On September 27, 1955, the ceremony for conferring military ranks and medals was officially held at Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, Beijing. Among them were 10 major generals, 55 with the rank of general, 175 with the rank of lieutenant general and 802 with the rank of major general, and among these was an unusual major general who was awarded the Order of August 1 of the Second Class, the Order of Freedom of the Second Class and the Order of Liberation of the First Class. Why use that word to describe it? It was because the only female general among the founding generals to be awarded the rank of major general was Li Zhen.
Speaking of this female general, her prestige must be well known. People only know that Li Zhen made great contributions to the construction of New China, but the bumps in the road she experienced are little known, including the hardships on the road of revolution and the feelings of giving up for New China. Li Zhen has been married three times, but the outcome of the first two marriages is lamentable.
In 1908, Li Zhen was born in the countryside of Liuyang County, Hunan Province. Li Zhen's parents are farmers and have always wanted to have a son, but they did not expect that six children in a row were daughters, and not long after the birth of the sixth child, Li Zhen's father died of illness, which made the already not very wealthy family even worse. The heavy responsibility of raising children fell to Li Zhen's mother alone, and the mother alone could not support so many children, and she had no choice but to give Li Zhen to others to be a child bride.
Li Zhen's first husband was named Gu Tianshun, a brother of a landlord's family. Li Zhen was sent to the Gu family as a child bridesmaid, said to be a child bridesmaid, in fact, the people of the Gu family have always shouted at her as a maid, and every day they allocate some hard work for Li Zhen to do, and if they do not do well, they will beat her. It was not until Li Zhen was 16 years old that the Gu family let Li Zhen and his child Gu Tianshun round the house.
Because Li Zhen was sent to the Gu family as a child bride since he was a child, Gu Tianshun had no feelings for Li Zhen. And Li Zhen was also forced, and this period of married life did not produce happiness for Li Zhen. In the spring of 1926, Li Zhen joined the Communist Party. The Gu family was afraid that Li Zhen would affect themselves, so they immediately wrote a letter of resignation and sent it to Li Zhen's mother's family. Since then, Li Zhen has got rid of the gu family and devoted all her body and mind to the revolutionary cause.
Li Zhen's second husband was Zhang Qilong. Zhang Qilong was the introducer of Li Zhen when he joined the party, took good care of Li Zhen in his study and work, and gave Li Zhen a lot of help. When Li Zhen's mother was seriously ill, Zhang Qilong also took the initiative to take out his few subsidies to invite a doctor to Li Mother, fortunately, the treatment was timely, and Li Mother was not in serious trouble. In 1930, Zhang Qilong's wife and daughter were arrested and killed by reactionaries, Zhang Qilong was depressed after losing his relatives, Li Zhen took the initiative to help him wash and cook in order to appease Zhang Qilong, so after a period of time, the two developed a good feeling for each other, and finally married with the approval of the organization. However, the good times were unusual, Zhang Qilong was mistakenly made into a reform faction, in order not to involve Li Zhen, Zhang Qilong had to tearfully and unwillingly sign his name on the divorce application, and since then Li Zhen's second married life has also been torn apart in this way.
Li Zhen's third husband was Gan Siqi. On the eve of the Long March, Li Zhen was already the minister of the Red Sixth Army, and the director of the Political Department of the Red Liu Army was Gan Siqi, who had just been transferred. Because of the relationship between working together, the two people often contact each other, so that the common language and ideals make the two people quickly come together. In 1935, under the personal aficiating of He Long, the two simply held a wedding. At the beginning of the Long March, Li Zhen was already pregnant, and Li Zhen did not have time to recuperate and work busier, which eventually led to Li Zhen's miscarriage. Because she could not recuperate and could not supplement the nutrition she needed, Li Zhen also lost her fertility. For the revolutionary cause, Li Zhen made great sacrifices. After that, the couple also raised more than twenty abandoned children together, although these children did not have parents, but fortunately, when they met Li Zhen and his wife, they did not lose their warmth, and they were also admitted to college when they grew up and became the pillars of the country.
In 1955, the two were awarded the rank of major general together, Li Zhen was awarded the rank of major general, and Gan Siqi was awarded the rank of general. It was just that Gan Siqi died too early and died of illness in 1964. Li Zhen and her husband's official positions are not small, but their lives are very simple. In 1990, Li Zhen died of illness in Beijing, and her relics were not very precious, only her four medals representing honor, more than 10,000 yuan and 2,500 yuan of treasury bills, which were donated in accordance with Li Zhen's last wishes before his death.