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

Xun Huaizhou glanced at him, his gaze frank: "Talented people emerge in every generation. My current abilities may be inferior to others, but that doesn't mean I'll be inferior forever. I'm still young, and youth is my greatest asset."

"I don't believe the boss was at my level at my age. Even if he was, so what? The future is full of variables and endless possibilities. Who knows if I can surpass him?"

"Good, that's spirited." Zhou Zeyuan nodded. "Old Su, you should learn more from Huaizhou. Look at how furrowed your brow; anyone who didn't know better would think we'd lost a battle."

Su Yu was taken aback by his words. Holding the telegram, she relaxed her brows, trying to make her expression appear more relaxed: "I'm not worried, it's just that I sometimes feel this way when I'm thinking about problems."

He paused, then turned his attention to Xun Huaizhou, "Huaizhou, the commander is teaching you military strategy, yet you're only thinking about how to surpass him, treating him as a rival. Isn't that a bit disrespectful?"

Xun Huaizhou shook his head, his tone becoming more serious: "Not an opponent, but a benchmark. As the old saying goes, 'The student surpasses the teacher.' When a student cannot surpass their teacher, that is the greatest tragedy for a teacher."

"If I were to teach students in the future, I would hope that each of them could establish their own school of thought, which would prove that our revolutionary cause has successors."

Su Yu insisted, "But you can't do this..."

"These are all trivial matters." Zhou Zeyuan waved his hand. "Old Su, you're just too serious. Revolution has never been a particularly serious matter; it's more about passion and fervor."

A dark glint flashed in Su Yu's eyes: "You make it sound so easy, it's not that simple."

"It's that simple." Zhou Zeyuan's gaze fell on the dark night sky outside the window, his voice carrying a strange certainty.

"As long as we're on the right path, we can just keep pushing forward and reach our destination. Before long, a bright future will appear before us."

Xun Huaizhou keenly caught the unusual confidence in his words and frowned: "Zeyuan, what... what are you trying to do?"

"Haha, all I want to do is fight this battle well, and I don't want to do anything else. It's just that we have many comrades like you two who have been holding back for too long."

"The more you compress this spring, the stronger it becomes. One day, it will erupt like a volcano, completely out of control."

Xun Huaizhou picked up the telegram, puzzled, and read it over and over again. He had already read the words on the paper twice, but even now, he still couldn't discern any extra information.

He put down the telegram and turned to Su Yu: "Have you figured anything out yet?"

Su Yu shook her head and looked at Zhou Zeyuan as well: "You can glean political intelligence from a military telegram... Zeyuan, you really are a genius."

Zhou Zeyuan chuckled to himself.

They originally thought they had gleaned some clue from the boss's telegram.

However, if we have to say something, there are some clues.

This telegram at least indicates that the boss has begun to shake off his frustrated state.

The crater has already started smoking; how far is a full eruption from it?

"You two don't need to worry about so much. In short, leave political matters to me; you can't go wrong. The road ahead will only get wider and wider."

Su Yu and Xun Huaizhou exchanged a glance, and neither of them asked any further questions.

The discussion ended without dragging on.

Su Yu folded the telegram page again, put it in his pocket, and nodded to the two of them: "I'll take the plan back to the General Staff Headquarters and work through the night to finalize the operational details."

He turned and left after he finished speaking, his pace quickening slightly as he had come.

Su Yu had work to do, so the two of them couldn't be idle either.

The captured equipment needed to be distributed, the prisoners who had been converted needed to be resettled, the defenses of Quzhou City needed to be repaired, and the rewards, punishments, promotions, and demotions of many officers and soldiers needed to be dealt with.

These things are best dealt with before the next major war breaks out!

With busy work ahead of them tomorrow, Zhou Zeyuan and Xun Huaizhou remained calm as if nothing had happened and went back to catch up on their sleep.

Just moments before, my heart was filled with turbulent waves.

The next second, my chest felt as calm as a still lake.

Sleep is more important than anything else!

However, while the two of them slept soundly, some people couldn't sleep.

The one who couldn't sleep wasn't the principal; he had already conceded defeat and had naturally prepared himself mentally.

Full of confidence, they prepared to get revenge in the next round.

It was the warlords who were truly unable to sleep.

Guangxi, Guilin, Guangxi Army Headquarters.

The walls of the command post were covered with topographical maps of the Hunan-Guangxi border, and a huge sand table sat in the center of the room.

The Xiang River meanders like a ribbon, flowing from south to north through layers of mountains.

Several small blue flags were planted along the edge of the sand table, marking the advancing positions of various units of the National Revolutionary Army.

At this moment, the most prominent position on the board is Quanzhou City, marked with a blue flag, located west of the Xiang River.

Bai Chongxi, the commander-in-chief of the front line, stood in front of the sand table, his hands on the edge of the table, his body leaning slightly forward.

He was dressed in a crisp general's uniform, with the top button of his collar fastened meticulously. He looked like a knife sheathed in its sheath—sharp, but not easily revealed.

Liao Lei, commander of the 7th Army, stood to his left, and Xia Wei, commander of the 15th Army, stood to his right. Both of them had their eyes on the area west of the Xiang River on the sand table.

A staff officer stood opposite the sand table, holding a long, thin baton with the tip pointing towards the city of Quanzhou.

"The Red Army's vanguard was a step too slow; the Hunan Army troops entered Quanzhou City first. Currently, this Red Army force is advancing towards Huangtangling, south of Quanzhou."

(In the original timeline, the Red Army was several hours behind, and this place had already been occupied by the Hunan Army. The Red Army could only fight a blocking battle in the open, unobstructed area.)

"Huangtangling was a necessary passage for the Hunan Army's southward advance. Although the terrain was not particularly treacherous, it was the highest point in the surrounding area. Clearly, the Red Army intended to fight a blocking battle there to delay the Hunan Army's advance."

As is well known, He Jian, the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army, had an irreconcilable hatred for our Red Army, and therefore was always the most proactive in the matter of eliminating the Red Army.

His fear of his enemies and his desire for power made him regard eliminating the Red Army as his most core interest.

He was willing to do anything even if the Central Army kept infiltrating the Hunan Army.

Because what the Central Army wanted was his military power, this was negotiable; he could hand over part of it and keep the rest.

The Red Army, however, wanted him dead.

There's no room for negotiation on this!

This was known not only to the Central Army and the Red Army, but also to other warlords.

Xia Wei looked at the sand table, his brows furrowing slightly: "It's a pity. Our 15th Army has already reached Xing'an. From Xing'an northward all the way to the Red Army's encampment, there are no similar hills or mountains along the way, no cover whatsoever. We can't even launch a counterattack."

The staff officer's baton shifted accordingly: "Jieshou, north of Xing'an, is an extremely important crossing point on the Xiang River. The staff analyzed that the Red Army would most likely establish blocking positions south of Jieshou to hinder our northward advance."