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

Su Yu stared into Ma Gongcheng's eyes and reminded him meaningfully, "Remember, having weaknesses is not terrible; what is terrible is having your weaknesses exploited by others."

Ma Gongcheng nodded thoughtfully and did not ask any further questions.

Meanwhile, to the south, the vanguard of the Nationalist Army, a regiment of the 52nd Division, was slowly advancing northward along the Gutianxi River valley.

This regiment has more than a thousand men, and in theory, they are strong and well-equipped, but at this moment, there is not a trace of arrogance in the ranks.

On the contrary, everyone from top to bottom looked tense, moved with extreme caution, and maintained a battle formation.

The vanguard advanced, with reconnaissance units on both flanks, and even the battalions and companies in the middle maintained a state of readiness to engage in combat at any time.

This is understandable. In order to ensure that the National Army arrived at the designated battlefield strictly according to his schedule, Su Yu arranged for small units to harass the enemy's flanks along the mountains and forests on both sides of the valley.

The vanguard troops, in particular, received special "care".

From Shuikou Town to now, along the short 20-kilometer mountain road, several hundred Nationalist soldiers have died from sniper fire.

Sometimes, the scouts ahead would suddenly collapse while walking, leaving a bloody hole in their foreheads.

Sometimes it was an officer in the middle of the formation riding a horse who would suddenly fall to the ground, horse and all.

One of them was a class that was passing through a small ravine when suddenly several grenades fell from above and they were blown to pieces.

This relentless attack pushed the entire vanguard to their limits.

It is no exaggeration to say that, regardless of the outcome of this battle, Lu Xingbang will be the biggest victim.

His 52nd Division was placed at the forefront as cannon fodder, while the Lu family army, which had been rampaging through northern Fujian for many years, was falling one after another on unfamiliar land.

And this was precisely the result of Wei Lihuang's orchestration.

He was fully prepared for the brutality of this battle.

Since it is destined to be a fierce battle, we should try to minimize the casualties of their Central Army's elite troops.

Having chosen Lu Xingbang's troops as cannon fodder, they would never be given a chance to retreat.

He used the pretext of attending a meeting to "invite" Lu Xingbang himself to Nanping as a guest.

In this way, even if the 52nd Division wanted to desert, they would have to think twice about the life of their division commander.

Do these ragtag troops at the forefront know their fate as cannon fodder?

Most people know this.

Not only did they know, but the entire Li Yannian column, with more than 30,000 people, was basically aware of it.

Who will be the one to die at the front, who will be the one to oversee the battle from the rear, and who will be the one to reap the benefits?

Those who have been in the Nationalist army for a long time can see through this trick at a glance.

At this moment, the National Revolutionary Army's marching formation was as follows: the 52nd Division led the way, walking at the very front.

The 36th Division followed closely behind, responsible for providing support and overseeing the battle.

The 56th Division was in the center; the 83rd Division was at the rear, responsible for the rearguard work.

The Central Army and the miscellaneous troops were interspersed, with the Central Army's guns pointed forward and at the backs of the miscellaneous troops in front of them.

This arrangement essentially eliminates the possibility of the ragtag army mutinying or turning tail and running away in the face of battle.

The most uneasy person here was Liu Heding of the 56th Division.

He was sandwiched between two Central Army units, the 36th Division in front and the 83rd Division behind, leaving him virtually no room to maneuver.

However, when he attended the meeting in Nanping, he still had to express his gratitude for this arrangement.

Nothing else matters, it's better than being at the very front.

If he were to switch places with the 36th Division, he would be sent to be cannon fodder alongside the 52nd Division, and he wouldn't want to do that.

This place holds more than half of his fortune; if he were to lose it all here, his division's designation might be revoked.

At that point, he would only be able to take a sinecure in Nanjing.

Liu Heding sat on his horse, his brows furrowed, his heart heavy with worry.

What made him even more uneasy was the terrain before him. High mountains stood on both sides, and the team stretched out in a long queue, winding its way through the narrow valley like a long snake.

He had studied military strategy and knew well what was most taboo about this kind of terrain.

He dared not even imagine the consequences if the Red Army were to launch a night attack from the mountains on either side and cut his troops in several pieces.

Just as he was deeply worried about his current situation, a staff officer rode up from the front at full speed, dismounted, and said:

"Commander! Good news from the front! After two hours of fierce fighting, the 52nd Division has successfully captured Olive Hill!"

Liu Heding's spirits lifted, and he immediately ordered the map soldier beside him, "Open the map!"

The map soldier pulled a map from the bamboo tube and unfolded it in front of him.

Liu Heding leaned over and looked at the map quickly—the location of Olive Ridge was circled in red, with the altitude and key terrain features marked next to it.

Having captured this high ground, there is a small basin below the mountain.

He breathed a sigh of relief; he wouldn't have to spend the night in a long, single file in the valley.

He had also read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and didn't want to repeat the story of Liu Bei's camp being burned for seven hundred miles by Lu Xun.

Just as he was about to order his troops to speed up their advance, his brows suddenly furrowed.

The sound of an explosion could be faintly heard in the distance.

The sounds were originally sporadic, but in the brief moment he frowned, they suddenly became more frequent.

"What's going on?" Liu Heding looked up sharply in the direction of the explosion—"Hasn't Olive Ridge already been captured? Has the Red Army launched a counter-offensive?"

His staff officers and adjutants looked at each other, none of them able to answer the question.

At this very moment, on Tiger Head Mountain, a small hill north of Olive Ridge, the battle has entered a fierce stage.

Enemy mortar positions atop Olive Ridge were relentlessly pouring fire toward Tiger Head Mountain.

The shells whistled across the mountain valleys and landed one after another on the slopes of Tiger Head Mountain, exploding into plumes of gray-black smoke.

Soil, rocks, and wood fragments were blasted into the air and then fell back down, enveloping the mountain in a choking cloud of smoke.

Under the cover of artillery fire, wave after wave of soldiers from the 52nd Division charged up the mountain, guns in hand and backs bent.

But whenever the artillery fire stopped and the charging Nationalist soldiers thought that the Red Army on the hilltop had been utterly routed, those Red Army soldiers would suddenly appear on the battlefield from who-knows-where.

They emerged from the tunnels, shook off the dirt, set up machine guns in their firing positions, and began to unleash a barrage of fire on the densely packed assault formations below the mountain.

The machine gun spewed long tongues of fire from its muzzle, and bullets swept across the hillside like a deluge.

The Nationalist soldiers at the front fell in rows like cut wheat, their screams and cries filling the air.

The soldiers behind them were so frightened that they lay on the ground, too afraid to move. No matter how the officer kicked, hit, and cursed them, they refused to get up.

These ragtag troops had never fought such a fierce battle before. When they fought against other warlords in northern Fujian, it was just a bunch of chickens pecking at each other, and they stopped short of defeat.

Where have you ever seen a Red Army soldier who was willing to risk his life right from the start?