In May 1928, Ma Zhongying launched the "Hehuang Incident" that shook the northwest, and the dust of the war reached as far as Gansu, Ning, Qingdao, Sui, and Xin provinces. At the beginning of April 1929, Ma Zhongying led his troops into the Tengger Desert, crossed the Helan Mountain through the Alxa Banner, and marched to the provincial capital of Ningxia. On April 12, Ma Zhongying's troops left Suyukou in Helan Mountain and occupied Ningshuo County (now Yinchuan New Town) in the afternoon. The next day, they besieged the provincial capital of Ningxia from the west, north, and east. At that time, the defense of the provincial capital was extremely empty, and Ma Zhongying's troops quickly occupied the west gate. Zhao Xuetian**, secretary general of the provincial government, was killed, and Men Zhizhong, escorted by the guards, escaped from the south gate of the provincial capital, went straight to the dam at the eastern foot of the southern section of Helan Mountain, Guangwu area, and retreated to Zhongwei. On April 16, Ma Zhongying led his troops to chase after Menzhi to cross the dam and cross the watershed to the north gate of Guangwu.
At this time, He Jiantang led the escort team to cooperate with the Menzhizhong pistol battalion, the battle lasted for 3 days, the Ma Department was defeated and retreated to the dam battalion, and the division headquarters was stationed in Wujiacha (now Shawan Village, Daba Township) at the eastern foot of the southern section of Helan Mountain, and the rest of the troops were stationed in Weijiazhai, Wujiadongzhai, Weijiazhai, Chenjiazhai, Majiazhai and other villages along the road, and dug trenches and built fortifications under the ancient Great Wall of Daba Township. Liu Yufen, chairman of Gansu Province, ordered Ji Hongchang, commander of the 11th Division, to lead his troops to attack. After Ji was ordered, he immediately led 4 regiments of infantry and artillery to Ningxia from Zhenfan, Liangzhou and Gulang, and then the battle of Ji Hongchang and Ma Zhongying Dam occurred.
On May 10, 1929, Ji Hongchang, commander of the 11th Division of the Northwest Army, led his troops to chase Ma Zhongying to the area of Zhongwei County, Ningxia. On the 18th, Ji Hongchang's division reached the area of Guangwu (now part of Qingtongxia Town). Not long before that, the Feng Anbang Brigade and Wu Pengju Brigade of the Seventh Division, which were transferred back from Gansu, held on to the watershed and Kazimiao to wait for battle, and the provincial chairman Men Zhizhong was also in the army. After Ji Hongchang's division arrived in Guangwu, its strength increased dramatically, and the two divisions met and immediately entered the battle. Guangwu is only more than 10 kilometers away from the dam. Ji Hongchang was eager to win, and took the dam at the eastern foot of the southern section of Helan Mountain as the first target of the attack, and immediately organized an attack.
Ji Hongchang ordered Li Songkun's brigade to be the left column, along the mountain road to the east of Hongyazi, to occupy a position south of the dam; ordered Li Lunxiang to be the right column, and went down the river on a raft to serve as a guard against the Yellow River; At the same time, Li Songkun's Zhang Tuan was ordered to attack as the main attack, and he took the horse department directly along the way. Ji Hongchang personally inspected the front line, and the guards followed closely behind with large knives on their shoulders. In the early morning of May 22, the general offensive began, and Ji Hongchang led the main force to enter the pot bottom pit (now in the territory of Qingtongxia Aluminum Factory).
Ji Hongchang fought fiercely with Ma Zhongying, and the two sides were at loggerheads. At this time, Men Zhizhong saw from the telescope that the three horse teams of red, white, and black horses rushed straight towards him, and immediately panicked and led the pioneer horses to flee. The follow-up troops of the Ji Division did not know the situation, and when they saw that the front army was scattered, they followed and fled. Ji Shi attacked head-on, ** breakthrough did not bear fruit, and there was no time to break. The horse department continued to counterattack, and the offensive formation of the Ji division was disrupted. Ji Hongchang angrily drew his sword, stepped forward, and ordered: "Those who retreat will be killed." But it still failed to stop the retreat.
After a fierce battle until noon, the horse cavalry attacked Jibe, and a guard of Ji Hongchang's pistol battalion was stabbed in the throat by the horse cavalry with a spear, and the document was also taken away by the horse cavalry, and the Ji division fell into a heavy siege. At this time, the guards ignored Ji Hongchang's opposition and forcibly mounted him on his horse and withdrew to Guangwu. In the first battle of the dam, because of the escape from the middle of the gate, the head of the Jishi Niu regiment was lightly defeated, the head of the Niu regiment was killed, the three regiment commanders of Lei, Peng and Zhang were wounded, and more than half of the equipment was lost.
After Ji Shi was defeated and retreated to Guangwu, he decided to take advantage of Ma Zhongying's arrogant army and organize **. In the early morning of the next day, Ji personally led his troops directly to the dam and commanded the troops to quickly occupy the high ground west of the dam. At this time, Ma Zhongying held the dam camp bridge, and the division headquarters moved to Longwangmiao, commanding the troops to occupy Mayikou (now Gaoqiao Village, Xinxiang, Qingtongxia).
Before the battle began, Ji Hongchang summoned the officers and soldiers of the whole division to mobilize: "Today's battle is only allowed to win, not defeated, if the enemy cannot be defeated, the dam is the burial place of me and my brothers!" After speaking, he took off his shirt, shirtless, holding a big knife in his hand, and gave an order in a loud voice: "1. Qi Feng Lin Tuanyi."
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd battalions rushed towards the bridge, and must occupy the bridge; 2. The regiment commander Qi Fenglin led the first battalion to charge, the second battalion followed, and I took the third battalion behind; 3. When charging, only look forward, not left and right, let alone look back, violators will be executed; Fourth, the artillery fired at the target, and as soon as the artillery stopped, the charge began. After the order, all the officers and soldiers took off their shirts, and their ancestral arms swung their swords into battle.
In an instant, the sound of artillery shook the sky, and the sound of killing was everywhere. The first battalion of the Ji Division has not yet reached the front of the position, that is, more than half of the **. The second battalion of Ji Ling continued to attack, and when it approached the vicinity of the bridgehead, the third battalion of Ji Ling rushed into the Mabu position one after another. At the same time, the cavalry moved back along the right side to make a surprise attack, and the main forces attacked behind the right side, and the fighting between the two sides intensified. Ji Shi withstood the dense firepower of the horses, one after another, and continued to rush.
At this time, Jishi's artillery fire hit the Longwang Temple, the stele pavilion, and burned a commander of Ma Zhongying's department to death, and the rest of the troops immediately panicked. At the same time, the cavalry of the horse department rushed straight to the three trees, trying to besiege the Ji division from behind, but suddenly encountered artillery fire, and the cavalry was completely defeated. After a fierce battle until noon, the Ji division finally captured the bridge. The horses were in disarray and fled north along the Tanglai Canal. Ji Shi took advantage of the victory to pursue, expelled Ma Bu from the dam, and the remnants fled north in a hurry, and Ji Shi pursued all the way to the capital of Ningxia Province.
Ma Zhongying didn't dare to fight, so he burned Ma Fuxiang's "general", led his troops out of the north gate, and retreated to the area of Shizuishan. Ma Zhongying occupied the provincial capital for a total of 40 days, and more than 1,000 people died in the provincial capital. On May 24, Ji Hongchang's division was stationed in the provincial capital of Ningxia. The next day, Feng Yuxiang sent a telegram back to Zhizhong, and the troops stationed in Ningxia, including Ji Hongchang's division, were combined into the Tenth Army. Men Zhizhong called Feng Yuxiang and sponsored Ji Hongchang to be promoted to commander of the Tenth Army.
After Ma Zhongying's troops retreated to Shizuishan, they joined up with Ma Tingxian, Ma Peiqing, Ma Fuchen and others, swore in at Huangquqiao on June 26, and reached a non-aggression agreement with Su Yusheng's department in Pingluo County, relieved the Soviet department of plagiarism and the second attack on the provincial capital of Ningxia.
In the early morning of June 28, Ma Zhongying's troops attacked the city from the northwest direction, Ji Hongchang carefully planned, strictly guarded, organized the broadsword team, and stationed Feng Anbang in Ningshuo County to attack inside and outside. Soon, Ma Zhongying left the army and went to Beiping, and his subordinates were successively absorbed. The provincial capital of Ningxia was preserved, and Ji Hongchang contributed a lot.