When our army was awarded the rank in 1955, a total of 798 major generals were awarded, but many major generals were later promoted, for example, in 1964, 320 colonels were promoted to major generals.
Naturally, the promotion from colonel to major general is very happy, but one person is not happy, because although he is also on the list of this promotion, he is not officially recognized until 23 years later.
Who is this special major general? His name is Li Jian.
As for why Li Jian's promotion is so tortuous, we will talk about it later, let's first look at Li Jian's revolutionary experience.
Li Jian was born in 1918 in Jiyuan, Henan Province, although his family was poor, his parents still provided him with schooling, and after graduation, he became a teacher in a school in Jiyuan County.
However, the outbreak of the July 7 Incident broke Li Jian's peaceful life, and he was full of patriotic enthusiasm, resolutely gave up his teaching career, threw himself into the pen, and joined the Eighth Route Army.
Before leaving, Li Jian also left a poem for his family:
"The country is broken and the family is destroyed, how can a Chinese boy steal birth?" May the imitation of the class super throw pen go, Ma Ge shroud is also a hero! ”
In 1942, the Japanese army launched a major sweep in the Jizhong Plain, and for a while the people were not happy, Li Jian, who was serving as a section chief at the headquarters of the Jizhong Military Region, was ordered to go to the cavalry regiment to help the cavalry regiment carry out anti-sweeping operations.
As soon as he arrived at the cavalry regiment, the regimental commander Ma Renxing asked him: "Chief Li, are you here this time, is there anything you can do?" ”
Li Jian told everyone: "The sweep of the Japanese Kou is not once or twice, how to jump out of the encirclement circle is the most important thing, after jumping out, we must strike hard at the Japanese Kou, in order to consolidate our base areas and strengthen our strength." ”
After Li Jian finished speaking, he immediately gave instructions to break through in batches, and he personally led three companies and began the counterattack mission.
When the Japanese launched a charge, they were first covered with artillery fire, and Li Jian was observing the enemy situation, when suddenly a shell exploded next to it, and Li Jian was blown unconscious. When he woke up, the first words he heard were: "Chief Li, Rikou rushed up!" ”
When Li Jian heard this, he was anxious and shouted, "What else is there, put on the bayonet!" Although Li Jian was still very dizzy, he also grabbed the big knife and rushed upwards, and launched a white-knife battle with Ri Kou.
Later, Li Jian recalled: "The momentum of the Japanese shells was too great, and I was blown up, but when I went to the battlefield with my knife, I immediately woke up." ”
In June 1945, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ushered in the prelude to the counteroffensive, and the Jizhong Military Region also launched the famous Ziya Hedong Campaign.
At that time, in the southwest Ziya and Wukou, there were a large number of Japanese puppet troops, and at the operational meeting, Li Jian put forward his idea: "The Japanese puppet army of Ziya and Wukou is large in number and well equipped, and if they fight head-on, our army will inevitably be under great pressure, and it may not be able to eat a bite, and the only way is to attack them unprepared and catch him off guard!" ”
Yang Chengwu, commander of the Jizhong Military Region, also agreed, saying: "Well, you are responsible for this matter, and you must eat them!" ”
Li Jian immediately rushed back to the troops, but when he set out, it suddenly rained heavily, and Li Jian shouted to the soldiers: "The anti-sweep three years ago, or such a night, or the same downpour, but this time we took the initiative to attack!" Remember, the order from the superior is to completely annihilate the enemy! Everybody understands no! ”
"Got it! Mission accomplished is guaranteed! The warriors replied in unison.
On the way to the rapid march, the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the soldiers had long been soaked by the rain, but still did not slow down, and soon arrived at the southwest Ziya.
At that time, the Japanese puppet army felt that it would be safe to rain so much, and no one stood guard, and as a result, the officers and men of our army launched a charge against the Japanese puppet army like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, and the Japanese puppet army was too late to resist when it was in a hurry, and all of them were wiped out by our army!
After the war, at the commendation meeting, Yang Chengwu praised Li Jian by name, but Li Jian said: "The real heroes are the soldiers, without their courage to kill the enemy, there would be no victory this time, so they are indispensable." ”
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Jian served as chief of artillery staff of the North China Military Region and commander of the artillery of the Beijing Military Region, and was awarded the rank of colonel in 1955.
By 1964, Li Jian was originally on the list of promoted major generals, but some people raised objections, what exactly is "objection", which is now untestable, in short, in order to consider carefully, the superior temporarily brushed off his name, and then made a decision after verifying the situation.
However, before the results could be verified, the famous movement broke out and the matter was delayed.
This delay was 23 years, until 1987, when our army reconsidered the award of titles, which reminded li Jian of his year and officially approved his promotion to major general.
At this time, Li Jian, who was already 70 years old, only smiled lightly at this result and did not mind at all.
On April 28, 2007, General Li Jian died of illness at the age of 90.
——To learn more about the story of the founding generals, you can check out the column of the history inn, a total of 100 founding generals.