In late January 1947, Chen Cheng personally commanded hundreds of thousands of troops from 23 integrated divisions to launch an attack on the Liberated Area of East China, and ordered Li Xianzhou, deputy commander of the 2nd "Appeasement Zone," to lead his troops from Zichuan, Boshan, Mingshui, and other places to Laiwu and Xintai Ceying, in a vain attempt to rely on superior troops to attack from the north and south, forcing Huaye to fight a decisive battle in Linyi. At the same time, in order to avoid being broken by our army as in the past, Chen Cheng adopted the strategy of "fighting steadily and steadily and advancing in a rolling manner" this time, so that the room for maneuver of our army was greatly reduced, and there were no fighters to be found on the southern front.
Under these circumstances, Chen Yi and Su Yu decided to abandon Linyi and concentrate their forces on li xianzhou on the northern front. After our army abandoned Linyi, Chen Cheng immediately reported to Lao Jiang that "Linyi had won a great victory" and said that he had "severely damaged the main force of the communist army." At the same time, he also strictly ordered Li Xianzhou to step up his march south, so that Li Xianzhou's troops became a prominent lone army, and the 77th Division, the vanguard of the 73rd Army, was completely annihilated by our army at Boshan, and the 12th Army also suffered heavy losses, and the rest fled to Tusikou. On February 22, Su Yu commanded three columns of Huaye to encircle Li Xianzhou's forces in Laiwu City.
At this time, the Nationalist troops stationed in Laiwu City were Han Liancheng's 46th Army, the remnants of Han Jun's 73rd Army, and Li Xianzhou's corps headquarters. Everyone agreed that Laiwu was not suitable for holding out, and finally Li Xianzhou decided to immediately break through to the north, meet the 12th Army through Tusikou, and then retreat to Jinan in a group. However, Han Liancheng, commander of the 46th Army, advocated delaying the breakthrough by one day on the grounds that it would take time for the troops to assemble.
Since Han's 46th Army was complete and all of it was usable weapons and equipment, and was the absolute main force in this breakthrough, Li Xianzhou had to agree to his proposal, and the final breakthrough date was set at 6:00 a.m. on the 23rd. However, when it came to the stipulated breakout time, Han Liancheng could not find anything, and in order to find Han Liancheng, Li Xianzhou delayed in Laiwu for another two hours. Finally, at the repeated urging of Han Jun and others, Li Xianzhou ordered the troops to break through. However, at this time, Huaye had already arranged the encirclement, and finally more than 50,000 people under Li Xianzhou's troops were ambushed by our army in the Gaojiawa area, and due to Han Liancheng's "disappearance," the 46th Army lost command and its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.
So why did Han Liancheng do this? It turned out that he was a secret underground party member of the CCP, and he had contacted Chen Yi long before the Laiwu Campaign was launched, and had revealed Li Xianzhou's breakthrough plan to Chen Yi, and in order to enable our army to calmly complete the ambush deployment, he deliberately delayed the breakthrough time backwards by one day, and Han Liancheng made an important contribution to the victory of the Laiwu Campaign. After the Battle of Laiwu, Chen Yi prepared to arrange for Han Liancheng to work in Huaye, but Han Liancheng expressed his willingness to continue to lurk, and finally Chen Yi agreed to his request. After Han Liancheng returned to Nanjing, he reported the long-made breakthrough experience to Old Jiang, who not only did not have the slightest doubt after hearing it, but also called him a "lonely hero." So why didn't Old Jiang suspect Han Liancheng? In addition to the impeccable escape from danger, it is also because Han Liancheng once risked his life to save lao Jiang's life during the Central Plains War, and in lao Jiang's view, it was unreasonable to suspect Han Liancheng. In 1955, Han Liancheng was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and after the founding of New China, he successively served as deputy chief of staff of the Northwest Military Region, first deputy commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, and vice governor of Gansu Province.