After the fall of Hebei, the Kuomintang army withdrew all the way south, and Wan Fulin, commander of the 53rd Army, gave the task of rear guard to the 691st Regiment. On the night of October 10, the first battalion of the 691st Regiment was stationed in Meihua Town. In the past, in order to guard against bandits, meihua town was surrounded by earthen fences that were more than a foot high. After the first battalion entered the town, it was about to block four gates, one company defending the east and north of the town, and the second company defending the west and south. At dawn the next day, about a large group of ghosts, with the cooperation of the puppet army, launched a fierce attack on a battalion from the northwest of the town.
The difference between the enemy and our troops is very large, but the first battalion occupies a favorable position, the heavy machine guns and mortars are also very reasonablely arranged, and the soldiers are mostly northeasterners, and they have a bitter hatred for the Japanese. Therefore, after the battle began, the Japanese army not only failed to take advantage, but also suffered heavy losses. The townspeople also braved artillery fire to support a battalion of fighters, bringing water and food to the soldiers and treating the wounded. The soldiers of the first battalion, with the support of the people, resisted bravely, killing and wounding many enemies, but eventually fell into a passive situation because they were outnumbered.
At this time, the 53rd Army had already run far, and the division commander Zhou Fucheng and the brigade commander Cong Zhaolin respectively sent telegrams to the regimental commander Lü Zhengcao, asking him to abandon the next battalion and take the three battalions to catch up with the large troops. The brothers were fighting the Japanese to the death, they were in desperate need of reinforcements, and now the superiors let themselves leave them alone, and Lu Zhengcao could not accept it no matter what. He categorically refused the orders of Zhou Fucheng and Cong Zhaolin, and sent a company carrying heavy machine guns and mortars to break through the Japanese positions from the east gate, and forcibly took out a battalion.
After the first battalion broke through, Lü Zhengcao gathered the troops together and held an ad hoc meeting in Side Village. At the meeting, Lu Zhengcao said: "Everyone knows the current situation of our regiment. Today the division commander and the brigade commander sent a telegram asking us to leave the next battalion to catch them. Think about it, if we are brothers in the same afflictions as a battalion, can we leave them alone? He put the telegram on the table for everyone to see. When everyone heard that the division commander and brigade commander were going to abandon a battalion, they were very angry and said in unison: "They are too vicious to run after them anymore!" In particular, the officers of the first battalion were even more furious, shouting and scolding one after another, and saying one after another: "We can no longer run away with them to the south, we should take the opportunity to go north to resist Japan!" We obey the command of the regimental commander, please give orders! ”
The 691st Regiment was An old unit of Lü Zhengcao, who had long been ostracized by Wan Fulin and others, and had long intended to break away from the 53rd Army and lead his troops to defect to the Eighth Route Army. But I couldn't find a suitable opportunity, but the two telegrams of Zhou Fucheng and Cong Zhaolin helped. At this time, he saw that everyone was indignant, so he said: "Now that the main force has run away, if we want to go after them, there will be many difficulties along the way, and there is a danger of being surrounded by the enemy at any time." The situation does not allow us to have any other choice. There is only one road in front of us, that is, to go north to fight guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines! "His opinion is supported by the vast majority of people. After that, Lü Zhengcao led his troops to break away from the 53rd Army, changed the unit into the People's Self-Defense Army, and fought against the Japanese puppet army many times in the Jizhong area. Soon after, Lü Zhengcao led his troops to join the Eighth Route Army and became the commander of the Jizhong Military Region, and was awarded the rank of general in 1955.