The anti-Japanese war situation across the country appeared, on the surface, to be extremely critical, with the Japanese devils already occupying the wealthiest coastal cities.

Now, they had pried open a crack in the gates of Wuhan.

However, insightful politicians and military strategists internationally saw a difference from the previous year.

The year before, the country was still plagued by warlords and constant infighting. After a year of resistance,

warlords large and small, regardless of their past grievances, had set aside their differences and united under the banner of the National Revolutionary Army to fight the Japanese.

The civil war had also ceased, and the National Revolutionary Army's fighting strength grew stronger with each battle, its ruling position becoming more secure.

Conversely, the Japanese devils were growing weaker with each passing day. From a developmental perspective, their defeat was already inevitable.

Lin Fan, of course, was aware of this development and had been working hard to contribute to it.

With the Battle of Wuhan raging fiercely, Lin Fan was not idle. He patiently waited north of Xuzhou for the Japanese devils in the city to emerge.

The main force of the Lunan Detachment used this opportunity to rest and recuperate, while the five newly reorganized infantry regiments also intensified their training.

They were no longer security regiments, so the weapons, equipment, and training they received were vastly different from before.

At the same time, the various regiments of the Lunan Detachment had been increasing the replacement of weapons in recent days, mainly to equip each regiment with a high-altitude machine gun company and a rocket artillery company.

The power of high-altitude machine guns had not yet been discovered as particularly special by the regiments of the Special Operations Brigade, but the power of rocket artillery had long been rumored throughout the regiments.

During the encirclement and annihilation of the Asao 56th Regiment, the rocket artillery companies of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Regiments, which had just received rocket artillery, had all participated in the battle.

The regiment commanders had witnessed the effects of the battle firsthand, and they took advantage of the available time to quickly familiarize their companies with the new weapons.

Throughout the Lunan base area, from the county towns to the villages, even the most remote places were now spreading rumors that the Lunan Detachment had killed 20,000 Japanese devils in recent days.

The bodies of the Japanese devils were piled up like mountains, and the blood they shed flowed like rivers. This news was spread by members of the various work teams within the base area during their evening literacy classes with the villagers.

While the regular regiments concentrated their efforts on fighting major battles against the Japanese devils, the various security regiments of the Lunan base area also launched attacks according to orders, taking advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Japanese devils were being held back to attack the surrounding county towns controlled by the Japanese.

For a time, every county town controlled by the Japanese devils in Shandong was in a state of self-endangerment, fearing that guerrillas might attack at any moment.

Although the fighting strength of the security regiments of the Lunan base area could not compare to that of a main force regiment like Gu Xiuming's 1st Regiment, their fighting strength was definitely not that of ordinary guerrillas.

Whether in terms of weapons or training, the security regiments of the Lunan base area were very good.

Moreover, their actions were not isolated. Often, when attacking a county town, many surrounding security regiments would help to resist reinforcements sent by the Japanese devils from other places.

This left the Japanese devils defending the county town isolated and without support. A shortage of troops was a common problem for the Japanese devils. In each county town, they stationed as few as a squad of a dozen soldiers, the rest being all puppet troops.

Even in some of the larger county towns, they stationed at most a battalion of Japanese devils, which was the limit, and this battalion had to cover several surrounding counties.

The Lunan base area, taking advantage of the momentum of having just annihilated two infantry regiments of the Japanese devils, constantly nibbled away at the Japanese forces in Lunan, which made the Japanese devils feel overwhelmed.

Commander Terauchi Hisaichi of the North China Area Army once again urged Yamasawa Jiro to attack, as he had deep doubts about his own judgment.

At a time when troops were so strained, he had drawn up a team to organize a special task force. From the time the team was formed until now, the first task of rescuing the Fukagawa Battalion had not only not been completed, but it had also lost two infantry regiments.

Whenever he thought of this, Commander Terauchi Hisaichi felt a pang in his heart. He thought that if he had not sent the Independent Infantry 10th Brigade to relieve Tian Jia'an, the situation north of Xuzhou would not have been so bad.

The Independent Infantry 10th Brigade would not have been completely annihilated. Was the root cause of all this in Tian Jia'an? Not really. The root cause of everything was that Prince Higashikuninomiya Naruhiko's Second Army had fought so poorly.

If the commander of the Second Army, Prince Higashikuninomiya Naruhiko, were not a member of the royal family, he would probably have been replaced long ago.

Commander Terauchi Hisaichi could only think this far, and he dared not think any deeper.

He had no way to deal with Prince Higashikuninomiya Naruhiko, so he could only once again order Yamasawa Jiro to hurry up and take action to wipe out the Lunan base area as soon as possible.

The Xuzhou Special Task Force, led by Commander Yamasawa Jiro, originally had more than 30,000 combat troops and nearly 20,000 logistics support personnel.

Now, even with the loss of two infantry regiments and less than 10,000 combat troops, he still had more than 40,000 Japanese devils under his command.

Their strength was still there, and in just a few days, Commander Yamasawa Jiro had tapped into his potential and equipped all 20,000 of his logistics support personnel.

He wanted these Japanese devils to be prepared in two ways, ready to transform into combat members at any time, and nearly 10,000 of these Japanese devils had been incorporated into the Inoue Zongwu Brigade on the spot. The Asao 56th Regiment and the Nakajima Ayumu Regiment had become history.

The new regimental commanders of the Inoue Zongwu Brigade were now called: Regimental Commander Nikko Takuno and Regimental Commander Kitakaze Fubuki.

After having two infantry regiments, Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu's illness miraculously improved.

He leaped from his hospital bed, returned to his position as brigade commander, and began to train this new batch of Japanese devils.

These Japanese devils were, after all, only logistics soldiers. Even if they were transformed into combat troops, without a period of training, their fighting strength and their ability to carry out orders would not be able to keep up with Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu's expectations.

Despite the inadequacy of these newly arrived Japanese devils, Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu was still very patient in instructing them.

Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu had suddenly undergone a great change in personality. The arrogance he had before was completely gone, and now he only had humility.

It even made his chief of staff feel that it was a bit too much.

Commander Terauchi Hisaichi was overjoyed to learn that Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu had replenished his two infantry regiments so quickly.

The matter of the Asao and Nakajima regimental commanders would not be pursued for the time being. The most important thing at the moment was to wipe out the Lunan base area.

If the Lunan Detachment were allowed to continue to develop, nine-tenths of the territory that the Japanese devils had worked so hard to conquer would be snatched away by the Lunan Detachment.

In any case, the Xuzhou Special Task Force had finally begun to leave the city. This time, the team that left the city was much more imposing than before.

The people of Xuzhou once again had new topics to talk about. As for those Japanese devils who had left the city a few times before, well-informed people in Xuzhou had long inquired about their fate.

And they had used this news to exchange for good wine, good meat, and good cigarettes several times. The main reason was that the news was so satisfying that people who heard it were willing to treat them.

In the words of the well-informed person: All the Japanese devils who left the city in the past few days had been completely annihilated, with no survivors.

Today, watching so many Japanese devils leave the city, some good-natured citizens immediately began to speculate whether this batch of Japanese devils would also meet the same fate of having no survivors.

There was a basis for the fact that those Japanese devils had no survivors a few days ago. Villagers from Zhao Village and Li Mansion who had entered the city spoke of the great battles of the past few days.

They were all beaming, saying that planes in the sky were fighting in a group, and thunder was rising on the ground. When the battle started, planes in the sky were falling like dumplings, and the earth was shaking like waves.

The dead Japanese devils were buried in several large pits, and the Japanese devils were not human beings at all, they drank human blood and ate human flesh.

Some people doubted it, and some people did not believe it. The people of Zhao Village and Li Mansion said that the Japanese devils' canteens were filled with blood, all blood!

Regardless of whether others believed it or not, the people of Li Mansion and Zhao Village believed it. Because they had personally picked up the canteens from the bodies of the Japanese devils and opened them to take a look.

Regardless of whether others believed it or not, the well-informed person in Xuzhou City who spread the news believed it.

Whether or not the people who heard the news believed it, their hatred for the Japanese devils made them willing to believe it.

The Xuzhou Special Task Force had just walked less than five *li* out of Xuzhou City when Gu Xiuming knew about it, and Lin Fan also knew about it.

All eleven regular regimental commanders of the Lunan Detachment knew about it.

At this time, they only knew that the Japanese devils had left the North Gate of Xuzhou, but they did not know how many Japanese devils there were.

Because the reconnaissance platoon sent out by Gu Xiuming had not yet counted them clearly. They only saw that 20,000 Japanese devils had already left the team, and the Japanese devils behind them were still constantly walking out.

This time, a little too many Japanese devils came out. When Gu Xiuming received the report, the Japanese devils were still constantly walking out of Xuzhou City.

The number of Japanese devils had exceeded 20,000, which was a bit too many. When the final number was clear, Lin Fan knew that 40,000 Japanese devils had walked out of Xuzhou City.

With so many Japanese devils, it was definitely not something that Gu Xiuming and the four regiments lurking outside Xuzhou City could swallow.

The Lunan Detachment now had eleven regular regiments, and it could organize fifty security regiments.

Now that 40,000 Japanese devils had left Xuzhou City, they could not have come out for tourism. Everyone in the Lunan Detachment knew this.

Lin Fan had already ordered a general mobilization of the Lunan base area, and all fifty security regiments had been assembled.

According to the marching route of this team of Japanese devils, they should be taking the same route as the two regiments that had already been sent to their deaths.

And according to the intelligence received last time: these 40,000 Japanese devils should be all the strength of the so-called Xuzhou Special Task Force.

Lin Fan had already decided to teach the Xuzhou Special Task Force a lesson. According to news from the front: there were two infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade, and a large number of Japanese logistics soldiers in this team.

There were also more than forty tanks following the infantry brigade of the Japanese devils, which should be the biggest reliance of the Xuzhou detachment.

According to Lin Fan's orders, Gu Xiuming led the four regiments to continue lurking outside Xuzhou.

They would wait for him to complete the assembly of the team before making plans.

The Xuzhou Special Task Force was led this time by a tank company, which was clearing the way, followed by the Independent Mixed Fourth Brigade.

Behind them was the cavalry brigade, and Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu's team was now at the back of the entire detachment.

These were all arranged according to combat effectiveness, but the Independent Mixed Third Brigade of Inoue Zongwu, although the infantry was transformed from logistics soldiers, and the cavalry had been completely annihilated, it still had a tank company and an artillery company.

These two teams were the strongest combat power of the entire Independent Mixed Third Brigade.

Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu was, of course, clear about this, so he specifically ordered the tank company to be sure to stay with the entire brigade.

Now, he no longer had the desire to compete for strength. Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu was now only thinking about being able to safely lead these newly replenished Japanese devils to the battlefield for a lap, and then safely lead them back.

Only by letting them roll around on the bloody battlefield could they be considered to have some combat power.

But they could not be completely annihilated on the battlefield again. Therefore, Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu ordered the tank company to protect the entire brigade.

Commander Yamasawa Jiro and Brigade Commander Saito Takeo were very clear about Brigade Commander Inoue Zongwu's little thoughts.

However, they did not care. A toothless tiger could only be considered a cat.

The Xuzhou Special Task Force of more than 40,000 Japanese devils could not march quickly. Commander Yamasawa Jiro did not think that the team would reach Tashan Town in one day.

On the first night, more than 40,000 Japanese devils camped and stopped in a small place between Tashan and Xuzhou.

Commander Yamasawa Jiro had sufficient troops this time, and hundreds of cavalry scouts from the Hyakutai Brigade were sent out to check the front, back, left, and right of the entire special task force at any time.

The Asao 56th Regiment and the Nakajima Ayumu Regiment had made detailed reports in their telegrams about the situation when they were attacked a few days ago.

Through those reports, the staff of the Xuzhou Special Task Force analyzed that the Lunan Detachment was good at using landmines and ambushes.

The best way to deal with ambushes was to send more scouts to discover the enemy's ambush circle as early as possible.

They would not enter the enemy's ambush circle and could also conduct a targeted counter-encirclement. This was Commander Yamasawa Jiro's idea.

He had such an idea, which was passed on to the brigade commanders, and how could the brigade commanders not believe it?

The lessons of the Asao Regiment and the Nakajima Regiment were very profound, and the telegrams they sent back could still be checked.

Because of this, there were many scouts sent out by the Japanese Xuzhou Special Task Force.

This made it impossible for the reconnaissance platoon sent out by Regiment Commander Gu Xiuming to approach the main force of the Japanese devils within 1,000 meters.

Jiang Liming, the commander of the 1st platoon of the 1st company of the 1st regiment, held up his binoculars and looked at the Japanese devils' team 3,000 meters away. Another team of Japanese cavalry was rushing in this direction.

He could only order: "Retreat!"

This was the fifth time his reconnaissance platoon had retreated. The cavalry brigade of the Japanese devils seemed to be treating this kind of patrol as marching.

They were always searching aimlessly around, and although they had not been exposed, they had retreated further and further away from the Japanese devils. Now they had retreated 3,000 meters away, and they really had nowhere to retreat.

If they retreated again, they would not be able to see the Japanese devils' team at all. There were four regiments of the Lunan Detachment in this position. According to Regiment Commander Gu's orders, only the 1st and 2nd Regiments could send reconnaissance teams to scout the Japanese devils at close range.

The 7th and 8th Regiments had just been reorganized from the security regiments, and they were not allowed to send reconnaissance teams to approach the Japanese devils for the time being.

Gu Xiuming's purpose was, of course, to protect them. Close-range reconnaissance was a great test of the soldiers' psychological quality.

The soldiers of the 7th and 8th Regiments still needed to participate in some practice before they could carry out such activities.

However, the 7th and 8th Regiments would not become deaf and blind because of this. All the intelligence scouted by the 1st and 2nd Regiments was shared in real time.

This had to be said to be the benefit of Lin Fan equipping each company with a walkie-talkie. Each company could talk at any time, not to mention the liaison between the various regiments.

Gu Xiuming was now watching the Japanese devils camp in the wild. He intentionally wanted to give this team of Japanese devils, who had just left the city, a big gift at night.

These days, the four regiments outside Xuzhou, the four rocket artillery companies, had been practicing operations, but they had never fired a single live round.

Taking advantage of the cover of darkness, if possible, this night attack could be used as a training exercise.

Gu Xiuming asked Lin Fan for instructions on his plan and soon received a reply: "After the night attack, the four regiments will immediately move to the vicinity of Xuzhou Airport.

Prepare for an attack on the airport tomorrow morning."

Lin Fan's plan was very simple: "Tonight, Gu Xiuming's four regiments will bomb the Xuzhou Special Task Force.

Tomorrow, the Japanese devils may send out reconnaissance planes to search for their traces. At this time, the four regiments hiding around the airport will need to launch another attack on Xuzhou Airport.

At the same time, tomorrow morning and evening, the planes of the Lunan Detachment will launch an attack on the Xuzhou Special Task Force, which has already been bombed once at night.

Gu Xiuming and the four regiments have the task of covering the Lunan Flying Team in their attack on the airport."

The brigade commander has agreed! Gu Xiuming felt that happiness had come too suddenly. They had been here for half a month, without firing a single shot or hitting a single Japanese devil.

They had been quietly watching the scenery here. This time, once they started fighting, it would be a series of plans. After hitting the Japanese devils' infantry in the north, they would go to bomb the Japanese devils' airport in the east. Gu Xiuming liked this kind of task.

The brigade commander had finally agreed to let them attack the Japanese devils. The four regiments, from top to bottom, all boiled over.

For the past half month, the 1st and 2nd Regiments, as the most combat-effective teams in the Lunan Detachment, had been here to report to the brother regiments behind them.

They had not hit a single Japanese devil, and the soldiers of these two regiments had long wanted to launch a large-scale attack on the Japanese devils.

The 7th and 8th Regiments were the same. The three regiments that had been reorganized from the security regiments like them had been fighting one major battle after another.

Just thinking about annihilating more than 10,000 Japanese devils, one could know how comfortable the brothers were fighting.

But what about them? They could only hide in the suburbs of Xuzhou, silently watching the Japanese devils pass by under their noses, seeing them pass by, but not being able to fire a single shot.

Tonight was different!

Gu Xiuming pointed to the map and ordered the regimental commanders and company commanders who were attending the meeting: "Tonight's attack is the first battle we have fought after lurking for so long. We must fight well and make the Japanese devils hurt.

According to our current situation, tonight we can only use artillery for long-range bombing as a surprise attack on the Japanese devils.

The Japanese devils have a full force of 40,000. Each regiment will first bomb the Japanese devils and then launch a wave of charges against them.

Pay attention, the purpose of tonight's charge is not to completely annihilate the Japanese devils, but to destroy the Japanese devils' heavy weapons, supplies, mules, and horses.

Each company must be careful when charging, because we must retreat at any time and go to Xuzhou Airport to prepare for the attack on the airport after dawn."

Hearing that after fighting the Japanese devils tonight, they would have to go to the airport overnight and continue to fight the Japanese devils tomorrow, the regimental commanders and company commanders present smiled.

When arranging the specific tasks next, the teams launching the charge tonight would be the 1st and 2nd Regiments, and the 7th and 8th Regiments would be responsible for protecting the artillery positions.

After the regiments understood their tasks, they immediately began to prepare.

As soon as it got dark, nearly 10,000 troops from the four regiments quietly set off. They were more than 30 *li* away from where the Japanese devils were stationed.

This distance was only a little more than the 10-kilometer cross-country run that the soldiers of the Lunan Detachment trained every morning.

Marching and assassination have always been repeatedly emphasized by the Special Operations Brigade, and the Lunan Detachment has never forgotten this foundation.

At 9:30 p.m., the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 8th Regiments of the Lunan Detachment had entered their battle positions.

According to Gu Xiuming's plan, after the artillery bombardment, if the Japanese devils' camp was in chaos and the Japanese devils began to flee, the main force of the 1st and 2nd Regiments would launch a charge against the Japanese devils from east to west.

If the Japanese devils' camp was not in chaos, the main force of the 1st and 2nd Regiments would cancel the charge plan. They had two preparations in mind.

At 10 p.m., when Commander Yamasawa Jiro was still looking at the map in the command post, he suddenly heard an explosion, and a feeling of earth-shattering came.

The entire ground was shaking. The Japanese devils who had already gone to bed were awakened from their dreams by the shells that suddenly flew in. They were panicking and trying to do something.

However, in this dark night, the Japanese devils could only see densely packed shells with red tails flying in from the east.

The four regiments of the Lunan Detachment concentrated all their artillery to bombard the Japanese devils' camp. According to the organization, each company had five mortars, two infantry guns, and a regiment also had four rocket artillery pieces. Calculated in this way, a regiment had sixty mortars, twelve infantry guns, and four rocket artillery pieces.

The first round of firing of a regiment could fire 120 shells, and the simultaneous firing of four regiments could fire 480 shells from the sky.

The Japanese devils of the entire Xuzhou Special Task Force could only silently endure it in the dark night.

The Hyakutai Tabun Brigade was a cavalry brigade. The entire brigade had more than 5,000 war horses, plus 7,300 various large livestock including packhorses.

They were all concentrated in one place and locked up. These livestock were targeted by the rocket artillery of an unknown regiment.

All twelve shells fell into this camp, and thousands of war horses screamed loudly, trying to escape this hell.

However, they were all tied to the ground and could not break free. The Japanese devils of the 4th Cavalry Brigade were already unable to take care of themselves at this time.

Their camp was also suffering from artillery bombardment, and Japanese devils were constantly injured and falling down.

The groans and cries of these Japanese devils could be heard endlessly. In this situation, only a very few Japanese devils could run to the camp to see the war horses.