For many Japanese troops who had just arrived in Zaozhuang, they knew very well that the encirclement and suppression operation would not be completed in a short time. The Japanese army also needed to spend more time to find out the number and whereabouts of the attackers.

Secondly, the losses in Zaozhuang were worse than the Japanese army expected. Most of the Japanese troops who came to reinforce the country overnight did not carry too much daily necessities. At present, most of the people in Zaozhuang City were all running away, and the Japanese army's logistics supplies were also a problem.

Fortunately, after re-controlling Zaozhuang, the Japanese army began to temporarily mobilize a batch of grain and daily necessities from the surrounding troops stationed in the city to Zaozhuang. The large number of combat materials needed for subsequent encirclement and suppression will be quickly replenished in the near future.

The same old saying is that before the three armies move, food and grass will come first. For the Japanese army, they have to eat and poop when fighting. If they really want to starve for a few days, they will probably not stand firm. And the food in Zaozhuang City was plundered.

Without the fastest railway transportation, the Japanese army could only replenish supplies from other county towns through road transportation. Whether it was mobilizing supplies or participating in the encirclement and suppression, it took a considerable time.

Before the mobilization operation started, the Japanese army arriving in Zaozhuang had another task, which was to find out where the attack armed forces were going. On the night of the attack, the Jinan garrison headquarters issued an order to control the surrounding areas of Zaozhuang.

At the same time, the Japanese army also applied for multiple reconnaissance and patrol aircraft to carry out round-trip air reconnaissance in Zaozhuang. The only purpose was to find out the stealth body of the attacking armed forces. Unfortunately, the reconnaissance aircraft did not seem to have much gain.

The reason is very simple. Whether it is the Zaozhuang Detachment commanded by Hu Biao or the Lunan Guerrilla Detachment involved in cooperative combat, they are experts who are good at fighting guerrillas. Naturally, they have their own ways to prevent the Japanese army's aerial reconnaissance.

If there are large Zaozhuang, there are also many mountains. Although the reconnaissance planes have seen signs of personnel moving in some mountains, they can be reconnaissance based on the reconnaissance reduced the flight altitude and found that most of the people hidden in the mountains are armed by bandits.

The Japanese army, who was responsible for ground investigation and tracking, quickly found the cars abandoned by Hu Biao after using them along the ruts. Looking at the cars that were pushed into the ditch and all of them were blown up, the Japanese army also felt a headache.

Looking at the road extending forward, the members of the Japanese Special High School in charge of the investigation also said helplessly: "Baga! In such a short time, they should not be able to escape from Zaozhuang. But why did this car abandon it here?"

"Team leader, could it be that they intentionally confused us and made us mistakenly think that they had escaped Zaozhuang?"

"The question is, can you guarantee now that they have not escaped from Zaozhuang? The ability to drive cars to this place is enough to show that we must expand the scope of reconnaissance. Generate power to defenders from all over the country and let them block the highway exits along the way."

"Team leader, this group of enemies should not be able to walk on the highway, right?"

"Even if they don't take the highway, they will have to spend more time if they want to leave Zaozhuang. Last night they seized so much supplies. If they transported them by manpower alone, how much supplies can they bring to transfer? It takes more time to walk on the mountain road!"

In the view of the investigation team leader of the special high school department who led the team, blocking the surrounding highways is more to scare the sneak attack troops and prevent them from choosing to march from the highway. The time spent on choosing other roads to break through will increase exponentially.

Secondly, another advantage of blocking the road is to completely encircle the entire Zaozhuang. As subsequent reinforcements continue to arrive in Zaozhuang, the Japanese army's reconnaissance will continue to increase until the hidden attackers are forced out.

The Japanese army's idea is certainly good, but for Hu Biao, who has always been cautious, he also knew that the longer the delay, the higher the danger of the troops being exposed. If the troops were allowed to rest for a day, he decided to lead the main force to break out of the encirclement set up by the Japanese army.

In contrast, the independent regiment of the Qilu Column of the Eighth Route Army who came from the Yimeng Mountains sneaked into Zaozhuang under this situation. For the Qilu Column, the spoils seized by the guerrilla detachment this time were that they would never give up.

When Zhang Guangwu, the chief of staff of the Qilu Column, saw the supplies prepared by the guerrilla detachment in advance, the officers and soldiers of the Independent Regiment marched in secret, they also seemed very excited and smiled and said, "Wow, they are all good guns! There are also artillery and machine guns!"

Looking at Sun Xinghua and Lin Dingyuan who came to meet, Zhang Guangwu, who came on behalf of the column, was also very happy: "Not bad! Your detachment has seized so many spoils in just a few days since its formation. The column has decided to ask for credit for you!"

Faced with Zhang Guangwu's praise, Sun Xinghua smiled bitterly: "Chief of Staff, in fact, we didn't put much effort into the battle last night. Apart from fighting Zhangzhuang and being led by Staff Lin, we almost failed to fight the ambush on the railway!"

"What's going on?"

"The army training is still a bit lacking, and many soldiers are not very adaptable to collective combat. When fighting, they still like to fight alone. If Captain Hu had not supported the mortar and cooperated with the soldiers, we would have suffered a lot of casualties last night!"

Listening to what Sun Xinghua said, Zhang Guangwu thought for a while and nodded, "This is nothing to do! It is normal for your detachment to participate in such a large-scale battle just now and the soldiers are unable to adapt.

Now that we have weapons, ammunition and supplies, you should also focus on the training troops. The headquarters of the previous period had sent a telegram. After the main force came, the main force under our column would be adapted accordingly.

Although your detachment is a newly formed army, you should be able to apply for the corresponding adaptation with this military achievements. If it can be adapted into a main group, you will also need to show the combat effectiveness that the main group should have at that time."

"Yes! Please rest assured by the Chief of Staff. Next, we must strictly require and organize troops to strengthen training!"

"How is the situation with Captain Hu?"

"I don't know very well! From the beginning to the end, we didn't find their hiding place, and they still had a certain degree of precaution against us. However, they sent a telegram earlier and planned to leave Zaozhuang to avoid the limelight."

"What? They just wanted to withdraw after winning the battle?"

Zhang Guangwu was indeed a little surprised when he heard the situation provided by Sun Xinghua. In Zhang Guangwu's opinion, Zaozhuang is the most empty time in the Japanese army, and Hu Biao should take advantage of the victory to pursue it. Why do you still choose to leave?

Lin Dingyuan, who had been by the side, also responded at the right time: "That's why Captain Hu thought that the Japanese would take revenge wildly next time. This time, we snatched the Japanese army two times and captured Zaozhuang City, and the Japanese army would definitely be very angry.

In order to avoid the possible major sweep of the Japanese army, he decided to take the main force away and keep a few troops lurking in Zaozhuang. If nothing unexpected happens, the batch of materials he seized should be hidden and will be activated after the storm is heard!"

"By the way, didn't he send a radio operator to your detachment? Where is the person? Send him a telegram and ask about the situation!"

Thinking of the radio operator Hu Biao sent to the guerrilla detachment before, Zhang Guangwu felt it was necessary to contact Hu Biao. Although he had only met Hu Biao once, Zhang Guangwu still knew that Hu Biao was still very capable of inquiring about information.

Hu Biao must have received some news when he was preparing to withdraw so quickly! Thinking of the conditions proposed by Hu Biao before, Zhang Guangwu suddenly discovered that the batch of materials earned by the guerrilla detachment would be very hot and he had to deal with them carefully.

The Qilu Column felt that it could barely deal with the Japanese garrison troops in Qilu alone. However, if the Japanese main division fighting on the front line retreated, the situation in Qilu would become quite difficult.

Thinking of this possibility, Zhang Guangwu wanted to inquire about more situations with Hu Biao, which also helped him make a decision next time. Although the independent regiment brought by him had already replaced the cannons, in terms of combat effectiveness, he was really fighting with the Japanese army, and his chances of victory were still not great!

Faced with Zhang Guangwu's inquiry, Lin Dingyuan continued to smile bitterly: "Chief of Staff, when you arrive, the telegram team sent by Captain Hu left. At this time, I'm afraid they have already met with Captain Hu!"

"I'm leaving so fast! Forget it! Fortunately, I brought the radio station this time and immediately sent a message to Captain Hu to ask about his situation. If it's convenient, I hope to see him again. This guy must have smelled some wind!"

When Hu Biao received a telegram from Zhang Guangwu, he said directly: "Return the call. Our department is preparing to transfer, but it is not convenient to meet. If you are destined, you will see you again. If you have any questions, you will directly contact us. When you have any questions, our department will implement radio silence when the night goes on!"

"Yes, captain!"

Qin Tianyou, who was staying next to Hu Biao, smiled and said when he saw this scene: "This Chief of Staff wants to make a decision again?"

"I don't know! But for us, we must seize the time. According to the telegram sent by Lao Xu, the Japanese have set up many interceptions on the road to Zaozhuang. If we don't leave quickly, we will not be able to leave at that time."

"Let's go, they will pull a main team over. If the Japanese are really blocked, they will be very troublesome!"

"If the Eighth Route Army was so easy to deal with, they would not have developed so quickly! Don't worry, the Japanese wanted to block the Eighth Route Army, but I'm afraid the possibility is not high. The Japanese have actually insufficient troops deployed in Qilu."

"Then why don't we stay and continue to work with them?"

"You forgot that we need to be low-key! As for our current strength, we are actually only a strengthening regiment's troops. We must make careful calculations to live a life before we can go further!"

In some matters, Hu Biao did not want to mislead the Eighth Route Army, making the Eighth Route Army feel that they could mobilize Hu Biao at will. As the same thing, Hu Biao must ensure the independence and autonomy of the army, and no one wants to make him absolutely obey and cooperate.

After receiving the telegram from Hu Biao, Zhang Guangwu became more and more sure that Hu Biao must know something that they didn't know. When he was unable to meet, Zhang Guangwu could only ask whether Hu Biao knew what combat plan the Japanese army was planning.

Faced with such inquiry, Hu Biao thought for a while and said, "Transfer a copy of the information found by the reconnaissance team to them. In addition, tell Chief of Staff Zhang and let him think about General Zhu's sixteen-character guerrilla policy!"
Chapter completed!