Chapter 7 Chapter Six Millions of Troops Cross the River

At 20 o'clock on April 20, 1949, the day when the Nanjing Kuomintang government refused to sign, the second and third field armies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army launched a battle across the river.Suddenly, on the north bank of the Yangtze River, thousands of guns were fired; on the surface of the Yangtze River, thousands of sails raced across the river.At the same time, the Twelfth Corps of the Fourth Field Army, led by Xiao Jinguang, launched a series of offensive operations against Bai Chongxi's troops in Hanchuan, Xiaogan, Huangpi, and Xinzhou in the north of the Yangtze River.

Before 8:00 p.m., at the Shuangqing Villa in Xiangshan, Beiping, the top leaders of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Ren Bishi, etc., all had sparks of excitement in their eyes, and their eyes were fixed on The pocket watches in their hands are looking forward to a great moment. At the same time, in the war room of the General Front Committee of Yaogang Village in the southeast of Hefei, and in the headquarters of Tan Zhenlin, the commander of the Central Group, all eyes were fixed on the shiny second hand. Waiting for the same great moment to come!

When the hour hand pointed to 8 o'clock on time, Tan Zhenlin, the commander-in-chief of the Dujiangzhong Group, took a deep breath, and thunderously issued an order to the radio receiver: march to the south of the Yangtze River! The great battle across the river begins! The river-crossing troops of the second field and the third field are divided into the east group, the middle group and the west group.The east group and the middle group are three wilds, and the west group is two wilds. At 20 o'clock on the 20th, China Group first launched an attack on the section from Zongyang Town to Yuxikou in Anhui Province.In terms of the topography of the Yangtze River, there are many large and small Jiangxin islands on the river surface in this area, which are very beneficial for crossing the river.

Thousands of guns were fired on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and the earth trembled.The dense artillery shells dragged clusters of flames, drawing countless bright arcs of light in the twilight sky, and flew towards the south bank.The fire reflected the sky red, and the roaring river was like bright red blood under the illumination of the artillery fire.In an instant, on the beach on the south bank, the fire was shining, the smoke was billowing, and the smoke column rose straight into the starry sky.While our army was bombarded by artillery fire, the warships of the first-line troops of the Seventh and Ninth Corps of Sanye set sail. It was really like a forest of masts, and the sails covered the sky. Tens of thousands of wooden boats braved the wind and waves, and rushed to the south bank.

The Central Military Commission and the General Front Committee require that all armies, divisions, and regiments send the most powerful troops to the first echelon without leaving behind, and require all army commanders and fighters to only advance and never retreat! Tan Zhenlin sent four armies in the first echelon, namely, the 21st and 24th armies of the Seventh Corps, and the 25th and 27th armies of the Ninth Corps. The sound of artillery on both sides of the Yangtze River shook the sky, and the river was roaring. The warships of various commandos had crossed the middle of the Yangtze River secretly and quickly approached the south bank. The commanders and fighters held weapons and were always ready to shoot at the enemy.

Half an hour later, the boat at the forefront was approaching the south bank. The enemy organized intensive firepower to shoot desperately after finding out, trying to suppress the commandos on the water. The commandos had no other choice, screaming and shooting while facing the firepower. On the boat, some jumped into the water, hugged the bow of the boat, and let their comrades step over them. Many people were shot, and the people on the boat fell into the water and sank to the bottom of the river... The vanguard finally landed on the south bank. After a short and fierce battle, they smashed the enemy's resistance and established a beachhead.The 27th Army occupied positions along the river such as Jitou Mountain and Dagai Mountain.The 25th Army occupied positions along the river such as Yueshan and Yangshanjian.The 24th Army occupied Tongling, and then joined forces with the 21st Army.Cover follow-up troops continue to develop in depth.

Under the cover of our powerful artillery, the 4 armies of the first echelon captured 5 Jiangxinzhou, including Heishazhou, Crucian Fish Island, Wenxinzhou, and Zishazhou, in less than an hour. On the beachhead, the first shot of the People's Liberation Army across the river was fired. On this dark night, the People's Liberation Army came so quickly, with the heroic spirit of breaking the enemy's courage, they broke through the Yangtze River in one fell swoop, creating a miracle in military history!Later, Deng Xiaoping, secretary of the General Front Committee, reported to Mao Zedong that the fastest boat crossing the river only took a quarter of an hour.Become "the first boat to cross the river".

On this dark night, the enemy was terrified and fled south in a panic. In order to speed up the speed of the boat, the first batch of commanders and fighters of the Sanano Group took off their helmets in the dark and picked up a shovel to help the boatman paddle.While crossing the river, the enemy shot at the surface of the river, and the boatman was the first to bear the brunt and was injured. The soldiers followed up, and the boat kept being injured.The soldiers were wounded, covering their wounds with one hand, and insisting on rowing the oar with the other. The boat was pierced by enemy bombs and leaked water. The soldiers took off their clothes, untied their backpacks, picked up their clothes and quilts, and blocked them up. Some soldiers even stood in front of the boatmen, using their bodies as a cover. Only one wish:

Go fast and grab the victory! The first echelon of the Sanye crossing the river was also blocked by the river defense fleet of the Jiang Navy. The enemy dispatched small and medium-sized gunboats such as Anton, Meiheng, Taiping, and Chutong to intercept the river, but they were bombarded by intense artillery fire from the People's Liberation Army. Got to get dizzy.The troops crossing the river drove wooden boats close to the enemy ships and fired back with grenades, which left the enemy ships covered with bullets and were forced to flee towards Tongling and Wuhu. The first echelon of Sanye crossing the river is divided into thousands of wooden boats. When there is a northwest wind, the boats take advantage of the wind, thousands of sails compete, ten thousand oars hit the water, chop the waves, and fly to the south bank.According to the regulations, when the troops of the first ship crossing the river arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, they immediately lit the lamps to report.At this time, on the south bank of the Yangtze River for tens of miles, red lights flickered like bright stars. Some of the advance troops occupying the beachhead were still lighting piles of bonfires on the hills and high slopes. The good news spread to the north and south of the river.

After the Sanyezhong Group broke through the Yangtze River defense line, it immediately developed in depth and successively occupied Tongling, Shun'an, Fanchang and other towns.At this time, Tang Enbo ordered the enemy's 99th Army to come to block the attack, but before the enemy's complete arrival, some were wiped out, and some fled to Hangzhou. Since the Sanyezhong Group miraculously first broke through the breach of the Yangtze River, in less than 24 hours, 300,000 people from the People's Liberation Army fought over it! Before the launch of the campaign, the Military Commission and the General Front Committee had issued instructions for cadres to command in advance, stipulating that if a battalion of combat troops crosses the river, the division commander must cross the river, and if a regiment crosses the river, the army commander must cross the river.According to this principle, Nie Fengzhi, commander of the 27th Army, Wang Bicheng, commander of the 24th Army, Cheng Jun, commander of the 25th Army, and Teng Haiqing, commander of the 21st Army, crossed the river with the commando.

Many years have passed, and General Nie Fengzhi still remembers the scene when he landed on the South Bank.He recalled during his lifetime: That night, the wind swept away the thin clouds, and a bright moon appeared, shining on the river and the mountains farther away. If it weren't for the war, the scene in front of you might make you feel like you were in an oil painting.General Nie Fengzhi looked back at the river, and he saw countless ships not far away vying to bravely cross the torrent, with shadows of sails overlapping and flames shining... This is a very spectacular scene, and it is also full of poetic and picturesque flavors. Nie Fengzhi's frown relaxed.The scene of the army flying across stirred his heart. He couldn't restrain his inner excitement, and blurted out a telegram: "We have successfully set foot on the land of Jiangnan!" There are only 12 words.This is the shortest telegram that General Nie Fengzhi has taken in his life, and it is also the most poetic telegram. In the early morning of the 21st, the staff officer on duty reported to acting commander Su Yu: "Commander Nie has sent a telegram." When Su Yu heard the telegram from Nie Fengzhi, he hurriedly said, "Read it quickly!" The staff officer on duty repeated it and said, "That's all." "It's so simple." Su Yu felt a little regretful.He took the telegram from the staff officer on duty, read it carefully, and felt overjoyed.The 27th Army is one of the main forces of the Central Group. Since Nie Fengzhi "has successfully set foot on the land of Jiangnan", this shows that this army has established a firm foothold in Jiangnan and the enemy's Jiangnan defense has been broken through. This short telegram heralds a new beginning. After the China Group succeeded in crossing the river, on the night of the 21st, the Sanye East Group simultaneously launched a powerful attack on the section from Sanjiangying to Zhanghuanggang, and the West Group launched a powerful attack on the Wangjiang section in Zongyang. Changshan and other places broke through the enemy's Jiang defense position and boarded the south bank.The three groups of our Central, Eastern and Western forces crossed, and the military power was greatly shaken, as if the sea was overturned! On the eastern front, the focus of the enemy's defense is in the Jiangyin area. As long as Jiangyin is captured, the fifth situation judged by the General Front Committee in the "Outline for the Implementation of the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Campaign" can be realized, that is, the enemy is completely confused. The troops of our East Group bravely crossed the river, and the local boatmen actively steered our ferry Jiangyin is adjacent to Shanghai in the east, Nanjing in the west and Shanghai-Nanjing Railway in the south.Occupying Jiangyin and its nearby Changzhou and Wuxi cut the Tang Enbo Group into two pieces so that the head and tail could not see each other;Jiangyin is the eastern end of the "bowstring" connecting Wuhu. Once Jiangyin is occupied, the Central Group and the East Group can take shortcuts from both ends of the "bowstring" and block Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Wuhu stationed on the "back of the bow". The enemy fled south.The Jiangyin Fortress is known as the Jiangfang Gateway. After occupying Jiangyin, it blocked the Yangtze River from the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Jiangnan River.Jiangyin is the key point of the Kuomintang's defense against Jiangyin, and it is a safe location. If Jiangyin is captured, it will surely shock them and cause them to collapse mentally. Then, after capturing Jiangyin and causing the enemy on the eastern front to collapse quickly and across the board, where and how should we gather and annihilate the enemy? Su Yu thought it best to push the enemy to the area between Yixing, Langxi, Guangde, and Changxing, and annihilate them in field battles.Calculated from the map, Nanjing is about 140 kilometers away from Changxing and Guangde, and it takes about 4 to 5 days for the enemy to retreat. The East Group goes straight from the river to the west side of Taihu Lake and reaches Yixing for about 80 kilometers. If the attack goes smoothly, it will take 2 to 3 days; to reach Changxing about 130 kilometers, it will take 4 to 5 days. Guangde and Changxing, about 180 to 220 kilometers away, are progressing smoothly, and it will take 5 to 6 days to arrive.In terms of the time required, the enemy and the enemy are almost the same.Whoever can win the time and reach Yixing, Changxing, and Guangde first will win the initiative.If the enemy arrives first, they escape the encirclement circle.If our army arrives first, the enemy will be the turtle in the urn. To grasp this fleeting opportunity, in addition to the rapid advance of the troops, it is also necessary to make preparations in advance to chase and wipe out the fleeing enemy before the enemy retreats while crossing the river. Su Yu felt it necessary to make this suggestion to the General Front Committee and the Central Military Commission.He immediately called Zhang Zhen, the chief of staff, to explain his thoughts, and Zhang Zhen immediately expressed his support. Therefore, the telegrams to the General Front Committee and the Military Commission were sent in the names of Su and Zhang. The telegram first stated the analysis of the enemy's situation: "As of now, after our Seventh and Ninth Corps crossed the river, the enemy has not yet made a comprehensive arrangement, and only the garrison troops counterattacked in part, and the resistance is very weak. The second-line troops are only the 106th Army The main force is concentrated near Ningguo, and the 192nd Army gathers on the Jingxian and Maolin lines, and its follow-up troops are even more empty. If the local troops in southern Anhui and the security brigade uprising, the army may be suppressed and its combat power is very weak. The Eastern Front After I successively captured the bridgeheads, the enemy has made new adjustments before noon on the 20th." Then he introduced the deployment and adjustment of the enemy's 21st, 51st, 54th, 12th and 3rd armies. "In this way, although the enemy has strengthened the first-line defense, the second line is relatively empty." After analyzing the enemy's situation, the telegram drew a conclusive and important judgment: "According to the above situation, after our army crosses the river across the board, it will definitely cause the enemy's chaos. Especially since the enemy's mobile forces in the upper reaches of Nanjing are few and weak, I should take advantage of the landing victory. The prestige of the enemy will spread out quickly and penetrate deep into the enemy. This will not only make the enemy no time to adjust deployment, but will also promote greater confusion among the enemy and achieve division and encirclement." Immediately afterwards, the telegram put forward the following suggestions on how to divide the encirclement and fleeing enemies: "(1) After the Ninth Corps crossed the river, except for the Thirty Army to monitor the enemy in Wuhu and wait to be handed over to the Second Army and the Fourth Corps to take over, the main force should remove obstacles and not serve the enemy. Blocked by the small enemy, that is to advance northeastward along the line of Nanling, Qingyi River, Xuancheng, Shizipu and between the north and Gaochun, control Liyang, cut off the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway, and cut off the retreat route of the enemy from Nanjing to Hangzhou, so as to achieve isolation and division The enemy should effectively cooperate with the East Group to fight, and strive to advance the leading troops of the Corps to Langxi and its northeast area on Yuri (26th). , The area south of Shizipu, strive to advance to the Guangde area around the 27th and wait for orders. If the remnants of the enemy resist stubbornly, one can be left behind to encircle and wipe them out. (3) The four armies of the Tenth Corps decided to cross south this evening. It is possible to control Jiangyin and wipe out the main force of the 21st Army. Regardless of the degree of enemy resistance, the 23rd Army and the 28th Army have been ordered to advance towards Yixing and Jintan with one reconnaissance battalion each, and then the 28th Army will go straight out of Yixing After crossing the river in support of the Eighth Corps, the 23rd Army went out of Danyang and Jintan and marched towards Liyang with a part. The 29th Army and the 31st Army were in the Cheng, Xi, and Chang areas, and were transferred according to the situation. And use the main force of the teachers of the headquarters to cooperate with the main force of the 4th and 5th Divisions of the Eighth Police Brigade to attack and annihilate Bawei Port, and then control Jiangyin, the Eighth Police Brigade controls Wuxi, the main force of the Sixth Police Brigade controls Wujin, and one regiment controls Qishuyan. (4) The Eighth Corps, with the 20th Army and 1 division of the 26th Army, captured Yangzhong this evening, crossed the Jiajiang River on the night of Yangri (22nd), and then advanced to Zhenjiang and Danyang to support the 34th Army's southward crossing to capture Zhenjiang, and then Standby will attack Nanjing. The 34th Army captured Nanxinzhou this evening and blocked the Beijing-Shanghai Railway with artillery fire. The 35th Army captured Jiangpu this morning, and with one part they controlled Xinhekou and blocked the river. The main force moved to the periphery of Pukou tonight. attack." The telegram finally said: "Is the above appropriate? If you agree, please order the Seventh and Ninth Corps to implement it. Please give instructions immediately." Although Su Yu is convinced that his judgment is accurate and reliable, he is still a little worried before it is fulfilled.He deeply felt that whether the enemy will quickly collapse across the board depends on whether the Tenth Corps can successfully break through the Jiangyin area in one fell swoop and penetrate the depths of the enemy.This is the key of the key.He repeatedly explained this point to Ye Fei, the commander of the Tenth Corps, and repeatedly urged Ye Fei: to cross the river with the first echelon, directly grasp the battlefield situation, and implement strong direct command. The Jiang defense that the East Assault Group faces is the most powerful on the entire Jiang defense line of the Kuomintang, especially the section from Pukou to Jiangyin. Not only is there the famous Jiangyin fortress, but the Second Coastal Defense Fleet led by Lin Zun is also concentrated here. This is what Chiang Kai-shek saw. The last two treasures of the home.At the same time, the garrison force on the river bank is also very strong, and it is deployed according to the three lines of Jiangbei, Jiangzhong, and Jiangnan, that is, there are bridgehead positions in the north of the river, strongholds in Jiangxinzhou, and garrison troops along the river on the south bank, as well as strong in-depth equipment.The Kuomintang boasted that this section of the river defense was a steel defense line, and it was indeed not easy to break through such a solid defense line. Ye Fei, the chief general of the East Assault Group of our army and the commander of the Tenth Corps, chose Jiangyin as the breakthrough point. The reason is very simple. This is the narrowest section of the river in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the river is only 1,500 meters wide.To the east, the river suddenly opened up, and it was difficult for a wooden boat to reach the opposite bank to establish a beachhead after drifting overnight.To the west, it is too close to Nanjing, and the enemy's river defense force is relatively strong, especially the enemy's Second Fleet Chen Bing on this section of the river. Jiangyin is the key to Beijing and Shanghai, known as the "Gateway of Jiangfang". It has always been an important place for heavy defense, and Chiang Kai-shek also attaches great importance to it.By the spring of 1949, the strength of the Jiangyin Fortress had reached 7,000, with 1 main fort, 3 large forts, 1 mobile artillery regiment, 70 long-range fortress guns, 36 cannon howitzers, and 6000 troops from Zhangjiagang to Huangtian Port. Jiangfang in Huali.Looking at the Jiangyin fortress, there are artillery groups on the top of the mountain, trenches on the mountainside, bunkers at the foot of the mountain, wooden piles and barbed wire at the port, and ships on the river, forming a complete defense system, which can be called a grand pass on the river.No wonder the Kuomintang Ministry of National Defense boasted: "The Jiangyin defense line is a three-dimensional defense line, and it is difficult for the Communist army to cross the river even with wings." However, the generals of the Kuomintang and the U.S. military advisory group only saw the powerful weapons and equipment of the Jiangyin Fortress, but they could not see the morale of the Kuomintang army. . As early as 1947, the Central China Working Committee of the Communist Party of China with Chen Pixian as its secretary sent people into the fortress. In November of the same year, an underground party organization was established in the fortress, and a liaison station was also established in Jiangyin City.In the spring of 1949, on the eve of the Battle of Crossing the River, under the leadership of the Central China Working Committee, they not only expanded the party organization, but also united a large number of military officers around themselves. Can turn the muzzle.The Jiangyin Fortress has become a time bomb buried in the Kuomintang's thousands of miles of river defense. In March, the Central China Working Committee transferred the underground organization relationship of the Jiangyin Fortress to the Ten Corps in time.Ye Fei, the commander of the Corps, and Wei Guoqing, the political commissar, received Wang Chengming, the intelligence section chief of the Social Department of the East China Bureau, to the Corps Department and listened to the report in person.Wang Chengming was a general of Suyudian, who presided over the uprising work in the fortress. During the Jinan campaign, he was the one who successfully planned the uprising of the Ministry of Culture of Wuhua. He was an unsung hero on the secret front. After listening to the situation report, Ye Fei instructed, "The basic tasks for you and the party branch of the Jiangyin Fortress are: maintain a 60-mile defense zone, control 3 to 4 ports, and welcome our troops to land without shooting or firing." Wei Guoqing said: "Completing this task is the first task of crossing the river. We will do other things. In terms of methods, pay attention to asking them to master several company commanders and platoon leaders, and use them to master some key soldiers through brotherhood. Slogans can be raised It can be said as follows: fight together, fight together, escape together, and be a prisoner together. Don't let yourself be paralyzed because victory is in sight, and expose yourself, so that all previous efforts will be wasted." Ye Fei added: "Inform the comrades of the underground party in the fortress that the party committee of the Corps has decided that you will be responsible for the uprising." On April 20, the Kuomintang had obtained information that the PLA was about to cross the river. After receiving the order from Ding Zhipan, the commander of the First Sui District, Dai Rongguang moved into the fortress from Jiangyin City and took the command post of the Huangshan Fort Headquarters. All ministries were ordered to prepare for battle, and the fortress entered a state of emergency combat readiness. Our army's general offensive has begun, and we must first remove the bridgehead on the opposite bank of Jiangyin, the Baxugang position.The garrison of Bawei Port is the 145th Division of the 21st Army. After the battle started, the chief of staff of the division immediately asked the fortress to provide artillery support. Dai Rongguang ordered the artillery to fire. Tang Binglin took his time and ordered the Huangshan Fort to reduce the firepower by 400 meters. shooting.With an order, the fort trembled amidst a roar.The shells roared and flew towards the opposite bank. In an instant, Baxu Harbor was ablaze, and ghosts were crying and wolves were howling.The commander of the 145th Division cursed on the walkie-talkie: "Damn, all your shells fell on my head, Tang Binglin, how did you fire your cannon?" Tang Enbo was taken aback when he received the above report.In view of the fact that if there is a mistake in the fortress, the entire Jiang defense will be destroyed by itself, so he hurriedly called Dai Rongguang and asked Dai to investigate immediately.Tang Binglin plausibly said: "It is difficult to observe at night, and the shooting is not accurate." Dai Rongguang has always regarded Tang Binglin as a confidant, and the battle has already started, how to investigate?Dai Rongguang put the matter aside and only focused on dealing with the People's Liberation Army crossing the river. At 19:30 on the 21st, after the China Group broke through the natural danger of the Yangtze River, the East Group and the West Group initiated crossing the river at the same time. At 20 o'clock, the night was dark on the river in Bawei Port, and several wooden boats came on the waves without anyone noticing, and quietly docked at the northern foot of Changshan Mountain outside Jiangyin City.At the same time, on the bank of the Xiaoshan River on the east side of the Changjiang River, several wooden boats also docked. These were the vanguard troops sent by the 23rd, 28th, and 29th armies of the Ye Fei Corps. Just when the vanguard succeeded in the south bank, the north bank launched a general attack.Dai Rongguang urgently ordered Tang Binglin to fire and block Xingang on the other side. Tang Binglin received the order to fire. Seeing that the vanguard of the People's Liberation Army had not yet occupied the Huangshan General Fort, she ordered Ding Peiji to execute the "false shooting plan" in order not to expose it prematurely. Contact the telephone line and order the infantry and artillery units along the river to withdraw from their positions immediately, and all wear identification marks to gather in the Huangshan barracks. The battery guns began to fire, unfused rounds of shells were fired aimlessly.Sitting in the command post, Dai Rongguang immediately felt that something was wrong when he heard the sound of cannons that did not echo. "Damn, what kind of artillery is this firing? It's purely a salute to the communist army!" He grabbed the phone, but it couldn't get through; When Tang Binglin rushed into the command post with a gun, Dai Rongguang seemed to understand, but also didn't seem to understand. He stared at Tang Binglin, his once trusted subordinate, and asked in a daze, "What's going on?" My underground party member and political traffic officer Wu Ming announced loudly: "I am a representative of the Communist Party. All officers and soldiers in the Jiangyin Fortress have declared an uprising on the battlefield, and now you are required to disarm and surrender." Dai Rongguang collapsed to the ground like a pile of mud. Our army's powerful artillery covers the infantry forcibly crossing the Yangtze River On the north bank, under the cover of powerful artillery fire, our army quickly boarded the boat and set off. Crossing the river progressed more smoothly than expected.But it wasn't long before reports of progress ahead dwindled. Su Yu repeatedly urged to get in touch with Ye Fei as soon as possible.But 4 hours later, there is still no communication.Ye Fei's whereabouts are unknown, and the situation ahead is also unknown.At this critical moment, at a critical location, Su Yu couldn't get in touch with the key person, so Su Yu walked around the room anxiously.The radio operator was also sweating profusely, and made many inquiries, but there was no answer. On the 22nd, at dawn, Su Yu received a report from Ye Fei: All of the 23rd, 28th, and 29th armies, and a part of the 31st army, had successfully crossed south and defeated the enemies in front of them. Establish a solid position with a front width of more than 50 kilometers and a depth of more than 10 kilometers centered on Jiangyin, and continue to develop rapidly in depth. In this regard, Ye Fei later recalled: Because he was so focused on commanding crossing the river and landing operations, he forgot to bring the radio station and telegraph operator when he boarded the command ship. It was not until he stepped on the south bank of the Yangtze River that he realized that The radio didn't follow. While the 28th and 29th armies followed Commander Ye Fei across the Yangtze River from Zhanghuanggang to Longshaogang and occupied Jiangyin and Gaogang, the 20th, 23rd, and 26th armies marched from Longshaogang to Longshaogang. Qixu also succeeded in crossing the Yangtze River by force. Once he set foot on the land of Jiangnan, he hurried south to chase and annihilate the fleeing enemy. Su Yu and Zhang Zhen commanded the East Group to launch an attack on "Mipu" at midnight on April 21. Jiangpu was the first to be captured, and then marched towards Puzhen under heavy artillery fire. Capturing Puzhen was an uphill battle.After being surrounded, the enemy launched a frantic counterattack. Tanks and armored wheels charged at the PLA one after another. The two sides fought point by point, line by line, and bunker by block in the mountainous area north of Puzhen.The fierce fighting lasted all night, and the enemy fled to the river in the early morning of the 22nd. On the morning of the 23rd, various units of the People's Liberation Army arrived at the Pukou River one after another, swept away the defending enemies in the north of the river, actively looked for ships, prepared to cross the Yangtze River, chased and wiped out the fleeing enemies, and launched an attack on Nanjing from the north. At this time, most of the Kuomintang military and political officials in the Nanjing government had fled. On the evening of April 23, the People's Liberation Army first entered Nanjing from the Heping Gate in the east of Nanjing.The 104th Division of the 35th Army occupied the commanding heights of Lion Mountain and Qingliang Mountain; the 105th Division advanced along Zhongshan North Road, passed Xinjiekou to Zhongshan Gate, and occupied Zhongshan Gate, the high ground outside the city, the airport outside Guanghuamen and the city. Central District. At 3 o'clock in the morning on the 24th, the red-painted gate of the Kuomintang presidential palace was opened, and PLA soldiers rushed in and lowered the blue sky and white sun flag on the gate tower of the Kuomintang presidential palace.The August 1st flag of the People's Liberation Army fluttered over the presidential palace. Chen Yi then rushed to the Presidential Palace. He sat on the huge chair behind the presidential desk where Chiang Kai-shek had sat, and shook it vigorously. He couldn't help but feel very excited, and immediately recited a poem: At the end of the song, Chen Yi wanted to make a long-distance call to Peking to report victory to Mao Zedong at the Presidential Palace. Crossing Jiangxi Group is the 10th, 11th, and 12th Armies of the Third Corps of the Second Field Army, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Armies of the Fourth Corps, the 16th, 17th, and 18th Armies of the Fifth Corps, and A total of 350,000 local troops. The warriors on the ferry bravely braved the enemy's artillery fire The Second Field Army crossed the river and broke through the area, which was on the left side of the Tang Enbo Group.The enemy along the river is about 40,000 people in 3 armies and 8 divisions of Liu Ruming's Department of the Eighth Corps. In the depth of the enemy, there are only two armies of Hou Jingru's Department of the 17th Corps deployed in the Shexian to Ningguo area.The enemy forces in the entire river crossing area are relatively weak, and there are very few mobile troops, and there are guerrilla activities in the southern Anhui area, which has become a favorable direction for us to attack.However, Bai Chongxi placed his main force on the right side of our crossing area, seriously threatening our side safety. He also used Jiujiang and Anqing as bases to extend his guard troops to Wangjiang, Taihu, and Qianshan in an attempt to delay our army from approaching the river bank. And destroy the ship or rob the ship to the south bank of the river to prevent me from crossing the river. After preparations with powerful artillery fire, the 12th, 11th, 13th, 15th, and 16th armies, which served as the first echelon, boarded their ships one after another, and thousands of wooden boats raced southward, approaching the opposite bank. The defending enemy focused their firepower to intercept wildly. Water jets rose everywhere on the river, and some ships were shot. In just 15 to 30 minutes, the vanguard broke through the Kuomintang army's Jiang defense.The Twelfth and Eleventh Army were in the west of Wushazha, the Sixteenth Army was in Huangshiji and its south, the Fifteenth Army was in the vicinity of Xiangkou, and the Thirteenth Army was on the south bank near Madang, and seized the beach. position.The follow-up troops of each army traveled south one after another, carrying out continuous assaults on the enemy, and the defending enemy fled in succession.All armies and divisions cooperated closely and rapidly expanded to the left and right wings and in depth. By 21:00 that night, the group had crossed 16 regiments and controlled a land position more than 100 kilometers wide and more than 10 kilometers deep. The 14th, 17th, and 18th armies of the second echelon that followed up across the river landed on the shore, and advanced deeply into the enemy with swift movements.By the 23rd, the group even wiped out a part of the defending enemy in Pengze, Madang, Gaotan, Zhide, Guichi and other places.The Tenth Army, responsible for monitoring the Kuomintang defenders in Anqing, occupied the capital city of Anhui Province on the evening of the 22nd while the Anqing defenders were fleeing in chaos. On the day the Second Field Army crossed the river, Commander Liu stayed up all night.In the war room, he kept ordering the staff officers to understand the progress of the troops, calculating the voyage, speed and transitional forces.When the first voyage report was successful, he immediately asked the troops to act according to the predetermined plan, and ordered "once they reach the south bank, first sweep the enemy with enough troops, expand the breakthrough area, support the friendly neighbors to land, penetrate the enemy's depth, and intercept the enemy's retreat. Of." According to Commander Liu's order, the troops divided up and swept the enemy along the river, and at the same time advanced deep into the enemy with the main force.The follow-up troops crossed the river and landed one after another, joining the continuous attack on the enemy. The original mission of the Chen Geng Corps was to capture Nanjing and take over Nanjing.At this time, Liu Deng, according to the trend of the enemy turning into chaos after the breakthrough of the Jiang defense, decided not to use the main force to cross the Sanye to go to the Nanjing area, but to go straight out of Guixi, Shangrao, and Huizhou to point to the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line.Therefore, the task of the Fourth Corps to take over Nanjing was cancelled, and instead it went straight out of Shangrao and Yiyang areas, cut off the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line as soon as possible, cooperated with the Third and Fifth Corps to annihilate the enemies on the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line, detoured the side of the Tang Enbo Group, and separated Tang Enbo and Bai Chongxi. Group connections. In order not to lose the opportunity to fight and not to give the enemy a chance to breathe, Liu Deng repeatedly urged the corps to "eliminate difficulties and advance at the same time, so as not to let the enemy escape." Liu Bocheng emphasized: "The enemy is already on the verge of collapse. It is possible to carry out effective resistance. The deeper the pursuit, the more panicked the enemy will be, and the more assured the victory will be. This is the most fundamental feature of our army's operations that is different from any previous period. Restricted by the weather, not encumbered by heavy supplies and small captives, not restrained by a small group of enemies, go forward bravely, make bold roundabouts and encircle them, in order to seize their main force and annihilate them." In the past few days, Chen Geng led the Fourth Corps to pursue all the way without stopping. During the Battle of Crossing the River, Chen Geng wrote down a diary.He wrote on the first page of the diary: "Crossing the river to fight and completing the historical mission. This feat cannot be forgotten, and I am determined to write it down. To be remembered." In the process of chasing and defeating the enemy, Chen Geng did not stop writing in his diary.Below we will excerpt a few paragraphs from his diary, from which we can see the process of the Fourth Corps chasing and annihilating the enemy. April 27.The enemy's sixty-eighth army fled southward desperately. Chen Geng ordered the Qin and Zhou armies to pursue them concurrently in order to wipe out the enemy. April 28.Chen Geng led the army to set off at dawn, only to see that the enemy retreated south along this road the day before yesterday, in a state of extreme distress: cars abandoned the road, no one cared, dead horses crossed the road, and everyone covered their noses.The wives of the enemy officers, with their young staffs, are already behind.Chen Geng drove to Yongfeng Town, where the streets were in a mess, with ten rooms and ten empty rooms.Seeing the arrival of the People's Liberation Army, the women came back from the mountains in twos and threes, telling about the cruelty of Jiang's army.The women in the town, ranging from fifty old women to fourteen young girls, were tortured or ravaged by Jiang Jun.The family I rested in was quite well-to-do, and the wife was gentle and kind. Her husband was raped and has not returned yet. Her clothes and food were robbed. April 29.The heavy rain poured down, but the troops still advanced to chase the enemy.The 15th Army captured more than 300 enemies in Leping South. April 30.Chen Geng ordered all the troops to pursue the enemy regardless of everything, in order to wipe out Liu Ruming's troops. May 1.Zhou Jun captured more than 2,000 enemies at Zhushan Bridge in the south of Leping.The Qin army also caught up with the enemy, and the situation of the battle is unknown. May 2.Zhou Jun took active actions and finally caught up with the enemy, captured more than 3,000 enemies, and captured two division commanders and one division commander alive.The army was still ordered to continue advancing towards the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line. On the way to Jingdezhen, Chen Geng saw that the marching troops on both sides of the road were disorganized, some were wearing bamboo hats, some were holding umbrellas, and some were still picking vegetables and hanging meat on their guns.He was very angry, stopped the car, and asked Peng Yikun to go to the front to find the commander of the unit. Peng Yikun rushed to the small village in front of them just as they were resting there, and as soon as he found out that it was another corps, he said to them: "Commander Chen Geng is very upset when he sees that your army is in disarray. , don't say anything else." When the leader of the team heard that Chen Geng had arrived, he became nervous.He hurriedly sent people to notify everywhere to rectify the military capacity of the troops. Just after finishing all this, Chen Geng arrived.As soon as he got out of the car, he criticized the head of the regiment: "We are in the new area, we must pay attention to military discipline! Although you are not from our regiment, I still want to criticize you! Umbrellas are used to prevent rain! How can guns be used to hang Where's the meat? It's outrageous! What a bad influence this will have on the people of the New District!" Chen Geng said without any politeness. "Chief, we made a mistake. We transferred the campsite, and we didn't check well before departure." The leader of the team reported cautiously. Chen Geng said: "It's not good if there is no inspection. You go back and report to your commander and political commissar, and say that I, Chen Geng, have criticized you! I will tell them about this when I see them in the future. You must report to your superiors. Review!" Just the day before the People's Liberation Army occupied Nanjing, Xinhua News Agency's Yangtze River front sent a telegram to the whole country and the world on the 22nd that the People's Liberation Army was fighting across the river: This telegram was written by Mao Zedong himself. On the 24th, soldiers of the People's Liberation Army stormed into the Kuomintang presidential palace in Nanjing.Chen Yi called Mao Zedong in the president's office to report his victory. When Mao Zedong answered Chen Yi's call, he was very excited and couldn't help himself, and recited a poem: The Battle of Crossing the River was after Chairman Mao Zedong and Commander-in-Chief Zhu De issued the "Order to March to the Nation". The Second Field Army, the Third Field Army, the Fourth Field Army, and the East China and Central Plains Military Regions each fought in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River from Wuhan to Jiangyin, A huge-scale battle was fought in the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou triangle area and the vast areas of southern Anhui, northeastern Jiangxi, northern Fujian, and Zhejiang.The Battle of Crossing the River began on April 20, 1949 and ended on June 1, killing more than 437,000 enemies.It was a campaign that shattered the Kuomintang reactionaries' attempt to block our southward advance by virtue of the natural danger of the Yangtze River, and liberated cities such as Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Nanchang, as well as vast areas such as southern Jiangsu, Zhejiang, northern Fujian, southeastern Hubei, and northeastern Jiangxi. The fall of the 22-year reactionary rule of the Kuomintang. This was the newspaper report at that time that our army broke through the enemy's Jiang defense with 300,000 troops on April 20, 1949, and successfully crossed the Yangtze River. As soon as our east and west groups crossed the river, the Kuomintang army was in a panic across the board, panicking from top to bottom.Angrily, Chiang Kai-shek shouted hoarsely: "Hit me hard! Never let the communist army cross the river!" But urgent calls and unsuccessful calls came one after another, and the news that Chiang Kai-shek least wanted to hear came again. Here comes: "The Jiangyin Fortress has fallen, and Dai Rongguang, the commander of the fortress, was captured by the Communist Army! Lin Zun, the commander of the Second Coast Guard Fleet, also went to the Communist Army with 25 ships!" The Kuomintang army retreated across the board, which brought great opportunities to our army.Su Yu grasped it tightly and quickly shifted the focus of command to chasing and annihilating the fleeing enemy. Lin Zun, the commander of the Second Yangtze River Defense Fleet of the Kuomintang, was born in Fujian and was the nephew of the anti-British hero Lin Zexu.The fleet led by him has three escort destroyers "Hui'an", "Jian" and "Yingkou"; three gunboats "Anton", "Yongsui" and "Jiangxi" and two other gunboat teams.Later, three "Yong" warships were transferred to the Yangtze River, under the leadership of Lin Zun. 淮海战役后，这支舰队被派到长江游弋，国民党把它当做“水上活动堡垒”，阻止解放军过江。 他们承担的任务是，东起江阴，西至江西湖口500多公里长的防线。500多公里分为5个防区。每个防区指定一个舰长兼任防区舰艇指挥官。为了实现陆、海联合作战，舰艇防区又归属所在陆军最高司令官领导，构成水陆防御体系。妄图用强大的火力，杀伤解放军于江面。 4月19日，国民党海军总司令桂永清，匆匆忙忙登上第二舰队的旗舰“惠安”号，亲自给林遵口授命令： “芜湖方面吃紧，你赶快上去督战，组织上游的舰艇，配合陆军阻击共军过江！”这个桂永清是陆军出身，对海军狗屁不通，他为人奸诈，巴结老蒋混了个海军总司令头衔。他一脸横肉，脑满肠肥，人们管他叫“桂肿”（总）。 这时，林遵听后说：“总座通报这个消息，使我耳聪目明，知道共军的动向，但是，这条'惠安'舰主机出了故障，一时半时还修不好。” “这个我知道，'惠安'开不动，你也得去，坐'美盛'舰去，到芜湖换乘'永嘉'当指挥舰！”桂永清说得斩钉截铁，倒真有一副“军令如山”的架势。 林遵（原第二舰队司令）从桂永清话里和他的慌张的神色中，已经感觉到局势的确很严峻了，如果推说不去，不仅会闹成僵局，一旦在他盛怒之下被撤职查办，以抗拒军令论处，将会误整个舰队的大事。 这里所指的大事，就是林遵因厌恶国民党，早已秘密地与江北的解放军联系上了，看准时机，率领舰队起义，投向光明。 林遵考虑了一番然后表示说： “既然情况紧急，那我就晚上走吧。” 桂永清一脸怒气，用手一挡说： “不是等到晚上，而是限你下午4点前就去。” 林遵此时看了看表，已经快到下午1点了，他向桂永清敬了个礼说：“总座，我坚决执行命令！”说完就离开“惠安”舰，带着他的参谋人员来到“美盛”舰。 “美盛”号，是一艘中型登陆舰，排水量900吨左右，上下两层甲板，舰有两扇由液压控制开关的大门，作战时可装载数百名步兵登陆。此舰为美国造，配备有较强的火力。 “美盛”号舰长易元方，海军少校，青岛海军学校毕业，他看到林司令来到他们舰，感到非常亲切，同时也意识到，这一趟出去一定是执行重要任务。他将林司令请进舰长室，向他报告现在舰的机动情况。林遵听了很满意，接着说： “从种种情况看，共军肯定会有大动作，说不定就在今晚渡江。今晚往上走可能同他们有接触，你告诉全体官兵，没有我的命令，不许开枪开炮。” 易元方，一向为人正直、处事谨慎，平时对林遵非常尊敬。对司令官下的命令当然要无条件地执行。he asks: “林司令，什么时候起航？” “总座命令下午4点！” “4点？”易元方心里咯噔一下，想：眼下“共军”饮马长江，“国军”南岸对峙，白天舰在江心走，只要一方开炮，他们就处于两面夹击。易舰长想到这里向林遵说： “司令，4点钟是不是时间早了点，大白天的，路上挨揍。” “这是作战命令，我们怎么能讨价还价？”林遵严肃地说。 林遵何尝不考虑这个问题，他是个老练的海上指挥官，按照“美盛”舰的航速，每小时8节计算，从下关码头往上靠南岸驶两个多小时，这一带不会有什么情况。两个小时之后就快要天黑了，挨揍的可能性就少了。 军舰溯江而上，林遵站在驾驶台上，只听见舰尾发出主机隆隆的声响，螺旋桨在黑夜中掀起一束束白色浪花。4月的江风还夹着凉意，一阵阵向驾驶台掠过。 经过一夜的航行，“美盛”舰于20日凌晨到达安徽芜湖，林遵将军上了“永嘉”舰。 林遵在芜湖与国民军第七绥靖区司令张世希周旋两天后，即4月22日凌晨，带领“永嘉”舰以每小时8节航速返南京。22日天大亮，林遵径直走进南京国民党海军总司令部。只见一个个办公室大门洞开，破家具东倒西歪，满地都是碎纸片。 停泊在芜湖的国民党海军第二舰队舰艇 林遵来到海军司令桂永清的办公室。桌上点着两支蜡烛，发出摇摇晃晃的荧光，房子里很凌乱，一副战败的景象。桂永清背着双手，在室内走来走去，看见林遵进来，马上迎上去，握着他的手说：“啊！你可来了。我等了好久了！” 没等林遵坐下，桂永清就说：“国民政府已迁到广州，总部今天也要迁往广州。我马上就要飞上海了，现在我把在南京的舰艇集中起来，交给你指挥。你务必于今日傍晚驶离南京，把舰队带到上海。这是党国和总统交给你的重任，应为党国效忠！” 林遵马上回答说：“在南京的各种舰艇如此庞杂，情况悬殊，想全部都带到上海，实在力所不能啦！” 桂永清又说：“那么，一些性能老旧的、负伤严重的舰艇，我授权你酌情处置，根据情况把他们沉没，其余的一定要在今晚离开南京去上海，不得延误。我将电请空军掩护你们冲过江阴。” 桂永清已经做了一些让步，觉得林遵应该遵命照办了，可是林遵仍然面带难色。停了一会儿，林遵严肃地对桂永清说：“舰队撤往上海，责任重大。我才疏学浅，实在难以单独承担此重任，恭请总座亲临舰队坐镇。” 桂永清没有想到林遵会如此“将”他一军，愣了一愣，把眼镜向鼻梁上推了推，忽然严厉地说道：“总裁有令，要我今晨即飞上海转奉化，共商国事，不宜在舰队耽搁，以免贻误军国大事。” 说罢，又装出笑脸，看了一下在旁的海军总部参谋长周宪章、作战署署长王天池二人，对林遵说：“林遵司令，指挥若定，屡建奇功。这一次率舰队东下，定然不负重任，一定马到成功！待林司令到达上海时，我们当亲赴码头迎接，摆宴庆功。” 周宪章、王天池也陪着笑脸，顺着桂永清的意向，向林遵奉承吹捧了一番。 此刻天已快亮，桂永清一行，踏着满地撕碎的公文纸片，一步一步走向就要封闭的总部大门。跟在桂永清身后的人都在想，总司令真的要同林遵一起去到舰队指挥打仗了。 可是，刚走出总部大门，桂的副官吴家荀抢先两步，早把停在门口的轿车门拉开，说了一声：“请！”只见桂永清一头钻进汽车，吴家荀也钻进去，随手“咚”的一声关上车门，对司机说道：“快！直开飞机场！” 周宪章、王天池、林遵等人，眼看桂永清的汽车向飞机场疾驰而去，你望我，我望你，面面相觑，默默无言。过了一会儿，各人只好无可奈何地散去。 周、王回到总部办公室，准备马上离开南京。林遵回到舰队上去了。 林遵回到“永嘉”号旗舰不多一会，突然接到桂永清派人送来的一封亲笔信：“着你率队于23日傍晚驶离南京。江阴炮台已于21日易手，已命空军轰炸，并派空军掩护你们下驶。你们务必于23日夜间离开此地，以免空军发生误会。”这最后一句，“以免空军发生误会”的话，是对林遵的一种恫吓，意思是你们如果不愿去上海，我就要用飞机来轰炸你们的舰艇。 林遵看完信，立即命“永嘉”舰在南京笆斗山抛锚，并通知各舰艇到笆斗山集中待命。少顷，11艘军舰和2个炮艇队（有炮艇50余只），都密密麻麻地停在笆斗山江面，樯桅林立，蔚为壮观。 “太原”号舰舰长兼炮艇队队长陈务笃，走上驾驶台，眼望浦口、镇江方面，但见火光冲天，炮声隆隆，知道北岸蒋军八十八军残部正在进行抵抗。忽然，见“永嘉”号旗舰发出信号，要各舰长、炮艇队队长去开会。于是陈务笃立即乘炮艇，并顺路约“安东”、“楚日”两舰舰长一起，前往“永嘉”旗舰开会。 林遵率领的第二舰队，总共有20多艘军舰和近60只炮艇，原防地是江阴至安庆约500公里的江面。 会议开始，林遵介绍了当前的情况，也把会见桂永清的情况说了一遍。然后，他说：“目前情况是：江北仪征、三江营一带有共军强大的炮兵阵地；江阴要塞炮台已易手；'营口'舰失踪，估计已投奔共军。我们要下驶上海，上述三关是很难过的。” 然后，他对大家说：“总司令说只要我能把大家带下去，哪怕只剩下一条船到上海，就向总裁保荐，提升我为中将副司令，并授我青天白日勋章哩！我恳求周参谋长和王署长上舰坐镇，他们拒绝我的要求。现在，总司令赶飞机跑了，我们应该怎么办？” 林遵强调说：“我们这么多舰艇，性能不一，情况各异，事关大家切身安危和全体官兵的前途。我特邀大家来共商问题，请各位慎重考虑，我将聆听大家的意见。” 各舰舰长纷纷议论起来，讨论如何过“三关”问题。 有人主张把陈旧而航速太慢的“楚日”、“永绩”两舰毁沉，使舰队轻捷前进。 有人主张军舰并靠航行，可提高航速和缩短序列长度，但又因一条行动笨拙而价值昂贵的修理舰“兴安”号不好处理而作罢。 有人说：“过'三关'不难，南岸的江阴炮台当年是防敌舰逆流而上设计的，炮口是对下游，我们顺流而下，威胁不大，只一条'营口'舰投共，哪能阻挡我们整个舰队；至于北岸仪征、三江营共军的炮兵阵地，我们可以用优势火力压住它。” “不行，夜间百炮轰击，必使老百姓遭殃，造成大量人员伤亡。” “打仗嘛，人员有点伤亡是不可避免的。” “打日本鬼子，打侵略者造成伤亡是不可避免的，打内战自相残杀就不应该！” 众人议论纷纷，吵吵嚷嚷。就在这个时候，有人提出起义的主张，说：“海军应当退出党派之争，把军舰交出去，举行战场起义，接受中共提出的局部和平。” 几个死硬派立即起来反对，他们说：“交出军舰就成了俘虏，当俘虏是可耻的。战场起义实际上就是叛变投敌，我们应当忠党爱国，共赴国难，要讲仁义，讲道德，不该做历史的罪人。” “什么仁义道德？！蒋介石自己躲到安全的地方，却要我们在前面当炮灰，这能叫'仁'吗？桂永清在此危难之时，坐飞机逃跑了，丢下我们不管，这能算'义'吗？我反正不想干了，我有技术，会开船，以后还可以开商船过日子，何必今天冒险冲'三关'呢？”一位舰长说。 停泊在长江江面上的第二舰队一部 林遵静静地坐在那里，一言不发，倾听着各方面的争执。争了一段时间后，林遵心里有底了，与会者中大约有三分之一的人要走，有三分之一的人要留，有三分之一的人犹豫不决，没有表态。 正在这时，值日官报告：“'永定'、'吉安'、'江犀'、'联光'4艘舰只从安庆上游开下来了。” 林遵立即派小艇把4位舰长接到“永嘉”号上，将辩论的情况对他们略加介绍，然后说：“听听你们4位的高见。” “永定”舰舰长说：“打内战，当炮灰，确实令人痛恨。最可恨的是海军部不管我们死活，我舰在安庆就有人受伤，无处医治。昨天，我们从安庆下来，在路上又挨了几炮，一炮正打中驾驶台，好几个人受伤，缺乏医护人员抢救，又没有止痛药。”说到这里，他蒙头放声大哭起来。 物伤其类，兔死狐悲。联想到自己的命运，许多人陷入深深的哀愁之中，会场一下子静了下来。 “吉安”舰舰长打破沉寂，说道：“我老婆孩子还在南京，不晓得现在怎样了？不管别人走不走，反正我是不走了，我不能丢下她们，也不愿再为国民党卖命了。” “联光”号舰长接着发起了牢骚：“桂永清真他妈的不是东西，要我们卖命，要我们当炮灰，却不管我们死活。他把我们丢在安庆，连4月份每人6块袁大头的伙食费到现在还不给我们，真是岂有此理！”他一边说着，一边用手狠狠地拍着桌子。 这3位舰长的发言，立即改变了会场上的风向，使要求留下起义的意见占了上风，个别原来反对起义的也顺风使舵，表示不愿跟国民党跑了。但是，又有人顾虑会不会引起英、美、苏等国的干涉，因为已有多艘英国军舰由上海上驶，企图阻止解放军在长江下游渡江，并有消息说，英国军舰同中共军队已经交上了火。会场一时冷了下来。 这时，林遵的参谋长戴熙愉向大家说：“我建议来一个民意测验，用无记名的方式来测验一下每个人的意愿，以定去留，大家看好不好？”众人没有异议。戴早就准备好了票，立即发给大家。 投票完了后，林遵用检票的空隙，对一些有影响的舰长进行个别探询。林问主张起义的“太原”舰舰长陈务笃：“你投什么票？” 陈答道：“我投空白票。” 林很诧异地又问道；“我听你在会上发言，多次主张留下来，为什么投空白票？” 陈说：“大家这样激烈争论，你却一直未表态。我的态度很明白，投票主要测验那些还未表示意见的人。我投不投票，没啥子关系。所以投了空白票。” 林又问：“那你是愿意留下来起义的？” 陈反问道：“林司令是不是愿意领导大家起义呢？” 林遵很干脆地说：“当然！” 陈马上说：“那我当然也留下来起义。”随之，陈又带笑地问林遵一句：“司令，中将副司令、青天白日勋章，你都不要了？” 林遵哈哈大笑，说：“那是桂永清的鬼花招，能算数吗？” 陈务笃一本正经地说：“司令率领我们起义，我们由衷地拥护，我说话是算数的，请司令放心吧！” 林遵点点头，同陈务笃握了握手，又去找别的舰长探问去了。 复会后，林遵宣布说：“经过大家充分发表意见，现在又投票测验，事情可以定下来了。参加投票的16位舰长，两位炮艇艇长，共18人。检票结果：赞成起义的10票，反对起义的2票，弃权的6票，说明大多数人愿意留下起义。我曾个别征询一些人的意见，弃权的6票中，有的是愿意起义的，有的则是愿意随大多数人行动。至于两位投反对票的人也表示，假如绝大多数人都要留下，他们也不固执己见。” 林遵又严肃地对大家说：“起义与否，是关系到各位和全舰官兵前途的大事，一定要自愿，绝不能勉强。假如哪一位现在还想走，那还是可以的，决不强留。各人命运由各人自己决定嘛！” 经过最后讨论，林遵宣布4件事：第一，请吴建安和张家宝两位舰长拟稿，写信与解放军联系；并由吴与参谋长戴熙愉商量，派人送信。第二，各舰电台暂不与总部断绝联系，会议情况不要让部队知道。第三，各舰锚泊太密集，今晚就需要调整疏散，以防意外。第四，凡从安庆下来的船只，4月份未领到伙食费的，现在舰队司令部尚有部分余款，回去后可叫军需官带花名册来领。 送走各位舰长，林遵心里盘算着今后的生活如何开始。突然参谋长戴熙愉过来对他说：“司令，'永嘉'舰是桂永清从美国接回的新舰，军官多是桂的死党，一时迫于形势不得不听从起义的决定，但靠不住。” 林遵听了觉得有理，乃悄悄地从“太原”舰调来一只炮艇，乘炮艇回到原来旗舰“惠安”号上。可是离开“永嘉”舰时，忘记降下司令旗，