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

Secretary Xiang glared at him, his tone stern: "Comrade Runtan, watch your words. Would we revolutionaries do something so tasteless? You are insulting the character of Comrades Zeyuan, Huaizhou, and Suyu."

He Huzi, holding a cigarette, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke: "It's indeed inappropriate for the brigade leader and He Jian to do the first day of the month, and for us to do the fifteenth. But it's just a joke, there's no need to make a big deal out of it."

Secretary Xiang suddenly realized something, and his expression turned somewhat awkward. He coughed lightly, "Oh, sorry, I misspoke just now."

Li Runtang waved his hand, his tone quite magnanimous: "It's nothing, it's nothing. I just spoke offhand. But the most urgent matter is to find out what exactly happened in the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area. Why is the Nationalist army making such unusual moves?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room became heavy again. All eyes turned to Secretary Xiang.

Secretary Xiang gave a wry smile and shook his head: "I asked Comrade Qiu Bai several times, and he only said there was a big operation, a big operation, but he didn't say a word about how it would be carried out."

He Huzi said, "Then ask again. Tell him what's happening on our side as well. We've reached the point where the truth is out; the Nationalist army has already figured it out. Is it reasonable for us to be kept in the dark?"

In the Fujian-Zhejiang Soviet Area, a southern sacrifice was offered at the mountain.

The lights were on in a large conference room in the military compound. Tonight was a welcome banquet hosted by the military region for Director Chen, which also served as an inauguration ceremony in a sense.

All the military region headquarters, division commanders, and representatives of local party committees who were supposed to be there were present.

Dozens of people sat around several tables. Although the food was simple—mixed grain rice with one meat dish and one vegetable dish—and there were only a few jars of rice wine given by fellow villagers, the atmosphere was very warm and lively.

Everyone knew that this new commander was not only a veteran of the Red Army, but also an old comrade-in-arms of Committee Member Li.

They were invited from the Central Committee by our own commander and Comrade Qiu Bai.

In the parlance of fantasy novels, this is the patriarch's junior brother, the sect leader's uncle, and the supreme elder.

Director Chen sat at the table in the center. He turned his head and glanced at Yu Qiubai sitting next to him, teasingly saying, "They say scholars are cunning. You actually played such a big joke on Zeyuan. It really startled me."

Yu Qiubai put down his wine bowl, a smile on his face: "You were startled, so you can only imagine how frightened the brigade leader was?"

"I've received intelligence that the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway has been extremely busy lately, with troops and supplies being transported back and forth. This is enough to show that our plan has been quite successful."

Director Chen shook his head and sighed, "It was a success, but it was a bit too underhanded. Luckily, I wasn't there when you were planning this, otherwise my reputation would have been ruined..."

Zhou Zeyuan, who had been silent until now, suddenly interjected, "It's alright, you didn't participate this time. We'll include you next time."

The people around were taken aback at first, then burst into laughter.

Director Chen couldn't help but laugh, "You little rascal, please spare me, my body can't take this kind of torment..."

Before the laughter subsided, Liu Shengmu, who was on duty, walked in carrying a folder.

He walked straight to Zhou Zeyuan's side, bent down and handed him a telegram: "Commander, a telegram from the Central Committee."

Zhou Zeyuan took it and looked down at it. Yu Qiubai and Director Chen, who were standing nearby, also came over.

When Director Chen saw the information about the Kuomintang troop deployment, the smile on his face immediately froze.

"My goodness, is the captain going crazy?"

Yu Qiubai also finished reading and shook his head slightly: "I heard that this man is a filial son. His mother's grave is in his hometown. He must be furious right now."

Su Yu, Ye Fei, Su Da, and the others standing nearby exchanged glances, all trying hard to suppress their laughter.

Although they hadn't seen the contents of the telegram, Zhou Zeyuan had recently revealed the entire plan to them. Naturally, they could guess the contents of the telegram quite accurately.

Zhou Zeyuan put down the telegram and sneered, "He's so self-righteous when he's harming others, as if it's nothing serious. But when it happens to him, he can't accept it. He feels like the sky is falling, and he gets furious and jumps around."

His tone was filled with undisguised contempt. "He even calls himself the inheritor of Zeng Guofan's spirit. No matter how ruthless Zeng was, at least he had the courage to take responsibility for his actions. But he's the opposite; he only allows himself to set fires, but forbids others from even lighting lamps."

Yu Qiubai nodded in agreement: "Those who harm others will always be harmed in return. Zeyuan, this time when we go north, we must make sure to give the Kuomintang a good beating. We must make Mr. Baldy understand this principle. Only then will he and his military leaders have a bottom line in their actions."

Director Chen's gaze became more serious: "That's right, reasoning with thugs is useless. Only when they know that the Red Army has the ability to punish their evil deeds will they restrain themselves. But this is by no means because they have become better, but because they are afraid."

Su Yu hesitated for a moment before replying, "The army hasn't moved yet, and the outcome is still uncertain. Isn't it a bit too early for us to talk about this?"

"It's not early, not at all. Military matters serve politics. We need to figure out our strategic objectives in this war first."

Zhou Zeyuan was quite confident at this moment. Wei Lihuang had gone to Europe, and Xue Yue was chasing after the main force of the Central Army.

During this period, apart from these two, he looked down on all the other high-ranking generals in the National Revolutionary Army.

After all, these young men from the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy had no opportunity to command large-scale operations within the rigid system of the Kuomintang.

Let's not even talk about Du Yuming, this unlucky Shaanxi native; he hasn't even had his chance to make it big yet.

Guan Linzheng, who is also from Shaanxi, is now only a division commander, although he became famous throughout the world for his role in the Great Wall Resistance.

But it's not very useful. If you ask him to command an army, unless the army is full of young people, who would care about him among a group of veteran generals?

Others such as Song Xilian and Wang Yaowu were the same.

Because Zhou Zeyuan, Xun Huaizhou, and Su Yu were developing independently far from the central government, they were no longer constrained by the ceiling and began to gradually approach the threshold of large-scale military operations.

Meanwhile, the outstanding Kuomintang generals of the same period could only continue to accumulate seniority.

He continued, "Besides establishing new base areas in Zhejiang and bringing the flames of war to the Kuomintang's old homeland to relieve pressure on the other Soviet areas, the key point is to raise a torch in this darkest era of the revolution to encourage revolutionary comrades who are still fighting in various places. At the same time, it will give the enemy the greatest deterrent."

"Take the Guangdong Army for example. If we didn't have these tens of thousands of guns, would they have behaved so docilely?"