Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

In his past life, what kind of gunfire hadn't he seen? They were just two spies. They might not even necessarily sneak into their village. The village chief was just taking precautions.

"It's not clear yet. They said they'd notify everyone to have a meeting first, and then we'd talk about it together. I volunteered to ask the village chief if I could be in the same class as you," Liu Qingguo chuckled.

"Alright, wait for me a moment. I'll go talk to Pingwa, and then we'll go to the village office."

Zhou Rui went back to the inner room and was surprised to find that An'an had already fallen asleep in such a short time; it seemed she was tired from playing. Zhou Ping was forcing himself to stay awake and play with Yan'er.

"Pingwa, come here and listen to me."

"What's wrong?" Zhou Ping walked up behind Zhou Rui.

Zhou Rui took out the Browning high-powered pistol from the cabinet, picked up the magazine from the other side, glanced at it, and then inserted the magazine.

"The bullets are all full; you can use them by simply releasing the safety."

"What happened? Has something happened in the village?" Zhou Ping asked, feeling a little nervous as he looked at Zhou Rui's serious expression.

Zhou Rui turned his head and realized that he might have affected Zhou Ping a little, so he smiled and said relaxedly.

"Don't be nervous, it's nothing serious. Apparently, the village received a notice from the town saying that two spies have escaped, and each village needs to send people to set up checkpoints and patrol in each village to prevent the spies from escaping."

"I'm not giving you a pistol to catch spies, but just so your brother can patrol at night and I won't be home, just to prevent any accidents."

Zhou Ping breathed a sigh of relief. As long as nothing serious had happened, it was fine. After all, relations with the northern United States had been tense in recent years, and the village often received news of joint defense agents, but the agents had never come to their Jiaolongxia Village.

"I'll take Yan'er home in a bit, and you can bring Maomao and her family inside to sleep. With Maomao here, you'll be safe enough."

After giving his instructions, Zhou Rui slung his Mauser rifle over his shoulder, grabbed a flashlight, and prepared to leave.

"Come on, little one, I'll take you home."

Zhou Rui picked up Xiao Yan'er, put her coat on, and then stuffed her into his own military overcoat, wrapping her up tightly.

"Ruiwa, you're on patrol with Xiaoniangao in tow?" Liu Qingguo saw Zhou Rui come out with a baby in his arms, but he couldn't see who it was.

Zhou Rui shook his head: "No, this is Yan'er from Brother Dazhu's family. I wasn't home, and I was worried that Pingwa wouldn't be able to take good care of the two children, so I was just about to send her back."

Zhou Rui took Yan'er back, and then he and Liu Qingguo went to the village office, where they were the only two people who hadn't arrived yet.

"Zhou Rui, you're the youngest and least senior person here. Isn't it inappropriate to keep all the elders waiting for you?"

Before Zhou Rui could even greet Zhao Youzhi, a sarcastic voice rang out. Zhou Rui looked over and saw it was Zhao Changshan, the militia captain, with Chen Xueqin, the son of Bai Yueguang, standing beside him.

Last time we went hunting in the mountains, I didn't give him any face and beat up Chen Xueqin. Is this a way of showing him power?

Zhou Rui completely ignored Zhao Changshan. Anyway, he wasn't part of the militia, so it was none of Zhao Changshan's business. And Chen Xueqin—he hadn't even bothered him yet, and today he dared to cause trouble outside Zhou Dashan's house, trying to drag him into the Zhou family's debt dispute. He'd get him sooner or later.

When Zhao Changshan saw that Zhou Rui completely ignored him and walked to the corner on his own, he felt humiliated.

"Zhou Rui, what's with your attitude? I'm talking to you..."

"Alright, Changshan. Zhou Rui's house is the furthest away, so it's understandable that he was the last to be notified. Don't say anything more." Zhao Youzhi interrupted Zhao Changshan's questioning.

Faced with Zhao Youzhi's interference, Zhao Changshan had no choice but to temporarily put aside his actions, though his expression was not very good.

"Now that everyone is here, I'll explain the commune's notice to you in detail."

Zhao Youzhi didn't waste any time; once everyone was present, the meeting began. Everything else was trivial; government matters were of utmost importance.

"This notice was issued by the county commune. The main content is that a group of spies recently came to the area of ​​Yunshui County and were discovered by the militia when they came into contact with people who had been sent down to the countryside for reform."

Two people have been identified so far, with the total number unknown. One of them is about 1.85 meters tall, of mixed Asian and Russian descent, and has a full beard.

The other person is of Asian descent, about 1.7 meters tall, and his nationality is unknown.

Subsequently, the Yunshui County Public Security Bureau issued a notice through the commune, requiring local public security bureaus, security departments of various units, and militia of each production brigade to jointly deploy defenses, set up checkpoints and patrols at various intersections to prevent spies from entering the mountains and illegally crossing the border, and to apprehend them without fail.

Zhou Rui's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. Could these be the two people he encountered in the mountains a few days ago? The number of people and basic characteristics were similar, but without more details, he couldn't just make things up.

"Captain, both of these spies have been discovered, but we don't know their specific appearances?" Zhao Changshan asked directly.

"When the report came down from above, they said it was because of the distance and the poor lighting that it was difficult to see clearly."

Of all these people, only Zhao Youzhi had attended a meeting at the town commune, and he was the only one who knew the details of everything.

"What is the purpose of these two people contacting the demobilized personnel? Did they steal any intelligence? Do we need to retrieve something?"

After a long silence, Gu Dayong spoke, getting straight to the point. His past experience in the military made him more sensitive and worried about the appearance of such people.

Generally, spies who are recruited are just ordinary people who routinely pass on messages or analyze intelligence. But spies who have undergone rigorous training are quite skilled, some even more capable than scouts on the battlefield.

"The demobilized personnel who have been in contact with the agents have been isolated and investigated, but there is still no clear information about the agents' purpose. However..." Zhao Youzhi paused for a moment.

"However, I think that even if the results are obtained, they will be kept confidential and will not be released to the public."

"But that would make it hard for us to defend against. There are quite a few Russian mixed-race people over 1.8 meters tall in our area, and even more with beards."

"If they bring two more people with them, or even just one person, should we arrest them or not?" Zhao Changshan frowned, feeling that this was a difficult situation.

Zhao Youzhi didn't speak, but looked at Gu Dayong. After all, Gu Dayong had not only served in the army, but had also been to the northern battlefield, making him the most experienced among them.

Without hesitation, Gu Dayong said directly, "Then use wartime regulations. Question all strangers who pass through our area. Those who can prove their identity will be released, and those who cannot will be taken to the commune for verification by higher authorities."

Zhao Youzhi thought about it for a moment and it didn't seem to make any mistakes. Their Jiaolongxia Village was remote, and few people came here. Those who visited relatives basically knew each other, and it wasn't troublesome to ask villagers to come out and identify those who didn't know each other.

"Okay, let's do as Dayong says. I'll divide the teams into three shifts, each lasting eight hours. The first shift will be led by Gu Dayong, with team members Zhou Rui, Liu Qingguo, Gu Jiacheng, Zhou Kaizhi..."