On the eve of the Huaihai Campaign, Liu Ruming obeyed the order to retreat south to Bengbu, which was conditional, the first was to assign the 181st Division Mi Wenhe to Qiu Qingquan's corps, which was Qiu's barrier in Shangqiu, but he did not expect that the first one would be cleaned up by the People's Liberation Army. The second is to follow Liu Zhi's request to leave a division in Suxian County to change defenses, guard the main railway line, cut off the connection between Liu Deng and the Suyu Group, and ensure the smooth flow of the railway. But Liu Ruming did not get off the bus at all during the retreat to the south, let alone leave a single soldier.
After Huang Wei's corps was surrounded, Jiang urgently ordered Li Yannian and Liu Ruming's corps on the southern front to rush to Huang Wei's aid, and Xuzhou asked Du Yuming to personally lead Qiu Qingquan, Li Mi, Sun Yuanliang and the troops directly under Xuzhou's "Suppression General" to the west to rescue. On the southern front, the combat effectiveness of the newly formed Li Yannian's corps was stronger than that of the miscellaneous Liu Ruming corps, and the main forces of Hu Changqing, Que Hanqian, Wang Boxun, and other units fought extremely hard. And Liu Ruming's corps has not made much progress.
In fact, at this time, Chiang Kai-shek was on guard against the Northwest Army generals He Jifeng and Zhang Kexia's uprising, and Sun Liangcheng and Wang Qinghan's surrender. On December 2, Yu Jishi explained to Li Yixuan, a field observer sent to the Bengbu front, that is, you have another task, I want you to continue to inspect the Bengbu front, bring two handwritten letters to the two commanders Liu and Li, do your best to relieve the siege, monitor how they fight, how they carry out the order, pay special attention to the actions of Liu's corps, and if there is too late to ask for instructions, that is, discuss with Li Jifu (Yannian), and at the same time let Liu Jinggong (Zhi) know, and then make a supplementary report. It shows that Chiang Kai-shek has taken strict precautions against it.
After Liu Ruming received Chiang Kai-shek's handwritten letter, he said: "Do your best to obey the destiny of heaven." It means that this matter is no longer possible.
Although Liu Ruming did not do his best in this rescue, Chiang Kai-shek still comforted him and did not deal with it strictly, probably for three reasons:
First, Liu Ruming truthfully reported to Jiang the situation of Sun Liangcheng, who came to Bengbu to persuade him to surrender, and also handed over Zhou Hao, a member of the central government who traveled with Sun, and Wang Qinghan, an underground member of the Communist Party of China.
The second is the plan for the battle of Xu Beng, which was formulated by Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek was responsible for many mistakes in the middle.
Third, although Liu Ruming repeatedly "avoided Chiang," Chiang Kai-shek still had to pull in in order to maintain his military strength. Li Ran, chief of staff of Liu Ruming's corps, said it well. "Fighting against miscellaneous troops, you can only be moved on the battlefield, and it is not appropriate to be harsh, of course our principal knows it. What if it changes? For example, after Sun Liangcheng led the 107th Army to surrender at Suining Dawangji shortly after the beginning, the Communist Party sent him to Beng to persuade Liu to revolt, and Liu reported Chiang's kindness and telegraphed his old friend Sun Liangcheng's actions **, and Sun was sent to the Nanjing Military Justice Bureau. It can be seen that the miscellaneous troops can be controlled well, and it is not easy for the Communist Party to plot rebellion. History