Because the Kuomintang troops defending the city refused to surrender to the PLA, on 14 January 1949, the well-prepared Chinese People's Liberation Army launched a siege campaign against the Kuomintang troops defending the city with a total of 340,000 troops in 22 divisions. Wang Hongju and his comrades-in-arms of the whole company lurked in the forward position several hundred meters from the enemy's defensive position, and the soldiers who were ready to attack were all gearing up and staring at the front.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, with the order of the siege headquarters, several signal flares rose into the air, and all kinds of artillery deployed by the PLA besieged the city launched a thunderous bombardment of the enemy's forward defensive fortifications. Strings of cannonballs whistled sharply over the heads of the fighters, falling like dense swarms of locusts towards the enemy positions not far away. In the deafening explosions, swaths of the enemy's fortifications were destroyed in an instant, and reinforced concrete blocks, barbed wire, wooden stakes, and dirt were thrown into the air by bombs and then thrown to the ground. The enemy positions were completely enveloped in thick smoke, the earth was shaking, the cold air was scorching, and the rumbling of artillery was like rolling spring thunder in spring.

Wang Hongju was lying in the trench, and the continuous sound of strong explosions shook his eardrums. He saw an enemy tank crawling out of a hidden trench and retreating to the rear under the bombardment of our powerful artillery fire, but the tank had just fallen off its ass and was about to flee, and it was blown up after a few shells fell. A tanker crawled out of the cockpit and stumbled a few steps before a shell shattered, one of his broken legs tossed high and far by the air wave. The spectacular and cruel war scene made Wang Hongju, who participated in the war for the first time, feel very excited and nervous, his teeth were clenched, his body trembled uncontrollably, and the palms of his hands holding the gun were full of cold sweat. He peeked at Zhao Xicai, the leader of the third platoon beside him, Zhao Xicai looked ahead with a cigarette, and couldn't help shouting loudly: "Haha!" It's really enjoyable! Well played! Well played! Wang Hongju looked at the other comrades-in-arms around him, these battle-hardened comrades-in-arms all looked calm, and some of them were already gearing up to attack. Wang Hongju tried his best to keep his composure. Don't let others see your nervousness, but your chest is "pounding" like a rabbit.

After the enemy's front-line fortifications were basically destroyed, the PLA artillery poured thousands of shells into the depth of the enemy's defensive positions. A few more flares rose into the air, and after the short and passionate trumpet sounded, the soldiers leaped from their trenches, shouted with rifles in hand, and pounced on the enemy positions like a sea of mountains. The recalcitrant enemy shot vicious tongues of fire from the remaining fortifications, and the soldiers who rushed in front fell in rows, and the soldiers behind shouted and rushed up in groups, and they died generously in the face of the threat of death, without a trace of hesitation and timidity. The defending enemy was frightened by the powerful offensive momentum of the PLA. They escaped from their hiding fortifications and fled to the rear, but most of the enemy were killed and wounded, and a few knelt down and raised their guns as prisoners. The dense charging formation of the People's Liberation Army was like a river bursting with embankments, rolling forward unstoppably, and in an instant, it broke through the enemy's outer defense line.

In the battle, Wang Hongju followed behind Zhao Xicai, imitating the combat movements of the platoon commander, suddenly lying down and rushing violently, he held an American carbine and shot wildly at the fleeing enemy. The bullets in the magazine were instantly emptied, and he hurriedly replaced them with new ones and continued shooting. "Whoosh, whoosh." Bullets grazed Wang Hongju's ears with a sharp scream, and some of his comrades-in-arms fell to the ground in response. Wang Hongju and his soldiers braved the enemy's frantic counterattack and rushed forward desperately in a dense formation, and there was no possibility of retreating and stealing their lives in this surging crowd, and every soldier must be ready to pay for the battle at any time.

Wang Hongju rushed forward with his comrades, and he released the nervousness of his first battle with hissing and frantic shooting. While rushing through a trench that the enemy was desperately defending. In order to avoid the bullets fired, Wang Hongju stepped into the air and fell into the trench, and the carbine in his hand was taken off. He was just about to stand up. An enemy pounced on him and pressed him tightly, his neck being clung to by the enemy's arms from behind, making him almost breathless. After several struggles, he couldn't move. Wang Hongju was anxious to remember the tricks he used when he was a child to fight, and he stretched his hand back to the enemy's crotch and grabbed it hard. The enemy who pressed on Wang Hongju's body didn't expect the other party to come to this hand at all, he screamed in pain and let go, Wang Hongju took the opportunity to turn around and jump up. In the confrontation between the two, Wang Hongju saw that the enemy was still grinning and covering his crotch, so he rushed forward and kicked him down. The enemy was also desperate, he rolled on the spot, got up, picked up a rifle with a bayonet next to him, and stabbed Wang Hongju in the chest, Wang Hongju dodged and dodged; The enemy then stabbed him in the ribs, but he barely dodged it, and the passing bayonet cut through his cotton uniform. The enemy is approaching step by step, the bare-handed Wang Hongju nervously retreated, suddenly he was tripped by the dead body lying on the ground, the enemy seized the opportunity and stabbed him viciously in the heart, Wang Hong's eyes were difficult to dodge, his heart rushed to the snow bright bayonet, just when the tip of the bayonet was about to touch his chest, his body flashed to the right, the left arm was raised violently to clamp the bayonet in the armpit, and then into the left leg to raise the right knee, with the right knee joint to the enemy's crotch, The instantaneous counterattack caused the fierce enemy to fall to the ground with his crotch clutched again. Wang Hongju pounced on him, pulled out the grenade on his body and smashed it into his head, the enemy's skull was smashed, and the red blood mixed with the white brain splattered Wang Hongju's face. Wang Hongju wiped the dirt from his face with his hand, looked at the enemy corpse at his feet, he roared angrily, the previous nervousness and timidity had disappeared without a trace, he saw that other soldiers were still fighting with the enemy, so he grabbed a rifle with a bayonet and killed him.

After the People's Liberation Army completely wiped out the enemy's outer defensive circle, hundreds of thousands of troops approached the city, and the Kuomintang defenders resisted desperately in the city. At about 5 o'clock in the morning of the next day, before dawn, under the repeated onslaught of our troops, the defense of the enemy's city was finally torn apart in one place, and a tank with a red flag was the first to rush in. The heavy machine guns on the tanks spewed out dazzling fire rhythmically, and the raindrops of bullets chased the ass of the fleeing enemy troops. Behind the tank, a PLA fighter appeared, and then one after another rushed in. Immediately afterwards, Cui Fengming and Li Qiming also rushed in, and the two of them stood aside and shouted to the soldiers behind to follow. The breach grew bigger and bigger, and hundreds of warriors swarmed into the city, shouting and rushing to different targets. The so-called impregnable defensive line of the city was divided into pieces by the PLA.

Fierce street fighting began. Fortifications built by the defenders using buildings and rooftops blocked every street. Bunkers have been built on major arterial roads and barricades have been constructed with sandbags and barbed wire. They used some tanks and armored vehicles as pillboxes, and the enemy's defensive fortifications supported each other, and the firepower was very intensive, and many enemy snipers were hidden in the buildings along the streets, causing considerable casualties to the PLA soldiers who were exposed in the open.

Wang Hongju's company's attack was thwarted, and they were suppressed by fire from small buildings on both sides in an alley south of the Haihe River. Some of the windows of the buildings facing the street were sealed with sandbags, and several machine guns poked out from them, spitting bullets frantically, completely blocking the not very wide street from the left and right. Just when everyone was helpless, Company Commander Cui didn't know where to get a tank. The tank roared into the alley, and the enemy's bullets crackled the tank's armor like hail. The tank was furious. It rotated its turret from side to side, aiming at enemy fire points and firing deadly shells. In a few moments, several frantic fire points were taken out. Seeing that the enemy's machine guns were silent, the prostrate fighters jumped up with cheers and rushed forward after the tank.

But the enemy's points of fire were not completely destroyed. There was a shop on the street, and a machine gun stuck out of its sandbag window and continued to shoot wildly outside, and in an instant several fighters were knocked to the ground. I saw that the tank turned the turret and found the target, and the enemy's machine gun was dumbed down with one shot. After a while, another machine gun next to this window screamed stubbornly, and the soldiers who had just stood up hurriedly lay on the ground again. By this time the tank had run out of shells. The red-eyed tanker drove the tank into a frenzied ram into the house where the enemy's fire was hidden. After several collisions, the house staggered and collapsed, burying the tank underneath. When the tank struggled out of the rubble, a low-ranking Kuomintang officer covered in dirt also staggered out of the rubble. Wang Hongju saw the next shot and knocked him to the ground.

The enemy and the enemy fought to the death for every stronghold and every street, and the street fighting was extremely fierce. Zhao Xicai's platoon fought so hard that there were only a dozen or so fighters left, his forehead was scratched by a stray bullet, and his head was wrapped in a blood-red bandage and he rushed to the front of the platoon with a light machine gun. At this time, Zhao Xicai, who took the lead in the charge, turned his head and looked at the soldiers and waved forward with his hand. He wanted to shout something, but suddenly his body trembled slightly like an electric shock, and his body shook and fell to the ground very reluctantly. After falling to the ground, he continued to shoot forward with a machine gun in his arms. Wang Hongju hurriedly ran forward and helped Zhao Xicai up half of his body, only to see that one of Zhao Xicai's legs was hit. Wang Hongju looked ahead, and it turned out that there was a fortress made of sandbags at the intersection not far ahead, and the fortress suddenly fired dense fire to suppress the attack of the People's Liberation Army. Wang Hongju prostrate on the ground and dragged Zhao Xicai behind a pile of sandbag bunkers. Zhao Xicai leaned on the sandbag and gasped, his right calf was hit by two bullets, and the bleeding from the wound did not stop.

At this time, the heavy machine guns in the fortress were still firing wildly, and the fighters who went to blast the bunker had already suffered several casualties. Wang Hongju said anxiously to Zhao Xicai: "Platoon commander, you can rest here for a while, and then I will take care of you when I blow up the fortress!" He picked up the grenade and rushed out from behind the sandbag.

"Wait, you can't go!" Zhao Xicai hurriedly grabbed him with his hand, Wang Hongju looked at Zhao Xicai puzzled, Zhao Xicai explained: "You are a recruit with no combat experience, you can't blow up the enemy's dark fort if you go up, you can only die in vain!"

"You look down on me! Do you think I'm afraid of death? Wang Hongju roared and still wanted to rush out.

Seeing that Wang Hongju was about to rush out, Zhao Xicai was anxious, and he shouted angrily: "Wang Hongju, I order you to stop!" It doesn't matter if you die, if you can't blow up the fortress, our warriors will pay more sacrifices! Do you understand? Wang Hongju had no choice but to squat behind the sandbag again, and he pouted and glared at Zhao Xicai. Zhao Xicai stretched out his hand to Wang Hongju to ask for a grenade and said, "TM's!" My leg was broken, and I had to kill them! Give that guy to me, I've got experience in the fort. ”

"Platoon commander, you're injured and can't go!" Wang Hongju resolutely disagreed.

Zhao Xicai glared at Wang Hongju and said, "Don't talk nonsense!" Help me see the situation first. After speaking, he moved his body, and Wang Hongju reached out to pick him up when he saw this. Zhao Xicai lay on the sandbag and looked carefully at the dark castle in front of him that was spewing tongues of fire. "Humph! Nothing remarkable! He pursed his lips contemptuously, then took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, and after a few greedy puffs, he slammed the remaining half of it to the ground. He glared at Wang Hongju and shouted, "Give me your grenade!" That's an order! Wang Hongju had no choice but to hand over the only two grenades to him. Zhao Xicai took out a few magazines and stuffed them into Wang Hongju's hand, then pointed to the light machine gun on the ground and said, "You cover for me." Aim at the shooting hole of that fortress! As long as I suppress the fire of the fortress, I am sure to blow it up. ”

Wang Hongju said to the platoon commander uneasily: "Platoon commander, are your legs okay?" Call me on! ”

He looked at Wang Hongju's uneasy appearance and forced a smile and said, "Brother, I really don't feel pain when I hurt my leg!" Don't worry, I'm a veteran oilman, I can't die! With that, he pinned the grenade to his waist and rolled on the spot and crawled out of cover. Wang Hongju hurriedly set up the machine gun and fired, and a string of bullets splashed sparks from the shooting holes of the bunker opposite. At this time, Cui Fengming and the instructor also rushed over with a few soldiers, and everyone fell in the bunker and looked nervously at Zhao Xicai, who was crawling forward under the enemy's dense firepower. Cui Fengming also picked up a machine gun and personally covered for Zhao Xicai.

Under the cover of the fire of his comrades, Zhao Xicai dragged his wounded leg sideways and crawled forward, and the machine-gun bullets fired by the enemy hit the asphalt road beside him "poof, poof, poof". Stir up strings of green smoke. Zhao Xicai, who has rich combat experience, skillfully used the corpses strewn across the ground to cover himself. When the enemy's fire was concentrated on him, he lay still and pretended to be dead, and when the enemy's fire stopped slightly, he took the opportunity to climb forward a few meters. Zhao Xicai endured the pain of his injured leg and crawled forward tenaciously, due to excessive blood loss, he felt that his eyes were black and weak, but he had only one goal in his heart, that is, he must hold on, and he must blow up the dark fortress in front of him. He stubbornly crawled forward, his wounded leg dragging a long trail of blood behind him. As he was about to approach the fortress, a bullet hit him, and he lay motionless on the ground. Seeing this scene, Wang Hongju was sad and smashed his thigh with his fist.

At this moment, another soldier rushed to the bunker with a bag of explosives, and he was knocked to the ground as soon as he took a few steps. Wang Hongju hurriedly crawled over, picked up the explosives bag next to the wounded, and crawled towards the enemy fortress. A volley of bullets came from the front. Wang Hongju dodged with a deft side roll.

Seeing this, Cui Fengming encouraged loudly: "Wang Hongju, I will cover you, you must blow up the enemy's bunker!" ”

Wang Hongju turned his head and shouted to Cui Fengming: "Company commander, I will definitely complete the task!" ”

At this time, Cui Fengming reorganized the firepower to cover for Wang Hongju. Wang Hongju cautiously crawled forward. The bunker was barred with bullets blocking his path, and he could be killed with every step he crawled forward.

At this time, Zhao Xicai, who was lying in front of the dark fort, was not killed, he was only grazed by a bullet in his left shoulder, and he deceived the enemy by lying on the ground and pretending to be dead. The enemy soldiers in the bunker thought that Zhao Xicai had been killed. They concentrated all their firepower on Wang Hongju. At this time, Zhao Xicai saw that Wang Hongju behind him had completely attracted the attention of the enemy, so he endured the pain and tried his best to do his best. With amazing speed, he crawled and rolled into the shooting corner in front of the bunker. Zhao Xicai, who was hiding in the shooting corner, couldn't take a breath, he pulled the grenade fuse, the fuse squeaked and burned, and just when it was about to explode, Zhao Xicai stuffed the grenade into the shooting hole of the bunker. After the explosion, he shoved another grenade into the bunker. After the two explosions, several puffs of green smoke came out of the bunker, and there was no sound anymore, and all the enemy soldiers inside were killed.

"Zhao Xi is good!" Cui Fengming jumped up excitedly and rushed forward with a machine gun, followed by the soldiers.

Seeing his soldiers rushing up, Zhao Xicai waved his hand to the soldiers with his good leg in front of the bombed bunker, and at this moment a cold gun from nowhere whistled and hit him, he felt as if his back was being pushed violently, his body was like a deflated ball, he felt cold and tired, there were many stars flashing in front of him, he tried his best to stand up straight, but his eyes were black and he didn't know anything.

"Platoon commander!" Wang Hongju, who was the first to rush forward, hurriedly helped up Zhao Xicai, who fell to the ground, only to see that Zhao Xicai was shot in the back and through his chest, and his whole body was stained with blood. Wang Hongju hugged the platoon commander tightly in his arms and called the hygienist to bandage his wounds. Under the call of his comrades-in-arms, Zhao Xicai slowly opened his eyes, he looked at Wang Hongju with blurred eyes, and muttered in a weak voice: "You don't care about me, I'm going to be glorious." I have something in my pocket, please organize it, hand it over, and give it to my old man, my mother. Zhao Xicai wanted to say something after taking a few breaths. But his mouth moved and he couldn't speak, so he made a gesture with his fingers shaking to pick up a cigarette. Cui Fengming, who was standing on the side, understood what he meant, so he hurriedly lit a cigarette and put it to Zhao Xicai's mouth. After Zhao Xicai took a puff of cigarette gently, a satisfied smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and then he let out a sigh of relief, and died in Wang Hongju's arms with his head tilted.

"Platoon commander! You can't die! You said you wouldn't die! Wang Hongju shook the dead Zhao Xicai and shouted loudly, his heart was like a knife, and tears came out of his eyes.

Cui Fengming squatted down and closed Zhao Xicai's eyes with his hand that were not completely closed, and said, "Old Zhao, you can go with peace of mind!" After he finished speaking, he took out a pack of cigarettes and stuffed them into Zhao Xicai's pocket: "You, you have to smoke when you die!" Take this pack of cigarettes with you. Smoke it in another place. ”

The battle was still raging, and Cui Fengming led the soldiers forward with a machine gun. Wang Hongju put down Zhao Xicai's body sadly, and was just about to rush forward with the team, when a bullet flew past his scalp and knocked off his hat. He looked in the direction where the bullet had come from, and saw a barrel of a gun poking out of a two-story window diagonally across the road and aiming at him, and he hurriedly rolled on the ground to the other side, and as soon as he dodged, a string of bullets shot exactly where he had just been. Annoyed, Wang Hongju stood up desperately, he ran to the middle of the road, picked up the gun in his hand, and fired back desperately at the opposite window.

"Stay safe!" With a shout. Instructor Li Qiming rushed over and threw down Wang Hongju and pressed him tightly under him. A barrage of bullets struck the asphalt road around them. Taking advantage of the interval between the enemy's shooting, Li Qiming pulled Wang Hongju and ran back to safety.

Li Qiming angrily pointed at Wang Hongju and reprimanded loudly: "Is there a war like you? You want to die! ”

Wang Hongju impulsively asked Li Qiming: "Who asked you to stop me?" To avenge Platoon Commander Zhao! Even if I die, I'm going to give them a few lives! ”

Li Qiming's eyes stared at Wang Hongju, who was red-eyed, and the corners of his mouth that were tense because of anger slowly loosened. He nodded and said approvingly, "Yes! I usually feel uncomfortable looking at your sour and fake vinegar, but today I am still a man in the fight! He waved the pistol in his hand and said loudly: "Aren't you going to avenge the sacrifice of your comrades?" Come! Kill me in! ”

Wang Hongju and a few soldiers followed Li Qiming along the wall through a hole that had been blown open and into the building opposite, and after a while, the dull explosion of a grenade was heard from the building. Then there was a series of crisp gunfires, and several recalcitrant enemies were dealt with.

At dawn on the 15th, Haiguang Temple, an important military stronghold of the enemy, was captured. Immediately afterwards, the Kuomintang garrison headquarters was captured. At this time, the remnants of the enemy defending the city scurried like headless flies, trying to break out of the encirclement; But they are tightly surrounded by the People's Liberation Army and compressed in an increasingly narrow space, and what awaits them will be the fate of total annihilation. In the afternoon, the sound of fierce gunfights gradually became scarce, and at about 15 o'clock in the afternoon, the sound of gunfire completely stopped, and after twenty-nine hours of fierce fighting, the city was captured by the People's Liberation Army! The supreme commander of the enemy, who was hiding among the captives, was captured.

In this siege battle, nearly half of Wang Hongju's company suffered casualties, the squad and platoon cadres were almost completely killed and wounded, and the company commander Cui Fengming was unfortunately blown off his right arm by a stray bullet at the end of the battle. Wang Hongju was lucky, and the Grim Reaper passed him several times during the battle and failed to take him away, not even a single hair hurt him.

Although he won a big victory, but remembering the good brothers who were still laughing and playing together yesterday, and today they are sleeping in the ground, Wang Hongju has never been able to accept this reality, and Wang Hongju is not only excited but also sad at the celebration meeting. After the meeting, Wang Hongju silently packed up Zhao Xicai's relics, among which there were only a few underwear full of patches, and in his jacket pocket were two silver dollars that were shiny with his hands. He carefully wrapped these things, and if he had the opportunity, he would hand them over to the families of the martyrs. (To be continued......)