The sun was shining brightly outside the house. Pang Zi stood in the middle of the courtyard and looked around. About a hundred men and women formed an encirclement circle near and far, with this small courtyard used to entertain Pang Zi and others as the center. These people looked nervous, angry, or complacent. In the case of extreme numerical superiority, the villagers still felt they had the victory in hand.

It was not the first time Pang Zi was surrounded by so many people. In the battles he fought back then, there were many scenes of larger scale. But this was the first time he encountered a scene with such a disparity in strength between the two sides. Five people, including Pang Zi's wife, faced twenty times the enemy. In such an unfavorable situation, Pang Zi felt disheartened. These villagers should have deep hatred for the bandits in the stronghold, right? Pang Zi himself hadn't squeezed the village, so he wasn't clear about the grudges of these people. Pang Zi was also unclear about the villagers' attitude towards him.

The villagers close to the house held weapons in their hands, ranging from muskets, spears, and firewood knives to wooden sticks and hoes—all kinds of weapons were available. What reassured Pang Zi was that none of these weapons could shoot accurately. Pang Zi had two box cannons (Mauser C96 pistols) in his hands and a rifle on his back. If a fight really broke out, he could at least drag a few people down with him. Anyway, the worst ending was just death. It was not bad to have someone to accompany him in death. Thinking of this, Pang Zi's despair suddenly relaxed a lot.

Pang Zi shouted at the villagers, "Folks, I, Pang Zi, and these few brothers have no grudge against you normally. We don't want to care about your affairs with those people in the mountain stronghold either. If it weren't for your people kneeling on the ground insisting on pulling us here, I would have taken my brothers out of the mountains long ago. Now we still want to leave; will you let us go or not?"

The villagers couldn't answer such a simple request for a moment. They looked at the weapons in Pang Zi's hands and on his back. Although they hadn't seen these new firearms, they subconsciously felt that these sophisticated-looking things were probably not easy to deal with. Everyone's eyes fell on a short-haired young man in the crowd. Seeing everyone looking at him, the short-haired young man didn't retreat. He stepped forward a few steps and shouted at Pang Zi, "King Pang, you are the head of this stronghold. Although you haven't done anything, we can't just believe your words like this."

Another short hair! Pang Zi sneered in his heart. Chen Ke had short hair, Chen Tianhua had short hair; both of them were revolutionaries and were considered capable. He wondered how capable this short-haired young man in front of him was. Thinking of this, Pang Zi laughed loudly, "You can ask your people. If it weren't for him kneeling on the ground dragging me to help, I would have left long ago. Since things have reached this point, you should also make your words clear. If you say you wanted my life, Pang Zi, from the beginning, then let's see the truth with swords and guns. Life and death are up to fate. That would be straightforward."

These were Pang Zi's heartfelt words. Since things had reached this point, there was not much hope for a peaceful settlement. If Pang Zi couldn't reach a real agreement with these people, the other party would definitely try every means to take the lives of these few people. Instead of passively welcoming the enemy's sneak attack, it was better to simply rely on the advantage of weapons to fight out. This was the experience accumulated by Pang Zi through life and death. This was the experience and lesson summarized from countless failures when Pang Zi fought against powerful enemies together with ordinary people. Villagers were not government soldiers after all. They had courage when there were many people, but as long as the enemy was not overwhelmed by the villagers' momentum but attacked the villagers fiercely, as long as a batch of villagers were killed or injured and their spirit was dampened, they would have no courage to continue fighting. Only in this situation could Pang Zi rush out. Thinking of this, Pang Zi cocked the hammers of his pistols with both hands. As soon as there was a disagreement, he decided to fight desperately regardless of everything.

The young man saw Pang Zi cocking the hammers of the box cannons, and saw Pang Zi's face become extremely calm. This clearly showed a posture of fighting desperately. Whether a person has made up his mind to risk his life, the momentum is completely different. Although there were many villagers outside and Pang Zi was only one person, as his gaze scanned the surrounding villagers, the restrained awe-inspiring killing intent made many sensitive villagers feel a chill on their backs. Because Pang Zi was not looking at people, but looking at everyone's vital points, and observing who was the first target to strike.

"King Pang, wait." The young man shouted. He was not a man without experience. Once Pang Zi started, he really wouldn't stop. Although the young man didn't quite believe Pang Zi could win, the villagers would definitely suffer heavy casualties. Now that most of the bandits had been eliminated, a complete victory was close at hand. At this time, there was absolutely no need for so many people to be lost.

"Speak." Pang Zi dropped a word coldly. He made up his mind at this moment: as long as the other party's next sentence was not agreeing to let him go, then Pang Zi would open fire regardless of anything.

The young man intuitively felt the danger. Although he didn't know where the danger came from, he just felt he couldn't say anything wrong no matter what.

"King Pang, I'll let you go." The young man shouted.

"How?" Pang Zi pursued.

"You release our man in the house; I'll be your hostage." The young man said loudly.

Pang Zi originally thought that nothing could be negotiated. No matter what sweet words the other party used to deceive him, Pang Zi decided to fight. He never expected the young man to say such a sentence. Pang Zi hesitated. Looking at this young man's appearance, he should be the leader. If he took this young man as a hostage, maybe he could really get out.

But Pang Zi was not a child after all. He didn't believe this young man was really willing to cooperate like this. He said, "You come into the house with me first; let's make things clear."

Hearing this, the villagers immediately made a noise. "Who do you think you are? You say enter the house and he enters?"

"Brother Zhou, don't trust the bandit's words."

"We have many people; what are we afraid of?"

Seeing the situation was about to get out of control, the young man hurriedly shouted, "Folks, don't be afraid. King Pang and these bandits are not completely in the same group. I'll go into the house with him." After speaking, the young man raised both hands and walked towards Pang Zi. Pang Zi immediately raised two box cannons pointing at the young man's chest. The young man smiled, bypassed Pang Zi with big strides, and entered the house. Although he still didn't trust the young man in his heart, Pang Zi followed into the house.

Pang Zi's brothers tied up the young man without saying a word. The young man didn't resist either, letting them do it. Pang Zi sat by the table, asked his brothers to watch the door, and then asked, "What is your name, and what exactly do you want to do?"

"I am Zhou Wencai. I studied outside before and haven't been back long. I planned this attack on the mountain stronghold." Zhou Wencai answered cleanly and neatly.

"Impressive indeed." Pang Zi sneered. "Then what exactly do you plan to do?"

"King Pang, I asked the person who went to the stronghold. He indeed said you were leaving. To tell the truth, we want to catch all the bandits in one net, but I never expected King Pang, you actually left a table full of wine and meat without eating or drinking. Not even looking at it. If it were anyone else, either they would have become suspicious long ago, or they would have started eating and drinking. You, King Pang, are really not a bandit."

Pang Zi was not interested in these compliments at all. He shouted, "Cut the crap, tell me quickly what to do?"

Zhou Wencai smiled. "King Pang, I just want to ask you one question: do you really not want to stay here anymore? Will you never come back in the future?"

"Come back for what? To be a bandit?" Pang Zi replied grumpily.

"Then you can ride the horses away, but don't think about travel expenses. Our several villages have contacted each other. We caught all the people who came out in one net. Someone has already gone to attack the stronghold on the mountain."

Pang Zi immediately cursed, "Bullshit, without travel expenses, how do I go? Be a bandit robbing along the way?"

Zhou Wencai really hadn't thought this matter through perfectly. In fact, he had considered what if Pang Zi became suspicious at the wine table first, or what if he didn't become suspicious. But he really didn't calculate that Pang Zi had no interest in eating and drinking, but was bent on leaving quickly. Because this change wasn't calculated, all the original designs fell through. Zhou Wencai just pondered for a moment and had a plan. "We have some mountain goods here; you take them with you. Consider it as payment for teaching everyone to raise chickens. When you get out of the mountains, sell the mountain goods; you can exchange them for some money anyway. What do you think?"

Actually, Pang Zi's biggest headache was how to get out of the villagers' encirclement. Since there were travel expenses, he didn't dwell on the issue of returning to the stronghold anymore. "Then how can I believe what you said is true?"

Zhou Wencai stood up and shouted outside, "Fourth Uncle, come in."

After a while, the young man who originally went to the stronghold walked in with some fear.

"Fourth Uncle, bring that bag of mountain goods from my house. Especially those two *Lingzhi* (Reishi mushrooms); make sure not to leave them behind." Zhou Wencai ordered.

"Wencai, what do you mean? You want to give these things to these bandits?" Zhou Wencai's Fourth Uncle was very puzzled.

"Fourth Uncle, you also saw that this King Pang has nothing to do with that group of people on the mountain. Moreover, King Pang taught us some ways to live after all. These things are considered a thank-you gift."

"Wencai, you are wrong. We have so many people; we can trap these people to death even by sieging them. What are we afraid of?" The young man seemed very unconvinced.

Hearing this, Liu Yongfu sneered, "Relying on you? I fought with the government, fought with the Beiyang Army, and survived among thousands of troops and horses. You mountain people dare to say you can trap us?"

Mountain people are straightforward. Although he was surrounded by Pang Zi, how could Zhou Wencai's Fourth Uncle believe it? Pang Zi sneered, "Yongfu, let them see our marksmanship."

Liu Yongfu responded happily. Surrounded by so many people just now, Pang Zi and others were startled at first. Now seeing that the villagers didn't really have the determination to risk their lives, everyone had already seen through the reality of these people. Liu Yongfu picked up his rifle, walked out of the door, aimed at a house door in the distance for a moment, and fired three shots in succession. These days, Pang Zi and his group had never neglected practicing marksmanship. These were new-style rifles with excellent accuracy. Liu Yongfu was determined to establish prestige.

Seeing Liu Yongfu not aiming at themselves, the villagers didn't know what he was going to do. After the gunshots, Liu Yongfu's three shots actually knocked down two strings of red peppers hanging on the wall more than thirty meters away. Where had the villagers seen such precise shooting? Everyone knew that if Liu Yongfu aimed at them, three people would probably be lying dead on the spot by now. Like a pot exploding, the villagers who were watching immediately ran away. Those villagers who originally held weapons preparing to annihilate Pang Zi also immediately hid behind the walls, daring not poke their heads out again.

Zhou Wencai's Fourth Uncle's eyes widened round; the arrogance just now vanished. The reason Zhou Wencai was willing to be a hostage was that he didn't want Pang Zi and others to jump over the wall in desperation and fight the villagers to the death. He compromised temporarily just because he didn't want to give Pang Zi a chance to build up courage. As a result, his Fourth Uncle didn't understand the reasoning here at all. Seeing these three shots completely knocked out the villagers' spirit, Zhou Wencai couldn't help sighing in his heart. "Fourth Uncle, listen to me, go get the things. Let's part on good terms."

After the person went out, Pang Zi's group in the room had regained their momentum. Liu Yongfu couldn't help asking, "Brother Pang, let's just kill our way out. These people count for nothing."

Pang Zi glared at Liu Yongfu. "Do you really want to be a bandit? These people have no grudge against us. What's the point of getting involved in these messy things?"

Gu Liangyu didn't dare to speak at first. seeing that they could really leave at this time, she hurriedly grabbed Pang Zi's arm. "Master, take my brother too."

Hearing Gu Liangyu mention her brother Gu Liangsheng, Pang Zi's anger flared up. He grabbed the lapel of Gu Liangyu's clothes and said viciously, "If it weren't for the trouble your brother caused me, I would have left long ago. Why would I be trapped here? If you want to save your brother, stay yourself. I won't care about that bastard."

Gu Liangyu knew Pang Zi wasn't speaking out of anger. Although she was still worried about her brother, it was better to leave early at this time.

After a long while, Zhou Wencai's Fourth Uncle brought a small package in. Opening it, it was quite clean inside. Zhou Wencai said there were two *Lingzhi*; there were really only two *Lingzhi* in the package. Pang Zi ran a medicine shop when he was in Nangong County. Looking at them, he knew the quality was decent and could sell for seven or eight taels of silver. If a few people lived frugally, they could last for a month or two.

"Give us our horses." Pang Zi said.

"The horses have already been led away; I'm afraid we can't get them back?" Zhou Wencai's Fourth Uncle was really bold; he seemed not to care about life and death at all. It was really hard to say whether he was brave or dull.

Zhou Wencai knew that the reason Pang Zi asked for horses was that he really wanted to leave. He also hurriedly advised, "Fourth Uncle, give them the horses and let them go."

"Wencai, what I say about the horses doesn't count; you have to go out and say it." Zhou Wencai's Fourth Uncle said.

Small tricks. Pang Zi sneered in his heart. He pretended to agree, "Then you go out and say it."

As soon as Zhou Wencai and his Fourth Uncle reached the door, Pang Zi suddenly pushed them on their backs. Caught off guard, the two stumbled out of the door. Then they were knocked to the ground by two wooden sticks outside the door. Pang Zi grabbed a wooden stick beside him and rushed out the door. He saw three people ambushing outside the door, all holding wooden sticks. Seeing they hit the wrong people, they all froze in place. Pang Zi practiced martial arts with Uncle Jing Tingbin and had excellent skills. He waved the wooden stick and gave each of the three guys a blow on the head. The three were immediately knocked to the ground like sacks.

At this time, except for one of the other three brothers staying in the room to watch the captive, the other two rushed out. The villagers originally ambushed to prepare for a sneak attack on Pang Zi, but they never expected Pang Zi to see through their plan. Five young men rushed over with wooden sticks preparing to save people. How could Pang Zi give them a chance? He rushed up with big strides carrying the wooden stick.

Since being plotted against today, although Pang Zi also fought with wits and courage, always taking leading the brothers to escape safely as the highest goal, the sullen anger of being plotted against in his heart was getting fiercer and fiercer. Seeing that those five people didn't hold muskets, Pang Zi stabbed straight with the wooden stick, stabbing the person in front in the chest like a spear. That person was immediately poked over on the ground. The other four fought with a burst of courage. Courage was commendable, but they didn't have combat power to match the courage. Mountain people were fierce, but not martial arts practitioners. None of the few people meant to retreat; they still rushed fiercely towards Pang Zi.

This was what Pang Zi feared least. He didn't even blink, still thrusting the stick to stab fiercely. This time he poked one person in the lower abdomen. That person knelt on the ground holding his stomach in pain. The remaining three had already rushed to Pang Zi's side, preparing to wave their sticks, but forgot that Pang Zi's two brothers had already rushed out. These two actually didn't want to kill people either. Each of them targeted a villager, punched the villager's neck fiercely, and knocked down two more in an instant. The last villager suddenly found himself surrounded. In a moment of daze, Pang Zi kicked this young man to the ground with a flying kick.

"Tie them all up!" Pang Zi roared.

The situation changed so drastically that Zhou Wencai regretted it too late. He never imagined that his carefully planned bandit suppression plan would turn into this appearance in the end. Zhou Wencai was a child of a local landlord, studying outside. After accepting some new ideas, he simply cut off his queue. It was nothing outside, but in the mountains, losing a queue made people "look at him differently." To justify his name, Zhou Wencai happened to know that internal strife occurred in the nearby mountain stronghold, so he put his idea on the stronghold.

Zhou Wencai first persuaded the local villagers, then contacted villagers from several other villages. This place was originally poor, and the stronghold leaders always squeezed the people very hard. Seeing that Pang Zi had no intention of managing the stronghold properly, and learning that there were few people in the stronghold, the villagers of various villages agreed to this plan. It happened that Gu Liangsheng took three people to the village to cause trouble. Zhou Wencai's plan was to let Pang Zi have internal strife first, and then take the opportunity to deal with Pang Zi. The first half of the plan was executed completely according to Zhou Wencai's prediction, and the process was extremely smooth.

Hearing from his Fourth Uncle that Pang Zi was preparing to leave, Zhou Wencai just thought Pang Zi had other plans and didn't take it to heart. But Zhou Wencai never expected that Pang Zi was really not a bandit. No matter how careful ordinary bandits were, it was impossible for them to be unmoved facing a table full of wine and meat. But Pang Zi could remain motionless for a long time.

After the flaw in the plan, everything went wrong. Now Pang Zi had captured ten hostages, and the dominance of the situation fell completely into Pang Zi's hands.