Towards the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was appointed chief of staff of the New Fourth Army, and on his way from Yan'an to his inaugural post, he received an order to turn to the northeast to fight. Who is he? He was the veteran general Ni Zhiliang.
Ni Zhiliang held a very high position during the Red Army period, serving as the division commander of the Red Fourth Front, the commander of the army, and the chief of staff of the Red Fourth Front. It can be said that many later high-ranking generals once served under him, such as Chen Xilian and Hu Qicai. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was appointed chief of staff of the 129th Division, but he did not work in the post of chief of staff, but led some people to mobilize the masses, launched guerrilla warfare, and established the Jinji-Hebei Yu Military Region, and served as commander. Later, he was transferred to Yan'an to study, and also served as the deputy director of the Operations Bureau.
Towards the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was appointed chief of staff of the New Fourth Army, assisted Chen Yi in his work, and went to the front line in central China. On the way, the Japanese surrendered, and he was transferred to the northeast to fight. He successively served as commander of the Northern Liaoning Military Region, commander of the Nennan Military Region, deputy commander of the Western Manchurian Military Region, and vice president of the Northeast Military and Political University. He did not fight on the front line for a long time, although he was a commander of the military region, most of which was mainly engaged in the maintenance of stability and rear construction, and in the late liberation period, he was transferred to the military education system and away from the battlefield. His record in the Northeast Theater was not much, so later when he was awarded the rank, he was only rated as a quasi-corps and awarded to lieutenant general.
Taking a step back, if he had gone to the New Fourth Army as chief of staff, according to this level plus the battle record, he should also be a general. Because his positions and seniority in the Red Army and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression were completely sufficient, and the chief of staff of the New Fourth Army was the core level, like Lai Chuanzhu and Chen Shiyu, who had successively served as chiefs of staff of the New Fourth Army, and were later awarded generals. It should be known that Lai Chuanzhu and Chen Shiyu did not have higher seniority than him in the Red Army and the War of Resistance.