In 1955, before the military rank conferment ceremony began, Peng Dehuai and Luo Ronghuan had difficulties in conferring titles. At that time, in addition to the time they joined the party and their contributions to the party, there were also what positions they held during the war, and it was reasonable to say that these were very simple to evaluate, but there were some very special people, so that everyone could not start, such as Liu Ziqi.
Liu Ziqi became a division commander in the second year of joining the Red Army, and later participated in the Long March, the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and made many outstanding achievements on the battlefield. According to common sense, with these merits, he could at least be awarded the rank of Great General, but why did Luo Ronghuan make trouble on his issue?
It turned out that in the next twenty years, Liu Ziqi's position had never been promoted one level, and he was known as the slowest-moving Red Army division commander.
So, why did such a distinguished division commander never be promoted in the next twenty years? What exactly did he do? What rank will be awarded in the end?
Tragic childhood, the achievement of plastic talent
Liu Ziqi, born in a poor mountain village in Hunan, has a poor family from a young age, and his family lives on farming. However, in that turbulent era at that time, landlords ran amok and oppressed the people, and their parents both died in such an environment, and Liu Ziqi was forced to become the pillar of the family.
In the face of such a difficult life, the young Liu Ziqi never complained about the hardships of life, he just wanted to earn more money to take care of his disabled brothers and young sisters. But every day, when Liu Ziqi was 19 years old, there was a famine in his hometown, the family was starved to death, and the remaining two sisters were forced to marry. Liu Ziqi was like an orphan at this time, wandering around begging for food, and on the way to the wandering, an accident completely changed Liu Ziqi's fate.
At that time, the whole country was in the midst of a revolutionary upsurge, and the May Fourth Movement also broke out, and Liu Ziqi accidentally came into contact with advanced ideas at this time, and in order to save the country and the people, he joined the workers' movement without hesitation. After this, his revolutionary cause was officially launched, and he soon became a workers' representative with excellent performance.
After learning of Liu Ziqi's heroic deeds, the organization felt that he was a malleable talent and decided to let him join the Chinese Communist Party. On the day of his official joining the party, Liu Ziqi firmly read the oath in front of the solemn and sacred party flag. On this day, I think Liu Ziqi will never forget it for the rest of his life.
Not long after joining the party, Liu Ziqi ushered in his first task. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek rebelled against the revolution and slaughtered the Communist Party everywhere, which made it impossible for many of our Party's work to be carried out normally. In this environment, Liu Ziqi risked his life to accept the organization's arrangement, began to carry out a revolution in the countryside, and organized the peasants to establish the Red Guards, including his hometown of Hunan.
After coming to his hometown in Hunan, Liu Ziqi began to mobilize the enthusiasm of the peasants, and soon formed a Liuyang Red Guard, and Liu Ziqi naturally became the leader of the Red Guard. As the captain of the team, Liu Ziqi knew how heavy the burden on his body was, so in the years of armed struggle in the countryside, he had always been conscientious and conscientious, regardless of the hardships of living conditions, and actively contributed to the revolution.
Soon, with his super armed leadership ability, he became the commander of the Second Division of the Liuyang Red Guard Army, when he was only 22 years old. If he had developed at this rate at that time, Liu Ziqi's future would have been absolutely bright, but why had he stagnated?
He gave up his bright future many times and threw himself into school
It turned out that when he was brilliant, he proposed to learn theoretical knowledge, which was rare at that time. However, he felt that although practice is important, theoretical knowledge is equally indispensable, otherwise the two battle maps on the battlefield cannot be understood, how to fight!
Although this decision aroused the opposition of many people, in the end he gave up his bright future and came to study at the camp school. He knows that his foundation is not as good as others, so when he usually studies, he pays several times more effort than others. The kung fu paid off, and with his unremitting efforts, he finally graduated from school with excellent results.
Liu Ziqi, who graduated and returned to the army, served as the commander of the Red Army, which was lower than the previous position of division commander, but Liu Ziqi did not care about these things at all, because gold would shine everywhere.
To everyone's surprise, Liu Ziqi, who returned to the army, used all the military knowledge he learned in school to the battlefield and fought one perfect victory after another. With these achievements, the organization once again promoted Liu Ziqi to the commander of the division, and thought that he would rise step by step. Who knows, in the subsequent anti-encirclement and suppression battles, he fell from division commander to regimental commander, and then from regimental commander to division commander, and so on and so on, and the highest position was only to division commander.
Why? It turned out that everything had something to do with his obscure dedication.
In the years since he participated in the revolution, Liu Ziqi has always been indifferent to fame and fortune, never caring about how high his position is, as long as he can contribute to the revolution, he is very happy. Therefore, if there are any commendation activities in the organization, he will strongly recommend his subordinates to fight for it, and in the end, all the credit falls on others, and he bears it himself.
In one of the anti-encirclement and suppression battles, liu Ziqi's orders were mistransmitted by one of his regimental commanders, which eventually led to heavy casualties among our troops. Looking at the remorseful regimental commander, Liu Ziqi could not bear it, so he undertook all the faults, so he was demoted to the regimental commander again by the organization, and also made a review in front of the leader.
Liu Ziqi, who was demoted to regimental commander again, was as calm as usual, he did not complain at all, but instead promoted to division commander with his combat experience on the battlefield later.
Fast forward to 1934, and after the failure of the fifth anti-encirclement campaign, the Red Army was forced to start the Long March. During the Long March, Liu Ziqi wandered between the regimental commander and the division commander many times, and some comrades-in-arms could not look down and advised him to look for the chief, but Liu Ziqi did not think so, only smiled slightly, and in his heart seemed to have only learning and fighting.
The troops soon arrived in Gansu, but on the way to Yan'an, Liu Ziqi once again made a surprising decision to study at the Red Army University and continue to expand his knowledge of military theory. At this time, more people advised him: "Why did you give up the great future at this time?" What a pity! But Liu Ziqi said firmly: "Only by continuously learning can we fight more victorious battles, fame and fortune, I don't care, who wants to be it." ”
In this way, Liu Ziqi came to the university for further study. During the period of his further study, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, and Liu Ziqi received orders from the organization and was appointed chief of staff of the 359 Brigade to begin the War of Resistance Against Japan.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Liu Ziqi has always kept a low profile, giving up all promotion opportunities to others, and he only devotes himself to the battle. He led the soldiers in a deadly battle with the Japanese army, and with rich combat experience, he repeatedly captured the Japanese city. During this period, he experienced life and death several times, but he was fearless, and organizationally, with his performance, he was transferred to the deputy commander of the Jinzhong Military Region.
Later, he participated in the Hundred Regiments War, and also led the soldiers to open up the land and cultivate the land, solving many difficulties of the common people. But just when everyone thought he was stable, he made a surprising decision and entered the school again. In the end, many of his subordinates made great achievements on the battlefield, and he went to school again and again, missing out on promotion opportunities.
It's hard to rate
During the Liberation War, Liu Ziqi was organized and transferred to the northeast battlefield, where he participated in many battles, large and small, and almost every time was a complete victory. In the Liaoshen Campaign, he relied on his heroic fighting spirit to make outstanding military achievements, made great contributions to the liberation of northeast China, and once again served as a division commander.
However, until the end of the Liberation War, Liu Ziqi's position was always that of a division commander, and such examples were really rare in wartime. If it had been changed to someone else, it is estimated that he would have gone to the chief's theory a long time ago, but when it was placed on Liu Ziqi's body, he felt that it did not matter. Because, in his heart, he always felt that he was a bit different from others, and he needed to keep learning to improve himself.
In 1949, the founding of New China, Liu Ziqi was organized and transferred to the Hunan Military Region and became the chief of staff, but this was not the end of his combat career, but the starting point of another battle.
In 1950, when the Korean War broke out, Liu Ziqi responded to the call of the state and joined the Chinese Volunteer Army and participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In North Korea, he spent his life on the battlefield, fighting even when wounded until the end of the war.
Liu Ziqi, who returned to the motherland, served as the deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region, and since then, Liu Ziqi has truly lived a stable life. The first half of his life can be said to have been spent in learning and fighting, if it were not for his repeated opportunities to give up promotions, when he was awarded the title later, Luo Ronghuan would not have been so difficult because of his rank.
At that time, when they discussed Liu Ziqi's military rank, there were many differences, and some people believed that Liu Ziqi had made a lot of outstanding military achievements on the battlefield and should be rated as a lieutenant general or a general, after all, there were many people who had been admitted out of the ordinary before; but some people believed that he had not been promoted to the first level for nearly twenty years from 1930 to 1949, and the rank of major general was enough.
Luo Ronghuan did not think about it, but many of his subordinates were rated as lieutenant generals or admirals, and it seemed inappropriate to appoint him as a major general. On this issue, in the end, it even alarmed Chairman Mao, and at Chairman Mao's suggestion, Luo Ronghuan found Liu Ziqi himself.
Liu Ziqi saw that Luo Ronghuan was so embarrassed, and said generously: "Any military rank can be, these things do not matter, as long as the organization recognizes my merits." In this way, in the end, Liu Ziqi was awarded the rank of major general, in addition to which he was awarded the August 1st Medal, the First Class Independence Freedom Medal and the First Class Liberation Medal.
Liu Ziqi has been indifferent to fame and fortune all his life, and his spirit of obscurity and selfless dedication is worth learning from each and every one of us!