Southern guerrilla warfare: I led the Red Seventh Army Corps to amassed a million troops.

Ruan Yongqi shook his head: "I'm not making this up. According to military intelligence reports from the southern front, Xun Huaizhou, the enemy corps commander who was previously active in the Minjiang area, has suddenly disappeared. Based on our analysis, it's highly likely that he has moved to the western front."

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the room immediately froze.

A serious expression appeared on everyone's faces.

Xu Yongxiang, who had previously been so defiant and confrontational, couldn't help but shudder.

But no one laughed at him.

To this day, the Nationalist army's intelligence agencies still haven't figured out the high-level structure of the Northern Expeditionary Force against Japan.

In their eyes, all the victories won by the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard were commanded by Corps Commander Xun Huaizhou.

Zhou Zeyuan started as a division commander, then became an acting corps commander, and after arriving at the base, he quickly became a deputy corps commander.

It can be said that his time as acting legion commander was very short.

Not only would the Kuomintang be mistaken, but the commanders of the other main corps of the Red Army also basically thought so.

By the way, the First Red Army Corps has been under a lot of pressure lately.

They're the real big brothers, okay? Xiao Qi has been so fierce lately. If he doesn't step up and his younger brothers overtake him, it'll be such a loss of face.

As for Zhou Zeyuan, in the eyes of the Red Army generals, he had been repeatedly commended by the Central Committee and should be a rising star who was capable of fighting and charging forward.

In the eyes of the high command of the National Revolutionary Army, this young deputy corps commander rarely went to the front line, but seemed to have strong interpersonal skills. He should have played a role similar to a logistics manager in the Northern Expeditionary Force against Japan.

The recent ambush in Hongkou Township has greatly shocked the top brass of the National Revolutionary Army.

Chen Mingren led his remaining troops back, and upon reviewing the situation, he realized that no matter how they fought, they would always lose once they entered the mountains.

The name Su Yu came to the attention of the highest levels of the National Revolutionary Army.

This indirectly reinforced their powerful impression that "Xun Huaizhou is invincible."

Logically, a chief of staff should be better at advising and planning, making plans and offering opinions, but in terms of command ability, he is certainly not as good as the military commander.

Otherwise, why would someone be appointed as the chief of military command? Wouldn't it be better to appoint the chief of staff?

In their minds, Su Yu, the chief of staff, was already so capable.

Xun Huaizhou, who could suppress him in his official position, was an even more ruthless character.

There was a moment of silence in the meeting room.

Li Yutang was pondering whether there were any loopholes in his defenses.

The others were simply filled with unease.

Deputy Division Commander Hu Qisan noticed something was amiss and decisively spoke up:

"So what about Xun Huaizhou? Does he have three heads and six arms? In the end, the Red Army on the other side only has three regiments, six thousand men."

"Our Third Division has two brigades and four regiments, with a total of eight thousand front-line combat soldiers. We have the advantage of the mountainous terrain and the support of the air force for firepower."

"No matter how you look at it, the troop strength in this battle is eight thousand to six thousand, so the advantage is on our side!"

Li Yutang slammed his fist on the table. "Old Hu is right! I don't believe it. We all have two shoulders and one head, who's afraid of who? If Xun Huaizhou doesn't come, fine, but if he dares to come, I'll chop him to pieces!"

The morale of the Nationalist army immediately soared.

Many people began to straighten their backs, turn their attention back to the map, and their eyes showed a hint of fierceness.

The general is the courage of the soldiers; this is by no means an exaggeration.

In order for a collective like an army to unleash its full power, it needs to unite its disorganized individuals.

Therefore, the most emphasized aspect is the core position of the leader.

Leaders are not only the helmsmen of the voyage, but also the spiritual bond between officers and soldiers.

A leader's will and emotions can greatly influence other officers and soldiers, and the more prestigious the general, the more obvious this influence will be.

This is the origin of the saying, "A bad soldier is just one bad soldier, but a bad general makes a bad army."

Li Yutang surveyed the troops, and seeing that morale had somewhat stabilized, he said in a deep voice, "Order!"

All the officers snapped to attention as if by reflex.

"The northward operation is cancelled! The 9th Brigade returns to its original base to await further orders. The 8th Brigade reinforces its defenses in the southern and eastern mountainous areas and increases vigilance!"

"All units reinforced their fortifications overnight, searchlights were kept on all night, and machine gunners took turns on duty. If Xun Huaizhou didn't come, fine, but since he's here, I'll show him what the Third Division is all about!"

"yes!"

The orders were passed down layer by layer, and the Third Division, this war machine, began to operate at full speed.

Late at night, the Nationalist Army strengthened its vigilance at all positions as ordered.

Frontline soldiers never let go of their guns, and they even sleep with their shoes on.

The number of sentries was doubled compared to usual, and searchlights swept across the hillside every few minutes, illuminating the dark shadows of the trees in an intermittent manner.

On the battlefield, soldiers gathered in twos and threes, talking in hushed tones.

The topic may circle around, but it always ends up back to the same name.

"Have you heard? Xun Huaizhou from the other side has come to the western front in person."

"Is that Xun Huaizhou, the one who utterly crushed many of our Nationalist generals?"

"That's right, I heard that even Commander Wang was beaten and forced to flee in disarray by him."

"If we just stay here, aren't we just waiting to get beaten up...?"

"Shut up! Our Third Division isn't made of clay. No matter how capable Xun Huaizhou is, he only has two shoulders and one head; a bullet will still bleed. Besides, we have eight thousand against six thousand; the advantage is on our side!"

Despite saying that, the invisible pressure still weighed heavily on the hearts of every soldier.

Spreading the news that the enemy's supreme commander was approaching the front lines could be considered both advantageous and disadvantageous.

The biggest drawback at this stage is the damage to morale.

Before the battle even began, the soldiers were already somewhat intimidated.

But the benefits are also obvious: with this sword hanging over their heads, the soldiers on the front lines dare not even doze off, and have to sleep with one eye open.

Clearly, Li Yutang made this decision after weighing the pros and cons.

It would be far more unacceptable for the soldiers to be careless and give the Red Army an opportunity to take advantage of them than to lose some morale.

In the pitch-black night, the various units of the 7th Red Army Division had already moved to their designated positions.

The front of the main position of the National Revolutionary Army at Houlongshan, which is southeast of the county town.

The two battalions of the regiment were spread out in a fan shape, hidden behind the bushes at the foot of the mountain.

Slightly behind, there was the regimental headquarters and a mountain artillery company.

The gun barrels were covered with grass-green camouflage netting, which almost blended into the background in the night.

The second and third regiments moved to the flanks respectively.

One was in the east of the county town, and the other was in the south of the county town. Before the operation began, they both went into hiding.

Old Xu, the company commander of the first company of the mountain artillery battalion, voluntarily joined the Red Army after being captured in Fuzhou.

He was originally a platoon leader of an artillery platoon in the Kuomintang army. He was highly skilled and was quickly promoted to company commander of a mountain artillery company after joining the Red Army.

At this moment, he was squatting next to a mountain gun, sizing up Zhang Qiming, the regimental commander beside him.

"Commander, it's pitch black here. All I have are the approximate coordinates reported by the scouts. These shells will only make a bang; whether they hit or not is pure luck. Isn't this just a waste of ammunition?"

Zhang Qiming grinned: "Firing a few shells at night certainly has little tactical value. But it might be strategic. Go ahead and bomb, as long as we can create some panic among the enemy, we've achieved our objective."

Before Old Xu could say anything more, a red signal flare suddenly rose into the sky in the distance.