The two carefully slipped out of the alley and made their way toward the village entrance.
This time, they encountered several more patrol teams.
But Liu Tiezhu and the other man didn’t strike again. Instead, they avoided the patrols’ line of sight and snuck out of Liujia Village.
Back at the spot where they had tied their horses, they didn’t dare linger. They mounted up and hurried toward Liujia Village.
They didn’t return to their homes in Liujia Village but instead slipped into the bamboo grove behind the houses to hide.
After securing the horses, Er Gouzi quickly cleared a patch of ground, lit a fire, and set out dried meat to roast over it.
About forty minutes later, the two patted their bellies, satisfied expressions on their faces.
A whole night of chaos and gunfire had worn them out.
Now that they had relaxed, drowsiness set in.
“Brother Tiezhu, how are we going to deal with Liu Yusheng?” Er Gouzi asked.
Liu Tiezhu said, “Use force against force.”
“If Liu Yusheng can use Zhang Jingyang to hunt us, why can’t we use Zhang Jingyang to hunt him?”
Er Gouzi was a bit confused and couldn’t help saying, “Brother Tiezhu, Liu Yusheng and Zhang Jingyang are already in cahoots.”
“It’s only natural he can use Zhang Jingyang.”
“But we’re sworn enemies with Zhang Jingyang. How can we convince him to go after Liu Yusheng?”
“With benefits,” Liu Tiezhu said.
Hearing this, Er Gouzi was even more baffled.
“We can’t offer Zhang Jingyang any benefits, can we?”
Liu Tiezhu said, “We can’t give Zhang Jingyang benefits, but Liu Yusheng can.”
“Remember that day at the foot of the mountain, when the bandits and the horse bandits fought?”
The bandits colluding with Liu Yusheng were from Tiangang Stronghold, as he had just confirmed.
And the Tiangang Stronghold bandits had a grudge with the Golden Knife Horse Bandits, having clashed at the mountain’s base before.
If Zhang Jingyang found out that Liu Yusheng was in league with the Tiangang Stronghold bandits, he definitely wouldn’t let him off easy.
When they withdrew from Liu Yusheng’s place, Liu Tiezhu had already thought of using this connection to take down Liu Yusheng.
Er Gouzi pondered for a moment, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
“Damn it, why didn’t I think of the bandit-horse bandit connection?”
“Now that the Golden Knife Horse Bandits are working with the Zhang family, if they know the Tiangang Stronghold bandits are in Liujia Village, they won’t let those bandits off easily.”
“But how do we use Zhang Jingyang?”
This question from Er Gouzi also gave Liu Tiezhu a headache.
If they spread the news directly, Liu Yusheng would surely prepare and hide the bandits.
So the news had to reach Zhang Jingyang’s ears quietly, catching Liu Yusheng off guard.
But how to quietly get the news to Zhang Jingyang—Liu Tiezhu had no idea for now.
“Brother Tiezhu, didn’t you have an informant when you raided the Zhang family camp supplies?”
“If we get him to pass the news to Zhang Jingyang, it’ll be settled,” Er Gouzi said.
“Right, how did I forget Chen Hailiang?”
Liu Tiezhu slapped his thigh, suddenly remembering Chen Hailiang, whom he had worked with before.
But contacting Chen Hailiang was still difficult; they’d have to wait for the right opportunity.
The two discussed it for an hour or so but couldn’t come up with a plan.
Finally, Liu Tiezhu thought of a “wait by the tree” method—stake out the small woods near the camp and wait for Chen Hailiang to come out.
After they settled on the plan, Liu Tiezhu was too exhausted to stay awake.
He told Er Gouzi to keep watch while he rested first, then they’d switch.
They took turns until late into the night before they felt refreshed.
After eating some roasted meat and having nothing else to do, Liu Tiezhu suggested going back to Liujia Village to check things out.
After last night’s commotion, he wanted to see how the bandits in Lijia Village would react.
Er Gouzi had no problem with that.
They put out the fire and set off on foot toward Liujia Village.
Half an hour later, they were back at last night’s ridge.
When they looked toward the Liujia Village entrance, they saw thirteen people standing guard.
This time, the guard post had sandbags stacked up, with five grenades placed on top.
“Holy shit, Brother Tiezhu, do you see that? Grenades.”
“Those bastards are definitely real bandits.”
Er Gouzi pointed at the grenades on the sandbags, his expression like he’d seen a naked woman, drool practically dripping.
This sight also surprised Liu Tiezhu.
He hadn’t expected the bandits to take Liujia Village so seriously, sending heavy guards and even grenades.
Liu Tiezhu’s eyes gleamed with greed. “Dog, don’t get excited yet. Let’s think about how to get our hands on those.”
Grenades were a great find. Since they’d come across them, they couldn’t let them slip away.
If they could take them all back and set traps, no bandits or horse bandits would stand a chance.
“Brother Tiezhu, what’s the plan?”
“I’d risk my life for it.”
Er Gouzi’s voice trembled, still unable to contain his excitement.
Liu Tiezhu thought carefully for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the thirteen at the village entrance.
These thirteen were alert; a sneak attack wouldn’t be easy.
Last night’s ambush tactic clearly wouldn’t work now.
“Dog, let’s go all out this time.”
“You’ll draw their fire, and I’ll strike from behind.”
After a moment of silence, Liu Tiezhu laid out his plan.
Since a sneak attack was out, he’d go for a direct confrontation.
Of course, he wasn’t going to charge in mindlessly.
How to draw the bandits’ fire and lure them out would need careful planning.
“Brother Tiezhu, whatever you say, I’ll do.”
Er Gouzi had a look of total commitment.
They discussed it for about ten minutes before finalizing the plan.
Time ticked by, and soon it was the dead of night.
On the ridge, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi crouched low, motionless.
At the Liujia Village entrance, the thirteen men had spread out, dozing off by their posts.
This was the time when people were sleepiest and least focused.
Liu Tiezhu had chosen this time to act after careful consideration.
He checked the sky, then signaled Er Gouzi to start.
“Dog, remember, don’t get too close.”
“At ten meters, fire immediately.”
“Whether you hit anyone or not, run as soon as you’ve fired.”
As Er Gouzi was about to leave, Liu Tiezhu gave him specific instructions.
“Don’t worry, Brother Tiezhu, I won’t let you down.”
Er Gouzi grinned, grabbed his rifle, and quickly crept forward, hunched over.
He got to about ten meters from the bandits and quickly dropped to the ground.
The dozing bandits didn’t notice anything unusual.
This made Er Gouzi smirk. He slowly aimed his rifle at the bandit standing inside the sandbags and fired without hesitation.
With a bang, the bullet pierced the bandit’s head, splattering blood across the faces of several nearby bandits.
The other dozing bandits jolted awake, all eyes turning toward Er Gouzi.
Er Gouzi didn’t linger; he scrambled up and sprinted away.
Seeing only one man, the bandits’ eyes turned red with rage.
The bandit leader let out a roar and charged out first.
“Everyone, follow me and kill him!”
Five other bandits quickly grabbed their rifles and followed their leader.
The remaining six bandits, as Liu Tiezhu had predicted, stayed at their posts.
Bang, bang, bang...
After chasing about ten meters, the bandits fired at Er Gouzi’s back.
Their goal wasn’t to hit him but to slow his escape.
Er Gouzi was scared out of his wits, gritting his teeth and running in a zigzag pattern with all the strength he had.
Two minutes later, Er Gouzi reached the spot where Liu Tiezhu was lying in ambush, but he didn’t stop, pushing forward.
Just as he ran about twenty meters further, the bandits reached Liu Tiezhu’s hiding spot.
All the bandits raised their rifles again and fired at Er Gouzi’s back.
As soon as they finished shooting and were about to reload, Liu Tiezhu emerged from behind them.