During the Liberation War, Liu and Deng were known as the "Three Chens" in the army, namely Chen Geng, Chen Xilian, and Chen Zaidao, of whom Chen Xilian was the youngest, he was 12 years younger than Chen Geng and 6 years younger than Chen Zaidao, and he was the youngest column commander at that time. In fact, Chen Xilian became famous very early, he was only 20 years old when he was the political commissar of the Red 11th Division of the Red Fourth Front, and after the Red Army and the Red Fourth Front Met the Division, Zhang Guotao introduced Chen Xilian to the main responsible person of the First Front, saying: "This is the youngest political commissar of our division, called Chen Xilian, known as the "Little Steel Cannon."
Chen Xilian was in danger many times in his military career, and several times even his life was in danger, but the most amazing thing was a distress in the Shi'an Mountain Blockade Battle, where the bullet passed by him but hit another commander.
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to unify against the enemy, on August 25, 1937, the First, Second, and Fourth Fronts of the Red Army and the Northwest Red Army were reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, the General Headquarters of the Former Enemy of the Red Army was changed to the General Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and Chen Xilian was changed to the commander of the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
On the night of October 19, 1937, Chen Xilian led his troops to attack the Japanese Yangmingbao airfield at night, destroying 24 fighters, and became famous in World War I. After that, he led his unit to participate in a series of battles such as the Shentouling Ambush, the Xiangtangpu Ambush, and the Anti-"Nine-Way Siege" in southeastern Jin, and made many achievements in the war against Japan.
From August 20 to December 15, 1940, the Eighth Route Army launched the famous "Hundred Regiments War", which covered the areas of operations in Jicha, Jinsui, And Renan, and dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. Chen Xilian was then the commander of the 385th Brigade, which participated in all stages of the Hundred Regiments War as the main brigade of the 129th Division.
The first phase of the Hundred Regiments War focused on breaking the Zhengtai Railway and destroying the Japanese communication lines in this area, and the 129th Division was responsible for destroying the Section from Yangquan to Yuci on the Zhengtai Line, where the Japanese army had more than 20 strongholds of all sizes and two garrisons, of which the Japanese Independent 4th Mixed Brigade headquarters was in Yangquan.
Liu and Deng, the commanders of the 129th Division, decided to capture the Japanese stronghold between Shouyang and Yuci with the 385th Brigade and the Death Column, and the Japanese stronghold between Yangquan and Shouyang with the New 10th Brigade. In addition, two regiments of the 385th Brigade and one regiment of the 386th Brigade formed a central column, which was responsible for blocking the enemy from all sides, and the column was under the command of Chen Geng and Chen Xilian. Once the battle for the removal of the Japanese stronghold began, the Japanese troops in Yangquan were bound to come to the rescue, so after the battle began, the 14th Regiment of the 385th Brigade quickly occupied Shi'an Mountain southwest of Yangquan.
Shi'an Mountain was an important commanding height, overlooking the throat of the western section of the Zhengtai Railway, and the Japanese army soon concentrated its forces to attack the Position of Shi'an Mountain defended by the 14th Regiment, and after several rounds of attacks were repelled, the cunning Japanese army mobilized a squadron of troops to secretly go around the village on the right side of Shi'an Mountain and try to attack from behind.
It was also a coincidence that just when the Japanese army was preparing to take a detour to attack, Chen Xilian and Lu Rencan, director of the political department of the 385th Brigade, also inspected the terrain in this area, and as a result, they met with the roundabout Japanese army, Chen Xilian and everyone while blocking the Japanese army, while letting the trumpeter blow the trumpet, and soon the 769th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army 1 battalion and 14 regiment and two companies came over, and more than half of the Japanese casualties in a fierce battle fled.
In this encounter, Chen Xilian and Lu Rencan commanded the battle together, and suddenly a bullet hit Chen Xilian, but instead of hitting him, it passed between Chen Xilian's arm and body, and Lu Rencan next to him was hit and injured, but fortunately the bullet only hit the left arm and was not life-threatening.
According to Chen Xilian's recollection, in that movement, Lu Rencan was questioned about the injury, and there was a special person to investigate Chen Xilian, who was very angry at the time and said that this was not the injury suffered in the Hundred Regiments War, and said that people would be driven away in the future.
After the Battle of Shi'an Mountain, the 385th Brigade, under the command of Chen Xilian, completed the combat tasks at all stages of the Hundred Regiments War, and the brigade commander of the Eighth Route Army of Hubei Hong'an successively served as the commander of the 3rd Division, the commander of the 3rd Column, the commander of the 3rd Corps, the commander of the Artillery, the commander of the Shenyang Military Region, the commander of the Beijing Military Region, and the deputy premier.