The march into Qilu was imminent, and the workload of Zhangcheng increased sharply. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 After staying in Yulin for less than two days, and after saying goodbye to his wife, he returned to Yan'an to report the detailed plan for advancing to Qilu to the commander in person.

For the next advance to Qilu preparations, Zhang Cheng did not interfere again, but all by the political commissar and logistics minister Feng Shaojie is in charge, the current logistics department work is very heavy, the main force of the instructor is about to go out, must take away enough weapons, ammunition, food and medicine and other materials.

The plan of the year lies in the spring, and at this time, this year's spring plowing work in the base area has already begun vigorously. In history, two years later, there will be a tragic catastrophe and famine in the land of North China, although Zhangcheng has made up his mind to pay attention to the occurrence of the Huayuankou embankment burst, but the world is unpredictable, and it is always right to reserve more grain now.

Before parting, in addition to the security and defense of the base area, Zhang Cheng paid the most attention to the issue of grain reserves. With the experience of nearly two years in clearing wasteland, the Production and Construction Corps is now more handy in reclaiming wasteland, and the people who have fled from North China in large numbers have greatly solved the problem of shortage of manpower in the base areas.

At the same time, in order to cope with the growing problem of refugee influx in North China, the government of the border region has done a lot of effective and extensive work, strictly controlling grain prices, vigorously cracking down on unscrupulous grain dealers who make refugees' money, and punishing a large number of unscrupulous traders who take advantage of the opportunity to raise prices.

In order to accept more and more refugees from North China, Zhang Cheng also instructed the local governments in the base areas to wantonly hoard materials and vigorously build warehouses and grain depots in various cities and towns, thus initially forming a grain and material reserve system in the Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Sui base areas.

In addition, Zhang Cheng also arranged for professional soldiers who had been disabled in previous battles to serve as militia cadres in the villages of the base areas to train the local militia in their military qualities, thus creating an excellent situation in the base areas in which all the people were soldiers.

After the people who fled from North China last year were given their houses, land, and all kinds of complete means of production, their enthusiasm for production has completely exploded; since the beginning of spring ploughing, almost all the children from the elderly in their sixties and seventies to the ages of seven or eight have been immersed in the fields, meticulously tending to their crops.

In terms of industry, with the investment of large sums of government funds, the industrial construction of the base area can be said to be a big step up every year, and the northwest industrial base centered on the two major towns of Yulin and Baotou has taken shape.

In the industrial construction in full swing, the "bad elements" of the Soviet Union, who were exiled by Comrade Tieren, became the mainstay and made great contributions to the industrial construction and development of the base areas.

At present, these "bad elements" have initially integrated into Chinese society and are very satisfied with their life in the base areas, and more than half of them have become Chinese nationals and have become active members of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Party.

In addition, after Zhang Cheng's last beating of Baotou Iron and Steel Plant, all cadres and workers once again broke out the sky-high enthusiasm for large-scale production, and now the monthly output of steel has reached more than 20,000 tons, although there is still a big gap with Japan's steel output, but in the whole country, in addition to the Northeast Industrial Base under the control of Japan, it is already the largest steel plant in the country.

As for the Yulin Arsenal, which Zhang Cheng attaches the most importance to, portable rocket launchers have been developed, which mainly launch rocket-piercing shells, which have a unique and tremendous role in striking tanks, armored vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel transporters, military equipment and destroying fortifications at close range, and can also be used to kill and injure living targets or complete other tactical tasks.

Due to the advantages of small quality, simple structure, low price, and easy use, the bazooka was soon unanimously welcomed by all the troops, and they rushed to apply for the configuration of various troops.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, 1938 has entered March.

At this time, the Battle of Xuzhou, which is of great concern to the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country, is in full swing. Xuzhou is the intersection of the two major railway lines of Jinpu and Longhai, and is close to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which is the transportation hub between North China, South China and Central China, and its strategic position is very prominent.

If the Chinese army controls Xuzhou, it will be able to ensure the smooth operation of the Longhai line, the main military artery that runs through the east and west, and use this railway line to continue the large-scale transportation of strategic materials and personnel from the east, west, north and south, and also block the connection between the Japanese occupation line and the occupied areas in the north and south, and facilitate the deployment and implementation of a flanking counterattack against the Japanese-occupied areas in the two major directions of Hangzhou and Jinan.

On the other hand, if Xuzhou is occupied by the Japanese army, and the Japanese army runs through the Tianjin-Pudong line in its entirety, it can take advantage of the advantages of railway transportation and mechanization to easily transfer troops and materials from the north and south, and can arbitrarily select weak links from the entire railway line to advance, greatly improving its combat capability.

In particular, through the combined use of the Longhai line, it was easier to advance to the Pinghan line, attack the Zhengzhou and Wuhan areas, and deal a heavy blow to the main force and resistance of the Chinese army.

On January 26, the 13th Division of the Japanese Army attacked Fengyang and Bengbu in Anhui, and the Battle of Xuzhou began.

The 31st Army of the 11th Group Army, the defending Kuomintang army, retreated to the west of Dingyuan and Fengyang after resisting one after another in the area on the west bank of the Chihe River. By February 3, the Japanese army had captured Linhuai Pass and Bengbu.

On February 9, the main force of the Japanese 13th Division crossed the Huai River at Bengbu and Linhuai Pass and launched an attack on the north bank. The 51st Army fought fiercely with the Japanese and suffered heavy casualties.

On the 12th, they retreated in the direction of the Lu River and the Huhe River. The Fifth Theater of Operations led by Zhang Zizhong, commander of the 59th Army, rushed to the Guzhen area, and cooperated with the 51st Army to stubbornly resist the Japanese army in the area on the north bank of the Huai River.

At the same time, on the south bank of the Huai River, the 48th Army of the 21st Group Army held the Luqiao area, and the 7th Army cooperated with the 31st Army to attack the Japanese flank of Dingyuan in a roundabout way, forcing the main force of the Japanese 13th Division to return from the north bank of the Huai River. The 59th and 51st armies took advantage of the situation to counterattack and regain large areas of lost territory.

In late February, due to Han Fuyu's self-defeat without a fight, the Japanese army occupied most of Qilu, and the newly formed Japanese 2nd Army began to attack south under the leadership of the commander Nishio Shouzo, and the 5th Division of the re-established was moved south from Qilu Wei County, and fell into Yishui, Juxian, and Rizhao in succession, and went straight to Linyi.

Unexpectedly, the Fifth Division was resisted by Pang Bingxun's corps at Linyi, about 150 kilometers northeast of Xuzhou. Pang Bingxun was a veteran, over the age of sixtieth, and his regiment was incorporated into the Fifth War Zone after participating in the Battle of Songhu, when there were actually only five infantry regiments, less than the strength of one army.

However, because the Fifth Division had been wiped out by Zhang Cheng's instructor Cheng and the absolute superiority of the newly built division was met with stubborn resistance from the Pang army, it was unexpectedly helpless for a time to become a little-known "miscellaneous army". The new commander of the Fifth Division, Noboru Kunisaki, felt that he was embarrassed and supervised the onslaught.

After hearing the news, Li Zongren immediately transferred Zhang Zizhong's army, which was scheduled to go north to reinforce Tengxian and cooperate with the Sichuan army to counterattack Zou County, and urgently transferred to Linyi. Zhang Zizhong, who was good at fighting, ignored the personal contradictions between him and Pang Bingxun, and the command post and Pang Jun attacked inside and outside, defeating the Japanese army. At the cost of about 3,000 casualties, the two armies of Pang and Zhang killed and wounded a similar number of Japanese troops.

When the news came out, the Guotong area was suddenly boiling, and General Zhang Zizhong washed away the shame of losing Beiping, and his prestige was skyrocketing.