Friends who have read the novel believe that they all know that many authors place the identity of a soldier king for the protagonist, this routine is very popular, the male protagonists in the novel are retired and reclusive special soldier kings, playing pigs and eating tigers, that is, you can hang the villain and become a big cool point of urban novels. However, the novel is fictional and also has exaggerated elements, but the super soldier king to be talked about today is really in reality, and it can be said that his experience is more exaggerated than the novel! Of the four million People's Liberation Army, as long as he alone won 9 special merits! Special emphasis should be placed on the PLA's appraisal criteria, which have been abolished since 1955, and there will be no chance of meritorious service in peacetime. At present, there are only third-class, second-class, and first-class merits; first-class merits are generally posthumously awarded, and second-class and third-class merits are still common. To use a common saying: first-class merit is exchanged for life; second-class merit is disabled; third-class merit sweats. Even the first-class merit is so difficult, so I know how exaggerated it is for this soldier king to get 9 first-class merits! This soldier king is Zhang Yingcai, who has never come after the ancients!
01
Join the Red Army
Zhang Yingcai was born in February 1924 in Wanrong County, Shanxi Province, to a poor family and was often bullied by landlords. His mother was often ill, and on one occasion his father was seriously injured by bullies, and Zhang Yingcai, who was less than 10 years old, was forced to work in a landlord's house in exchange for some food. Because Zhang Yingcai, who was born humble, was always bullied by the landlord, he was often hung up and beaten with a whip. In 1936, the Red Army came to Vang Vieng County to drive out the landlords and bullies, and also established schools to teach poor children to read and write. Zhang Yingcai, who was 12 years old at the time, thought that as long as he did not starve, he would be very happy, and how could he still read and study? This was the first time he had seen an army that truly thought for the sake of the people and sought happiness for the poor. The heroic posture of the red army soldiers was deeply rooted in Zhang Yingcai's heart. Zhang Yingcai made rapid progress in school, not only learned a lot of words, but also was fascinated by advanced ideas, and the teachers in the school liked this smart and brave child very much. When the teachers talked about fighting devils and defending the country, Zhang Yingcai listened very carefully. Later, Zhang Yingcai even asked the teacher, saying that he wanted to join the army to fight the devils, but he was rejected several times. Every time the teacher smiled and said, rest assured, when you grow up, we will want you. In July 1939, under Zhang Yingcai's constant soft and hard bubbles, the commanders and fighters of the unit made an exception and accepted the cow herding baby, but no one expected that after that, our army added a legendary "soldier king".
02
The first signs of the momentum
The 15-year-old Zhang Yingcai did logistics work in the 115th Division, worked hard and worked hard, and was later transferred to the propaganda team, and he did not have the opportunity to go to the battlefield for 2 years, until he was later transferred to the 212th Brigade Special Agent Company as a soldier. In 1941, Zhang Yingcai ushered in the opportunity to show himself on the battlefield. On the evening of March 20, Zhang Yingcai went to the battlefield for the first time, following the commando team to raid the Japanese army at night, he did not panic at all, but was excited. After the attack began, Zhang Yingcai bravely charged forward, killing several Japanese troops in succession, and everyone looked at him with admiration. On September 22, in order to consolidate the rear defense line, 20,000 Japanese troops carried out a major "sweep" of the Anze and Fushan lines, and the 212th Brigade was the first target. On September 23, the 54th Regiment, the 56th Regiment and the 8th Company of the 55th Regiment of the 212th Brigade were attacked by the main Japanese forces, and the Eighth Route Army relied on the terrain to block the Japanese army under the mountain. After that, the Japanese launched aircraft bombardment and heavy shelling on the positions of the Eighth Route Army, but they still failed to break through the defense line of the Eighth Route Army. After nearly a day of fierce fighting, in order to preserve his living strength, the brigade commander ordered a retreat as planned. But at this time, the machine gun company could not be contacted, and the brigade commander sent Zhang Yingcai to inform the machine gun company. Just after the explanation, a shell exploded nearby, Zhang Yingcai threw the brigade commander to the ground, but he was injured, and he ran to the position of the machine gun company without treatment. At this time, the Japanese army had climbed to the edge of the machine gun company position, and Zhang Yingcai informed the machine gun company commander of the order to retreat. So Zhang Yingcai and his comrades fought and retreated, the Japanese army chased after them, Zhang Yingcai also suffered several injuries, and later successfully broke through under the cover of night. Finally the 212th Brigade retreated safely and counterattacked the Japanese with supporting friendly forces.
03
Numerous military achievements
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in August 1945, the Kuomintang troops launched an attack on the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Liberated Area and occupied the Changzhi area. On September 10, 1945, the People's Liberation Army began to launch a counter-offensive against the Kuomintang, and Zhang Yingcai led the formation of a new company of 9 companies to attack Changzhi Beiguan overnight to prevent the enemy from escaping from the north. Although most of the recruits were recruits, after a whole day and night of fierce fighting, Zhang Yingcai led the 9 companies to repel more than 20 enemy charges, eliminated more than 300 enemies, and after the war, the 9 companies were also awarded the honorary title of "Iron Ninth Company". In 1946, Zhang Yingcai completed an almost impossible task in the Battle of Lüliang, and was awarded the title of "Special Combat Hero". In the summer of 1948, in the Battle of Eastern Henan, Zhang Yingcai was ordered to lead a battalion of Xiaozhuang to block the elite Nationalist 85th Division, which also had a large number of tanks. But that was it, a battalion fought with the 85th Division for a whole day, and finally the 85th Division withdrew from the battle at the cost of more than 700 casualties. At the end of 1948, in the Battle of Huaihai, Zhang Yingcai killed Xiong Shouchun, commander of the 14th Army of the Nationalist Army. In April 1949, Zhang Yingcai was already the chief of staff of the 38th Regiment, and in the Battle of crossing the river, he defeated the enemy army and marched into northeast Jiangxi in June to participate in the battle to liberate Nanchang. Zhang Yingcai has participated in too many fierce battles, there is no way to finish them all, and the 9 special merits are all heroic killing of the enemy and brave performance.
04
The President received four receptions
The first time Zhang Yingcai met Chairman Mao was when he was attending the Chinese youth delegation, traveling to Budapest to attend the Second World Democratic Youth Congress and the International Youth Day. Zhang Yingcai met Chairman Mao for the second time in January 1950, and at the end of the inspection, Chairman Mao invited the delegation to a family banquet, and Chairman Mao knew that Zhang Yingcai was a native of Shanxi, and specially prepared a knife-cut noodle and a bottle of Shanxi old vinegar for him. Zhang Yingcai's third meeting with Chairman Mao was the first National Congress of Heroic Models of Combat in September 1950, attended by 358 combat heroes, and only 77 of the more than 4 million officers and men of the People's Liberation Army who had won the special merit three times or less. He was then elected to the Bureau of the General Assembly and took the stage to speak as a representative. Chairman Mao was deeply impressed by Zhang Yingcai and praised him for his incomparable heroism. Zhang Yingcai met Chairman Mao for the fourth time in 1954, when he was elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress to attend the First National People's Congress, which was also the meeting with Chairman Mao.
In 1955, Zhang Yingcai was awarded the rank of colonel, and later served as division commander and deputy commander. Such a god of war-like figure is also rare in the history of the world army! Today, Zhang Yingcai's old hero is 97 years old and is still in good health. Here, I wish the old hero health and longevity, and the hero is not old!