He donated his family property to the revolution, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he took the initiative to ask to be rated as a lieutenant general, but the chairman resolutely disagreed
General Lai Chuanzhu, a senior general with old qualifications in our army, joined the revolution at the right time when our army was born, because the general died prematurely, so that many young people were unfamiliar with him.
Lai Chuanzhu, born in 1910 in a peasant family in Ganxian County, Jiangxi Province, suffered from the lack of culture of his ancestors, and gave him the name "Pengying", hoping that he would "spread his wings and fly high, leaving a british name", and sent him to a private school at the age of six.
In the autumn of 1924, Lai Chuanzhu was admitted to Gannan Middle School in Ganzhou with excellent results, he studied hard, worked diligently, accepted the influence of revolutionary ideas, and actively participated in the progressive activities organized by students.
In September 1926, the Northern Expeditionary Army conquered Ganzhou, and the communist Chen Zanxian, as a commissioner of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, formed the Ganzhou Federation of Trade Unions, in which Lai Chuanzhu participated and became the backbone.
On March 6, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek instructed his minions to shoot and kill Chen Zanxian, chairman of the Ganzhou Federation of Trade Unions, shocking the whole country.
Filled with righteous indignation, Lai Chuanzhu marched with the people of Ganzhou to denounce Chiang Kai-shek's criminal actions, and in April of the same year, he resolutely joined the Communist Party in the midst of a white terror.
In 1928, the Kuomintang mobilized a large army to suppress the Dabu rebellion, and more than 900 members of the riot team and their families were brutally killed.
Lai Chuanzhu's house was burned, his father Lai Jiafang was killed by local tycoons and inferior gentry, his mother and uncle were arrested one after another and tortured to death, the second uncle and brother Were successively sacrificed in the struggle against the enemy, the second cousin died in prison, and Lai Chuanzhu's family made great sacrifices for the Chinese revolution.
In March, Lai Chuanzhu decided to go to the ranks of the Jinggangshan Autumn Harvest Uprising.
When the chairman saw Lai Chuanzhu, a "strong young man" who was a servant of the wind and dust, he liked it very much at that time, and after knowing that he had participated in the peasant revolt in Dabu and the murder of his whole family, he said: "You are right to come to Jinggangshan, and the seeds of the revolution will not be extinguished." ”
In April, Lai Chuanzhu was appointed as the representative of the Jinggangshan Special Agent Company, responsible for the defense of the chairman and the division headquarters, and officially began his career as a warrior for a lifetime.
Lai Chuanzhu's southern conquest of the northern war, blood stained the battlefield, commanded thousands of troops and horses, was wounded many times, was born and died, Nie Shuai commented that he was "an excellent senior general of our army."
In early May 1939, the Jiangbei Headquarters of the New Fourth Army was established, Zhang Yunyi was appointed as the commander-in-chief, and Xu Haidong was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief.
In the 10 years from the formation of the New Fourth Army to the abolition of the establishment, the commander, deputy commander, political commissar, and director of the political department have all been replaced, and only the post of chief of staff has long been held by Lai Chuanzhu, who is known as the "great steward" of the New Fourth Army.
The chairman once made an evaluation of the "big housekeeper": Don't think that the supervisors are all small things, the accumulation is a big thing, don't think that the deputy post does not play a leading role, without him, the main post will achieve nothing, in short, there is no big detail, the housekeeper has no small matter!
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Lai Chuanzhu was transferred to the Northeast Battlefield and served as the political commissar of the 15th Corps of Siye, under the jurisdiction of the 43rd, 44th, and 48th Armies, and participated in the Liaoshen Campaign, the Pingjin Campaign, and the Battle of Crossing the River.
Subsequently, he led the 48th Army of the Fifteenth Corps to the south and liberated more than 20 counties and cities in northwestern and southwestern Jiangxi.
In early March 1950, after careful preparation and deployment, Lai Chuanzhu, Hong Xuezhi, and other corps led and commanded the 40th Army and the 43rd Army of the People's Liberation Army, forcibly crossed the Qiongzhou Strait, created the miracle of wooden boats and warships, liberated Hainan Island in one fell swoop, planted the red flag of victory on the "end of the world," and made outstanding achievements for the liberation of the Chinese people.
After the founding of New China, Lai Chuanzhu was transferred to the post of first vice minister of the General Cadre Department of the Central Military Commission, assisting Luo Ronghuan, director of the General Political Department and director of the General Cadre Department, in leading the cadre work of the whole army, with heavy responsibilities.
When selecting and appointing cadres, he conscientiously carried out the line of cadres from all over the world and appointing people on the basis of merit, achieved fairness and justice, set an example by example, and did not appoint nepotism, thus winning the trust of military cadres.
In September 1955, our army implemented the rank system for the first time, and the work of evaluating military ranks was specifically responsible for Lai Chuanzhu.
Since this is the first time that our army has evaluated military ranks, it is necessary to take into account all aspects, and there is no experience to follow, and the work is very difficult to do.
Lai Chuanzhu organized everyone to read a large number of materials on the establishment of foreign armies, and asked senior Kuomintang generals who had been captured by our army for advice; after repeated discussions and revisions, they formulated the first regulations on the evaluation and awarding of military ranks in our army.
According to this regulation, hundreds of thousands of cadres in the whole army should be evaluated separately according to their personal positions, seniority, and contributions, as well as the situation in various aspects of morality, talent, and intelligence.
Lai Chuanzhu is well aware of the importance of this work, always walking on thin ice, conscientiously working, and trying to do the work solidly and meticulously.
In order to make the work of awarding titles go smoothly and eliminate the trend of comparison, Lai Chuanzhu took the initiative to evaluate himself as a "lieutenant general.", and after the chairman knew about it, he resolutely disagreed, and after studying, according to Lai Chuanzhu's qualifications and meritorious achievements, it was decided to award him the rank of general, and his high style and bright festival were also passed down as beautiful talks from then on.
Regrettably, General Lai Chuanzhu had been busy and overworked, and in December 1965, when he was the political commissar of the Shenyang Military Region, he unfortunately died young at the age of 55.