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

Commander-in-Chief Chiang confidently assured that the Red Army captured a maximum of 5000 guns during the Fuzhou Campaign.

However, both Chen Mingren and He Wending claimed that the Red Army on the other side was strong and had ample firepower, and that small-scale battles were being fought with the enemy on the southern and western fronts.

This suggests that the enemy has at least 20,000 frontline combat personnel.

Don't tell him that the Red Army had 15,000 guns when they set out.

That's a problem that can't be solved no matter how you look at it.

Ultimately, he found a reasonable explanation—Commander-in-Chief Jiang underreported the losses in order to mitigate his punishment.

Yes! This situation was unexpected.

But upon closer examination, it makes surprisingly good sense.

In the darkness of night, torches were lit simultaneously on and around Wutongcha Mountain.

Hu Tiantao glanced at her watch, paced back and forth a few times, and finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Chief of staff, the soldiers are practically hoarse from shouting, but these white dogs are completely unmoved. Let's just attack. Strike while the iron is hot and charge in one fell swoop. After we're done, we can arrange for the troops to rest."

Su Yu held up her binoculars, her gaze sweeping over the fortifications and firelight faintly visible on the hilltop, and remained silent for a moment.

"We can't delay any longer; any delay could lead to unforeseen circumstances. Pass down the order: all units, prepare yourselves. The general offensive will begin in ten minutes."

The orders were relayed down the chain of command. At the foot of the mountain, the Red Army soldiers checked their weapons and counted their ammunition.

The stretcher team waited behind with empty stretchers, while the medics took bandages and tourniquets out of the medicine box and arranged them neatly.

After a brief silence, the resounding bugle call tore through the night sky.

"Charge!"

The Red Army soldiers leaped out from behind their bunkers, bayonets at the ready, and charged up the mountain with shouts.

The sound of footsteps made the ground tremble slightly, and the torchlight stretched into flowing ribbons of light as they ran.

However, the anticipated machine gun fire did not occur.

No bullets rained down, no grenades fell from above.

The mountain was unusually quiet.

The soldier at the forefront hesitated for a moment, but the bugle call behind him continued.

He gritted his teeth and continued to surge upwards.

Fifty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters...

There was finally some movement on the hilltop.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

"We surrender!"

"Red Army brothers, stop fighting!"

Immediately afterwards, several lanterns lit up on the hilltop.

In the dim light, rows of Nationalist soldiers could be seen raising their hands.

The Red Army soldiers who rushed up the mountain were stunned.

Some people stood still, bayonets in hand, in a charging stance, unsure of what to do.

Several platoon leaders were the first to react, waving their hands to signal the soldiers to scatter and flank from both sides to control the Nationalist soldiers who had raised their hands.

Hu Tiantao followed the charging team up the mountain, and when she saw this scene, her jaw almost dropped.

"What... what's going on?" He turned to look at Su Yu beside him.

Su Yu glanced at the Nationalist soldiers squatting on the ground, and finally settled on a few people standing in front of the crowd.

Those people didn't squat down; they stood straight, their posture unlike that of prisoners.

The leader was a man in his forties with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a short beard on his chin. He stood there like an iron tower.

"Who's in charge?" the man asked, his voice deep and heavy with a strong Northwestern accent.

Su Yu stepped forward and stood before him: "I am Su Yu, Chief of Staff of the Seventh Red Army Corps. And who are you?"

The man stood with his feet together, straightened his back, and saluted: "Reporting, sir! Wang Debiao, Battalion Commander of the 1st Battalion, 475th Regiment, 238th Brigade, 80th Division of the National Revolutionary Army!"

Su Yu returned the greeting, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment: "Battalion Commander Wang, what's going on here...?"

Wang Debiao lowered his hand and sighed. The sigh was heavy, as if it were squeezed out from his chest.

"Sir, we're stopping the fighting." He glanced back at the soldiers crouching on the ground behind him, his voice low. "Fighting means losing, losing means dying. Commander Chen is gone, leaving us behind. We... we can't really die here, can we?"

Su Yu frowned slightly: "Commander Chen is gone? What happened?"

Wang Debiao wiped his face, squatted down, took out a crumpled cigarette from his pocket, hesitated for a moment, and then put it back.

"Sir, our 80th Division is originally from the Northwest Army. It was incorporated after the Central Plains War. It has been reorganized for several years, and there are fewer and fewer Northwest people, but there are still quite a few of us old Northwesters left in the army."

"Commander Chen's orders were to break through to the north. There was a river to the north, and the safe zone was on the other side. But we men from the Northwest, where have we ever seen a river? We're all landlubbers, none of us can swim."

"Before Commander Chen left, he called a few of us Northwest Army officers together and gave us one instruction: 'Once the main force has crossed the river, our mission is complete. After that, we'll figure out what to do.'"

Su Yu nodded. "Commander Chen does have a bit of military spirit. He didn't order you to fight to the death. Instead, he ordered you to stall until he crossed the river. You stalled until he did, and the mission was accomplished. Your lives are your own. There's nothing wrong with that."

A hint of unease flashed across Wang Debiao's face, and his tone hardened: "Sir, we're not afraid of death, we just don't want to be killed by our own people and die without knowing why."

The wind on the hilltop picked up, making the torches flicker.

The firelight reflected on Wang Debiao's face, his face weathered by wind and sand.

Su Yu understood this man immediately.

This is a strong, upright, and vigorous man from Northwest China.

It is the most steadfast pillar of this country's defense forces.

"Battalion Commander Wang."

"Here." Wang Debiao stood up straight again subconsciously.

Su Yu said, "You are not prisoners of war."

Wang Debiao was stunned for a moment.

"You laid down your weapons voluntarily. According to our army's policy, those who voluntarily lay down their weapons and leave the Kuomintang army are treated as having revolted."

Su Yu turned around, facing the Nationalist soldiers squatting on the ground, and raised her voice:

"Brothers, I know that many of you have beheaded Japanese soldiers on the Great Wall back in the day. The Northwest Army's Big Sword Brigade was renowned far and wide, and even the Japanese devils were afraid of it."

"Now the Japanese invaders occupy our Northeast and are eyeing North China. Our beautiful land is in ruins. But the Kuomintang doesn't fight the Japanese, they fight a civil war and turn their guns on their own compatriots."

Su Yu's voice echoed across the mountaintop, drowning out the sound of the wind.

"Our team is called the Northern Expeditionary Anti-Japanese Vanguard. Going north means going to the front lines in North China to fight the Japanese invaders and recover lost territory."

He turned around and looked at Wang Debiao again.

"The sons of Shaanxi have always been the backbone of the nation. During the Great Wall resistance, they wielded their broadswords against the Japanese invaders. Battalion Commander Wang, I wonder if that burning passion in your heart still remains?"

Wang Debiao stood there, his lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

Behind him, a young soldier suddenly stood up.

"exist!"

The voice was still very young, but it was very loud, echoing through the valley several times.

Then, the second, the third, the tenth, the hundredth...

"exist!"

"exist!"

"exist!"

One by one, the men from Northwest China stood up, their voices changing from scattered to unified, finally forming a torrent that broke through the night.

Wang Debiao's eyes reddened. He stood with his feet together, his back straight, and his right hand suddenly rose.

salute.

"Sir, there are no cowards among the people of Shaanxi."

Su Yu returned a military salute.

"Okay, then let's head north together."