The old version of the TV series "Bright Sword" is recognized as an excellent war-themed TV series in the mainland. Although due to the characteristics of the crew's budget and age, the production is flawed, and some historical details are not accurate enough, on the whole, the play is still a classic in the classic, and has been talked about by the audience. There is an intriguing detail in "Bright Sword": the protagonist Li Yunlong was the commander of the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance, and his immediate boss was Chen Geng, the commander of the 386th Brigade, and the two positions were only one level apart; why did Chen Geng become the founding general in 1955, but Li Yunlong only rated a major general? The two men's ranks were three notchs apart, which at first glance seemed illogical.
Let's not talk about the subjective reasons of the "personality figure" Li Yunlong, but understand the inside story from a more convincing objective aspect. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the organization of our army was very special and was compressed as a whole. The brigade commander of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army was Chen Geng, but the two main regiments under his direct command were the 771st Regiment and the 772nd Regiment, which were units within the establishment and also recognized by the Nationalist government. As for the various independent regiments, county brigades, and district squads newly established by the 18th Group Army (that is, the Eighth Route Army) in order to expand the strength of the troops, these new units are not accepted by the state government on paper, and Li Yunlong is the leader of the new regiment at the beginning of the plot, and later becomes the leader of the independent regiment, and the troops he commands all have this nature.
These units were all expanded by our army on their own, and they are quite different from the 771st regiment and the 772nd regiment of the two regular regiments under the jurisdiction of the 386 brigade. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many such regiments were expanded, and there were many regimental commanders under Chen Geng's jurisdiction, and the core was still two regiments within the establishment, excluding Li Yunlong's troops. Therefore, in fact, Chen Geng is more than one level higher than Li Yunlong's position, but due to the particularity of the organizational structure, Li Yunlong reports directly to Chen Geng and is also shown in the TV series.
The leader of the 772nd Regiment in "Bright Sword" is the "Blind Man of Cheng" whom Li Yunlong despises very much. Leaving aside the TV series itself, in real history, the leaders of the 771st Regiment and the 772nd Regiment should be significantly stronger than the leaders of these independent regiments that were later expanded in terms of seniority and ability. If you look at the situation when he was awarded the title in 1955, Xu Shenji, the earliest regimental commander of the 771 regiment, was rated with the rank of lieutenant general, and Ye Chenghuan, the leader of the 772 regiment, was martyred in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Obviously, the status of the regular main regiment is higher than that of the independent regiment or the new regiment, and the strength is also stronger. If Li Yunlong is a figure in real history, then he cannot really compare with Xu Shenji or Wang Jinshan, and his rank with Chen Geng is actually more than one level. The so-called relationship between regimental commanders and brigade commanders had a lot to do with the special staffing situation at that time.
After understanding the objective reasons, let's analyze the subjective situation. Li Yunlong was a hot-tempered general who had his own ideas and style of acting, and suffered a lot of losses for this. This point does not need to be talked about, and the audience who has watched the TV series is very well aware. Li Yunlong participated in the Jute Uprising of 1927, one of the most important uprisings in the early days of our army, and his revolutionary credentials were very strong. But he caused too many disasters, the TV series showed: once was demoted to the director of the garment factory, but also because of avenging his subordinates were demoted to battalion commander, these are very influential personal promotion, although there are many merits and demerits of the plot, but in the real history of the cadres who have been punished so much, even if they are still reused by their superiors by virtue of their military merits, it is impossible not to be affected in military positions and ranks. The people's army stresses discipline, not a place where private emotions and tempers are played at will, especially as commanders.
In addition, in the duel with Chu Yunfei, Li Yunlong was seriously injured and hospitalized, and before that, he also had the experience of recuperation from injury. The longer time away from the front line can also affect promotion during the war years. When the troops are employing people, so many excellent generals will emerge, and it is a frequent situation to stand still or even retreat if they do not advance, which is especially obvious in real history. There may be generals in the TV series whose early battle achievements are not as good as Li Yunlong's, but during his injury, it is normal for others to accumulate more combat resumes and surpass him in status.
Back to the comparison of Chen Geng and Li Yunlong, a fictional character. At the end of the Liberation War, Chen Geng had become the commander of the Erye 4 Corps, and although Li Yunlong was also promoted in the play, he was only a division commander. The division commander and the corps commander were also separated by the deputy commander, the army commander, and the deputy commander of the corps, so the difference in the ranks of the two was still very large, which was very clearly reflected in this period. Awarded the title in 1955, two people, a major general and a major general, it is normal to be three grades behind.