People often say that a person's mind determines his height, the chairman looks at people more importantly, when the title is awarded, the chairman once said: "The boy has tears and does not flick, only because he has not yet arrived at the time of the title." This humorous joke reflects some of the circumstances of the time.
On the eve of the big award, the rank is determined according to the rank and rating of the position, many generals know their ranks, some generals feel that their rank is low, can be one level higher, and even find a superior to reflect, and some directly make trouble, resulting in a very bad impact.
This made the chairman make a ridiculous joke, but there were also a very small number of generals who felt that their military ranks were high and demanded that their ranks be lowered, and these people who asked for lowering their ranks ranged from generals to marshals, including Marshal Luo Ronghuan, Marshal Xu Qianqian, General Xu Haidong and General Xu Liqing.
They offered to give up their ranks, and the chairman gave them a high evaluation, but the chairman did not agree to their giving up their titles, among which Xu Liqing repeatedly requested, and even wrote to the chairman to propose to lower his rank, why did Xu Liqing have to lower his rank? Didn't he deserve to be a general?
According to the rank, General Xu Liqing is at the level of the Zhengda Corps, and the generals of this level should be awarded the rank of general, and the reason why he asked for a lower rank was for his own work considerations, when he participated in the work of presiding over the work of the grand title, in order to carry out the work smoothly, he took the lead in lowering his rank.
General Xu Liqing joined the Red Army in 1929, served as the political commissar of the General Health Department of the Four Fronts of the Red Army, participated in the Long March, led the troops to participate in the Western Expedition in 1936, and fought guerrilla warfare in the Qilian Mountains with more than a thousand wounded.
As for his performance in the War of Resistance and the War of Liberation, it was even more outstanding, so he should be awarded the rank of general, and he deserved it, but in order to smoothly carry out the work of conferring titles, he requested to lower his rank at the first level, and at the same time lowered his treatment in all aspects.
He first wrote to the chairman explaining the original committee for the demotion, and then the letter was forwarded to Luo Ronghuan, the leader of the General Political Department, for which Luo Ronghuan also convened a special meeting to study the matter, and after discussion, the unanimous result was that Xu Liqing should be awarded the rank of general, which shows that his military rank is worthy of the name.
Unexpectedly, Xu Liqing did not stop at this, he was determined to reduce his rank, and then he wrote several letters to the chairman in a row, this time the premier came forward to talk to him and advised him not to lower his rank, but the premier was persuaded by Xu Liqing, and finally he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
Finally Xu Liqing became the only lieutenant general among the generals of the Zhengda Corps, he gave up his title as a sensation, many generals were ashamed of themselves, Xu Liqing left the good name of giving up the title, on January 6, 1983, Xu Liqing died of illness in Beijing at the age of 73.