In the golden autumn of 1955, the newly founded New China held a solemn ceremony to confer military ranks in honor of those heroes who were born into death during the revolutionary war years, fought with blood, had both wisdom and courage, and made outstanding contributions.
This time the title is very strict, there are clear selection criteria, and generally follow the five major elements: position, quality, ability, qualifications, and military merit. As far as individuals are concerned, what positions have been held or are active in the army, what important battles they have participated in, what merits they have won, what schools they have graduated from, and what outstanding performances they have performed are all important evaluation criteria.
For example, during the Red Army period, it was a military commander, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, it was a division commander, and the Liberation War was at the level of commander of the field army, which was generally awarded the rank of marshal or general, and other military ranks corresponded to the corresponding ranks. There are also the rank of the main corps in the active army, most of which are rated as generals, the deputy corps level is the basic force of lieutenant generals, and major generals. However, there is one point, the founding general must be in the army, transferred to the local work does not participate in the awarding of titles, therefore, many people have full qualifications to award the stars, but because of the transfer to the local level to serve at the provincial and ministerial levels, no military ranks have been awarded.
Of course, this is not fixed and fixed, today I would like to introduce you to one, during the Long March of the Red Army, he once served as the leader of the red army guerrilla brigade in western Jinxi, the leader of the guerrilla brigade of the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army, equivalent to the division-level cadre of the Red Army, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the head of the garrison regiment, during the War of Liberation, he was only the deputy political commissar of the corps, especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he has been transferred to the local government as vice governor. As a general rule, he would not have been awarded a rank, however, he was awarded the rank of general in 1955.
He is Yan Hongyan. Yan Hongyan, formerly known as Yan Houyan, formerly known as Zhou Ji and Chen Yichuan, was born in a poor peasant family in Wayao Fort, Anding (now Zichang) County, Shaanxi Province, and grew up with his father and brother to cultivate land and burn bricks and tiles, and his life was difficult. Yan Hongyan was only sent to the Miliangshan Private School at the age of nine, and six months later he dropped out of school due to economic difficulties and went to work in a brick and tile farm. In 1920, Yan Hongyan went out to earn a living alone, working at the father-in-law's house of the Shaanxi warlord Wang Baomin, and then because he was poisoned and beaten away, he lived by short-term work in the Shenmu and Fugu areas of northern Shaanxi. Soon after, the Northern Shaanxi warlord Jing Yuexiu's Shi Qian Regiment stationed in Anding County recruited troops, Yan Hongyan signed up for the army, first as a trumpet soldier, then as Li Xiangjiu's service soldier, company commander Li Xiangjiu soon joined the regiment, Xie Zichang was also in Li Xiangjiu Company, Yan Hongyan was influenced by the revolutionary atmosphere of the company into the party.
Xie Zichang and others launched an armed rebellion of historical significance in northern Shaanxi (that is, the Qingjian Uprising), Yan Hongyan participated in the uprising, and led a group of men and horses to capture the county magistrate Zhang Zhizhi, annihilated two companies of the enemy army to occupy Yichuan, the troops grew to more than 900 people, Yan Hongyan served as the brigade guard platoon leader, after the failure of the uprising, Yan Hongyan went through a difficult situation for a period of time, and soon entered the Lüliang Mountains to form a Red Army guerrilla group, serving as deputy commander, and then the team was incorporated into the Shaanxi-Gansu guerrilla group of the Red Army, With Xie Zichang as the commander-in-chief and Liu Zhidan as the deputy commander. Yan Hongyan served as the commander of the first detachment, the Red Army marched into northern Shaanxi, and the guerrillas, under the command of Xie Zichang and Liu Zhidan, won successive victories and won a series of victories, creating the earliest revolutionary base area in the history of Shaanxi and Gansu.
Later, with the intensification of the revolutionary struggle and the deterioration of the situation, the former comrades-in-arms left one after another, first Xie Zichang died in 1935 due to the deterioration of his injuries, and Liu Zhidan unfortunately died during the Eastern Crusade in 1936, which made Yan Hongyan feel very uncomfortable, and he could only devote himself to his work to avenge Xie Zichang and Liu Zhidan.
After the Long March of the Central Red Army reached northern Shaanxi, Yan Hongyan served as the leader of the Yellow River guerrilla division of the Red Army, mobilized the masses to solve the problem of ferry boats in the Eastern Crusade, and then formed a contingent of the Red Thirty Army with the name of the Red Thirty Army by the local armed forces and independent battalions in several counties, with a total of 467 people, with Hongyan as the commander, as the commander of the army, as the task of containing the enemy troops on the northern front, and then the department was reorganized into the artillery battalion of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Yan Hongyan was the director of the 129th Division's Left Guard Office, the artillery battalion was reorganized into the 3rd Regiment of the Left-behind Regiment, Yan Hongyan was the regimental commander, and remained in the Center of Yan'an Arch Guard.
During the Liberation War, Yan Hongyan also served as the deputy commander of the 3rd Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army and the deputy political commissar of the 3rd Corps of the Erye. With Yan Hongyan's seniority, he could be awarded the rank of general, but after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yan Hongyan was transferred from the army to serve as the vice governor of Sichuan Province, so according to the regulations, he could not be awarded a military rank.
However, during the period of the Red Army, there were four major branches of the Red Army, the Red Second Front, the Red Fourth Front, and the Northern Shaanxi Red Army; as an important branch of our army, the Northern Shaanxi Red Army could not do without representative figures; in view of the fact that Xie Zichang and Liu Zhidan had all died, He Jinnian was also demoted to major general, and only Yan Hongyan was left with seniority to represent the Red Army in northern Shaanxi. Under the personal interrogation of the chairman, Yan Hongyan, as a representative of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, was awarded the rank of general.
Unfortunately, such a good person did not live long, and in early 1967, a few years after the rank of general was awarded, Yan Hongyan called Chen Boda, and the two quarreled, yan Hongyan was in a hurry, and died suddenly, only 58 years old.