As he spoke, Liu Tiezhu quickly crouched low and crept over.
This was the most tense moment for Liu Guocheng and his men.
They were surely eager to get into the cellar, haul out the supplies, and take them away.
Such a rare opportunity—he had to seize it for a sneak attack.
Just as Liu Tiezhu had predicted.
Liu Guocheng and his crew rushed over, gave the surroundings a rough check, then swiftly opened the cellar's hidden door and went inside.
Time was tight; they didn't dare linger a moment.
Once Liu Tiezhu emerged, he signaled Er Gouzi to move the heavy machine gun while he kept his eyes fixed on the cellar door.
A few minutes later, Er Gouzi brought over the heavy machine gun, aiming it at the cellar entrance.
After setting everything up, the two quickly lay flat, blending into the darkness.
Another few minutes passed, and footsteps echoed from the cellar.
Liu Tiezhu knew Liu Guocheng and his men were coming up, so he signaled Er Gouzi to get ready.
From the sound of the footsteps, Liu Tiezhu figured they were carrying easily portable items like cash and gold.
Liu Guocheng and his crew had no idea they were already in the sights of a heavy machine gun.
Clutching the cash and gold, they hurried toward the cellar exit.
Besides those items, they'd also grabbed twenty grenades and over two hundred rounds of heavy machine gun ammo.
The heavy machine gun Liu Tiezhu had his eye on—they'd taken a liking to it too.
A heavy machine gun could turn the tide of a small-scale battle.
How could they pass up such a war-winning tool?
Soon, Liu Guocheng and his men reached the cellar exit.
They were so focused on rushing that they had zero vigilance.
"Dog, open fire."
The moment Liu Guocheng and his crew poked their heads out, Liu Tiezhu gave the order without hesitation.
Rat-a-tat-tat...
Bullets poured out like they cost nothing, tearing into Liu Guocheng and his men.
Caught off guard, they had no chance to dodge.
Before they could even react, the bullets shredded them into a mess of flesh.
Liu Tiezhu quickly moved in, stripping them of everything they had.
Er Gouzi, meanwhile, led over two horses and loaded all the loot onto them.
Once that was done, Liu Tiezhu sent Er Gouzi to the woods first, while he himself went down into the cellar.
Liu Guocheng and his crew had been in such a rush that they couldn't have taken much—he had to grab more supplies while he could.
Once inside, Liu Tiezhu headed straight for the ammo storage.
A few minutes later, he emerged from the cellar, lit a torch, and tossed it in.
He couldn't take everything with him, and he wasn't about to leave it for the Zhang family army.
Back in the woods, the two didn't dare linger. They mounted their horses and galloped deep into the mountains.
At the entrance of Liujia Village, gunfire still crackled without pause.
This time, the bandits from Tiangang Stronghold outnumbered the Zhang family army two to one.
Even with machine guns on their side, the Zhang forces probably couldn't hold out much longer.
For Liu Tiezhu, the fiercer the fight between the bandits and the Zhang army, the better it was for him.
Ideally, the bandits would kill both Zhang Mingtao and his brother, deepening the hatred between the Zhangs and the bandits.
But Liu Tiezhu knew that was unlikely.
Knowing Zhang Mingtao's cunning and usual tactics, he'd probably pull out as soon as the shooting started.
Four hours later, the two made it safely back to the stone cave.
By then, dawn had broken. In the kitchen, his sister-in-law and Yulan had laid out a table full of hearty dishes.
Seeing Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi return safely, the two women broke into smiles.
Huang Xiumei asked about how things were at home.
Learning that everything was fine and the elders were in good health, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, Uncle and the others woke up.
At the sight of the heavy machine gun on the horse, everyone was stunned, frozen in place.
"Th-this... where did you get this thing?" Uncle stammered, pointing at the gun.
Such a devastating weapon was rare even in the early days of World War II.
Liu Tiezhu bringing one back was enough to shake anyone.
If they had enough ammo, mounting the heavy machine gun at the cave entrance would mean any bandit charging in would eat a few bursts.
"Got it from the Zhangs," Liu Tiezhu said, pulling out the heavy machine gun ammo.
He'd taken over two hundred rounds from Liu Guocheng and his men, then grabbed another hundred-plus when he went back into the cellar.
With over four hundred rounds, that was enough to make any bandit think twice.
Besides the heavy machine gun ammo and grenades, they'd also scored over thirty thousand in cash and nearly a pound of gold.
Amazed, everyone marveled at how filthy rich the bandits were.
Together, they unloaded the supplies, and from the kitchen came his sister-in-law's voice calling them to eat.
After breakfast, Liu Tiezhu had Er Gouzi help him set up the heavy machine gun on the right side of the cave.
There was a small empty spot on that side, with a hole in the rock that the gun's barrel could poke through perfectly.
Once the gun was in place, the two were dead tired and went back to their rooms to rest.
Uncle and the others kept digging the hidden passage.
At the same time, in Liujia Village.
After a night of gun battles, the Zhang family army had been wiped out by the Tiangang Stronghold bandits.
But despite wiping out the Zhang forces, the bandits' second-in-command, Ma Zhenhao, wore a grim face.
The fight had cost them dearly.
Their numbers had dropped from two hundred sixty to one hundred seventy-three, and they'd burned through thousands of rounds of ammo.
Those were just the minor losses.
What really infuriated Ma Zhenhao was that all the supplies in the cellar had been torched.
The Zhang soldiers they'd killed were just low-level grunts.
As for the Zhang army's leaders, Zhang Mingtao and his brother, there was no sign of them.
In a way, he'd won on the surface but lost badly behind the scenes.
The Zhang family army wasn't faring well either.
They'd lost over a hundred men, the territory they'd just taken was back in bandit hands, and they'd forfeited six heavy machine guns and thousands of rounds of ammo.
Zhang Mingtao's face was dark, a nagging feeling that someone was pulling the strings behind it all.
If he hadn't fled early with his trusted men last night, he'd be a cold corpse by now.
"Big brother, let's rally more men and take Liujia Village back," Zhang Jingyang said, his face twisted with rage.
Zhang Mingtao waved him off. "No. The Tiangang bandits dared to come out and reclaim Liujia Village—they must have prepared for it."
"If we send more men now, it'll just lead to another fight."
"We can't afford to waste resources like this. We need to focus on the bigger picture."
"The old man said the countryside is just small-time skirmishes. Our Zhang family's real target is Dianhai Town."
"Once we control Dianhai Town and get enough resources, wiping out the Tiangang bandits will be a piece of cake."
"Are we just going to let this slide?" Zhang Jingming asked.
Zhang Mingtao shook his head. "Of course not."
"There's a new force rising in Huangwu Village. We can use them."
"Their leader, Huang Qiukai, came to me before about working together, and I ignored him."
"Now we can throw him some benefits to stir up trouble for the bandits."
"Handle this yourself, and make sure it's done quietly."
"Also, keep investigating Liu Tiezhu. I have a feeling all this recent trouble is tied to that bastard."
"All our men sent into the mountains have gone silent—that son of a bitch is definitely behind it."