After entering the town, Er Gouzi said.
Liu Tiezhu replied, "Just over twenty yuan, it's nothing."
"Let's split up. You go buy some rice, and I'll get the parts."
Half an hour later, they regrouped.
Er Gouzi had bought 500 jin of rice for four hundred yuan, cursing his mother in anger.
Rice at eighty cents a jin was practically a sky-high price.
Liu Tiezhu understood, though.
No matter the era, there were always profiteers.
In the current environment, it would be strange if they didn't jack up the prices.
They loaded the rice and parts onto the mule cart and didn't linger.
The town was too far from the stone cave; the journey took four hours.
They had to head back early, or it would be trouble once it got dark.
Leaving the town, the two drove the mule toward Yang Family Village.
This time, they planned to take Yang Haitian along to the stone cave.
By the time they reached Yang Family Village, it was already dark.
Seeing it was Liu Tiezhu, Yang Haitian immediately went into the kitchen and prepared a lavish meal of wine and dishes.
The three gathered around the stove, drinking and chatting.
For now, Yang Family Village was still safe, but in recent days, some unfamiliar faces had been coming and going.
Yang Haitian guessed these were scouts sent by bandits or horse thieves.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Brother Haitian, we came this time to take you into the mountains."
"Given how things are developing, Yang Family Village will be ransacked soon too."
"It's not safe for you to stay home alone, and Yulan is very worried about you."
"Yang Family Village is still safe for now. If I go into the mountains with you right away, what about the several hundred jin of meat at home?"
"How about this: tonight, you take some meat back first, and then I'll go into the mountains with you later," Yang Haitian said.
Liu Tiezhu thought it over and didn't argue further.
After all, Yang Family Village was still safe for now, and a couple of days wouldn't make a difference.
They drank until past seven in the evening.
Seeing it was getting late, Yang Haitian urged Liu Tiezhu and the others to head back early.
At the village entrance, Yang Haitian warned them to be extremely careful, as bandits had been lurking near the village lately.
Leaving Yang Family Village, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi led the mule westward along a remote field path.
Not long after their cart departed, a small squad galloped toward Yang Family Village.
The squad consisted of six men, all strong and exuding a fierce aura.
They were horse thieves from Tongling Mountain, who had recently marked Yang Family Village as their territory and were cultivating a surface-level influence.
Yang Family Village's village chief, Yang Jingming, was their informant.
As soon as Liu Tiezhu entered the village, the fully loaded cart of rice caught Yang Jingming's attention.
The moment Liu Tiezhu arrived, Yang Jingming immediately sent his son to notify the horse thieves.
Several hundred jin of rice was a substantial haul.
Anyone who could afford that much rice at once was likely well-off.
If the horse thieves could seize the rice and capture the men, it would be a major achievement for him.
After meeting up with Yang Jingming, the horse thieves immediately turned and galloped toward the western field path.
Within minutes, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi, walking along the field path, suddenly tensed up.
Seeing the flashlight beams flickering behind them, Liu Tiezhu quickly made a plan.
"Damn it, these bastards are coming for us."
"Er Gou, get off the cart. We'll circle around from behind."
Er Gouzi scrambled off the cart and followed Liu Tiezhu.
With no one leading it, the mule stopped by the path on its own.
After dismounting, the two moved five meters to the right, then charged toward the direction of the flashlight beams.
No matter how clever these horse thieves were, they wouldn't expect the two to be bold enough not to flee but instead to charge straight at their lights and flank them from behind.
In a few breaths, the horse thieves reached the mule cart.
Not seeing anyone on the cart, they shone their flashlights and searched the area within a dozen meters thoroughly.
Failing to find Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi, the leading horse thief ordered two men behind him to ride ahead in pursuit.
Anyone who could afford so much rice was undoubtedly loaded.
If they caught them, they could squeeze out a fortune.
Having finally snagged two fat sheep, he wasn't about to let them go easily.
"Damn it, they really think we're easy pickings."
From the edge of a ridge a dozen meters behind the horse thieves, Er Gouzi muttered curses under his breath.
"Gouzi, no more talk. You take the guy on the left, and I'll handle the other two."
"These bastards want our stuff, but I'll make sure they know that if they want what's mine, they'll have to pay with their lives."
With that, Liu Tiezhu crouched low and moved first.
Er Gouzi loaded a bamboo arrow into his compound crossbow and crept to the left.
When they were within five meters of the horse thieves, the thieves still hadn't noticed.
Their eyes were fixed on the mule cart, already planning how to catch the two fat sheep and extort them.
Whoosh...
A sound of air being cut rang out, and the horse thief leader felt a sharp pain in his neck, followed by blood spurting out.
The remaining two horse thieves panicked and raised their guns.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Before they could act, bamboo arrows pierced them, turning them into pincushions.
With the three horse thieves dealt with, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi didn't rush to leave.
Together, they tossed the bodies onto the mule cart, propping them up to look like they were sitting there.
After that, they hid behind the bodies, crossbows at the ready, waiting silently for the two horse thieves who had gone ahead to return.
After about ten minutes, the sound of hooves came from ahead, and soon two horse thieves rode back at full speed.