To the right of Liujia Village, less than twenty meters away, was Liu Gang's home. The father and son, along with the bandits, had wiped out Zhang Jingyang's influence in the village, surely reaping plenty of rewards. Liu Tiezhu had never forgotten this pair who had tried to kill him twice.
While the rest of the village was shrouded in darkness, Liu Gang's house was brightly lit. Liu Shan and his son sat in the main hall, eating hotpot and humming tunes, utterly carefree. Now that Liu Tiezhu had fled and Zhang Jingyang had been roughed up by the bandits and moved away, the entire village was back in their hands. With the bandits' covert support, their future would be smooth sailing.
"Damn it, this bastard is actually humming a tune?" Hearing the noise from inside, Yang Hua's pent-up anger flared up instantly. He quickly scaled the wall and carefully observed the commotion inside. Confirming it was only Liu Shan's family, he stopped bothering to hide, swaggered into the yard, and opened the locked wooden gate.
Liu Shan and his son, eating hotpot in the hall, were stunned. They wanted to yell at Yang Hua to stop, but when they saw the rifle on his shoulder, the words died in their throats. As the wooden gate swung open, the others rushed in swiftly, surrounding the entire house. Liu Shan and his son were paralyzed, trembling in their chairs. Without a word, Yang Hua slammed the rifle butt into each of them.
"Damn it, living the good life, huh? Eating hotpot?" "B-Boss... what did we do to offend you..." Liu Gang scrambled up, panicked. The moment the words left his mouth, he got a loud slap across the face.
"You son of a bitch, playing dumb with me, huh?" "Those bandits in the bamboo grove that night—you brought them, didn't you?" Yang Hua asked coldly. Liu Gang's face changed, and he immediately realized Yang Hua might be a survivor from that night's bandit ambush. He quickly explained, "What bandits? Boss, we have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know any bandits. Are you mistaken?"
"Liu Gang, you bastard, still not admitting it?" Liu Tiezhu stepped forward and said. "Liu Tiezhu." When Liu Gang saw it was Liu Tiezhu, his face turned as pale as a corpse. "Tiezhu... I..." Bang... Liu Tiezhu didn't bother wasting words with Liu Gang; he aimed the rifle at his head and pulled the trigger. The remaining Liu Shan was terrified, kowtowing and begging for mercy. Yang Hua didn't hesitate, shooting him in the head.
After dealing with the two, everyone split up to search the house. In about forty minutes, they uncovered over three hundred jin of meat and more than two hundred bills. "Damn, looks like the bandits really valued him," Yang Hua cursed, then asked Liu Tiezhu what to do with the meat. Liu Tiezhu said, "First, haul it back to my place. You all stay at my house for now. Don't go out unless you're contacting the informant. When the bandits can't reach these two bastards, they'll definitely come back to the village. Let's set another ambush and see if we can snag a few horses."
"Everyone listen to Tiezhu—let's move the meat first." Yang Hua waved his hand, and they all worked together to carry the meat to Liu Tiezhu's home. After all the fuss, it was already midnight. After a late-night snack, Liu Tiezhu arranged for everyone to take turns keeping watch. The night passed without incident.
The next day, Yang Hua and Liu Tiezhu headed to Denglou Village together. They stopped at a cornfield on the outskirts and hid behind a pile of corn stalks. This was the meeting spot Yang Hua had arranged with the informant. Every day around ten in the morning, whether there was news or not, they'd meet here to exchange information. After waiting about an hour, they saw a man in his early thirties approaching. The man was very cautious, scanning his surroundings as he walked. When Yang Hua spotted him, he raised his hand and waved. The man saw Yang Hua and quickened his pace. But when he noticed Liu Tiezhu beside Yang Hua, he stopped dead and turned to leave.
"Chen Hailiang, Tiezhu is one of us," Yang Hua called out. Hearing this, the man finally halted. "Hua, next time you bring someone, give me a heads-up—you scared me to death," Chen Hailiang said, clutching his chest, still shaken.
"What's the situation at the camp today? Give me the details," Yang Hua asked. Chen Hailiang said, "A group of horse bandits showed up today. Looks like they've struck some deal with the Zhang Mingtao brothers. Now the Zhang brothers are speeding up camp construction and offering high prices to recruit fearless villagers to join them."
"Are you sure it's horse bandits?" Yang Hua asked, skeptical. Zhang Mingtao cooperating with horse bandits meant soldiers and thieves working together—wasn't that total chaos? "Absolutely sure. I can sense their vibe—they're no ordinary bandits. Their clothes have a golden knife embroidered on them, and their horses are different from ours, much taller," Chen Hailiang said.
"Those are the Golden Knife Horse Bandits, originally a Nationalist daredevil brigade from WWII," Liu Tiezhu explained. Chen Hailiang was shocked: "No wonder they felt so fierce, reeking of blood."
"Never mind them for now. I've got a task for you," Yang Hua said. "Find out where the camp stores its grain and cash, and who's in charge. Also, get a solid read on their shift changes." Chen Hailiang's eyes widened: "Hua, are you planning to hit Zhang Mingtao's grain and cash?" Before, Yang Hua had only asked him to scout the camp's basics. He hadn't thought much of it, assuming Yang Hua wanted to join the camp. But now, Yang Hua's intent was clearly to raid Zhang Mingtao's supplies—that changed everything. If Zhang Mingtao found out he'd leaked info, he and his family would be in deep trouble.
"That's right, my goal is Zhang Mingtao's camp grain and cash." At this point, Yang Hua knew hiding it was pointless, so he came clean. Chen Hailiang waved his hand decisively: "Hua, you're asking me to risk my neck. We're brothers—how can you do this? I can't help you. Find someone else." With that, he turned to leave.
Yang Hua grabbed him. "Hailiang, I know what you're worried about. I used to follow Zhang Mingtao too—that bastard doesn't treat people like humans. Are you going to sell your life to him for a few bucks?" "Hua, even if I don't sell my life to him forever, I don't want to lose it now. There are dozens of people in that camp, all armed. What are you going to fight them with?" Chen Hailiang said.
Liu Tiezhu chimed in: "Buddy, we're fighting with our brains, not our lives. Just give us the camp's layout and who's in charge of the grain and cash. We'll handle the rest. Whatever we get, we split evenly. How about it—you in for the job?"