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

Logically, after the battle was over and the military commanders had settled the local defenses, they should have returned to Danyang Town to hold a debriefing meeting.

But the meeting was delayed for several days.

Zhou Zeyuan took the initiative to move the army headquarters to Pingnan County to unify the command of the battles in Pingnan and northern Fujian.

A small portion of the Danyang Town Command was retained, primarily responsible for commanding the Mindong Independent Division, the Second Division, and local guerrilla forces.

It seems quite contradictory.

They deliberately split a perfectly good base into two military centers.

It carries a hint of factionalism.

But this is the unfortunate reality.

There is no main road directly connecting Pingnan and Luoyuan in Lianjiang, making transportation and troop movement extremely inconvenient.

This resulted in eastern and northern Fujian being effectively divided into two independent geographical units.

Strategically they can support each other, but military mutual support is not so timely.

Of course, the difficulties are only temporary.

If we can capture Ningde and Fu'an, and choose a transportation hub on the Pingning Ancient Road as the core command post of our base, all these problems will be easily solved.

In the new army headquarters in Pingnan County, Xun Huaizhou was holding a pencil and pointing to the location of Ningde on a large map.

"Zeyuan, to be honest, if I weren't still thinking about that batch of American equipment, I would really like to take Ningde right now."

Zhou Zeyuan sat in the conductor's chair, arms crossed, glancing at him sideways: "Are you joking with me, or are you serious? If you're serious, I'll pee on you to wake you up."

Xun Huaizhou laughed heartily and threw his pencil on the table: "Don't worry, don't worry, I'm not getting carried away. The underground party comrades in Ningde have sent intelligence that Chen Qixuan has been sent to Nanjing."

"The remnants of the newly formed 10th Division have been reorganized into two security regiments, and morale is currently high. Don't you think... this is an opportunity?"

Zhou Zeyuan looked at his face carefully, and after understanding his emotions, he analyzed the situation briefly.

Gan!

This teammate is so unreliable!

They actually wanted to completely crush the enemy in front of them in order to attract the National Army's heavy forces to attack eastern Fujian, thereby fundamentally turning the tide of the war.

Fortunately, it's just an idea; he hasn't really made up his mind yet.

Zhou Zeyuan said nonchalantly, "My intelligence is more accurate than yours. I also know that Chen Qixuan went to Ningde to welcome Ruan Zhaochang, the commander of the 57th Division. As soon as Ruan Zhaochang got off the boat, the guards dragged Chen Qixuan onto the boat and took him directly back to Nanjing."

Xun Huaizhou was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh and laughed: "Haha, I didn't expect the Nanjing government to be so efficient in arresting people, they didn't even make a wasted trip back to the ship."

Zhou Zeyuan added slowly, "There's another regiment that came with Ruan Zhaochang. I heard his 57th Division has already boarded a ship in Jiangxi. Are you sure you still want to fight?"

Xun Huaizhou rubbed his chin, his smile fading slightly: "I was just discussing tactical feasibility with you, I didn't say we were really going to fight."

"Even if you want to fight, I won't allow you to. You don't know the value of money when you're fighting, and you don't know the cost of living when you're not in charge of the household."

"That's not how it works." Xun Huaizhou patted the map. "Think about it, if I hadn't acted decisively and taken Pingnan, this battle would have lasted at least another ten days to half a month."

Zhou Zeyuan simply smiled and remained silent. Expanding territory was far less important than acquiring weaponry.

But he didn't want to compete with Xun Huaizhou for this right now.

We've just finished a major battle, and everyone needs to cool down.

Just then, a commotion came from the doorway, and then the door was pushed open, and Su Yu and a lean man walked in.

As soon as the man entered the room, his gaze swept around and quickly locked onto Xun Huaizhou.

He strode forward, stood at attention, and saluted: "Comrade Corps Commander!"

Xun Huaizhou stood up to return the greeting, stepped forward and shook his hand: "Comrade Ligui, you've done a great job in northern Fujian. Your contribution is indispensable to our rapid conquest of six counties this time."

"Commander, you flatter me. This is all thanks to the concerted efforts of the comrades in northern Fujian. How much could I possibly accomplish alone?"

Huang Ligui received recognition from his superiors, and all the arduous battles he had fought were worthwhile. He immediately became radiant, and his words became even more humble.

"Besides, if it weren't for the superior strength of our main force, our small armed forces would be completely insignificant under the heavy encirclement and suppression of the National Army. They wouldn't even make a splash. They would be utterly worthless."

But then, he changed his tone and pointed the finger at Su Yu beside him: "Comrade Corps Commander, you have to judge for me. The Chief of Staff looks down on the combat effectiveness of our local troops."

"Comrade Ligui, I've already said it, it was my misjudgment. The responsibility lies entirely with me. How about... I apologize to you?" Su Yu quickly waved her hand, begging for forgiveness.

Zhou Zeyuan sensed an awkwardness emanating from Su Yu that made him want to disappear into the ground, and he was completely bewildered: "Wait... what's going on here?"

After some explanation, everyone finally understood what had happened.

It turns out that during Su Yu's command of the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard, the troops' combat effectiveness underwent a qualitative leap in one hard battle after another.

But this improvement was gradual, achieved slowly, one battle at a time, and even he himself didn't have a clear understanding of it.

As a result, when he was commanding the old 58th Regiment, he always felt that something was not right and he subconsciously made the judgment that "the 58th Regiment's combat effectiveness has declined".

He felt that this unit was no longer capable of fighting tough battles, so he arranged for them to fight guerrilla warfare.

This wouldn't have been a big deal, but I accidentally blurted out what was on my mind.

This displeased Huang Ligui, the regimental commander, and he immediately started arguing with him.

After the argument ended, Su Yu examined herself and realized that she had made a huge blunder.

It wasn't that the 58th Regiment became weaker, but rather that the Northern Expeditionary Force against Japanese Aggression became stronger.

Huang Ligui retorted, unconvinced, "Our 58th Regiment is full of good soldiers! It's just that we lack guns and ammunition, and the 'Three-Shot Red Army' habit is ingrained and can't be changed overnight."

"Now that we have equipment and supplies, let me train for a while, and I'll definitely be no worse than you guys!"

Zhou Zeyuan chuckled and smoothed things over, saying, "That's too formal. What's the point of comparing ourselves to others? We're all comrades, what's the point of all this comparison?"

This remark made Huang Ligui feel embarrassed.

He scratched the back of his head, muttered "I was just saying that," and then fell silent.

Seeing this, Su Yu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject: "When I came in just now, I heard you guys talking about something like we were going to fight somewhere? What's going on?"

Zhou Zeyuan gestured towards Xun Huaizhou with his lip: "Our Commander Xun thinks we should take action to remove that thorn in our side before the 57th Division arrives in Ningde."

Su Yu nodded in agreement: "Yes... right now our base is indeed heavily weighted at both ends and lightly weighted in the middle. But if we're going to remove the nails, we should remove Gutian first."