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

If Zhou Zeyuan, who is far away in Fuzhou, knew this, he would probably have to admit it.

He's a liar, and compared to a seasoned politician, he's on a completely different level.

Although their focus of development is not in this area, their level is high enough that they only need to make a slight move to reach a peak that is difficult for ordinary people to reach.

Li Yimang pressed further, "So, what are the Central Committee's expectations for the Northern Expeditionary Force against Japanese Aggression? Where will they continue their journey next?"

"You should ask the Central Military Commission about that. I can only tell you that their very existence is the greatest deterrent to the enemy."

"Look, once Fuzhou is attacked, will the Eastern Route Army still have time to care about our Soviet Area? Jiang Dingwen's telegrams are probably already piled up on the table at the Nanchang Headquarters."

"Comrades, don't think the sky is falling just because the Soviet area is getting smaller and smaller. The sky won't fall."

"We will hold our ground inside, while they fight on the outside. Working together from within and without, we will one day completely defeat the Kuomintang reactionaries."

Li Yimang paused slightly with his pen, then looked up, his eyes behind his glasses shining brighter.

He believed that.

Not only will he believe it, but once the newspaper is printed tomorrow, the entire Soviet area's military and civilians will believe it.

This interview has two purposes:

First, it further misled the Kuomintang, making them believe that this vanguard force heading north to resist Japan was a powerful force built up by the Red Army with a large amount of resources.

In this way, the Kuomintang would inevitably dispatch more troops to encircle and suppress them, thus relieving the pressure on the Central Soviet Area.

Secondly, it stabilized the morale of the troops in the Soviet area. In the past six months, our army had suffered repeated setbacks, and the red area on the map was shrinking day by day. Pessimism was spreading among the troops like a plague.

At this time, news of a "major victory on the outside" is a shot in the arm.

Tell everyone that the Red Army has not collapsed. We still have a powerful army that is rampaging through the enemy's heart and has even captured the provincial capital.

As long as we hold firm, there is hope.

As the man got into his story, the curtain was suddenly lifted from the outside.

Comrade Xiangyu walked in.

"Comrade Yimang, could you please step aside for a moment?"

Li Yimang immediately stood up: "Okay, I'll go back and organize the manuscript. You guys get back to work."

Xiangyu sat down opposite the man and took out a telegram from his pocket:

"Good news! We can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Su Yu's main force has arrived in Fuzhou, and the Nationalist army has not launched a counterattack. Zeyuan has weathered the most difficult period. However..."

He pointed to the telegram: "After they joined forces, they also had significant problems."

The man put down his cigarette, picked up the telegram, and slowly began to read it.

This telegram was completely different from the previous brief report of victory; it was written in great detail.

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Battle casualties, number of enemy killed, number of prisoners captured, list of captured supplies, course of battle... everything, big and small, is listed in detail.

The man's gaze lingered on the numbers of the spoils for a moment, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Good heavens, this kid is like a lucky charm; he's not going to war, he's clearly going to buy goods.

He continued reading.

There is a section specifically dedicated to Le Shaohua.

"...Comrade Le Shaohua, the political commissar, volunteered to go to the enemy ship and confront Jiang Dingwen, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army, face to face."

"When the enemy outnumbered us and the situation was perilous, Comrade Le remained neither arrogant nor humble. He used psychological warfare to stabilize the enemy and prevent them from making any rash moves, thus buying precious time for our main force to join forces. His courage and spirit are a model for all political officers in the army."

Upon seeing this, the man couldn't help but slam his hand on the table: "Excellent! This psychological tactic is truly brilliant!"

He looked up, his eyes full of laughter: "Xiangyu, Zeyuan has performed so outstandingly this time, surely the Central Military Commission won't be stingy with his reward this time?"

Xiangyu smiled and took out another piece of paper from his pocket. It was a draft of a commendation order prepared by the Central Military Commission.

"A commendation is issued to the entire corps. The 7th Red Army Corps has captured many places, killed many enemies, and seized countless spoils during its northward campaign, successfully completing the strategic mission of containing the enemy forces. It is hereby awarded the honorary title of 'Pioneer of the Northward Campaign'."

The man nodded, remaining silent and waiting for what was to come.

"As for the individual... Zhou Zeyuan, acting legion commander, will be awarded a major merit."

"Commander Xun, although you were unable to command this battle due to injury, you made contributions to the early training of troops and the formulation of strategies, and you are also awarded a major merit."

Xiangyu coughed lightly: "Le Shaohua, the political commissar of the legion, volunteered to go to the enemy camp to negotiate and used psychological warfare to stabilize the enemy army, thus buying time for the rendezvous. He deserves a major commendation."

The man's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

After a moment, he spoke slowly, his tone calm and revealing no emotion:

"Comrade Le dared to venture into the lion's den and fight the enemy alone. This courage alone is enough to prove that he is our good comrade. This award is well-deserved."

The man looked at his face, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

In terms of merit, command, and the true architect of this victory, everyone knows that Zhou Zeyuan should be ranked first.

But politics is politics.

The political commissar and the acting commander of the legion must give equal weight to each other in terms of commendation; otherwise, it would be considered "favoring one side" and "undermining unity."

This is not something that one person can change.

Not at least not now.

Xiangyu subtly changed the subject:

"The telegram also said that there are too many prisoners in Fuzhou now, which has become a major problem, and asked what the Central Committee's ideas were. I came to see you mainly to ask about this. What do you think... we should do?"

The man looked up and glanced at Xiangyu.

Then he laughed.

That kind of laughter wasn't hearty laughter, but a kind of laughter tinged with helplessness and appreciation.

"Ask me? Haha, you've been fooled by Zeyuan again."

The man laughed as he said, "No investigation, no right to speak. This little rascal is a master at sowing discord and weakening prisoners. How could he possibly be helpless? He's just complaining about how hard the job is!"

"Think about it, he dared to attack Fuzhou with only three thousand men, and he couldn't even keep an eye on a bunch of prisoners? Nobody believes that."

He couldn't help but laugh, "This kid... he wrote the telegram so seriously, he almost got me confused too."

The man chuckled, shook his head slightly, and looked out the window.

The sunlight outside the window was perfect, and in the distance, several children were chasing and playing barefoot on the ridges of the fields, their laughter drifting over faintly.

In Fuzhou, Le Shaohua, who had successfully completed his mission, was not in a good mood.

Jiang Dingwen negotiated with him for a long time, so much so that by the time an agreement was reached, it was almost dark.

When he returned to the Seventh Army Corps' temporary headquarters, he was dumbfounded to find that it seemed that his work as political commissar had been completely taken over by someone else.