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

Dai Yunong nodded and gestured three areas on the table with his finger: "The so-called Fujian-Zhejiang Military Region can be roughly divided into three parts: Eastern Fujian, Central Fujian, and Southern Fujian."

"Among them, Eastern Fujian was the earliest to be established and developed, and it was directly under the command of the military region. Central Fujian and Southern Fujian were developed later and had a stronger degree of independence."

"When General Chiang Kai-shek launched a major offensive against central Fujian, the eastern Fujian forces did not immediately send reinforcements. Instead, they waited until the enemy had penetrated into the heart of central Fujian before the main force rushed to reinforce them. The time difference here is about 3 to 5 days."

The two men naturally understood the meaning behind Dai Yunong's words.

The Red Army was not like the Nationalist Army; they had iron discipline.

They are incapable of remaining steadfastly in the face of friendly forces in distress.

The Red Army clearly had an elite force, but the reinforcements arrived late; there must be something fishy going on.

It is highly likely that this is a power struggle originating from higher levels!

Zhang Chong, who had been silent until now, suddenly interjected: "That's not right, Director Dai. You just said that the enemy's Fujian-Zhejiang Military Region was not very strong. Then how did Commander-in-Chief Chiang lose?"

Dai Yunong was not annoyed by his questioning. Instead, he nodded slightly: "In fact, the troops of the Fujian-Zhejiang Military Region are not all militia guerrillas or other ineffective forces."

"Eastern Fujian, central Fujian, and southern Fujian each had their own directly subordinate standing armies. Commander-in-Chief Chiang underestimated the fighting power of these standing armies, and his army was cut off from its retreat by the enemy, which led to this defeat."

Chen Lifu was the principal's chief steward within the Party. He had personally witnessed how the principal rose to power step by step and had an extraordinary confidence in the elite standing army.

"This is very important, you should talk about it more. The militia are just third-rate stuff, the real backbone is the standing army."

"Yes, the enemy's Fujian Central and Southern Military Regions each have an independent division, apart from a small number of militia guerrillas."

"The Red Army was strictly organized according to the rule of one division comprising three regiments. A small number of surplus units would have a supplementary regiment. The strength of a division was approximately between six thousand and eight thousand men."

"The troops under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Fujian Military Region were the 12th Red Army, which consisted of three divisions and had a strength of more than 20,000 men. This was the core force of the Fujian-Zhejiang Military Region, and it had the longest history of establishment. Its original basis was the reorganization of local armed forces in Eastern and Northern Fujian."

"The commander's name is Ye Fei. He is a local from eastern Fujian. Although he is young, he is quite skilled in warfare."

"Originally, this unit's combat effectiveness could only be considered second-rate, but due to Wu Chengren's negligence, a whole batch of weapons that we had worked hard to buy from American merchants was given away to the Red Army for nothing."

"With this batch of American equipment, the combat effectiveness of the 12th Red Army has jumped to a new level, and it can now be considered a first-class force."

Chen Lifu frowned sharply and snorted coldly: "This Wu Chengren deserves to die. Sentencing him to twenty years is far too lenient."

Zhang Chong, who was standing next to him, seemed to have noticed something important and suddenly asked, "American-made weapons are indeed excellent, as evidenced by the battle of Wufeng Mountain."

"But why was all this equipment given to the 12th Red Army instead of the Northern Expeditionary Force to Resist Japan? Logically speaking, field troops are the ones who can best utilize the superior weapons."

Dai Yunong's expression subtly changed, and he lowered his voice slightly: "According to intelligence from our inside sources, the current commander of the Fujian-Zhejiang Military Region is Political Commissar Yu Qiubai."

"He and a large number of cadres parachuted in from Ruijin seized control of the military region's command. Based on existing intelligence, it is highly likely that due to his insistence, this batch of sophisticated weapons remained in the local area."

Zhang Chong was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in shock, "What? This...this is too absurd! He won't give the best weapons to the field army, but keeps them for himself. How can this person be so selfish?"

Chen Lifu sneered, "Force is power. Sometimes, things are just that absurd. The one who holds the best gun has a louder voice than others. This principle applies to both China and the world."

He turned to Dai Yunong: "Yunong, from what you're saying, it seems that the three Red Army strongholds in eastern, central, and southern Fujian are outwardly friendly but inwardly at odds."

Dai Yunong nodded without hesitation: "Multiple sources indicate that this matter should be true. The commander of the Fujian-Central Military Region is named Liu Chouxi, a graduate of the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy. He is considered a veteran in the Red Army, and he should represent the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi faction."

"The commander of the Southern Fujian Military Region is Huang Ligui. Like Ye Fei, he is a native of Fujian. He originally served as the chief of staff of the provincial military region and was also the commander of the former Northern Fujian Independent Division, holding a high position of power."

"But now he has been sidelined and sent to the Minnan Military Sub-district as commander. Although he now has the Minnan Independent Division, it is a completely new force and its strength is far less than before."

"Therefore, I deduce that the enemy's internal situation is also turbulent, filled with struggles and compromises. This may be a gap that we can exploit."

There was a few seconds of silence in the compartment. The wheels rolled over the seams of the rails, making a rhythmic clattering sound.

Chen Lifu slowly exhaled. "Yu Nong, your last sentence is quite human. The enemy isn't a monolithic entity, which is good news. But their strength is indeed not to be underestimated."

"Upon closer examination, their main force numbers no less than 100,000, plus 200,000 militia. Even at the height of the Northeast Army's power, their strength might not have been much greater than theirs."

Zhang Chong also frowned. "If that's the case, then this negotiation will be difficult. The Red Army still has so many prisoners; they're probably emboldened."

Chen Lifu waved his hand, "Let's do our best and leave the rest to fate. No matter what, let's get Commander Xia and the others back first. As for the rest, we can talk about it slowly, the more detailed the better. We don't only have bullets and prisoners as bargaining chips."

It would take several days to travel from Hangzhou to Quzhou by military force, but only a few hours by train.

As the sun sets, the night falls a little earlier in early winter.

It was already getting dark when the train entered Quzhou, just in time for dinner.

The train whistled long and slowly slowed down, its wheels screeching against the rails.

Outside the window, the platform of Quzhou Railway Station came into view, with a few people scattered on it, a mix of gray military uniforms and civilian clothes.

A red flag fluttered on the flagpole at the end of the platform, rustling in the early winter wind.

Chen Lifu glanced out the car window, his expression momentarily paused.

That splash of red is really glaring!

He lowered the curtains, straightened his collar, took a deep breath, and then got up and walked towards the door of the private room.

Zhang Chong and Dai Yunong followed behind him, and the officials from the other carriages also came out one after another, their footsteps making a dull sound on the wooden floor of the carriage aisle.