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

Su Yu thought for a moment and said, "If it were Ze Yuan's style, he would definitely plant explosives inside the city wall."

Everyone present was stunned, then burst into laughter.

Well, that really fits Commander Zhou's style.

Hu Tiantao, commander of the 19th Division of the 10th Red Army, walked to the edge of the sand table, pointed to the dense cluster of small dots surrounding Quzhou City, and said in a solemn tone:

"When attacking Quzhou, the city walls are just a minor problem; the layers upon layers of bunkers on the outer perimeter are the biggest problem."

"After we withdrew from Quzhou, the Kuomintang learned their lesson and greatly strengthened the surrounding defenses. They built a considerable number of bunkers and pillboxes using earth, bricks, stones, and cement."

Su Yu looked at Quzhou City in the center of the sand table and frowned slightly.

"Surrounded by water on three sides, with the Qujiang River serving as a natural moat, the city is only connected to the land on the south side. Under these circumstances, there is no room for fancy tactics in the siege; it can only be a head-on battle."

Xun Huaizhou nodded: "Yes, feints and flanking maneuvers are all useless. But Zeyuan's telegram to me said that we should prepare for the siege. He will arrive tonight and take over command of the siege tomorrow morning."

Su Yu raised an eyebrow slightly: "Oh? It seems Ze Yuan is already confident of victory. What else did he say?"

"It's nothing much, just that we need to put at least 30% of our troops on the north bank of the Qujiang River, drive the enemy out of the country as soon as possible, and then block the river with machine gun fire."

Su Yu frowned and asked, "What does this mean? I'm a little confused myself. We don't have enough time. Cutting off the enemy's retreat like this is just forcing the Nationalist army to fight to the death, isn't it?"

Xun Huaizhou waved his hand: "Don't you know him? He won't get involved in frontline command unless there's a 95% chance of victory. Let's focus on troop deployment and preparations for the siege. He'll know everything when he arrives tomorrow."

Su Yu nodded and stopped asking questions, saying, "I have another division here in Pucheng, and it will take them another two or three days to get over."

"We currently only have two infantry divisions at hand, plus the army headquarters' directly subordinate mountain artillery battalion, reconnaissance battalion, engineer battalion, and other units, totaling approximately 21,500 men."

Xun Huaizhou clicked his tongue twice, then sighed and said, "It's really good to have the Great Soviet Area behind you; there's an abundance of manpower. Your division probably already has over eight thousand men, right?"

Su Yu was not modest and said proudly, "Nine thousand men. There are four full-strength regiments with eight thousand men each. The division headquarters also has directly subordinate units such as the supply battalion, mortar company, heavy machine gun company, and special service company. The total number of men is well over nine thousand."

"I heard you've been expanding your troops a lot in Huangshan. A division must be quite large, right?"

Xun Huaizhou shook his head: "You forgot, two of the four divisions of our Red Tenth Army are severely understaffed. When we were building the Huangshan base area, I also assigned many veterans there. Now, each division only has an average of nearly eight thousand men."

"Moreover, Comrade Wang Rui'ou is currently leading a division to fight a blocking attack in the east, and I only have more than 23,000 main force troops available to me."

"There are still several thousand local troops, but they are all responsible for guarding their respective areas and resisting the Nationalist army on the periphery, so they cannot be moved for the time being."

Su Yu quickly did the math in his mind: "Forty-five thousand men, that's not a small number. That's three times the strength of the Nationalist army in Quzhou."

"In terms of siege warfare, three times the troop strength is enough. The next step is to race against time and see if we can break through the city first, or if the Nationalist reinforcements will arrive first."

Xun Huaizhou continued, "Comrade Wang Rui'ou has already dispatched two regiments southward to try and capture Longyou first, blocking the Nationalist reinforcements to the east of Longyou. He guarantees that they can hold out for at least a week."

"Great! With the right timing, location, and people, let's give it a shot! I believe Zeyuan can create another miracle like Fuzhou!"

Once the top leadership reached a consensus, troop movements began immediately.

Based on the principle of proximity, the 10th Red Army took over the task of attacking the north bank, with Xun Huaizhou in charge of command.

At the same time, a division was transferred to the south bank and temporarily placed under Su Yu's command.

To ensure unimpeded communication between the two banks of the Qujiang River, in addition to requisitioning as many boats as possible, the Red Army also began to build pontoon bridges.

Soon, the reconnaissance troops and underground party comrades in Quzhou sent back messages one after another.

The Nationalist Army's 67th Division was responsible for defending the southern front of the city.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Army's 11th Division was divided into two groups. One group was guarding the last line of defense in the city and was preparing for street fighting.

Another group was positioned on the north bank, where they built a tight defensive line along the Qujiang River, forming a pincer movement with the firing positions on the south bank.

The underground Communist Party comrades in Quzhou may not have been able to create the miracle of Jiangshan County, but at a time when the Kuomintang was conscripting large numbers of men to replenish the army and meet logistical needs, the firepower deployment of many positions was no secret to them at all.

The information gathered over time was used by Su Yu to create clear defense maps.

If Luo Zhuoying saw these deployment maps, he would probably be so angry that he would vomit blood, because the accuracy of these things is even higher than the ones he uses in his command room.

By the afternoon, the main forces that had been mobilized began clearing out enemy outposts.

Meanwhile, with the cooperation of reconnaissance and intelligence units, the main force began to capture and interrogate enemy spies everywhere, striving to blind the enemy.

But soon a number of reconnaissance aircraft appeared in the skies over Quzhou, and their numbers and frequency gradually increased.

When the first black dot appeared in the sky above Qujiang, the Red Army soldiers on the ground thought it was a bird.

But the black dot quickly turned into five.

The roar of engines pressed down from behind the clouds, growing louder and closer.

Several soldiers who were moving timber looked up and their expressions changed.

"Airplanes! Enemy planes!"

The whistle blew immediately.

The soldiers who were building the pontoon bridge on the riverbank dispersed. Those who were near the woods went into the woods, and those who had no cover lay down in the grass.

Some simply jumped into the shallows by the river, leaving only their faces above the water to breathe.

Five planes circled twice over the Qujiang River. Then three of them turned south, seemingly to search for other targets. The remaining two lowered their altitude and began circling the pontoon bridge.

In the cockpit of the lead plane, pilot Liu Changgeng glanced down and said in a relaxed tone, "Hey, Lao Wei, look, those floating bridges down there are built quite well."

The observer Wei Desheng, sitting behind him, also peeked out.

He was a few years older than Liu Changgeng, and his gaze fell on the pontoon bridges, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Don't be careless. Last time, the Third Company suffered a loss in western Hunan. The Red Army had Maxim heavy machine guns. If you dive too low, you'll be easily caught."

Liu Changgeng scoffed, "Maxim? That thing's okay for hitting the ground, but its elevation angle isn't high enough for anti-aircraft fire. Have you ever seen a Red Army soldier shoot down an aircraft with a heavy machine gun?"