One day in July 1949, the Huxi Military Division received a report from a stretcher team of the passing People's Liberation Army that the army's stretcher team passed through Dangshan in southwestern Hunan (today's An'an) and was attacked by a grenade from an unknown person.

, although they were repelled by fire from the guard troops, but casualties were suffered among the troops and the wounded.

Receiving them in the Huxi Division were Deputy Commander Wang Yueting and Regional Armed Forces Minister Li Rutai.

From what they described, they immediately realized that it must have been Li Ziyi and his gang of bandits who did it!

The Huxi region refers to the area west of Weishan Lake in Shandong Province (referred to as the Huxi region) adjacent to northern Henan. Banditry here has always been very serious.

The Weishan Lake area saw fierce struggles during the Red Army period and the Anti-Japanese War.

In the early days of the Liberation War, this was the place where the People's Liberation Army and the Kuomintang army fought. It was not until August and September 1948 that most of the area was liberated.

The situation in the newly liberated Huxi area is very complicated.

Historically, this place was a place of war and chaos, with constant banditry.

Since the Anti-Japanese War, various forces have repeatedly fought for it. The enemy, puppets, die-hards, bandits and other forces all have a certain social foundation.

After the Huaihai Battle, many guns and ammunition were scattered among the people.

The defeated remnants of the Kuomintang forces that slipped through the net were scattered throughout the country, still dreaming of "recovering lost ground" and making a comeback.

The latent agents spread rumors and sabotage everywhere, organized bandit armed forces, and actively prepared to cooperate with the Kuomintang's "counterattack."

The Li Ziyi gang we mentioned above is one of the larger ones.

In response to this situation, the leaders of the 3rd Prefectural Committee and the 3rd Military Division of Hebei, Shandong and Yu (later changed to the Huxi Prefectural Committee and the Huxi Military Division of the Pingyuan Provincial Military Region) were determined to actively crack down on bandits and stabilize order in the Huxi region.

Wang Yueting was appointed as the deputy commander of the military division, and a bandit suppression headquarters was established. Deputy Commander Wang Yueting served as the commander-in-chief, with full authority to command the bandit suppression operations in the Huxi region.

Wang Yueting is an old comrade with rich combat experience.

After taking up the post of commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression headquarters, he immediately reported the situation of bandits in the Huxi area to his superiors and requested support from his superiors.

To meet the needs of the struggle in the western region, the superior military region agreed to strengthen the armed forces in the region.

In mid-March, the 5th Hebei-Shandong-Henan Garrison Regiment conducted a short-term training and established new county and district basic armed forces. After intense formation, one independent battalion and eight county brigades were established.***

More than 1,500 people provide a reliable guarantee for suppressing bandits in terms of military strength.

The bandit we mentioned earlier, Li Ziyi, also known as Li Jinzhong, was born in Caoboji, Cao County, southwest Shandong.

His grandfather Li Rui was the leader of the famous "Sanfanzi" (Qinghong Gang) in southwestern Shandong, and his uncle Li Wenzhai was the secretary-general of the Kuomintang Party Department.

Under the "influence" of this kind of family, Li Ziyi has relied on power to act arrogantly since he was a child.

On the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Ziyi, with the support of his uncle, became the head of District 8 of Cao County, and began his criminal life of half bandit and half official.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Ziyi recruited troops and mobilized an armed force of more than a thousand people under the guise of "anti-Japanese".

Han Fuju, Chairman of the Shandong Province of the Kuomintang, soon reorganized this bandit armed force into the "Shandong Provincial Secret Service Brigade", and later changed it to the 24th Security Brigade of Caoxian County, Shandong.

In May 1938, the Japanese invading army occupied southwestern Shandong.

Li Ziyi's patron Han Fu fled in panic.

After Han Fuju escaped, in order to find a new backer, Li Ziyi secretly colluded with the Japanese army and actively opposed and caused friction with the Eighth Route Army.

In 1943, Li Ziyi publicly surrendered to the Japanese invaders and became the captain of the Yucheng Puppet Security Alliance. He established several strongholds in Lixinji at the junction of Cao, Dan and Yu counties north of the old Yellow River route, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to

His new master "Imperial Army" serves.

In June 1945, the 14th Regiment of the 5th Hebei-Shandong-Henan Army Division captured Li Ziyi's stronghold in Dongmazhuang. Li Ziyi was wounded and escaped, and all his traitors were annihilated.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Ziyi suddenly transformed and became the Kuomintang's receptionist in the cities along the Longhai border at the junction of Shandong and Henan.

One has to admire Li Ziyi's changeability and "ability" to find a backer.

In February 1946, he gathered more than 200 of his original subordinates and established the "Longhai Detachment".

Taking advantage of the Kuomintang's massive attack on the Huxi Liberated Area, the troops rushed to Cao County, proclaimed themselves the county magistrate of Cao County, and organized returning regiments to counterattack in the areas east and south of Cao County.

Li Zi committed all kinds of evil. In just three months, he hanged and killed more than 300 village cadres, staff and mass activists, confiscated more than 50,000 kilograms of grain with gunfire, and burned more than 200 houses.

Caoxian County was suddenly shrouded in white terror.

In December of that year, Liu and Deng's armies went south and attacked southwestern Shandong, capturing towns such as Jinxiang, Shanxian, Chengwu, and Caoxian.

Li Ziyi lost his armor and fled to Shangqiu in panic, where he met Wang Hansan, the chief spy of the military.

Wang Hansan was about to carry out sabotage in the liberated areas at this time, so he ordered him to organize gangsters and set up a "black killing team" in Liudi Circle, Cao County, to spy on the intelligence of the People's Liberation Army, destroy contact points, and hunt down our personnel.

And promised to give Li Ziyi a certain amount of weapons and activity funds.

After Li Ziyi received the money and weapons from the military special agents, he lost his mind and started killing people and setting fires frantically, committing new crimes one after another.