At the end of September 1948, in order to cope with the increasingly fierce attack of the People's Liberation Army, Chiang Kai-shek decided to establish a heavy army regiment. In this context, the 12th Corps, with a total strength of 120,000 men in four armies, was formed. So who should be the commander of this heavy army group? Chen Cheng recommended his beloved general Hu Lian. This is because of the four corps of the 12th Corps, the 18th Army is the absolute main force, and Hu Lian, who served as the commander of the 18th Army, is very familiar with this unit, and the generals are also obedient to him. Therefore, it should be logical for him to be the commander of the 12th Corps.
However, Chen Cheng's proposal was opposed by He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi. He Yingqin and Chen Cheng have not dealt with each other, and the two people often compete in secret. Therefore, He Yingqin opposed Hu Lian's appointment as commander of the 12th Corps, but recommended Luo Guangwen, who had defected to him. At that time, the 12th Corps belonged to the General Order of Suppression in Central China, and Bai Chongxi was worried that Hu Lian, the thorn head, would not listen to his own command, so he also opposed his appointment as the commander of the 12th Corps. At the same time, Bai Chongxi also made this evaluation of Hu Lian: "Wherever Bo Yu (Hu Lian's character) goes, there is an enemy without me, and there is an invincible one." So what does this sentence mean?
This sentence first came from the mouth of the anti-Japanese general Chen Wenqi. In May 1941, the Japanese army mobilized heavy troops to attack Zhongtiao Mountain, and Chen Wenqi, then chief of staff of the newly formed 27th Division, led his troops to fight the Japanese in the area of Wenxi and Xia County. The Japanese army could not attack for a long time, and even shamelessly used poison gas bombs, and most of the officers and men of the unsuspecting 27th Division were poisoned, and the Japanese army took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack. At the moment of crisis, General Chen Wenqi raised his arms and shouted: "There is an enemy without me, there is an invincible me; if you don't succeed, you will become a benevolent person. "Then he led his troops to fight with the enemy's white blade, and unfortunately was shot and killed, at the age of 37.
Bai Chongxi opposed Hu Lian's appointment as commander of the 12th Corps, so why did he still call him: Everywhere he went, there was an enemy without me, and there was an invincible one? The crowd was puzzled. Bai Chongxi explained that this was a mockery of Hu Lian's death and not saving him. During the Liberation War, Hu Lian did have many actions of seeing death and not saving. In the Battle of Suqian, Hu Lian did not save Dai Zhiqi, who fought alongside him, and was called "there is no enemy without me (where there is a People's Liberation Army) without Hu Lian", Dai Zhiqi committed suicide in despair.
The surviving officers and men of the reorganized 69th Division jointly wrote a letter to Lao Jiang accusing Hu Lian, who sent Zheng Jiemin to personally investigate, proving that Hu Lian had indeed "not rushed to the aid of the siege." But Old Jiang only reprimanded Hu Lian for a few words. After the Battle of Luoyang and the Battle of Kaifeng broke out, Hu Lian was ordered to lead his troops to rescue Qiu Xingxiang and Liu Mao'en, but he was afraid of being ambushed by our army and moved extremely slowly. By the time he led his troops to Luoyang and Kaifeng, these two cities had already been captured by our army. Bai Chongxi therefore ridiculed Hu Lian, "Bo Yu is really invincible."
Due to the strong opposition of He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi, Hu Lian was eventually unable to serve as the commander of the 12th Corps, and only became a deputy commander to lay hands on Huang Wei. Soon after, the Battle of Huaihai broke out, and Huang Wei's army was surrounded by Nakano in Shuangduiji. In terms of the Double Stacking Campaign alone, Bai Chongxi's performance was not as good as Hu Lian's. In order to relieve Huang Wei, Lao Jiang dispatched the Song Xilian Corps to the battlefield urgently, and at that time the Song Corps was under the jurisdiction of Bai Chongxi. Bai Chongxi used the threat to the safety of Wuhan as an excuse to hold Song Xilian's corps and hold it tight, so that none of the corps could rush to the Huaihai battlefield. Bai Chongxi's move was tantamount to falling into a well.
On the other hand, Hu Lian's performance in the Battle of Shuangduiji was much better than That of Bai Chongxi. Because he failed to become the commander of the 12th Corps, Hu Lian was dissatisfied and ran to Shanghai under the pretext of a toothache. After Huang Wei's corps was surrounded by Nakano, Old Jiang summoned Hu Lian to Nanjing to discuss countermeasures, and Hu Lian said that he would personally go to Shuangdui to take command. At that time, the double pile was already surrounded by our regiment, and At this time, Hu Lian took the initiative to jump into the encirclement circle, which required a certain amount of courage, and it was also incomparable to those senior generals of the Nationalist army who had lost their troops and fled alone after being surrounded.
Although in the Liberation War, Hu Lian had many acts of seeing death and not saving him, but in terms of the double pile battle alone, his performance was undoubtedly much better than Bai Chongxi. However, hu Lian's arrival did not change the fate of the 12th Corps. At the final moment of the Battle of Shuangduiji, he and Huang Wei each escaped in a tank. Huang Wei's chariot broke down halfway and was eventually captured by Hua Yesan, but Hu Lian escaped by chance.