He wanted to pluck her eyebrows, but he blinded her.

- Iranian proverb

After sending Niu Zhanhai away, Ma Chengxiang continued to work intensively in Xinjiang's political and military circles, laying a good foundation for his future ascension. He and Niu Zhanhai have always maintained correspondence and informed each other of their respective situations.

In the first letter Niu Zhanhai received, Ma Chengxiang told him this: "Zhang Zhong, the head of the Xinjiang Provincial Government, asked Quasi-Lao Jiang to appoint Tao Yue as the commander-in-chief of the garrison and transfer Song Lian to the western part of Hubei to fight against the PLA. Ma Fangshang asked Song Lian to transfer the 5th Cavalry Army to western Hubei to coordinate the battle. However, Tao Yue did not agree. Therefore, the 5th Cavalry Army had no choice but to continue to hold Xinjiang. ”

In the second letter, Ma Chengxiang told Niu Zhanhai: "I have established a relatively deep friendship with Tao Yue, commander-in-chief of the Xinjiang garrison. Every time I held an equestrian and archery show on the outskirts of the city, I specially invited Tao Yue to observe it. The first is to admire Tao Yue's character and knowledge, and the second is to show the strength of his army.

Tao Yue is well aware of the weight of me and the 5th Cavalry Army in Xinjiang, and he also respects me.

Once, after observing the exercise, Tao Yue said to me in the lounge: "I heard that Ma Junchang writes well with a brush, and you are about to become a civil and military general." ’

Saying that, Tao Yue gave me his beloved Hunan Duan inkstone.

I was so touched that I was excited about it for days.

I often came and went with Commander Ye of the 78th Division, Luo Shu, commander of the 179th Brigade stationed in the reorganized Brigade and commander of the Dihua garrison, and Liu Dong, chief of the police department. ”

In the third letter, Ma Chengxiang told Niu Zhanhai in detail the story of meeting his new wife Wang Shilan: "One day in 1947, I took a small car to visit Liu Dong at the Dihua Police Station. Because the alley was too narrow, I had to ask the driver to park the car in front of Hongchun Garden and walk into the alley by myself.

As soon as I entered the alley, I saw a young girl who looked like a student passing by. I was instantly attracted to this girl, and stood there for a long time staring at the girl's back.

When I arrived at Liu Dong's house, I hadn't even taken a sip of gaiwan tea, so I hurriedly inquired about the situation of the female student I had just seen.

Liu Dong is a military commander figure, and he has long wanted to get in touch with me, the famous commander of the Ma army. At this time, seeing that the opportunity had come, he quipped: "The commander wants to attack my idea here?" ’

It turned out that the girl's name was Wang Shilan, a staff member under Liu Handong, who had just graduated from Dihua Girls' Normal High School.

In order to fulfill my love at first sight, Liu Dong actively matched the match, and General Zhang Zhong also gladly agreed to act as a witness.

Shilan's mother, Mrs. Yang, confirmed that my original wife had died in Qinghai, and when she saw that the provincial dignitaries were acting as matchmakers, she agreed to marry her daughter to me.

Now I'm the happiest person in the world! ”

Ma Chengxiang's fourth letter introduced Niu Zhanhai's newlywed life to Niu Zhanhai in detail: "I married such a young and beautiful wife as Shilan, and I was so happy that I regarded her as the pearl of my palm, and I didn't want to ask about military affairs, and my visits abroad were reduced a lot, and I wanted to guard Shilan like roses all day long." Am I a bit of a plaything, you say, and I've abandoned the lofty ideals I set up in the past?

Silan set a rule for me that I should practice calligraphy for no less than 1 hour a day. I strictly abide by the rules of Silan and insist on practicing writing calligraphy for 1 hour every day. I spread the big characters on the floor, layer upon layer, all over the floor. Sometimes, when I see a word that I am not satisfied with, I have to lie on the ground and draw a few more strokes, and then point fingers and comments with Silan. ”

There was a long gap between Ma Chengxiang's fifth letter and the fourth. Niu Zhanhai thought that Ma Chengxiang was intoxicated with the warmth of the newlywed, and he had no time to write a letter.

After receiving the fifth letter, he learned that there had been a fierce local battle in Xinjiang not long ago: "Just as I was indulging in the warmth of a small family with the young and beautiful Shilan, the Mongol army, with the support of the Soviet Union, invaded the Beishan area.

Beishan is located in the northeast of Xinjiang on the border between China and Mongolia, with a length of 200 kilometers from east to west and a width of 10 kilometers from north to south.

China and Mongolia have reached an agreement: With the main watershed of the Altai Mountains as the boundary, the area where the water of the Altai Mountains flows to Xinjiang belongs to China's territory, and the area where the water flows to Mongolia belongs to Mongolia's territory.

At that time, the army of the Kazakh Usman was active in the area of Beishan.

Born in 1899 in Keketuohai, Ashan, Xinjiang, Usman was originally the leader of the Altai Kazakh herdsmen.

One day, Usman encountered the Mongol army crossing the border at Beita Mountain, and a skirmish broke out. He reported the news of the Mongol army's crossing of the border to the provincial capital of Xinjiang.

The garrison command sent our 1st Cavalry Division Ma Zhen Company to Beita Mountain to guard the frontier.

On June 2, two representatives of the Mongolian border guards came to the station of Ma Zhenlian. They claimed that Beita Mountain was sacred territory of the Mongolian People's Republic and demanded that Chinese troops withdraw immediately within eight hours.

The Mongolian side suddenly tore up the agreement in a vain attempt to eat the entire Beita Mountain area, causing the situation on the Sino-Mongolian border to become tense instantly.

At dawn on the 5th, under the cover of nine Soviet-made fighters, the troops of two Mongolian battalions and one artillery company opened fire on the main peak of Beita Mountain, Ali Dongwo Mountain, the northern slope of Chalitai, and the big and small pepper ertai, bombing in turn, and launched a fierce attack on the station of Ma Zhenlian.

The aircraft also dropped a number of bombs on Usman's station.

Ma Zhen sent the deputy company commander to find Usman and tell him: "The Outer Mongolians have invaded Chinese territory, please help us fight the enemy together." ’

Usman replied cheerfully: 'I know the situation of the Outer Mongolian army. There's nothing remarkable about them! When they come back to invade, I will come to fight you together, and I will defeat them completely. ’

Sure enough, Usman led his army into battle, and engaged in a fierce battle with the Mongol cavalry at the northern foot of Beita Mountain, covering both the left flank of our cavalry company and the flank of the Mongol army.

Usman is truly a hero! Single-handedly, he galloped to the heavy machine-gun position of the Mongol army, slashed two machine-gun shooters with his sword, captured one heavy machine gun, and quickly rode back.

The combined forces of Ma and Wu repelled several onslaughts of the Mongol army.

Ma Zhen reported the battle situation to Han Wen, commander and brigade commander of the 7th Cavalry Brigade stationed in the vicinity of Qitai County.

Hangul called me again.

I was practicing calligraphy at the time, and when I heard the report, I threw off the big brush dipped in ink and yelled loudly at Han Wen on the phone: 'You Han boss, give me a hard beat of these dog robbers!' Let them taste the power of our 5th cavalry! ’

After receiving my order, Han Wen immediately sent Han Regiment Commander with five companies and the local Kazakh cavalry to Beishan for reinforcements.

It has been two years since the 5th Cavalry Army was stationed in Xinjiang, and it has not yet encountered a real battle. The 5th Cavalry Army is an extremely combat-ready force. The officers and soldiers repelled the repeated attacks of the Mongol army and defended the territory of the country with their own blood.

The areas around Ali Dongwo Mountain, the northern slope of Charitai, the Great and Small Pepper Ertai and the Ulongbulak were littered with the corpses of Mongolian soldiers.

The Mongol army saw that our army was as strong as Mount Tai, so it had to withdraw to the country in disgrace.

The heroes have greatly increased the morale of all the officers and men of the 5th Cavalry Army, and also greatly increased the prestige of the Chinese army, and enhanced China's prestige and status in the world! ”

Indeed, as Ma Chengxiang described in his letter, after the victory of the battle in Beishan, the whole country was full of praise. The domestic newspapers and tabloids write endlessly. Dignitaries of the National Power sent letters of congratulations one after another. Various condolence groups are also in an endless stream. Even officials of the Nanjing regime flew in to congratulate them. Zhao Guang, commander-in-chief of the southern Xinjiang garrison, also rushed from Kashgar to congratulate him.

To this end, Ma Chengxiang set up dozens of tables of banquets to celebrate the victory of the returning soldiers.

Niu Zhanhai was reorganized into the 82nd Division with the 82nd Army. Ma Fang's son, Ma Yuan, served as the commander of the 82nd Division. In order to resist the growth of the revolutionary forces and prevent the PLA from advancing to the northwest, Ma Yuan led Niu Zhanhai and other officers and soldiers of the 82nd Division to the front line in eastern Gansu.

The 82nd Division was originally stationed in the Pingliang area, and later in order to ensure the triangle areas of Longxifeng, Ningxian and Zhenyuan, it was stationed in Heshui, Qingyang and Ningxian in the north.

In June 1947, the 359th Brigade of the People's Liberation Army laid siege to Heshui County.

The defenders of the city resisted stubbornly and could barely hold on.

At the moment of crisis, Niu Zhanhai led the cavalry regiment to reinforce the army and slaughtered into Heshui City, which caught the People's Liberation Army that had just entered the city and victory in sight by surprise.

The People's Liberation Army outside the city no longer has any reserves, and can only watch as the People's Liberation Army inside the city is ravaged and tortured by Niu Zhanhai's cavalry.

The PLA besieging the city paid a heavy price, suffered extremely heavy casualties, and was forced to evacuate completely.

The 82nd Division cleaned up the battlefield, and then appointed Ma Fu, the youngest brother of Ga's commander Ma Ying, as the magistrate of Heshui County and the guerrilla commander.

The Heshui victory successfully repelled the attack of the three columns of the Northwest Field Army of the People's Liberation Army, and made the Northwest Field Army realize the combat effectiveness of Qingma and the strength of cavalry tactics.

Ziwuling lies in the border area of Shaanxi and Gansu, stretching for 6 or 700 miles from north to south, with dense forests and sparse population, and has always been the base of the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army.

On August 13, the exhausted People's Liberation Army had just entered the Jiuxian area of Ziwuling, and the Nationalist Army cruising in the western part of Ziwuling obtained information.

Ma Yuan immediately mobilized the strength of about 8 regiments of the 8th Cavalry Brigade, the 100th Brigade, the 5th Independent Cavalry Regiment, and the 4 independent battalions directly under the division, and he personally commanded the march to the Meridian Ridge. With Ma Kang's 5th Cavalry Regiment as the front guard, the Tan Xiang Division of the 100th Brigade as the right wing, the Ma Luan Division of the 8th Cavalry Brigade as the left wing, and the 4 independent battalions directly under the division as the rearguard, they set off from Qingyang, Banqiao, Panke and other places. At the same time, the 8th Cavalry Brigade was ordered to take advantage of the rapid maneuver of the cavalry, divide the troops along the path and make a quick detour to the Meridian Ridge, and form a pincer offensive with the troops on the right flank.

On the evening of the 14th, reconnaissance personnel of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) discovered that Ma Yuan's troops had arrived at Jincun Temple and Yacun to camp in the vicinity. However, it was difficult to figure out how many troops the other side had.

The PLA commander believes that the existing 4 regiments of the 3 columns plus 1 regiment of local troops should be enough to deal with the enemy. Moreover, the PLA also has 1 6th cavalry division.

Although Ma Yuan is young, this young master, who became the colonel and deputy regiment commander at the age of 16 and went to the general general class for further training at the age of 20, is not a reckless person; just more than two months ago, he commanded the entire 82nd Division to repel the main column of the People's Liberation Army in Heshui and achieved a great victory in Heshui. The 28-year-old looks down on the People's Liberation Army from the bottom of his heart.

The heavy rain in Longdong stopped. The outposts of the 5th Regiment of the 82nd Division and the 2nd Regiment of the 100th Brigade were in contact with the independent battalions directly under the command post of the Western Front of the Guanzhong Division of the People's Liberation Army in the vicinity of Jincunmiao and Doujialiang in the vicinity of Jiuxian Plateau.

The independent battalion was defeated and retreated eastward in resistance.

The 82nd Division advanced to Fujijiazhuang and engaged the People's Liberation Army's Guanzhong Weibei Column.

At 10 o'clock in the morning of the 15th, the 82nd regiment of the 8nd Division began to launch a fierce attack on the positions of the 2nd and 3rd regiments of the 1st Brigade of the PLA Police in western Jiuxian. First of all, the artillery bombardment of the PLA positions in Jiuxian Xiwa was concentrated, and then a fierce attack was launched on the positions of the 3rd PLA Regiment in the northwest of Xiwa in front of the front.

The 3rd Regiment relied on the fortifications to resist stubbornly and repelled many attacks by horse reinforcements, suffering heavy casualties of its own. The heroic platoon was all killed in the fierce battle.

The 3rd Regiment held its position until the afternoon of the same day, and then was ordered to resist and retreat to the east. During the retreat, some officers and soldiers failed to evacuate their positions in time, and most of them were killed.

The rapid retreat of the People's Liberation Army made the confident Ma Yuan suspicious.

Ma Yuan suspected that this was a suspicious tactic of the People's Liberation Army, and did not dare to pursue rashly. After more than one hour, there was still no movement in the PLA position on the opposite side, and the entire 100 Brigade organized a cavalry unit to make a tentative assault on the PLA position, only to understand that the PLA had retreated to the east.

At 6 p.m., the positions of the People's Liberation Army west of the West Depression of Jiuxian were occupied by the 82nd Division. At this time, because of the heavy rain, the 8th Cavalry Brigade, which had come from a long journey through a rugged mountain road, was late. Because the 8th Cavalry Brigade arrived in Jiuxian nearly 12 hours later than planned, the battle plan of the Liberation Army was frustrated.

Ma Yuan was very unhappy.

The 82nd Division followed the pursuit. The 5th Regiment of the Lone Cavalry caught up with the PLA transfer team and engaged in a battle with the 3 Brigade and 5 Regiment, which served as the rearguard.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) discarded 3 mountain artillery pieces and a large amount of supplies in Taoshuzhuang. The 3 mountain guns were towed back by the 2nd Regiment of the 8th Cavalry Brigade, and were later sent to Xi'an for exhibition as trophies of the Meridian Ridge victory.

In the great victory of Meridian Ridge, the 82nd Division almost completely annihilated the 4th Column of the Northwest Field Army of the People's Liberation Army. This battle exposed many shortcomings of the 4th Column.

In March 1948, the Northwest Field Army of the People's Liberation Army marched south from Yichuan County, Shaanxi Province, launched the Huanghu Mountain Foothill Campaign, liberated Huangling, Dunxian (today's Fu County), Yijun, Baishui and other counties, approached Pucheng, and besieged Luochuan.

Luochuan failed to capture it for 1 month.

The siege of the city was not down, the reinforcements could not be achieved, and the PLA penetrated deep into the rear of the enemy. They marched westward into the river valley and made smooth progress in the early stage, conquering nine cities one after another, cutting off the Sealand Highway, the main communication artery in the northwest, and conquering Baoji, an important town in Xifu, posing a great threat to the rear of the national army.

Although the Northwest Field Army's initial operations progressed smoothly and even won the battle, it was a taboo for the soldiers because of the in-depth penetration of the lone army. General Hu saw the opportunity and rushed to the aid of Baoji in two directions together with the strong strength of the 82nd Division of the 11 brigades of Ma Yuan.

The two armies acted quickly and took the initiative in combat, posing a huge threat to the Northwest Field Army.

Faced with the sudden danger, the Northwest Field Army quickly organized scattered teams to concentrate on breaking through the encirclement, and had to destroy a large number of captured military supplies, withdraw from Baoji, and move to the eastern part of Gansu.

At the cost of less than 1,500 casualties, the 82nd Division not only killed and wounded many PLA troops, but also captured 2,000 soldiers, logistics personnel, and former migrant workers, inflicted heavy losses on the 6th Column Teaching Brigade of the Northwest Field Army, and achieved a great victory in the Xifu Campaign, giving a shot in the arm to the national regime, which was on the verge of collapse.

For this reason, the predicamented old Jiang seemed to see a bright light in the dark night, and immediately perked up his spirits, vigorously proclaiming that Ma Yuan was a rising star and an outstanding military star of the Republic of China, and cheered up the national army that had been defeated one after another.

Ma Yuan's father and uncle chased and intercepted and killed the Red Army's Western Route Army in the Hexi Corridor back then, and owed a huge blood debt. These three great victories of Ma Yuan made the Ma family owe a new blood debt to the PLA. Ma Jun's actions aroused the extraordinary anger of the revolutionaries, who regarded Ma Jun as a heinous enemy.