On September 27, 1955, the first awarding ceremony in the history of New China was held in Zhongnanhai, Beijing, and the awarding ceremony gave birth to ten marshals, ten generals, generals, generals, lieutenant generals, major generals, etc.
In fact, the task of ranking evaluation had already been issued as early as late January 1955, and it was received by four cadres of the General Cadre Management Department at that time, namely Luo Ronghuan, Lai Chuanzhu, Song Renqian and Xu Liqing.
The four of them were still more embarrassed when they received this task, after all, the object of evaluation was the comrade-in-arms who had walked side by side with them. The most important thing is that in the process of appraisal, it is necessary to be fair and just, and it is also necessary to combine the merits of comrades and other things, once it is not handled properly, it will cause a bad impact.
Liu Ziqi
One of them gave them a special headache, and this person was Liu Ziqi. Liu Ziqi's situation is relatively special, although he joined the party in 1927, but from 1930 to the founding of the People's Republic of China, his position has always been a division commander and has never changed.
Luo Rongheng and the others did not know what kind of rank to give Liu Ziqi, and after thinking about it, Luo Rongheng decided to visit him personally and ask for his opinion.
When the little friends saw this, they must be very confused, why did Liu Ziqi join the party for so long, but his position has not changed? The most important thing is what rank was Liu Ziqi rated in the end?
He was a captain as soon as he joined the army
Liu Ziqi was born in 1900 in a poor family in Liuyang, Hunan Province, and because of his poor family, he went to work as an apprentice at a very young age and became a weaver at the age of 15. Liu Ziqi thought that his life would go on like this, but he did not expect that things had changed.
In April 1927, Liu Ziqi joined the Communist Party and joined the army in 1928. In fact, Liu Ziqi's starting point was very high, and when he first joined the army, he served as the captain of the Liuyang guerrilla regional joint defense team. In 1930, Liu Ziqi served as the commander of the 2nd Division of the Liuyang Red Guards, and in July he followed the Red 3rd Army to attack Changsha, breaking through the outer defense line and crossing the Liuyang River.
Liu Ziqi changed from a guerrilla leader to a division commander in just two years, and his promotion was still very fast. But it is a great pity that from 1930 to 1949, Liu Ziqi's position has not changed, and he has always stayed in the division commander.
He was awarded the rank of major general
After that, Liu Ziqi participated in the war to liberate Changsha, and cooperated with the main force of the Red Army to attack Changsha twice, and Liu Ziqi's performance in the first attack on Changsha was still very good, but it was a pity that the second time failed.
After the second defeat, Liu Ziqi followed the large troops to the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area, perhaps realizing his lack of experience, he made a bold decision, that is, to resign from the post of division commander and go to the Red Army camp school to study.
Here Liu Ziqi learned more useful knowledge, and his thinking also improved by leaps and bounds, and after graduation, Liu Ziqi served as the political commissar and regimental commander of the 13th Regiment of the Independent 5th Division of the Red Army, and soon after became the commander of the Independent 3rd Division of the Red Army.
In July 1937, when the All-out War of Resistance broke out, the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and Liu Ziqi served as the chief of staff of the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, assisting the brigade commander Wang Zhen in leading his troops to cross the Yellow River in the east.
During his tenure, Liu Ziqi led the troops to be active in the anti-Japanese front and successfully opened up anti-Japanese base areas in the rear of the enemy army. In addition, Liu Ziqi also cooperated with his brother troops in the operations of Xinkou and Taiyuan, which also caused a painful blow to the Japanese army.
Wang Zhen, who was partnered with Liu Ziqi, was awarded the rank of general at the subsequent appraisal ceremony, in addition to liu zhuanlian, the commander of the 717 regiment under the 359 brigade, and Wen Niansheng, the commander of the 718 regiment, were also awarded the rank of lieutenant general. It is reasonable to say that Liu Ziqi's military rank should not be lower than that of lieutenant general, so why was he awarded major general at the 1955 award ceremony?
In fact, the reason is very simple, all of which is related to Liu Ziqi's performance during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and his qualifications during the liberation period.
He has been a division commander for nearly 20 years
Everyone knows that there were many brave generals during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and their performance was very outstanding, while Liu Ziqi's performance was relatively unspeakable.
During the Liberation War, Liu Ziqi first served as the commander of the Harbin Security, and then in February 1946, he was transferred to the 20th Brigade of the 7th Division of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army as a brigade commander. There were no major promotions for the next two years, until January 1948, when he became the commander of the Independent 8th Division of the Northeast Field Army.
In December of the same year, Liu Ziqi served as the commander of the 2nd Division of the Northeast Military Region, and from March to September 1949, he served as the commander of the 165th Division of the Fourth Field Army.
From 1930 he was commander of the Self-Defense Army division to 1949 commander of the 165th Division of the Fourth Field Army. In this nearly 20-year period, Liu Ziqi once again returned to the position of division commander.
It was not until after the founding of New China, that is, in June 1951, that Liu Ziqi said goodbye to the position of "division commander", and he was transferred to Hunan to serve as the chief of staff and party secretary of the Hunan Military Region.
55 years of conferment ceremony
Luo Ronghuan personally visited and asked for his opinion
When he was awarded the title in 1955, Liu Ziqi was serving as deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region. Luo Ronghuan, Song Renqian, and others, who were military rank evaluators, were extremely troubled in the face of Liu Ziqi's military rank evaluation.
According to Liu Ziqi's qualifications, military achievements, revolutionary years and current positions, there are different military ranks. For example, if according to the seniority of the Red Army period and the War of Resistance, Liu Ziqi can be rated as a general, and the lowest is also a lieutenant general.
However, according to the seniority of the liberation period and the performance of each period, Liu Ziqi can only be rated as a lieutenant general. Therefore, how should Liu Ziqi's military rank be evaluated, which made Luo Ronghuan and others very worried.
In the end, the appraisal team decided to appoint Liu Ziqi as a major general after discussion, but due to Liu Ziqi's special situation and respect for him, Luo Ronghuan decided to visit him personally.
Luo Ronghuan
Luo Rongheng saw that this old comrade-in-arms did not have a greeting, and directly ran into the subject: "Old comrade-in-arms, I came to you this time about the evaluation of military ranks, what rank do you think is more appropriate for us to give you?" ”
Liu Ziqi just said lightly: "I don't care about military ranks or anything, nor do I have any requirements, what rank the organization gives me, I want what rank, completely obey the organization's arrangement." Luo Ronghuan told him, "Now the organization tentatively awards you the rank of major general." ”
Liu Ziqi was not disappointed or angry, but calmly said to Luo Ronghuan: "I was originally from a peasant background, and I did not choose to join the Communist Party for these fame and fortunes, and I know my own abilities, and the major general is enough to match me." ”
In the end, Liu Ziqi also comforted Luo Rongheng not to be sad because of this matter, and how the organization arranged it, he accepted it.
At the award ceremony in 1955, Liu Ziqi was awarded the rank of major general, but at the same time he was also awarded three first-class medals, namely: the Order of August 1st Class, the First Class Independence Freedom Medal, and the First Class Liberation Medal...