Huang Bing suddenly turned hostile, cursing, "Where did this little bastard come from, daring to try and fool your grandpa?" His subordinates, seeing Huang Bing's fury, stepped forward and pinned Yang Xiao Er to the ground.
Yang Xiao Er struggled to lift his head and said, "Chief, this humble one is delivering a message for Liu San. I greatly admire the Chief, how could I dare to deceive him!"
Huang Bing stepped forward, grabbed Yang Xiao Er by the hair, and glared at him, saying, "How could a rich young master travel alone and carry so much gold? This lie is full of holes, and you still think you can trick your grandpa."
Yang Xiao Er looked at Huang Bing, and instead of panicking, he calmed down and said, "If the Chief doesn't believe me, he can send his subordinates to investigate. If there's any falsehood, I'm in your hands. Whether to kill or flay me is your word!"
Huang Bing saw Yang Xiao Er's calm expression, devoid of the panic of a liar, and was also half-believing, half-doubting.
He ordered the Second Chief to take men to investigate, and to save time, he even let them ride the only three or four horses they had.
Meanwhile, Huang Bing had his subordinates release Yang Xiao Er, then pulled over a kidnapped young wife and asked, "Brother Yang, do you know this woman?"
Yang Xiao Er looked at her and said, "This is the young sister-in-law from Liu Family Village. I've seen her many times when I went to find Liu San in Liu Family Village."
The woman was furious, glaring with gritted teeth, "Bah, who's your sister-in-law? You and Liu San are both beasts who deserve to be cut into a thousand pieces..."
Smack! Before she could finish, Huang Bing slapped the woman's face and cursed, "Damn it, how dare you speak to my brother like that? You're asking for a beating."
The woman covered her face and fell to the ground, sobbing, but Huang Bing ignored her.
He turned and pulled Yang Xiao Er closer, saying, "Brother, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that one or two hundred brothers depend on me for food, so please forgive any offense."
While Yang Xiao Er lamented Huang Bing's treachery, he continued to chat with him perfunctorily.
Both sides were eagerly awaiting news from the Second Chief.
~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, the Second Chief led three subordinates, riding horses, to the vicinity of Yang Family Village.
They stealthily entered the village and from a distance, saw Liu San and a young man sitting under a big tree.
Not far away, a magnificent warhorse was tethered.
The warhorse was quite spirited, and the young man was dressed lavishly, with tea placed beside him.
A woman came over to refill their tea, and the young man casually tossed out a small piece of gold as a tip.
The Second Chief saw it clearly; the gleaming gold and the generous spending indeed indicated a dissolute young master, a big fat sheep.
After observing for a while, he saw no abnormalities, and after looking around the village, he confirmed that there were no able-bodied men, only women and children moving about.
The Second Chief rushed back in a hurry, fearing that any delay would allow the big fish to escape.
Huang Bing and Yang Xiao Er were chatting idly.
Yang Xiao Er kept Ma Chao's instructions in mind, remaining submissive and not daring to say much.
Huang Bing, seeing that he couldn't extract any more information, gradually lost interest in prying.
By the time the Second Chief returned, the sun had already begun to set.
He reported to Huang Bing that there was indeed a big fish, and the village had no able-bodied men.
Huang Bing immediately began to gather his men.
His trusted followers started shouting for the subordinates to assemble.
The true hardened bandits who had fled with him numbered only a few dozen.
The others were ruffians who had joined them, and genuinely desperate famine victims, totaling about two hundred.
Leaving a few to guard the tents, they noisily waited until dusk, finally ready to depart.
The Second Chief and several blood-tested, trusted bandits surrounded Huang Bing, who rode at the front.
Huang Bing, holding a double-pronged Steel Fork, wearing partial iron armor, and an iron helmet, rode on his horse with a smug expression.
Several bandits beside him, clad in leather armor, obsequiously flattered him.
The rest followed behind.
The true bandits and ruffians carried either knives or spears, or at the very least, farm tools.
The famine victims trailing behind carried sticks, their faces sallow, clothes disheveled, some even wearing women's clothes, following the group like walking corpses.
By the time they reached the outskirts of Yang Family Village, it was completely dark.
Oil lamps glowed in every household.
Huang Bing pulled Yang Xiao Er to lead the way, heading straight for Yang De's house in the middle of the village, where Ma Chao was staying; he couldn't be allowed to escape.
With a shout from Huang Bing, the bandits rushed into the village with wild cries.
As the bandits followed Huang Bing deeper, the ruffians and famine victims directly rushed into individual houses, immediately beginning to ransack them.
Yang Xiao Er ran ahead, and as he neared the center of the village, he quickly slipped into a dark corner.
Huang Bing, only focused on capturing Ma Chao, didn't notice.
Ma Chao stood his ground, spear in hand, watching the approaching group of bandits.
He showed no tension, calmly observing the surging thieves.
As Huang Bing drew near and spotted a horseman, he shouted for the Second Chief to go forward and test the waters.
The Second Chief stepped forward and yelled, "Name yourself, warrior?"
Ma Chao scoffed, a bunch of mere brigands trying to mimic battlefield duels.
He didn't answer, instead spurred his horse to accelerate, and with a single thrust of his spear, the Second Chief was directly unhorsed.
Huang Bing saw this and shouted, "This one's tough, everyone attack!" but he himself held back.
A group of bandits rushed forward.
Ma Chao's spear rose and fell, each thrust taking down a bandit.
In a few breaths, ten hardened bandits had already fallen to his spear.
At this moment, gongs sounded loudly.
The able-bodied men around the village had already set up sharpened fences, and the women and children all held torches in both hands.
Shouts erupted from all around the village, scaring the ruffians and famine victims who were looting farmhouses, causing them to quickly run out and gather in the center of the village.
Huang Bing looked at Ma Chao, who was like a god of slaughter, having killed over a dozen of his core hardened bandits in a few exchanges.
Hearing the loud shouts from all around, he realized he had fallen into a trap.
He quickly ordered his men to break out, but at this point, the hardened bandits were in a complete panic, utterly disorganized, so crowded that Huang Bing couldn't even turn his horse's head.
Huang Bing, in his desperation, hacked down several people before finally turning his horse and fleeing towards the village exit.
As the crowd in front became chaotic, many people were pushed into traps, their wails incessant.
Finally, someone rushed out of the village, only to step onto a sharpened fence spike, which instantly pierced their foot, pinning them to the ground, where they wailed while clutching their foot.
Those who had rushed out of the village entrance couldn't get any further, and from behind, Ma Chao pursued with his spear.
Torches followed behind Ma Chao, as if a thousand troops and ten thousand horses were with him.
Huang Bing saw that he could not break through, and could only grit his teeth, leading his men to charge at Ma Chao again.
In a single exchange, Ma Chao struck Huang Bing in the abdomen, impaling him on his spear.
He shouted, "The bandit leader Huang Bing is dead! Kneel and surrender, and you will not be killed!"
From all around, shouts echoed, "Government troops are suppressing bandits! Kneel and surrender, and you will not be killed!" "Government troops are suppressing bandits! Kneel and surrender, and you will not be killed!"
The bandits were first terrified by Ma Chao's bravery, then a group of them were injured by the traps and sharpened fences.
Now they saw Huang Bing dead, and it seemed as if a thousand troops and ten thousand horses were around them.
After several scares, coupled with the fact that most of the truly brave bandits had been killed by Ma Chao, Ma Chao now stood majestically watching them.
One by one, they threw their weapons to the ground and knelt in surrender.
The villagers, holding torches and ropes, began to tie up the bandits.
A few fierce bandits, not seeing any government soldiers, huddled together, planning to suddenly resist.
Ma Chao, sensing something was wrong from the side, spurred his horse forward and swiftly thrust his spear several times, directly impaling several bandits to the ground.
The bandits were completely terrified and no longer dared to make any moves, all of them were tied up and awaited their fate.
After the villagers had properly bound the bandits, Ma Chao led Yang Xiao Er and others to raid the bandits' lair, rescuing two or three women and emptying the bandits' homes.
By the time all of this was done, it was already early the next morning.