Before we introduce this person, let's first look at a small story -
After the title was awarded in 1955, a lieutenant general went to visit the old leader, originally thinking that the old leader should at least be a lieutenant general, but after going there, he learned that the old leader had only been awarded the rank of colonel, not even a major general. The lieutenant general was so ashamed that he knelt on the ground on the spot, holding the old leader's leg and crying.
This old leader is luo Houfu who will be talked about in this article.
Speaking of which, the lieutenant general's life was saved by Luo Houfu.
Once, after the battle, the troops were about to evacuate quickly, but Luo Houfu insisted on going back to see if there were any soldiers alive, and as a result, a small correspondent who was seriously injured was found in the corpse pile and carried him out. This little correspondent was naturally the founding lieutenant general later, and if Luo Houfu hadn't carried him out, he would probably have died.
Luo Houfu was born in 1909 in Hong'an, Hubei Province, the famous First General County, at the age of 20, he organized the local poor and established a Red Guard, appointed himself as the captain, specializing in fighting local tycoons and inferior gentry. After the Red Guards were incorporated into the Eyu-Anhui Red Army, Luo Houfu became a company commander.
Luo Houfu was particularly bold and was not afraid of "committing crimes." At the beginning of 1935, Zhang Guotao vigorously carried out a purge and killed many comrades, and Luo Houfu was not on the blacklist, but he spoke out in righteousness, went straight into the compound of the Eyu-Anhui Provincial CPC Committee, and charged at the director of the security bureau responsible for "purging the rebellion."
The director of the security bureau is Zhang's confidant, saying that you really ate the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard, dared to take care of the affairs of the provincial party committee, and then dared to arrest you. Sure enough, as soon as Luo Houfu returned to the county party committee, he was arrested by someone sent by the security bureau and tied to a tree and tortured.
Zhang decided to kill Luo Houfu, but he did not expect that as soon as he was taken to the execution ground, bandits came to make trouble and killed several Red Army soldiers.
Luo Houfu was anxious and shouted at the executioners: "Stupid, let me go, I will take you to break through!" ”
As soon as Luo Houfu loosened his ties, he immediately became the captain of the big knife team, and simply assigned the task, he led everyone to rush into the bandit team wielding a big knife. The bandits had seen this kind of formation, and they fled without a few fights.
Luo Houfu had a hot temper, but was very good to the people. In Chinese New Year's Eve 1942, Luo Houfu led his troops to Xiaogan, Hubei Province, when it was already snowing heavily, the soldiers were hungry, and there were many villages nearby, but Luo Houfu strictly ordered all the ministries to spend the night outside in order not to disturb the villagers for the New Year.
The next day was the first day of the first month, the villagers pushed the door out and found that the New Fourth Army had been frozen outside all night, and they had become snowmen. Many of the compatriots cried, saying that the New Fourth Army could not do this if it talked about discipline again. After the local county magistrate heard about it, he specially wrote a poem praising Luo Houfu:
The night of the moss is cold and snowy,
Ignoring the general's conquest back.
Zhuma is afraid of the old dream of the hometown,
Lying quietly and quietly.
So, with Luo Houfu's seniority and merit, what rank should be awarded? Let's take a look at his awards first.
In 1955, our army also awarded three major medals at the same time as the award, including the August 1st Medal, the Independence Freedom Medal, and the Liberation Medal. These three major medals are divided into three grades, and those who can obtain three first-class medals are undoubtedly highly respected elders of our army, such as marshals and generals, and even 10 people among the generals have not received all three first-class medals.
But Luo Houfu got them all, and was the only one who did not award the rank of general.
As for the reasons for this, there are basically two theories, one is that when Luo Houfu was the deputy commander of the military region, he set up a factory and made considerable profits, but because the army prohibited business, Luo Houfu was severely criticized.
Of course, his children later explained that the money his father earned from running a factory was used to subsidize the troops, and he did not spend a penny privately.
Another theory is that Luo Houfu once helped his husband sell opium. Mention the thing "opium", Chinese can be said to be a handful of snot and a handful of tears, in modern times it is simply synonymous with the devil, and everyone has to blame it. Therefore, Luo Houfu helped people sell opium, which is a sin no matter how it is said.
No matter which way it is said, in short, Luo Houfu has made mistakes, so he has been deliberately depressed when awarding titles.
Of course, after all, Luo Lao's seniority is there, and after many people have interceded, Luo Houfu was added to the rank of major general in 1961, which can also be regarded as an explanation.