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

Under the massive offensive of the Nationalist army, Commander Liu, whose tactics and methods were more inclined towards traditional battle formations, naturally did not have the ability to win against overwhelming odds and create miracles in adversity.

As a result, the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi Soviet Area, facing a fierce attack from an enemy ten times its size, had no choice but to abandon several county towns surrounding Huaiyu Mountain.

It shrank into several unconnected guerrilla zones, each fighting its own battle.

The most central part is the mountainous and rural areas of Yiyang, Hengfeng, Dexing, Guixi and other counties, because this is the location of Geyuan, the seat of the provincial Soviet government.

At this moment, with the arrival of the main force of the Seventh Red Army Corps, the Nationalist army's blockade line was about to collapse.

After occupying the county seat, Xun Huaizhou immediately dispatched scouts westward toward Huaiyu Mountain.

The mountains and forests are dense, and sunlight filters through the gaps in the tree canopy overhead, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

The vanguard platoon of the reconnaissance company was cautiously advancing along a barely visible path, each member scanning the dense forest ahead with wary eyes.

The squad leader, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped. He turned his head slightly and listened for a moment.

The soldiers behind them also stopped, and everyone held their breath.

A faint sound came from deep within the dense forest ahead.

It sounded like someone had stepped on a dry branch; the sound was very soft and difficult to hear clearly through a dense thicket of bushes and trees, but it was definitely not the sound of birds or animals.

The squad leader turned around and made a hand gesture to the soldiers behind him.

The soldier immediately relayed the message to the company commander behind him.

The reconnaissance company commander was Zhao Tiegen, 29 years old, and a veteran reconnaissance officer.

He crouched down and crept to the front of the line, squatted behind a big tree, and listened for a few seconds.

He immediately made a judgment—there were people ahead, and quite a few of them.

He turned around and whispered the order: "Prepare for battle. Do not fire without my command."

However, the other side had obviously heard what was happening on their end as well.

A hushed gasp came from the woods, followed by a short command, and then, a gunshot rang out.

With a bang, the bullet struck the trunk of a pine tree, scattering bark and debris.

Two more shots followed, the bullets whistling through the branches and leaves.

The deputy squad leader next to Zhao Tiegen almost instinctively pulled the trigger, and a burst of bullets swept out.

Immediately afterwards, the entire vanguard platoon opened fire, the sounds of rifles and submachine guns suddenly exploding through the mountains and forests, startling a flock of birds that fluttered and soared into the sky.

Separated by the dense forest, neither side could see the other clearly; they simply fired wildly in the direction of the other's gun flash.

The bullets weaved through the tree trunks and branches, making muffled thuds and sharp whistling sounds.

Someone was grazed on the arm by a ricocheting bullet, let out a muffled groan, gritted his teeth and continued firing.

But Zhao Tiegen realized something was wrong after less than half a minute of fighting.

The gunfire from the other side was too sparse, sounding like a dozen guns firing, all rifles, with not a single machine gun.

Moreover, although the bullets fired from the other side were not very dense, their trajectories were very stable and their accuracy was very good, which was not the style of the Kuomintang security forces.

The security team usually panics after firing a few shots; their gun barrels jump wildly, and the bullets seem to fly off into the distance.

He suddenly shouted, "Ceasefire! Ceasefire! Ceasefire everywhere!"

Upon hearing the company commander's voice, the soldiers in the forward platoon gradually ceased firing.

The gunfire gradually subsided, until only a few sporadic shots remained before falling completely silent.

Zhao Tiegen crouched behind a tree, straining his ears to listen to the sounds coming from the other side.

He heard someone shouting from the other side; the voice came through the trees, but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

Then, a loud bugle call came from the other side.

The bugle call echoed through the mountains and forests, carrying a spirited and uplifting tone.

Zhao Tiegen's tense body relaxed instantly.

He let out a long breath, a relieved smile spreading across his face.

"Blow the horn! Tell them we're on their side!"

The bugler raised his bugle, puffed out his cheeks, and blew the same melody.

The horns from both sides echoed through the mountains and forests, one singing and the other harmonizing, like two birds that had been separated for a long time calling out across the valley.

A rustling sound came from the dense forest opposite, and then someone peeked out from behind the bushes.

He held a Hanyang rifle in his hand, muzzle pointing downwards, his face bearing an expression that was both wary and confused.

Zhao Tiegen also emerged from behind the tree, pointed his gun downwards, raised one hand, and shouted to the opposite side, "Comrades! Which unit are you from?"

The man opposite Zhao Tiegen looked him up and down, then turned around and shouted into the woods behind him, "Battalion Commander! It's the Red Army! It's our own comrades!"

Dozens of people suddenly emerged from the woods, led by a man in his early thirties with a Mauser pistol tucked into his waistband.

"Comrades! Which unit are you from?"

Zhao Tiegen replied with a smile, "We are from the First Column of the Seventh Army Corps, and our corps commander is Xun Huaizhou. And you?"

When the man heard the words "Seventh Red Army Corps," his eyes lit up, then widened in surprise.

"The Seventh Red Army Corps? You're the Seventh Red Army Corps? We saw in the newspapers that you'd reached Zhejiang, we thought it was far away, we didn't expect you to be here already!"

He took a half step back, gave a standard military salute, and said, "Comrade, we are from the Third Independent Battalion of the 10th Red Army of the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi Military Region. I am Battalion Commander Liao Chunsheng."

Zhao Tiegen also solemnly returned a military salute.

The two men looked at each other in the sunlight, at each other's faded, patched military uniforms.

Looking at the bright red five-pointed star on the brim of the other person's hat, they suddenly burst into laughter.

As Liao Chunsheng smiled, his eyes began to redden.

He raised his arm and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, then shouted to the soldiers behind him:

"Stop standing there! Put your weapons away! These are comrades from our Seventh Red Army Corps, they fought their way all the way from the Central Soviet Area!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers behind him instantly lost their weariness and vigilance, replaced by a surge of fervor and excitement.

Zhao Tiegen looked at him, and at the ragged but spirited soldiers behind him, and felt a mix of emotions.

He was originally a member of the guerrilla force in the Eastern Fujian Soviet Area. He had a deep understanding of the struggle in the darkness and the eventual survival of the main force.

He reached out and grasped Liao Chunsheng's hand again, his voice trembling slightly.

"Battalion Commander Liao, we've come to meet you. The corps commander said we need to break through the Nationalist army's blockade and reconnect the Soviet areas in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi."

Liao Chunsheng grasped his hand, nodded vigorously, and finally uttered only two words: "Okay, okay."