The Jinpu Railway began to be built in the Guangxu period, and the whole line was officially opened to traffic in the first year of the Republic of China. The main railway line from Jinmen to Jinling Pukou, which intersects with the Longhai line in Xuzhou, is the most important north-south railway trunk line of the Republic of China.

The fundamental reason for the Battle of Xuzhou initiated by the Japanese army was to open up this railway and complete its strategy of connecting the north and the south. In addition, the Tianjin-Pudong Railway runs through the three major regions of North China, Huanghuai and Jianghuai, and its strategic significance is extremely important.

If the railway could be fully controlled, the Japanese army would have more strategic initiative and further reduce the living space of the anti-war forces. On the seaward side of the railway, the Japanese army could also completely control it, thus dividing the key areas in the north and south.

It is precisely because of the importance of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway that the Japanese army that invaded the land of Qilu attached great importance to the cities along the railway. Zaozhuang is also an extremely important transportation hub of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, and there is also the Grand Canal, a golden waterway.

The Japanese army on the front line was victorious and was pursuing the main force of the retreating Fifth Theater on all fronts. The main force of the Japanese army, which was responsible for the pursuit and suppression, naturally needed more powerful logistical support from the rear to ensure that the troops could achieve greater results.

Regarding the battle on the front line, Hu Biao did not care very much, and knew that his participation would not help. In this case, in order to reduce the pressure on the front-line troops, Hu Biao still felt that the Zaozhuang section of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway should be paralyzed for a period of time.

The blowing up of two sections of the railway earlier has actually helped the Fifth War Zone a lot. The main force of the Japanese army attacking the Fifth Theater of Operations, faced with the inability to deliver supplies in time from the rear, naturally did not dare to lightly advance against the enemy, for fear of repeating the fate of the destruction of the 10th Division.

Seeing that the Fifth Theater was slowly retreating, and it might be too late if it was not pursued, the main force of the Japanese army fighting on the front line also kept sending reports urging the destruction to speed up the repair of the railway. The train that was responsible for transporting the supplies had already been loaded and was just waiting to be driven.

In order to ensure that the supplies were delivered to the front line on time, the Zaozhuang garrison officer who learned that the railway had been successfully repaired also breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Damn it! The railroad has finally been repaired! The train carrying the supplies is about to depart, is it arranged on the railway side? ”

"Please rest assured! In order to ensure the safety of the transport convoy, we have deployed a number of patrol units along the route. With the bunkers we built, even if someone wants to build the idea of a railroad, we can keep it going. ”

"Yo Breath! In order to ensure the safety of the material trains, the troops along the railway were ordered to strengthen the vigilance. Notify the troops stationed in the city and maintain combat readiness. If there is an accident on the railway, immediately go out of the city and rush to reinforcements.

The murderers who attacked the coal mine and the railroad in the past have not been found out so far. I'm afraid that if they know that we have a large amount of supplies about to arrive at the front line, they will definitely carry out sabotage, and they will have to prevent it! ”

"Dazuo, didn't the special high class call earlier and say that they have found some clues?"

"What's the use of those clues? They only caught a few miners who had fled back to their hometowns, and from the mouths of the miners, they still did not ask for any useful information. The special high class suspects that the attack was made by the dirt eight roads, do you think it is credible? ”

Just as Hu Biao was worried about, among the young men who were rescued before, those who decided to go back to their hometown to report their safety, were unfortunately captured by the Japanese army in the end. At the place of the fall, the Japanese army bribed many spies and reported on their behalf.

Knowing that there was a captured young man who escaped from the Zaozhuang Coal Mine and was stationed in the local Japanese army, he naturally would not let go of the opportunity to be arrested. Regarding the attack on the Zaozhuang Coal Mine, the Japanese garrison troops stationed in various places had already received a briefing from the Special High School.

What makes the special high class a little helpless is that those young people who have fled back to their hometowns can provide extremely limited information. The only thing that can be confirmed is that the team that attacked the coal mine should be about two or three hundred people.

All of them were equipped by the Japanese army, and the level of combat was extremely advantageous. As for the anti-Japanese armed forces, those young men don't know. But most of the young people felt that it should be the Eighth Route Army that rescued them.

The reason is that the distribution of travel expenses is also the style of the Eighth Route Army. But chopping off the head to build a view of Beijing seems to be different from the Eighth Route Army that the Japanese army learned. As a result, it became clear that the investigation was once again deadlocked.

From the mouth of the captured young man, the special high class also knew a piece of news, that is, the team that attacked the coal mine seemed to have left. According to the analysis of the Japanese army's special high class, this team should be hidden in the area of Yimeng Mountain.

Although Zaozhuang is far away from the Yimeng Mountains, it is still a little far away. The Yimeng Mountains still extend to the territory of Zaozhuang. Recently, the number of anti-Japanese armed forces in the Yimeng Mountain area has also been increasing, bringing many threats to the surrounding defenders.

Through these intelligence analysis, the focus of the investigation of the Japanese army's special high school has recently shifted to the anti-Japanese armed forces in the Yimeng Mountain area. In their view, the possibility of committing a crime is not small. Hit and run, which is also what the anti-Japanese armed forces are good at.

Hu Biao naturally didn't know about these situations. Even if he knew, Hu Biao would feel snickering. Taking advantage of the little devil's attention to the Yimeng Mountain area, Hu Biao's idea of hitting Zaozhuang will become relatively easy.

Coming out of the temporary station of the Lunan detachment of the Eighth Route Army, Hu Biao and his party rushed to the vicinity of the railway overnight. For Hu Biao, according to the information provided by the military commander, the little devil will send multiple trains to Zaozhuang to carry supplies next.

What Hu Biao had to do was to rob one or two of the trains and sabotage the railway again. The trains that let the Japanese army come must stop at the railway, or find a railway station along the line to stop, or even simply turn around and return.

Looking at Hu Biao and his entourage who came and went in a hurry, Sun Xinghua, who was standing at the mountain pass to see him off, also said seriously: "I have always heard that Hu Biao is good at using strange soldiers, and it seems that it is true!" Dingyuan, how sure do you think you will win this time? ”

"Detachment leader, judging from his battle plan and assumptions, there are still many chances of success. The premise is that we don't know how many troops and strength he has. At least one thing can be confirmed, this person should not be stupid! ”

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't know for sure, who would dare to make such a crazy battle plan? Such people are either fools or madmen! ”

"And what about your opinion?"

It is clear that the detachment has just arrived in Zaozhuang, and it does not know much about the enemy situation in the territory, and it is indeed very dangerous to participate in such a big battle in a hurry. But Sun Xinghua also understands that if this battle can be won, then the benefits are also very huge.

As the new chief of staff sent by the headquarters, Lin Dingyuan knew very well that his superiors sent him, more because he was Lin Yashi's elder brother. From the information they learned from the Eighth Route Army, they felt that Hu Biao and Lin Yashi should be a couple.

According to the domestic people's sophistication, Lin Dingyuan is Hu Biao's second brother-in-law, and with this relationship, it will be easier for the two sides to cooperate. But Lin Dingyuan asked his sister carefully before, but Lin Yashi said that she and Hu Biao were not a couple.

The only thing that pleased Lin Dingyuan may be that Lin Yashi served as Hu Biao's confidential staff officer, and his baby sister knew many things about Hu Biao. What made him depressed was that Lin Yashi didn't mention the situation about the spy company at all.

Lin Yashi, who is also smart, saw her second brother appear in Zaozhuang, and she also guessed the idea of the Eighth Route Army. Although she felt a little embarrassed, Lin Yashi still understood that she could not live up to Hu Biao's trust in her and could not reveal any secrets about the team.

So when the brother and sister said goodbye, Lin Yashi said very seriously: "Brother, you are an officer of the Eighth Route Army, and I am the staff officer of the Snow Shame Battalion, and our identities are different." If you want to know the situation, then ask our captain directly.

It's just that I can tell you one thing, that is, our captain, has no bad intentions towards you Eighth Route Army. Otherwise, you really have no place to use our weapons, so we will send you one after another! Those medicines, we are all losing money and making money! ”

Through Lin Yashi's words, Lin Dingyuan didn't want to mix this kind of intrigue politics between brothers and sisters. This time he was sent to serve as the chief of staff of the detachment, and Lin Dingyuan actually came to fight the front station and find out for the follow-up main force.

The main force of the Eighth Route Army is about to advance into Lunan and other places to fight behind enemy lines, and it is also necessary to make some preparations in advance for the anti-Japanese armed forces of the Eighth Route Army operating in Qilu. At the most basic point, there must be a relatively safe base area behind enemy lines.

In addition, it is also necessary to prepare relatively sufficient combat materials for the main forces. When a large army enters the territory of Qilu to fight behind enemy lines, the materials it carries are bound to be limited. If you don't prepare food and grass in advance, how can you feed the main force that has come over?

During the war years, large quantities of land were left uncultivated, and food was indispensable for any army. Although the Eighth Route Army rarely pays military salaries, young people joining the Eighth Route Army can't let these soldiers not be able to eat, right?

Weapons and food are indispensable to any army. This time, he was ordered to come to Zaozhuang to establish a Lunan guerrilla detachment in the base area behind enemy lines, and the problem of weapons was solved. Food that can feed thousands of people, and the detachment also needs to find a way to raise it.

Compared with Hu Biao, who had raised a lot of food through the suppression of bandits before he rescued the prisoners of war, the food that the guerrilla detachment had just brought was extremely limited. Asking the guerrilla detachment to cooperate, Hu Biao felt that the guerrilla detachment was not very likely to refuse.

In the final analysis, if the guerrilla detachment commanded by Sun Xinghua and Lin Dingyuan wanted to make a difference in Zaozhuang, it was impossible to take any risks at all. If you don't take advantage of Hu Biao's departure, accumulate more strength, and wait for the Japanese army to launch an encirclement and suppression, it will be troublesome.

After the situation was reported, the leader of the column also gave instructions for the guerrilla detachment to fully cooperate with Hu Biao's actions. In fact, the partisan detachment did not have much to choose from. took the gift from Hu Biao, and also had to bear the reputation of harassing Zaozhuang.

This kind of reputation, although it will help to enhance the prestige of the Eighth Route Army in the Zaozhuang area, will also intensify the Japanese army's encirclement and interception of the Eighth Route Army. If you are not careful, the guerrilla detachment that has just arrived in Zaozhuang may pay a heavy price.

If the Japanese army had accumulated more weapons, ammunition and materials before launching the encirclement and suppression operation, the column would have been able to mobilize more troops to deal with the Japanese army. With weapons and food, the Qilu column will be able to form more troops.

Growing up in the flames of war is a very appropriate description of the Eighth Route Army. Behind enemy lines, it is impossible to expand your strength in peace. Fight early and fight late, in the final analysis, you still have to fight. This battle is unavoidable!