In the morning of May 31, 1947, the rain was not as heavy as the previous day and the communist 359th Brigade resumed its assault on the city. The commander-in-chief of the communist 2nd Column, Wang Zhen, personally directed the 718th Regiment of the 359th Brigade of the communist 2nd Column to attack the southern gate of the city. The communist 718th Regiment had assaulted the southern gate several times without any success on May 29, 1947, and although the last attack in the morning on May 30, 1947, was successful in eliminating all of the obstacles, the attackers' attempt to blow up the gate itself was not successful. On their renewed attack on May 31, 1947, the communist attackers learned from past experience and assaulted the southern gate of the city in two places simultaneously: one team climbed the ladder to the top of the city wall in the rain to distract the defenders while the other team attempted to blow up the gate on the same time. The tactic worked and the communists were finally able to breach the city wall after an hour of fierce battle. The 718th Regiment of the communist 359th Brigade and a battalion of the 12th Regiment of the communist Independent 4th Brigade charged into the city via the gap. After two hours of fierce fighting and suffering heavy casualties, the communist attackers were finally able to force the defenders into northern section of the city. Wang Zhen, the commander of communist 2nd Column telephoned the political commissar of the communist 2nd Column, Wang Enmao () who was at the headquarters of the communist 359th Brigade in the northwestern suburb of the city to return to the headquarters of the communist 2nd Column located in the eastern suburb of the city and told the political commissar that the communists still planned to take the city by the morning. However, this was not to be and things had turned for the worse for the communist attackers.