In August 1947, the Chen (Geng) Xie (Fuzhi) Corps of the People's Liberation Army was ordered to advance into western Henan, and Lianke Xin'an, Shichi, Xizhaobao, Baiyang, Minggao, Tianhu, Songxian and other places, only Lingbao and Shaanzhou became isolated strongholds.
Shaanzhou was the focus of the enemy's garrison, the fortifications were strong, and it was not easy to conquer for a while, while the Lingbao defenders were relatively weak.
The commander of the corps, Chen Geng, decided to give the task of attacking Lingbao to Li Chengfang, the political commissar of the Ninth Column (who became a founding lieutenant general in 1955), and asked him to complete the task within 3 days.
A few days later, Li Chengfang called to report that Chen Geng had laid the Lingbao not in 3 days, but within 3 hours.
Chen Geng was surprised and delighted, and asked, "Are you bragging?" Lingbao had a brigade of enemy troops, and the fortifications were strong and the terrain was complex. You liberated the battle in 3 hours, but I am afraid it is a fantasy! ”
Li Chengfang laughed loudly: "There is no joke in the army, commander, we not only captured Lingbao City, but also captured more than 5,600 officers and men under huang Yongzan, commander of the first brigade of the enemy's newly formed brigade, and Hu Jianrui, deputy brigade commander!" ”
Chen Geng heard him say that he had a nose and an eye, and had to believe it, so he asked, "What clever trick did you use to lay down the Spirit Treasure within 3 hours?" ”
Li Chengfang said mysteriously: "Commander, this clever trick is four words--chicken singing dog thief." ”
"Chicken singing dog thief? Your boy became Meng Yujun once? Chen Geng was a high-caliber student who graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy, and of course knew that these four words were an allusion to the Warring States.
"Haha, the commander is indeed highly educated, and as soon as he says it, he will understand what is going on!"
Then, Li Chengfang probably told them about their battle against Lingbao.
In the attack on Lingbao, in addition to Li Chengfang's Eleventh Brigade, there was also the Thirteenth Brigade, which was temporarily under his command.
Before the war, Li Chengfang followed the old rules and led the regiment and battalion cadres to Nanlizhuang near Lingbao to reconnoiter the terrain.
Located between Xi'an and Luoyang, Lingbao is a small town on the Longhai Railway, with NanyingZhai in the south, Longhai Road in the north, (Kun) Mountain in the east, and Yangping Town in the west, and the defenders are the newly organized First Brigade in the south of Huzong.
Li Chengfang led the cadres to carefully observe the terrain and think about the battle plan in their minds.
After the brewing was mature, he pointed to the east of the city and issued a combat task: "The Thirteenth Brigade, with one regiment, first occupied Kunshan, which is the commanding height, two regiments of the Thirteenth Brigade occupied Hangu Pass southwest of the city, one battalion of the Twelfth Brigade occupied the east of the city, and two regiments of the Eleventh Brigade occupied Nanguan..."
"Lingbao... Lingbao..." Li Chengfang chanted several times, thinking of an allusion, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he said happily, "I have thought of a good way to attack the city!" ”
"Tell me, what's the best way?" The crowd was excited.
Li Chengfang did not answer directly, but turned his words around, "Lingbao is a famous historical city, do you know the allusion of 'chicken singing dog thieves'?" ”
The cadres looked at each other for a moment and shook their heads.
Li Chengfang smiled and said, "You are all regimental commanders and battalion commanders, and if you want to fight a good battle, you usually have to take time to study more." ”
Then he told the crowd the origin of the allusion of "chicken singing and dog theft".
It is said that before and after the Spring and Autumn Warring States, there were countless battles in the Lingbao area, and the "Battle of Qin and Jinkun" written in the "Left Biography" took place here, and Liu Bang and Xiang Yu also fought here 10 times.
In ancient times, Lingbao was called Yu Prefecture (虢州), and Meng Yijun, the Prince of Qi of the Warring States, lived here after he escaped from the State of Qin.
One evening, the King of Qin sent troops to Lingbao to arrest him, and Meng Tianjun learned that he wanted to escape from the city, but the city gates were closed. There is a rule that the janitor must wait until the chicken crows before opening the door and releasing it.
Meng Tianjun has thousands of diners, and one of them has a set of stunts, that is, he can learn chicken barking.
As soon as Meng Yujun moved, he told him to learn the chicken call, and when he barked, the roosters around him screamed wildly on their necks, like a rooster chorus.
Meng Yijun took the opportunity to escape from Lingbao and evaded the pursuit of Qin soldiers.
Finally, Li Chengfang said emphatically: "This time we attacked Lingbao, and we also chose the time for chickens and dogs to steal!" ”
Then he asked the cadres to gather around and say the specific battle plan, and everyone nodded in applause.
At dusk on September 12, Li Chengfang commanded the 11th and 13th Brigades, first firing at Hangu Pass, east of Lingbao, annihilating a battalion of the defending enemy.
Hangu Pass is about 20 miles away from Lingbao, and the news of the People's Liberation Army's occupation of Hangu Pass has not yet reached Lingbao, and the enemy is still sleeping in the dark.
At 12 o'clock that night, Li Chengfang led his troops to Lingbao, and the various units quickly occupied the attacking positions according to the orders.
Li Chengfang saw that everything was ready, and with a wave of his hand, more than a dozen fighters who knew ventriloquism learned to call chickens.
The enemy sentries on the city wall were dozing off, and when they heard so many chicken cries, they suddenly came to their senses, woke up the soldiers guarding the city gates one by one, and said excitedly: "Hurry up, hurry up, there must be chicken sellers not far from the city, hurry up and catch the chickens, tomorrow you can have a beautiful meal." ”
I heard that there were chicken sellers outside the city, and the soldiers ran faster than rabbits, and the city gates were wide open, and they all sneaked out of the city to catch chickens.
The enemy's every move could not escape Li Chengfang's eyes, only to see him wave his hand, ambushing more than 3,000 soldiers of the Eleventh Brigade and the Thirteenth Brigade under the city, and quickly pounced on them, unconsciously catching the enemy who left the city, and then quickly attacked the city.
The enemy in the city was asleep, the purring sounded one after another, and the fierce gunshots and grenade explosions woke up the sleeping enemy, opened his eyes and looked, standing in front of the Plake Army, he had to obediently raise his hands and surrender.
After Li Chengfang finished talking about the battle, Chen Geng smiled satisfactorily: "The trick of chicken singing and dog theft is used well, it seems that your boy did not go to private school for a year and a half when he was a child!" ”