The new house is easy to build, but the old house is difficult to repair.

- Manchu proverb

In the summer of 1949, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) rapidly advanced to Gansu and landed outside Lanzhou.

Lanzhou is named because it is located in Gaolan Mountain. In ancient times, it was called Gaolan, and it is geographically located in a long and narrow basin surrounded by mountains. The Yellow River runs from west to east.

Lanzhou is located on the south bank of the Yellow River, surrounded by mountains on the east, south and west, and the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Lanzhou is not only the second largest city and political and military center in the northwest, but also the hub of Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces, and the seat of the Northwest Military and Political Governor's Office of the Nationalist Power.

During the Anti-Japanese War, many national fortifications were built here. The Kuomintang defenders therefore called Lanzhou an impregnable iron city.

There is an iron bridge built by the Germans around 1910 in the west of Lanzhou, connecting the north and south banks of the Yellow River, which is one of the only two bridges on the Yellow River for thousands of miles at that time, and its military value is extraordinary.

If you want to control Lanzhou, Nanshan is a position that must be held.

From east to west, Lanzhou's Nanshan is Shili Mountain, Doujia Mountain, Majia Mountain, Yingpanling (Gaolan Mountain South Liang), Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain.

Among them, Shenjialing is the closest to Lanzhou Iron Bridge, and together with Gouwa Mountain, it guards two highways to Linxia in the south, which is considered to be the key to Lanzhou. On the hill there are permanent fortifications to be built. The main positions were connected to the ring road leading to the city, forming a complete defensive system.

After Ma Yuan retreated to Lanzhou, he repaired and strengthened the national defense fortifications built by the National Army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The main position consisted of reinforced concrete bunkers, an annular artificial cliff 6 to 10 meters high on the outer slope, a hidden side-fire point at the waist, and two outer trenches of 3 to 6 meters, which were covered with mines and barbed wire. The positions were connected by roads and communication trenches.

When the People's Liberation Army came to the city of Lanzhou, it encountered a lot of thorny difficulties.

The long supply line from Xi'an to Lanzhou, which is more than 1,400 miles, has only one Xilan highway with a very poor surface, which is far from ensuring logistics supply.

Lanzhou, with a population of just over 100,000, suddenly gathered so many troops that it was difficult to meet people's rations and livestock fodder. The PLA soldiers on the battlefield could only eat beans, nibble on raw potato eggs to satisfy their hunger, and had to tighten their belts to charge.

The PLA does not have a house to live in. Many companies had to live in newly dug caverns. Coupled with the long-term continuous running, the fighters were extremely tired and weak. Non-combat attrition is gradually increasing.

The PLA generals believed that the Lanzhou campaign was advantageous for a quick victory.

Ma Fang was determined to hold on to Lanzhou.

A big war and a vicious war are inevitable.

After two days of fierce fighting, the PLA not only did not capture a single position, but also consumed a large amount of ammunition and suffered heavy casualties, with nearly 800 casualties in the 65th Army alone.

The PLA immediately ordered the attack to be stopped on all fronts, and analyzed the reasons for the failure: first, the idea was light on the enemy, the preparation was insufficient, and the coordination between infantry and artillery was not good; The second is that the enemy's fortifications are strong, and the enemy is more tenacious.

To this end, all units have carried out in-depth ideological and political mobilization, overcome the mood of impatience and underestimity for the enemy, conscientiously sum up lessons and lessons, carefully reconnoiter the terrain and the enemy's situation, carry out military democracy, study offensive tactics, make solid preparations for the work, and be ready for a general attack.

Niu Zhanhai and his officers and men were very excited when they saw the victory in the first battle against the PLA, and specially added a delicious Lanzhou snack casserole balls to their dinner to celebrate.

In order to contain and disperse Ma Fang's forces, the People's Liberation Army first marched towards Linxia.

At this time, Linxia is like before a storm, and the slightest wind and grass will stir people's nervous nerves.

In order to welcome the liberation of the whole country, the underground party established the Linxia City Branch. However, due to the betrayal of the traitors, both branches of Linxia Lulan were soon destroyed.

The financial markets in Linxia were volatile. All businesses and shops in the county have closed down and refused to use the golden yuan coupons.

The county government forced all merchants to open their businesses normally. Soon, the county government ordered the Chamber of Commerce to raise money to support the horse reinforcement troops fighting against the PLA.

Within two days, Han Gong came to Linxia County for the third time to catch Zhuangding. They first closed the city gates, searched the young and middle-aged people door to door, and then escorted them to Lanzhou to participate in the battle to defend Lanzhou.

On August 22, the 1st Corps of the 1st Field Army of the People's Liberation Army entered the territory of Linxia County from Lintao Road through Kangle and Hezheng.

Han Gong fled in a hurry.

Hundreds of people of all ethnic groups and all walks of life in Linxia welcomed the People's Liberation Army into the city on the banks of the Daxia River. Linxia County was peacefully liberated.

Linxia is the place where Zhuma was born and started. Losing Linxia is equivalent to copying the Ma family's nest. Therefore, the morale of the army defending the enemy in Lanzhou was greatly shaken.

The grim situation forced Ma Fang to fall into the trap of the People's Liberation Army. He transferred two cavalry brigades of the 8th Cavalry Division from the Lanzhou front to defend Xining, thus reducing the resistance of the People's Liberation Army to attack Lanzhou and ensuring the flank security of the main force of the field army.

Ma Fang found that the situation in Lanzhou was critical, and on the one hand, he sent an urgent telegram to the Guangzhou Nationalist Government to urge President Hu and Ma Kui to send troops to relieve the siege, and on the other hand, he sent his cronies Ma Ji to fly to Yinchuan to ask Ma Kui for help in person.

Ma Kui and Ma Fang have been at odds for a long time because of their struggle for power and profit. He took the opportunity to deliberately make things difficult for Ma Fang, and after some bargaining, he finally reluctantly cobbled together a Helan army, but stationed on the border of Gansu and Ningxia, sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight.

Mr. Hu himself was still difficult to protect, and he refused to send a soldier to Lanzhou to relieve the siege.

At this time, Ma Fang's heart knew that the reinforcements would not come, and Lanzhou would eventually be lost. He gave full control of the horse army to his son Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan had graduated from the Army University sponsored by Lao Chiang and was considered an officer with formal military education. He was directly linked to Lao Jiang, known as the "central faction" in Qinghai, and there was a subtle contradiction with his father's insistence on local secession. Because of the support of Lao Jiang, Ma Yuan took over the 82nd Army ruling Qinghai from Ma Fang and became a young Zhuang faction with military strength.

In the early morning of the 25th, after careful analysis and deployment, the PLA fired a volley of artillery. The besieging forces launched a general assault.

Niu Zhanhai, who was guarding on Gouwa Mountain, saw that the positions of the brother regiment had changed hands one after another, and instead of leading his troops to retreat, he commanded his soldiers to attack the PLA more violently. He did not expect that the 3rd Army of the People's Liberation Army would insert itself from behind, blocking their retreat.

Niu Zhanhai saw that he had lost more than 4,400 people and did not want to make any more senseless sacrifices, so he gave up the original plan of evacuating Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain at 9 o'clock in the evening and covering the retreat of the whole army, and was forced to break through from Gouwa Mountain, enter the urban area of Lanzhou, cross the Yellow River from the iron bridge first, and build fortifications on Baita Mountain on the north bank.

After dawn, the horse aid stationed in Lanzhou City received the news that various positions had been broken one after another. At this time, Ningxia Ma Kui's reinforcements were slow to move. Linxia on the right wing of Lanzhou had collapsed two days earlier.

Ma Yuan and his father Ma Fang made a phone call and determined that the general trend was the same, and they had no power to return to the sky, so they had to reluctantly decide to retreat.

In the afternoon, Ma Yuan led the military headquarters of the 82nd Army to secretly pass the Yellow River Iron Bridge at night, evacuate Lanzhou first, and retreat in the direction of Xining.

After fierce fighting, the People's Liberation Army captured Yingpanling, the highest peak of Shenjialing, Gouwa Mountain, Guchengling, Majia Mountain and Gaolan Mountain.

The city of Lanzhou was directly exposed to the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army.

After the 7th Division of the 3rd Army of the 2nd Corps of the People's Liberation Army captured the Qili River, it marched eastward along the south bank of the Yellow River, and started the battle of blocking the iron bridge of the Yellow River where the Ma army had to retreat.

It was found that Ma Yuan, the supreme commander of the Lanzhou Campaign, had retreated, and the other teams also hurriedly retreated. All kinds of vehicles, large bags, cattle and wounded people poured into the Yellow River iron bridge, immediately causing congestion on the narrow bridge deck and chaos. Along the way, there were routs, men and horses arguing, vehicles rampage, trampling on each other, and many casualties.

The soldiers of the Ma Army, who were blocked on the south bank of the Yellow River, saw that the People's Liberation Army was attacking, and they panicked and jumped into the Yellow River to swim across, and many were drowned by the turbulent water of the Yellow River.

The Iron Bridge over the Yellow River was quickly controlled by the People's Liberation Army, and except for a small number of troops such as Ma Yuan, who fled, the remaining Ma officers and soldiers became turtles in the urn.

Niu Zhanhai led the officers and men to condescend on Baita Mountain and fired a dense number of bullets at the PLA rushing towards the iron bridge of the Yellow River, causing the PLA soldiers who rushed to the front to be shot and killed.

The battle to blockade the Yellow River shovel began at 1 a.m. on the 26th, and after more than 10 hours of fierce fighting, Niu Zhanhai's army finally could not withstand the repeated charges of the People's Liberation Army, and finally gave up the blockade of the Yellow River iron bridge.

Niu Zhanhai quickly took off his military uniform in the bushes, changed into the peasant clothes that had been prepared long ago, and fled from the position on Baita Mountain.

Most of his soldiers fled farther west to Yongdeng County.

At 12 o'clock, the People's Liberation Army annihilated the remnants of the Ma army in Lanzhou and liberated Lanzhou.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) solemnly held a ceremony to enter the city. More than 100,000 Lanzhou citizens took to the streets, singing and dancing to welcome the PLA.

At the same time, much of Gansu east of Lanzhou was liberated.

Amid the joyful drumming in Lanzhou City, Niu Zhanhai took advantage of the chaotic situation that had just been liberated, disguised as a merchant and sneaked back to Linxia and hid in Gayindai's home.

The Battle of Lanzhou was the largest and most fierce battle in the Northwest Liberation War. At the cost of more than 8,700 casualties, the 1st Field Army of the People's Liberation Army annihilated all of the 100th Divisions of the 82nd Army, most of the 248th and 190th Divisions, and a part of the 129th Army of Ma Fang and Ma Yuan, killing and wounding 13,000 people, capturing 14,000 people, and annihilating a total of 27,000 enemies, losing most of the main force of the Northwest Nationalist Army, basically eliminating Ma Fang's main force, opening the door to Ningxia and Xinjiang, and laying a solid foundation for the liberation of the entire territory of the Great Northwest.