"Zilan, are you tired down there? Are you getting enough to eat? I have a gun now, so from now on, when I hunt something, I'll bring it down to you. Look, this is the white rabbit creamy candy I bought for you." Sun Chaoshu, that henpecked husband, actually bought white rabbit creamy candy today. Ye Hao didn't even know about it. It seemed this guy was truly interested in Tang Zilan.
"I don't want it. You can eat the game you hunt yourselves. We have provisions down here, so you don't need to bring us anything. And this candy, take it back. I don't like sweets." Tang Zilan felt a bit embarrassed in front of so many people.
She seemed like a carefree girl, but when it came to such matters, she was still a bit shy. However, Sun Chaoshu, with his thick skin, didn't care at all and directly shoved the candy into Tang Zilan's hand.
This made Tang Zilan blush deeply. Seeing everyone looking at her, Tang Zilan took the candy and turned to go inside the house.
Ye Hao and the others burst into laughter, while Sun Chaoshu looked at Tang Zilan's retreating figure with a simple, honest smile.
"Alright, let's go up the mountain. You guys can come down another day. We have a lot of stuff today, so let's go up early, or it'll get dark."
The five of them carried their rations back to the camp.
When they returned, Zhang Shan had already prepared the food, waiting for everyone to come back and eat.
In the following days, Ye Hao and the other two followed the patrol during the day, and in the evening, they began practicing their marksmanship. As expected, Sun Chaoshu's shooting was as terrible as his crossbow skills; out of 20 practice rounds, not a single one hit the target. This directly made Sun Chaoshu feel dejected.
"Captain Xu, do you have any more bullets? I've run out." Sun Chaoshu asked Captain Xu pitifully.
"No more. Everyone's bullets are rationed. With your marksmanship, even if I gave you more, it wouldn't be enough for you to squander." Captain Xu was speechless about Sun Chaoshu's shooting. He had never seen anything so ridiculous. At first, Captain Xu thought it was a problem with the gun, that it hadn't been calibrated properly, but then he fired two shots and found no issues.
"Captain Xu, every sharpshooter is fed by bullets. If you don't give me bullets, how can I become a sharpshooter, don't you agree?"
"Don't give me that twisted logic. Anyway, each person gets 20 bullets for practice, no more."
"Then without bullets, this gun is just a fire poker, isn't it?"
"Alright, Chao Shu, I'll spare you 10 bullets." Ye Hao couldn't stand it anymore and gave Sun Chaoshu 10 bullets. Ye Hao had already perfected his marksmanship in his personal space. Now, making him shoot at a target fixed to a tree held no interest for him; hunting would be a different story.
"Sun Chaoshu, practice these 10 bullets well. Have you forgotten all the shooting essentials I taught you before? Continue practicing according to the shooting essentials I taught you. If you still can't hit the target, it means you're not suited to use a gun." Captain Xu, seeing Ye Hao's accuracy, didn't mind Ye Hao giving Sun Chaoshu bullets, but he still urged Sun Chaoshu to practice diligently.
With these 10 bullets, Sun Chaoshu finally hit the target. Although he only hit two shots, it was still better than missing all 20 shots before.
"See? I told you sharpshooters are fed by bullets, didn't I? Now he hit it, this is proof."
"Alright, that's embarrassing enough. 2 hits out of 30 bullets. When I first used a gun on the battlefield, never having touched one before, I killed a little devil with 5 bullets."
After several days of practice, all three of them could skillfully use firearms, and during this period of patrolling the mountain, they also became very familiar with the work.
"You three, come here. You've been on this mountain for so long, you must be familiar with the surroundings now, right?" Captain Xu called Ye Hao and the other two into the house and said.
"We are familiar." The three of them said in unison.
"Good that you're familiar. Then starting tomorrow, the three of you will patrol the mountain alone. I won't be leading you. You'll try it yourselves, just follow the usual path."
"Captain Xu, why aren't you coming with us?"
"I want you to be able to patrol independently, not always follow behind us. Changbai Mountain is too big, and there are very few rangers. We can't always walk together; that way, the patrol range will always be limited." Captain Xu explained to everyone.
"Okay, then it'll be the three of us tomorrow."
"When you go up the mountain, you must pay attention to safety. If you encounter a wild beast, you must remain calm. Never turn and run. Many animals like to chase. If you turn and run, they will instinctively pursue. If you truly encounter a wild beast, you must use your guns wisely. They are not fire pokers.
If you encounter other people, be very careful and check if there are others around. If they are mountain hunters, they generally use old-style rifles and will bring a few hunting dogs. Such encounters are generally not dangerous, but you still need to be careful.
If you encounter someone carrying a semi-automatic gun or a submachine gun, you must be extremely careful. Hide immediately and never expose yourselves proactively. If they discover you and shoot at you, shoot back fiercely. Remember, you must remain calm and protect yourselves. You are familiar with the mountain, so I believe you know where the cover is.
Alright, that's pretty much it. You must protect yourselves and don't act recklessly. Alright, go rest and get enough sleep for entering the mountain tomorrow."
"Captain Xu, then we're off." Early the next morning, Ye Hao and the other two packed their things and set off, beginning their true first mountain patrol.
"Good, be careful."
Bidding farewell to Captain Xu and the others, Ye Hao and the other two crossed the stream and headed east.
Ye Hao led the way, with Sun Chaoshu and Lu Bingsheng following behind. The three of them walked into the mountains, chatting and laughing all the way.
"Brother Hao, what do you say about us hunting a few pheasants? We can have iron pot stewed chicken tonight."
"What are you thinking? We can't waste bullets. Besides, are you sure you can hit a pheasant? A pheasant isn't a stationary target that just stands there for you to shoot."
"But we have Brother Hao, your marksmanship is so accurate, you'll definitely hit it. I'll shoot when the pheasants and wild rabbits are eating and not moving. If I miss and scare them away, Brother Hao, you can finish them off. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
"You're really a genius, you bastard."
"Brother Hao, what do you think? We've had guns for so many days, and we haven't hunted any living creatures yet."
"Alright, just once. You can only fire one shot. Our bullets are limited. If we encounter danger later and run out of bullets, we'll be in big trouble."
"Hehe, got it."
The group walked through a dense forest, and ahead was a patch of weeds. They saw several rabbits happily eating grass on the weedy ground. On the green grassland, the grey rabbits were particularly noticeable.
"Brother Hao, Brother Hao, look, rabbits! Wait, I'll shoot first. If I miss, you can finish them off." Sun Chaoshu saw the rabbits and quickly pulled Ye Hao, who was about to walk forward, whispering.
"Okay, you shoot. I'll back you up."
Sun Chaoshu raised his San-Ba Da Gai (Type 38 Rifle), pulled the bolt, and aimed. (Although the Type 56 rifle family was available in 1960, it would have first been issued to frontline troops. Forest rangers like them wouldn't have access to Type 56 semi-automatics; having a captured San-Ba Da Gai was already good enough.)
Bang~
The sudden gunshot startled the wild rabbits that were eating grass on the field. They scattered and fled instantly. Ye Hao saw that no rabbit had fallen and knew that Sun Chaoshu's shot had missed. He raised his gun, aimed, and made a pre-emptive shot in one smooth motion. With a bang, a small grey rabbit's head was instantly pierced, and the rabbit rolled a few times on the ground before stopping.