Early the next morning, Liu Cuihua arrived at the Zhang family camp.
As soon as she entered, she quickly followed Liu Tiezhu's instructions and began wailing loudly.
The sound of her crying immediately drew a crowd of onlookers.
Upon hearing that bandits from Tiangang Stockade had captured Chen Hailiang, someone promptly reported it to the Zhang Mingtao brothers.
"Are you sure it was the Tiangang Stockade bandits who took Chen Hailiang?"
Inside the tent, Zhang Mingtao asked with a stern expression.
Liu Cuihua sobbed, "Brother Zhang, how could I joke about something like this?"
"The Tiangang Stockade bandits are hiding at Liu Yusheng's house in Liujia Village."
Liu Yusheng's house?
Hearing this, Zhang Mingtao's face darkened instantly.
He couldn't help but suspect that the information Liu Yusheng had given him earlier was false—luring his men into the mountains and using the bandits to weaken the Zhang family's strength.
"Damn it, you're playing me for a fool."
Snapping back to reality, Zhang Mingtao burst into curses.
Liu Cuihua forced out tears and said, "Brother Zhang, you have to save my husband."
Last night, Liu Tiezhu had said that if she couldn't trick the Zhang Jingyang brothers into attacking Liujia Village, he would kill Chen Hailiang.
"Don't worry, Chen Hailiang has been loyal to the Zhang family. I won't let anything happen to him."
"Go back and wait for news. I'll have people prepare right away."
Liu Cuihua wanted to say more, but seeing the impatience on Zhang Mingtao's face, she had no choice but to withdraw.
"Big brother, can we trust what that woman said?" Zhang Jingyang asked.
Zhang Mingtao replied, "She probably wouldn't dare joke about something like this."
"But whether the ones hiding in Liujia Village are really Tiangang Stockade bandits, we still need to verify."
"If they're not, we won't get involved."
Chen Hailiang was just a low-ranking soldier in the Zhang family. If the enemy wasn't from Tiangang Stockade, Zhang Mingtao wouldn't go to great lengths for someone so insignificant.
"Should I send people to scout Liujia Village now and notify Liu Fei?" Zhang Jingyang asked.
Liu Fei was the head of the Golden Blade Bandits stationed in this area. His camp was on the loess slope not far away, with a hundred men, well-equipped and several times more combat-effective than the Zhang family.
Zhang Mingtao nodded. "Go ahead. Exaggerate the numbers in Liujia Village a bit to get Liu Fei to send some men over."
"We need to preserve the Zhang family's strength for now. When the time is right, we'll take the town."
Back at Chenjia Village, Liu Cuihua reported the situation to Liu Tiezhu.
After hearing her account, Liu Tiezhu frowned.
"Zhang Mingtao didn't say when he'd act?"
Seeing his expression, Liu Cuihua grew anxious and quickly explained, "Brother Tiezhu, I swear I'm not lying to you."
"He just told me to go back and wait. He didn't say anything else."
"You'd better not be lying, or I'll make sure you regret it."
Liu Tiezhu warned Liu Cuihua and signaled Er Gouzi to take her to the cellar and tie her up with Chen Hailiang and Chen Xiaoming.
A few minutes later, Er Gouzi emerged from the cellar and said, "From Zhang Mingtao's tone, it seems he doesn't want to start a war with Liu Yusheng."
"No, he just doesn't want to go all out for a nobody like Chen Hailiang."
"As long as the Tiangang Stockade bandits are in Liujia Village, the Golden Blade Bandits will definitely show up."
Liu Tiezhu had predicted Zhang Mingtao's thoughts and spoke with certainty.
"So what do we do now? Stay here or head to Liujia Village?" Er Gouzi asked.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Neither. We'll go keep an eye on the Zhang family camp."
"Now that the information has been passed to Zhang Mingtao, we need to track their movements to plan our next step."
After chatting for a while, the two grabbed some dried meat and headed toward the Zhang family camp.
About thirty minutes later, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi entered the small grove where they had previously watched Zhang Zhicheng.
Across from the grove was the entrance to the Zhang family camp. Any comings and goings would be clearly visible.
They crouched there for over an hour, but there was no activity from the camp.
Er Gouzi started a fire on the spot and roasted the meat.
After they ate their fill, they took turns keeping watch.
Time passed quickly. It wasn't until nightfall that movement finally came from the camp entrance.
Fifty or sixty horses galloped in from the right side path, charging into the camp.
Er Gouzi, who was on watch, suddenly widened his eyes and shouted excitedly.
"They're here, they're here."
"Damn, the Zhang family is going all out this time?"
Liu Tiezhu spat out a blade of grass and said, "Those must be the Golden Blade Bandits coming to reinforce them."
"Looks like Zhang Mingtao has scouted out Liujia Village and wants to wipe out the bandits there in one go."
Er Gouzi laughed. "Haha, that bastard Liu Yusheng won't get away this time."
Liu Tiezhu said, "Killing Liu Yusheng outright wouldn't be bad."
"But wiping out all these bandits at once wouldn't be good for us."
Hearing this, Er Gouzi was baffled.
"Brother Tiezhu, I don't get it."
"How would killing these bandits hurt us?"
Liu Tiezhu explained, "If the bandits are wiped out, the Zhang family will dominate."
"Then they'll have the free time to come after us, won't they?"
"This..."
Er Gouzi stammered for a moment, then thought it over—it did make sense.
"Come on, let's head to Liujia Village now."
Before Er Gouzi could fully process it, Liu Tiezhu was already on the move.
An hour later, they returned to the old ridge of Liujia Village.
This time, they noticed that the number of guards at the village entrance had doubled.
"Looks like the guy we killed last night was someone important."
Er Gouzi counted the guards carefully and said in surprise.
But Liu Tiezhu smiled at the sight.
The bandits sending out so many men fit perfectly with his plan.
His goal was to take out Liu Yusheng and further escalate the conflict between the bandits and the Zhang family.
Dragging both sides into a quagmire would allow him to slip away and develop steadily.
Now that the Zhang family had mobilized fully and the bandits were also well-armed, a gunfight would inevitably lead to bloodshed.
No matter who won, the cost would be devastating.
While Liu Tiezhu was plotting, the Zhang family set out.
This time, aside from a dozen men left to guard the camp, Zhang Mingtao sent everyone else.
With the sixty-three reinforcements from the Golden Blade Bandits, the total force reached 137 men.
The Golden Blade Bandits took the lead, with the Zhang family army following close behind.
Dozens of minutes later, the 130-plus men arrived at the entrance of Liujia Village.
Seeing that the bandits also had a sizable force, Zhang Mingtao, at the front, immediately halted the column.
He had previously learned that there were only about forty bandits in Liujia Village.
But the situation now was vastly different from what he had been told.
The bandits at the village entrance spotted the large Zhang family force and quickly blew a horn.
At the sound of the horn, another seventy-plus bandits poured out of the village, matching Zhang Mingtao's numbers.
For a moment, the two sides faced off, neither daring to make a move.
"Damn it, what are they waiting for? Start fighting!"
Er Gouzi, hiding in the ridge, couldn't help but curse.
Then he turned to Liu Tiezhu, about to ask if he had any ideas.
But as his gaze landed on Liu Tiezhu, he saw him already raising his rifle and aiming at Zhang Mingtao.
From that distance, hitting him was impossible.
But Liu Tiezhu's goal wasn't to kill Zhang Mingtao—it was to stir up trouble.
A gunshot rang out, and the bullet grazed Zhang Mingtao's cheek before striking a bandit in the chest.
This instantly triggered the tense standoff into all-out battle.
"Fire! Kill these bastards!"
Zhang Mingtao shouted, emptying his pistol's magazine.
The bandits weren't about to take it lying down and opened fire in return.
Bang, bang, bang...
Gunfire erupted incessantly, bullets flying everywhere.
The instigator, Liu Tiezhu, however, grabbed Er Gouzi and ran back.
His destination was the Zhang family camp.