The nationalists withdrew into major cities such as Jinan and Qingdao while stationing some forces along the Tianjin-Pukou Railway to secure the communication / transportation line.

The communist forces were able to expand their victory from Tai'an northward and southward, and by June 20, 1948, other cities and towns including Dawenkou (Chinese: 大汶口; pinyin: Da Wen Kou; lit.

By June 25, 1948, the nationalist stronghold outside the town, Four Pass (Chinese: 四关; pinyin: Si Guan) had fallen into enemy hands.

The nationalist forces in Sui (睢) County and Qi (杞) County in eastern Henan, under the command of the corps commander Qu Shounian (区寿年), were besieged by the enemy and the situation was far more desperate than Yanzhou, so the nationalist Reorganized 25th Division was redeployed to Shangqiu by rail to reinforce the battlefield in eastern Henan, and thus inadvertently avoided the ambush set up for them.

Being located on the western bank of the Si (泗) River, the area surrounding the town was wide open with little cover for would-be attackers.

The communists decided to attack Yanzhou (兖州) again by concentrating a total of fifteen brigades from the Shandong Corps and local units to take the town and annihilate nationalist reinforcement.

The communist 7th Column and the bulk of the communist 13th Column were tasked with the major responsibility for attacking eastward from the west, with emphasis on the Old Western Gate (Chinese: 老西门; pinyin: Lao Xi Men) and the New Western Gate (Chinese: 新西门; pinyin: Xin Xi Men).

The nationalists suffered more than 63,000 casualties in their defeat, and a dozen cities / towns including Qufu, Jining, Tai'an, Zou (邹) County, and Yanzhou had fallen into the enemy hands.