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

"Comrade Political Commissar, what you said makes sense. But I have something to say." Zhou Zeyuan stood up and placed his hands on the table.

"When we set off from Changting, we had nine thousand men but only three thousand guns. Many of the recruits were new soldiers who had never handled a gun or seen a battlefield. Why didn't we streamline the force and weed out these new recruits?"

"The reason is simple: we have a large number of people. Once we win a battle and capture weapons, we can immediately form a fighting force."

"As everyone has seen, the speed at which we expanded our army could not keep up with the speed at which we captured enemy troops."

"When we arrived in Fuzhou, we had captured a lot of guns, but because we didn't have enough soldiers, our strength couldn't increase. That's why we came to eastern Fujian."

"When we expand the army this time, shouldn't we consider the future in advance? Couldn't the advance team achieve an even more glorious victory under my leadership?"

He raised two fingers with his right hand, his voice high-pitched and resolute, "I believe it can be done. I hereby pledge my life."

"Then these extra 1 men are very necessary. I even think we can set up a few more supplementary regiments to try to increase the total strength to 4 men."

Zeng Hongyi was initially unfazed, but upon hearing the words "4 people," it was as if a switch had been triggered in his blood, and his expression changed from feigned composure to eager anticipation.

"Comrade Zeyuan's suggestion is very forward-thinking! Political Commissar, I think we should give it serious consideration."

Le Shaohua's smile remained unchanged. "We should consider it, but we can't rush things. We're new to eastern Fujian, and we haven't figured out the situation here yet."

Will hastily conscripting large numbers of able-bodied men into the army negatively impact local production? Will it increase the burden on the people? These questions require careful consideration.

The group of people from eastern Fujian looked at each other in bewilderment.

Isn't the main force supposed to head north?

They came to our eastern Fujian region just to rest and replenish their supplies. Later, when they entered the Kuomintang-controlled areas, they mainly relied on local grain requisition.

Where does the food burden come from?

The only burden might be the large number of young and middle-aged men being transferred, which would affect the farming season.

But in Fujian, a place with eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland, the lack of young and middle-aged people in the area is not necessarily a bad thing.

Zhou Zeyuan looked at Le Shaohua's gentle face and sighed inwardly.

It seems that reasoning with them won't work.

Lao Le! If you don't improve soon, I won't hold back after October.

He snapped out of his thoughts and gave a calm smile.

"Comrade Political Commissar, your considerations are all correct. But why didn't you think about it from a holistic perspective?"

He stood up and walked to the map hanging on the wall.

"What is the current situation? The Central Soviet Area is in dire straits and urgently needs our help to alleviate their pressure."

"If we can complete this round of military expansion and win one or two more battles, we can apply to the Central Military Commission for... a new army designation."

The moment these words were spoken, the ancestral hall fell silent.

My God, is this really something they could have imagined?

Not to mention the cadres of the Northern Expeditionary Force against Japan, even the cadres in eastern Fujian began to breathe rapidly.

But no one questioned Zhou Zeyuan's proposal!

When the First Red Army was established, it had only a little over 30,000 men.

If they expand their army to 40,000, that's already quite a large force, at least in terms of numbers.

In addition, such a designation has immeasurable benefits in deterring the enemy and relieving pressure on the central government.

This has potential, it has tremendous potential!

Apart from Zhou Zeyuan, the leader of the pyramid scheme, no one present could resist such temptation.

Of course, Zhou Zeyuan was able to withstand it largely because he knew the difficulty and complexity involved!

But other people don't know!

Le Shaohua had wanted to retort, but suddenly found himself unable to utter a single word.

When I came to my senses, I realized that I actually had a dry mouth.

Her little scheme started popping into her head.

If a surface army could really be established, who would be the commander-in-chief?

It's either Xun Huaizhou or Zhou Zeyuan.

What about the political commissar?

Le Shaohua's gaze unconsciously turned to Zeng Hongyi.

Zeng Hongyi was also looking at him.

Their gazes met in mid-air, as if invisible sparks were flying.

There is only one General Political Commissar.

Zeng Hongyi decisively spoke up: "I support Comrade Zeyuan's opinion. Expand the army, expand the army as quickly as possible, in order to deal with the Kuomintang reactionaries' encirclement and suppression of the base areas."

No sooner had he finished speaking than, in less than half a second, Le Shaohua immediately followed up:

"That's right! Expanding the army is urgent and should be done quickly and decisively, with no upper limit. We must give full play to the Red Army's ability to mobilize the entire population as soldiers, concentrate all resources, and strike at the invading Kuomintang reactionaries."

Before the others could react, Zhou Zeyuan said jokingly, "The matter of expanding the army is just my opinion, don't push it too hard."

Both of them said at the same time, with righteous indignation, "We won't force you!"

As soon as they finished speaking, both of them were stunned for a moment.

Le Shaohua quickly added, "I will order all cadres to mobilize the masses as much as possible."

Zhou Zeyuan nodded. "Very well, in that case, let's discuss the specific plan."

The atmosphere at the meeting changed abruptly thereafter.

Le Shaohua and Zeng Hongyi, the political commissar and the commander-in-chief, were obedient to Zhou Zeyuan to the point of being obsequious.

Several local officials from eastern Fujian were dumbfounded.

In terms of expanding the military, the troops prioritize receiving personnel based on their stationed locations.

The 7th Red Army Division was responsible for receiving soldiers from the northern part of Luoyuan County and the surrounding areas of Ningde County.

Since the 7th Red Army Division already had a large number of troops, after it was fully staffed, the surplus troops were given priority to be allocated to the newly established Mindong Independent Division.

They even had to select some veterans from their own ranks to serve as the grassroots backbone of the Mindong Independent Division.

The Third Division was stationed in the central part of the base area and was responsible for receiving soldiers from Luoyuan County and northern Lianjiang.

The First and Second Divisions were located in the southernmost part of the base area, receiving soldiers from Lianjiang and parts of Fuzhou.

This regional priority principle maximizes efficiency.

Each unit was replenished from nearby locations, and dozens of Red Army detachments within the base area were quickly incorporated into the field army.

In just three days, apart from the newly established Mindong Independent Division, the First Division, Second Division, Third Division and the Seventh Red Division all had more than 5,000 men.

The 7th Red Army Division had reached its ideal full strength.

Under Zhou Zeyuan's care, some of the machine guns that should have been allocated to the Mindong Independent Division were temporarily assigned to the 7th Red Army Division.

This is actually not fair to the newly established Mindong Independent Division.

But to be honest, the Mindong Independent Division couldn't really muster dozens of machine gunners in a short time.

The troops' training, organizational level, and combat experience are still far behind those of field troops.

If firepower were distributed evenly, the Mindong Independent Division, equipped with the same weapons, would undoubtedly severely hinder the entire army's combat effectiveness.

Therefore, Zhou Zeyuan did not hesitate to choose to strengthen his fist.

They also made a promise: as long as the training of the Mindong Independent Division can keep up, they will be provided with full equipment.