Among the founding generals of New China, there are not a few generals who have served as commanders of the Great Military Region, such as Xu Shiyou, Yang Dezhi, Yang Yong, Han Xianchu, Chen Zaidao, Deng Hua, and so on, but when it comes to who is the youngest commander of the Military Region, it is probably Yang Chengwu.
Yang Chengwu, who joined the Red Army in 1929, during the Red Army period, he was always a political work cadre, holding the highest position as the political commissar of the division, and his partner was the later general Chen Geng.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as commander of the 115th Division, fought in the Battle of Pingxingguan, and killed the Japanese commander Norihide Abe at the Battle of Loess Ridge. Norihide Abe became the commander with the highest death in the Japanese army on the Battlefield of China, with the rank of lieutenant general. Later, he was promoted to commander of the Jizhong Military Region and fought in the Jizhong Plain for a long time.
During the liberation period, he served as the commander of the North China Field Army Corps, and after liberation, he went to Korea to fight, served as the commander of the corps, and then transferred back to China as the chief of staff and deputy commander of the North China Military Region.
In 1955, the North China Military Region was reorganized into the Beijing Military Region, and he served as the first commander of the Beijing Military Region. At that time, he was only 41 years old, like Xu Shiyou, who was with him as commander, 50 years old, Yang Dezhi was 49 years old, Chen Zaidao was 46 years old, Deng Hua, 44 years old, Ye Fei was 42 years old, and so on.
After 1958, he served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and after 1965, he was promoted to First Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Acting Chief of the General Staff. After 1973, Pi Dingjun, commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, died, and he concurrently served as the commander of the Fuzhou Military Region. It was not until 1980 that he stepped down as deputy chief of staff and retired to the second line.