Reborn in the 1980s: I made my fortune hunting wild game in Changbai Mountain

Having successfully ambushed and obtained the supplies from the transport team the first time, Zhang Wenhui's team of four waited patiently at their second ambush position, and their patience had noticeably increased.

The wind was biting cold in the latter half of the night, and the temperature was still extremely low. The four men huddled motionless inside the roe deer skin blankets, their hats pulled up tightly, leaving only their eyes and the dark muzzles of their guns visible.

This wait lasted for more than two hours.

It's unclear whether the gunshot disrupted the traveler's progress or if they were simply arriving later than expected.

Before we knew it, it was already past three in the morning. The mountain wind gradually stopped, and the empty wilderness became even more desolate.

The four men hunched their shoulders and remained motionless, waiting for the newcomer. This time, no one spoke. They all wrapped themselves tightly in their clothes and roe deer skin blankets, afraid of losing even a bit of heat.

Because of their continuous breathing and looking up, a thick layer of white frost had formed on the eyebrows and the animal skin hats covering their mouths and noses.

Just then, a lone figure, moving stealthily and with very light steps, slowly emerged from the darkness in the distance.

Before Zhang Wenhui could react, Fifth Master had already noticed the person's presence.

At a distance of over 100 meters, Fifth Master could already clearly see the Russian military monoculars hanging around his neck.

"Someone's coming! Don't fire, this is a scout!" Fifth Master whispered to his companion.

Upon hearing the noise, the other three immediately turned their guns slightly.

"What should we do?" Zhang Wenhui asked.

"Experienced smuggling teams will arrange for scouts to scout the road several kilometers ahead of the convoy!"
"We can't fire now. If we do, the convoy behind us will be startled!" Fifth Master said.

"So, we just ignore him and let him pass normally?"

Fifth Master shook his head: "No, if we go any further, we'll reach where we're going to work! There's a lot of blood on the mountain path. The pathfinders have a keen sense of smell and will give a signal if they spot anything unusual!"

"You guys don't need to worry about him, just hold him off, I'm going to take him down!"

As he spoke, Fifth Master nimbly crawled out from under the roe deer skin blanket, not even taking his gun, but pulling out a dagger with a blade over forty centimeters long from his calf.

Fifth Master, like an agile cheetah, lay motionless against the wild grass beside the snow, quietly waiting for someone to pass by.

The one who was scouting the path didn't even notice the ambushers, and walked right into the range of the four men's weapons.

By the time he reached the position next to the ambush site, Fifth Master had already made preparations.

The person tracing the path seemed to have discovered something, and stopped in place, taking a slight sniff of the air.

At this critical moment, Fifth Master flicked his wrist and threw out a frozen, hard pebble. Upon hearing the noise, the other party habitually turned his head to look in the direction where the pebble landed.

In that tiny moment of difference, Fifth Master leaped up, his dagger aimed straight for the man's back.

In an instant, the two men were on the ground, wrestling. Fifth Master covered the other man's mouth tightly, then with his other hand, he brutally twisted the dagger halfway around.

Two seconds later, the ambushed man stopped breathing. Fifth Master immediately dragged the body toward the pile of weeds by the roadside.

This move left Zhang Wenhui completely dumbfounded.

This was truly a life-or-death situation decided on the first meeting. From beginning to end, there was only one strike. The opponent was only in a moment of hesitation before his life was over, without even making a sound.

A minute later, Fifth Master, having succeeded, crouched down and returned to his ambush position.

"The person's taken care of! He's got some skills, but not many! Hehe, look what good stuff I've got!"

As he spoke, Fifth Master showed off the newly captured weapons in his hand.

"This is... a pistol?" Zhang Wenhui asked, seeing the small, exquisite weapon that resembled a pistol.

Fifth Master introduced it as if it were a treasure trove of knowledge: "Haha, you guessed half right! This is a Type 57 signal gun!"

This is a great piece of equipment! Pull the trigger and you can see the colored signal in the sky from several kilometers away! It's also quite lethal when fired at close range!

Zhang Wenhui frowned slightly after listening: "Judging from this, the transport team behind us should be an experienced one! Everyone needs to be careful from now on! They even have signal guns, so their firepower might be quite good!"

Fifth Master didn't respond to that, but shrank back into the roe deer skin blanket. He then took out a kerosene lighter from his pocket, lit it by covering it with his hand, and used the light to illuminate the signal flare that had been captured along with the signal gun.

After seeing the color of the signal flare's shell, Fifth Master breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Only red signal flares! There shouldn't be any agreement on location beacons!"
Let's keep waiting. If nothing's leaked here, the convoy behind will definitely dare to advance this way!

Zhang Wenhui was unfamiliar with this information related to military knowledge and asked curiously, "Are there other colors of signal flares? What do you mean by the location beacon agreement you mentioned?"

Anyway, we haven't seen the main transport team yet. Fifth Master explained in a low voice, "The bullets for these signal guns are different colors, each corresponding to a different function!"
Red signal flares, when activated, produce a bright red orb of light, with the highest visibility at long distances! They are generally used for warning purposes!

If the person I was scouting earlier had been fired a shot and signaled by the enemy, even if we subdued or killed him, we wouldn't be able to continue the ambush! The convoy behind would definitely take a detour or retreat to remain vigilant and send someone over separately!

The second type is the green signal flare, which is emerald green when it is shot into the sky. This type of signal flare has a slow diffusion speed and a clear trajectory.

More professional map explorers, once they reach a key map location, will agree on a method of communication using signals.

In other words, once the distance is confirmed to be safe, a shot will be fired to signal to those behind that it is safe!

The third type is the white flare, which is used for lighting. It lasts the longest and is the brightest, and can make the surroundings almost like daytime for a short time!
"Our ambush disguise won't be able to hide us once the flares shine on us!"

After listening, Zhang Wenhui nodded repeatedly: "Tsk tsk, such an inconspicuous little thing, yet there is so much knowledge inside!"
"Once we've secured this line and are organizing our crew to transport goods, we'll figure out a way to use this thing!"

Fifth Master smiled slightly and said, "If we succeed in openly establishing our dominance this time, we probably won't need these things!"

Zhang Wenhui thought about it and it seemed to make sense. Now that the reputation was out there, anyone who dared to show their teeth would be locked in a life-or-death struggle.

Everything has two sides. It's difficult to openly establish a foothold, but as long as you stand firm and withstand the enemy's counterattack, that's the most convincing thing to do.

In other waterways, once some bigwigs established their authority, their underlings could operate on the border for years without encountering a single one daring to cause trouble.

With a stable source of income, one can acquire more supplies and equipment, deepen relationships with upstream and downstream partners, and find more and better external subordinates.

When a team becomes strong, it's like a snowball rolling downhill. As long as the main tree doesn't fall, more and more people will follow suit. Many famous and influential figures have risen to prominence this way.

……

On the other side, less than two kilometers from the second ambush point, a somewhat strange-looking transport convoy was slowly moving along the mountain road.

The main reason they seem strange is their somewhat inadequate means of transport. Normally, with so many goods on a freight bill, at least a donkey cart or mule cart would be needed to haul them all, even without horse-drawn carriages.

But this transport team didn't even have the cheapest donkey cart.

They used four people, divided into two groups of brothers, who carried a modified large sled on their shoulders with hemp ropes, taking turns dragging it.

All the supplies on the shipping manifest were loaded onto this strangely modified vehicle.

"Master Ma, we've reached the fork in the road! Let's take a break and catch our breath. Things aren't peaceful over there; what if they try something funny again?"

A man in his early thirties, dragging a load of goods, was panting heavily with white breaths.

With his gun slung over his shoulder, Master Ma hurried forward a few steps, took over from the brother who had given him the warning, and at the same time pulled out a small, flat, round wine flask from his pocket and handed it to the other man.

"The monkey went ahead to scout the way. He's carrying a signal gun. If the gun doesn't go off, nothing bad will happen! Have a drink to warm yourself up! I'll play a little tune for you!"

The middle-aged man did not refuse. He took the wine pot, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip. The strong liquor went down his throat, and he couldn't suppress it, letting out a series of low coughs.

Master Ma patted his companion on the back to help him catch his breath and said, "Your gunshot wound from last time hasn't fully healed yet!"

"Once the stitches are removed, you'll need to rest for a while, otherwise it might leave lasting health problems!"

The middle-aged man took a deep breath to steady himself and handed the wine jug back to Master Ma, who was leading the group: "My injury is almost healed, I'm fine! I just choked a little when I drank too fast! Let's get back Qian Dazhong's lead first, then we'll think about other things!"

Damn it, we have to fight! If we don't give it our all this time, our Ma family transport team will be wiped out from the road!
"Master Ma, if it weren't for those bastards from the Qiao family who didn't follow the rules last time, when have we ever suffered such a loss or endured such hardship?!"

Lord Ma had a good attitude. While pulling the sled, he said in a strong voice, "You say what you're entitled to! Losing a brother or failing is a reality, and you have to accept defeat!"
Qian Dazhong still follows the rules. Other families who win this line have to pay tribute three times, but the Ma family doesn't have to!

Before long, we'll have money in hand! Let's overcome these temporary difficulties together!

After a brief conversation, the four men continued on their way, pulling the sled. The leader, Master Ma, held a hemp rope over his shoulder and walked with a straight back and steady steps.

About forty minutes later, the remnants of Ma Wangye's team appeared on the outskirts of Zhang Wenhui and Fifth Master's ambush point. Even with Fifth Master's eyesight, which was comparable to that of a hawk, he could only make out the general outline.

"Someone's here! Hey, it's someone hauling goods by hand!"

Upon recognizing the arriving transport team, Fifth Master immediately spoke up to remind everyone to prepare.

"Manpower to haul goods?"

Zhang Wenhui hesitated slightly upon hearing this.

The list contains quite a few bulky supplies, such as grain and liquor, which are quite heavy and difficult to haul by hand.

They don't even have a donkey cart, how poor must they be!

"It's a human-powered sled, with two people pulling a large sled! There are two more people behind them, so it must be two groups taking turns!"

"Could it be another shipment of smaller, unpackaged goods?"

"No, you'll see when you get closer. The sled is huge, and it carries quite a lot of stuff!"

"Do we have weapons? Shall we proceed according to the original plan?"

Fifth Master: "There are weapons. There are four people and two weapons. The guns are being carried on the shoulders of the men bringing up the rear! I can't see the models or styles!"

Zhang Wenhui squinted and said in a cold tone, "Those who are armed and have the ability to threaten us are engaged in normal smuggling. We cannot be merciful and let them go!"
"When you run into us, it doesn't matter if you're poor or rich, it's all the same!"

Fifth Master nodded: "Everything is ready. We're about 150 meters away. Once we're within 50 meters, we'll fire!"

All four men slightly adjusted the direction of their guns, then waited for the newcomer to walk right into their trap and run into the gun barrels.

Lord Ma replaced his brother, dragging the heavy sled at the front. When they were about a hundred meters away from the ambush, he called out softly and stopped, tilting his head slightly as if he were smelling the air.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Wenhui and Fifth Master instantly tensed up.

The next second, without warning, Master Ma shouted, and all four of them immediately lay down in the snowdrifts by the roadside.

None of the four brothers Zhang Wenhui had ambushed realized what was happening.

"Damn, the prey's startled! Brother Hui'er, Fifth Master, should we attack or not?" Ma Leizi muttered under his breath.

Zhang Wenhui squinted at the person lying prone on the ground in the distance without saying a word. Fifth Master also hesitated for a second: "Don't shoot!"
They don't have night vision, so how could they possibly find our hiding place in advance?
Most likely, they were just bluffing because they smelled the blood coming from ahead.

If we fire rashly now, and the other side hides in the ditch, it'll be much harder to hit them!

As it turns out, Fifth Master's judgment was accurate; the experienced Ma Wangye Transport Team was indeed bluffing!
Lord Ma smelled a faint scent of blood in the air and, fearing something was wrong, tricked the people lying in ambush.

If the ambushers lack composure and hastily open fire thinking they've been discovered, the advantage of a preemptive strike will be completely lost.

About a minute later, the four men on Ma Wangye's side got up from the ground, brushed the snow off their bodies, and then pulled the sled to continue moving forward.

Once the enemy is within about fifty meters, their figures, appearances, and weapon characteristics become clear.

"One Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, one single-barreled shotgun, or a modified over-barreled rifle!" Fifth Master reminded again.

"The two with guns, Fifth Master, we'll each take one! Er Mang, you aim at the one leading the group! Ma Leizi, cover for him!" Zhang Wenhui finally assigned their targets.

The next second, a sudden gunshot rang out in the dim night.

The two gunmen, who had been targeted beforehand, were instantly shot in the upper body and fell to the ground.

Upon hearing the gunshot, the two men pulling the cart immediately dropped to the ground again.

Er Mang's firing rhythm was only half a second slower, and the target he was aiming at had already crawled to the ground.

The bullets struck the supplies on the sled behind them, but missed.

It's clear that these individuals reacted much faster than the previous group.

Just when everyone thought the next battle would be as easy as the first, the person lying prone on the ground launched a counterattack. (End of Chapter)