The Central Plains have always been an important military town, and in history, it is said that those who win the Central Plains will win the world. Therefore, as soon as the Liberation War broke out, Lao Jiang ordered Liu Zhi to command a 300,000-strong army to launch an all-out attack on the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains. At that time, the total strength of the Central Plains Military Region was only 60,000 people, and in the face of the unfavorable situation of the enemy being outnumbered, the Central Plains Military Region could only try to break through. In order to break through, there were troops responsible for the cover of the rear break, and finally Wang Shusheng, who was then the deputy commander of the Central Plains Military Region, handed over this task to Pi Dingjun's first brigade.
Pi Dingjun joined the revolution at the age of 14, officially joined the Red Army at the age of 15, and participated in the Long March with the troops. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the head of the special task force regiment of the 129th Division and led his troops to fight against the Japanese puppet army at the Taihang Mountains. Soon after, he was appointed commander of the 5th Military Subdistrict of the Taihang Military Region for his military achievements, and led his troops to conquer more than 80 Japanese and puppet strongholds, and the enemy was frightened. In the summer of 1944, the Nationalist army collapsed in the Battle of Yuxianggui, losing 38 towns in 37 days, and most of western Henan fell into the hands of the enemy.
Seeing the Japanese Kou running rampant in western Henan, Pi Dingjun was furious, and he immediately asked his superiors to go to western Henan to resist Japan, and the superiors agreed to his request after consideration. Soon after, the Eighth Route Army's Henan Western Anti-Japanese Independent Detachment was formally established, and Pi Dingjun served as the commander of the detachment. After the troops advanced into western Henan, they attacked artillery towers and allocated strongholds; they eliminated traitors and killed devils, which made the local Japanese puppet army terrified. Under the command of Pi Dingjun, the anti-Japanese base area behind the enemy lines in western Henan was soon created. At that time, there were only 19 anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines in the country, and western Henan was one of them, and the strong ability of Pi Dingjun was evident.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Pi Dingjun served as the brigade commander of the First Brigade of the First Column of the Central Plains Military Region. It was precisely because he was good at fighting hard battles that this time Wang Shusheng handed over the burden of covering the breakthrough of the main force to Pi Dingjun. At the end of June 1946, the main forces of the Central Plains Military Region began to break through to the west, and Pi Dingjun led a brigade responsible for breaking the rear, and fought a bloody battle with the enemy several times larger than himself for three full days and nights. After completing the cover mission, Pi Dingjun did not follow the main force to the west, but chose to break through to the east.
The east was the focus of the enemy's defense, and Liu Zhi deployed 4 integrated divisions with 120,000 troops here, and built more than ten defensive lines to wait for him. So why did Pi Dingjun break through to the east? The purpose was to take away these hundreds of thousands of enemy troops and reduce the pressure on the main force that had already broken through. After Liu Zhi found that the Pi brigade had broken through, he immediately ordered the troops to pursue, and Pi Dingjun saw that the enemy was following closely, and ordered the troops to leave the road and drill into the Dabie Mountains. Taking the mountain road, the Nationalist army was far from being an opponent of the People's Liberation Army, and was soon left behind by the leather brigade.
After nearly 20 days of arduous marching, the brigade arrived at Maotanchang, the exit of Dabie Mountain, on July 13, in front of the Anhui Plain of the Pingchuan River. Once in the plains, the enemy can chase them in a car, and the warriors must rely on their feet to outrun the four wheels of the car to survive. In order to speed up the march, Pi Dingjun ordered the troops to be completely lightly armored, and the soldiers threw away everything except weapons, ammunition, and clothes and shoes they were wearing.
For the next four days, the officers and men of the leather brigade rushed forward at a speed of 150 miles per day and night, and on the afternoon of the 16th, they arrived at the town of Wushan, 35 kilometers north of Hefei. After 4 days of forced marching, many soldiers' physical strength has reached its limit, exhausted to the extreme, and they fall asleep as soon as they sit down. The commander of the Second Regiment, Zhong Yu, was very unbearable to see the situation, so he suggested to Pi Dingjun that the soldiers rest for a day before leaving. Unexpectedly, Pi Dingjun not only did not agree, but also ordered the troops to leave immediately after eating.
The bell occurs
Zhong Shi and Pi Ding are old comrades-in-arms, and the two have fought side by side in Western Henan and have deep feelings. At this time, he saw that Pi Dingjun was so "unkind", and immediately became angry, directly yelling at Pi Dingjun: "What hero are you?" Afraid of dead ghosts! What's so great about a day off here? The enemy is coming, Lao Tzu is going to fight! Pi Dingjun knew that Zhong Xiang was a straight man and was worried about the warriors, so he did not blame him, but patiently explained to him that the enemy was rushing to repair the fortifications on both sides of Huainan Road, and if the soldiers were allowed to rest for a day and then cross Huainan Road, it was bound to attack strongly, which would increase unnecessary casualties.
Zhong Had a long time in battle, of course, he knew the importance of competing with the enemy for time, so after listening to Pi Dingjun's explanation, he got up and mobilized the soldiers to eat immediately, and immediately set off after eating. As a result, the soldiers did not delay for a moment and crossed the Huainan Road before the enemy fortifications were repaired. Three hours later, the enemy's reorganized 48th Division arrived at Huainan Road, where the brigade was already dozens of miles away. When Zhong Xiang learned of this news, he greatly admired Pi Dingjun, and when he was awarded the rank in 1955, Zhong Xiang was awarded the rank of colonel.