The division would participate in the Battle of Weinan in before it would be moved to southern China to continue minor operations there until the end of the Civil War.

During the Korean War, Fan was awarded the rank of Major General while still retaining his role as brigadier of the 21st Division's successors until his retirement in 1982.

[4]With much of its early leadership and base of soldiers from Shanxi, the division would be sent to participate in the larger capture of Kuomintang-controlled territory across neighboring Shaanxi in early- to mid-1949.

The city, previously faced with a communist insurgency, housed little resistance as time went on and the general advance of the People's Liberation Army continued.

Included as part of the so-called "trailbreakers" (Chinese: 开路先锋; pinyin: kāilù xiānfēng) of the railway, being some of the first to participate in its construction and expansion.