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

The army marched to the edge of a dense forest, with lush trees on both sides of the road, making it easy to quickly take cover should enemy planes attack.

The advance troops have already occupied the surrounding high ground and are safe.

During this rare break, the leaders of the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard held a short meeting under the shade of trees by the roadside.

Several people huddled together, passing around several telegrams between the central and local authorities that had just been delivered by the communications corps.

After reading the intelligence, everyone's expressions varied; some were solemn, some were confused, and some seemed thoughtful.

Zhou Zeyuan held a telegram in his hand, a slight smile playing on his lips. Though the smile wasn't obvious, it was impossible to hide.

Su Yu, who was watching alongside him, was somewhat puzzled.

He looked at his hand. Wasn't this a message from his comrades in Ningde, Fujian?

The report stated that the local Kuomintang troops were gathering at the port, awaiting ship transfers.

This is clearly news that enemy reinforcements are about to arrive, so how can he still be laughing? What kind of good news is this?

On the other side, Le Shaohua was in a different state. He excitedly waved another telegram in his hand and shared it with everyone:

"The Central Committee has sent us news! The underground Communist Party organization in Fuzhou is planning a large-scale uprising to support our attack on the city!"

"As soon as we reach the city walls and hear gunfire, they will immediately launch an attack, creating chaos within the city and seizing the city gates to allow our troops to enter!"

However, the reaction was unusually lukewarm. Did they really think they could take over the provincial capital with an inside man?

Unless this inside man has the strength of the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army back then!

Zhou Zeyuan put down the telegram in his hand and asked pointedly, "Comrade Political Commissar, I would like to ask, do the comrades in Fuzhou have the ability to persuade the local garrison to defect? ​​How many weapons do they have stored? Can they defeat an enemy company? Or even a platoon?"

"This..." Le Shaohua opened his mouth, then fell silent. How could he know these details? They weren't even mentioned in the telegram from the Central Committee.

Zhou Zeyuan shook his head in disappointment. That's it? Just this one vague hope, and it drove the vanguard in history to use their flesh and blood to crash into the impregnable walls of Fuzhou?

Even more tragically, he vaguely remembered that the underground party organization's "riot" plan in Fuzhou had actually been uncovered and suppressed by Kuomintang agents long ago.

This so-called inside man was nothing more than a trick concocted by Li Bo and his accomplice to urge the advance team to launch a decisive attack.

Le Shaohua was somewhat unconvinced and argued, "Comrade Zeyuan! Don't keep pouring cold water on me! Even if this isn't good news, what were you laughing at just now? What could you possibly see in that telegram you were holding?"

Upon hearing this, everyone's attention turned to Zhou Zeyuan. Although this young man was young, he was usually a very shrewd and calculating person, and something that could make him laugh out loud was probably no ordinary matter.

Zhou Zeyuan didn't keep anyone in suspense. He slammed the telegram in his hand onto the table and said calmly, "I see... the hope of taking Fuzhou."

His words shocked the entire audience!

Everyone crowded around, craning their necks to look at the telegram.

Zeng Hongyi leaned in closest and watched for a while, but he became even more puzzled: "This should be bad news! The enemy's 261st Brigade has already assembled in Ningde and will soon be able to board ships and sail directly to Fuzhou! Once this force arrives, Fuzhou's defenses will be even more impregnable!"

Su Yu frowned and analyzed, "This brigade is the elite of the 87th Division, well-equipped and highly trained. Unfortunately, they are taking the sea route, so we have no way to intercept them along the way."

He looked at Zhou Zeyuan, completely baffled as to why the other man would think this was good news.

Le Shaohua stared at the map on the table, his brows furrowed, and remained silent.

Although he couldn't understand it either, he had a strange feeling deep down that he believed in Zhou Zeyuan.

This feeling is absurd, just like Sima Yi's perception of Zhuge Liang. Precisely because they were rivals, he understood the other's abilities best.

No matter how outrageous Zhou Zeyuan's actions were, it didn't seem too strange, including the ability to glean a fighting opportunity from this unremarkable intelligence.

Zhou Zeyuan didn't keep them guessing for long. He pointed to the date on the telegram and explained, "This is the time I see."

"I just did the math. Based on the time it took for the comrades in Ningde to pass on this intelligence to us, even if the Nationalist ships arrive at the port in the next moment, it will take at least three days for the personnel and equipment of this brigade to be loaded and unloaded, plus the sea transport time."

"Their arrival time in Fuzhou was almost exactly the same as the arrival time of our main force outside Fuzhou city, with no difference of more than half a day."

Su Yu's brow furrowed: "You mean...we're going to march all the way to Fuzhou? Wouldn't that be too risky?"

It must be said that because the commotion caused by the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard was greater than in history and its influence spread faster, the National Revolutionary Army noticed them much earlier, and even the enemy's air raids were launched several days earlier.

However, this also brought a positive effect: the advance team began to attach great importance to air defense from top to bottom, and Zhou Zeyuan personally formulated a series of air defense evacuation and camouflage tactics.

Furthermore, with a larger and stronger force, they no longer needed to take the rugged mountain roads to avoid enemy troops, as was the case in history. Instead, they could continue eastward along the relatively flat roads along the Minjiang River.

This naturally increased the marching speed considerably.

But since they were traveling on foot, no one could guarantee that they could reach Fuzhou faster than the Nationalist army's ships.

Moreover, there is the Minqing County town blocking the way, which needs to be eliminated.

This meant that from the very beginning, almost no one considered using a "rapid sprint" to create a time difference.

The most crucial question is, even if you manage to rush to the city walls, so what? At most, you'll be half a day or a day faster.

Taking over a provincial capital in a single day? Even the Japanese weren't that arrogant.

But now Zhou Zeyuan saw this opportunity. A lot can be done in a day. The key is that this is a very conservative calculation. This time window may actually be longer.

However, none of that matters. The key is that once this decision is implemented, the entire Fuzhou campaign will become a swift and decisive battle. If the raid succeeds, it will succeed; if it fails, we will retreat quickly.

With the vanguard's momentum exhausted and enemy reinforcements arriving, retreating became perfectly reasonable and impeccable.

Watching Zhou Zeyuan and Su Yu sing in unison, seemingly quite knowledgeable, Le Shaohua stared at the map on the table for a while longer before finally giving up.

Is this a matter of risk? He simply can't see any chance of victory!

"Comrade Zeyuan, could you elaborate on your tactics?"

Zhou Zeyuan didn't mince words and said frankly, "Actually, it's very simple, just like what Comrade Su Yu just said—a raid."

We will organize the best and brightest from each division, gathering at least three thousand highly skilled soldiers. They will carry only two days' worth of rations and half a basic amount of ammunition. If we encounter enemy strongholds along the way, we will break through them quickly if possible; if not, we will detour. We will not delay for even a minute.

"I just did the calculations. At the most conservative estimate, this assault detachment should be able to reach the outskirts of Fuzhou before nightfall tomorrow. In other words, we will have at least a whole night's window of opportunity."

"One night?" Zeng Hongyi was a little stunned, his voice rising, "They could take over the entire city of Fuzhou in one night?"