At about 5:30 p.m. on August 23, 1958, hundreds of artillery pieces of our army fired at Kinmen at the same time, and more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition were dropped within two hours, mainly targeting the command post, observation post, transportation center, key fortifications and artillery positions of the Kinmen Nationalist Army. The fire raid inflicted great damage on the island's Nationalist forces, with more than 440 casualties. Among Hu Lian's three deputies, Zhao Jiajun and Zhang Jie died on the spot, and Ji Xingwen was seriously injured and died later. But Hu Lian miraculously escaped unharmed.
Hu Lian was a native of Huazhou, Shaanxi Province, and after graduating from high school, he threw himself into the pen and worked as a clerk in the Feng Ziming Department of the Nationalist Second Army. When he was 18 years old, his parents booked him a family affair, the woman's name was Wu Xiuwa, and Hu Lian was a neighboring village. After Hu Lian returned home for a blind date, she was very satisfied with the woman, and the two soon got married. Soon after the marriage, Hu Lian decided to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy, but because her family was poor, she had no money to pay for the road. Wu Xiuwa sold the jewelry of her mother's dowry to get the money, and Hu Lian was very touched at that time and vowed to be good to her for the rest of her life.
However, 7 years later, Hu Lian, who was then the commander of the special service battalion of the 18th Army, ruthlessly abandoned Wu Xiuwa for his own career, and married Zeng Guangyu, the sister of Zeng Boxi, chief of staff of the 11th Division, and let Wu Xiuwa stay in her hometown for a lifetime. Under the care and introduction of Zeng Boxi, Hu Lian entered Chen Cheng's civil engineering department and continued to improve his position. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Hu Lian led his troops to participate in the Battles of Songhu, the Battle of Xiangbei and the Battle of Xiangxi, and became famous in the Battle of Shipai and won the Order of qingtian and White Sun.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Hu Lian served as the commander of the reorganized 11th Division, led his troops to participate in the Liberation War, and was one of HuaYe's most important opponents. After Zhang Lingfu's army was defeated and killed, Hua Ye regarded Hu Lian as the primary target of annihilation of the enemy, and successively surrounded him at Nanma, Tushanji, and Shuangduiji. But Hu Lian was very alert, and he ran away every time. After the defeat of the Nationalist army, Hu Lian became the commander of the Kinmen Defense, and the first thing he did after taking office was to build a solid basement in Cuigu and move the headquarters into it.
On the day of the artillery battle, Yu Dawei flew to Kinmen to inspect the defense and boost morale. After dinner, Hu Lian took Zhao Jiaji, Ji Xingwen and Zhang Jie, three deputy commanders, to accompany Yu Dawei on the west side of the bridge, when he suddenly saw a white pillar of smoke on the opposite hillside that exploded one after another, followed by a deafening explosion. Yu Dawei asked in surprise, "Is that what we are disposing of?" Zhao Jiaji didn't know what was going on, and hurriedly ordered the guards around him to call and inquire.
Hu Lian immediately realized the danger, why? Because Zhao Jiaji was the deputy commander in charge of artillery at that time, if the defenders on the island wanted to dispose of the waste bombs on a large scale, they would definitely have to be approved by him. Now that even he can't figure out the situation, there is only one possibility left, that is, the People's Liberation Army is firing artillery! At this time, Hu Lian made an extremely agile and very correct response, he did not panic and did not choose a path, nor did he lie down on the ground, but pulled up Yu Dawei's bow and ran into the underground bunker tens of meters away, thus escaping the disaster. Zhao Jiaji, Ji Xingwen and Zhang Jie were one step slower and eventually died.