Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

August 1947 Ruhe Huaihe When Chen Geng led his troops to fly across the dangerous Yellow River, Liu Deng's army on the middle road dragged hundreds of thousands of pursuers, crossed the Guohe, Shahe, Yinghe, and Honghe rivers, and the 18th brigade of the sixth column of the advance team was about to reach Ruhe. "Quick, keep up, don't distance yourself!" Xiao Yongyin urged his troops. Some small soldiers were urged to trot all the way, sweat rolled down their cheeks and necks, and the front, back, leg bends and leggings of the military uniforms were also stained by sweat and sand.The warriors were like little beasts in the wilderness, constantly sticking out their tongues to lick their chapped and cracked lips, and their legs moved rapidly and mechanically alternately.They have ignored the red sun above their heads, anyway, it is either scorching sun or heavy rain, and the taste of rain whips and muddy slippery is not much better than this.The only thing they are looking forward to now is to get to Ruhe as soon as possible.From time to time someone in the team asked: "How far is the Ru River?"

They didn't know what was waiting for them in Ruhe, and the brigade commander Xiao Yongyin couldn't think of it either. The Ru River is hard to find on ordinary maps, and it is only a thin line on one in 50,000 military maps.It is sixty meters wide, and the current is not too fast, but the river channel is deep, the embankment is steep, and the water is more than ten feet deep, making it impossible to wade in vain.Compared with the famous rivers and rivers, the Ru River is really insignificant.The Ru River has no intention of going down in history, it flows quietly along the villages and crop fields on both banks.It also didn't expect that the human war would suddenly choose it, and so much human blood would suddenly dissolve in its clearness, so that it changed its color for a while.

The 18th Brigade arrived at the north bank of the Ru River and saw the sparkling Ru River. Many people shouted excitedly: "Dabie Mountain, Dabie Mountain! Cross this river, and you will not be far away!" Fatigue, thirst, and hunger hit the troops like a tide. Some people sat down on the ground; On the ground scorched by the sun, they stretched their arms and legs, and relaxed their creaking muscles and bones; some people went down the steep river bank, stuck their heads into the water, and drank endlessly. Xiao Yongyin couldn't even take a nap.As the commander of the advance team, the first thing he did when he went to a place was to survey the terrain; then he organized the troops to open roads in the mountains, build bridges in the water, occupy the best positions, and ensure the smooth passage of large troops.Although the Ru River is not wide, it cannot pass without a ferry.Xiao Yongyin immediately sent some people to search for boats and various floating devices along the river.

The guard brought Xiao Yongyin a bowl of water scooped from the river.Xiao Yongyin raised his neck, poured a few mouthfuls into his stomach, called out "happy" a few times, wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, and raised the binoculars. The two sides of the Ru River are shallow hilly areas, the terrain is relatively flat, and the field of vision is wide.Only the Runan port on the south bank is relatively high and is an excellent commanding height. Xiao Yongyin decided to set up the brigade headquarters there after crossing the river.At this moment, there was a strange sound.what is itXiao Yongyin shook his shoulders vigilantly.There is indeed a sound, deep, like the earth's crust rolling slowly. "Hear what?" He asked left and right.The staff officers all shook their heads: "What? Nothing."

Xiao Yongyin lay on the ground with his ears pressed to the ground. "No!" Xiao Yongyin jumped up and raised the binoculars—there was nothing unusual in the field of vision. Half an hour later, the flying dust first appeared in the telescope, followed by a mighty team, infantry, artillery, cars, carriages... "The enemy is blocking from the south bank!" The situation is serious, and the advance team should be taken across the river immediately, occupying the commanding heights, and sticking to the south bank like a nail, blocking the encircling enemy.But when the team looking for the boat returned, they only found a small boat that could carry more than a dozen people.

"Build a pontoon bridge!" Xiao Yongyin decisively issued an order: "While the enemy's foothold is not stable, send a troop across the river in the shortest possible time, even a platoon, and build a bridgehead first to cover the bridge for the engineers." The enemy on the other side spotted the troops on the north bank, and the marching team immediately became in a fighting state, rushing towards the high ground and several villages.Then the cannons and machine guns opened fire. The advance team began to cross with only one boat and a raft made of straw.Those with a little water skills plunged into the river and swam desperately to the opposite bank; some simply jumped into the water with a log in their arms.

Shells and bullets are getting denser and denser.Just after crossing a small group, another enemy plane appeared in the sky. The clear Ruhe River became muddy, and strands of dark red blood flowed into the torrent. The 1st Battalion of the 52nd Regiment who crossed the river braved the bombardment of the artillery and the dive and strafing of the planes, and rushed towards the enemy in Daleigang like lightning.The enemies who had just entered the village did not know how many communist troops had come, and immediately abandoned the village and fled. After running for a mile, they came to their senses, turned around and fought back.The battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 52nd Regiment was commanding the battle, and at the same time allocated his troops to build a pontoon bridge under the enemy's artillery fire.Before crossing the river, Xiao Yongyin gave him a death order: build a pontoon bridge at all costs!

What the bridge means, everyone from Xiao Yongyin to every soldier understands it very well.There are blocking enemies in front, and chasing troops in the back. A large army of tens of thousands of horses and horses will arrive later. Without a bridge, it is tantamount to waiting to die.Yang Yong's army on the right and Chen Xilian's army on the left have crossed the Ru River to the vicinity of the Huai River.If Commander Liu Deng and the headquarters commanding the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army have no bridge to cross the river, the southward army will lose its command center and fall into the danger of being leaderless.The bridge has become the key to the success of the southward strategy.

Build a bridge, everything is for building a bridge!The water jet from the shells hit their heads and faces, and the engineers and soldiers shook their shoulders and heads, and they did it!A row of fighters fell, and new fighters rushed up to their positions. The enemy is no less aware of bridging than his opponent.Building a bridge, and building a bridge in reverse, made this Ru River full of scars and bruises.The torrential rain of bullets and artillery shells pressed down, the blood whimpered and jumped several feet high, and the river was filled with a fishy mist. It was not until the sun was westward that a pontoon bridge was supported.In about ten minutes, the bombs dropped by the planes that were bombarding the river almost in turn collapsed the pontoon bridge again.The engineers and soldiers brought door panels, reeds, and sorghum straw from nearby villages, and then set up again!After it was set up, it was blown up, and it was blown up again... It was dark, the enemy plane flew away, and finally a pontoon bridge appeared steadily on the dark red water of the Ru River.On the downstream side of the pontoon bridge, the corpses of the sacrificed soldiers went downstream...

The 52nd regiment all crossed the river on the pontoon bridge and occupied the foothold Daleigang. The captives confessed that Wu Shaozhou's Department of the 85th Division of the Kuomintang Army was guarding the south bank of the river. The entire division was laid out like a wall of fire, blocking the way to the Dabie Mountains.Shangfeng ordered Liu and Deng to be blocked on the north bank of the Ru River and wiped out on the spot. It was getting dark, and the regiments of the 18th Brigade who had not crossed the river gathered by the river one after another.Xiao Yongyin stood in the night wind, his face was reddened by the flames from the opposite bank. His black face seemed to be coated with a layer of copper-colored glaze, and it seemed to make a clanging sound when he flicked it.He squinted and looked towards the south bank.On the other side of the river, the sky was full of flames, and the sound of cannons was rumbling.From Youfangdian to Runanbu, villages stretching for more than 30 miles were set on fire, with houses and haystacks burning;Wu Shaozhou was about to die.

The blazing fire is reflected in the river, floating, swaying, and flickering, making people feel as if they are in a fire, and sweat flows down the spine.The ground under Xiao Yongyin's feet had already been kicked into two pits. He couldn't figure out how many enemies were behind the dozens of miles of flames.What's next?The new situation has been reported to the column, but no instructions have been given.call over?Can't figure out the bottom of the enemy.Wait?If the enemy continues to increase troops and deploy defenses, the situation will be even more dangerous at dawn.Could it be that the army going south was blocked in this way? The hour hand moves towards twelve o'clock at night.The summer night is short, and after a few turns, the sky will be bright.In Xiao Yongyin's 30 years of memory, there is no more urgent time than now.What is on his shoulders is not a brigade or a column, but the fate of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army and the success or failure of the overall strategic transition.The heaviness gave him a feeling he had never experienced before—the first thing an excellent commander must possess is the ability to "carry weight". Suddenly, someone exclaimed: "Chief Liu Deng is here!" Xiao Yongyin turned around quickly and saw Liu Bocheng's burly figure appearing in the night, beside him were the agile Deng Xiaoping and the steady Li Da.Xiao Yongyin felt the punch's blood pressure suddenly drop. Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Li Da, and the heads of the column, the heads of the 18th and 16th brigades crowded into the command post of the 18th Brigade, which was 100 meters away from the Ru River.This is a low thatched cottage with dimly lit oil lamps flickering.Outside the thin grass wall, gunshots and shells roared. "How's the situation?" Liu Bocheng looked at Xiao Yongyin. Xiao Yongyin gave a concise report. Deng Xiaoping said to Li Da: "Open the map and tell them the general situation first." The map was unfolded under the oil lamp. Li Da: "The enemy is chasing me from behind with more than a dozen divisions. The enemy's 58th Division and three reorganized divisions are only more than 50 miles away from us. It is judged that we will be there before 8:00 tomorrow morning. We will arrive soon. Our army is blocked by the enemy's 85th Division. It is judged that the task of the 85th Division is to delay the main force of our army so that we can fight us decisively between the Honghe River and the Ruhe River. The current situation is that there are former blocking divisions , there are chasing soldiers behind, and it is extremely dangerous." The staff officer came in to report that the enemy's advance team chasing after us had already met our rearguard troops. A cannonball crashed outside the thatched cottage, and the flame of the oil lamp jumped suddenly. Deng Xiaoping: "Resolutely fight at all costs!" Liu Bocheng raised his head, adjusted his glasses, and said slowly: "When you meet on a narrow road, the brave wins. Do you understand this sentence?" Liu Bocheng showed a rare sternness on his face, and his eyes scanned every commander in the room: "From now on, no matter day or night, no matter how many enemy planes and artillery there are, we must use offensive means to deal with the attacking enemy. From here Open a bloody road. History must never be reversed, and the strategic decision of the army to go south will never change!" As a commander, being able to spread confidence in times of crisis is one of his most valuable qualities, although he may not have much certainty about the outcome in his heart. The cannonballs burst by the Ru River, and the small thatched house was silent.The oil lamp enlarged and projected the figures of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping onto the wall, covering almost the entire wall.Silent power radiated from the commander, and the commanders looked at Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping with piercing eyes. "We will go with you!" Liu Deng's voice made the atmosphere in the cottage suddenly tense again. Xiao Yongyin: "No! It's too dangerous! The passage is open and within the range of the enemy. Please cross the river from the Seventeenth Brigade!" Deng Xiaoping: "Don't worry about us, just fight a good war!" Du Yide, the political commissar of the sixth column, assigned tasks: Xiao Brigade carried out a surprise advance, opened a passage, and let the large troops break out of the encirclement; You Brigade (You Taizhong's 16th Brigade) took over from Xiao Brigade, guarded the villages such as Leigang and Leigang, and protected the Floating bridges, fight against the enemy, and cover the army to cross the river safely. Commanders at all levels conveyed the orders of Chief Liu and Deng down to each soldier.The river bank boils: "It's the Commander coming!" "Commissioner Deng is here!" "When you meet on a narrow road, the brave wins!" "Resolutely cross the Ru River!" "Defend Chief Liu and Deng!" If thousands of people are of the same mind, there will be thousands of manpower; if thousands of people are not of the same mind, no one will be useful.If the commander is single-minded, the people's hearts will not be divided; if the people's hearts are not divided, the orders will be the same; Xiao Yongyin went down to the battalion and personally replaced the battalion commander to command; the regimental commander went down to the company; the battalion commander went down to the shift.Every rifle had its bayonet loaded, every grenade uncapped. Tracer bombs and signal flares streaked across, and the dark night sky was illuminated by the flames of war. The team that stepped on the pontoon bridge rushed to the enemy's position, like molten steel of thousands of degrees pouring out of the furnace. As the saying goes: "If one man works hard, ten men are hard to beat." If a group army with thousands of horses and horses is desperate, its power is immeasurable. The silhouettes of countless soldiers flashed past in the flames, and the regimental commander, battalion commander, and company commander, like them, held bayonet-mounted rifles to engage in close combat with the enemy.After laying down a village, they rushed to another village.When you encounter an enemy, you will fight, and if you eliminate it, move forward.The telephone operators kept taking up and setting up the wires, and the phone kept sending reports as the battle line progressed: "Occupy Wangzhuang!" "Donghuan Village has been defeated!" "Enter Little Zhang Village!" Heel to heel, pressing southward with all strength.The charging team rolled forward like a tornado, blood was spilled across the road, the road was red, and many people were slipped by it. The east was slightly gray and bright, and the commando opened a passage ten miles long and eight miles wide. Xiao Yongyin adjusted the deployment and ordered the 52nd and 53rd regiments to deploy on both sides of the road, like a strong dam, resolutely resist the counterattack of the enemies on both sides, and ensure the safety and smoothness of the road; at the same time, the 54th regiment was deployed Go up, change from a defender to a forward, led by him personally, and sweep forward. Liu Bocheng used a broken piece of wood as a crutch, and followed the charging fighters onto the pontoon bridge.Deng Xiaoping stood next to him, helping him from time to time.Liu Deng was surrounded by two chief guards and four guards.They later recalled: "During the entire strategic march, this was the first time we encountered such an emergency. Bullets were flying around, and shells exploded nearby. We all took out the pistols in our waists, and guarded the commander from left to right. .” The pontoon bridge was undulating against the water surface, and Liu Deng strode across the pontoon bridge, facing the bullets like beeworms, and walked towards the position again.Many soldiers found Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping standing behind them, and they were so shocked that they couldn't believe it.One to ten, ten to a hundred, a hundred to a thousand, a thousand to a thousand, truly formed an incomparable combat power. More than forty years have passed since that scene, and Liu Deng's guards still remember it fresh: wherever Liu Deng went, the counterattack was the best.They saw with their own eyes the soldiers whose faces were scorched by the artillery fire, pushing the helmets on their heads with their arms, exposing their white teeth, watching Liu Deng, and smiling sweetly.Liu Deng was also very excited: "Good fight! Comrades, good fight!" The guard at the time said to the author: "I hate that I don't have the talent for painting. Liu Deng walked on the battlefield, the background was the night sky burned by the flames of war, the golden thread shuttled like a silver arc, and thousands of soldiers fought. Commander Liu bowed He leaned over and put on a helmet for a soldier who was shooting. When the soldier turned his head and saw that it was Commander Liu, tears welled up in his eyes..." Everything was silent on the north bank of the Ruhe River, and the troops waiting to cross the river received strict orders: no sparks were allowed.Just a pontoon bridge, just a way of life.The front couldn't move anymore, and those behind could only stand by the river.The enemy's pursuers have already caught up, and the rear guard is desperately blocking.There are flaming guns in front and flaming guns in the back. There are still tens of thousands of people who have not crossed the river. Yang Guoyu, director of the Military and Political Department, received an unsigned letter, and he knew it was written by Deng Xiaoping when he saw the familiar handwriting: Yang Guoyu immediately summoned the heads of all units, conveyed Deng Xiaoping's instructions, divided temporary rest areas, and was ready to cross the river at any time.After completing the deployment, Yang Guoyu went down to check again.Those mules and horses that couldn't be taken away were shot by the machine gun, and his heart tightened and he murmured: "It's a pity! I'm really sorry, there's nothing we can do..." The secret room began to burn the confidential documents, the fire rose, and the paper embers floated in mid-air. The team directly under the Field Army received the order to cross the river, and the steep north and south river banks had been opened up by engineers into slopes that could pass large troops and luggage.As soon as a small part of the direct team passed by, enemy planes and flares all came.The surface of the river was like daytime, enemy planes bombed and strafed, and the shouts of people on the pontoon mixed with the neighing of horses... Li Da disguised himself with willow branches, and stood at the south bank of the bridge, with a stern face and dignified eyes, waving his arms constantly, and shouting in a hoarse voice: "Quick! Hurry up! Don't stay!" Several sections of the pontoon bridge were blown down, and the dangerous situation did not allow re-bundling and reinforcement, so rows of people jumped into the river and lifted the door panels on their shoulders to let the troops pass.People, horses, vehicles, and baggage trample on the bridge supported by the body. The procession that crossed the bridge was still running.In the beginning, the road was as wide as the marching team; gradually the road became too narrow to accommodate, and the team spread to the crop fields on both sides.It is said to be a crop field, but in fact it has lost its shape: in the cotton field on the right, the cotton buds and leaves were smashed to pieces by artillery fire, leaving only bare stubble; A section to the west. Chen Xiaojing, Yu Qiao, and Riemann were also in the running team.After running for more than ten miles in one breath, Chen Xiaojing was surprised that she had such strong endurance.Yu Qiao usually likes playing ball and exercising, and her physique is stronger than Chen Xiaojing's, but her menstruation has been continuous since passing through the jaundice flood zone, and her face is sallow and sallow due to excessive blood loss and the intensity of marching.Before crossing the bridge, she was rolling on the ground with a stomachache, and the health worker gave her an injection of morphine to straighten her back. She ran for more than a dozen miles, her face was dark purple, her lips were gray, and her clothes were tightly attached to her body due to sweat. His big eyes were already dull.Chen Xiaojing helped her, and she forced a smile: "The next sports meeting, we will sign up for a long-distance race." "Huh? Riemann, where is Riemann?" "It was still there just now, why did you lose her?!" The two ran back again. Riemann was lying in the sorghum field, his hair disheveled, trembling all over, his lower lip was bitten by his teeth, and a drop of blood hung on his chin. "Riemann! What's the matter?" Yu Qiao exclaimed. Riemann put his hands on his abdomen and said helplessly, "I... am pregnant..." Chen Xiaojing: "Oh my god! Aren't you scary?!" Yu Qiao asked, "You know?" "I felt it when I crossed Longhai Road." Only then did Yu Qiao understand why Riemann vomited frequently recently. She looked around anxiously, bullets whizzing above her head. "I'm going to find a stretcher!" Chen Xiaojing got up and ran. Riemann struggled to get up, and there was a pool of blood on the ground where she had sat. "Don't move, if you continue to toss, you will have a miscarriage!" Yu Qiao held her down.After not eating for a day and a night, Yu Qiao felt that her body was like a hollow carrot, with all internal organs gone, leaving only a hollow shell. The stretcher was not found.A big soldier thought that the female soldier who fell on the ground was injured, so he got up and ran away.Yu Qiao and Chen Xiaojing chased after her. At 3 o'clock in the morning, You Taizhong, the commander of the 16th Brigade, led his troops to Daleigang to take over Xiao Brigade's covering troops to cross the river.The two brigade commanders did not shake hands, looked at each other silently for a few seconds, and then parted ways. Daleigang is a place of fierce competition between the enemy and ourselves.Just in case, You Taizhong set his own position and the brigade political commissar's position at two places 100 meters apart, so that if one of the two was injured or injured, the command would not be interrupted.You Taizhong's command post is located in a stable.You Taizhong is a tough guy with huge bones all over his body and a long face with horns and edges.He was very absorbed in thinking about the problem, leaving a deep vertical knife line between his brows.This made the sharp-edged face more determined, even a bit fierce. Footsteps and bullets flew across the open ground outside the stable.You Taizhong used the light of the fire to see Leigang and Dongxiwangzhuang facing the pontoon bridge, forming a horseshoe-shaped encirclement.He judged that the enemy must fight back desperately at dawn, and a fierce battle is inevitable.And one of his regiments has been transferred to Li Desheng's brigade, and currently there are only six battalions on hand.According to the terrain analysis, the enemy will attack Xiao Leigang first.The village is close to the embankment and very close to the bridgehead.If Xiao Leigang is lost, our army will lose support, and the bridgehead will be difficult to hold. You Taizhong personally went to the river embankment to deploy side firepower, and ordered Xiao Lei Gang's troops to speed up the storage of ammunition and rush to repair the fortifications. At five o'clock in the morning, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping appeared at the command post of the Youlv Army.You Taizhong was taken aback, and ran out of the stable, his tone full of unease and anxiety: "Chief! This place is only a mile or two away from the enemy, and it is the center of intense fighting. Why do you..." Liu Bocheng looked around and asked, "Which regiment entered Xiaoleigang?" "Forty-eight Regiment. Chief, let's go into the bunker!" "Little Lei Gang must defend no matter what!" "Yes! I've made the arrangements." Deng Xiaoping: "Where's the political commissar?" "The two of us are commanding separately, 'sacrificing' one, and the other is carrying it. The chief should go into the bunker." A shell roared towards him, and with a bang, a wall collapsed, and the air wave blasted You Taizhong's hat away.You Taizhong waved his hand and yelled: "Help the leader and enter the command post!" In the stable, You Taizhong was still uneasy: "Chief, get out of here quickly!" Liu Bocheng: "There is a huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and ourselves, and your burden is heavy." "yes!" "Be sure to hold on until night, and wait for all the troops to pass." "yes!" Deng Xiaoping: "After all the troops have passed, the pontoon bridge will be dismantled." "Yes! Chief, it's not safe here." Deng Xiaoping smiled: "Ah, we are not welcome here." Liu Bocheng: "Is there any request?" You Taizhong was extremely disturbed: "Yes!" Liu Bocheng also laughed. Deng Xiaoping: "The commander asked you what you want." You Taizhong came to his senses: "Please leave us a reserve battalion of the 18th Brigade." "Okay. Political Commissar Deng, let's go." Liu Bocheng walked out of the stable and turned his head again, "You Taizhong, do you remember the meeting place? Pengdian!" At six o'clock, the enemy began to bombard Xiao Leigang.Dust several feet high was kicked up on the battlefield, sand and stones were flying, and it was so foggy that even the forward position could not be seen clearly.Fierce artillery fire caused communication to be interrupted from time to time, but this did not affect the fighting.The company commander sacrificed the platoon leader to automatically serve as the commander, and the squad leader stepped up after sacrificing the soldiers. In the end, there were only two or three people left in a squad, and Xiao Leigang was still firmly in the hands of the Sixteenth Brigade. At eight o'clock, the enemy attacked again.Heavy artillery, mortars, and light and heavy machine guns were like a group of firebirds flying towards Little Lei Gang, and the strong smell of gunpowder made You Taizhong cough profusely.He was blowing the smoke, picked up the binoculars, and saw a man with a pistol in the anti-shock force at the south end of the village leading the bayonet team to charge left and right among the enemy groups.This momentum shocked the enemy, and the bayonet team took advantage of the situation and rushed out of the village, forcing the enemy back to a corner of the cemetery outside the village.Suddenly, the commander leading the troops fell to the ground, apparently injured.He made gestures hastily, as if not letting the soldiers control him... You Taizhong was eager to know who this commander was.Someone told him that it was Chen Da, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 48th Regiment. The enemy could not attack Xiaoleigang, and turned to Daleigang at ten o'clock.All the firepower was turned around, from the front of Daleigang to the depth, and from the depth to the front.More than a dozen planes assisted in the battle, blowing up the position into darkness, and no one could be seen ten meters away.Six or seven shells fell around the stables, and the doors were knocked off.You Taizhong is very loyal and safe and sound.He shook the dust that fell on his body, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "You son of a bitch, you don't have the guts to blow me up!" This kind of battle will continue for a whole day, You Taizhong ordered the troops to put the enemy at the closest distance before fighting.The 47th Regiment's Sharp Knife Company is the pride of You Lu. Their position is on the open ground a few hundred meters outside the village, with only shallow bunkers and ridges dug temporarily as support.The enemies swarmed over like wasps, and fell down row after row like felled sorghum.Finally, the Sharp Knife Company was still surrounded by enemies several times larger than itself, and You Taizhong bit his lip without noticing the thrilling hand-to-hand combat.However, as soon as the enemy reached the edge of the village, they were unable to attack. The strong firepower in the village almost wiped out all the enemies on the open ground. You Taizhong heard the enemy commander shouting from the intercom: "I can't attack! Come and shoot! The Communist bandits are very fierce!" The fierce battle continued until after one o'clock in the afternoon, before there was a small gap.A soldier said: "I was not killed in this battle, and I am waiting to hold my grandson." A soldier who was liberated from the Battle of Yangshanji, still wearing the Kuomintang military uniform, asked in confusion, "Where is this?" "Ru River!" "Why do I feel like I've turned around in the underworld and come back to the underworld again! Am I really alive?" The battle was so fierce that even the living did not believe that they were still alive. The government personnel and cooks behind brought food and water, and carried the wounded back.You Taizhong checked the stretchers one by one to comfort the injured subordinates. A wounded man pressed the stretcher and refused to carry it, You Taizhong asked, "Do you have any request?" "Brigade Commander, have all our brigade troops come over?" You Taizhong looked at his mutilated body with only his left arm and left leg left, his throat choked up, and it took him a lot of effort to say: "Comrade, look, they are heading south!" At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, all the troops going south from the middle road crossed the Ru River. When we meet on a narrow road, the brave wins.On the bank of the Ruhe River where the two armies met on a narrow road, Liu and Deng's army was a brave man-Ruhe can testify. The opponent who met on a narrow road-Wu Shaozhou, commander of the 85th Division of the Kuomintang Army, met Liu Deng again two years later.At this time, he had been promoted to the deputy commander of the 12th Corps of the Kuomintang Army, but he still became a prisoner of Liu Deng in the Battle of Huaihai. Liu Deng met Wu Shaozhou in the prisoner-of-war camp.Speaking of the encounter at the Ruhe River, Wu Shaozhou was quite emotional: "We rushed to the south of the Ruhe River, but unexpectedly your vanguard troops had already reached the north bank of the river. The battle broke out on the 23rd. I held up a high-powered telescope to observe, and I was suddenly confused. This is What kind of arms? I said it was infantry, and there were so many horses; I said it was cavalry, and there were many people on foot; I said it was logistics service, and there were combat troops; It can be regarded as being able to correctly judge the enemy's situation, but that time it stumped me." Liu Deng laughed heartily.Deng Xiaoping: "If you can't judge clearly, you can't make up your mind!" Wu Shaozhou: "My command plan is to use two brigades to stick to you, and then use two brigades to attack together. But before I finish deploying, you rush to me." Liu Bocheng: "At that time, the two of us borrowed the way in front of your position." Wu Shaozhou restrained his smile and looked surprised. River, river, still river.A series of rivers run across the road going south. Nature may not intend to create hardships and dangers, but each of these rivers is a yin and yang boundary for Liu Deng's army going south, but it is an opportunity for the Kuomintang's chasing troops to block the division. After killing the Ru River, the 18th Brigade was ordered to attack Xi County, the only way to pass through, and captured the Huai River Ferry.This is the last pass on the way of Qianli Leap Forward. The Huaihe River originates from Tongbai Mountain in the south of Henan Province and flows through the three provinces of Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu. It is a large river in the Central Plains.When the troops of the 18th Brigade reached the north bank of the Huaihe River, the enemy had burned all the ferries, and only a few broken boats were abandoned on the river bank. Every year from May to October is the high water level period of this great river in the Central Plains.The average water level is 14 meters in May, 19 meters in July, and starts to drop after October.There had just been a torrential rain that day, and the wide river was covered with waves and the current was turbulent.Li Zhen, the political commissar of the 18th Brigade, sent troops to search for the ferry from a long distance. He stood anxiously on the embankment, hoping for a miracle. At 6 p.m., Liu Deng led the headquarters to arrive. Liu Bocheng walked up the embankment.Deng Xiaoping fanned the wind with his hat under the embankment and asked Li Zhen: "How many boats are there? Is it okay to cross the Huai River before dawn?" Li Zhen reported the situation. Deng Xiaoping: "This should have been thought of long ago. With so many troops, no boats, no bridges, you can't throw the whip to stop the flow, right?" Liu Bocheng walked down the embankment: "Wu Shaozhou's Eighty-Five Division has arrived in Pengdian, only 30 miles away from us. If the Huaihe River cannot be crossed before dawn, once the heavy troops arrive, it may cause Qianliyuejin to fall short!" The 18th Brigade attacked Xixian County and took down the ferry just after the fierce battle of Ruhe.Although Liu Deng was very anxious, he didn't say anything. Li Da came in a hurry: "We found some boats. Li Zhen, your Eighteenth Brigade must cross the river before twelve o'clock tonight!" Li Zhen hurried to the ferry to supervise the crossing.The troops were crowded at the ferry, chaotically, the more urgent the more crowded, the more crowded the slower the action.Li Zhen re-arranged, arranged, rectified the chaotic order, and his voice became hoarse.The cadres in the brigade were all frowning. With so many troops and only these small and broken boats, no matter what, they couldn't finish crossing before twelve o'clock. The high command held an emergency meeting in a separate hut on the shore. Deng Xiaoping said: "Comrade Bo Cheng crossed the river first to command the troops, and Comrade Ji Chun went there together. Comrade Li Da stayed here to command the crossing. I was in charge of breaking the rear." Liu Bocheng said: "What the political commissar said is an order, act immediately." Li Zhen stopped Li Da who was walking out of the house: "Chief of Staff, our brigade can't finish crossing before twelve o'clock no matter what." Li Da pursed his lips tightly, thought for a moment, and said with difficulty: "The crossing will be finished before two o'clock, and there can be no delay for a minute!" The Eighteenth Brigade only accounted for one-seventh of the troops crossing the river, so Li Zhen couldn't say anything more.But even extending the time to two o'clock is hopeless. Liu Bocheng walked out of the house and asked Li Zhen: "Is it true that the river cannot be waded in vain?" "The river is very deep, no." "It's the same depth everywhere, so you can't wade in vain?" "We asked experienced sailors in the village to find out. They all said that the Huaihe River rises and falls suddenly. Now it rises very deep, and no one has ever dared to wade across the river at such a time." "Have you ever conducted on-the-spot investigation?" "It has been reconnaissance, both the vanguard regiment and the brigade cadres have reconnaissance." Just as Li Zhen returned to the ferry, Liu Bocheng also arrived at the ferry with a long bamboo pole that looked like a jujube stick—someone found such an awkward walking stick for him. The guard held the lantern, and Liu Bocheng boarded a small boat. The head of the guard swung the long oars, and the faint light gradually left with the boat.In the haze, Liu Bocheng kept shaking, which caused many people on the bank to speculate: "What is the commander doing?" "Something fell into the river!" Suddenly, Liu Bocheng's call came from the center of the river: "Comrade Li Zhen, you can build a bridge! I have tried many places, and the river is not too deep!" It turned out that Liu Bocheng was measuring the water regime himself, and he also inserted a benchmark in a shallow place.Fearing that the people on the bank could not hear clearly, Liu Bocheng sent someone to send a handwritten order: the river is not deep and the flow is very slow, so tell Chief of Staff Li to build a bridge! Li Zhen took a boat to the south bank.Liu Bocheng stood on the dike all the time, looking up at the other side.Li Zhen reported to Liu Bocheng that the chief of staff had received his written orders. Li Zhen went to organize troops to cross the river, and a regiment leader reported that there was a river that could be waded in vain.Li Zhen asked, "Where is it? How do you know?" "A groom in our regiment fell behind and couldn't get on the boat, so he fumbled and waded from a place upstream." Li Zhen was so happy that he almost hugged the head of the regiment, and he hurriedly wrote a note to report to Liu Bocheng.Before the note was delivered, the head of the guard arrived on horseback and brought Liu Bocheng's note. The note said that he personally saw someone leading a horse across the river upstream, which proved that treacherous trekking was absolutely possible; he asked Li Zhen to immediately report to the chief of staff not to build a bridge, and ordered the troops to trek upstream quickly. It turned out that Liu Bocheng hadn't left the river bank yet, and Li Zhen's heart seemed to be overwhelmed. Under the command of Li Da, the thousands of troops crowded on the north bank formed multiple columns, trekking from the upper reaches, and overcame the last difficulty on the journey to the south. When the rearguard pulled out the last pole, Wu Shaozhou's 85th Division came to the north bank of the Huaihe River just after walking more than five miles from the south bank. Since the communist army was wading across the river in vain, Wu Shaozhou immediately ordered his troops to also wade in pursuit.Unexpectedly, the whole advance team was buried at the bottom of the river before they reached the middle of the river as soon as they entered the water. Not a myth, but a myth.How can it be such a coincidence?However, as soon as Liu and Deng's army crossed the river, heavy rain fell upstream, and the flood peak came suddenly.The more than 30 brigades of pursuers who had no choice but to arrive one after another were all set up on the north bank of the Huaihe River, building bridges and repairing ships, and they worked hard for more than ten days before crossing the Huaihe River. The common people have spoken, and Liu and Deng's army has to cross the Huaihe River three feet shallow to eliminate harm for the people.