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

But to everyone's surprise, Zhou Zeyuan didn't care at all. Instead, he stood up, clapped his hands, and exclaimed, "Brilliant! Truly brilliant! What a masterful tactic to distort the truth and feign submission!"

He abruptly stopped smiling, his gaze sharp as lightning, piercing the other man: "As everyone knows, the Central Army has always been ruthless in its pursuit of extermination against our Red Army, and has ignored our repeated peace proposals!"

"Now that the war has suffered a slight setback, they are eager to take the initiative to negotiate peace, and even put themselves in the position of victims, as if it is our side that insists on fighting a civil war."

"What? You can gloss over the massacres of my Red Army and the people of my Soviet areas when you had the upper hand. But now that you're at a disadvantage, you can't even handle the slightest grievance? There's no such logic in this world!"

Zhou Zeyuan sneered and waved his hand dismissively: "As for the rumors circulating in those tabloids, heh, I only have one response—those who slander me know best how wronged I am!"

When he said this, Zhou Zeyuan was righteous and awe-inspiring.

Even some officials in the Nationalist government couldn't help but feel a sense of unease, thinking that the commander-in-chief had indeed suffered a great injustice.

The key point is that they didn't know the inside story. They just instinctively felt that if the Red Army commander was splashed with dirty water, it was almost certainly done by one of their own people.

Who else but Director Dai could have committed such a vicious slander?

Given the Secret Service's usual practice, they would definitely not admit to doing such a dirty job.

So there's no need to ask him.

But the Red Army representatives and democrats present quickly suppressed their emotions, clenching their teeth for fear of accidentally bursting into laughter.

How can a person be so shameless?

They splashed dirty water on themselves and then accused their opponents of doing it!

And yet, they said it with such self-righteousness.

Mr. Zhou pinched his thigh, his expression becoming increasingly stiff, a mixture of pain and tension on his face.

Mr. Cai, as expected of someone who has seen the world, remained calm and composed, even having time to play with his walking stick.

Seeing how hard Mr. Zhou was enduring it, his eyes twitched, and he quietly reached out and pinched Mr. Zhou's thigh hard.

"Yucai, we're in a meeting, don't fall asleep!"

Mr. Zhou shuddered and quickly sat up straight: "Oh, oh, okay, thank you for reminding me, Mr. Cai."

Chen Lifu felt a tightness in his chest and sighed, "Commander-in-Chief Zhou, I apologize for my deputy's rudeness just now."

"What you say may have some merit, but a one-for-ten exchange is simply too high; we can't accept it. Could you lower it a bit?"

Yu Qiubai never expected that the negotiations would turn out this way. Before this, he even thought that as long as he could get some of his comrades back, he would be willing to suffer some losses.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Zeyuan unleashed his full power right from the start, leaving his opponent completely stunned. Not only did he not suffer any losses, but he also gained a huge advantage.

He felt he should stop while he was ahead, so he secretly kicked Zhou Zeyuan and stared at him intently, signaling that it was time to stop.

But at this point, Zhou Zeyuan was already in a killing frenzy and didn't care about any of that.

The sword has already been drawn; how can it not be stained with blood?

Zhou Zeyuan's eyes were sharp as he looked directly at Chen Lifu: "No, I've said before that I don't like haggling. What I'm giving you is the bottom line."

"Don't think I've gotten a great deal. What kind of people are locked up in your prison?"

"Apart from a very small number of our people, most of them are ordinary citizens. Some of them were arrested simply for participating in the demonstration, and you treated them as communists."

"And then there are those who are even more outrageous. They did nothing wrong, just offended a local official, and were arrested on some fabricated charge. If you release them, we'll have to investigate them again. Isn't that a hassle?"

Zhang Chong stood up and rebuked, "Nonsense! Our Party does indeed have some corrupt elements who commit wrongdoings, but they are a tiny minority!"

Fang Zhimin interjected at the opportune moment, his tone laced with sarcasm: "I'm afraid that's not the case. When our army marched north, we also liberated some prisons when we captured county towns."

"As a result, although the prison was nominally full of political prisoners, less than 30% of them were actually party members. The rest of those who were arrested were mostly not actually guilty of any crime; they were all typical cases of being guilty of possessing a valuable treasure."

He slowly listed them off: "Many of them have some wealth at home, own a nice shop, or a few acres of good paddy fields, oh, and some have beautiful wives. Mr. Zhang, would you like me to bring out some information for you to look at?"

These words directly point to the corruption and darkness at the grassroots level of the Kuomintang.

Dai Yunong quickly coughed and interrupted abruptly: "No need! We are discussing the exchange of prisoners. These trivial matters are completely irrelevant. There's no need to waste time on them."

In order to regain the initiative, Dai Yunong quickly put forward a plan: "Since you think that the real members of your party among the prisoners are only a minority, we can definitely do a screening."

"For example, you would provide us with a list, and we would release people according to the list. The exchange ratio should be further reduced; one for five is already excessive, one for four seems just right."

This immediately grasped the key point, and the morale of the Kuomintang negotiating team was greatly boosted. Even Chen Lifu couldn't help but cast an admiring glance at Dai Yunong.

As long as the list can be determined, it will be possible to avoid releasing those insignificant "good citizens" and thus lower the exchange ratio.

"I don't think it's suitable."

Zhou Zeyuan immediately poured cold water on his enthusiasm, "First of all, it's impossible to hand over the list. Many intelligence agents with single-line contact don't even know the person's true identity from their superiors."

"Only the most confidential files contain backups of this person's name, and every time the data is accessed, the risk of exposure increases. How do I know you're not using this opportunity to spy on our hidden files?"

He paused, then his tone turned serious: "Secondly, under the pretext of arresting members of our party, you have imprisoned many innocent people. I did not kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me."

"It would be morally unacceptable to ignore this rescue effort. As the ruling government, you also have an obligation to distinguish right from wrong."

"Ultimately, it is your side, not ours, that caused this terrible situation. Therefore, you bear full responsibility!"

Chen Lifu was truly at a loss. He couldn't win a fight, and he couldn't win an argument.

Even when negotiating with the great powers, although compromises were ultimately necessary, at least they could still criticize the other side from a moral standpoint.

Now, it's a classic case of being beaten and scolded, and also having to take the blame.

He sighed, his tone softening: "Commander Zhou, what you say makes sense, but we simply cannot provide so many prisoners. Regarding the exchange ratio, I ask that you compromise for now; we can offer compensation in other ways."

Zhou Zeyuan narrowed his eyes: "How could you not be able to produce it? With my intelligence, you should definitely be able to."