The Lu Nan Detachment was now fully mobilized, encircling Mount Taishan from all directions.

There was also something Lin Fan hadn't anticipated: even now, the Japanese devils inside Taishan Town hadn't realized they were completely surrounded.

This was deduced from the situation around Mount Taishan. If the Japanese devils had discovered troops appearing around them, they would have certainly sent out numerous reconnaissance teams to gather intelligence.

But the reality was that the Lu Nan Detachment hadn't encountered any Japanese devil teams at all.

Instead of immediately tightening the encirclement, the Lu Nan Detachment worked hard to establish interconnected trenches.

Dawn broke, and a new day began!

The Japanese devils of the Xuzhou Task Force, just waking up, were overjoyed to learn that they were returning to Xuzhou today.

All the talk of sweeping through the Lu Nan base area, defending in place, and iron-wall encirclements was over.

The entire Xuzhou Task Force would return to Xuzhou to assist in its defense.

This was wonderful news. To these Japanese devils, safety lay within the big city.

Just as they were excitedly packing up their spoils in Taishan Town, a barrage of artillery shells suddenly rained down from the sky.

The shells fell unexpectedly, exploding across Taishan Town. The fierce explosions not only caused many houses to collapse, but also made the entire ground tremble. As soon as the shells started exploding, Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma was alarmed.

Unlike Commander Yamashita Hozumi, Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma had been on the battlefield for a long time and had heard countless artillery explosions.

He couldn't discern the caliber of the shells exploding the night before last because Commander Gu and his men were using rocket launchers. To the Japanese devils, rockets were still a new type of weapon.

Saito Ooguma couldn't tell then, but today was different. At the first explosion, he recognized it immediately: a 150mm howitzer shell.

As more shells exploded, he could identify both 150mm howitzers and 120mm cannon shells.

He immediately realized that the force attacking the Xuzhou Task Force today was definitely not the same one as the night before last.

Unaware of the full situation, Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma could only order his soldiers to defend in place.

Without more information, he had no other choice but to call Commander Yamashita's headquarters to inquire.

But as soon as the shelling began, his phone lines went dead. Fortunately, his brigade headquarters wasn't far from the Xuzhou Task Force headquarters.

How far could anything be in a town the size of Taishan? Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma rushed into Yamashita Hozumi's command post.

He found Brigade Commanders Suzuki Goro and Momoyo Korefumi already there.

The Japanese devils were looking at a map and discussing something. When they saw him enter, they all turned to him with expectant eyes.

Commander Yamashita Hozumi, seeing him, immediately roared indignantly, "Damn it! They attacked Xuzhou Airport last night, and now they're here so early!"

Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma quickly said, "Commander Yamashita! The force attacking us today may not be the same one that attacked us last time or raided the airport.

Today's force has even larger-caliber guns. Although there are fewer of them, their firepower is much greater."

Commander Yamashita Hozumi, showing no embarrassment for his initial misjudgment, paused before asking, "How can you be so sure?"

Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma pointed outside, "I can tell by the sound. These shells sound very different from those the night before last.

The main evidence is that I passed a shell crater on my way to the command post.

It was much deeper and wider than the craters left by the shells that exploded the night before last."

Commander Yamashita Hozumi said, "I hear it too. There are fewer explosions this time. That's a good thing!"

No sooner had he spoken than a series of explosions erupted outside. Saito Ooguma's face changed.

His face paled, and he muttered to himself, "It's over!"

Commander Yamashita Hozumi felt he had lost face. He had just said that there weren't many shells, implying that the attacking force was weaker than the night before last.

But immediately, the enemy responded with firepower several times more intense than the night before, which was extremely disrespectful.

Everyone in the command post was looking at Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma. It had to be said that his statements at recent meetings had convinced many of the Japanese devils.

Unconsciously, Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma had become their mainstay. Commander Yamashita Hozumi was waiting for him to come up with a plan.

Seeing his distraught appearance, he grew anxious. "Brigade Commander Saito! What's wrong?"

Awakened by the commander, Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma realized that this was the command post, and it was time to struggle for survival.

He said to the Japanese devil commanders present, "Gentlemen! Most of the shells that just exploded were the same kind that bombarded us the night before last.

Judging from the sound of those explosions, at least three heavy artillery regiments have surrounded us, not just one."

Brigade Commander Momoyo Korefumi repeated in disbelief, "Three heavy artillery regiments!"

"Three heavy artillery regiments? Does the National Army have so many heavy guns? Doesn't Imperial Intelligence know exactly how many they have?" Commander Yamashita Hozumi, whose primary role was as a staff officer, asked immediately.

Then he added, "During the Xuzhou Campaign in April, the National Army couldn't even muster a single heavy artillery regiment to participate in the entire Xuzhou battlefield.

Saito-kun! Are you mistaken?"

Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma said, somewhat exasperated, "Didn't you hear the sound of the shells exploding outside just now?

Those dense explosions, each followed by a pause of several minutes before the next round.

Isn't that typical of heavy artillery bombardment? Gentlemen! Let's not have any illusions. Let's face reality!"

Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma's words wounded the hearts of the Japanese devils, and their faces changed at once.

The explosions outside had indeed been too intense, and now the shelling had stopped again.

But the entire town of Taishan was no longer quiet. Fires raged everywhere, and Japanese devils shouted in every direction.

Wounded Japanese devils moaned, begging others to save them, while uninjured devils shouted loudly for help.

In fact, the Japanese devils huddled in Taishan Town were protected by the buildings, which blocked most of the damage from the shells.

Most of the shrapnel and iron pellets from the Special Forces Brigade's unique rocket artillery were blocked by the buildings.

The majority of the current Japanese devil casualties were due to direct hits or being crushed when shells collapsed buildings.

After Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma made his assessment, there was another moment of silence in the Xuzhou Task Force headquarters.

It wasn't until another round of intense explosions that the Japanese devil commanders stirred passively.

"So... what do we do next?" Commander Yamashita Hozumi asked with difficulty.

Normally, it would be up to him, as the commander, to decide the next step, but he no longer cared about that.

If he could, he would give up his position right now. Whoever wanted it could have it. He just wanted to return to the North China Command and quietly serve as his staff officer.

All eyes turned to Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma once again. He didn't disappoint them.

Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma said with difficulty, "We currently know nothing about the enemy attacking us. We should send out small reconnaissance teams in all four directions to scout.

Only by finding the enemy can we develop a countermeasure. In the meantime, the Third Brigade should advance toward Xuzhou to scout the way. In any case, we must withdraw to Xuzhou.

The Fourth Cavalry Brigade should establish defenses north of Taishan Town to cover the army's retreat.

Fortunately, many trenches and fortifications north of Taishan Town were built yesterday and were originally garrisoned by the cavalry brigade.

My Fourth Brigade will wait for news from the reconnaissance teams and be ready to launch a surprise attack on the enemy.

To retreat, we must first advance; to take, we must first give. To retreat to Xuzhou, we must first make a show of attacking.

We must repel one of their attacks or destroy their artillery positions. Only then can we successfully retreat to Xuzhou.

I also suggest that the commander immediately send a telegram to Xuzhou and the North China Front Army to report our current situation and request support."

"Do we really need to request support?" Commander Yamashita Hozumi was reluctant to do so.

It seemed that all he could do after arriving in Xuzhou was request support! Request support.

The only content of the telegrams he sent was requests for support.

This made Commander Yamashita Hozumi very embarrassed. He couldn't avoid his own embarrassment, so he made others embarrassed.

Therefore, he was unwilling to request support from the North China Front Army headquarters. Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma could only compromise, "Then report the battlefield situation to Xuzhou and the North China Front Army headquarters."

That was acceptable! It was essential! It was perfectly fine to report that the Xuzhou Task Force was under attack by an unknown force.

Once they agreed on this, Commander Yamashita Hozumi immediately ordered the situation report to be sent.

Brigade Commander Manda Yuto, stationed in Xuzhou, had decided to inspect the airport after dawn, after the devastating attack it suffered last night.

He still couldn't quite believe Commander Xie's report and wanted to see everything with his own eyes before believing it.

But before he could set out, he received a telegram from the Xuzhou Task Force with news that shocked him: "My task force is under artillery attack by an unknown armed force in Taishan Town!"

The telegram didn't specify the extent of the attack or request assistance from Xuzhou, which slightly reassured Brigade Commander Manda Yuto.

The absence of a request for assistance suggested that the Xuzhou Task Force could handle the situation. Then he thought about it again: The Xuzhou Task Force still had 30,000 Japanese devils. With such a large force, what was there to worry about?

He was just being overly anxious.

The North China Front Army headquarters received the Xuzhou Task Force's report and simply classified it as routine correspondence. Unless it was a life-or-death report, it could wait to be delivered to Commander Terauchi Hisaichi.

After Commander Yamashita Hozumi sent out the situation report, the entire task force began to deploy its defenses.

In the force that Brigade Commander Suzuki Goro sent to scout the way toward Xuzhou, he had deployed the task force's last reserves.

The task force's only six remaining tanks were sent out, along with a company of Japanese devils.

Brigade Commander Suzuki Goro believed that combined arms operations, with a company of infantry and six tanks leading the way, would avoid many unnecessary troubles.

Even if guerrillas were blocking the road ahead, they wouldn't be able to stop an infantry company, right?

If this infantry company were made up of the Japanese devils from before, Brigade Commander Suzuki Goro could have used a definite statement. But now that these infantrymen were converted from logistics troops, their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

Brigade Commander Suzuki Goro could only use a question mark to confirm his actions.

Captain Riku Maeichi accepted the task of leading the first force to retreat to Xuzhou. The captain, who had already struggled through two rounds of shelling, was overwhelmed by the honor.

Although he was also clear that his company was going to scout the way. If the road was safe, all the better.

But if there were ambushes ahead, they would have to fight their way out.

Captain Riku Maeichi didn't think there was anything wrong with that. In any case, it was better than staying in place and getting bombed.

Besides, he was accompanied by Lieutenant Ishiki Ryosuke's six-tank company!

Captain Riku Maeichi acted quickly, setting out from Taishan Town just five minutes after receiving the order.

Although the formation wasn't very orderly, the road was no longer smooth. The road to Xuzhou was now full of shell craters.

Some of the craters were more than four meters in diameter, completely cutting off the road. In such cases, Lieutenant Ishiki Ryosuke had to lead his men to drive over the rubble on the side of the road.

The last time he had led his entire tank company into action was at night, and he had been very unclear about the situation at the time.

That night, the darkness both concealed and protected the details of the battlefield for the six tanks sneaking back.

But today, when he saw the large holes in the ground, he felt a pang of tension: With such heavy artillery, not to mention a direct hit on a tank,

Even if a shell exploded within ten meters of a tank, the tank would be destroyed by the shrapnel.

The clearer he was about the consequences, the more he wanted to leave Taishan Town as soon as possible. Because they had discovered that there were no more shell craters two hundred meters outside Taishan Town.

This meant that as long as they rushed out of Taishan, they could avoid the trouble of artillery bombardment. If he could see this, Captain Riku Maeichi could also see this reality clearly.

Captain Riku Maeichi drew his sword and pointed it outside, ordering loudly, "Charge! Charge quickly! We'll be safe once we're out of Taishan Town!"

The Japanese devils were very fast when they were escaping for their lives. The devils in the entire infantry company were like rabbits being chased by hounds, each running as fast as they could.

The six tanks were the same. The drivers floored the accelerator, squeezing every last bit of power out of the engine, not caring about the bumps inside the tank at high speed.

Lieutenant Ishiki Ryosuke strongly supported this behavior of the drivers. He simply ordered, "Everyone! Hold on to something and don't get hurt!"

In his opinion, as long as they could leave Taishan Town, where shells could fall at any moment, such bumps were nothing.

The Japanese devils all thought the same thing and worked together, moving forward at a rapid pace and soon rushing out of Taishan Town.

When Captain Riku Maeichi heard the dense and violent explosions behind him again, he couldn't help but turn back to look.

Taishan Town was once again shrouded in smoke and dust. His company had not been harmed at all in this bombardment.

All the Japanese devils of the Riku Maeichi Infantry Company turned back and secretly rejoiced when they saw the smoke filling Taishan Town.

Lieutenant Ishiki Ryosuke opened the hatch of his tank and also looked back at Taishan, which was being bombarded by artillery fire, secretly rejoicing: Fortunately, I led my men out.

Just now, they had been using their fastest speed to escape, whether it was the infantry or the tanks.

Now that they were out of range of the artillery fire, they didn't need to push themselves so hard.

After all, it was a full sixty li from Taishan to Xuzhou, and it was impossible to maintain top speed all the way.

Both the tanks and the infantry company slowed down and reorganized to set off toward Xuzhou again.

Gu Xiuming had learned from the reports of the front-line reconnaissance platoon that more than a thousand Japanese devils and six tanks had come out of Taishan Town.

And they were advancing along the main road toward Xuzhou! His First Regiment was guarding this main road.

The Japanese devils were still four li away from the First Regiment's forward positions. First Company Commander Feng Ruili had already received the order to wipe out this group of Japanese devils.

In order to take out the Japanese devils' six tanks and prevent them from escaping, Gu Xiuming had specifically transferred the Gao Xiang machine gun company.

Company Commander Wu Zhizhi was overjoyed: They could fight tanks again!

He said to Company Commander Feng, "Old Feng! Don't think that I only have twelve machine guns in my hands.

Don't think that these guns can't hit Japanese devils. You don't know how powerful these guns are. If you use them to hit Japanese devil infantry, one bullet can pierce through five!"

Feng Ruili said with a smile, "Old Wu! You just need to take out the Japanese devils' tanks.

Actually, even if you didn't come, our company's rocket launchers could take out the Japanese devil tanks, or even the directional mines we planted."

Wu Zhizhi said with a smile, "You're being short-sighted! Rocket launchers only have a range of three hundred meters, and directional mines are just a blind cat trying to catch a dead mouse.

Our anti-aircraft machine guns can take out Japanese devil tanks from a thousand meters away.

Don't you know the advantages? Let me tell you:

That way, the Japanese devils' tank guns won't even have a chance to fire a few shots before I take them out.

How much lower is the risk faced by the soldiers? You know that.

We didn't have good equipment before, so we could only fill the gap with our lives. Now that we have these good things,

Why should we still fill the gap with our lives? We can just take out the Japanese devils' tanks and blow up their infantry.

Finally, we can let everyone charge. If we fight a battle like that and wipe out the Japanese devils without any casualties,

Wouldn't that be great!"

Feng Ruili said with a smile, "Old Wu! Did the Eleventh Company change its equipment or its mouth?

I think most of the equipment has been moved to your mouth."

Wu Zhizhi said with a smile, "Of course we have to change our thinking when we change our equipment. If I still used the old tactics with these twelve anti-aircraft machine guns,

Don't say that I wouldn't feel good about it, even the regiment commander wouldn't let me get away with it!"

"That's true! If you can't use the new equipment well, don't say that the regiment commander won't be satisfied, we won't let you get away with it either," Feng Ruili said with a smile.

The reconnaissance platoon kept reporting the location of the Japanese devils. Although the Japanese devils weren't marching at a fast pace, they didn't rest along the way.

Soon, they could see the Japanese devils' tanks emerging from the horizon, followed by many Japanese devil infantry.

"Their infantry and tanks are together!" Feng Ruili said with a smile.

Wu Zhizhi raised his binoculars, looked at the Japanese devils' tanks, and issued orders: "Number One and Number Two, aim at the first tank on the left. Number Three and Number Four, aim at the second...

Don't rush to fire. Wait for my command."

The Japanese devils' tanks were now more than a thousand meters away. Of course, his anti-aircraft machine guns could reach them, and he was sure he could take out the tanks.

But at such a long distance, if the anti-aircraft machine gun company took out the Japanese devils' tanks,

The Japanese devils' infantry might run away. At a distance of a thousand meters, no matter how fast the First Company could run, they wouldn't be able to catch up.

Therefore, he wanted each machine gun to aim at its target first and wait for his command. As long as the Japanese devils' tanks didn't stop to fire, the anti-aircraft machine guns wouldn't rush to fire.

The orders given by First Company Commander Feng Ruili were the same. Although the Japanese devils were a thousand meters away, it wasn't as if the First Company didn't have any weapons that could reach them.

Five mortars and two Type 92 infantry guns could all hit the Japanese devils, but Company Commander Feng gave the same order: "Aim! Be ready to fire at any time. The final attack will require my command."

He had the same idea: As long as the Japanese devils' tanks didn't stop to fire, he wouldn't rush to attack them.

He would wait until the Japanese devils' infantry got close, the closer the better. If he had a choice, Company Commander Feng would have preferred to attack the Japanese devils' tanks when they were only twenty meters away.

The Japanese devils of the Riku Maeichi Company, who were advancing, finally discovered that there was a line of defense that had already been established on the road ahead.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was only eight hundred meters. Captain Riku Maeichi was shocked.

He stopped immediately and immediately sent a communication soldier back to report. He also ordered all the Japanese devils in the company to lie prone on the ground and wait for orders.

Lieutenant Ishiki Ryosuke didn't hesitate when he saw the infantry defense line ahead.

He leaned half his body out of the tank, "Captain Riku Maeichi! We must take advantage of this opportunity to rush past quickly.

"But..."

"The defending soldiers on the other side don't know which direction we're charging.

Their forces should be relatively scattered. If we charge over at this time, the ambush we encounter will be the smallest.

If we wait half an hour, the troops on the other side will definitely mobilize reinforcements from other directions.

Then it will be much more difficult for us to rush out."

Captain Riku Maeichi felt that Lieutenant Ishiki Ryosuke's analysis seemed to make some sense.

He looked at the six tanks in front of him and suddenly thought that the entire Xuzhou Task Force had thirty-six tanks when it came out of Xuzhou, but now there were only six tanks left.

This was naturally due to the quick decision made by the Ishiki Ryosuke Lieutenant in the battlefield that saved the six tanks.

Thinking of this, he immediately agreed to Lieutenant Ishiki Ryosuke's suggestion. He immediately ordered, "Captain Takenaka Yoshio, you lead your men to follow Lieutenant Ishiki in the front. I will lead the entire company to follow and charge.

Be sure to rush past in one go!"

"Hai!" Captain Takenaka Yoshio stood at attention and saluted.

Without any need for mobilization, just one order was enough for Captain Takenaka Yoshio to understand how dire the current situation was.

For the Japanese devils who had just escaped from Taishan Town, they were now clearer than the Japanese devils waiting for news in Taishan: the entire Xuzhou Task Force had been surrounded.

"The scouts that were sent out in all four directions are reporting that they encountered ambushes?" Commander Yamashita Hozumi couldn't believe it.

The Japanese devils from the four scouting teams were clearly in front of him, and they had just reported in person.

But he was still unwilling to believe this fact! Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma was the first to accept this fact.

He immediately said, "Commander! We must now establish a line of defense along Taishan Town and report the latest situation to Xuzhou and the North China Front Army headquarters.

Should we counterattack in place or break out toward Xuzhou? Please decide, Commander!"

Commander Yamashita Hozumi finally came back to his senses after Brigade Commander Saito Ooguma's reminder and quickly said, "Yes! Yes! Defend immediately!"

Brigade Commander Manda Yuto was very shocked when he received another telegram from Commander Yamashita saying that the entire Xuzhou Task Force was surrounded.

The Xuzhou Task Force still had more than 30,000 Japanese devils. Could either the 69th Army, which had stayed behind to fight guerrilla warfare, or the Lu Nan Detachment, be able to swallow them?

Even if the Lu Nan Detachment and the National Army guerrillas joined forces, they wouldn't be able to defeat the Xuzhou Task Force!

Terauchi Hisaichi finally saw the telegram sent by the Xuzhou Task Force. Taishan Town, sixty li outside of Xuzhou,

Had now been conspicuously marked. Did the Lu Nan Detachment dare to directly attack a force of more than 30,000 elite troops?

Throughout the entire North China and Central China battlefields, the National Army had never launched such a large-scale offensive.

How many troops did the Lu Nan Detachment have?

This was a question! A question that the Japanese devils urgently needed to figure out.

Sitting in North China, it was impossible to figure this out. Terauchi Hisaichi also had friends in the upper echelons of Wuhan.

These friends could always provide him with the latest and most urgent intelligence in a timely manner.

Commander Terauchi Hisaichi sent a request for help through a secret radio, the content was very simple: Please be sure to find out the recent troop deployment and operational plans of the Lu Nan Detachment.

A similar telegram had been sent a few days ago, but he had not received any reply.

This time, Commander Terauchi Hisaichi had to send the inquiry telegram to his very powerful friend in Wuhan.

The Fifth War Area had been fighting well in the mountains recently, fighting back and forth with the Japanese devils' Second Army, no longer able to only be beaten without retaliating as they had in the past.

Commander Li Zongren had also cured the sequelae of an injury he had suffered many years ago last month.

This was truly a double blessing, and as he was in a very good mood, he suddenly received a telegram from the National Army headquarters asking him to report the specific number of combatants in the Lu Nan Detachment under the Special Forces Brigade and their recent operational plans.

This surprised him greatly, as this was the second time that the headquarters had sent a telegram asking about the Lu Nan Detachment.

Last time, he had sent a telegram to ask Lin Fan, but Lin Fan had blocked him. At that time, Lin Fan said that the Lu Nan Detachment was not under the command of the National Army and was not subject to the Fifth War Area, so he could not understand the real situation of the Lu Nan Detachment.

Today, the headquarters sent a telegram to inquire about the Lu Nan Detachment again. He understood Lin Fan, and since he was unwilling to say it, there must be a reason for not saying it.

As for the Lu Nan Detachment, it was clearly developed from the hundreds of people that the Special Forces Brigade sent to Taierzhuang to fight last time.

From internal news, Li Zongren still knew some things about the Lu Nan Detachment, but he only knew that the Lu Nan Detachment had occupied more than a dozen counties and was vigorously accepting refugees.

As for how many people there were in their team, what their organization was, he really didn't know anything.

He didn't know anything about the Lu Nan Detachment's recent operational plans, and he didn't even know that Lin Fan had arrived in the Lu Nan Detachment.

He had to obey the orders of the headquarters! An inquiry telegram was sent to the Special Forces Brigade, and was soon forwarded to the Lu Nan Detachment.

When Lin Fan received this telegram from the headquarters of the Fifth War Area outside of Taishan Town, asking about the number and recent operational plans of the Lu Nan Detachment,

He couldn't help but smile: How could such top-secret data be reported? Even before each operation, all military action plans were kept secret from the Fifth War Area.

This time, someone actually came to ask so directly, it must not be that the headquarters of the Fifth War Area wanted to know, but rather that the Japanese devils wanted to know through the upper echelons of the National Army.

Lin Fan began to reply to the telegram: "Commander Li! The Fifth War Area has continuously inquired about the number of troops in the Lu Nan Detachment twice in recent days. Is this the Commander's intention?

If it is not the Commander's intention, please investigate thoroughly!"

In addition, he replied to another telegram:

"The Lu Nan Detachment currently has a regular force of ten regiments, approximately 20,000 men.

In the past ten days, it has annihilated more than 10,000 Japanese devils from the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade of the Japanese devils' infantry in Huangtuling, Zhaozhuang, and Lilou.

Annihilated one infantry battalion, one tank company, and one cavalry battalion of the Independent Mixed Tenth Brigade of the Japanese devils' infantry.

Annihilated and captured two infantry regiments of the 37th Army of the puppet army.

Last night, it carried out a night attack on the Xuzhou Task Force, killing 8,000 Japanese devils and 7,000 mules and horses. Seized hundreds of artillery pieces of various types, more than 300 heavy machine guns, and tens of thousands of various rifles.

Yesterday night, it completely destroyed the Xuzhou Airport, annihilated all 2,000 Japanese devil airport guards and personnel, and destroyed 66 enemy aircraft.

Today, it is surrounding more than 30,000 Japanese devils from the Xuzhou Task Force stationed in Taishan Town outside Xuzhou, and the battle is underway."

Li Zongren received Lin Fan's first telegram first and was shocked at the time. He knew Lin Fan clearly. This person had always been very critical of the National Army's security work.

He never took the initiative to reveal the plans for military operations. The Fifth War Area had become accustomed to it. Anyway, it was good as long as he could fight the Japanese devils.

Now, through Lin Fan's reminder, he also understood: This must be someone who wanted to help the Japanese devils obtain information about the Lu Nan Detachment.

Just what had this Lu Nan Detachment done to make the Japanese devils use such abilities to inquire about the news?

Being able to dispatch the headquarters to send such a telegram, the person of the Japanese devils in the upper echelons of the National Army must not be in a low position, at least not lower than his own.

The more deeply he thought about it, the more surprised he was. He sent Lin Fan's telegram to Chiang Kai-shek and Dai Li as they were.

Dai Li was the professional when it came to investigating traitors! He should let the professionals do such things.

Immediately afterward, he received Lin Fan's second telegram. After reading the telegram, Li Zongren took a deep breath.

It turned out that the Lu Nan Detachment had done such a great thing in Xuzhou. No wonder the Japanese devils were so nervous that they did not hesitate to use high-level officials to figure out their situation.

Looking at the results of the battle listed on the telegram, it was more than the number of Japanese devils killed by the Fifth War Area in the blocking of the Japanese devils' Second Army these days.

This must have been a pain in the ass for the Japanese devils, and when combined with the uncertain news that had been coming back from Xuzhou City recently: Japanese devils and puppet troops were always seen going out from the north of Xuzhou City, and no Japanese devils were seen returning.

Li Zongren had studied the terrain and landforms of Xuzhou in detail. He could clearly remember that Taishan was located in the northeast direction of Xuzhou.

However, he immediately came to the operations command and ordered the staff to find the map of Xuzhou.

After marking out Taishan, Zhaozhuang, Lilou, Huangtuling, and other places one by one, they immediately clearly understood: This was the Lu Nan Detachment walking out of the base area and launching an offensive against the Japanese devils on their own initiative.

Cooperating with the recent actions of the Special Forces Brigade in Jiangbei, it could be seen that the two arrows were pointing at Xuzhou.

"Is the Special Forces Brigade going to attack Xuzhou?" Everyone present came to such a conclusion.

Although Li Zongren couldn't believe it, judging from the situation shown on the map, Lin Fan really had such an idea!

No wonder the Japanese devils were nervous.

"Why didn't the Japanese devils transfer troops from the north to encircle and suppress the Lu Nan Detachment?" A staff member asked.

"The Xuzhou Task Force was sent out by them from Beiping." A staff member rushed in from the outside, handed over the information that Li Zongren was looking for, and said.

Judging from this information, the Lu Nan Detachment's actions had been going on for almost a month, and they had completely started from the Lu Nan base area in cooperation with the Special Forces Brigade's offensive against Lu'an and Huoshan.

Li Zongren exclaimed, "Lin Fan is using the Lu Nan Detachment's offensive to hold back the Japanese devils so they won't send troops from Xuzhou to reinforce the Japanese devils' Second Army.

It's just that he didn't expect that they would fight so hard that the Japanese devils actually formed the Xuzhou Task Force to deal with them.

What the Japanese devils didn't expect was that the Lu Nan Detachment was so strong that they gave them a show of force first and now surrounded them in Taishan Town."

"Is the data in this telegram sent by Lin Fan fake?" A staff member reminded.

They all knew about the Special Forces Brigade's nature: they never reported operational plans in the past. When asked urgently, it was just one sentence: report after the battle.

The battle was over, so what was being reported at that time called a plan?

It was just that Commander Li especially favored the Special Forces Brigade and had never given Lin Fan a punishment, so these staff members no longer asked about it.

Today, Lin Fan took the initiative to report this telegram, which was obviously used for fishing!

Li Zongren said with a smile, "The numbers on it, except for the words 'The Lu Nan Detachment has a total of ten regiments, with over 20,000 men' are fake.

Everything else is true. If there is anything false, the Japanese devils will immediately know that this is false news when this telegram is passed into their hands.

Nine true and one false, that's what the content of this telegram is all about."

It was just that he did not expect that Lin Fan's telegram was all true.

It was just that Lin Fan did not report the number of the security regiment.

Even so, one staff member still said sourly, "Is the Special Forces Brigade still a brigade?

One of his detachments has 20,000 men, which is enough strength for an army.

And they can still annihilate 8,000 Japanese devils in a night attack, how is that done?"

After being reminded, Li Zongren began to seriously analyze the second telegram sent by Lin Fan.

He had analyzed the first telegram and thought that Lin Fan was right, but this kind of thing happened in Wuhan and at a high level.

He couldn't control it and couldn't manage it, so he just let Chiang Kai-shek and Dai Li have a headache.

However, the second telegram from Lin Fan said that he did not know what kind of battles had taken place in the places mentioned in those place names.

The Lu Nan Detachment surrounded 30,000 Japanese devils in Taishan this time and wanted to annihilate them all!

What kind of strength was this?

None of the National Army's armies, with 100,000 troops, dared to be as crazy as Lin Fan, and this Lu Nan Detachment was not the strongest combat force of the Special Forces Brigade.

It was time to look at the Special Forces Brigade with a different perspective.

In fact, if it were up to Li Zongren, he would have expanded Lin Fan's Special Forces Brigade into an army long ago.

It was just that Chiang Kai-shek had been suppressing and disagreeing. The current situation of the Special Forces Brigade, whether it was from the perspective of troops, combat effectiveness, strength, or military exploits, all met the requirements of an army.

Even if he were allowed to form an army group, it would be completely no problem, but Chiang Kai-shek had been suppressing it and never looked at the merits of the Special Forces Brigade.

Thinking of this, Li Zongren sighed and ordered, "Everything that you see today must not be leaked. Everything about the Lu Nan Detachment is top secret."

In fact, he knew that Lin Fan's second telegram was meant for him to pass it on, and then it would naturally be passed into the hands of the Japanese devils.

Lin Fan hoped to use fishing to find the high-level official.

Li Zongren obviously attached much more importance to the second telegram. After reporting to Chiang Kai-shek first, and after Dai Li had arrived and was ready,

He sent the second telegram to Wuhan. He didn't know what happened next in Wuhan.

When Chiang Kai-shek received the first telegram sent by the Fifth War Area, he was already very angry.

Although the Battle of Wuhan was fought well, the overall trend of the National Army's weakness had not changed.

A traitor had actually appeared in the upper echelons. Although the intelligence that this person wanted to obtain was not important,

It was just a detachment under the Special Forces Brigade, but this person's position should be very high, otherwise he would not be able to command the headquarters.

He immediately summoned Dai Li and asked him to find this person as soon as possible. What else could Dai Li say?

He would take action immediately. Just as