Speaking of Xiao Jinguang, his qualifications can be surpassed by many marshals, and he joined the party in 1922 and studied in the Soviet Union twice.
During the Red Army, he served as chief of staff, military commissar, and regimental commissar.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was left in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, where he served as the director of the Rear Guard Office of the Eighth Route Army and the commander of the Left Guard Corps, and was responsible for suppressing bandits and stabilizing social order.
During the 8 years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xiao Jinguang had been tasked with defending the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and although he did not fight on the front line like the other three main divisions, his responsibility was not small.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was appointed deputy commander and chief of staff of the Shandong Military Region, and together with Lin Biao, Deng Hua, Li Tianyou, and a group of others arrived in Puyang from Yan'an and was preparing to take up his post.
Before they left Yan'an, they implemented the strategy of "developing to the south and defending to the north", but now in order to seize the northeast, they have changed it to "develop to the north and defend to the south".
Not long after arriving in the northeast, the Northeast People's Autonomous Army was established, and he served as deputy commander and chief of staff, and before him there were three deputy commanders, namely Lu Zhengcao, Li Yunchang, and Zhou Baozhong.
In the early days of the Liberation War, he had been assisting Lin Zong in his headquarters, but in 1946, the Kuomintang army adopted the strategy of first going south and then north, and repeatedly encircled and suppressed the troops of the South Manchuria Military Region, so that the troops of South Manchuria were compressed into a very narrow area. He was appointed commander of the Liaodong Military Region in the face of danger, commanding the main forces of the third column and the fourth column to persist in the southern Manchurian operation.
In the end, after the Battle of Sibao Linjiang, the strategic posture of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army on the battlefield was completely changed.
Later, the Liaodong Military Region was abolished, and he served as the commander of the 1st Forward Command Post of the Northeast Field Army, leading his troops to attack Changchun. Under his command, Changchun was besieged for a long time, leaving Changchun's 100,000 defenders cornered and surrendered one after another.
In 1949, he led his troops all the way south to liberate Hunan and served as the commander of the Hunan Military Region.
After liberation, this "dry duck" general became the first commander of the navy, and he worked for more than 30 years.