In 1949, with the armed liberation of the whole country and the call of the times by the workers and peasants under the leadership of the Party, the dragon of the East was revived, and it had a new name- the People's Republic of China.
The greatness of the revolutionary cause is the result of the joint efforts of tens of millions of people, and in that glorious and difficult history, countless heroes and fighters appeared, so after the founding of New China, the Party Central Committee and the great leader Chairman Mao naturally wanted to award their own honors to those revolutionary heroes, and one of the most important of these honors was the title of founding general.
The founding general was a military lieutenant general who was unique among all others, the vanguard of the War of Liberation and the War of Resistance Against Japan, a title that could be passed on to future generations, and those who could be famous on the list were all important assets of the Republic.
The state and the Party attach great importance to such a position, and the preparation and evaluation of this matter has been in full swing, but an inexplicable thing has happened in the process.
In September 1955, the list of generals selected from among the outstanding generals was basically completed, but when the preliminary list was handed over to Chairman Mao, after a brief glance, he began to circle a name on the list, and even annotated the name of the person - this person was proud and complacent, and only needed to be given the title of lieutenant general.
The list of generals has been screened and scrutinized layer by layer, and all the nominees have made great contributions, but why would Chairman Mao cross out this individual alone? The team in charge of the selection was also confused and very embarrassed at the same time, and they could only quietly look at the conspicuous name - Wang Jian'an.
On October 12, 1908, Wang Jian'an was born in Huang'an, Hubei Province, between the mountains and rivers, his arrival is not so worthy of celebration for this incomparably poor family, Wang Jian'an, who grew up under the hard work of his parents who worked hard to run the family, is a very sensible and precocious child, he began to do short-term work for the landlords in the village at a very young age to help the family reduce the burden, the pressure of birth and life did not erase his ambition, even if there is a little spare time, he will secretly learn, to read, Going to school, this behavior allowed him to draw his own strength from the cultural species.
No matter where the landlords are to exploit their labor, for Wang Jian'an is no exception, and finally one day, he could not bear the insults of the person who was high above, and went alone to the famous Eight Pole Gate Li Diantang's house in Cangzhou to learn martial arts, and when the hands and feet were completed, he went home and went straight to the landlord who oppressed him, and after some violent beatings, he burned down his residence, and the gold and silver in his home were scattered in the township, and Wang Jian'an's fierce and courageous character began to appear.
In 1924, Wang Jian'an was dissatisfied with the small world in front of him, and he left home for the metropolis of Wuhan, but here he did not choose a normal profession, but joined the army and became a major soldier under the warlord Wu Peifu.
In China at that time, the people suffered from warlord wars, and those aspiring young people who cherished ideals were more or less infected by some Marxism, as was Wang Jian'an in the military camp, at that time, he had more in his mind thousands of toiling masses like himself, and under the balance and thinking, he resolutely broke away from the warlord's troops, returned to his hometown of Huang'an in the winter of 1926, and joined the peasant association and the Red Guards.
His life in his hometown was uneventful, but Wang Jian'an became more and more interested in communism that he had been exposed to before, and after careful consideration and strengthening of his heart, in August 1927, the young Wang Jian'an was introduced by people to officially join the Communist Party of China, which was the starting point of his glorious journey.
The time came to October 1927, under the spirit and guidance of the party, the peasants and army organizations in Huang'an and Macheng launched the "Jute Uprising", Wang Jian'an was very brave in the battle, took the lead in the charge, and was the first to climb the ladder of the northwest city wall of Huang'an.
In 1928, Wang Jian'an, who performed well, was promoted to squad leader of the 31st Division of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and participated in the battle to create the Eyu Border Soviet Zone.
Since then, Wang Jian'an has, as always, maintained his positive work attitude and fearless fighting spirit, and with the development of battles such as Yangjiazhai, Yangpingkou, and the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District against "encirclement and suppression," his position has also changed from squad leader to platoon leader and platoon leader to battalion commander.
After the start of the Long March, Wang Jian'an joined the team that crossed the mountains and mountains without hesitation, climbing snowy mountains and crossing meadows, the conditions were extremely severe, he still gritted his teeth and insisted, and never gave up.
After the army arrived in northern Shaanxi in 1936, Wang Jian'an joined the Anti-Japanese Red Army University for further study, but his study career was short, because with the full outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, China at this time was already in danger, Wang Jian'an had no intention of studying again, and he was about to embark on the battlefield.
In 1938, Wang Jian'an was appointed as the commander of the Jinpu detachment of the Eighth Route Army, leading the army in Shandong to fight a heroic war of resistance, which was forged into a heavy blow to Japan, and then in 1939 he was transferred to the deputy commander of the Shandong Column, Wang Jian'an was active in the anti-Japanese front, and did not show mercy to these enemies who vainly attempted to invade their homeland.
However, the Eighth Route Army has never had the same high-quality weapons and ammunition as the Japanese army and the Nationalist army, and in the entire early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it is inevitable that the inferior side can only be guerrilla-oriented in combat, and it is impossible to organize a large-scale active offensive, but Wang Jian'an is not a rough man, nor is he a stupid person, he has a unique military understanding, has a bold and careful strategic deployment, under his leadership the anti-Japanese army continues to struggle against the cunning enemy, unites with the people of the same heart, and breaks the so-called "sweeping" of the puppet army countless times. Conspiracies such as "cannibalization".
In 1944, when the anti-Japanese situation gradually improved, Wang Jian'an saw the opportunity and led the strength of 6 regiments under his command to launch a fierce spring offensive against the puppet army, annihilating more than 7,000 enemy troops in one fell swoop in the crusade, so that it was highly praised by the "Liberation Daily": "This war is not only very important to the anti-Japanese base area in Shandong, but he also makes us feel the tacit understanding of the frontal cooperation between our Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army."
Against the backdrop of the Kuomintang-Republican war and the environment in which the people of the whole country are in a state of common hatred and hatred, this anti-aggression national war came to an end with the Japanese army's gradual defeat and retreat and then the announcement of surrender, and at this juncture, the insidious Nationalist army had already secretly turned its gun to its former comrades-in-arms, but at this time the people's army under the leadership of the Chinese Communists could not be easily shaken.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wang Jian'an once again led his troops to begin to vigorously educate the internal enemy, and in the battles of Shandong Rebellion, Jiaoji Road Counterattack, and Ping'an and Lunan, he marched all the way.
In 1947, Wang Jian'an, who had been in the battlefield for a long time, was appointed commander of the 8th Column of the East China Field Army, and the war situation in Shandong had reached a crucial step, and how to take the capital Jinan, an important town, became the primary issue that the central government needed to consider.
However, at this time, Shangfeng transferred Xu Shiyou as Wang Jian'an's deputy, which was a very strange order, although Xu Shiyou's fame in Shandong was no less than That of Wang Jian'an, but some of the past events of these two people were worth recalling.
In 1937, Zhang Guotao's leftist mistakes were in full swing, and the party had already established the principle and policy of taking Chairman Mao's thought as the leader, so Zhang Guotao was almost scolded and organized critical activities.
At this time, Wang Jian'an and Xu Shiyou were classmates, studying together at kang da, and had a close relationship with each other, but Xu Shiyou had a very straight personality, and when he heard others insulting Zhang Guotao, he loudly refuted and argued with everyone.
After this incident, Xu Shiyou planned to leave Yan'an and go somewhere else to organize guerrilla warfare according to his own ideas, and one person certainly could not do it, so he called several friends together, including Wang Jian'an.
But Wang Jian'an is also a straight man, and after careful consideration, he feels that this matter violates party discipline and he can't do it anyway, so he reports Xu Shiyou's behavior to his superiors, and the latter is sentenced to confinement, although this is only a small matter, but it has a great impact on the friendship between the two.
This time, the central government's order brought the two people who had been separated for many years together again, but on the eve of this big war, the gap between the commander and the deputy seemed to be a bad omen, but Wang Jian'an and Xu Shiyou were veterans who had grown up in blood and fire, and their belief in the revolution and the country was the link between them.
Xu Shiyou immediately set off to Wang Jian'an's headquarters when he received the order, and Wang Jian'an had been waiting at the gate of the headquarters for a long time, he set up a banquet for his old friend to pick up the wind and wash the dust, although it was not a mountain treasure and seafood, but the two of them felt warm when they ate it, and the old things of that year were forgotten by them, and working together for the new China was the big thing they had to do.
Subsequently, under the leadership of the two generals, the PLA troops launched a full-line offensive against the city of Jinan, and after eight days of arduous struggle, they did not live up to the expectations of their superiors and the central authorities, successfully conquered the important town of Jinan, captured the enemy commander Wang Yaowu alive, and a sentence that shook Shandong gradually spread: "Tiger roars in Jinan Province, capture Wang Yaowu alive!" ”
After the whole territory of Shandong was basically liberated, the Huaihai Campaign was about to break out in another piece of land, and Wang Jian'an, who could not personally lead the army to charge the front, still actively put forward his own proposals for the war situation to the central authorities, and his proposal was adopted by the Central Military Commission for his excellent views on the use of troop strength.
In February 1949, when both major battles were victorious, Wang Jian'an was ordered to lead his troops into the Battle of Crossing the River, a tiger-like general who heroically commanded the battle, and after the People's Liberation Army successfully broke through the natural dangers of the Yangtze River and the obstruction of the enemy, he led his troops to occupy Hangzhou and became the first commander of the Zhejiang Military Region.
New China was rising in the East, but at this time the country was in ruins and waiting to be revived, and at the same time, the strong enemy on the outside was looking at the tiger, and Wang Jian'an could not rest as a hero, because he was a soldier and a fierce tiger.
In 1952, after the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the forty-four-year-old Wang Jian'an went out on a campaign and led the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army across the Yalu River to pounce on the enemy of the Republic again.
The war was tragic and cruel, Wang Jian'an had a fearless heart, but his body left countless scars in the years of conquest, and in 1954, Wang Jian'an, who was tormented by illness, returned from the front line with regret.
In 1955, his name was circled by Chairman Mao from the preliminary list of generals, accompanied by the proud and complacent comment, but at this time Wang Jian'an was no longer the quick-talking and unruly man in the chairman's memory, and he grew up in his decades of military service and transformed into a real general who could shoulder the burden of the rejuvenation of the republic.
In 1956, Wang Jian'an received his belated honor, and the state held a separate ceremony for him to award him the title of general, in addition to which three top medals were promulgated - the Order of August 1st Class, the First Class Independence Freedom Medal and the First Class Liberation Medal, which were well-deserved for Wang Jian'an, and he deserved this honor.
General Wang Jian'an, who had retired from the battlefield, became an old man, and the passage of time inevitably left traces on everyone, and General Wang also felt the change of his age, he did not have the opportunity to wear another cloak and cross the battlefield, but his heart had never changed for decades.
New China has been established, at this time the country's greatest need is no longer war and soldiers, Wang Jian'an also knows this, the world is too peaceful, he has become a leader from above, but he came from suffering, he is well aware of the oppression of the toiling masses by the bureaucracy of the old era, and now this brand-new country is based on the people, as a leader, we must not be separated from the masses, we must go among the people.
General Wang Jian'an always kept his mission in mind. In 1979, several senior cadres of the central government organized a condolence delegation to Yunnan to comfort the troops who were fighting against Vietnam's self-defense counterattack at that time, and the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee heard that the leaders of the central authorities were coming, and hurriedly and panickedly prepared a sumptuous banquet to receive the wind, and the group on the plane received the news early, Wang Jian'an took the lead in expressing strong opposition, and finally sent someone to inform the Kunming side that everything was simple: "Banquets are not allowed, everyone will take ordinary vans, the delegation's catering will be solved by themselves, and each meal must not exceed the standard of four dishes and one soup." ”
After the Cultural Revolution, after drawing erroneous lessons and lessons within the party, Wang Jian'an often expressed and appealed to officials at all levels at the meeting to advocate collective leadership and resist "one-word hall." In major policy decisions, everyone has the right to speak, everyone can put forward their own opinions, and the results should be produced by discussion, not by individual arbitrariness, which fully shows his democratic and realistic side.
Similarly, he was a down-to-earth man. Since he could not fight in the front line because of his physical problems, Wang Jian'an turned to the people and went to the most ordinary people.
When he was doing army investigations in Fuzhou, he insisted on going alone, and the leaders of the troops felt that it was really inappropriate to accompany them, Wang Jian'an naturally refused, and after Wang Jian'an explained a few words to them, Geng Zhi's temper broke out, and he stood in place and shouted, "If you have to follow me, then I will not go." ”
But he did not fail to understand the principle of combining rigidity and softness, and after reprimanding his subordinates, he slowed down his tone and gently explained, "I am the leader, you are also the leader, standing in front of everyone, they dare not tell the truth, but we are also from ordinary soldiers, we should understand that if you want to find a problem, you must find out what they really think in their hearts." ”
Then he slept with the soldiers in the company, food and accommodation were the lowest standards, as an old instructor, he took time out of the time to teach the soldiers in just a few days, trying to find out their study and living conditions, and trying to implement the shortage as much as possible.
According to the statistics of Wang Jian'an's secretary, during the period when he went deep into the people to conduct investigations and studies, he submitted a total of more than a dozen reports to the party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, and the contents of the reports covered all aspects, all of which he personally saw and personally felt in the troops, factories, and rural areas at the lowest level, and were also the issues that the masses and soldiers were most really concerned about.
Since arriving in Beijing in 1977, Wang Jian'an has lived in an old-fashioned unit building, maintaining his usual clean and honest style, which has lasted for three years.
On July 25, 1980, the veteran general Wang Jian'an died of illness in Beijing at the age of 72, his life came from the yellow land, to the yellow land, he was young to find a direction for life, in middle age for the country and the nation and conquered the four directions, in old age still running to the people for the take-off of the new China and dedication.
Even before his death, he still had only one simple request for his impending death, "Be simple, and then scatter your ashes in your hometown, the land that nurtured himself." ”
Wang Jian'an's family held a simple funeral for him in accordance with his last wishes in grief, and even many of his friends and comrades-in-arms were shocked by the fact that they knew nothing about it.
The spirit that Wang Jian'an preached and scrupulously adhered to made him known to posterity as the "Five No Generals," which is exactly what is called not to open a memorial service; not to send wreaths; not to organize a farewell party for the remains; not to notify his former friends; and not to ask the responsible comrades to escort the remains for cremation.
His bravery, his honesty, his dedication, silently accompanied his legendary life, his outstanding contributions to the nation and the country will be passed on among thousands of people, although he has left this world, but like countless other revolutionary predecessors, he has turned into a shining red star in the sky, eternally illuminating the soaring republic.