During the Liberation War, Siye launched an important battle after entering the Guannai, and this battle was the Battle of Hengbao.
The Battle of Hengbao took place in September 1949, in this battle, Siye completely annihilated the Gui ace "Steel Seventh Army", and captured Deng Dazhi, chief of staff of the "Steel Seventh Army", division commander Zhang Ruisheng and others.
After the Battle of Hengbao, only Li Benyi, the commander of the "Steel Seventh Army", led the remnants to flee back to Guangxi, but Li Benyi was later captured by the People's Liberation Army and imprisoned, and was shot in 1951.
In fact, in the Battle of Hengbao, the "Seventh Army of Steel" had a chance to escape from the encirclement, but because Li Benyi did not carry out the orders of Commander Bai Chongxi, the "Seventh Army of Steel" was completely annihilated by the four fields.
The full name of the "Seventh Army of Steel" is the Seventh Army of the National Revolutionary Army, which is the trump card unit of the Gui system, which has a long history, and its predecessor was the Guangxi Dinggui Thief Coalition Army led by Li Zongren and Huang Shaohong.
During the Northern Expedition of the Kuomintang, this unit was reorganized in 1926 and officially changed to the Seventh Army of the National Revolutionary Army, with Li Zongren as the first commander.
After that, the Seventh Army moved to all parts of the country and participated in a series of important battles such as the Northern Expedition War, the Ninghan War, the Jiang-Gui War, the Central Plains War, and the War of Resistance against Japan.
As ace troops, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi poured a lot of effort into this unit, and the army commander was also a confidant. During the Battle of Hengbao in 1949, the commander of the "Steel Seventh Army" happened to be Li Benyi.
Li Benyi was born in 1902, a native of Rong County, Guangxi, born in a poor family, joined the army after joining the Gui army, and was appreciated by Bai Chongxi for his courage and good fighting. In 1948, he was appointed commander of the Seventh Army and began to take charge of the Gui Department, the ace army.
In 1949, Li Benyi led the Seventh Army to garrison in Huangpi and Xiaogan, and after the battle of crossing the river, the "Seventh Army of Steel" went to the Hunan and Jiangxi border areas, and after the Fourth Field Army launched the Hunan and Jiangxi Campaign, Li Benyi abandoned his position and went to the Hengbao area of Hunan. It was also in the Hengbao area that Li Benyi's "Steel Seventh Army" was completely annihilated by Siye.
Before the Battle of Hengbao began, the 12th Corps was responsible for the attack in the middle, and the 135th Division of the 45th Army of the 12th Corps drove straight into the army under the command of Ding Sheng, and did not receive the order to stop advancing until it crossed the Hengbao Highway. At that time, the 13th Corps of Siye was responsible for the attack on the West Road, but the 13th Corps did not follow Ding Sheng's footsteps, resulting in only Ding Sheng's troops entering the south of the Hengbao Highway and going deep alone.
Commander Siye was also surprised when he received the news that Ding Sheng's lone army had penetrated, after which he ordered the 13th Corps to continue to advance and prepare to cooperate with Ding Sheng's troops to encircle and annihilate the "Steel Seventh Army". Bai Chongxi, who was sitting in the rear, was also very anxious after getting the news, Bai Chongxi was known as "Little Zhuge ", resourceful, and he judged that if the 13th Corps of Siye and Ding Sheng's troops should cooperate with each other, then the "Seventh Army of Steel" was in danger of being completely annihilated. So Bai Chongxi hurriedly commanded the "Seventh Army of Steel" to retreat, and also ordered Li Benyi to retreat with the "Seventh Army of Steel" from the main road, that is, the Hengbao Highway.
After receiving the order from his superiors, Li Benyi hesitated, and he also judged that the "Seventh Army of Steel" was in danger of being completely annihilated, but he hesitated about the retreat route. Bai Chongxi ordered himself to go from the main road, but the main road did not have any cover, and Siye was close at hand, wouldn't it be easier to be surrounded and annihilated if he walked from the main road?
So Li Benyi did not carry out Bai Chongxi's order, he took matters into his own hands and retreated from the path, what he didn't expect was that Siye's troops were waiting for him on the path, Li Benyi fell into the encirclement of Siye all of a sudden, and after a battle, the "Steel Seventh Army" was completely annihilated by Siye, and the army commander Li Benyi desperately escaped from the encirclement. However, Li Benyi escaped for a while, but not for the rest of his life, and soon after, he was captured by the People's Liberation Army and executed in 1951.