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

Quzhou, the headquarters of the Fifth Column.

In the operations room, several staff officers huddled around a map, discussing in hushed tones.

Luo Zhuoying held a pencil, tracing the location of Fengling Pass on the map several times with the tip of the pencil, her brows furrowed.

The southern defenses are crumbling, and news keeps coming back, each one worse than the last.

The troops were too scattered.

To the north, we had to guard against the Red Army from Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi, and in the middle, we had to leave people to garrison each of the county towns of Quzhou, Longyou, and Jiangshan.

He only had so many soldiers, so he kept robbing Peter to pay Paul, and now all four walls are leaking.

Fortunately, as planned, they had deployed a regiment in the Fengling area, which is located at the border of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in the south.

This was the only way for the Red Army to march north from Pucheng to the Jinqu Basin. When the Red Army marched north in a large-scale manner, the local garrison naturally noticed the movement and reported it in time.

The problem is that this area should have been a rear area, surrounded by Nationalist troops in all directions, and they did not deploy reserves in the south in advance.

At this moment, the Red Army suddenly pressed in from the south. Caught off guard, they wanted to send troops to their aid, but it was too late.

Logically speaking, since Fengling Pass is called a pass, it should be a strategic stronghold with fortifications, capable of delaying large enemy forces even with a small force.

But these are all outdated ideas. The Manchus were more concerned with protecting themselves from Han Chinese than from foreign enemies, which is why they built passes and stationed special garrisons at the border of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in the interior. This was to prevent armed uprisings by Han Chinese.

After the Xinhai Revolution, the military value of this place gradually diminished, and it became a commercial hub, flourishing ever since.

The original city walls, beacon towers, fortresses and other military facilities naturally fell into disrepair.

It has not been maintained or repaired for more than 20 years. The city wall has collapsed and is overgrown with weeds, making it unusable.

"If the Red Army breaks through the Fengling defense line, where might they attack next?" Luo Zhuoying turned to ask the staff officer next to him.

The staff officer stared at the map for a few seconds, his tone tinged with difficulty: "It's hard to predict. After passing Fengling, the terrain becomes more open, and the enemy can directly attack the three county towns of Guangfeng, Yushan, and Jiangshan."

"It is also possible to head directly west, bypass Guangfeng via Tongbashan, and attack Shangrao. In short, there are too many routes to choose from, making it difficult to predict in advance and make targeted defenses."

Luo Zhuoying's brows furrowed even more.

The Red Army controlled the Huaiyu Mountains and the Qianligang Mountains, and its influence extended for hundreds of miles. If any point along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway were breached, it could allow the main forces of the two Red Army routes to successfully join forces.

Unfortunately, the current battlefield situation is exactly what he fears most. He has no idea where the enemy will attack, so he has no way to make targeted defenses.

To the north, troops from the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi Soviet Area were also watching closely, ready to stab them in the back at any moment.

This is exactly what the saying means: "If you prepare for the left, you will be weak on the right; if you prepare for the front, you will be weak in the back; if you prepare for everything, you will be weak everywhere."

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "Have you received any more news from the front lines?"

The staff officer shook his head. "Reporting to the commander, there's no new information for now. But according to the last battle report, the situation is not optimistic. Regiment Commander Zhang reported that the Red Army's offensive is extremely fierce, and he can only hold out for another hour at most."

"One hour?" Luo Zhuoying's voice suddenly rose a notch. "No! Reinforcements won't arrive for another three hours! Make sure he holds out for three hours!"

He turned to another staff officer and shouted, "Keep sending reinforcements! See where else we can get more reinforcements! We must plug this hole and keep the Red Army south of Fengling!"

The staff officer opened his mouth, but then hesitated and didn't say anything.

He originally wanted to offer some advice, saying that if they kept withdrawing funds here and there, the whole system might collapse.

But seeing his commander's furious expression, he swallowed back the words he was about to say.

He sighed and nodded: "I'll contact the 98th Division again. They should have reserves. Let's see if they can send a regiment south quickly."

He had barely finished speaking when a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Another staff officer rushed in, clutching a telegram: "Commander! An urgent telegram from Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek of the Eastern Route Army!"

Luo Zhuoying took the telegram, read it only once, and then slammed it on the table.

"Is he blind? Our own city has been lost for a whole day, and he's only just realizing it now! I'm in dire straits; do I need him to remind me?"

A staff officer standing nearby cautiously reminded him, "Commander... there seems to be something inappropriate in what you're saying."

Luo Zhuoying realized that his words were impolite, but at this moment, he was in a state of panic and anger, so he didn't care about that.

"Hmph, relying on Jiang Dingwen? Pigs can fly."

"Commander, could we contact Commander-in-Chief Chiang and ask him to mobilize troops to counterattack Pucheng? If he can threaten the Red Army's rear from the south, we might be able to turn the tide. At the very least, we'll have done our best."

Upon hearing this, Luo Zhuoying's gaze fell on the telegram on the table, her mind racing.

If the Jinqu Basin is lost, I cannot bear the responsibility alone.

He picked up the telegram again, read it through once more, and then looked up at his staff officer and said, "Never mind, let's send a telegram anyway. Thank him for the reminder, and say that our army has strengthened its defenses. Inquire why this reminder came so late. At the same time, suggest that the Eastern Route Army try to launch a counterattack from the direction of Pucheng to see if they can cut off the Red Army's rear."

The staff officers breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that their commander had realized what was happening. They were completely dependent on their superiors; their fates were intertwined, one's loss was the other's loss, and one's honor was the other's honor.

Besides fighting, they would also help plan an escape route.

They, the fifth column, absolutely cannot be made to take the blame!

Just as the high command of the Nationalist army was considering shirking responsibility, the gunfire of the Red Army's suicide squad had already resounded throughout the core position of the Nationalist army's Fengling defense line.

The Red Army had captured all three lines of defense on the front. The remnants of the Nationalist Army retreated to the last fortifications at the top of the main peak, where they used several heavy machine guns to block the main access routes up the mountain.

Su Yu stood behind a sloping hill at the foot of the mountain, holding binoculars in her hand, her gaze fixed on the direction of the main peak through the billowing smoke.

His face appeared calm, but the knuckles of his fingers holding the binoculars were slightly white.

The bugle call sounded again.

Behind the earthen slope, in the bushes, gray figures leaped up simultaneously, forming a loose triangular formation, and pressed towards the main peak.

The skirmish lines were spread out wide on the hillside, but their firepower was by no means weak.

At the tip of each triangular formation, a light machine gun provided alternating cover. The gunners charged and fired briefly, bullets hitting the sandbags in front of the Nationalist army's position, kicking up clouds of dust.

However, the Nationalist army's heavy machine gun positions were well chosen, positioned behind a protruding rock at the highest point of the main peak, with a wide field of fire and almost no blind spots.

As soon as those Maxim guns opened fire, the hail of bullets swept across the hillside, knocking down the soldiers at the front.