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

Danyang Town.

Zhou Zeyuan sat at the table, flipping through a road construction progress report that had just been delivered.

Zeng Hongyi's handwriting was neat and tidy, and he clearly listed where each section of the road had been repaired, how much manpower had been used, and where the key tasks were being tackled.

After watching for a while, he got bored and turned his gaze to the window.

Xun Huaizhou's first column officially embarked on its journey last night.

Based on the agreed-upon time, the forwards should have already entered Zhejiang Province by now.

News of fighting could come from the front lines at any time.

All fronts have entered a state of combat readiness.

Su Yu wasn't idle either.

He took a lot of manpower from the construction team and transported them all to Gutian County to harvest rice.

In particular, in the southern part of Gutian County near the Minjiang River, he directly mobilized the army to participate in the harvest.

In order to catch up with the schedule, the Party organization in Pingnan mobilized local people to go to neighboring counties to help the people there with the harvest.

In Fujian, rice is generally harvested in late September.

It's only mid-September now, almost ten days earlier than the normal harvest season.

Production will be affected to some extent.

Su Yu knew this, and so did Zhou Zeyuan.

But not doing it is not an option.

If we don't harvest now, these grains will become ample logistical supplies for the enemy when war breaks out.

Fortunately, the people of Fujian had long been aware of the power of various warlords.

In their eyes, the Kuomintang and warlords were practically synonymous.

These days, in the eyes of ordinary people, soldiers are much more intimidating than bandits!

Upon hearing that war was about to break out, and that tens of thousands of troops were about to pass through the area, they realized that war was imminent.

The local people's first reaction was to flee for their lives.

Therefore, the mobilization for the emergency harvest went relatively smoothly.

The common people are reasonable. The Red Army helped them harvest all the grain and then transported it to the surrounding mountains to hide it, which was definitely beneficial to them.

That slight loss in production is insignificant compared to the loss of one's life and fortune.

Among them, Lu Xingbang is definitely the most talked-about figure.

The grassroots propaganda team, led astray by Zhou Zeyuan, told the people directly that Lu Xingbang was going to take his bandit army and returning militia back to Gutian.

The extreme sense of crisis immediately ignited the enthusiasm of the local people.

Lu Xingbang ruled as a local tyrant in northern Fujian for more than a decade, abusing his power and oppressing the local people. His reputation was rotten to the core.

After harvesting their own grain, many ordinary people even took the initiative to help the Red Army build positions and dig trenches.

Several old farmers, carrying hoes, went to the field, digging and cursing as they went:

"That son of a bitch Lu Xingbang still wants to come back? I'd rather die than let him set foot on Gutian soil."

Scorched earth policy is certainly a good idea.

But Zhou Zeyuan still had a mystery in his mind that he couldn't solve.

With such a disparity in troop strength, how can we cleanly and decisively turn the tide of battle?

He had considered the strategy of retreating in large strides and annihilating the enemy in motion.

But that's a battle strategy, not a battle plan.

Su Yu wouldn't have spoken so confidently if he didn't have a concrete plan that he was sure of winning.

But then another problem arises: the enemy hasn't even deployed their troops yet, and we don't even know what kind of warfare they will employ. How can we formulate a battle plan in advance?

Zhou Zeyuan leaned back in his chair, pondering several possible scenarios over and over, then rejecting them one by one, his brows furrowing more and more tightly.

He can ask!

He asked, and Su Yu will definitely answer.

But he wouldn't ask, not for any other reason than a man's competitive spirit.

There was a knock at the door.

Zhou Zeyuan looked up and saw Su Da standing at the door, smiling and holding a telegram in her hand.

"Zeyuan, I have some good news!"

Zhou Zeyuan's spirits lifted, and he sat up straight in his chair: "Did Mair call back? What did he say?"

Suda came in and handed over the telegram: "He said the Japanese seem to be in a hurry to get rid of their inventory, and the price they offered is fairly honest."

"And it's not just 77mm shells, the Northeast Army has a batch of 7.92mm Mauser shells, which they can sell to us at a lower price."

But the quantity had to be large. The Japanese businessman seemed to be saying that he was planning to close the business after this one deal. If our order wasn't large enough, he'd rather not do it at all.

Zhou Zeyuan took the telegram and scanned it from top to bottom.

"Hey, a 77mm shell, fifty silver dollars each. That's a bit pricey for a normal sale. But for smuggling, that little profit isn't even worth it."

"Old Su, do you think this is the behavior of an arms dealer? Especially a Japanese arms dealer."

Suda paused for a moment, then said, "You mean... there's something wrong with this batch of shells?"

"There won't be any problems. Mayer is a reliable middleman; he'll check. I mean, the Japanese are the problem."

Suda frowned. "Yes, we've gone to war with the Japanese, and we just slapped them in the face. But you never know... Capitalists, as long as there's profit, what won't they sell?"

He pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Oh, I see. There's definitely something fishy going on here. Anyone with a brain knows we're short of weapons right now, why would they be willing to sell them to us cheaply?"

Zhou Zeyuan interrupted him abruptly: "Those little devils just look down on us. Heh, they want to use us to wear down the battalion commander."

His gaze hardened, and his tone hardened with a hint of ruthlessness. "I'll take this money. I'll pay them back tenfold and make them regret it. Send a message back: we're not short of money. We can afford as many bullets and shells as we want."

"Okay, I'll go right now." Suda turned to leave.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

A communications officer jogged to the door, stood at attention, and saluted: "Commander, urgent report from the front!"

Zhou Zeyuan took the telegram, unfolded it, and glanced at it.

He watched for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Haha, as expected of Old Xun, he really knows his stuff!"

Suda, intrigued, came back and asked, "How did it go?"

Zhou Zeyuan put down the telegram, a smile he couldn't hide on his face: "Old Xun used a feint, pretending a regiment was a division, and diverted two Nationalist divisions to the east. Right now, the main force is accelerating its march towards Yunhe County."

"Two divisions? Does that include the 88th Division?"

"Of course not. They're still alive and well in Lishui."

Su Da frowned again: "Then the situation is not good. Lishui has well-constructed fortifications, and the 88th Division is an elite force of the National Army. I'm afraid it won't be easy to take it down in a short time."

"It doesn't matter. If we can't take the main road, we'll take the mountain path. We'll drive the Nationalist army so far that they dare not leave the city, and we'll still get through."

"Alright, Old Xun has started his attack, so we should prepare for battle too. Everyone get back to work."

Suda nodded, turned and left.

The telegraph operator saluted and quickly left.

The room fell silent again.

Zhou Zeyuan sat back down in his chair and muttered to himself, "At least five thousand shells... This is truly an industrialized nation; they've got quite the resources. It's just a pity they're a bit late; they're probably too late to catch up."

They're still in the negotiation stage; that guy probably hasn't even started making arrangements yet.

By the time they shipped the goods and transported them to the coastal areas of eastern Fujian, seven or eight days had passed.

But that wasn't the end of it. After receiving the goods, they had to be transported overland to the front lines.

More than ten days have passed, and the outcome is probably already clear.