There has always been a saying in the anecdotes that the third class merit stands and leads, the second class merit lies down to lead, and the first class merit family leads. Although this sentence is a joke, it also objectively expresses the rarity of our army's combat achievements. However, there is such a person who not only stands and receives the special merit, but also receives as many as 9 times before and after.
And perhaps it all started with the congress in 1950 and the enlistment in 1936.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > the brightest pearl in the National Congress of Combat Heroes</h1>
On September 25, 1950, the National Congress of Combat Heroes was held in Beijing. The participants of this conference are all heroes who have made meritorious achievements for the country, and almost everyone is a fierce person who is "a husband and wife, and everything is not open".
On this day, Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and other leaders attended the meeting. Before the meeting began, these combat heroes from all over the country naturally knew that they were brave and brave people, and when they saw each other, the conversation was warm, and the atmosphere was extremely harmonious.
Just as they were talking passionately, a man walked in at the door of the venue, who was not very handsome and not dressed, but every step attracted the attention of everyone. Some even stood up directly, greeted him and shook hands with excitement, and even greeted him with a look of adoration.
You know, the most important thing in the army is skill and courage, what kind of legend should it be that these people who are already highly skilled and brave combat heroes are paying attention?
This person was Zhang Yingcai, the heroic representative of the Second Field Army of the People's Liberation Army at that time, who participated in more than a hundred battles, once led his company to obtain the title of "Iron Ninth Company", and even made 9 special merits, which can be called "the king of soldiers among the kings of soldiers".
Remarks: There may be some friends who have no concept of special merit, here is a data for your reference: after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there are about 4 million PLA soldiers, of which only 78 have made special merit.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="76" > ancestors were poor farmers for three generations, how did the sheep herding baby grow into the god of war? </h1>
In December 1924, Zhang Yingcai was born in a peasant family in Wanrong County, Shanxi, and almost all the three generations of ancestors were poor peasants, which can be said to be a real difficult life model of "starting a bowl".
Once, Zhang Yingcai, who was hungry and intolerant, was eating pickles and drinking porridge as thin as water, and the young master of the landlord's family saw it and showed the fat in his bowl in front of him, claiming that as long as he knelt down to please himself, he would reward him with the meat in the bowl.
Zhang Yingcai naturally refused, in exchange for only a sentence from the young master, "Nest waste" and a severe beating from everyone.
If there is no accident, Zhang Yingcai will probably be like his ancestors, serving as cattle and horses for the landlords in the village, and then mediocrity to pass his life.
Fortunately, in 1936, Vang Vieng County ushered in a division of hope, and as the Eighth Route Army defeated the Japanese Kou entrenched here, Zhang Yingcai also ushered in the opportunity to change his life. At that time, soon after the Eighth Route Army established a base area, it set up a "Dingxin Cram School" in the local area to teach the children of the poor to read and write for free.
You know, "reading and writing" was a "luxury" in those days, and often only the children of wealthy families had the opportunity to receive education. In the eyes of the poor, as long as they can read, the child can find a chance to get ahead in the future.
At that time, Zhang Yingcai, who was only 12 years old, was sent by her parents to this cram school. In school, Zhang Yingcai's performance is quite excellent, not only can he learn things at all, but he is also particularly able to bear hardships and stand hard work, so Li Shaobai, the principal of the cram school, and others like him quite much. At that time, Zhang Yingcai always had a question in his heart:
Why would such a force be different from the previous ones?
Under Zhang Yingcai's "entanglement", these school leaders and soldiers told him about the past of the army in their spare time. Every time Zhang Yingcai heard it, his eyes lit up, and when he was excited, he even grabbed Li Shaobai's hand and said: I want to join the Eighth Route Army, and I also want to go to the front line to fight the devils.
However, because Zhang Yingcai was still young and thin at the time, Li Shaobai smiled while comparing: You can't afford to carry a gun now, let's talk about it in two years.
If it is a child of ordinary people, I am afraid that these words are just a momentary excitement. However, Zhang Yingcai has always remembered this sentence, and 2 years later, he solemnly bid farewell to his parents, took the 20 eggs that his mother boiled for him, and joined the Eighth Route Army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="121" > Zhang Yingcai, a god of war born</h1>
Don't look at Zhang Yingcai's new enlistment, but the theoretical knowledge of marching and the situation on the battlefield commonly used in the army have already made him master it in the cram school.
At that time, Zhang Yingcai joined the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and was soon incorporated into the special agent company of the 212nd Brigade. You must know that this secret service company is not ordinary, and most of them are quick-witted, shrewd and capable people, and soldiers with excellent combat ability and military literacy. Zhang Yingcai was able to join it, which showed that he must have something extraordinary.
In 1941, the Japanese Kou mobilized heavy troops to carry out a frenzied sweep of our army's bases in the Anze, Jicheng, and Fushan areas, and his 212nd Brigade was responsible for the safety of the entire unit.
At that time, the brigade commander was directing the troops to negotiate with the enemy, and a shell of the Japanese army just landed in the position where the brigade commander was, and Zhang Yingcai, who was only 17 years old, did not think much about it, directly pounced on the brigade commander, and used his body to erect a "protective wall" for the brigade commander, and his body was blurred by bomb fragments.
However, despite the injuries on his body, he summoned a machine gun company at the first time, successfully covered the successful evacuation of the brigade commander and others, and since then Zhang Ying has his first nickname in the army, that is, "Desperate Sanlang", and this meritorious service has opened his legendary road.
Since then, Zhang Yingcai has been like a "humanoid weapon", killing four parties on the battlefield, and it is really "a hundred flowers after I bloom to kill".
In 1945, the Shangdang Campaign began, which was also a battle in which Zhang Yingcai really made a name for himself in the whole army.
At that time, Zhang Yingcai received orders from his superiors and led 9 companies of the 57th Regiment to advance into Changzhi Beiguan. Under the leadership of Zhang Yingcai, the company leaned against the night and touched the city root along the city wall. Under Zhang Yingcai's vanguard, several fighters popped up like "slingshots" and quickly blocked the street entrance with door panels, preparing to "catch turtles in an urn".
However, unfortunately, because a few recruits had just entered the battlefield, they were nervous, and when they blocked the door with wooden planks, they made a crashing sound, which alarmed Yan Xishan's troops. Soon, the 9th Company was heavily surrounded by enemy troops.
Although the situation was critical, Zhang Yingcai remained calm and self-assured, leading 9 companies of fighters to stick to the house at Chengguan, using the terrain to repel enemy attacks many times, and survived a whole night.
By the next morning, the enemy had even found several mortars, and finally climbed up to the roof under the superiority of artillery fire, but still failed to enter the room as desired after the 9th Company hit. In this way, the 9th Company repelled the enemy more than 20 times in one day, killed and wounded more than 300 enemy troops, and held out until a large army came to the rescue, and finally completely annihilated 7,000 enemy troops.
Zhang Yingcai and his comrades-in-arms also won the title of "Iron Ninth Company".
By the time of the Battle of Lüliang in 1946, Zhang Yingcai and the Ninth Company's battlefield performance was even more jaw-dropping.
At that time, facing the strength of as many as one division of the enemy, the Ninth Company had only about 20 people left. Seeing the huge disparity in the numbers of the two sides, the enemy army actually moved the idea of capturing alive and began to rush up.
However, what the enemy did not expect was that just as they rushed over, the remaining 20 or so fighters of the Ninth Company all put on bayonets and took the initiative to attack under Zhang Yingcai's call. Such a strong battlefield performance made the enemy army suddenly frightened and panicked.
At this time, Zhang Yingcai seized the opportunity, grabbed the only remaining machine gun and began to strafe, scaring the enemy commander into fleeing, while the other enemy troops fled in the wind. In this way, with the strong battlefield performance of few enemies and many enemies, Zhang Yingcai successfully completed the combat task, and thus won a medal of "special combat hero".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="126" > will comparable to the "steel battalion" of steel</h1>
In November 1948, the Double Stacking Campaign broke out. This time, Zhang Yingcai once again faced tens of thousands of enemies with a battalion of troops.
You know, this time in the double stack set is Huang Wei's 12th Corps. Huang Wei's combat ability should not be underestimated, and he had a good performance on the anti-Japanese battlefield. Not only that, but the 12th Corps at that time was luxuriously equipped, mostly American equipment, with tanks, armored vehicles and dozens of American-made howitzers.
In the face of nearly a hundred times the gap in troop strength and the disparity in the level of weapons and equipment, can Zhang Ying reproduce the "battlefield myth"?
At this time, Zhang Yingcai and his 1st Battalion were tasked with preventing the breakthrough of 2 enemy divisions and blocking the reinforcements of 2 brigades of the enemy army.
Zhang Yingcai quickly adjusted his deployment after entering the position, withdrawing his own troops from the frontal battlefield and placing mortars and heavy machine guns on the flanks in ambush. Sure enough, the enemy showed the superiority of American equipment to the fullest, and it did not take long to blow up the frontal positions and begin to break through the charge.
And all this was expected by Zhang Yingcai. After the enemy began to reunite, Zhang Yingcai gave an order, and the crossfire of artillery shells and heavy machine guns ambushed on the flank beat the enemy to a "man on horseback".
The enemy was not willing to be hindered, and soon sent tanks to open the way, intending to directly crush our army positions with such "big guys". In the face of the tank's fierce momentum, Zhang Yingcai arranged for the soldiers to ambush on the way of the tank's advance, which caught the tank troops off guard. For a time, the tank was blocked in the traffic trench by Zhang Yingcai and others, which could be described as a dilemma, and finally had to surrender the tank and surrender.
Despite successive victories, the number of enemy troops in front of Zhang Yingcai was still very large, reaching six times as many.
However, these enemies had already been frightened by the "battlefield performance" of Zhang Yingcai and his comrades-in-arms, and although there were many of them, they were bent on breaking through, and they were defeated by Zhang Yingcai again in a panic.
What is even more exaggerated is that after defeating the enemy army, Zhang Yingcai was like Zhao Zilong on the slope of Changshan in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", almost like entering no man's land, leading the 1st Battalion to directly split the enemy's defense, directly rushing to the headquarters of the 14th Army, and killing the enemy's commander Xiong Shouchun on the spot.
After the end of this battle, a battalion led by Zhang Yingcai won the title of "Iron Battalion" issued by the General Front Committee of the Huaihai Campaign, and the soldiers of the whole battalion recorded a great merit. At this time, Zhang Yingcai, who was only 24 years old, had already won the honorary title of combat hero four times, including three special classes and one first class.
In the following days, Zhang Yingcai successively participated in the Battle of Crossing the River and the Battle of Liberating Nanchang, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he entered the Korean War as a volunteer army and participated in the Battle of Jincheng, and his lifelong achievements were countless.
It can be said that Zhang Yingcai's life is worthy of being a hero's life, and he can be called "the king of soldiers among soldiers".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="150" > Zhang Yingcai outside the battle</h1>
Just after the end of the National Battle Heroes Conference, Zhang Yingcai was arranged to eat at the same table as Chairman Mao. During the meal, Chairman Mao asked Zhang Yingcai: Yingcai has been fighting on the battlefield for a long time, and I don't know where you are from.
Don't look at Zhang Yingcai on the battlefield, "invincible", at this time, he said somewhat shyly: I am from a tu village in Shanxi.
Probably out of love for the party and the country, Zhang Yingcai said again: If it were not for the party and the state, where would there be today?
When Chairman Mao heard this, he turned to the staff around him and said: You will cook a bowl of egg noodles for comrade Yingcai, and you should put more vinegar!
The people of Shaanxi love to eat jealousy and noodles, and Chairman Mao's words are naturally a love for this combat hero.
Zhang Yingcai not only personally fought for the country all his life, but his two sons and one daughter also joined the army and achieved success.
His eldest son served as a United Nations military observer in Cambodia, and his second son became a pilot after graduating from air force flight cadets. As for the younger daughter, she was even more powerful, and her thesis "On Integrated Command" was even highly praised by Qian Xuesen, and later became the first female deputy regimental commander of the armored regiment of our army's field troops.
In fact, heroes should never be forgotten, no matter what era they are.
I would like to pay tribute to the hero Zhang Yingcai with this article.