Geng Biao (36) Luo Lirong changed into a soldier's uniform, mixed in the group of prisoners, and was recognized by the brigade commander Xu Decao

The horses of Commander Yang, Political Commissar Yang, and I galloped fast until midnight, and when we looked back, only three guards were far behind, and the other comrades were nowhere to be seen, presumably a large step behind. So, the three of us controlled the speed a little.

Before dawn on 18 July, when we arrived near a village in the east of Baoding, we stopped and decided to set up a temporary command post here to learn about the marching situation of the various units and give command.

After a while, Comrade Yu Zhen also arrived. He walked with a slight limp, explaining why: "My horse has no saddle and my thighs are worn out. On the other hand, he hurriedly added: "But it doesn't matter, it doesn't hinder the execution of the task." After saying that, he immediately went to greet the communication team that came later to set up a telephone line.

The comrades of the organs directly under them have not yet caught up. I called my guard, Hu Dafang, and Commissar Yang's guard to go outside to stand on guard. The other four also made a division of labor: Commander Yang and his guards were responsible for cooking, Political Commissar Yang was responsible for walking horses, and I was responsible for making telephone contact with the troops.

I call from several phones at the same time. It was learned that all columns and brigades had marched to the designated places overnight as ordered. The mood of the vast number of commanders and fighters is high, and they all want to rush to the battlefield as soon as possible to fight a beautiful war of annihilation.

On the phone, my stomach growls with hunger. It is no wonder that we still had a meal at noon on the 17th before leaving Dongmazhuang, and now we have not eaten a drop of water for more than 10 hours, and after a night's journey, we are indeed so hungry that our chests are pressed against our backs. Fortunately, Commander Yang's meal had already been prepared, and everyone didn't say a word, and devoured all the food. Although this meal lacks the taste of Hunan due to the lack of chili peppers, it still feels delicious when you are hungry.

After eating, the comrades of the directly subordinate organs also arrived one after another. When asked, they had all eaten. It turned out that they were in a hurry and ate dry food at the same time.

At this time, Political Commissar Yang was reviewing the Emergency Combat Mobilization Order of the Field Army Front Committee, which had been written overnight by the Propaganda Department of the Political Department. Commander Yang and I continued to communicate by telephone with all parties.

Commander Sun Yi of the Jizhong Military Region, Brigade Commander Xu Dechao of the Eighth Independent Brigade, and responsible comrades of various counties in the Baonan Liberated Area reported to us Luo Lirong's whereabouts:

The commander of the enemy's Third Army, Luo Jun, and his deputy commander Yang Guangyu led more than 14,000 horses, accompanied by more than 200 carts, carrying baggage and officers' families, as well as a magic troupe for entertainment and recreation. In addition, they were blocked by our local troops and guerrillas along the way, so the advance was very slow, and they only reached Xinle on the evening of 17 July. Because they were afraid of the attack of the military and civilians in the liberated area, they did not dare to march at night, so they camped in Xinle.

That is to say, when our army marched south overnight to Baijiangli Road, Luo Lirong "was sleeping in Xinle. This is a relief to us. However, it is okay to breathe a sigh of relief, but not to relax. We must also intensify our efforts to continue the rapid march and reach the predetermined territory as soon as possible.

After the call, the guard came and asked us to sleep. All three of us shook our heads and said, "How can we sleep now, we have to race against time to keep going." "The Noji command is also going to advance to the Wenren area. After saying that, we instructed the staff officers to pack up the maps, telephones, etc., and set themselves up on the road.

When the sky was bright, we embarked on the road from Baoding to Wenren. I saw that some of the various units of our army advancing along the east side of the railway were running along the main road to the south, while others were rushing across the main road in the direction of Yangcheng in the southwest.

The propaganda cadres of the political department of the field army and the columns and brigades are separately reading out the operational mobilization order of the front committee:

"Concentrate all your forces and firepower, and strike hard! Rush and chase!"

"Give full play to the fighting style of the three fierces, fight hard, fight hard, fight hard!"

"Crush the enemy, surround the enemy, annihilate the enemy!"

"Regardless of any fatigue, resolutely carry out the order!"

"Regardless of the night march and the rapid march! No matter if you have no food or water! No matter how you fight day and night! You must not be afraid of difficulties, you must not complain of hardship, and you must not be lazy! You must walk even if you can't walk, you must chase after you while crawling and rolling, and resolutely never let go of the enemy!"

"Give full play to combat mobility, go up wherever there is an enemy, go there where there is gunfire, and go there where the enemy is not destroyed!"

"The enemy is stubbornly resisting, and must be resolutely destroyed! The enemy has fled and must catch up and be annihilated!"

"Resolutely, thoroughly, and simply, annihilate the enemy completely! Capture the enemy's army commander Luo Lirong alive! Capture the enemy's division commander and regiment commander alive! Create an unprecedented victory in Shanxi, Chahar, and Hebei!"

"Hold a contest to win battles! Hold a contest to surrender guns and capture prisoners! Make great contributions to the people!"

"All cadres lead by example, and Communist Party members play a special role!"

It was cold, but the soldiers were sweating profusely. We dismounted and said to them: "Comrades, hard work!" The soldiers said "hard work, chief", and continued to move forward at a brisk pace without looking back.

The cadres of the Political Department shouted to cheer for the family: "Comrades, come on!" Rush to Qingfeng Store early and destroy the enemy's Third Army!"

The fighters replied energetically: "Don't worry, chief, I promise to complete the mission!" Capture Luo Lirong alive and win a big battle!"

Since the south of Baoding is a liberated area, local villagers have taken to the road to welcome the PLA. The eldest lady and sister-in-law carried baskets full of food and enthusiastically stuffed eggs, steamed buns, red dates, sweet potatoes, and pancakes into the hands of the soldiers......

With a pot in one hand and a bowl in the other, the children chased after the uncle of the People's Liberation Army to drink tea. "Uncle, have a bowl! A few little girls whose faces were red from the cold wind of the winter morning pleaded with the soldiers.

A 14- or 5-year-old boy followed a cadre and asked vigorously: "I'll go with you to fight Lao Chiang, okay? I'm going too!" I can carry it too!" The other boys also rushed to shout.

I can't help but think: The children all know about "beating Lao Jiang", which shows the people's back.

In addition to the spontaneous welcome and condolences of the villagers, governments at all levels in the liberated areas have also organized various front-line support work. They placed large water tanks every 100 meters on both sides of the road where the troops passed. It is filled with steaming polenta or millet porridge. The old man, the old lady and the village cadres next to him kept greeting: "It's not enough to just gnaw dry, let's have a bowl of hot porridge!" Along the way, we also saw that in the nearby villages, village cadres and villagers were preparing carts and stretchers for the front.

As I walked, I was walking, and Comrade Wu Shusheng (responsible person of the Central Hebei District Party Committee and the former headquarters of the Central Hebei Central Administration Bureau), who had been in contact with me by telephone, suddenly appeared on the side of the road. We immediately dismounted and met him.

He told us that overnight, a forward contingent of more than 98,000 migrant workers and militiamen, more than 10,000 stretchers, more than 3,400 carts, and more than 9,600 cattle had been formed in Jizhong.

He conveyed the words of Comrade Lin Tie (secretary of the party committee of the central Hebei region and political commissar of the central Hebei Military Region): The 20 million people of central Hebei will give full support to the PLA in winning the battle and destroying the enemy.

Comrade Wu Shusheng also said with a smile: "The people of Jizhong have prepared red dates and eggs for our own troops, and mines and bullets for the enemy. ”

It is precisely the support and encouragement of the people of Jizhong and other regions, and it is precisely the relationship between the people and the working people that has provided a solid and reliable guarantee for the great victory of Qingfengdian.

At the same time, Comrade Wang Ping, secretary of the Jijin District Party Committee and political commissar of the Jijin Military Region, was on the orders of Commander Nie Rongzhen and was leading an independent regiment and more than 1,000 militiamen of the Jijin Military Region to rush to the Qingfengdian area under the stars and nights, preparing to cooperate with the troops of the Jizhong Military Region to block Luo Lirong's troops before the arrival of a large force of our army. Of course, that's what we learned later.

Although the mood of the commanders and fighters was high, they were indeed too tired from marching day and night, so the pace of the march gradually slowed down.

At this time, the political department quickly put forward the idea that "whether or not the enemy can be annihilated, the march is the key!" Complete the marching mission, and you're halfway there!" and other loud slogans to encourage everyone.

The propaganda team beat gongs and drums and sang Allegro:

Chiang Kai-shek, relying on Lao Mei;

We win on our legs!

Comrades, hurry up,

Only those who can walk are considered heroes.

resolutely destroy the Third Army,

Capture the army commander Luo Lirong alive!

So, the fighters quickened their pace and continued to move forward in high spirits.

At midnight on 18 July, all units of our army heading south along both sides of the railway had arrived at their designated positions ahead of schedule. The field army command was hidden in the woods near Wenren. It is about 50 miles away from Qingfengdian, so it is convenient to move forward to command after the battle starts.

On the morning of the next day, 19 July, the enemy army set out from Dingxian, crossed the Tang River, and arrived in the Qingfengdian area in the afternoon.

Luo Lirong thought that the main force of our army was far away in the Baobei battlefield, and the Baonan area was only attacked by guerrillas and militias.

This unexpected mutation made Luo Lirong panic, and he had no choice but to shrink all his men and horses to Qingfengdian and its nearby Gaojiazuo, Beizhihe, Dawafang, Xiaowafang, Yuguiying, Hufang, Nanheying, Dongnanhecun, Southwest Hecun, Dongtongfang, and Xitongfang, and hastened to carry out defense.

We immediately directed all units to carry out a roundabout encirclement of the enemy who had moved into the defense. The main force and two regiments of the 12th Brigade of the 4th Column went around to the south and controlled the crossing of the Tang River, while the 8th Brigade and three militia regiments, which had been following the enemy, were deployed on the south bank of the Tang River.

The remaining five brigades of the field army, one regiment of the 12th Brigade, and the independent regiment of the Hebei-Jin Military Region respectively approached the villages where the enemy troops were located and surrounded the Luo Lirong troops.

On the one hand, Luo Lirong resisted stubbornly, and on the other hand, he frequently called for help to Beiping and Baoding.

According to later understanding, when Luo Lirong first asked his superiors for help, he was reprimanded by Sun Lianzhong. Sun Lianzhong thought that the main force of our army was more than 200 miles away on the Baobei battlefield, so how could he fly to Qingfengdian with wings? Therefore, he blamed Luo Lirong for mistaking the local troops and guerrillas as the main force, making a fuss, and lying about the military situation.

It is no wonder that the troops we left in Baobei were now on the one hand and preparing to block the enemy who might go south; On the other hand, the defending enemy who was still besieging Xu Shui.

By the time Sun Lianzhong figured out that Luo Lirong's troops were indeed besieged by the main force of our army, Luo Lirong's life was becoming more and more difficult.

In the early morning of the 20th, our army successively conquered Qingfengdian, Yugeying, Xiaowafang, Hufang and other villages. The enemy army retreated into a few villages centered on the southwest.

Luo Lirong was determined to build fortifications here and wait for help. In his opinion, since the main force of our army has come to the southern front, the north must be empty, so the reinforcements sent by Sun Lianzhong can come quickly and unhindered.

Sun Lianzhong did send reinforcements. Li Wenqin, commander of the enemy's 34th Group Army, led five divisions southward, but was intercepted by our blocking troops on the Xushui line. As a result, a fierce battle unfolded on the battlefield of Baobei. The enemy bombarded with dense artillery fire and charged continuously in a dense formation in an attempt to break through our positions. Sun Lianzhong also personally flew over Xushui to supervise the battle.

However, our blocking troops are "holding back the enemy, fighting stubbornly, and making meritorious contributions to the people!" Hold off the enemy and ensure victory in the decisive battle of Baonan!" Inspired by the slogan, they fought bravely, not only stubbornly resisting the enemy's attack, but also holding counterattacks one after another, destroying a large number of enemies, thus brilliantly completing the task of blocking the attack, so that the enemy from the south was always blocked north of Baoding.

Reinforcements were delayed, and Luo Lirong felt that the situation was not good. However, he believed that his Third Army was an elite army in the Kuomintang army and was well-equipped, so he continued to resist stubbornly with one mind, and he himself led the military headquarters of the Third Army, the headquarters of the Seventh Division, and two regiments to stick to the village of Nanhe, and deployed the rest of his troops in the surrounding villages of Nanheying, Gaojiazuo, Dongxitongfang, and Dongnanhe, forming a plum-shaped defense system. Because the enemy's forces and firepower are concentrated, various points can support each other, and its military headquarters is in the center of the defense system, with various points on the periphery as its barriers, it is difficult for our army to annihilate it in one fell swoop.

At this time, the headquarters of our field army had moved forward to a high slope near the enemy's position. I looked closely through my binoculars, and I remembered the scene when I was a kid catching crabs and breaking crab legs. I thought: It will not be difficult to annihilate the enemy's defense system if we first attack and occupy the periphery of the enemy's defense system one by one, and finally leave the enemy in the southwest village. Coincidentally, Commander Yang and Political Commissar Yang also had this idea. Therefore, we decided to adopt the tactic of dividing the enemy and annihilating each one.

In the early morning of 21 July, the 10th Brigade commanded a regiment of the 11th Brigade to launch an attack on the southern joint camp defending the enemy. The Yugoslav Joint Battalion was guarded by a regiment of the enemy, and it was the strongest among the enemy's periphery points. Our troops first destroyed the enemy's forward fortifications with artillery fire, and then attacked the village from the east, west, and north.

The enemy tried to flee southward, but was intercepted by our troops at the southern entrance of the village. The remnants of the enemy desperately broke out from the southwest corner and fled to a cemetery and near a ridge. As long as you cross this ridge, you can join up with the enemy who has come out to meet in the southwest. Suddenly, the fleeing enemy heard a dense burst of gunfire and shouts of "surrender the gun, not kill."

It turned out that we anticipated that the enemy might break through from this direction, so we ambushed two reinforced platoons here, used the ridge to do a good job of fortification and camouflage, and also concentrated six machine guns. So, these fleeing enemies were obediently taken prisoner. In this way, after 40 minutes of fierce fighting, the enemy was completely annihilated and the enemy was captured, and more than 1,100 people below the enemy's regimental commander were captured.

At the same time, our 9th Brigade conquered Gaojiazuo, and the 11th Brigade conquered Tongfang in the east and west. Seeing that the situation was not good, the enemy stationed in the southeastern region retreated to the southwestern region in panic.

As a result, all the points on the periphery of the enemy were completely swept away by our troops.

Then, our 4th and 6th Brigades combined forces to attack the enemy in the southwest. After a day of fierce fighting, our troops opened a gap in the enemy's position in the northeast corner of Hecun in the southwest on the evening of the 21st, and the 16th Regiment of the 6th Brigade and the 12th Regiment of the 4th Brigade fought side by side, repelling the enemy's repeated counterattacks and consolidating this breakthrough about 200 meters long.

During the battle, more than 10 enemy planes strafed and bombed our positions at low altitudes, and Comrade Zhong Tianfa, chief of staff of our 10th Brigade, was unfortunately shot and died. Commanders and fighters of various units, with the desire to avenge their comrades-in-arms, raised their rifles and machine guns and fired into the air, and an enemy plane was shot down and the pilot was captured. Another enemy plane was damaged and fled in a hurry. The rest of the enemy planes no longer dared to recklessly strafe at low altitudes, but hastily pulled up and burrowed into the clouds.

More than 10,000 enemy troops crowded into a small village with only more than 400 households saw that they could not escape the fate of annihilation, like ants on a hot pot. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Luo Lirong resorted to a deception and posted a "Circular" in the village:

Commander's Message:

Commander-in-Chief Feng (referring to Li Wen) telegraphed: The southbound army has been transported to Wangdu by car this evening, and our current crisis can be resolved by tomorrow at the latest.

In line with this, the Central News Agency of the Kuomintang also falsely claimed that "the national army has entered Fangshunqiao Station, 60 miles southwest of Baoding, as it went south." ”

However, neither deception nor lies could save him from failure.

At 3:40 a.m. on 22 July, red and green signal flares rose into the air, and our troops began a general attack on the enemy in the southwest. In addition to the 4th and 6th Brigades, the 35th Regiment of the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Brigades also entered the battle. The countless tongues of fire emitted by the platoon guns blew down, destroyed, and burned the enemy's fortifications into a sea of fire. The enemy's division headquarters and army headquarters were conquered by us one after another. The enemy forces that had lost their command were divided into many small pieces, some were annihilated, some were captured, and the rest had to lay down their arms and raise their hands in surrender. After nearly eight hours of fierce fighting, the battle ended at 11:30 a.m.

When our army counted the prisoners, they could not find Luo Lirong. It turned out that he had changed into a soldier's costume and mixed in with the captives. But then he

。 Because Comrade Xu Decao used to be our representative of the Shijiazhuang Armistice Group of the Military Adjustment Department, he had dealt with Luo Lirong.

Seven days later, on the morning of 29 October, at the field army headquarters in Beizhu Village, Dingxian County, Commander Nie Rongzhen and leading comrades of the military region and field army met with Luo Lirong and other senior officers of the enemy's Third Army and educated them.

In this campaign, our army annihilated the headquarters of the enemy's Third Army, the entire Seventh Division, and the 66th Regiment of the 16th Army, captured more than 11,400 officers and soldiers under the command of the enemy's Third Army, Luo Lirong, deputy army commander, Yang Guangyu, deputy army commander, Wu Tiezheng, deputy chief of staff, and Li Yongzhang, commander of the Seventh Division.

The victory of Qingfengdian was a great victory of Chairman Mao's military thinking on fighting the active war, the movement war, and the war of annihilation. In terms of specific operational command, we are in the military

Under the leadership of Commander Ou Nie, "movements" were used to lure and disperse the enemy in order to create conditions for annihilating the enemy. Once the conditions are formed, they will be flexible and capture the fighters in time. Since the fighter planes are fleeting, we should try our best to gain time in both decision-making and action, and carry forward the revolutionary spirit of not being afraid of fatigue, marching under the stars and nights, and marching at high speed, so as to "be a soldier of great speed" and "surprise the enemy." At the same time, the combination of military and civilian forces, and the coordination of offensive and blocking forces, were also important factors in winning the campaign.