In Laojun Village, Ziyang County, Sichuan Province, there is an ordinary old man Zhang Liangrong, who has a large box, and no one knows what is inside. Until April 2019, Ziyang City launched a "looking for the most beautiful veteran" campaign, Zhang Liangrong suddenly and unusually, clamoring to take the wooden box and go to the Sichuan Veterans Information Collection Office.
The daughter had no choice but to accompany him to the information collection office. Because the old man is old, everyone knows, knows that he has been a soldier, and does not care much, and is ridiculed: "Old man, have you made any merits?" It's 'looking for the most beautiful veteran'! ”
But when Zhang Liangrong, who was more than 90 years old, opened the precious wooden box in front of everyone, six yellowed military merit medals made people awe-inspired. The "Victory Medal of the Huaihai Campaign", the "Victory Medal of the Battle of Crossing the River", and the "Victory Medal of the Southwest Campaign" lay quietly inside.
As a result, an old hero who has been sealed for more than 60 years has once again entered people's field of vision. This seemingly ordinary old man turned out to be an old hero who had been honored with three special merits and one third-class merit!
In the eyes of people's surprise, the elderly Zhang Liangrong told people his story for the first time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" data-track="7">
</h1>
In 1924, Zhang Liangrong was born into a peasant family in Ziyang, Sichuan. In those turbulent times, when his family was poor, he sometimes even had problems eating.
In order to reduce the burden on the family, Zhang Liangrong began to work for the landlord's family at a very young age. As a teenager, I began to go out with people to make a living, carrying bags and pulling cars. He suffered a lot along the way, but it also cultivated his strong, optimistic character.
In 1948, when he saw the communist team, he always stood out for the people and worked hard to make the people live a good life. Therefore, 24-year-old Zhang Liangrong resolutely joined the People's Liberation Army and became a soldier in the Central Plains Field Army led by Liu Bocheng.
Shortly after joining the army, Zhang Liangrong followed the Central Plains Field Army and participated in the Battle of Huaihai.
The Battle of Huaihai was one of the most important battles in the history of China's liberation. In November 1948, the East China Field Army encircled the Kuomintang Huang Baitao's 7th Corps around the town of Nianzhuang in Jiangsu Province, trying to annihilate them all.
This upset Chiang Kai-shek. In order to rescue Huang Baitao, Chiang Kai-shek sent Huang Wei's army to reinforce. Huang Wei Corps claimed to be a 120,000 steel army with 4 armies, of which the 18th Army was one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang, all equipped with American equipment. At Chiang Kai-shek's repeated urging, Huang Wei's corps had to speed up the march.
In order to prevent Huang Wei's corps from meeting with Huang Baitao, Zhang Liangrong's Central Plains Field Army launched one of the largest defensive battles in history. In the face of the enemy's superior combat equipment, the Central Plains Field Army's battle can be described as extremely arduous. The elderly Zhang Liangrong recalled: "We have more than a hundred people in a row, and there are only a few dozen people left after a day. ”
Seeing his comrades fall one by one, Zhang Liangrong took the initiative to ask for help and asked to join the anti-tank squad. At that time, the troops lacked the equipment to effectively fight against enemy tanks, relying entirely on weapons such as mines, and the task was very arduous. At that time, the enemy's fire was extremely fierce, there were aircraft support in the air, and tanks on the ground charging, Zhang Liangrong, with the firm confidence of destroying the enemy tanks, braved the rain of bullets and bullets, and dug pits with his bare hands to lay mines.
Once, because the mine lead was too long, when Zhang Liangrong pulled the first time, the mine did not sound, he quickly pulled the second time, but missed the opportunity, the mine only exploded behind the tank, instead of injuring the tank, but exposed his position. But fortunately, Zhang Liangrong ran very fast and retrieved a life. When he caught up with the large troops, the comrades-in-arms were very happy, hugged him and said, "Quickly report to the leader, Zhang Liangrong has not been killed." ”
In this way, the soldiers gritted their teeth and did not relax, but did not let the Huang Wei Corps move forward, and bought time for the East China Field Army to eliminate Huang Baitao. At the same time, the Central Plains Field Army also annihilated all of Huang Wei's corps. This blockade battle achieved a successful victory, and Zhang Liangrong also won the meritorious service in this battle.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" data-track="19">
At the beginning of 1949, Zhang Liangrong's unit was incorporated into the 14th Army, which belonged to the 4th Corps of the 2nd Field Army, and the commander of the corps was Chen Geng, and Zhang Liangrong became a member of the main division of the corps.
After the CPC Central Committee issued the order to "march to the whole country," the troops overcame many difficulties to advance toward the target despite the rainy weather.
Chinese the million troops of the 2nd Field Army and the 3rd Field Army of the People's Liberation Army crossed the Yangtze River successively and launched an attack on the Tang Enbo Group and the Bai Chongxi Group of the Kuomintang Army, totaling 700,000 people.
On the evening of April 21, the 4th Corps, under the leadership of Chen Geng, launched a river crossing operation. Taking advantage of the darkness and rain, under the cover of artillery fire, the troops crossed the river separately. When crossing the river, due to the lack of cover firepower of our army, the Kuomintang army took advantage of the favorable terrain to strafe the boats crossing the river from a commanding height, and Zhang Liangrong and the soldiers who crossed the river had to be careful to avoid shooting at all times, until dawn, Zhang Liangrong's 14th Army successfully crossed the river.
After successfully crossing the river, because the 4th Corps was closest to the Zhejiang-Gansu Railway, the 2nd Commander ordered them to control the Zhejiang-Gansu Line, cut off the contact between Tang Enbo and Bai Chongxi's clique, and expand the scope of the Battle of the River Crossing.
With Chen Geng's order, the soldiers of the 4th Corps went down the hill and launched a large pursuit of the enemy army. Zhang Liangrong marched for more than 80 miles a day, the mud was not easy to walk, and the soldiers' feet were blistered, but no one said a word. They successively liberated Leping, Hengfeng, Shangrao, and other places in Jiangxi, successfully intercepted the Kuomintang troops fleeing south on both sides of the Ganjiang River, and captured Nanchang.
The 42-day Battle of Crossing the River broke through the Yangtze River defense line of the Kuomintang army in one fell swoop and annihilated more than 430,000 Kuomintang troops, creating important conditions for the liberation of all of China. In this great feat, the commanders and fighters of the 4th Corps fought in a difficult environment for more than a month, traveled more than 1,500 miles, annihilated more than 20,000 Kuomintang troops, and successfully completed the tasks assigned by their superiors.
During this period, Zhang Liangrong was injured many times, and now he still has scars on his body. Zhang Liangrong recalled that once the shell dropped by the enemy plane exploded before it landed, and a fragment hit his forehead, the fragment was still hot, and he pulled out the fragment with his own hand. The picture of the blood-stained battlefield in this film and television drama really happened to Zhang Liangrong.
In July 1947, in order to better adopt a large-scale detour and encirclement of the Kuomintang army in the central and southwestern regions, the 4 corps was temporarily assigned to the command of the 4 fields, and the Bai Chongxi group was encircled by Gan into Guangdong.
The commander of the corps, Chen Geng, was a fierce general who swung his division south, and Zhang Liangrong's 4 corps all advanced into Guangdong at a speed of 150 miles a day, and the Kuomintang troops were discouraged and abandoned their positions and surrendered. Originally planned to completely annihilate Bai Chongxi's clique in the Xianggui Border Region, Chen Geng led 4 corps to turn west into Guangxi, but Bai Chongxi was not deceived.
Chen Geng was unwilling to abandon the operation in Guangzhou, and his troops quickly advanced south. The 40th Division of the 14th Army advanced by land and water, and destroyed two divisions of the Nationalist 63rd Army near Qingyuan County.
The 2nd Battalion of the 118th Regiment, to which Zhang Liangrong belonged, pursued the Kuomintang troops along the riverbank, easily eliminated the Kuomintang troops who were eating, and repelled the Kuomintang troops who counterattacked. From the captives, they learned that the two kuomintang divisions had assembled near the county seat of Qingyuan, so they quickly seized the favorable terrain and prepared to attack the county seat of Qingyuan.
As soon as the battle broke out, the Nationalist army abandoned the city and fled south, and the 40th Division quickly occupied the county seat of Qingyuan County, took advantage of the victory to pursue, and plunged directly into Sanshui City, forming a confrontation with the Nationalist 103rd Division. Zhang Liangrong attacked the Kuomintang soldiers, shouted at them, talked about policies, and soon the Kuomintang 103rd Division announced an uprising.
After Chen Geng judged that the Kuomintang army was retreating in the direction of Hainan Island, he immediately sent Li Chengfang, commander of the 14th Army, to lead his army to pursue the southwest. At this time, it was the rainy season, and in this place except for the hills and rice paddies, the roads were muddy and difficult to navigate, but it delayed the retreat of the Kuomintang army.
In order to encircle and annihilate the remnants of the fleeing Kuomintang army, the 42nd and 40th divisions of the fastest 14th Army formed a west road and detoured toward the enemy at a speed of 150 miles a day.
In one day, the remnants of the Kuomintang launched 6 attacks in succession, trying to break through to the west, but they were all repelled by Zhang Liangrong. The next day, Liu Anqi, commander of the Kuomintang 21st Corps, launched 8 more fierce attacks, but still failed to break through the encirclement, Liu Anqi had no choice but to abandon his troops and flee by boat. In this campaign, Zhang Liangrong and his total elimination of more than 40,000 Kuomintang troops were commended, and Zhang Liangrong once again received special merit.
After the Battle of Guangdong, Bai Chongxi had no choice but to flee to Hepu and Qinzhou in Guangxi. The soldiers of the 4th Corps traveled day and night, forcibly crossed the Qin River, and cooperated with Siye to annihilate more than 70,000 people of Bai Chongxi, completely smashing the Bai Chongxi Group. In the southwest, Hu Zongnan was also attacked by Erye and the 18th Corps, and neither of the two major Kuomintang armies could retreat into Yunnan.
On December 9, Lu Han, a Kuomintang general stationed in Yunnan, led an uprising in Kunming. Chen Geng received the order to lead 4 corps into Yunnan, establish the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and take over Kunming. The 40th Division of the 14th Army served as a garrison and entered the area of Dali, Xiaguan, Baoshan and Lijiang in western Yunnan to suppress bandits. In the southwestern Yunnan region, the mountains and roads are narrow, the terrain is steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, Zhang Liangrong and they finally completed the task of suppressing bandits after dozens of days of arduous combat.
In the three years that the 4 corps operated Yunnan, it eliminated the remnants of the Kuomintang military strength, united the compatriots of all nationalities there, and made great contributions to consolidating national defense and building a new Yunnan.
Zhang Liangrong followed the troops, carried forward the heroic and tenacious fighting spirit, overcame many difficulties, and successfully completed the combat tasks.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" data-track="41">
In 1955, Zhang Liangrong was demobilized and discharged from the army and assigned to work in the distillery of Danshan Town Supply and Marketing Cooperative. At work, he is still conscientious and conscientious, and colleagues have never seen him steal lazy.
In 1961, Zhang Liangrong responded to the state's call for streamlining and compression, took the initiative to give up the enviable work, returned to his hometown in the countryside, and served as the deputy captain of the production team. Since then, he has placed the medal and the certificate of meritorious service in a wooden box, and he did not expect that this would be more than 60 years.
Although rural life is very difficult, Zhang Liangrong still has to raise 3 daughters, but he has never been proud of his achievements, and has never reached out to the government or made demands.
Many people did not understand, but Zhang Liangrong had his own ideas, he had personally seen his comrades-in-arms shed blood and sacrifice for the cause of liberation, and he had seen his comrades-in-arms fall around him, and he felt that it was worth it to be alive now. He said: "The state has given 60 yuan for the settlement fee, compared to the dead comrades-in-arms, they have nothing, I am still alive, I have no right to ask for anything more." ”
In 2019, Ziyang City collected information on veterans, and Zhang Liangrong's deeds were discovered.
Although Zhang Liangrong is more than ninety years old, he has never forgotten that he is a soldier and has kept in mind the brave, tenacious, optimistic, and enterprising revolutionary spirit in the war.
Someone jokingly asked him: "You are a soldier, why didn't you liberate Taiwan?" Zhang Liangrong replied: "As long as the State Council gives an order, he will die." "This is the heroism of a soldier: if there is a call to war, it will return, and if you die, you will go to the battlefield!"
Deeply hidden in the name of merit, the heart of the homeland, Zhang Liangrong is worthy of the title of "the most beautiful veteran"!