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

However, that's not the key point; the key point is the unit number and organizational structure.

This was also the "surprise" that Zhou Zeyuan and Su Yu had been whispering about before.

What is a surprise?

The surprise was that the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Revolutionary Committee ordered the 10th Red Army to be expanded into the 10th Red Army Corps, which consisted of two armies (the 10th Red Army and the 14th Red Army) and six divisions.

The organization of the Seventh Red Army Corps remained unchanged, still consisting of three armies and ten divisions.

If the 10th Red Army is reduced, a 13th Red Army will be added, with key personnel selected from the 11th Red Army for expansion.

At the same time, a group of elite forces were drawn from the local armed forces in eastern and northern Fujian to form a newly formed division, which was attached to the 12th Red Army but actually under the command of the Fujian-Zhejiang Military Region.

In the telegram, the comrades from the Central Committee stated that they were not very familiar with the local situation and that the matter of expanding the organization could be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

The principle is to prioritize the combat effectiveness of the existing troops, but at the very least, a few new units should be established first.

In this way, the Northern Expeditionary Force to Fight Against Japan nominally had the designation of 16 divisions!

Currently, the five corps following the central government only have a total of 12 divisions. Compared to that, it sounds quite impressive.

The 5-strong army that Zhou Zeyuan touted was not even in the same league in terms of deterrence as the two corps, five armies, and 16 main divisions of the Red Army.

The former sounds rather vague, while the latter sounds much more substantial.

This reorganization is naturally a political extension!

Regarding the selection of the two corps commanders, Su Yu will be the commander of the Seventh Red Army, Le Shaohua will remain the political commissar, and Liu Shengmu will remain the director of the political department.

Xun Huaizhou was the leader of the Red Tenth Army, and Wang Ruiou was the political commissar. At the same time, a comrade who worked in a local area was selected to serve as the director of the political department, and together they formed a three-person leadership group.

The Central Military Commission has taken note of Comrade Huang Dao, former secretary of the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi Soviet Area and the Fujian-Northern Sub-district Committee.

Both legions are now composed of three-person teams.

But Zhou Zeyuan didn't care about these trivial details anymore. They were all family, so who was he to blame?

Indeed, this telegram makes no mention what constitutes the designation of the "Northern Anti-Japanese Vanguard Team" from beginning to end.

However, the fact that two legions are affiliated with it speaks volumes.

Because, in essence, the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard was a mission-oriented unit formed for a specific task, and its political significance outweighed its military significance.

Once the mission is completed, or if the situation changes, it can be cancelled at any time.

It is significantly different from fixed formations such as corps and field armies.

Zhou Zeyuan's ambition for the position of commander-in-chief was truly just for the empty title and the political status it came with.

From deputy corps level to corps level, it may seem like a small step, but the difference in status is actually enormous.

By taking over the position of commander-in-chief, he can at least nominally be allowed to sit at the table and eat.

After all, no one else can give him real power, and he doesn't lack it either.

Whether or not he has this commander-in-chief, he can still command the Seventh Red Army Corps.

But no one expected that the Desolate Emperor's first return would bring him such a big surprise.

The teacher truly lives up to his reputation; he's generous with his actions.

Knowing that what they lacked most was political status, they simply gave it to them all at once.

Su Yu and Xun Huaizhou were overjoyed. This step forward was a step forward for them as a whole, and an affirmation of their strength, status and revolutionary contributions by the Central Committee.

"Wait, something's not right!" Xun Huaizhou suddenly exclaimed!

"What's wrong? You're not happy about the promotion?" Su Yu looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Zhou Zeyuan suppressed a laugh and said, "We got promoted, but he didn't. I even became his boss, so it's only natural that he's a little upset."

Xun Huaizhou slammed the telegram on the table angrily. "Nonsense! Do you think I'm that petty? I'm saying, why isn't the candidate for the political commissar of the advance team on this personnel list? Not even a nomination! Don't you think that's very unusual?"

Zhou Zeyuan continued teasingly, "Oh, I see. You want to be the General Political Commissar. No problem, just say so. How could I not support you?"

Su Yu also said seriously, "Huaizhou, if you want to advance, you can try to get the position of commander-in-chief and let Zeyuan be the political commissar, since you are better at military affairs. Let's discuss it together."

Xun Huaizhou was furious, his face turning red. "Don't go too far! My entire 7th Red Army Corps has been split in two. I can only manage the smaller one. I've already let it slide by not arguing with you two, but you're making fun of me. What about revolutionary camaraderie?"

Zhou Zeyuan waved his hands repeatedly, "Alright, alright, stop joking around, let's talk about serious matters!"

Su Yu suppressed a smile and said seriously, "From a military perspective, this order is very timely. We can now legitimately form more division-level units. Ze Yuan's endless, nested expansion plan can be thrown into the trash."

Zhou Zeyuan objected, arguing, "What's wrong with my plan? If the Central Military Commission hadn't abolished brigade-level designations, I would have directly assigned three regiments to each infantry brigade, and all the problems would have been solved."

"But we don't have the conditions for that now, do we? Creating some detachments or columns would be a matter of adapting to local conditions."

As mentioned before, a commander is usually most efficient when commanding three units, and it becomes a bit difficult when commanding four units.

Therefore, without increasing the number of divisions, if we want to increase the size of the main force, we must never create the abnormal 5-regiment infantry division.

Zhou Zeyuan came up with a crooked idea: to set up a detachment under the division headquarters, which would then consist of 2-3 regiments. This perfectly solved the Red Army's regret of not having a brigade-level unit.

The senior commanders of the Seventh Red Army Corps immediately exclaimed that this was truly an eye-opener!

Honestly, this is nothing at all!

What's truly impressive is that one army can command a million soldiers.

That's what you call an infinite nesting doll.

I have only slightly plagiarized the wisdom of later generations.

Su Yu sighed at this moment, "Having a large number of units also has its troubles. We've expanded from 10 divisions to 16 divisions all at once. The personnel, equipment, and especially the core officers, definitely can't keep up."

Xun Huaizhou nodded in agreement. "Although the average quality of our troops has been declining since the expansion of the army, the improvement in firepower has at least made up for the decline in training levels. But if it continues to decline, I'm afraid we'll become no different from the National Revolutionary Army."

Seeing their worried expressions, Zhou Zeyuan was speechless. These two were actually thinking of getting rich quick.

The Central Military Commission has made it very clear. Please set up the framework and make sure it can intimidate people before proceeding.

These two, on the other hand, as soon as they heard about expanding the army, they rushed to take action.

Judging from these symptoms, he has clearly contracted the legendary incurable disease—fear of insufficient manpower.

According to Dr. Zhou's experience, those who suffer from this symptom, even if they command an army of 100,000, still do not feel safe.

Having a million-strong army doesn't guarantee a cure.

Often, this only treats the symptoms, not the root cause, or it may even lead to another incurable disease—fear of insufficient firepower!

These two are still too young, and their mental state is not stable enough.

Unlike him, both of his illnesses were in their late stages, counteracting each other, like fighting poison with poison, and his mental state was incredibly stable.