On November 2, 1948, Shenyang was liberated. The next day, the headquarters of the Northeast Field Army issued an order for the rest of the troops, stipulating that the rest and recuperation should begin from the 5th. The whole army rejoiced at the victory, everyone had a smile on their faces, and the victory meeting, the tactical review meeting, the heroic model hero meeting, and the battle summary meeting were in full swing.
On November 6, the day after Higashino began to recuperate, the Battle of Huaihai began. Sandwiched between the northeast and central China, the Fu Zuo rebels in North China had become birds of fright.
The entire army in the northeast was destroyed, Chiang Kai-shek was in pain, and seeing that the Huaihai battlefield was fierce and there were few lucks, and the north China battlefield was full of crises, like sitting on needles and felt, and worrying like burning. He urgently summoned Fu Zuoyi to Nanjing to discuss countermeasures.
As soon as Fu Zuoyi got off the plane, Chiang Kai-shek went so far as to make an exception by sending his son Chiang Ching-kuo and Defense Minister He Yingqin to the airport to greet him.
The next day, Chiang Kai-shek invited Fu Zuoyi to the official residence for discussions.
In order to cope with the Huaihai Campaign and strengthen the Yangtze River defense line, Chiang Kai-shek proposed to abandon Pingjin and appoint Fu Zuoyi as the "military and political commander of the southeast", asking Fu to lead his troops to withdraw south. Unexpectedly, Fu Zuoyi was deeply wary of Chiang Kai-shek's habit of annexing and rejecting dissidents, and was unwilling to withdraw south, and was ready to lead his troops to retreat west to Sui when Pingjin was in danger.
However, if he categorically refused to withdraw south at this time, he would inevitably be in danger of being detained by Chiang Kai-shek, so he took a posture of taking the main battle and said to Chiang Kai-shek:
"The president entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, and he felt terrified. However, when it comes to the war situation, I dare not conceal any insight. In my opinion, sticking to Pingjin is the perfect strategy, retreating to Jiangnan as a partial security, unless it is a last resort, we cannot withdraw the North China troops to the south. If Pingjin is lost and the northeast communist army is driven straight down, Xu Beng will have 3 field armies of the communist army. ”
When Chiang Kai-shek heard this, his heart sank: "Yes! The northeast communist army has reached a million people, coupled with the Nie Rongzhen department in north China, this pressure, which one alone can not bear it easily!"
Fu Zuoyi said: "I estimate that the northeast communist army will need at least 3 months of rest before it can enter the customs, and the major war in Pingjin will be after the spring of next year." During this period, I can expand another 200,000 to 500,000 troops, strengthen the 60-kilometer arc position in Jintang, and improve the Beiping Pillbox Group system. Dealing with the communists, though not so generous, did not worry the president too much. ”
When Fu Zuoyi said this, Chiang Kai-shek immediately expressed his appreciation for Fu's "bottoming out" of sticking to Pingjin and supporting North China, and finally worked out with Fu Zuoyi the policy of "sticking to Pingjin and putting the main force in Jintang to facilitate future action."
After Fu Zuoyi hurriedly returned to Beiping from Nanjing, he completely adjusted the deployment of troops according to his own intentions, and placed 600,000 troops from Luan County in the east to Chaigou Fort in the west, and along the 500-kilometer-long railway line, he placed his troops west of Beiping and Jiang's troops east of Beiping. Once the situation was unfavorable, his troops could retreat to the west and return to Sui, while Chiang's troops would flee eastward and from Tanggu on a boat.
However, because Fu Zuo's rebel army did not retreat south, Chiang Kai-shek's large army in the Huaihai battlefield was surrounded, but there was no rescue army, and finally more than 500,000 people and horses were all annihilated. Later someone said:
"Chiang Kai-shek was really stupid, if Fu Zuoyi's 300,000 troops were allowed to go south at that time, at least 550,000 people would not be completely annihilated!"