In the summer of 1949, Zheng Weishan's 19th Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was transferred to the Northwest Field Army after the liberation of Taiyuan. At this time, Zheng Weishan served as the commander of the Sixty-third Army, and the Sixty-third Army and the entire corps had survivors of the Western Route Army as commanders at all levels. Twelve years later, they fought back to the northwest, collecting blood debts from the Ma family army for the cause of national liberation and for the souls of the former Western Route Army.
Under the northwest field army approaching Lanzhou City, the main forces of the Nineteenth Corps and the Second Corps stormed the enemy's city defenses, annihilated the main force of Ma Bufang's group, and liberated the city of Lanzhou. Another main force of the Northwest Field Army, the First Corps and the Eighteenth Corps, captured Linxia and directly inserted themselves into Ma Bufang's old lair in Xining.
At summer dusk, the sunset is like a high-hanging chasing lamp, rendering a harmonious and magnificent atmosphere. When the red flag was planted on the head of Lanzhou City, the commander of the Sixty-third Army knelt down facing west and prostrated his head three times heavily. He thought with tears in his eyes: If the martyrs of the Western Route Army knew, they should feel relieved! Your blood has not flowed in vain, and the Ma Bufang Group, which was once fierce, has received the punishment it deserves.
The whole country is about to be liberated, the dawn that the martyrs longed for has arrived, and this peace has been bought with countless blood!
The political commissar of the division, who returned to Yan'an alone, led his troops back to Hexi
Zheng Weishan, a native of Macheng County, Hubei Province. When the Red Fourth Front crossed the Yellow River in the west, he served as the political commissar of the 88th Division of the Red 30th Army. After a bloody battle, the Western Route Army was defeated and had to retreat into the Qilian Mountains.
As dusk approached, Zheng Weishan took the lead, fighting among the enemy groups and rushing in the direction of the main force. An enemy bullet hit the barge gun he had raised in his hand, wounding his head in fragments and leaving his face covered in blood. When the enemy was completely freed, he was left with the guards and the secretary.
Walking to a small river, the guards helped Zheng Weishan clean his wounds and make a simple bandage. He and the guard's horse were already injured and could not leave, so they had to put all the luggage of the three men on the secretary's horse and lead the horse on foot.
On the way, they encountered some scattered personnel, including Xiong Deju, deputy commander of the Eighty-eighth Division, Ye Yongsong, director of the Division's Manager Department, Xu Jinshu, political commissar of the 268th Regiment, Shao Liekun, commander of the Eighty-ninth Division, and Pei Shouyue, director of the Division's Political Department. Everyone discussed together and decided to go northeast according to the direction of the stars.
The next day, suddenly encountered the Ma family army's cavalry searching the mountain, the small team was scattered again, Zheng Weishan and Xiong Deju drilled into a coal well, to avoid the search. After the enemy left, the two men walked east along the foot of Qilian Mountain, entered the territory of Minle County, and encountered a single family. The three brothers warmly welcomed the two of them, hiding them in the cellar during the day and receiving them to rest at home at night.
After a month, Zheng Weishan's injury was basically healed, insisting on leaving, Xiong Deju said that the wind was tight, and so on. Until the middle of April, Zheng Weishan decided that he had to go, and Xiong Deju gave him eight "central" coins. One night, Zheng Weishan bid farewell to Xiong Deju and his well-meaning fellow countrymen and embarked on the road back to the east alone.
Go east, find troops, and avenge the martyrs who died! When Zheng Weishan thought of his comrades who died tragically, his chest was like a fire, and he wiped away his tears in grief and ran east. This year, Zheng Weishan, who was already the political commissar of the division, was only 21 years old. He vowed to return to the army, to return to Yan'an, and to return with the troops to avenge his comrades-in-arms.
Find a grass beach to rest during the day, rush at night at night, and meet a single-family family to beg for something to eat! When he walked to a place not far from the Yellow River, Zheng Weishan saw that the slogan written on the wall of the Eighty-eighth Division years ago was still there, and he couldn't help but recall the past.
When he crossed the west, the Eighty-eighth Division was an invincible arrow, and now he was left with the political commissar of the division named Hanako; the circles of his eyes were once again red.
Zheng Weishan, like a flower boy, blended into the crowd and crossed the Yellow River in Jingyuan County on a sheepskin raft. After that, he went all the way to the east, and when he crossed Liupan Mountain, it was already early June. Wearing a tattered cotton jacket is simply a burden, but throwing it away will leave you with no clothes to cover your body.
When I walked to the ten mile shop north of Pingliang, I heard the locals say that there was a central army in Pingliang City, and Zheng Weishan left in time and rushed to the northeast, walking out of more than 20 miles in one breath and entering a small town.
I was going to buy something to eat, when suddenly a warrior wearing a red star hat flashed by. Zheng Weishan immediately followed the warrior and walked not far north of the town, and the warrior immediately entered an underground cellar. He followed in, and it turned out that this was a reconnaissance platoon of the Red Army, and Zheng Weishan was full of sorrow and joy, and finally found the troops.
Escorted by comrades in the reconnaissance platoon, Zheng Weishan arrived at the garrison of the Red Thirty-first Army in Zhenyuan, and was escorted back to Yan'an by the Red Thirty-first Army. In Yan'an, he met the guards who had been lost earlier, and Xiong Deju returned to Yan'an a few days earlier.
General Zheng Weishan was fortunate to return to Yan'an, but it was also inseparable from his persistence. Twelve years later, he led the Sixty-third Army to sweep through the Ma family army entrenched in Hexi, and recovered the blood debt for the heroic martyrs of the Western Route Army who had sacrificed.
In 1955, Zheng Weishan was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. In his later years, General Zheng often ascended to the west, for whom the Hexi Corridor was always an unforgettable land, as well as those Soldiers of the Western Route Army who were buried in the Hexi Corridor. Whenever this past is mentioned, General Zheng Weishan always does not say a word, looking up at the sky and sighing...