In January 1946, the 3rd Column of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army was established, and the backbone units were the 3rd Division and 3rd Brigade of the Luzhong Military Region and the 16th Military Subdistrict of the Jireliao Military Region. At the beginning of the establishment of the 3 column, the commander was Cheng Shicai, and the deputy commander was Zeng Kelin. Nine months later, Cheng Shicai was transferred to the Southern Manchuria Military Region, and his position in the 3rd Column was taken over by Zeng Kelin, who was then the famous whirlwind commander Han Xianchu, who was serving as deputy commander in the Third Column and gave Zeng Kelin his deputy. Unexpectedly, only 9 years later, Han Xianchu became the founding general, while his former superior Zeng Kelin was only a major general.
Cheng Shicai
When the title was awarded in 1955, the two most important criteria were seniority and military merit. In terms of seniority, Zeng Kelin is no worse than Han Xianchu. During the agrarian revolutionary war, Zeng Kelin served as the chief of staff of the regiment, and Han Xianchu served as the battalion commander for a long time; after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Zeng Kelin's highest position was commander of the 16th Military Subdistrict of the Jireliao Military Region, and Han Xianchu's highest position was the commander of the 3rd Military Subdistrict of the Jiluyu Military Region. At the beginning of the Liberation War, Zeng Kelin was the commander of the 3rd Column, and Han Xianchu was the deputy commander.
Although the two had similar qualifications, Zeng Kelin was conservative in fighting and his courage was far inferior to That of Han Xianchu. There are two most obvious examples, the first of which is the Battle of Xinkailing. In this campaign, the 3rd and 4th columns fought jointly against the enemy's 25th Division, known as the Thousand Mile Colt. After the battle began, the 3rd and 4th columns compressed the enemy at Laoye Ridge after a bitter battle, but since then our army has failed to capture the enemy's position in 9 successive charges, at this time the enemy's three-way reinforcements have rushed to the vicinity of the battlefield, and our attacking troops are facing the danger of being attacked by the enemy in the abdomen and back.
Zeng Klin
Seeing this, Zeng klin advocated that our attacking forces retreat before enemy reinforcements arrived, and then look for opportunities to fight again. However, Han Xianchu resolutely opposed it, believing that the enemy was already at the end of the crossbow, and that withdrawing at this time was tantamount to returning the tiger to the mountain, and the morale of our army was also unfavorable, so he advocated continuing the offensive. Han Xianchu's proposal was supported by the majority of the people, and in the end our army rushed to capture Laoye Ridge before the enemy's reinforcements arrived, annihilating more than 8,000 enemy troops, setting a precedent for the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army to annihilate a whole division of the Nationalist Army in one operation.
The second example is the Sibao Linjiang River. At the end of March 1947, the Nationalist army mobilized more than 20 regiments of troops to launch a fourth offensive in the Linjiang area in three ways. Facing the enemy troops on the left, center, and right, Han Xianchu and Zeng Kelin had a disagreement on which way to fight. Out of a precautionary consideration, Zeng Kelin advocated hitting the 22nd Division, the weakest on the left, first, and the advantage of this was that the probability of victory was relatively large. However, Han Xianchu advocated hitting the strongest 89th Division in the middle of the road first, believing that as long as the 89th Division was defeated, the other two enemies would collapse without a fight.
Han Xianchu
At that time, Zeng Kelin was the commander of the 3rd Column, and Han Xianchu was the deputy commander, but Zeng Kelin did not suppress Han Xianchu's opinion, but reported the two operational bills, and finally the superior adopted Han Xianchu's plan and let him command the troops to fight. Han Xianchu used the method of luring the enemy to go deeper, lured the 89th Division to the town of Hongshi, where our main force was ambushed, and then suddenly launched a fierce attack, annihilating the enemy in one fell swoop. After the other two enemy forces learned of the annihilation of the 89th Division, they were afraid of the same fate and retreated, and the fourth attack of the Nationalist army on Linjiang ended in failure. After this battle, the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army completely reversed the passive situation.
After the battle of Xinkailing and the Battle of Sibao Linjiang, the chief of Dongye felt that Zeng Kelin's command was conservative and his courage was not as good as Han Xianchu, so he transferred Zeng Kelin to the 7th column as deputy commander, and Han Xianchu was promoted to commander of the 3rd column. Zeng Kelin was demoted twice, and by October 1949 he was the brigade commander of the Mixed Brigade of the Air Force, by which time Han Xianchu was already the deputy commander of the 12th Corps. After that, he vigorously advocated the launch of the Hainan Island Campaign, and created the miracle of wooden sailing ships defeating warships, making important contributions to the liberation of Hainan Island.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Han Xianchu, as deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, was on the front line many times, participated in and commanded almost all important battles and battles, and was one of Peng Zong's most trusted deputies. Zeng Kelin did not participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Although the seniority before the Liberation War was similar to that of Han Xianchu, at the end of the Liberation War, Zeng Kelin's position and military achievements were not as good as Han Xianchu's, so when zeng Kelin was awarded the title in 55 years, Zeng Kelin was only a major general, and his former deputy Han Xianchu became the founding general.