The artillery bombardment from the six companies of the Lunan Detachment's First Regiment inflicted heavy casualties on the hundreds of Japanese soldiers that Battalion Commander Yamata Jukinosuke had just organized, before they even set out.

Its planned banzai charge had failed by thirty percent before it even began.

Only fewer than ten Japanese soldiers from the Miki Jujiro company were still able to participate in this charge.

Just as the remnants of the Miki company were gathering to prepare for a final desperate charge, a mortar shell descended from the sky and exploded right in the center of their company. The shell, specially modified by Lin Fan, now had a blast radius of thirty-five meters and carried two thousand eight hundred iron pellets.

So many iron pellets instantly knocked all the remaining Japanese soldiers of the entire Miki company to the ground. This time, Sergeant Major Kato Yuto was not spared.

He fell on top of Company Commander Miki Jujiro's body, bleeding from dozens of wounds all over his body.

Company Commander Miki Jujiro beneath him was in no better condition. His entire body was similarly covered in wounds, and blood quickly formed a small pool beneath them.

This was just a small microcosm of the entire Yamata Jukinosuke Battalion. Company Commander Kobayashi Taiyu dared not hesitate any longer, pointing in the direction of retreat and shouting, "Charge out!"

Battalion Commander Yamata Jukinosuke also followed behind a group of Japanese soldiers, charging towards the hastily erected fortifications of First Company Commander Feng Ruili and his men.

After being bombarded by artillery, less than a company of Japanese soldiers remained capable of charging.

From a distance, Regiment Commander Gu Xiuming, who had been watching the battlefield, loudly ordered, "Sound the charge!"

"Doo-doo-da! Doo-doo-da!" The resounding bugle call of the charge rang out.

The four thousand soldiers of the Lunan Detachment on the battlefield leaped up from the ground, shouting as they charged towards the Japanese soldiers.

Having just been bombarded by artillery and forced to launch a hasty charge, the Japanese soldiers of the Yamata Battalion heard the Lunan Detachment's bugle call.

They watched as soldiers surged from all directions, each like a tiger descending the mountain, rising from their concealed positions.

Thousands of soldiers suddenly appeared on the open ground, only two to three hundred meters away from the Japanese soldiers.

These sudden appearances caused the Japanese soldiers, who had already lost their will to fight, to panic even more.

Their formation, which had been charging towards the First Company's fortifications, was thrown into disarray. Some Japanese soldiers began to scatter and flee to the left and right, while others even ran backwards.

The entire Yamata Battalion was truly thrown into chaos. Company Commander Kobayashi Taiyu and Company Commander Ninomiya Tomoemon shouted at their men, "Charge! Frontal charge! Charge out!"

But fewer and fewer Japanese soldiers were listening to their orders. The two company commanders had less than a hundred Japanese soldiers around them still carrying out Battalion Commander Yamata's banzai plan.

The path of these Japanese soldiers' charge was not smooth. The heavy machine guns in front of them unleashed a torrent of bullets, forming an impenetrable net.

These Japanese soldiers were walking right into the trap. It was not easy to charge in, and it was impossible to break free.

Battalion Commander Yamata Jukinosuke was truly despairing this time. He ordered the radio operator to send a final farewell telegram: "Infantry Independent Mixed 17th Brigade, Yamata Jukinosuke Battalion, reports with tears: My battalion encountered a heavy ambush by the National Revolutionary Army on the Yishui River bank while attempting to rescue allied forces at Huangtuling.

The entire army fought to the death but was defeated. Escape is hopeless. This is a report!"

After sending the telegram, Battalion Commander Yamata ordered the radio operator to smash the radio and burn the codebook.

He no longer had any intention of surviving. Watching the radio operator burn the codebook, Yamata Jukinosuke did not hesitate, swinging his command saber and beheading the radio operator.

Smashing the radio and burning the codebook were not enough to guarantee complete secrecy. Only dead Japanese soldiers could truly ensure secrecy.

Completely relieved, Battalion Commander Yamata led the last few guards around him, followed the charging Japanese soldiers, and charged towards the First Company's fortifications blocking the road.

None of the Japanese soldiers charging head-on reached within fifty meters of the First Company's fortifications. They were all shot down during the charge.

After all these Japanese soldiers were shot down, the scattered Japanese soldiers fleeing in all directions were also killed one by one.

The First Regiment's bugle call echoed on both banks of the Yishui River. On the right bank of the Yishui River, those puppet soldiers who had just surrendered listened to the sound of the bugle call echoing in the fields.

Each and every one of them was rejoicing: Fortunately, they had been quick to seize the opportunity and surrender quickly. Judging from the sound of the bugle call, the Tai-kun (Japanese soldiers) left on the left bank were definitely finished.

The siege and aid-fighting on both banks of the Yishui River finally came to an end.

The soldiers of the Lunan Detachment's First Regiment, the Feixian Security First Regiment, the Sishui Security First Regiment, and the Security Second Regiment all began to clean up the battlefield.

The Sishui Security First Regiment and the Security Second Regiment had a very easy time cleaning up the battlefield on the right bank. They had only killed fewer than a hundred puppet soldiers.

The only things to be cleaned up on the battlefield were the corpses of these puppet soldiers and dozens of warhorses.

Three hundred of the three thousand surrendered puppet soldiers were divided up to dig pits and bury corpses on the right bank, and to butcher the warhorses. There were no more Japanese troops coming behind them.

Therefore, there was no need to camouflage the battlefield here, and there was no need to scrape off the topsoil. The large pits for burying the corpses were dug on the spot, and the warhorses were butchered on the spot.

The battlefield was cleaned up very quickly.

The majority of the other puppet soldiers had already been escorted across the Yishui River, where they were being guarded to clean up the battlefield on the left bank.

The work that these puppet soldiers could do was still digging pits, carrying corpses, burying corpses, and butchering warhorses.

These puppet soldiers could see very clearly the difference between the dead Japanese soldiers and the dead puppet soldiers: all the Japanese soldiers were stripped naked, without a stitch of clothing on their bodies, while the puppet soldiers' clothes were all neatly dressed.

Huan Youcai carried a Japanese soldier's corpse, unable to understand why, even though they were both dead, their treatment was different.

A soldier working with them said, "The Japanese devils crossed the sea to invade us because they wanted to plunder our resources.

Of course, we can't let them succeed. Even if they're dead, we can't let them take away even half a bit of our things.

These puppet soldiers are different. We can't tell who are die-hard traitors and who were forced to follow the Japanese devils, so let them go decently!"

The puppet soldiers doing the work soon discovered a second difference. They didn't see a single Japanese soldier wounded, but they did see dozens of puppet soldiers wounded.

There were even doctors bandaging these wounded soldiers, and some puppet soldiers were even being carried onto the operating table.

"You're even giving people like us surgery?" Huan Youcai's head turned towards the field hospital temporarily set up on the road.

Company Commander Feng Ruili smiled. "They're also compatriots who took the wrong path. It's good as long as they correct themselves."

"But..." Huan Youcai didn't continue, his eyes were good, and he saw the small glass bottle in the doctor's hand.

He knew that such a small bottle of medicine was worth a small gold bar. Huan Youcai suddenly said, "Officer! I want to go with you, to fight the Japanese devils with you."

"Why?" Feng Ruili asked happily.

"You're willing to use such good medicine to save prisoners, you must be even better to your own people.

If I follow you to fight the Japanese devils, I won't be afraid!" Huan Youcai said loudly, he was a smart man.

Battalion Commander Yamata Jukinosuke's telegram forced Brigade Commander Soratani Shunji, who had been waiting for news in Xuzhou, to accept reality.

He understood: whether it was the Yamata Yusuke Infantry Battalion, the Yoshimizu Yumeboshi Cavalry Battalion, or the Mizuki Sokyu Tank Company, which he had previously clung to with wishful thinking, they were all annihilated.

These Japanese soldiers were all dead, so what would happen to the Japanese soldiers of the Fukagawa Daishi Battalion still on Huangtuling?

That was already the last organized force of the entire Soratani Brigade.

Faced with reality, Brigade Commander Soratani Shunji tried to ask the Independent Mixed 17th Brigade for help, to send troops again to rescue the Fukagawa Battalion.

This time, he no longer had any forces directly available. Brigade Commander Manda Yuto of the 17th Brigade was no longer willing to send out troops.

Brigade Commander Manda Yuto had watched how Brigade Commander Soratani had lost an elite brigade of over ten thousand Japanese soldiers.

The good situation of encircling and suppressing the Lunan Detachment had now become a bubble, and the joint defense of the Tianjia'an coal mine had also failed.

What awaited Brigade Commander Soratani was a military court. At this time, Brigade Commander Manda Yuto was unwilling to have even half a bit of entanglement with him.

Brigade Commander Soratani's last effort failed. He desperately tried to commit seppuku in the 10th Brigade Headquarters to apologize for his crimes.

When Commander-in-Chief Terauchi Hisaichi learned of the news that Brigade Commander Soratani Shunji of the Independent Mixed 10th Brigade had committed suicide to atone for his crimes, he also learned about the Soratani Brigade's current situation. Of the Independent Mixed 10th Brigade's twelve thousand Japanese soldiers, only the four hundred and twenty-seven Japanese soldiers who had retreated from Tianjia'an and the Fukagawa Battalion surrounded on Huangtuling remained.

Such a result caught him completely unprepared. The main problem now was not Brigade Commander Soratani's death, but how to recapture the Tianjia'an coal mine and rescue the Fukagawa Battalion.

Brigade Commander Soratani had had no choice but to commit suicide because he had been unable to complete either of these two tasks.

Who should be given this task? Manda Yuto's Independent Mixed 17th Brigade?

Xuzhou still needed to have Japanese soldiers stationed there. This large city had already lost ten thousand Japanese soldiers stationed there, and they could not be moved.

The Second Army, which was still struggling to survive in Shangcheng, was now the closest force to Tianjia'an.

However, although the situation for this force had not worsened in the past few days, their offensive against the National Revolutionary Army's Fifth War Area was also not going smoothly.

The National Revolutionary Army's resistance was very resolute. The Fifth War Area's original plan was to take the initiative to attack and compress the Second Army's sphere of activity.

They were striving to completely annihilate the Second Army's four divisions.

Now, the Special Operations Brigade had completed the task of the entire battle plan, crippling the Japanese 16th Division and rendering it completely incapable of fighting.

At the same time, it had also severely damaged the Japanese 10th Division, reducing its combat power to only half of its normal strength.

The Special Operations Brigade had already occupied and held the two places of Lu'an and Huoshan, completely cutting off the Second Army's retreat and supply lines.

At this time, the task of completely annihilating the Second Army depended on whether the Fifth War Area could withstand the Japanese soldiers' desperate measures and beat the Japanese soldiers back, concentrating them in a small area for final annihilation.

The Japanese General Staff Headquarters also saw the risk of the Second Army being completely annihilated. At this time, of the forces on the north bank of the Yangtze River, only the 6th Division was closer to the Second Army.

However, with the Special Operations Brigade and the Fifth War Area's one hundred thousand troops between them, the arrogant Division Commander Inaba Shiro of the 6th Division received an order from Commander Yan Shunroku of the China Expeditionary Army: Immediately move closer to the Second Army and break the encirclement of the Second Army by the National Revolutionary Army's Fifth War Area and the Special Operations Brigade.

Division Commander Inaba Shiro immediately gave a firm reply to this order: "The 6th Division is making a final assault on the Yangtze River fortress of Tianjiazhen. Unable to move closer to the Second Army."

This was a clear violation of military orders.

Even so, neither Okamura Neiji, who was commanding the Battle of Wuhan, nor Yan Shunroku of the China Expeditionary Army could do anything about it: Who made it so that the 6th Division commanded by Inaba Shiro had done what four divisions on the south bank of the Yangtze River could not do with just one division?

The division commander of a division with such strong combat power spoke in such a tone, with such confidence.

The actual situation was: Division Commander Inaba Shiro was really shadowed by the Special Operations Brigade.

He didn't want to fight against the Special Operations Brigade led by Lin Fan! All the Japanese soldiers of the 6th Division that he led felt the same way. They didn't want to fight against a force like the Special Operations Brigade anymore.

Not to mention the headquarters of the China Expeditionary Army, even the order from the Japanese General Staff Headquarters for Inaba Shiro's 6th Division to rescue the Second Army was rejected by him.

The 6th Division insisted on its own way, they wanted to capture Tianjiazhen and be the first Japanese soldiers to enter Wuhan.

The Japanese General Staff Headquarters could do nothing about such proud and fierce soldiers, they could only pass the pressure on to Okamura Neiji, ordering him to capture Wuhan as quickly as possible.

Only in this way could the forces commanded by Okamura Neiji attack the Fifth War Area on the north bank of the Yangtze River from the direction of Wuhan, and only then could the Second Army's predicament be resolved.

As for the Fukagawa Daishi Battalion trapped seventy kilometers outside Xuzhou, the China Expeditionary Army could no longer take care of it.

It could only be rescued by the North China Area Army itself. Commander Terauchi Hisaichi's forces had been constantly drawn out since the Battle of Shanghai, to the Battle of Nanjing, and then to the Battle of Wuhan.

Originally, he no longer wanted to send his forces to the Central Plains, partly because he was afraid of affecting his strength, and partly because he was afraid of border disputes, as he had too few troops to deal with.

After all, on the border he had to deal with another great power, and this great power's hostility towards them had never been eliminated.

Now: Commander Terauchi Hisaichi had no choice but to transfer a force to Xuzhou.

Judging from Brigade Commander Soratani Shunji's command, Commander Terauchi Hisaichi and his General Staff Headquarters had thoroughly reviewed Brigade Commander Soratani Shunji's command.

They came to the same conclusion: It was not that Brigade Commander Soratani Shunji had made a command error, but that the opponent of the Independent Mixed 10th Brigade was too strong, exceeding the estimates of the entire China Expeditionary Army.

Because under Commander Terauchi Hisaichi and their review, the National Revolutionary Army had to have more than one hundred thousand elite troops to achieve such a result.

However, according to intelligence obtained from reliable channels: There were less than ten thousand National Revolutionary Army troops in the Tianjia'an direction.

The intelligence source in the Huangtuling direction was vague. Some intelligence said that there were ten thousand guerrillas in this direction, and some intelligence said that the National Revolutionary Army had used one hundred thousand troops in this direction.

The intelligence in the Tianjia'an direction could be accurate because Lin Fan needed to report to the Fifth War Area, and the Fifth War Area received the news, which was about the same as the Japanese soldiers receiving the news.

There were too many enemy agents within the Fifth War Area. Although several searches had been conducted, all the traitors and spies had not yet been cleared out.

For the battle in the Huangtuling direction, Gu Xiuming only needed to report to Lin Fan. This was a force not under the jurisdiction of the Fifth War Area, and his battle report did not need to be reported up.

This also made it impossible for the Japanese soldiers to understand the specific situation in this direction. They could only analyze it from the intelligence sent back by the Fukagawa Daishi Battalion.

Even if there were some traitors around, they could only see a small part of the entire Lunan Detachment's situation, and could not understand the whole picture. This made the Japanese soldiers completely unaware of the Lunan Detachment's situation.

Even so, this time Commander Terauchi Hisaichi was clearly outraged: A commander of an independent mixed brigade under his command had committed suicide, which was already a high-ranking commander.

He had to act carefully: This time he directly formed a Xuzhou Special Detachment, consisting of the Independent Mixed 3rd Brigade, the Independent Mixed 4th Brigade, and the 4th Cavalry Brigade.

The combat strength of the three forces reached thirty-five thousand Japanese soldiers, plus the assigned logistics personnel, the total number reached fifty thousand Japanese soldiers.

Such troop configuration was already enough for two divisions. This time, Commander Terauchi Hisaichi wanted to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, using overwhelming force to completely eliminate the Lunan Detachment all at once.

The operational plan formulated by the North China Area Army General Staff Headquarters was to rescue the trapped Fukagawa Battalion on Huangtuling in five days. Then, they would use one month to sweep through the entire Lunan base area.

Then, they would go all the way west, along the railway line to Tianjia'an, and continue forward to Hefei, Lu'an, Huoshan, and Qianshan.

They planned to use two months to completely uproot all the base areas established by the Special Operations Brigade on the ground in Jiangbei.

This plan was formulated very hastily. The North China Area Army General Staff Headquarters spent a total of half a day from receiving the order to the plan's release.

For them, with a Xuzhou Special Detachment with the strength of two full divisions, completing such a task was completely using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and formulating such a plan was just to provide this force with a directional guidance.

North China Area Army Commander Terauchi Hisaichi was very satisfied with this plan. What he was hesitating now was which of the three independent mixed brigades drawn to form the Special Detachment this time should be used to lead the team as commander.

This was a problem!

A good commander could make the task easier to complete, and at the same time, this commander should be familiar with the Lunan area, and he should also have considerable qualifications and position to be able to suppress the three brigade commanders.

Such a commander was not easy to find. Commander Terauchi Hisaichi's gaze searched around the entire North China Area Army.

Finally, he set his sights on Lieutenant General Yamasawa Tsugiro. His experience was similar to that of Okamura Neiji. He had been a military advisor to the Anhui warlords in the Lunan area more than a decade ago.

He was very familiar with the Lunan area, had experience in combat in the Lunan area, and with such qualifications plus his current position, he could completely suppress the remaining three brigade commanders.

Yamasawa Tsugiro, who was serving as a senior staff officer in the North China Area Army Headquarters, was called in for a private talk by Commander Terauchi Hisaichi.

Hearing that Commander Terauchi Hisaichi was preparing to appoint him as the commander of the Xuzhou Special Detachment, he trembled with excitement. He replied loudly, "Your subordinate guarantees to complete the task according to the plan."

Yamasawa Tsugiro couldn't help but be excited. Although his military rank was very high, he had never had real power. Having maintained good relations with the Anhui warlords, he had not established any special merits in persuading the Anhui warlords to surrender.

This made his position awkward. If he wanted to lead troops, the division commanders of the North China Area Army were all occupying their positions, and the Japanese soldiers had long been filled.

The newly formed divisions on the island would not be his turn to command, an officer in the North China Area Army General Staff Headquarters.

This time, Commander Terauchi Hisaichi was able to choose him among so many commanders with discerning eyes. How could he not be grateful to Commander Terauchi Hisaichi?

During his private talk with Yamasawa Tsugiro, Commander Terauchi Hisaichi was no longer as careless as when he spoke to the entire General Staff Headquarters.

He did not hesitate to tell him about his experience of almost being captured alive by the Special Operations Brigade in the Taierzhuang area some time ago, and used his personal experience to tell Yamasawa Tsugiro: "The force he is facing is different from ordinary National Revolutionary Army troops. He must not underestimate the enemy."

Yamasawa Tsugiro very humbly accepted the commander's suggestion, and repeatedly stated that he would definitely use his troops prudently, and that with more than 30,000 combat troops, he could completely rely on his strength to have a head-on battle with the Lunan Detachment.

As long as his forces were not dispersed, he would not be afraid of the opponent's various strategies.

His words were very much to Commander Terauchi Hisaichi's liking. This time, in the case of drawing a group army in the Battle of Wuhan, he had drawn so many Japanese soldiers to form the Xuzhou Special Detachment in order to be foolproof.

Yamasawa Tsugiro, the commander of the detachment who accepted the task, arrived in Beiping by plane on the same day and met with the three brigade commanders.

The Independent Mixed 3rd Brigade Commander Inoue Munetake, the Independent Mixed 4th Brigade Commander Saito Daiko, and the 4th Cavalry Brigade Commander Hyakudai Munefumi received an order from the North China Area Army: "The three brigades will form a Xuzhou Special Detachment, led by Commander Yamasawa Tsugiro, and will go to Xuzhou immediately. The specific task will be conveyed by Commander Yamasawa."

The three brigade commanders who received the order were at a loss. They knew about the Battle of Wuhan and were clear that the fighting in that direction was very fierce.

But they did not know what big battles were being fought around Xuzhou. Xuzhou was already their occupied area.

Even if there were some resistance armies and guerrillas in the countryside, the Japanese soldiers stationed in Xuzhou should be able to cope with it.

What was the task of forming a special detachment? The three brigade commanders got together and couldn't figure it out.

At the same time, these three brigade commanders felt unfamiliar with the name of Commander Yamasawa Tsugiro. They had never heard of this name before.

Brigade Commander Inoue Munetake believed that such a military operation should be led by a commander familiar with war: he was very suitable.

Brigade Commander Saito Daiko also thought the same way, but he felt that he was more suitable than Brigade Commander Inoue, the reason being that he had been a brigade commander for a full three years.

Cavalry Brigade Commander Hyakudai Munefumi had no right to speak in front of the two infantry brigade commanders. He was a junior. Whoever was the detachment commander was fine, but it couldn't be himself anyway.

The first military meeting of the Xuzhou Special Detachment began under such circumstances.