Chapter 18 Chapter 17 Marching into Ningxia, the "Ningma" Group was wiped out

Lanzhou was liberated, Qingma was wiped out, Ningxia was immediately isolated, and it was time for Ma Hongkui to make a final decision. In fact, the central government has been actively fighting for Ma Hongkui.Mao Zedong had long distinguished Ma Bufang from Ma Hongkui. He once said that Ma Bufang was self-reliant, ambitious, domineering, and cruel, while Ma Hongkui was a feudal warlord in essence, but he had no ambitions and only wanted to keep the territory of Ningxia to settle down. , and he is more honest than Ma Bufang.Especially during the Anti-Japanese War, Ma Hongkui also had close contacts with He Long, who was then commander of the joint defense forces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Jinsui, and Xi Zhongxun, political commissar.Chiang Kai-shek set off several anti-communist upsurges and asked Ma Hongkui to send troops to the Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. Ma Hongkui could delay it as long as he could, and he did not form a blood feud with the Communist Party like Ma Bufang.

Since the Anti-Japanese War, Ma Hongkui established a single-line connection with the Communist Party through Ma Shaochang, a Hui citizen in Guanghe County, Gansu.This connection lasted until the spring of 1948, when Ma Shaochang's whereabouts were discovered by Wang Kong'an, a KMT agent and director of the Ningxia Anti-smuggling Department. But in June and July of 1949, when the Kuomintang was over, Ma Shaochang came to Ningxia under the entrustment of our party.At that time, Ma Hongkui was very contradictory. Although he kept in touch with our party, anti-communism was still the theme of his life, and the blood of the People's Liberation Army was on his hands. He did not believe that the Communist Party would really treat him leniently.But there is one thing he firmly believes in: the Communist Party will inevitably replace the Kuomintang and become the master of the mainland, and fighting the Communist Party to the end is bound to be a dead end!

The foundation of the Ma family in Ningxia can be traced back to the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.Later, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing, when Cixi and Guangxu fled, they were escorted by his father Ma Fuxiang.For nearly a hundred years of history, the Ma family has dominated the land of Ningxia.Now that the Communist Party has come, this situation is destined to end.Where do we go at this historical crossroads?Ma Hongkui hesitated for a long time.He thought about surrendering, but he was afraid that it would not end well; if he did not surrender, Chiang Kai-shek was doomed to have no place for himself.Fu Zuoyi was his sworn brother. At this moment, he thought of Fu Zuoyi.Fu Zuoyi's advice to him is: Uprising!The hesitant Ma Hongkui seemed to be unable to accept this fact.

When Peng Dehuai led his army to march towards Lanzhou, Fu Zuoyi called him again.But at this time, Ma Hongkui's attitude became clear: resolutely not surrender!He told Fu Zuoyi, I have already decided that the troops will fight to the extent that they can, fight if they can, and run away if they can't.Fu Zuoyi asked, where did he go?Ma Hongkui said, don't worry about it, I have my own place to go.Fu Zuoyi said, you should be clear that you are not a direct descendant of Jiang. If you go to Taiwan, you will not have a good life in the future.Ma Hongkui said, even if I surrendered to the Communist Party, I would have no good results!Fu Zuoyi said, if you revolt, you are a hero, and the Communist Party will treat you well!Ma Hongkui said, I don't believe it!Fu Zuoyi said, you don't have to believe in the Communist Party, but there are still millions of Ningxia people behind you.Once the war breaks out, people will definitely die, just for your Ma family, don't you care about their life and death at such a time?

Ma Hongkui was speechless! He gently put down the phone, looked at the bare mountains outside the "Huaiyuan Tower", feeling the sadness and bitterness of a "dynasty" coming to an end. On August 24, Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Chongqing from Taiwan.Ma Hongkui responded to the order and rushed to Chongqing.In the cave garden where the birds were singing and the flowers were fragrant, Chiang Kai-shek "summoned" him alone.Ma Hongkui was 9 years younger than Chiang Kai-shek, and he was extremely cautious in front of Chiang Kai-shek.It was after this "summon" that Ma Hongkui made his final determination not to surrender to the Communist Party, and also formulated the "Three Alls" policy of "killing all, burning all, and flooding all".

All of Ma Hongkui's current property has been shipped to Hong Kong and Taiwan.He returned from a meeting in Chongqing, so he packed up and fled to Chongqing on September 1.Ningxia's military affairs were all handed over to the second son Ma Dunjing. Ma Dunjing started as a deacon as the leader of Ningxia. But Ma Dunjing has a lot of money in his stomach, and as a father, Ma Hongkui knows it all too well.The night before he left, he said to Ma Tingxiu, Secretary-General of the Ningxia Provincial Government and Director of Civil Affairs, and a group of people: "You respectfully call your second son (Ma Dunjing) Commander because of me. What is he capable of? To be honest, None of my children and grandchildren can take on this task alone, and this is the biggest failure of my life, Ma Hongkui!" The helplessness of lacking successors is beyond words.

But after all, Ma Dunjing was trained by Ma Hongkui, and she still has some prestige in the army.No matter how incompetent Ma Laoer is, in Ningxia, which only recognizes feudal patriarchal relations, he has taken on this burden. Ma Dunjing didn't think he was incompetent, and he acted very calm and capable when he came up. According to his father's "Sanguang" will, he put on a posture of sticking to Ningxia.His posture is to set up three lines of defense along the Yellow River: the first line is guarded by the 20th Cavalry Regiment, Tongxin, part of the 81st Army (Ma Hongbin's Department) guards Jingyuan, and the 1st Brigade of the Newly Formed Cavalry guards Jingtai; Dao used the newly established Helan Army to guard Zhongning, the main force of the 81st Army guarded Zhongwei; the third Dao used the 128th Army to guard Jinji, and the 11th Army guarded Lingwu.The three lines of defense were fortified layer by layer along the Yellow River. If the People's Liberation Army's offensive could not be stopped, the last trump card was used: digging the Yellow River in the Jinling area and flooding the People's Liberation Army.

After finishing the arrangement, Ma Dunjing felt confident that everything would be fine.But in fact, this is a defense system with more theoretical significance than practical value.Before the People's Liberation Army launched an offensive, all armies were able to act fiercely on their own defense lines for a while, but once the People's Liberation Army took action, the various defensive positions also became turbulent.Because the biggest flaw in this defensive deployment lies in the hearts of the officers and soldiers! On September 1, Yang Dezhi issued an order to march to Ningxia to all officers and soldiers of our 19th Corps.Early the next morning, the 19th Corps marched towards Ningxia in three routes.

Jingtai is the first stronghold to bear the brunt.As soon as the People's Liberation Army moved, Zhang Qinwu, Major General of the 1st Brigade of the newly formed cavalry defending the enemy, began to beat drums in his heart.He only had more than 1,000 horses in his hand, but the oncoming 19th Corps Left Army was a division-the 188th Division of the 63rd Army. A regiment of the 188th Division marched along the west bank of the Yellow River, and another regiment traveled down the Yellow River on sheepskin rafts and canoes, approaching Jingtai step by step.Zhang Qinwu picked up a military map and was very anxious to find the chief of staff of the brigade.Zhang Qinwu said: "Jingtai is hundreds of miles away from the main defense line. If there is no cover in case of a fight, then we are not all cannon fodder?!" The chief of staff heard the implication and said, "You mean..." "Uprising Forget it. In this turbulent time, being able to save the lives of your brothers is the greatest virtue you have accumulated!"

On the 15th, Zhang Qinwu led the 1st Brigade of the newly formed cavalry to revolt.The left army of our 19th Corps took advantage of the victory and advanced. On the 17th, it approached the central defender garrisoned by Ma Hongbin's 81st Army. At the same time, the 63rd Army of our army's middle road (less than the 188th Division) and the 65th Army marched westward from Lanzhou and Dingxi. On the 16th, the 561st Regiment of the 187th Division of the 63rd Army suddenly appeared in Zaolinzi on the south bank of the Yellow River, defending the enemy's 81st Army. The 881st Regiment of the Army was disarmed before it could resist.When the enemy's 103rd regiment fled backward, it was also intercepted and wiped out by our army's 561st regiment.

The 64th Army on the right side of our army was attached to the Corps Howitzer Regiment and a battle team, and commanded the 1st and 2nd Independent Divisions of the Northwest Military Region to advance northward along the Xiyin (Xi'an to Yinchuan) Highway. Tongxin County was liberated on the 12th, and Zhongning County was liberated on the 14th.So far, the first line of defense carefully planned by Ma Dunjing has been completely broken by our army. Mao Zedong made a distinction between "Qingma" and "Ningma", and for "Ningma", he distinguished Ma Hongkui from Ma Hongbin.Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin are cousins, and the foundation of Ningxia was created by their grandfather.But the two brothers have always been at odds, and Ma Hongbin has been pushed out by Ma Hongkui everywhere, and he has had a quarrel with Ma Hongkui for a long time. When Yiye first entered Gansu, Mao Zedong told Peng Dehuai that he should consider using Ma Hongbin and send someone to do some work for him.When Lanzhou was just liberated, the forward of Yang Dezhi's 19th Corps had already arrived in the Guyuan area. He sent Ma Mingsan, an enlightened gentleman from Sanying Town, to find Ma Hongbin, and Ma Hongbin sent his son Ma Jing to attend the appointment. Ma Mingsan is a straightforward person. When he met him, he clasped his fists and said, "Commander Ma, I was sent by the People's Liberation Army in Sanying Town. It has no other meaning. The People's Liberation Army hopes that the 81st Army will rise up quickly and contribute to the liberation of Ningxia. If If you have difficulties, it’s okay if you don’t revolt, but don’t stop the People’s Liberation Army from marching towards Ningxia.” Although Ma Jing and his son could not get along with Ma Hongkui for a long time, since Ma Hongkui was stronger than them at that time, it was inconvenient for him to speak too thoroughly.Ma Jing said something vague: "Please tell the People's Liberation Army that the 81st Army is not an opponent of the People's Liberation Army. Please rest assured." When Ma Jing came back, he reported to his father.Ma Hongbin said: "Jing'er, the situation is complicated now, and we must not act rashly. Our uprising is certain, but we must wait until the People's Liberation Army arrives to discuss it." More than ten days passed in a flash, Ma Hongkui also left, and Yang Dezhi broke through the first line of defense again, and unambiguously ate up Ma Hongbin's two regiments, but did not pursue the other fleeing troops. "Yang Dezhi is waiting for me!" Ma Hongbin said to himself, and after asking for a car, he went to discuss with Ma Quanliang, the commander of the Helan Army, another peaceful faction, and planned to join forces.Little did they know that before Ma Hongkui left, he had confessed to Ma Quanliang: Ningxia, only Jinger and my younger brother are the hosts, and others are not allowed to intervene.This other person obviously refers to Ma Hongbin. Ma Quanliang felt that this battle had not started, and he had already had the heart of rebellion, but Ma Hongkui's words were imperial edicts, which could not be disobeyed, not to mention that his family members were all in the hands of Ma Dunjing in Yinchuan, so he would never dare to gamble with his wealth and life . Ma Quanliang said with shame on his face: "Deputy Commander, I'm really sorry. I'm just a commander of the Helan Army. I really don't dare to make decisions about such a big matter. You might as well go to Yinchuan to find the commander (referring to Ma Dunjing). The commander is Your nephew, he will listen to you. A word from him will do anything." Ma Quanliang reminded Ma Hongbin.Now that Ma Hongkui is gone, he is the highest patriarch of the Ma family in Ningxia, and he decided to use his patriarchal authority to try.He said, "Okay, I'll go find Jing'er." Ma Dunjing held a long bong in his hand and was puffing.Ma Tingxiu, Secretary-General of the Ningxia Provincial Government and Director of Civil Affairs, is reporting the situation outside to him. "Commander, the situation outside is not very good these few days! The People's Liberation Army has entered the Hetao area, and is preparing for a decisive battle with the 81st Army. Other troops have retreated one after another, panicking all day long. Because of the war, the people have also suffered. Groups of victims fled north for a few days..." Ma Dunjing glanced at him, interrupted him and asked, "What's the reaction of the 81st Army?" "It's hard to tell, but it definitely can't beat the People's Liberation Army. If the 81st Army makes any mistakes, the second line of defense will be in danger!" Ma Dunjing took another puff of smoke and said, "Then pull the boats from Jinji and Lingwu to the west of the river so that the People's Liberation Army can't cross the river." Ma Tingxiu spread his hands and said, "This is an ancient defense method. Now that we are fighting, the river and the sea can't stop us! Howitzers have a range of dozens of miles. Pulling the boat over there just to face each other across the river will not be effective." ah!" "Then what should we do? Then take all the officers' family members by plane and forget about it. Anyway, I'm a dead pig and I'm not afraid of boiling water!" Ma Tingxiu was dumbfounded, he didn't know that the supreme commander had lost confidence long ago.Saying anything else would be superfluous, he sighed, shook his head and came out.As soon as he came out, he happened to bump into Ma Hongbin who was coming. As soon as Ma Hongbin entered, he smelled a pungent smell of smoke. Ma Dun lay quietly on the sofa with his legs crossed, still enjoying the stimulation brought by the smell of smoke.Ma Hongbin originally wanted to have a good talk with him, but seeing such a situation, he couldn't help showing his parental dignity. "Jing'er, the whole of Ningxia is in turmoil. Hundreds of thousands of troops want to listen to your orders, and millions of people want to listen to your arrangements. But you are here swallowing clouds and mist, drunk and dreaming, it is outrageous!" Ma Hongbin's eyes were burning, and his ears and nose seemed angry. Gotta change shape. Ma Dunjing opened her dim eyes: "Hey, uncle is here. Please sit down, please sit down." Then he shouted at the servant: "Tea!" Ma Hongbin was still angry and said, "Let me ask you, the People's Liberation Army is almost at the gate of the house. Jing'er is fighting with the 81st Army, but the People's Liberation Army is so powerful that it can't be stopped at all. I don't think Ningxia can hold it at all. If the fight continues like this, more people will die.” "Then what do you say?" Ma Dunjing also knew the seriousness of the situation, but he couldn't come up with a whole set of rescue plans. "Peaceful settlement!" Ma Hongbin said loudly. "You mean uprising and surrender?" Ma Dunjing asked with his eyes narrowed. Ma Hongbin nodded. "Absolutely not!" Ma Dunjing sat up impulsively: "My Ah Da (referring to Ma Hongkui) is in Chongqing. If he surrenders, he will be in danger." "No." Ma Hongbin took a few steps forward and said: "We just said that the People's Liberation Army has already invaded, and the troops are unable to resist, so we have to do so. Besides, our Ma family is worthy of Chiang Kai-shek if we persist until the end. In the end The key is to think about ourselves. Are you insisting on pushing those brothers who are alive and well under your hands to death? What’s the point? The Kuomintang is gone, so it doesn’t make any sense!” Ma Hongbin argued hard, and the veins on his forehead also jumped stand up. Ma Dunjing turned around, lowered her voice and said stubbornly: "Uncle, I will never surrender. Even if it is the last person and the last gun, I, Ma Dunjing, will never surrender to the Communists!" Ma Hongbin had no choice but to leave silently. On September 18, Ma Jing, the commander of the 81st Army of the Kuomintang, negotiated with Zeng Siyu, the plenipotentiary representative of the 19th Corps of the People's Liberation Army and the commander of the 64th Army, and the issue of the 81st Army was resolved peacefully.According to the order of the Central Military Commission, the 81st Army was reorganized into the Second Independent Army of the Northwest Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Ma Jing was the commander of the army and Zhenhua was the political commissar. Ma Dunjing and Ma Rulong looked flustered around a military map. "When the 81st Army revolted, our three lines of defense would completely collapse, Yang De? You can use the gap made by the 81st Army to drive straight along the Yellow River and go straight to Yinchuan..." Ma Rulong said in a low voice. "Ningxia must be lost!" Ma Dunjing looked at the map in a daze, expressionless: "But Ada is in Chongqing, and we will go to Chongqing in the future. No matter what, we must fight to the end. Otherwise, we will live with Chiang Kai-shek in the future will be sad." "Hey!" Ma Rulong sighed heavily: "I knew this before, I might as well have listened to Commander Fu (Fu Zuoyi)'s suggestion..." "We have too deep a grudge with the Communist Party, and the Communist Party will not tolerate us!" Ma Dunjing turned around, lit a pot of smoke, and said angrily: "Don't talk about this issue, order the Helan Army (to the 1st Division of Security) and the 1st Division The 11th Army fully retreated to the Yinchuan, Lingwu, and Ningshuo areas; the 128th Army Headquarters and the 256th Division were stationed in Lingwu County, the 3rd Security Division was stationed in Wuzhongbao, the 356th Division and the 20th Cavalry Brigade were stationed in the south and beyond of Jinji In the eastern area, the 1st Security Division is stationed in the area west of Jinji. It will be in Jinji, Lingwu and the Communist Army for a decisive battle. If the decisive battle cannot be won, the Yellow River will be dug!" Ma Rulong's face was gloomy, and he turned around to deliver the order. In Guyuan, in the headquarters of the 19th Corps, Commander Yang Dezhi and Political Commissar Li Zhimin looked solemn. They had just received a telegram from Peng Dehuai to Chairman Mao Zedong of the Military Commission. Mao Zedong asked them to disarm Ma Hongkui's troops as much as possible instead of reorganizing them.This means that Ma Dunjing must be resolved by fighting. "Political commissar, Ma Dunjing shrank all his troops to the front line of Jinji and Lingwu. This place is only a hundred miles away from Yinchuan. The mountain roads are blocked. There is the Yellow River on the left and the Great Wall on the right. He wants to use this narrow area to fight us to the end. Look. To take Ningxia, we have to fight a few vicious battles!" Yang Dezhi paced back and forth in the headquarters with his hands in his pockets.Li Zhimin has already studied the map, and he knows a thing or two about the dangerous terrain here.Now he is considering the impact of the 81st Army on the morale of the enemy after the uprising. "Ma Hongbin and his son led the uprising, which was a big blow to Ma Dunjing's department. I heard that after Ma Jing went back to announce the uprising, all the troops, whether officers or soldiers, cheered. This shows the basic mentality of the Ningxia Army at present. : War weariness! Although it is said that a dog will jump over the wall and Ma Dunjing will jump when he is in a hurry, his subordinates may not necessarily be able to jump. It is entirely possible to disintegrate Ma Dunjing's department by winning one or two battles, even if it is a small victory. Besides, Ma Bufang and his son in Qinghai ran away, and Ma Hongkui ran away here, and Ma Hongbin and his son who did not run also revolted and surrendered. Could it be that Ma Dunjing, who is alone, wants to fight to the end? It is unlikely. As long as Ma Dunjing runs away, the Ningxia problem will be solved. " "So the most urgent thing is to step up the attack and not let Ma Dunjing have the slightest respite!" Yang Dezhi ordered decisively to wipe out the 128th Army in the Jinji and Lingwu areas first. It is the 64th Army of our army that is attacking Jinji and Lingwu, and it is equipped with a mechanized battalion and a tank battle team. Together with the 195th Division, the Independent 1st Division, and the Independent 2nd Division, a total of 50,000 people marched towards the Jinling area . Ma Hongbin and his son led the 81st Army to revolt, which was definitely a big blow to the already crumbling Ningma troops.As Li Zhimin analyzed, all the officers and soldiers of the Ningma Army did not want to fight this meaningless battle anymore, even Ma Dunjing.After Ma Hongkui left, Ma Dunhou, the young master who served as the commander of the cavalry division, also left. Ma Dunjing felt that his future was bleak. In the early morning of the 19th, under the condition of strictly blocking the news, he boarded the plane of Xu Yongchang, the head of the Kuomintang army, and left his hometown. Our 19th Corps pressed on step by step. First, we took down Niushou Mountain, the natural barrier of Jinji and Lingwu, and then captured the mouth of Qingtong Gorge, approaching the outskirts of Jinji County. He Xiaoting, deputy commander of the 128th Army defending Jinji, was wandering back and forth on the Yellow River embankment. The wind blew in late September, and he shivered several times.Digging the river to release the water was Ma Hongkui's confession to their senior generals before leaving, and now he is considering whether to carry out Ma Hongkui's order.During the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek dug embankments at the Huayuankou of the Yellow River to block the advance of the Japanese army, but failed to achieve his goal. Instead, countless people were displaced, their wives were separated, and the human tragedy caused was unbearable.Now that the history of digging dikes to release water is about to repeat itself, He Xiaoting is a little hesitant. But the situation became more and more urgent, and the follow-up troops of the People's Liberation Army followed up with whole divisions.He Xiaoting closed his eyes, looked up to the sky and shouted: "Explode!" With two loud bangs, the embankment of the Yellow River was blown open a gap several feet wide, and the water of the Yellow River surged out of the mouth. It was my 190th Division who first discovered the flood of the Yellow River.The teacher Chen Zhongxin turned pale with shock: "He Xiaoting blew up the Yellow River, first plug the gap and then make money!" The water continued to spread, and a vast ocean was immediately formed at the gap.Fortunately, when our troops arrived, the Yellow River embankment did not break.After a lot of intensive leak plugging work by our soldiers, the water of the Yellow River was basically contained. Through the incident of the horse bandits blowing up the embankment, the soldiers had a clearer understanding of the nature of the Ma family army.A soldier from Henan said: "My parents were drowned when Chiang Kai-shek bombed Huayuankou, and today I was almost drowned by He Xiaoting. If these black sheep are not eliminated, the common people will not be able to live a peaceful life!" The 190th Division of our army besieged the small city of Jinji for two days. He Xiaoting couldn't stand it anymore. On the 21st, he sent people out to seek peace, and Jinji was declared liberated.Immediately afterwards, the 192nd Division successfully entered Lingwu City and captured more than 800 enemy soldiers, and Lingwu was also declared liberated. Lu Zhongliang was in a hurry, and was furious in the Hedong command post: "The chairman is gone, the young master (Ma Dunhou) is gone, and even the commander (referring to Ma Dunjing) is gone, who are you fighting for?" One, called Ma Quanliang and Ma Yingcai to Renchundu, and said bluntly: "The People's Liberation Army soldiers are approaching the city, but the top is gone. What do you do? I am going to revolt!" Ma Quanliang and Ma Yingcai were stunned: "What, the commander is gone too ?” Lu Zhongliang was very surprised: “Why, you don’t know?” “We have been fighting at the front, how could we know?” Ma Quanliang said, “Since all the superiors have run away, what is there to say, let’s revolt!” The days when Ma Hongkui fled to Chongqing have been depressed, and his life has no interest.There is an old saying in China that "fallen leaves return to their roots", and he, Ma Hongkui, is still in exile in his sixtieth year.Every morning, he would silently gaze to the north as a final farewell to Ningxia.He has lived in Ningxia for most of his life, and he can't let go of this feeling no matter what!That day when I heard that the Ningxia Ministry was about to revolt, two lines of old tears immediately rolled down my face.He called Ma Rulong and said in an almost pleading tone: "Don't revolt, I'll ask my second son (Ma Dunjing) to come back and work with you, okay?" After hearing this, Ma Rulong burst into tears, but said helplessly: "The uprising has already been sent, and besides, we are no match for the People's Liberation Army. There is nothing we can do if the commander comes!" Ma Hongkui sighed and hung up the phone trembling. Ma Hongkui said silently in his heart: Ningxia, my hometown, farewell from now on!