In September 1947, Zhang Lingfu led the reorganized 74th Division to capture Huaiyin City after many days of fierce fighting and great sacrifices.
This is the first time that Chen Yi and Su Yu have fought Zhang Lingfu on the battlefield.
When the news of the capture of Huaiyin City by the entire 74th Division came, the officers of the division headquarters celebrated with their crowns and opened champagne to celebrate the completion of the battle. The division commander Zhang Lingfu didn't say a word, he silently walked to the corner of the command post and shouted on his back.
Why is that?
Some say he tried to hide his excitement.
No matter what Zhang Lingfu was, Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing was no less excited than Zhang Lingfu when he saw the good news of the "Huaiyin Great Victory", and immediately sent a telegram of commendation to Zhang Lingfu and awarded Zhang Lingfu the glorious third-class Baoding Medal.
Subsequently, Nanjing's newspapers published large reports and photographs, praising the heroic and brave General Zhang Lingfu and the "heroic deeds" of the reorganized 74th Division in breaking through Huaiyin City, the "nest of bandits," with "heart-digging tactics," and Zhang Lingfu became famous.
After the war, the 74th Division temporarily lived in Huaiyin for recuperation, and the division headquarters was located in the compound of the former Central China Bureau of the Communist Party of China, and Zhang Lingfu lived on the second floor.
Early one morning, the staff officers woke up, but they felt that the courtyard was full of fragrance, and when they went out, they saw that a half-human-high epiphyllum in the courtyard suddenly bloomed at night. Everyone was pleasantly surprised. When Zhang Lingfu heard the news, he also carried a camera, lingering in front of the big flower pot, leaning over to take pictures of the flowers from time to time, and the staff officers watched and discussed beside him. The whole division was still intoxicated with the joy of "quasi-yin victory", and someone patted Zhang Lingfu and said: "It is rare for the epiphany to bloom, and the division headquarters has just been stationed, and the epiphany suddenly blooms here, which is to congratulate the division commander for his victory." ”
When Zhang Lingfu heard this, he actually stood in front of the flower bed and took a photo. In May 1947, Zhang Lingfu died in Menglianggu. His widow Wang Yuling saw this photo of Zhang Lingfu behind her beautiful epiphany blooming to a little arrogant, and she felt ominous.
Decades later, when it came to this photo, Wang Yuling couldn't help but say with emotion:
"There is a saying about one thing, and later some people said that it was actually a bad omen, a flash in the pan, and beauty was beautiful, but it withered immediately, as if to foreshadow the fate of him and his 74th Division in the civil war. ”
Indeed it is.
Zhang Lingfu's "brilliance" was only in the second half of 1946 in just a few months, he was "prosperous in martial arts", his ambition was satisfied, and he was majestic on the battlefield, but all this was like this beautiful and short-lived ephemeral, which withered in only a few months. In less than a year, in May 1947, Zhang Lingfu and his reorganized 74th Division were swept away by Chen Yi and Su Yu in the first battle of Menglianggu, and all of them were annihilated, including Zhang Lingfu himself, almost no one was spared.
Chen Guanren, the first secretary of the "Ten Ace Armies of the Kuomintang", recounted this matter. The book recounts the conquests and anecdotes of the ten ace armies of the Kuomintang and their generals, and the book is a classic military bestseller with accurate historical data, rich content, and twists and turns.