"Hahaha, you son of a bitch, I've finally got you."
The speaker was Chen Tianxiong, the third chief of Tiangang Stronghold.
To capture Liu Tiezhu, he had brought eighty men out of the mountains this time, equipped with top-notch gear.
As Chen Tianxiong finished speaking, the bandits behind him raised their guns in unison.
"Damn you, are you going to drop your weapon and walk out on your own?"
"Or should I order them to riddle you with bullets and carry you out?"
Chen Tianxiong said coldly.
He stared at Liu Tiezhu behind the sandbags, his gaze like that of a butcher eyeing meat on a chopping block.
"Dog, watch my signal and pull the grenade pin."
Liu Tiezhu lowered his voice, instructing Er Gouzi, then quickly said to Chen Tianxiong, "Brother, let's talk this out."
"We're coming out now. Don't shoot."
As he spoke, Liu Tiezhu casually tossed out a few rifles.
This made Chen Tianxiong laugh, thinking Liu Tiezhu wasn't as clever as Liu Yusheng had claimed.
Dropping his weapons at a time like this—wasn't he just asking to die?
But Chen Tianxiong couldn't be sure if Liu Tiezhu still had any weapons on him.
With that in mind, he shouted loudly, "Raise your hands and walk out slowly."
"Alright, I'm raising my hands now."
Liu Tiezhu replied, immediately signaling Er Gouzi to pull the grenade pin while quickly loading the bamboo arrows into the compound crossbow.
Er Gouzi, upon receiving the signal, twisted off the grenade cap and yanked the pin.
"We're coming out. Don't shoot."
Liu Tiezhu yelled, raising his hands.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on Liu Tiezhu.
Chen Tianxiong frowned. "And that other bastard better crawl out, or I'll—"
Before Chen Tianxiong could finish the word "shoot," Er Gouzi's grenade came flying over.
In that instant, Chen Tianxiong was completely stunned.
The other bandits also fell into a panic, forgetting to react for a few brief seconds.
Boom!!!
The deafening explosion made everyone in the Liu Family Village tremble.
Sand and dirt flew around where Chen Tianxiong stood, thick smoke shrouding everyone's vision.
Horses neighed and men screamed in the dust.
Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi seized the chance to dash out from behind the sandbags, emptying their compound crossbows.
They didn't bother checking the results; after clearing the bamboo arrows, they sprinted toward the ridge on the left.
From throwing the grenade to emptying the crossbow arrows to escaping, the whole sequence took less than three minutes.
By the time they were far away, the rolling dust had settled, revealing a massive crater.
Inside the crater, Chen Tianxiong's face was charred black, blood streaming from his mouth.
Half his body was blown off, emitting thick, scorching smoke.
Though he still had a breath left, there was no way he'd survive.
Beside Chen Tianxiong lay four bandits, their faces unrecognizable, already dead.
"Quick, carry the third chief out and send word back to the stronghold!" a bandit squad leader shouted in terror.
In an instant, all the bandits were in chaos, with no one focused on chasing Liu Tiezhu.
The death of the third chief was a big deal—if they couldn't come up with a good excuse, they might be buried with him.
Meanwhile, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi ran all the way, quietly slipping back into the bamboo grove.
"Hahaha, those bastards are going to be mourning for sure this time."
Er Gouzi grinned widely as soon as they stopped.
Though his heart was still pounding with fear.
But thinking of Chen Tianxiong getting blown up, he couldn't help laughing.
Liu Tiezhu lit a fire and warned, "Dog, don't celebrate too soon."
"That guy we just killed seemed pretty high-ranking."
"Once word gets back to Tiangang Stronghold, their revenge will come fast."
"So what? They'll never find us."
Er Gouzi picked up some meat to roast over the fire, looking unconcerned.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Don't forget, Liu Yusheng knows where we're hiding."
"If those bandits spare no expense and send a large force south into the mountains, our families will be in danger."
Hearing this, Er Gouzi's grin quickly faded, and his expression turned tense.
"Brother Tiezhu, what do we do now?"
"Go back?"
Liu Tiezhu waved his hand. "Going back now would just be treating the symptoms, not the root cause."
"Once those bandits find our hideout, they'll fight to the death."
"If we're busy dealing with them, we won't have time to gather supplies."
"To solve this at its source, we need to use Zhang Jingyang to get rid of that menace Liu Yusheng."
Er Gouzi paused, then said, "Brother Tiezhu, you mean to solve our problem, we have to use Zhang Jingyang's horse bandits?"
Liu Tiezhu replied, "Dog, you're getting smarter."
"The Tiangang Stronghold bandits and the Zhang family's Golden Saber Horse Bandits are sworn enemies."
"If we stir up conflict between them again, the Tiangang bandits won't have time to bother us."
Er Gouzi agreed with Liu Tiezhu's logic. "Tomorrow, we'll find Chen Hailiang and have him spread the word."
They chatted for a while, and the meat was soon roasted.
Liu Tiezhu took a couple of swigs of bamboo-green wine, then handed it to Er Gouzi.
"Eat up and rest. I'll keep watch."
Er Gouzi didn't stand on ceremony; he gulped down some wine and cut off a big chunk of meat to eat.
An hour later, Er Gouzi was fast asleep.
Liu Tiezhu sat by the fire, planning his next moves.
He was surrounded by enemies on all sides, but at least the stone cave hideout was secluded enough.
Still, with things going this way, even that cave wouldn't stay safe.
To keep his family alive and secure, he'd have to come up with a new plan.
After thinking for about an hour, Liu Tiezhu couldn't come up with anything good.
He decided not to rack his brain and instead grabbed the compound crossbow to scout nearby for fresh game.
Over two hours later, after circling the area, he had bagged three bamboo rats and two bamboo chickens.
By then, dawn was breaking. Seeing Er Gouzi still sound asleep, Liu Tiezhu didn't wake him.
He quickly cleaned the game's innards and put them over the fire to roast.
About forty minutes later, the smell of food roused Er Gouzi from his slumber.
They had a quick meal, then Er Gouzi took over watch duty.
Liu Tiezhu had barely dozed off for half an hour when Er Gouzi shook him awake.
"Brother Tiezhu, someone's coming."
Er Gouzi whispered, pointing to the ridge on the right of the bamboo grove.
On that ridge, three big men were carrying a sack, acting sneaky.
They walked cautiously, glancing around, heading toward the bamboo grove.
Liu Tiezhu quickly put out the fire, grabbed his gear, and signaled Er Gouzi to follow.
They had just hidden themselves when the three men entered the grove.
Their path wasn't toward Liu Tiezhu but deeper into the left side.
"Brother Tiezhu, should we follow?" Er Gouzi asked.
Liu Tiezhu said, "We're awake anyway. Let's go see what's up."
They crept along for a few dozen meters until the three men finally stopped.
One of them scanned the area, then pointed to the right.
The other two quickly carried the sack over and untied the rope.
"Holy shit, that's huge."
When they saw what was in the sack, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi's eyes went wide, and they both cursed out loud.