With a thunderous crash, the entire house collapsed in an instant, the rolling dust startling the tethered horses into frantic neighs.
As the dust settled, Li Zhenshan and his three men raised their rifles and rushed forward.
The whole house was now rubble.
If anyone had been inside, they likely wouldn't have survived.
The four of them scanned the area carefully, but finding no one, their faces immediately darkened.
In that very moment, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi acted decisively.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
The bamboo arrows from the compound crossbows emptied.
Aside from Li Zhenshan, the other three bandits all fell into pools of blood.
Though Li Zhenshan wasn't dead, he had an arrow in each arm and one in his thigh, rendering him completely crippled.
Liu Tiezhu had deliberately spared his life; otherwise, the bamboo arrows would have struck his neck, not his arms.
Li Zhenshan lay on the ground, his face as pale as a corpse.
Despite his severe injuries, he still tried to reach for the rifle beside him.
Liu Tiezhu kicked the rifle away, aiming his compound crossbow at Li Zhenshan's head.
"Spill it. What's your purpose in tailing us?"
Li Zhenshan grimaced, glaring viciously at Liu Tiezhu.
"Don't think you'll get a single useful word out of me."
Hearing this, Liu Tiezhu didn't waste any more words with Li Zhenshan.
He fired a bamboo arrow from his crossbow straight into Li Zhenshan's thigh.
The best way to deal with someone this stubborn was not to argue.
Li Zhenshan clenched his teeth, cold sweat pouring from his entire body.
Seeing Li Zhenshan still silent, Liu Tiezhu shot another arrow into his other leg.
Ah...
Li Zhenshan could no longer bear it, opening his mouth to scream in agony.
Thud...
Liu Tiezhu pulled the trigger again, another bamboo arrow sinking into Li Zhenshan's right arm, without a single unnecessary word.
Li Zhenshan arched his back, opening his mouth as if to speak.
Liu Tiezhu didn't give him the chance, firing another arrow into his left arm.
This time, Li Zhenshan completely broke down, convulsing wildly and wailing.
Liu Tiezhu reloaded the crossbow and unleashed a volley at Li Zhenshan's arms.
In ten seconds, Liu Tiezhu emptied the arrows.
But he showed no sign of stopping.
Under Li Zhenshan's terrified gaze, Liu Tiezhu pulled the arrows embedded in his flesh out one by one, reloaded them into the crossbow, and emptied them again into Li Zhenshan's thighs.
Li Zhenshan couldn't move at all, the excruciating pain making him wish for death.
Liu Tiezhu didn't even ask, simply pulling out the arrows and reloading again.
"Boss, stop, I'll talk..."
"Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you."
"I can even tell you what underwear my great-grandfather wore when he was buried."
"Please stop, I'm begging you..."
Li Zhenshan wept and pleaded frantically, soiling his pants.
"We were originally waiting at the foot of the mountain for the main force to assemble. Running into you was an accident."
Before Liu Tiezhu could speak, Li Zhenshan confessed first.
"What are you assembling for?"
"How many in the main force?" Liu Tiezhu asked.
"We're preparing two hundred and sixty men."
"This time, we're taking back Liujia Village and retrieving the supplies in the cellar."
Li Zhenshan dared not hide anything, spilling everything he knew.
Two hundred and sixty men?
Hearing that number, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi exchanged glances, both drawing in sharp breaths.
Sending that many people to fight for Liujia Village.
It seemed the Tiangang Stockade bandits were dead set on taking it.
Snapping back to reality, Liu Tiezhu continued, "When are you planning to strike?"
"Tonight, around midnight."
Hearing the time, Liu Tiezhu immediately frowned.
With that many bandits surrounding Liujia Village, getting his hands on those supplies would be tough.
"Where exactly is your Tiangang Stockade in the mountains, and how many people are there?"
After a moment of silence, Liu Tiezhu asked the question that concerned him most.
"Our stockade is on Beishan. Once you enter the mountains, head north all the way."
"The exact number is two thousand."
After hearing Li Zhenshan's words, Liu Tiezhu couldn't help but curse under his breath.
He had previously thought Tiangang Stockade had at most around five hundred people.
After several rounds of attrition, he figured there were fewer than three hundred left.
He never expected the actual number to be four times his estimate.
Next, Liu Tiezhu asked Li Zhenshan about the number of sentries along the route to Tiangang Stockade.
Li Zhenshan held nothing back, revealing everything he knew.
With the information he needed, Liu Tiezhu didn't continue torturing Li Zhenshan, ending his suffering with one arrow.
"Brother Tiezhu, what now?"
"With so many bandits coming down, we can't possibly haul away those supplies."
Er Gouzi smacked his lips, clearly frustrated.
Liu Tiezhu thought for a moment and said, "We need to move fast."
"The bandits' attack is at midnight. We've got over ten hours to prepare."
Hearing this, Er Gouzi perked up again.
"Brother Tiezhu, you mean we head to Liujia Village now?"
Liu Tiezhu waved his hand and said, "Not now. It's broad daylight; going now would be too easy to spot."
"Let's head into town first and come back around dusk."
An hour later, the two arrived at the north gate of the town.
A camp had already been set up there.
At the entrance, the number of guards had increased to fifteen, with two heavy machine guns mounted.
The sight immediately startled Liu Tiezhu.
But thankfully, the guards at the gate were still the same familiar faces.
Just then, one of the town guards, Zhang Guorui, spotted Liu Tiezhu and came over to greet him.
"Brother Liu, heading into town?"
"Yeah, just after New Year's, coming to pick up some supplies."
As he spoke, Liu Tiezhu casually pulled out two ten-yuan notes and slipped them into Zhang Guorui's hand.
"Brother Zhang, what's going on here? You guys..."
Liu Tiezhu gestured at the two heavy machine guns, trailing off.
Zhang Guorui pocketed the notes, glanced around to make sure only trusted people were nearby, then lowered his voice. "Brother Liu, to be honest, this is all arranged by the Li family."
"Things aren't peaceful in town right now."
"The Zhang, Li, and Ming families all want to claim Huanghai Town as their turf. A big fight is coming sooner or later."
"Right now, we're just scraping by between the three big families."
"But at this rate, we won't last much longer."
"Brother Liu, you've got connections. Don't forget about me when the time comes."
Hearing this, Liu Tiezhu was taken aback.
He had predicted the town would fall into chaos, but not this quickly.
For the three families to openly fight over territory meant the higher-ups had abandoned not just the villages, but the townships too.
"Brother Zhang, when you say the Zhang family, do you mean Zhang Baoshan's clan?" Liu Tiezhu pressed on.
This caught Zhang Guorui off guard. "Brother Liu, weren't you on the Zhang family's guard team? You don't know this?"
Liu Tiezhu forced an awkward smile. "I left the Zhang family guard team two months ago."
"No wonder." Zhang Guorui muttered, then lowered his voice again. "Let me tell you, among the three families, the strongest right now is Zhang Baoshan's clan."
"He's not only brought in a ton of resources from the county, but he's also recruited a bunch of talent from the mountains."
"Yesterday, three hundred men came down from the mountains and stationed themselves in Gaoshan Village."
"On the surface, they're there to protect the villagers, but really, the Zhang family is quietly building up strength."
"Right now, the Li family controls Dianhai Town, but once the Zhang family's forces are fully assembled, Dianhai Town will belong to the Zhangs."
After hearing Zhang Guorui's words, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi were utterly stunned.
"Brother Zhang, thanks for the info."
"It's getting late. I need to go stock up."
Snapping out of it, Liu Tiezhu made an excuse to leave.
The Zhang family's power was terrifying.
He had to find a way to prepare in advance, to guard against their future retaliation.