The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 520 Cultivating reserve talents!!!

After the exercise, the troops took a day off to rest. Liu Benming and his old comrade Li Jianguo went deep into the mountains.

Climbing up here and looking far into the distance, you can see rolling green hills and Gobi Desert under the blue sky and white clouds. There is not even a flying bird, and the only sound is the whistling mountain wind in your ears.

As the saying goes: "Clouds follow dragons, winds give birth to tigers."

This place is located in the uninhabited mountains and wilderness. The emptiness and silence of the mountains and wilderness are pleasant.

But the howling mountain wind also makes people feel a little nervous, as if a tiger is lurking behind a huge rock.
Liu Benming and his companion found a place sheltered from the wind and sat down. Liu Benming took out a bottle of orange-flavored soda produced in Liujiazhuang from his bag.

This drink is now sold all over the country, and it is even sold in the convenience stores in this remote mountain village.

But he realized he didn't bring a cup, so he used a knife to hollow out the middle of the only two apples to make them into a cup shape. Then he said "cheers" and finally ate the cup, as a way of celebrating the successful completion of the task.

Since the village is very close to the training ground, the village must be emptied during each rehearsal and the villagers must be gathered in a relatively safe place.

After nightfall, when I lay on the kang, I could often hear the sound of mice running on the beams. A while ago, the viewing platform was being built at a swift pace, and the engineering corps was working on it without rest at night.

Late at night, you can still hear cultural and artistic programs broadcast from the loudspeakers at a distant construction site, all of which are old records.

Because the mountains are ethereal, the sounds coming out are not noisy, but instead have a "midnight radio" feeling.

Liu Benming often fell asleep to the tunes of the Peking Opera "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" and the narration of the quick-speaking book "Surprise Attack on the White Tiger Regiment".

In fact, the most beautiful scenery in the mountains is tranquility. Except for the sound of the wind, everything seems to be silent.

The mountainous area outside Zhangkou is a semi-agricultural and semi-harvesting area. Many rural children learn to feed mules and horses from a young age, and older children learn to drive carts.

Since there were still many mule and horse-drawn troops in those days, the machine gun company of the infantry battalion was equipped with Type 82 mortars and Type 82 recoilless rifles carried by military mules.

Only the regimental artillery company's 100mm mortars and Type 63 anti-aircraft machine guns were transported by cars, and there was also a cavalry communications platoon in the communications company.

Therefore, the army recruits some rural soldiers from this area and the Mongolian ethnic group every year.

However, mules and horses did not appear in this exercise, which shows that these "silent comrades" will basically be of no use in the future.

I won’t go into details about the scene of the exercise, but it was a very spectacular and shocking scene.

Not only were many of the officers and soldiers participating in the exercise seeing it for the first time, but many division-level cadres were probably seeing it for the first time as well.

Liu Benming remembers a scene where two attack planes flew over the front of the position and opened fire, and rockets fell to the ground like hail. This was to open up an airborne landing field.
A few days later, television, radio and newspapers all broadcast the news of the "Flower Growers" exercise, which aroused strong reactions from other small animals on "Blue Planet".

As for the process of this exercise, the report written by Japanese Economic News reporter Inada is eye-catching:
"What is particularly striking is that in this exercise, not only surface-to-surface missiles and air-to-surface missiles were used, but also tanks with multiple rocket launchers and flamethrowers were used to launch ground attacks."

Inada also pointed out: "The rapid modernization of this army in terms of technology in recent years has attracted people's attention.

For example, one carrier rocket can launch three scientific satellites, etc.

The summer exercises at the Beijing University also proved that this army, which used to rely mainly on small firearms, is now transforming into a mobile warfare army.

After the exercise, Liu Zhiye announced a set of statistics to the public, which further demonstrated that Xia Jun's unprecedented exercise was a huge success.

"In this exercise, our bombers achieved a 99.2% accuracy rate, and our attack aircraft achieved a 90% accuracy rate. All types of direct-fire artillery, long-range artillery, and tank guns achieved an impressive first-shot success rate of hitting the target.

The Hongjian-73 anti-tank missile, a second-generation anti-tank missile designed by my country and recently put into service, has achieved an amazing record of hitting the target without missing any of the 12 missiles in two salvos.”

After the exercise, the troops relaxed for a few days, and the comrades went to the positions and viewing stands to take photos.

Liu Benming even bought a roll of film specially, but the comrade in charge of taking pictures was so unskilled that it was difficult for him. He had to learn on the spot and only developed two or three photos in the end.

There was only one camera in the regiment headquarters, and everyone took turns borrowing it.

Liu Benming and his comrades were very surprised when they stepped onto the viewing stand.

The engineering corps not only hardened the roads and the ground, but also used stones from the mountains to create various patterns and used pebbles to mark out the edges of the mountain roads.

According to current terms, it has fully reached the level of interior decoration, which shows how high the work standards are, how strict the requirements are, and also how tough the troops' style is.

The troops were about to leave, and the regiment leaders invited the village cadres to a drink to express their gratitude for the local support.

It is a very rare thing to have a good drink these days. Some village cadres vomited after drinking, while others got drunk and smashed the plates and bowls of the kitchen staff.

The military cadres were relatively well behaved and did not lose their composure. In the end, both sides drank happily and drank up the "close relationship between the military and the people".

When Liu Benming and his comrades returned to the barracks, the comrades who stayed behind organized a welcoming gong and drum performance and hung slogans in the auditorium.

One of them reads "When you take a step, the mountains and rivers shake; when you swing your spear, the enemies tremble in fear."

There is also a painting that reads "The green mountains are fortunate to serve as the battlefield, and the artillery fire mercilessly destroys the enemy's stubbornness."

This is a summary of this trip.

After the exercise, Liu Zhiye accompanied the leaders and a group of senior military leaders to inspect the participating troops one by one.

The leader suddenly pointed at a division commander and said something that surprised everyone: "This comrade named Liao Chengzhi is incredible!"

Although the words are brief, the profound meaning behind them is hard to fathom.

What kind of person is Liao Chengzhi that he could elicit such an evaluation from the military district leaders?

What is the unknown story behind him?

This compliment is far more intriguing than it appears.

It turns out that Liao Chengzhi was once an old subordinate of Liu Zhiye.

Although Liao Chengzhi is now a division commander, he had experienced a period of ups and downs on his way to promotion until he met Liu Zhiye.

In 59, Liao Chengzhi enlisted in the army from his hometown of Si County, Guizhou Province, and became a member of the 4th Company of a regiment of the Yanjing Garrison District.

By 1964, he had served in the army for six years as a squad leader.

You have to know that at that time, the general service period for army soldiers was three years.

Once a soldier has served for more than three years, he is either a rare technical soldier or a key member with the opportunity for promotion.

And Liao Chengzhi is the latter!
In fact, as early as 63, Liao Chengzhi was listed as a potential cadre by the army and planned to be trained intensively.

However, during the cadre assessment that year, he was rejected due to his low cultural level.

One year, a large-scale military competition was held.

Liao Chengzhi was keenly aware that this would be his last chance to show himself to the organization.

Therefore, he displayed his excellent military skills without reservation in the garrison district competition.

In the end, he lived up to everyone's expectations and won first place in the military district's anti-assassination competition.

After the game, he excitedly thought that he would definitely be included in the promotion this year.

However, an accident happened soon after. Liao Chengzhi injured the fingers of his right hand while destroying a detonator, which caused him to miss the last opportunity for promotion that year.

Although the company sympathized with Liao Chengzhi's situation, considering that he had served for six years and had no hope of promotion, they planned to arrange for him to retire at the end of the year.

At this critical moment, the first mentor of Liao Chengzhi's life appeared, that was Liu Zhiye.

At that time, "Liu Zhiye's teaching method" was popular throughout the army.

One day, Liu Zhiye came to the 4th Company of the rd Regiment to watch the unit’s report exercise.

It happened that the class led by Liao Chengzhi stood out in the exercise and attracted Liu Zhiye's attention.

After watching the performance, Liu Zhiye commented on him: "This squad leader has certain command abilities and is a rare cadre candidate who deserves to be cultivated."

With Liu Zhiye's affirmation, Liao Chengzhi was able to continue to stay in the army and was listed as a key training target.

In the following years, Liao Chengzhi was rapidly promoted and became the deputy chief of the training section of the division. Just when Liao Chengzhi thought that his career in the army would be smooth sailing, fate played a joke on him again.

A few years ago, the army began to reduce its cadre staff and arranged for some cadres to transfer to civilian jobs.

And Liao Chengzhi was among those who were transferred to civilian jobs.

At this time, Liu Zhiye, who was still a leader in the garrison area, stood up again.

He slammed the table and said: "Comrade Liao Chengzhi is not only excellent in military skills, but also a master in leading and training troops.

In my opinion, let him lead the troops!"

Finally, because of Liu Zhiye's favor, Liao Chengzhi stayed in the army again, and in 78 he was transferred to the th Regiment of the nd Guard Division as the regiment commander.

I arrived in southern Xinjiang at the end of the year.

After receiving the order to enter level one combat readiness, Liao Chengzhi began to intensify the command of the Sixth Regiment's pre-war training to prepare for a war that might break out at any time.

In January of the previous year, the Sixth Regiment went to southern Xinjiang with the main force.

In addition to being nervous, Liao Chengzhi felt more excited, thinking that he finally had the opportunity to display his talents on the battlefield.

In early February, under the command of Liao Chengzhi, the Sixth Regiment launched the Banhe prisoner-capture operation, which was the largest operation before the full-scale war.

In order to complete the prisoner-capturing and reconnaissance mission required by his superiors, Liao Chengzhi, after repeated thinking and reconnaissance, decided to launch a prisoner-capturing operation on Hill 572 near Ban River in enemy territory.

Considering the risk of too many people igniting a conflict, Liao Chengzhi only mobilized about two platoons of troops.

Although there was only one squad of troops stationed on the enemy's high ground, Liao Chengzhi did not dare to be careless at all.

He divided the two participating platoons into a prisoner-capturing group, a firepower group, and a support group, striving to have enough strength to block possible enemy reinforcements.

As expected, shortly after the battle started, the enemy troops in Gong'antun sent reinforcements to reinforce Hill 572.

Later, Liao Chengzhi's deployment caused the enemy's reinforcements to be defeated with the support of our army's firepower.

The battle lasted 32 minutes. Liao Chengzhi captured 10 enemy soldiers alive at the cost of sacrificing one soldier and killed 31 enemies below the rank of lieutenant.

This battle immediately attracted the attention of the front command. On behalf of the front command, Liu Zhiye sent a commendation order to Liao Chengzhi and informed the entire army of the deeds of the Sixth Regiment.

The Battle of Banhe greatly boosted the morale of the Xia army that was about to join the war, and was regarded as the first battle between the "flower growers" and the "ungrateful wolves"!
In the early morning of February 2, the counterattack officially began.

The 6th Regiment of the 2nd Guard Division played a very important role in the fight against the "ungrateful wolves", and the 6th Regiment was regarded as the fastest infiltration unit.

A month later, the 2nd Guard Division was ordered to prepare to retreat home.

On the way back, the 2nd Guard Division unexpectedly discovered that there was an enemy stronghold called "Bansan" in the border area that had not yet been attacked by our army. There was probably a battalion of enemy troops stationed here.

If this stronghold is not taken down in time, the enemy will pose a threat to our border.

The headquarters of the 2nd Guard Division decided to send the 6th Regiment to encircle the stronghold from both wings and quickly annihilate it.

Under the command of Liao Chengzhi, the Sixth Regiment overcame disadvantages such as unclear enemy situation, unfamiliar terrain and short preparation time, and successfully ended the battle within three days.

On a foreign battlefield, an infantry regiment annihilated an infantry battalion with field fortifications, not to mention that the enemy was an "ungrateful wolves" who had fought for decades and had rich combat experience.

Such results are unprecedented in the history of our army!

Therefore, after the war, the headquarters specially awarded the Sixth Regiment the glorious title of "Second Class Meritorious Regiment", and Liao Chengzhi was promoted to deputy division commander for his merits.

After the counterattack, the headquarters selected a group of outstanding commanders from the division-level officers of the entire army and sent them to the Yenching Military Academy for further studies, with the intention of selecting cadre seedlings for the third echelon.

Liao Chengzhi, who was also selected, suffered a great loss during the entrance examination of Yenching Military Academy due to his academic qualifications and was included in the list of people to be returned to the army by the school.

At this time, the appearance of old leader Liu Zhiye brought hope to Liao Chengzhi.

Once, the college leaders accompanied the headquarters and Yanda District leaders to inspect. During the chat, they could not help but mention Liao Chengzhi, and then said with a little regret: "There is a student named Liao Chengzhi. He has good conditions in all aspects, but unfortunately his education level is too low. We plan to send him back to his original unit."

When Liu Zhiye heard that it was Liao Chengzhi, his old subordinate, he thought that this man was a talented general and it would be a pity to send him back like this.

So he quickly said: "I know Comrade Liao Chengzhi, he fought very well in the counterattack!
Speaking of which, many of the veterans in our team who fought back from the front lines didn't have much education, but aren't they still studying in your academy?

Is it possible that you can’t do it now?”

The opinions of the Yanda district leaders had to be taken seriously, and after repeated meetings and discussions by the college leaders, Liao Chengzhi was finally able to stay.

This year, the summer Peking University exercise officially kicked off.

The head of the headquarters believed that if they were going to do it, they had to do it on a large scale, so they dispatched a large number of combat aircraft and held a modern land-air coordination exercise.

On that day, the viewing platform was filled with senior leaders, and together with local cadres and the masses, more than 40,000 people watched the exercise.

Elite troops from all over the country also gathered here, and Liao Chengzhi, who had just graduated from the Yenching Military Academy, had the honor of serving as the temporary commander of a division in the exercise.

With the raising of the signal flare, the exercise officially began.

The Red Army's tank and armored cluster took the lead in attacking, launching a deep assault and carrying out roundabout maneuvers on the vast plains.

The Blue Army relied on the fire support of air force and artillery to suppress the Red Army with fierce firepower and wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack.

When the exercise was in a tense state, Liao Chengzhi commanded a division to change the situation. He sacrificed himself to lure the main force of the Blue Army to move out, allowing the Red Army to take advantage of the opportunity to attack Huanglong.

Seeing this, the leaders of the headquarters could not help but say: "This Red Army division that suddenly appeared fought well. Who is the leading division commander?"

Liu Zhiye, who was watching the exercise, quickly replied: "This man is called Liao Chengzhi. He once commanded the Sixth Guard Regiment during the counterattack. He was selected to be trained at the Military Academy because of his outstanding performance. He is currently serving as the temporary commander of the division."

"Not bad." After hearing this, the leader of the headquarters became interested in this person.

After the exercise, when it was Liao Chengzhi's turn to appear, the headquarters leader pointed at Liao Chengzhi and said happily: "This division commander is incredible. He must be trained as a key figure in the army. I think he will become an outstanding pillar of the army in the future!"

Everyone around was shocked, for they knew that the headquarters leaders had already decided that Liao Chengzhi would be the candidate for the third echelon of the headquarters.

With the favor of the headquarters leaders, Liao Chengzhi will definitely have smooth sailing after returning to the army.

A few months later, the headquarters decided to launch another operation to capture the "White-Eyed Wolf" stronghold, and the main attack mission was given to Liao Chengzhi's 3rd Mountain Infantry Division.

On the eve of the battle to recapture L Mountain, the head of the organization department of the 3rd Division began to prepare for post-war relief work, and one of the focuses of his work was to purchase coffins.

However, the head of the organization department went through a lot of trouble to collect only 200 coffins... Fearing that the number was not enough, he reported the situation to Liao Chengzhi, the division commander.

When Liao Chengzhi found out, his face turned pale. The head of the organization department asked hurriedly: "If you think it's not enough, I'll make it up right away!"

Liao Chengzhi shook his head and said loudly: "That's too much! If it had been planned before the war..., then I, as the division commander, should have just walked away!"

The head of the organization department opened his eyes wide when he heard this. You have to know that at that time, any battle between the two sides would involve at least tens of thousands of artillery shells, and sometimes a single shell from the enemy's heavy artillery would wipe out an entire squad.

In this case, even a thousand mouths might not be enough.

Liao Chengzhi was confident about this. He said confidently: "One hundred mouths are enough! We must defeat the enemy at the lowest cost in this battle."

This is indeed the case. Under the command of Liao Chengzhi, the battle to recapture L Mountain went quite smoothly.

It took five hours and thirty minutes for Liao Chengzhi's troops to defeat three main enemy regiments and recapture the entire L Mountain.

Due to Liao Chengzhi's good pre-war planning, he even postponed the time of launching the general offensive twice in order to allow the troops to complete their deployment and rest.

Such behavior enabled the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Division to fight in the best condition, and as a result, the casualties were indeed very low.

After the war, despite countless praises, Liao Chengzhi felt very heavy.

Unlike other leading cadres, he did not attend the celebration banquet organized by the visiting delegation, but quietly came to the cemetery.

Although the exercise has ended, the "rabbits" have not stopped. For the "rabbits", this exercise is just the beginning.

(End of this chapter)