At the end of 1952, the 20th Corps of the Volunteer Army was ordered to change its defenses to the south of the Cross Mountain (locally known as "Zōshoudong Namsan Mountain") on the west bank of the North Han River in North Korea.
After the troops arrived at the designated position, Zheng Weishan, acting commander of the corps, and Zhang Zuyu, commander of the Sixty Army, quietly came to a small high ground with several combat staff officers and guards to conduct an on-the-spot survey of the terrain of the Cross Mountain.
Every time he went to a place, he would find a way to find time to personally survey the terrain, and not be satisfied with the situation reflected in the map, which was a habit that Zheng Weishan had developed for many years in the army.
Although the cross mountain is only 663 meters above sea level, it is not too high among the Korean mountains, but its name is very vivid, it is really the mountain as its name - the main peak sits in the center, the four corners extend a large mountain beam, the shape of the whole mountain is like a huge cross.
However, at that time, the main peak of the Cross Mountain and the four branches were all heavily garrisoned by the enemy, and the "38th Line", which was originally a straight line, was "dug" north for more than ten kilometers, making the Chinese and North Korean troops feel very uncomfortable every time they saw the map.
Since the Chinese and North Korean armies were in a state of armistice negotiations with the enemy at that time, the current task of the Twentieth Corps was only to send troops to hold the positions north of Cross Hill and form a confrontation with the enemy.
Zheng Weishan looked at the Cross Mountain in the distance, and a strong thought burst out in his heart: One day, we will lead our army to conquer this mountain, straighten the "38th Line" and then fight it!
The guards, fearing that they would attract enemy aircraft to bomb, repeatedly urged the commander to leave as soon as possible, but Zheng Weishan was reluctant to leave.
When he raised his telescope for the last time, and saw in the distance an open field full of shrubs and weeds at the foot of the mountain south of The Cross Mountain, his eyes suddenly lit up, his face was joyful, and he couldn't help but nod his head and say to himself: "Well, good! It's so good! ”
"Commander, what do you say?" Zhang Zu was puzzled, and the guards and the accompanying combat staff officers were also confused.
Zheng Weishan looked back at the people with suspicious faces, and instead of answering positively, he said to Zhang Zuyu: "Comrade Zuyu, have you seen the open land in Shannan?" ”
"See, did the commander have any instructions?" Zhang Zu asked.
"Give you a special task—to protect the vegetation above that open field, the trees and flowers."
"I understand defending my position, but why should I protect even the trees and flowers on the enemy's side?" Zhang Zuyu opened his mouth wide in surprise.
Zheng Weishan nodded vigorously and said, "Yes! We must protect those trees and flowers, and resolutely prevent the enemy on the mountain from coming down and wreaking havoc. As soon as you find an enemy approaching that open area, shoot and kill them! ”
"Mission accomplished!" After all, Zhang Zuyu was the commander of an army, and his understanding was higher than others, and it was needless to say that he had understood that the commander might have a deep meaning, and immediately expressed his attitude.
The combat staff officers on the side still failed to break through the mystery, but continued to ask: "Commander, this order is so strange, what use can the flowers and grasses in front of the enemy position be..."
Zheng Weishan waved his hand and interrupted them: "Don't ask so many questions first, in short, you can make a big article there in the future, and you can just carry out my orders!" ”
After this inspection, Zhang Zuyu immediately issued an order to the troops of the Sixty Army responsible for guarding the position, sending people to monitor the open land day and night to strictly prevent the enemy from destroying the vegetation.
In order to effectively protect the trees and flowers in that land, the volunteer army also specially organized the best marksman in the whole army to be responsible for sniping at the enemy, so that the enemy suffered a lot.
As a result of this series of measures, the open land at the foot of the southern part of The Hill of The Cross was not only unscathed by vegetation, but also grew more and more densely over the next few months.
But the officers of the Sixty Army could not guess why Commander Zheng Weishan had given this strange order to protect the vegetation in front of the enemy position.
Six months later, in June 1953, the mystery was not only solved, but also a miracle in military history.
At that time, in order to combat the arrogance of Rhee Syngman Rhee who clamored to "advance north alone," the Volunteer Army decided to launch a summer offensive, and the main task of the Twentieth Corps was to conquer the Cross Mountain and remove this "barb" inserted by the enemy in the defense line of our army.
The commander of the Sixty Army, Zhang Zuyu, was undoubtedly the strongest in his desire to fight, because he and the generals of the whole army had long been looking forward to taking the Mountain of Crosses and washing away the shame of the defeat of the 180th Division in the Fifth Campaign.
The question is how to attack the Mountain of The Cross? Zheng Weishan was already in his mind, and he proposed an extremely bold plan at the combat meeting: Send three thousand troops, enter the open land south of the Cross Mountain in advance and hide, and launch a general attack after dark the next day to conquer the enemy position in one fell swoop!
Zheng Weishan, Zhang Zuyu
At that time, more than 50 volunteer generals attended the meeting, and after hearing Zheng Weishan's plan, they all took a breath of cool air: let more than 3,000 people lurk under the eyes of the enemy, the distance is less than 200 meters, but the incubation time is more than ten hours, and once it is discovered, they will suffer heavy casualties, which is really whimsical!
Not only were many generals suspicious or even explicitly opposed, but even the headquarters of the Volunteer Army called and thought that the conditions were not ripe and asked Zheng Weishan to re-plan.
However, Zheng Weishan bravely shouldered the heavy responsibility, firmly stated that this battle must be fought, and was willing to assume all responsibilities.
At this time, Zhang Zuyu, commander of the Sixty Army, not only fully understood why the commander had issued the strange order to protect the vegetation in the first place, but was also impressed by his firm determination to fight, expressed his resolute support, and was willing to carry it with the commander when something went wrong!
In this way, Zheng Weishan, with the support of Zhang Zuyu, understood tremendous pressure and made a military order.
The subsequent war was completely as gradually as Zheng Weishan expected.
The Sixtieth Army and the Sixty-seventh Army sent a total of more than 3,500 people to covertly drive into the area designated by Zheng Weishan to lurk.
With a high degree of discipline, amazing perseverance, and the spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice, all the commanders and fighters of this unit brilliantly completed the task of lurking for 19 hours, so that the enemy never noticed, which is really a great spectacle in the history of warfare!
When the time for the general offensive came, the soldiers of the latent troops jumped up, bravely rushed to the enemy position, completely annihilated the South Korean defenders in only 50 minutes, and successively conquered the 902.8, 973, and 883.7 heights, fighting the most beautiful battle before the final armistice negotiations.
This legendary battle case was praised by Chinese and foreign military experts as "creating a miracle in the history of war."