Perhaps because Cao Yifeng had been beaten too severely by the Beiyang Army, when he was brought back to the Cao family home, he was merely left outside the courtyard. After all, if the Cao family saw Cao Yifeng with a swollen face and covered in blood, they might be struck with fear. The shock might be too great, leading them to a desperate "smash the pot" mentality of giving up completely. If the Cao family chose the latter option, the Beiyang Army would also have a headache. Their goal was to make the Cao family pay up according to the rules, not to wipe out the entire Cao family. At least until they got the money, they couldn't choose to wipe out the Cao family.

Since that was the case, the Beiyang Army didn't take Cao Yifeng into the Cao family courtyard. Instead, they found a shady spot outside for the limping Cao Yifeng to sit and rest. They even brought him a bowl of water. By this time, Cao Yifeng had already despaired. The Beiyang Army let Cao Yifeng sit on the ground but didn't untie him. Listening to the screams of his family members inside the courtyard, although Cao Yifeng felt terrible in his heart, surrounded by a group of Beiyang soldiers, he could only sit on the ground, completely powerless to help with the Cao family's plight.

After the battle began, the Beiyang soldiers standing around Cao Yifeng were shot down row by row. The surviving Beiyang soldiers swarmed towards the Cao family courtyard to escape. Any Beiyang soldiers who chose to scatter and flee were shot down. Amidst the flying bullets, one Beiyang soldier responsible for guarding Cao Yifeng actually tried to pull him up. However, he only managed to pull him halfway up when Cao Yifeng felt the soldier suddenly let go. Looking up, he saw blood gurgling out of the Beiyang soldier's throat. Then the body fell backwards.

Cao Yifeng's numb emotions suddenly became agitated, with joy and confusion existing simultaneously. He had seemed dazed just a moment ago, but in reality, his mind had been active without pause. He thought about this calamity that the Cao family shouldn't have suffered, and the sorrow his family would feel after this disaster. He felt infinitely regretful for personally inviting the wolves into the house. Cao Yifeng himself didn't believe in any gods or Buddhas, but in his heart, he prayed to every god and Buddha he could think of. Nowadays in Hebei, there were quite a few people preaching foreign religions, often walking around holding a cross. Although the villagers were extremely dissatisfied with these foreign religious followers, Cao Yifeng still remembered that these guys called the foreign god they believed in "God" (Shangdi). In his desperation, Cao Yifeng even prayed to the "God" of the foreign religion that was usually looked down upon. The Beiyang Army was so vicious; expecting them to change their nature was naturally impossible. The only remaining method was for an army to attack and kill all these bastards.

Now Cao Yifeng felt his prayers had worked. Everywhere he looked, he saw running Beiyang soldiers and officers. "Whose troops are these? Could it be that my brother brought people to save the Cao family?" Cao Yifeng thought excitedly. However, this beautiful dream was quickly shattered. Those Beiyang officers and soldiers were running and screaming like a flock of frightened sheep, "The People's Party is coming!" Hearing the term "People's Party," Cao Yifeng was immediately greatly disappointed. The Beiyang Army before him might be terrible, but Cao Yifeng had invited the Beiyang Army to strike at the even more terrible People's Party. Seeing the running Beiyang soldiers being shot down one by one, Cao Yifeng was quite clever; he simply lay on the ground and played dead.

Having never experienced war, Cao Yifeng felt that the violent explosions and dense rain of bullets weren't actually that terrifying; the firecrackers during the Spring Festival were about the same. The only difference might be that the weapons made louder noises, and the vibrations from the explosions made one's heart palpitate uncontrollably. After an unknown amount of time, the shouting outside the Cao family courtyard gradually ceased. Outside the Cao family mansion, which had turned into a battlefield, there was only the choking smell of gunpowder smoke and the miserable cries for help, some high and some low, from the Beiyang soldiers on the ground who hadn't died yet.

Because he was tied tightly, Cao Yifeng couldn't lift his head at all after lying down. Moreover, he was extremely afraid in his heart. The Beiyang Army, such a fierce army, had been beaten to pieces by the People's Party in an instant. How cruel and tyrannical would the People's Party's army be? Curiosity is human nature. The more he felt the fear of the unknown, the more curious Cao Yifeng felt about the People's Party army he had never met. Because he had been beaten by the Beiyang Army, Cao Yifeng's head was still a bit dizzy. He tried to raise his head slightly to search for the People's Party, but the initial result was somewhat disappointing. Because he was lying on the ground, the perspective was very different from usual, and combined with his slightly blurred vision after the beating, the originally familiar scene became very strange, and he couldn't find any trace of people. Cao Yifeng wanted to raise his head higher to search more carefully, but this movement pulled at the injuries on his neck and back. he couldn't help but groan in a low voice and had to give up this effort.

The calm on the battlefield didn't last too long. Soon, gunshots rang out from inside the Cao family courtyard. The People's Party opposite them immediately launched a counterattack. Screams of Beiyang soldiers constantly came from the top of the wall, and startled cries of Beiyang soldiers also constantly came from inside the courtyard. Presumably, the Beiyang Army suffered a big loss in this exchange of fire.

After waiting for a while longer, intense gunfire suddenly erupted at the back gate of the Cao family courtyard. In addition to ordinary rifle fire, there was a light, continuous explosive sound, and occasionally a few explosions. Of course, screams were also inevitable. Cao Yifeng wasn't able to see it with his own eyes, but he could still imagine that the Beiyang Army had been hit by the People's Party. Presumably, the back gate was also strewn with dead and wounded just like the front gate. "Heh heh!" Cao Yifeng couldn't help but laugh quietly. These Beiyang bandits were getting their retribution. Cao Yifeng felt as refreshed in his heart as if he had eaten a honey fruit.

As soon as the fighting at the back gate of the Cao family stopped, someone in the Cao family front courtyard shouted at the top of their lungs: "People outside, what do you want?" The voice was trembling; the fear in the shouter's heart was revealed without a doubt.

The attacking side outside quickly gave an answer. Cao Yifeng heard someone shouting not far in front of the Cao family mansion: "Listen, Beiyang troops inside! Surrender immediately! We, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, treat captives leniently!"

There was silence in the courtyard for a while before someone continued to shout: "Officers outside, we brothers are all just soldiers carrying guns to earn a living. How about this, you open a path, and we will return to Linzhang County right away. We don't want any of the Cao family's things; we'll leave them all to the officers outside!"

Hearing that the Beiyang Army was actually using the Cao family's property as a bargaining chip, Cao Yifeng was instantly shocked. Before he could figure out what to do, he heard the People's Party army outside shout: "Beiyang brothers inside the courtyard, we, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, are fighting you Beiyang Army. We are not bandits; what does the Cao family's property have to do with us? We say it one more time, you are already surrounded. Laying down your weapons and surrendering immediately is the only way. If you don't surrender, we, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, can only continue the attack until you are all wiped out. Also, regarding the Cao family members, we, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, advise you not to harm the common people. Our discipline includes lenient treatment of captives, but we will absolutely not let off anyone who harms the people."

There was another silence in the courtyard, and then someone shouted: "Don't rush in! If you rush in, we'll kill everyone in the Cao family! You are forcing us to do this!"

With his parents and family being threatened by the Beiyang Army like this, Cao Yifeng was naturally scared out of his wits. However, he had an indescribable doubt, so much so that Cao Yifeng had to rack his brains to figure out exactly where his doubt lay. After a good while, he figured it out. In this battle, the Cao family was originally on the same side as the Beiyang Army. But in the dialogue just now, it was the Cao family's mortal enemy, the People's Party, that tried to protect the Cao family, while the Beiyang Army actually used the lives of the entire Cao family to threaten the People's Party not to attack. This was truly too unexpected.

However, Cao Yifeng wasn't a three-year-old child. What one shouted with their mouth didn't equate to what they thought in their heart. Even now, Cao Yifeng didn't consider the People's Party as his own people. Moreover, based on today's experience, Cao Yifeng had completely despaired of the Beiyang Army. Regarding their shout about killing the Cao family, Cao Yifeng absolutely couldn't treat it as a joke. The immediate plan was that no matter what, he couldn't let the two sides fight again. Even though his heart was still filled with fear of the battlefield, Cao Yifeng still struggled to crawl up. After lying on the ground for so long, plus suffering a severe beating and only having a bowl of water for most of the day, when he struggled to stand up, Cao Yifeng only felt dizzy and his legs were weak, almost falling to the ground again.

There were no longer any Beiyang soldiers lying on top of the Cao family mansion's walls shooting. Cao Yifeng stumbled and ran towards the direction of the People's Party. As he ran, he searched for traces of the People's Party. In front of the Cao family mansion was a large open space. This was because a feng shui master had said that if the mansion directly faced the road, it would easily be hit by bad luck, but the Cao family wasn't willing to let other families' courtyards face the Cao family directly. So they created this open space. During the summer harvest, this place was often used as a sunning ground for wheat. It was quite a distance to the courtyards of other families. Unknown when, the People's Party had already piled up some sandbags at the edge of the open space, with gun barrels sticking out from behind the sandbags. Next to other families' courtyards, there were also indistinct human figures standing or lying down. The whole place where the People's Party was located looked sparsely populated, without the feeling of a massive army gathering.

"Sir, don't shoot. I'm not a bad person!" Cao Yifeng shouted as he ran, his hands tied behind his back.

The People's Party didn't shoot. However, when Cao Yifeng approached the People's Party's position, two people suddenly popped out from somewhere and forcibly dragged Cao Yifeng directly to the side. Cao Yifeng didn't struggle either, obediently letting the two on his left and right drag him aside. The two first searched Cao Yifeng's body. They found a hidden pocket sewn under Cao Yifeng's armpit, which contained a few silver dollars. The money in Cao Yifeng's bosom had already been taken by the Beiyang Army after the beating. The People's Party people searched far more carefully than the Beiyang Army, even finding the money Cao Yifeng had hidden. But to Cao Yifeng's surprise, after the People's Party determined that it wasn't a weapon, they stuffed the money back into Cao Yifeng's pocket, having absolutely no intention of taking it for themselves.

After searching him, the two held Cao Yifeng up and took him to an intersection in the village not too far from the battlefield. Many People's Party people were gathering there, with several layers of sentries posted. After several inquiries, the two approached the People's Party's assembly point. One person dragged Cao Yifeng to stand aside, while the other went over to speak.

Seeing the People's Party members along the way, Cao Yifeng estimated there were about a hundred of them in total. Although he found it very strange that the People's Party had less than thirty percent of the Beiyang Army's numbers yet could beat the Beiyang Army to pieces, Cao Yifeng's attention was attracted by something else. The Beiyang Army was terrible; their terror lay in their cruelty and greed towards people. But when marching, the Beiyang Army appeared quite sluggish. The People's Party members he had just met, however, didn't give off that feeling at all. Everyone was full of vigor, everyone was busy, and everyone had a stern and serious face, yet without that bandit air of the Beiyang Army or the fierceness deliberately put on to intimidate others.

If the feeling the Beiyang Army gave Cao Yifeng was similar to the fear of wild beasts, the People's Party's focus and vigorous vitality, as well as the vigorous demeanor unique to soldiers, made Cao Yifeng feel an indescribable awe.

Soon, Cao Yifeng was brought to the People's Party officer. The officer asked, "Villager, how did you get tied up by the Beiyang Army?"

Cao Yifeng naturally wouldn't be stupid enough to openly admit that his Cao family had gone to the county seat to invite people to suppress the unruly people of Cao Family Shop. He answered, "Sir, I am from the Cao family. The Beiyang Army took a fancy to our family's wealth, so they ran over to rob our home. I was caught by them first. They were afraid I would run home to report the news, so they tied me up."

After finishing, Cao Yifeng didn't ask to be untied, but knelt straight down to the People's Party officer. "Sir, my name is Cao Yifeng, I am from the Cao family. Just now outside, I heard the Beiyang Army has held my family hostage. Sir, I beg you to save my family!"

Seeing Cao Yifeng kneeling, the People's Party commander hurriedly went up to support him, and the soldiers on the left and right also helped pull Cao Yifeng up. "Villager, we are definitely going to wipe out this group of Beiyang troops. We will try our best to protect your family during the battle, but we can't guarantee that we can save them."

Cao Yifeng wasn't happy about this kind treatment; he continued to say loudly: "Sir! You just let the Beiyang Army go. After they leave our Cao family, you can hit them however you want. They are hiding inside my family's courtyard; it's hard to fight there! As long as you can save our Cao family, I will work like an ox or a horse for you in my next life."

As a person whose piety was definitely suspicious, Cao Yifeng didn't hesitate to promise his next life.

"Villager, I know you are worried about your family. But you are begging the wrong person now. It is Beiyang that is holding your family, not us." Hearing Cao Yifeng say this, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army commander's face had already darkened. Cao Yifeng was from the Cao family. Although the People's Party didn't have a mission to eradicate the Cao family in this military operation, most of the People's Party troops had participated in land reform. Families like the Cao family had always been targets of struggle. In the commander's view, the conflict between the Cao family and Beiyang was purely a dog-eat-dog struggle. If they could conveniently save the Cao family, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army wouldn't refuse. But changing the battle deployment to save the Cao family was out of the question.

Cao Yifeng wasn't stupid either. He hadn't spoken on the way over, not because he was scared silly, but because he was trying hard to think about how to solve the problem at hand. After his request was unhesitatingly rejected by the People's Party officer, Cao Yifeng hurriedly said: "My house has a secret passage. Sir, you can enter my house through the secret passage!"