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

Xun Huaizhou turned to Zhou Zeyuan and said, "Comrade Su Yu has always had insightful opinions. Let's hear what's going on here."

Zhou Zeyuan leaned back in his chair and spread his hands: "Yes, yes, everything I said was nonsense. Why don't you two just discuss it yourselves?"

Su Yu laughed and said, "He doesn't have the guts. Without you as his backer, do you think he can still stand up for himself when facing the Commander-in-Chief and the Political Commissar?"

These words were spoken casually, but Huang Ligui's expression changed slightly upon hearing them.

Before he came, he had heard that the Seventh Army Corps had a deputy corps commander who was incredibly capable, and that even the corps commander and chief of staff listened to him.

Even the commander-in-chief and political commissar were wary of him!

He initially thought this statement was somewhat exaggerated; no matter how capable the deputy legion commander was, he was still just a deputy in the end!

But looking at it now, it's clear that this is more than just great ability.

Judging from what they said, this guy is clearly a "powerful figure with connections".

Just as Huang Ligui was about to speak, footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

Everyone looked towards the doorway without prior arrangement.

The door was pushed open, and Le Shaohua walked in, holding a telegram in his hand. Zeng Hongyi and Liu Shengmu followed behind him.

After entering, Le Shaohua looked around and noticed a new face, but he didn't think much of it.

"Comrade Zeyuan, another order has come down from the Central Committee. Would you like to take a look first?" Le Shaohua said as he entered the room.

Zhou Zeyuan raised his chin: "It's okay, go ahead and read it. Everyone's here."

Le Shaohua unfolds the telegram:

"Since its northward campaign, the Seventh Red Army Corps has won one victory after another, successfully completing the strategic mission of containing fifty enemy regiments. It has also taken advantage of the victory to expand its base area to the southern Zhejiang region. Its outstanding achievements are hereby commended."

In order to adapt to the new situation of struggle, it is hereby decided that the former Eastern Fujian Soviet Area will be officially upgraded to the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area, and the candidate for Secretary of the Fujian-Zhejiang Provincial Committee will be determined.

In northern Fujian, Comrade Huang Ligui made outstanding contributions during the fighting in northern Fujian, effectively preserving and developing the base area's vital forces, and successfully joined forces with the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard. He is hereby awarded a minor merit.

At the same time, based on the 58th Regiment, various local armed forces in northern Fujian were integrated to form the Northern Fujian Independent Division, which was placed under the command of the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area.

After he finished speaking, the command center fell silent for a moment.

The expressions on everyone's faces varied; some understood the underlying meaning, while others were somewhat bewildered.

But everyone's eyes fell on Zhou Zeyuan, as if waiting for him to make the first statement.

Zhou Zeyuan nodded calmly, "This is a good thing. In this way, our Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area will have six divisions of main field forces."

He turned to Huang Ligui, his tone calm yet gentle, devoid of any warmth or affability.

"Comrade Ligui, I am in charge of the promotion and transfer of troops. Let's coordinate after the meeting, and I will supplement you with a batch of key officers so that the Minbei Independent Division can form combat capability as soon as possible."

Huang Ligui paused for a moment, then stood at attention and replied, "Yes! Good! Thank you very much, Deputy Commander Zhou!"

Su Yu suddenly spoke up, "Commander Zhou, the telegram didn't say that the Fujian-North Independent Division was temporarily placed under the command of the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard. Shouldn't we send a telegram back to the Central Committee to clarify the command relationship? Otherwise, without proper authorization, our words will lack credibility."

Huang Ligui immediately understood the implied meaning; the chief of staff was subtly referring to him!

He was secretly surprised. He thought that calling him "Deputy Legion Commander" was respectful enough, but judging from Su Yu's meaning, even calling him "Deputy" was not acceptable.

Forget it, from now on I'll just call him Comrade Zeyuan along with them.

Zhou Zeyuan waved his hand, "The Central Committee has its reasons for doing this. We local comrades should be a little more flexible and autonomous. We don't need to ask the Central Committee for instructions on every trivial matter. What do you say?"

Le Shaohua nodded. "Yes, Comrade Zeyuan is right."

Zeng Hongyi nodded, "Comrade Zeyuan is right."

Liu Shengmu nodded in agreement, "Comrade Zeyuan is right."

Huang Ligui stood aside, watching this scene, and a feeling he couldn't quite describe welled up inside him.

He suddenly realized that he had come a bit hastily this time, and wished he hadn't come.

What kind of ruthless people are these?

None of the three leaders disagreed.

This isn't just a deputy corps commander; he's clearly the one in charge.

Xun Huaizhou suddenly frowned. "That's not right. The telegram said we tied down fifty enemy regiments. Did we really complete that mission?"

Su Yu thought for a moment and said, "Strictly speaking... it should be completed."

His expression was also somewhat strange. His superiors hadn't found fault with him, but instead were surprisingly lenient, which made him feel very, very uncomfortable.

But this kind of thing is ultimately a good thing; if you can't figure it out, then don't think about it anymore.

He walked to the map, picked up a pencil, and began to give an enemy situation report.

"After the Battle of Pingnan, the Nationalist Army also made adjustments to its deployment. In addition to maintaining the blockade on the front, its overall troop strength was also increased significantly."

His pencil marked several locations on the map: "Let's not talk about Fuzhou in the south, there haven't been any major changes for now. Liu Kan's troops along the Min River, whose forces were originally relatively scattered, have been concentrated in the western part of Fuzhou and the Houguan area."

"This is the first large troop group, consisting of two divisions and one brigade of the National Revolutionary Army, all of which are elite troops."

"Then came Gutian County, in the middle reaches of the Min River. With the 36th Division as its core and several local troops deployed, the enemy's total strength was no less than 15,000 men."

Zhou Zeyuan added, "So far, the enemy's defensive positions on the southern front haven't changed much. But the changes on the western and northern fronts are quite significant."

"Comrade Zeyuan is right. After the loss of Pingnan, the National Army seemed to lack the confidence to retake it in the short term."

"The original Pingnan-Gutian defense line was forced to move 50 kilometers westward, becoming the Yanping-Jian'ou-Nanping defense line."

"These three county towns run north-south and are all located in the valley of the Jianxi River, a tributary of the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. Let's call it the Jianxi Defense Line."

"To the south, stationed in Yanping, is the 56th Division of the National Revolutionary Army under Liu Heding. Stationed in Jian'ou are the recently defeated 3rd and 9th Divisions of the National Revolutionary Army. Stationed in Nanping is the 10th Division of the National Revolutionary Army, which has just completed its troop rotation."

Everyone was inwardly exclaiming in surprise, "Wow, four division-level units have appeared to the west!"

Even if the Third Division suffered heavy losses, it would still be considered three and a half.

Adding the enemy on the southern front, there are now seven or eight divisions.

Huang Ligui said, "Looking at it this way, the pressure on our northern side is actually the least."

"That's what I thought too," Su Yu said, raising her head with a grave expression. "But it seems we won't be able to relax for long, because the enemy is also reinforcing their troops."

"According to the intelligence we have so far, the enemy's 57th Division will land in the Ningde and Fu'an area within three days to a week. This means that these two cities will be occupied by two enemy divisions."

"In southern Zhejiang, after we established two strongholds there, the Kuomintang mobilized the 88th Division, along with three security regiments from the Second Security Column, to build a defensive line along the southern Zhejiang front."

Xun Huaizhou gasped: "That's three more divisions. Now we have ten divisions. If we include the Nationalist army's local forces, the enemy forces facing us should number no less than 100,000."