Liu Bocheng
During the Chinese Civil War, Zhang was commander of the Third Subdistrict of the Tongbai Military District, and fought in many battles under the leadership of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping. Deng highly praised the performance of his subdistrict in a report to Mao Zedong. In May 1949, he was appointed Communist Party Chief of Xiangfan Prefecture, and Commander of the Xiangfan Military Subdistrict.