Unlike other bandits, Bie Tingfang had a great ambition and used this opportunity to his advantage by becoming a local Robin Hood for the poor.

Bie Tingfang entered the room in which the fourth concubine hanged herself and then the wife's bedroom, and soon reappeared, claiming the ghost was destroyed for good.

Bie took this advantage by asking financial support to purchase repeating rifles, getting legitimacy by becoming the local security force, and making peace with those less powerful landlords who previously persecuted him.

As a result, Bie Tingfang managed to turn his former enemy into allies while making more powerful friends, and due to his highly disciplined troops, he also maintained his peasantry support by eliminate other bandits who robbed the poor.

From this humble beginning, Bie eventually developed into and remained a powerful warlord in Henan by switching to different sides between Feng Yuxiang and Chiang Kai-shek.