In September 1950, Beijing held a national conference of representatives of combat heroes, and the people attending this meeting were all people who had made great contributions to the liberation of China, and Chairman Mao praised them as "model figures of the whole Chinese people."
These young heroes were personally received by Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, and more than 70 of them have won the highest honor of the Chinese military and have achieved special merit, and they are all heroes who have come out of the sea of swords and fires.
At this meeting, a heroic representative was particularly brilliant, and Chairman Mao commented on him: "Guan Yu, one of the Five Tiger Generals of the Three Kingdoms, has made more meritorious deeds." Of the 4 million People's Liberation Army, he alone received nine special merits.
He is the Chinese warrior king "Zhang Yingcai".
As the saying goes: "The heavens will send down a great task to the Scythians, and they will first suffer their hearts, strain their bones, and starve their bodies." As the "King of Soldiers", Zhang Yingcai's life did not start smoothly.
Zhang Yingcai was born in a poor family in Wanrong County, Shanxi, because the family conditions were not good, so Zhang Yingcai was less than ten years old to help the landlord herd sheep to maintain the family plan, Zhang Yingcai's childhood was thus spent under the oppression of the landlord.
But soon, his fate changed with the arrival of an army, and the Communist Party's upsurge of "fighting local tyrants and dividing up the land" spread to Shanxi, and they defeated the landlords who had oppressed the common people for many years, making the lives of many ordinary people better.
Children like Zhang Yingcai entered the academy under their leadership and began to learn knowledge. When Zhang Yingcai returned from this happy life, he made a decision that changed his life: to join the Red Army! Join the Communist Party!
But he was too thin to meet the requirements of the Red Army, and the Red Army wanted to reject him, but was touched by Zhang Yingcai's resolute eyes, and the soldiers promised to pick him up when he grew tall.
Perhaps it was that his physical nutrition did not keep up in his early years, and after two consecutive years he did not meet the requirements of the Red Army, he really could not wait, so he silently followed the last side of the team when the Red Army left, how to persuade him not to leave, and finally the head of the unit softened his heart and agreed to his joining requirements as an exception.
This year, Zhang Ying was only 14 years old, and his legend as a soldier king had just begun.
Zhang Yingcai entered the Red Army as he wished, and his superiors arranged a propaganda and literary job for him, first, to see that he was literate and literate, and second, he was too thin and small to be suitable for killing the enemy.
Zhang Yingcai understood the arrangement of his superiors, but his heart still longed to go to the battlefield to fight with the enemy, so he never stopped applying to his superiors to go to the front, and finally in 1941 his opportunity came.
Due to the tyranny of the Japanese army, the military front was very short of personnel. Zhang Yingcai again applied to his superiors to go to the battlefield, and the leader was impressed by his hard attitude and agreed to his application, and Zhang Yingcai became a soldier who could take a gun to the battlefield as he wished.
Zhang Yingcai, who went to the battlefield for the first time, showed great bravery, and could not see that he was a new soldier at all, and he annihilated several Japanese troops not long after going to the battlefield, which was recognized by his superiors.
Later, Zhang Yingcai was sent to the special agent company of the 212th Brigade, when the Japanese army gathered more than 20,000 troops and was bound to destroy the anti-Japanese forces in the Anze and Fushan areas, and the 212 brigade to which Zhang Yingcai belonged was one of the enemy's targets.
Zhang Yingcai's task was to protect the safe retreat of the 212 brigade, the retreat was carried out in an orderly manner, just at this stall, the enemy's artillery fire seemed to be about to explode around the commander of the 212 brigade, just at the moment of this thousand gunshots, Zhang Yingcai threw down the brigade commander and let him avoid this danger.
But he himself did not have so good luck, because the artillery fire was too close to cause Zhang Yingcai to be wounded, the wounds caused by the shells were very large, almost instantaneously stained him into a "blood man", the wound did not make him flinch, nor did he give up the task, Zhang Yingcai buffered a little and then quickly got up and continued to cover the other fighters to leave.
Zhang Yingcai picked up a steel gun on the battlefield, aimed at the enemy and fired wildly, and under the cover of his gunfire, the brigade headquarters successfully retreated. His bravery on the battlefield was praised by many people, he did not accept defeat, and his momentum of doing his best was praised by the soldiers as "Desperate Sanlang".
The victory of this mission was only the beginning of his journey.
Zhang Yingcai's military ability was fully revealed in the Shangdang campaign.
This campaign was the first large-scale battle between the Kuomintang and the Communists after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. In 1945, with the victory of the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan, the wolf ambitions of the Kuomintang were revealed, and at the behest of Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan sent troops to invade the Shangdang District of Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, and launched the Shangdang Campaign.
The geographical location of the Shangdang is very important and is a place of contention between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In addition, there was another important reason why this battle had to be won: at that time, Chiang Kai-shek invited Chairman Mao to Chongqing for negotiations, and under such circumstances, a fierce attack on the Kuomintang forces could greatly deter Chiang Kai-shek and ensure Chairman Mao's safety.
The success of this campaign depended heavily on the deployment of Chen Geng's team at that time. There are many important passes around Changzhi, and if they can be conquered, they will be of great help to the victory of this war. Chen Geng sent Zhang Yingcai to lead 9 companies to occupy Beiguan first.
There were many enemy garrisons in Beiguan, and under the cover of night, Zhang Yingcai led his troops to secretly infiltrate the city in three teams, hoping to find a commanding height to attack the enemy. The plan went very smoothly, and at this moment, a soldier of Zhang Yingcai's detachment accidentally caused a movement, which attracted the attention of the enemy on the castle tower, and they immediately attacked.
The enemy's firepower was full, Zhang Yingcai quickly commanded the troops to counterattack, and in a short while, the enemy was defeated. However, the good times did not last long, because the team that cooperated with Zhang Yingcai's attack had not yet arrived, they were quickly suppressed by the enemy, and the situation was very critical.
It's impossible to back down! Zhang Yingcai ordered some soldiers to hold strictly, and the other part to open up the courtyard previously occupied and try to join the other two teams as soon as possible.
The other two teams soon arrived, and waited until Zhang Ying, who was supporting, to order a counterattack. At this time, it was close to dawn, the enemy's attack was getting fiercer and fiercer, in order to confuse the enemy, Zhang Yingcai asked everyone to suspend the attack and create the illusion of all the deaths. When the enemy enters the attack range, immediately counterattack, knocking the enemy back again.
After two failed attacks, the enemy became cunning and no longer easily deceived, while attacking head-on, while looking for the most intensive place of attack, planning to place bombs, this strategy was quickly recognized by Zhang Yingcai, often the enemy had not yet dropped the bomb, it was repelled by our side.
In this way, Zhang Yingcai led his troops to stalemate with the enemy for another day, repelled 22 enemy attacks, and always maintained their positions.
Zhang Yingcai's outstanding performance in this war was affirmed by many parties, and he was credited with great merit, and the 9 companies he led were also awarded the title of "Iron 9 Companies".
As the War of Liberation became more and more intense, the wars in Shanxi continued, and in 1946, the Kuomintang shifted from an all-out offensive to a key offensive, and they pointed their spearhead at Yan'an, the base area of the central revolution at that time.
In order to attack Yan'an, Hu Zongnan drew the strength of two divisions of southern Jin, and the power in the southern Jin region was weakened. After learning about the situation, Chairman Mao immediately decided to mobilize a certain amount of troops to attack southern Jinnan; on the one hand, he could delay Hu Zongnan's plan to attack Yan'an, and on the other hand, he could open up a base area in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, and the Battle of Lüliang was launched.
Zhang Yingcai's 9th company was one of the troops attacking Southern Jin, and they followed the large army all the way forward, and the momentum was like a bamboo. Hu Zongnan realized the intentions of the Plaksar and mobilized troops to defend himself. Zhang Yingcai received the order to join the other two companies in blocking the reinforcement.
It should be known that these three companies add up to less than 400 people, and the reinforcements sent by Hu Zongnan are about 10,000 people, which is almost an impossible task. Zhang Yingcai did not panic after understanding the situation and quickly formulated a battle plan.
Zhang Yingcai first formed a 30-man death squad, and immediately concentrated its fire on attacking the vanguard troops after the enemy reached the attack range, and the Kuomintang troops were caught off guard and retreated one after another. They captured a lot of weapons.
Just when the Kuomintang troops were reorganized and began to attack, due to the delay of information, the 3rd and 8th companies that had been fighting together withdrew from the battle, and the 9th Company had to face the Kuomintang fire alone.
Zhang Yingcai received his first special merit in this campaign.
In the Battle of Huaihai, Zhang Yingcai performed well and made contributions that could not be ignored. Not only did he himself receive the title of "Special Combat Hero", but the 1st Battalion of the 38th Regiment of the Central Plains Field Army he led was also known as the "Iron Battalion".
Zhang Yingcai's opponent this time was the well-equipped Huang Wei 12th Corps. His superiors ordered Zhang Ying to prevent the nationalists of 2 divisions from breaking through, and to block the enemy reinforcements of 2 brigades. This task can be said to be difficult to ascend to the sky, after all, Zhang Yingcai's troops at that time were only 500 people, but there were as many as 20,000 people on the opposite side.
For Zhang Yingcai, the more difficult the task, the more challenging it is, and after he entered the position, he immediately adjusted his deployment and shifted his troops from the square to the side, and when the Kuomintang army attacked the square position, they were greeted by double artillery fire from the flank, so unexpectedly attacked that the Kuomintang army suffered a big loss.
The enemy also planned to use tanks to open the way, Zhang Yingcai had already deployed his troops, directly around the enemy tanks and annihilated their reserve army in one fell swoop; the enemy wanted to advance the line of troops a little bit to suppress the firepower of the People's Liberation Army, Zhang Yingcai directly led people to carry explosives packs to their heavy machine gun positions.
In the face of Zhang Yingcai's sophisticated deployment, the enemy lost more than 1,000 people without taking a single step. Later, Zhang Yingcai received orders to attack with other troops, and in the confusion, he killed the enemy's commander Xiong Shouchun.
At the time of such a feat, Zhang Ying was only 24 years old.
In the days before the liberation of China, war seemed to be a common thing for soldiers, and Zhang Yingcai participated in more than 200 large and small wars, which cannot be described one by one, during which he won 9 special merits and 13 major merits, becoming the most representative figure in the Young People's Liberation Army at that time.
In 1949, Zhang Yingcai, who was engaged in the Battle of the River Crossing, received orders from his superiors to prepare to represent the Second Field Army in the Chinese youth delegation and to attend the Second World Youth Congress in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
This meeting gathered advanced youth representatives from all over the world, and being able to attend such a meeting made Zhang Yingcai's heart surge with great pride, and at this moment, he stood on the world stage to represent new China, what a supreme honor!
It was not until the end of the meeting that he calmed down the pride in his heart, but what excited him even more was that he met Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou before the conference.
He had been fighting on the front line of the war, and he had never imagined that he would actually meet the two most influential important figures in New China. Zhang Yingcai had never seen them, but he was deeply influenced by them.
When he was young, he had heard about how Chairman Mao had helped the toiling masses, and he had also read Premier Zhou's phrase "Reading for the rise of China." It is also because of their existence that Zhang Yingcai believes that China has a future, and that future will be very dazzling.
With a hundred thousand points of excitement, Zhang Yingcai shook hands with them and heard their encouragement to himself.
Chairman Mao was also deeply impressed by this young man who had made great achievements in battle, and after Zhang Yingcai returned to China, he invited him and other representatives to attend a family banquet in Zhongnanhai, and he also specially served a bowl of noodles for this young man from Shanxi.
In the face of the trust of the country and the generous treatment of the chairman, Zhang Yingcai did not dare to relax for a moment, continued to serve the people wholeheartedly, and was awarded the rank of colonel in 1955.
Zhang Yingcai's family is also a very famous military home, and all five members of the family have joined the army.
In 1953, Zhang Yingcai and Comrade Tian Qinfang of the same unit formed a couple, and the husband and wife had a deep affection and conceived two sons and a daughter. Both were from the military, their style was rigorous, and they retained their military habits even at home, and they played a very far-reaching influence in the education of their children.
The three children have the blood of soldiers flowing through their bodies, the eldest son studied at the military academy for a master's degree, and later served as the United Nations military observer in Cambodia, and the second son studied at the Air Force Flight School and became a first-class pilot after graduation.
The two brothers are so outstanding, Zhang Yingcai's younger daughter Zhang Ke is not inferior, she graduated from the National Defense University with a master's degree in combat command, and her graduation thesis "On Integrated Command" was highly praised by Qian Xuesen, the winner of the Two Bombs and One Star Meritorious Service.
Her excellence has also created a number of firsts for the military: she is the first female training staff officer of China's combat troops, the first female graduate student to study combat command, and the first female deputy commander of the field troop armored regiment!
I have to sigh: tiger father has no dog daughter.
Zhang Yingcai is a very low-key person, he has won 9 special merits, but after the new China gradually got on the right track, there was little news of him. He became a screw in the country, only silently contributing but never caring about fame and fortune. Like the light emitted by the sun, you may not care, but he still warms the world.
The hero is silent, or so it seems.