Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

The shifts were quickly assigned. The village's fifteen militiamen, along with five armed hunters including Gu Dayong and Zhou Rui, totaling twenty people, were divided into three groups. Gu Dayong, Zhao Changshan, and another militia deputy captain, Chen Guocai, were appointed as group leaders respectively.

The militia of this era were highly skilled, able to immediately get to work after being given a mission. The other two groups dispersed after the meeting and went back to rest, while Gu Dayong led his group to the village warehouse.

"Take a few bundles of firewood; we'll need them to start a fire tonight. Also, take that tarpaulin; it's too late to build a snow hut now, so we'll use the tarpaulin as a makeshift barracks for tonight."

"Captain, could you give us a bag of potatoes or sweet potatoes? We can fill our stomachs if we get hungry during the night patrol." Gu Dayong was very thoughtful and considered all aspects.

"Okay, you can move it yourself. I'll have Accountant Zhou do the bookkeeping after dawn." Zhao Youzhi wasn't stingy; he knew how hard night patrols were.

"Alright, everyone check your weapons and equipment to see if anything is missing. If anything is, run home and get it. If not, set off immediately."

"No!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Let's go." At this moment, Gu Dayong regained his military bearing, as if he had returned to the battlefield more than ten years ago.

At the entrance to Jiaolongxia Village, there is a place where the mountains on both sides are the narrowest. If this place is blocked, the road into the village will be blocked.

Zhou Rui, along with Liu Qingguo and Gu Jiacheng, were patrolling under the moonlight. In Gu Dayong's eyes, Zhou Rui was already qualified to be on his own; if he weren't so young, he could be a team leader.

As the youngest son grew up, it wouldn't be good for him to always stay under his wing; it would be beneficial for him to have more contact with Zhou Rui.

"Ruiwa, why aren't we using flashlights? It's too dark, what if we fall?" Liu Qingguo muttered behind them.

"Brother Jiacheng, your dad was in the army. Can you tell him why?" Zhou Rui was quite attentive to this patrol, remaining vigilant at all times and occasionally scanning with his senses, so he was too lazy to bother with Liu Qingguo's naive question.

"The first problem is poverty. Batteries are expensive, and the village has few reserves. If the lights are on all night while patrolling, the village will run out of batteries in two days."

Gu Jiacheng was honest and shy, and had no relatives in the village. Since his two older brothers went to join the army, he had few people to play with. So he didn't dislike Liu Qingguo, who was a chatterbox; on the contrary, he liked having someone talk to him.

"And what about second place?"

"Secondly, the biggest taboo on night patrols is exposure. On the battlefield, whoever is exposed first is in danger. If you dare to patrol with a flashlight, you'll be the biggest target."

Liu Qingguo shrank his neck and couldn't help but shiver.

"But isn't our patrol meant to help the spies escape into the mountains? Maybe they'll see someone patrolling here and then stop here."

Although Liu Qingguo is the oldest among them, he has the least experience. Gu Jiacheng was personally taught by his retired father, and Zhou Rui has memories from his previous life. Only Liu Qingguo has always lived in the village and has never been anywhere else.

"Although the reason we were ordered to patrol was to prevent spies from escaping, we actually wanted to catch them more. They came to our country to cause trouble, and they were wandering around with weapons, which was very unsafe for ordinary people."

Zhou Rui shared his understanding while also reminding the two of the danger posed by their enemies.

"Ruiwa, if we can catch these two spies, do you think the commune can give me a certificate of merit?" Gu Jiacheng's eyes lit up, his words revealing his eagerness.

Under Gu Dayong's tutelage, Gu Jiacheng developed a strong yearning for national honor. However, of the three sons in the Gu family, Gu Dayong had already sent two to join the army, and naturally wanted to keep the third at home to continue the family line.

Actually, you can tell just by looking at their names. The three Gu brothers are Gu Weiguo, Gu Weijun, and Gu Jiacheng, which gives you an idea of ​​what Gu Dayong was thinking.

"Yes, of course! That's a huge achievement. Not only will you get a certificate, but there might be other rewards too."

Gu Jiacheng rubbed his hands together: "I don't want any other rewards, I just want the certificate. If my brother comes back, I'll show it to him."

Seeing Gu Jiacheng's excitement, as if he had caught a bad guy and was about to strangle him, Liu Qingguo couldn't stand it anymore and poured cold water on him.

"You were so sure this spy would pass through our village, but maybe he wouldn't even leave a trace?"

Gu Jiacheng glared fiercely at Liu Qingguo, resenting him for shattering his dream. Although he knew that Yunshui County was too large and the chances of a spy passing through were slim, he was still somewhat unwilling to give up.

"Alright, Brother Qingguo, say less. Everyone be alert, lest the enemy arrive unnoticed and escapes."

After Zhou Rui and Gu Dayong changed shifts several times, the night passed quickly, but they found nothing.

In fact, this was to be expected, and the county had anticipated it long ago. In such a large county as Yunshui, there were only a handful of enemies, so naturally, 99% of the patrol teams would not encounter them.

However, the county made this arrangement for two reasons. First, to launch a people's war and leave spies nowhere to hide. Second, to train the militia and keep them constantly vigilant against the Russians in the north.

Around 4 a.m., Chen Guocai arrived with his men to relieve him.

"Old Gu, how's it going? Have you found anything?"

"How could there be?" Gu Dayong rolled his eyes at Chen Guocai. "If there really were spies, I don't believe they would be stupid enough to pass through here. Just consider it training."

"That's true. Hehe... You guys should head back soon, I'm taking over here."

Gu Dayong led his group back to the village, and everyone seemed to be in relatively good spirits. After all, aside from patrolling, they mostly spent their time warming themselves by the fire in their tents.

"This patrol is so boring. It's just walking back and forth all the time. It's not even as good as armed marching training." Liu Qingguo yawned, looking somewhat listless.

"You really want to run? Okay then, I'll let you run as much as you want tonight." After finishing the task, Gu Dayong didn't mind joking around.

"No, Uncle Gu, I was just venting out of boredom." Liu Qingguo was startled. He might be slow-witted, but he wasn't stupid.

"Hehe..." Gu Dayong stared at Liu Qingguo and kept laughing, making Liu Qingguo feel uneasy. Little brat, I can't handle you.

Back home, Zhou Rui made breakfast and then woke An'an and Zhou Ping up. After breakfast, he told Zhou Ping to take An'an to play in the village while he rested.

The village patrol team didn't know how long it would continue, so they naturally needed to rest well and conserve their energy.

The day passed quickly, and night fell again. Zhou Rui followed behind Gu Dayong, and the group headed towards the village entrance.

When Gu Dayong and Zhao Changshan were handing over their shifts, two pairs of eyes were fixed intently on Zhou Rui.

Zhou Rui looked back and saw Liu Xueqin and Chen Feiyue. All the people in the village who had grudges against him were in the third patrol team.

Zhou Rui stopped paying attention; Xiao Kalami wasn't worth his time. If no one was around, he'd make sure the two of them suffered.

The moonlight was just as bright tonight, and Zhou Rui, Liu Qingguo, and Gu Jiacheng were baking flatbread. Zhou Rui had brought his own; he didn't want to eat roasted sweet potatoes every night.

"Ruiwa, your pancakes smell really good." Liu Qingguo took a bite and found them crispy and soft.

"This isn't made with a mixture of wheat, flour, and corn flour; it's all white flour, so of course it's fragrant." Gu Jiacheng also took a bite.

"Ruiwa, you said my dad and the others have been gone for a while, why haven't they come back yet?"

"Maybe it's to expand the patrol area?" Zhou Rui wasn't worried at all; Gu Dayong was a veteran.

But just then, a loud bang rang out, and then the gunfire started like firecrackers, crackling and popping incessantly.

"Oh no, something's happened to my dad."