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

But the story doesn't end there. As mentioned before, Huang Ligui has more seniority, and he personally trained the Minbei Independent Division.

If we let him stay in his original position, that definitely won't work.

But transferring him would discourage his old subordinates.

At this point, the only option is a promotion.

It can't be a promotion in name only, but a demotion in reality.

He had to make his subordinates feel that their old leader's years of dedication to the revolution had been recognized by his superiors.

So Zhou Zeyuan acted arbitrarily once again.

The newly established Fujian-Zhejiang Military Region welcomed its Military Mobilization Committee Director and Deputy Chief of Staff.

He holds two powerful positions in one go, so no one can find fault with him now.

As for whether Comrade Le Shaohua, the former head of the mobilization committee, will have any objections.

Let's forget about it!

The comrades at the grassroots level don't respect him, and he himself has basically stopped taking charge of the mobilization committee.

Recently, I have become engrossed in military production, and the results have been quite remarkable.

The military region issued an order to use tens of thousands of recently reloaded rounds of ammunition to conduct live-fire training for the new recruits.

This actually caused Le Shaohua's reputation to start to rebound from its lowest point!

The only slight flaw is that Qiu Bai, who is both the provincial party secretary and the political commissar of the military region, has been looking at him rather strangely lately.

However, Zhou Zeyuan didn't care!

You yourself said that you don't want to get too involved in military matters.

If you don't get involved, then I will naturally take on the responsibility.

Two days later, Su Yu led the field troops back to the base area.

Meanwhile, the victory of the Minjiang Autumn Harvest Movement not only expanded the guerrilla area but also brought more than 5000 tons of grain to the base area.

But these are just the small part!

The former Soviet area is now quite wealthy!

Its territory encompassed six counties: Lianjiang, Luoyuan, Gutian, Pingnan, and northern and southern Fujian and Zhejiang, as well as five counties in northeastern Fujian that the Red Army had just captured after pursuing the fleeing enemy in the Ningde Campaign.

It comprises 15 counties, with a population of approximately 170 million and arable land of approximately 260 million mu.

The leadership of the Soviet Area government unanimously agreed that after years of arduous fighting, a period of rest and recuperation was necessary.

In addition, the spoils from each battle made the Red Army's coffers increasingly full.

If there is a serious shortage of military rations, they can be purchased with money.

Therefore, before launching the autumn harvest campaign, the government leaders decided to implement a policy of light taxes and levies.

Then they requisitioned more than 4 tons of autumn grain in one go.

But this is already the result of implementing the lowest tax rate.

Some people, grateful to the Red Army, would compete to donate their family's grain to the Soviet government; this happened quite often.

Comrades in various places naturally did not refuse the villagers' good intentions and purchased the goods at the agreed price.

This wasn't the end of it; in various places, grain was being requisitioned while land was being seized from local tyrants and redistributed.

It is estimated that by mid-October, the total grain reserves in the major granaries of the Soviet area will exceed 6 tons.

This figure might not seem like much in modern times, perhaps not even a fraction of a county's grain production.

For example, the rice production in Jianli County, Hubei Province, has consistently been in the millions of tons.

If this kind of production volume were produced during the Republic of China era, it would be unparalleled.

Given the current situation in the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area, this grain supply is undoubtedly a crucial ballast.

More than 40,000 Red Army soldiers, plus several thousand staff and guards, and nearly 10,000 Kuomintang prisoners of war.

The number of people who have taken leave to work is only 6.

If divided equally among all individuals, it would amount to one ton of grain.

But this is not surprising, given that the territory spans 15 counties and supports an army of over 4.

With the Red Army's strong organizational capabilities, supporting one soldier with forty men was a very easy task.

Back when the Prime Minister launched his Northern Expedition, the population of Shu was less than one million, yet it could support an army of 8 and officials of 4!

Of course, the situation of hidden households in Shu was particularly serious, and it could not be compared with the Red Army's situation, where they went all the way to the bottom and the error between the statistical population and the actual population was no more than 5 percentage points.

However, in terms of tax collection ability, the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area may actually be more powerful than the Shu Kingdom, which occupied the land of abundance.

Because the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area had already implemented land reform in most areas, it was possible to raise tax rates without causing resentment among the people.

Inside a cave on Nanji Mountain, the light of an oil lamp cast long shadows of several people on the damp stone walls.

This was the temporary core of the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area, from which orders were issued, directing the land spanning more than ten counties and tens of thousands of troops.

At this moment, the top leaders of the Soviet area gathered together and sat around the conference table.

Zhou Zeyuan took a list out of his pocket and handed it to Yu Qiubai, who was sitting in the main seat:

"Comrade Qiubai, this is a list of military commanders at all levels. If there are no objections, let's submit it to the Central Committee together."

Yu Qiubai took the list and scanned it from top to bottom.

His gaze lingered for a moment on the first few names in the list—Liu Yu, Chief of Staff and Commander of the Corps; and Liu Shengmu, Director of the Political Department and Political Commissar of the Corps.

Then he put the list down, looked at Zhou Zeyuan, and asked, "You just plan to report it like this?"

Zhou Zeyuan was taken aback for a moment: "What else?"

Yu Qiubai tapped the corner of the list twice with his fingers: "Why is there no military unit number on this? You've been busy with personnel arrangements all these days, and you've completely forgotten about the unit number."

Zhou Zeyuan's expression faltered slightly, then a rare hint of embarrassment appeared on his face. "You know, I've always valued ability over empty fame. Things like unit designations..."

"Only fame and titles should not be given to others," Yu Qiubai interrupted him, his tone quite serious.

"If this were your teacher, the first thing he would do is claim the moral high ground, and the first thing he would decide on is the unit designation. Zeyuan, in this respect, you haven't even learned one-tenth of your teacher's level."

"Yes, yes, I am still young and lack experience in this area. In your opinion, what kind of number should we choose?"

Zhou Zeyuan nodded humbly, his attitude very sincere.

In reality, he wasn't just humble; he was more likely feeling guilty.

He doesn't really like taking these grand and righteous paths, not because he's inferior in methods, but because his style is incompatible.

The teacher taught him these things, but they went in one ear and out the other; that's just how good memory is.

But he remembered, "No need."

Use the system to expose the wicked intentions of petty people, and then turn the tables on them in kind.

Over time, it became a habit.

Yu Qiubai glanced at him twice, seemingly able to see through his little thoughts, but did not point them out.

He stroked his chin and pondered, "Sigh, I thought you'd already taken care of everything, so I didn't have to worry about it. Does anyone have any good suggestions?"

"Finalizing the designations for the two armies is proving to be quite troublesome," said Liu Shengmu, director of the political department, speaking first.

"After all, since the military reform, a large number of army-level designations have been abolished, leaving too many options available. If things go wrong, it's easy to run into another unit."

The cave was quiet for a moment.

Everyone was making their own calculations, their eyes darting back and forth between the documents on the table.

Su Yu sat next to Zhou Zeyuan, holding an enamel mug in his hand. He picked it up and put it down repeatedly, two or three times.