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

As dawn broke, the gunfire gradually subsided in the forests between Gutian and Shuikou.

The Red Army's pursuing troops discovered that the further south they went, the more stubborn the resistance they encountered from organized units of the Nationalist army.

Following Su Yu's orders, after discovering that the Nationalist army had organized resistance, a first attack was launched.

If the attack fails, quickly withdraw from the battle and rejoin other units.

Form a larger battle group and then launch the next attack.

After two failures, they immediately retreated and regrouped to await further orders.

This was mainly aimed at the Nationalist Army's 10th Division under Li Mo'an, which could join the battle at any time!

His concerns proved to be justified.

After learning the details of the battle from the fleeing soldiers who came from the north, Li Mo'an immediately led his troops north.

He judged that the Red Army's formation would inevitably become scattered during the pursuit, and that if they concentrated their superior forces, they might be able to launch a local counterattack and reverse some of the Nationalist army's decline.

If his opponent were any ordinary general, he might have actually succeeded.

After all, very few people can remain calm after a resounding victory.

They often overlook the risks and think about pressing their advantage and expanding their gains.

But Su Yu chose to stop while she was ahead!

The results of this battle are already substantial enough; there is no need to take any more risks.

In this battle, the Nationalist army suffered infighting, with at least several thousand casualties.

In addition to the casualties suffered by the Red Army during the pursuit, the National Revolutionary Army suffered at least tens of thousands of casualties.

Casualties were difficult to quantify, but the number of prisoners was very clear. They were just enough to form two Red Army infantry divisions with three regiments each.

Based on this calculation, the number of Nationalist soldiers who ultimately escaped was likely less than one-third of the original number.

The 52nd Division suffered a devastating blow; except for a very few scattered and defeated soldiers, the rest were basically annihilated.

The remaining three divisions, having suffered such heavy losses, will find it difficult to recover their combat effectiveness in a short period of time.

The spoils of weapons and ammunition were even more substantial and eye-catching.

Since the Central Army, Liu Heding, and Lu Xingbang mostly used 7.92mm caliber rifles, the 16,000 rifles captured this time were mostly Hanyang Type 13, Liaoning Type 13, Mauser 1924, and so on.

These are all standard weapons of the enemy's main force. Except for a few that were damaged in battle, most of the guns are in good condition and can be directly issued to the main force.

This can be seen as preparing spare guns in advance for the next step of military expansion.

In addition, the battle also resulted in the capture of over 270 light and heavy machine guns and over 80 mortars. These were all intact weapons and equipment; the large number of damaged equipment destroyed in the battle were not included in the count.

It can be said that after this wave, the divisions that remained in the base area can raise their firepower level by another level.

However, the ammunition supply was somewhat unsatisfactory; after a count, there were only 220 million rounds of ammunition.

According to Su Yu's original estimate, the main force of the National Army, consisting of 3 troops and 4 divisions, was only attacking Gutian County, which was only a few dozen kilometers away, but they would still have to carry more than 500 million rounds of ammunition.

Ensuring that each soldier carries between 100 and 200 rounds of ammunition is also a standard practice of the National Revolutionary Army.

However, the battle broke out too hastily. The supplies in Shuikou were not yet in place, and the battle was launched hastily because of the Red Army's advance into western Zhejiang.

Li Yannian's column actually carried a total of only over 400 million bullets, but of course, that number is still quite substantial.

At least, Su Yu only set her target for seizure at 300 million rounds of ammunition.

However, the intense firefight between several divisions of the National Revolutionary Army last night used up nearly a million rounds of ammunition in one go.

This chaotic battle resulted in the loss of many ammunition reserves, with large quantities of bullets and shells destroyed by the explosions.

This resulted in the Red Army ultimately capturing only half of the ammunition carried by Li Yannian's column.

Su Yu also complained that Li Yannian was too stingy!

Do you look down on yourself? You come to war without even enough ammunition.

Little did he know, Li Yannian nearly hated him to death.

"Thirty thousand people, a full thirty thousand people."

Li Yannian slammed his hand on the conference table, tears glistening in his bloodshot eyes!

"Su Yu! You butcher! Executioner! So many people, and you killed them without even blinking an eye! In one night! Just one night!"

"Thirty thousand people! How am I supposed to explain this to the principal? Huh? Tell me, how am I supposed to explain this?!"

Song Xilian opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Liu Kan lowered his eyelids and stared at the tips of his boots.

Li Yannian suddenly stopped and turned around, his gaze as sharp as a knife as he stared at Song Xilian's face.

"How many people have you gathered?"

Song Xilian took a breath. "The 36th Division... has gathered more than 2,200 men, half of whom are without guns; all their heavy weapons have been lost."

"Two thousand two." Li Yannian's lips twitched slightly as he turned to Liu Kan.

"And you?"

"The 83rd Division has gathered more than 3,100 men, about ten light and heavy machine guns, and four mortars."

Li Yannian's gaze swept back and forth between the two men, and he suddenly smiled, "Two divisions, combined, less than six thousand men."

"When they set off, there were 35,000 people. 35,000!"

At this moment, a corner of the tent flap was carefully lifted.

A staff officer peeked halfway in, not daring to go any further, and stood at the doorway: "Commander... Division Commander Liu is outside requesting an audience."

Without even thinking, Li Yannian waved his hand and said, "I won't see you."

The staff officer retreated, and the tent flap fell down.

Liu Kan glanced at Song Xilian, who was also looking at him.

Their eyes met briefly, then they looked away.

Liu Kan coughed lightly and said, "Commander Li, if Liu Heding's 56th Division hadn't lost control and opened fire indiscriminately during the chaos last night, the brothers wouldn't have ended up in such a mess."

Song Xilian continued, "That's right. The 56th and 52nd Divisions are a bunch of ragtag troops with lax discipline. They'd panic at the slightest provocation. Our 36th and 83rd Divisions could have held their ground, but they dragged us down with them."

"In the end, Su Yu's strategy was indeed ruthless. But if the troops camped in the basin at that time were all elite Nationalist troops, without these miscellaneous troops dragging them down, his plan might not have worked."

Li Yannian sat back in his command chair, his hands supporting his forehead, his thumbs pressing against his temples. After a long while, he finally raised his head, the anger on his face subsiding somewhat.

"They deliberately set this trap because they knew we didn't trust each other. Today I finally understand what Chen Mingren meant when he said, 'Once you're in the mountains, no matter what you do, you're doomed to fail.'"

"This person's command ability is terrifying, unfathomable, and completely on a different level from ours."

Song Xilian frowned. "Commander, why boost the enemy's morale while diminishing our own? Fighting a war depends not only on command ability, but also on overall strength."