The vice chairman of the Central Military Commission has full authority to command the live-fire exercise. The new military command system www.biquge.info integrated the naval fleet and air force units of the military region, and was entrusted with the "historical mission of reunifying the motherland."

On March 8 of that year, three surface-to-surface missiles erupted from a railway in Fujian Province at an interval of one hour. The intended target area is 47 miles west of the port city of Kaohsiung in the southern part of Taiwan Island.

Hours later, China's leaders vowed to intensify their struggle for reunification.

At the session of the National People's Congress (NPC), which opened on the same day, the Chinese leader reiterated that he will continue to pursue the policy of "peaceful reunification and one country, two systems," but he also stressed that China will "never allow any force to change Taiwan's status as an inalienable part of China in any way."

The timing of the nine-day military exercise is no coincidence.

As Zhao XX, the commander of a grassroots naval company who participated in the exercise three years ago, he recalled as follows:

At the beginning of the year, the PLA received a notice from the General Headquarters requesting that most of the newly equipped warships of the Navy participating in the second "big maritime parade" complete their short-term assembly tasks and go to a certain sea area in Fujian in the East China Sea in batches and phases to complete the pre-war assembly of various combat ship groups and carry out the task of conducting a live military exercise.

At that time, the best ship of the surface ship combat group was the "Harbin" missile destroyer, with a displacement of 4,400 tons, equipped with the domestically produced "Haihong-7" eight-mounted anti-aircraft missile launcher imitating the French-made "Sea Sidewinder" ship-to-air missile system, multi-mounted Eagle Strike series anti-ship missiles, dual 100-mm and double-37-mm 76F fully automatic naval guns, and Z-9 antisubmarine helicopters, and was equipped with a relatively advanced electronic communication system and command and control system. At this time, the staff team of the command ship had just been assigned to the combat ships and demonstrated the importance of its "headquarters on the ship" command operation.

The Type 051G "Zhuhai" ship is the second largest warship among the frigates participating in the exercise, it is an upgraded version of the "Luda" class destroyer, the fully enclosed hull structure, equipped with the ship's central air conditioning, changed the hot working and living conditions of the crew of the Type 051 ship during its service in the South China Sea, and other participating ships also have four Type 051 destroyers of the East China Sea Fleet, the "Jiangwei I." class frigate, the Jianghu improved frigate, the Type 037 submarine hunting and missile frigate, and the Type 6610 minesweeper form a huge maritime mobile strike force.

Among the many traditional landing ships and requisitioned merchant ships participating in the exercise, the "Emeishan" (991), the lead ship of the Type 072III landing ship, appeared for the first time, and it was the first time that a helicopter platform was set up at the tail of the landing ship, which could use the Z-8 helicopter to carry special combat personnel and equipment to carry out vertical landing.

It is known as the prototype of the Chinese Navy's dock landing ship, and it is also the first landing ship that can carry a number of small personnel air cushion landing craft on the ship, using the 724 type personnel air cushion landing craft to achieve the "non-wet" landing mode and helicopter landing to complete the landing operations such as the island beach, so that the mother ship and the air cushion landing craft form an effective organic whole of modern landing vehicles.

At that time, my command duties were to direct the ship-borne air-cushion landing craft to carry out the transfer of the landing force and the mother ship, and to carry out the forward assault of the landing force on the landing beachhead; in short, to safely transport the first batch of landed "death squads" to the shore, forcibly occupy the enemy's beachhead, destroy the firepower points on the shore and beach, and establish a safe landing point for our own side.

I vividly remember that on the evening of the first day of the exercise, a joint study meeting of the landing group commanders was held, and the military and political commanders of all participating units attended the meeting, and the joint training headquarters issued exercise orders to all participating units, registered the personal information and family contact information of the participants, submitted letters of determination to the exercise headquarters, and all officers and men submitted letters of life and death.

Subsequently, a pledge meeting was held on the 991 ship helicopter platform before the exercise, and guns and ammunition were distributed, and as the commander of the boat team, he attended the meeting and received some light weapons distributed by the personnel of our fleet, 12 Type 56 submachine guns, two Type 54 pistols, one submachine gun with five 30-round magazines, and each pistol with two magazines and 16 rounds of ammunition, registered the gun number and the name of the personnel user, and put them into the "Emeishan" ship's ammunition depot for temporary storage for self-defense and temporary disposal in times of crisis, and handed them over after the completion of the exercise task.

At the same time, they received combat operation passwords, emergency plans and implementation plans, personal food/articles, etc. The atmosphere at the venue was extremely tense, and they all thought that they were going to go to the battlefield, not the exercise ground. It was the first time that each of our officers and men had encountered such a thing, and there was an indescribable sense of responsibility and pressure in our minds.

On the morning of the exercise, as the battle alarm sounded, looking through the porthole of the command platform, the Su-27 group of fighter aviation units roared past our formation, and at the same time, more than 10 landing ships of various types of our landing and transportation troops, escorted by a number of Type 051 missile destroyers and Type 053H missile frigates, advanced toward the "enemy" islands. the start of air strikes on the "enemy" islands; The guns of the destroyers on the surface of the sea let out a deafening roar;

In an instant, the hilltop of the "enemy's" island was blown up by all kinds of bombs, rockets, and aerial artillery shells of the fighter planes, and the scattered pillboxes, missile defense positions, buildings, simulated enemy command posts, communications centers, logistics cargo distribution centers, and tank-mounted vehicles on the "enemy" islands collapsed one by one, and some objects were blown up to pieces and flew into the sky.

The mobile groups of various surface warships carried out continuous artillery bombardment on the opposite shore, and destroyers, submarine hunters, escort boats, and minesweepers took turns bombarding the enemy's shore and beach with naval artillery fire; the "Harbin" and "Zhuhai" warships in the distance began to carry out anti-ship missile attacks on the enemy's moving targets at sea; one after another the "Eagle Strike" anti-ship missiles roared out of the bomb bays, and several flashes of fire dragged the flames straight towards the sea targets.

The minesweepers began to carry out the "minefield" clearance operation at the landing site at sea, and the sea battlefield was thrilling.

At moment A of combat time, the command post of the landing formation issued an order: Landing deployment!

More than 10 large landing ships arrived at the predetermined sea area, each ship formed a formation, the bow gate was opened, tanks and armored vehicles waded into the water in a steady stream to the beachhead, and army commanders and fighters landed in batches on countless landing craft, assault boats, requisitioned fishing boats, and merchant ships marked with the number of the port starting with the word "N."

At time B of the combat time, the Z-8 aircraft flew away from the 991 ship helicopter platform with part of the landing troops and carried out a vertical landing on the shore beach;

At this point, the loudspeaker gave a loud command: Flood deployment... Flooding Deployment... The personnel are in place, and the guns and artillery positions are strengthened to look out at the sea and air!

It's our turn to go to the "battlefield" ...

I went down to the large cabin of the 991 ship and ordered: all boats are started, and the state of half-cushion is raised... inspection of equipment and communications equipment; Inform the Marine Corps boarders to bring their equipment aboard the boat and prepare for landing.

At the moment of combat time C, the stern gate of the 991 ship was opened, the sea surface at this time was cold and astringent, choppy and turbulent, and there were gusts of drizzle, and the cold air in the Taiwan Strait in March hit people, biting and cold, and the huge waves swayed the more than 4,000-ton "Emeishan" ship from side to side, and the sea state was level 5.

With the cooperation of the crew of the "Emeishan" ship, a number of small air-cushion landing craft loaded with landing troops and equipment slowly rowed out of the tail gate of the "Emeishan ship" in turn, and hung (launched) pulp blades... And report to the mothership: "724 Flooding Complete!" The 991 ship replied "yes"!

Each boat formed a single column on the left side of the 991 ship, reached the beachhead, adjusted the nozzle, paid attention to the state of the boat, moved forward, and kept a distance of 100 meters between the boats... The 991 ship supported the attack of the air-cushion landing craft with 37-mm naval gun fire.

At the T moment, each boat of our air-cushion landing craft unfolded in a straight formation, ready to storm and grab the beach, and advance three ... Maintain formation; The fire of the landing troops on board ... Shoot... The landing troops opened fire with light and heavy weapons, and one by one fire dragons shot at the "enemy's" beachhead; Forward Four... The boats rushed towards the beachhead like arrows from the string; I ordered: Strengthen fire cover and pay attention to avoiding the impact point of the "enemy".

At N time, each boat arrived on time and safely on the beach; The landing troops launched a charge and advanced in depth towards the "enemy".

The exercise ended three days before the "presidential" election on the island of Taiwan on March 23.

Originally, the bottom line of the exercise was: firing live ammunition, crossing the center line of the strait, mobilizing submarines, and capturing the outer islands.

The PLA has allocated more than 4 billion yuan, or nearly NT$20 billion, for the entire exercise.