After the founding of New China, China held a ceremony to award titles to the generals who had made outstanding contributions to the country and the people to express their recognition and commendation. Among the ten great generals, there is such a general, who has experienced hundreds of battles but is unscathed, and he is still the highest-lived general. Who is he?
He is Xiao Jinguang, born in 1903, a native of Changsha, Hunan. Among the generals in the revolutionary period, many of them had experienced hundreds of battles and suffered wounds and bloodshed for the revolutionary cause, but Xiao Jinguang was very special, not only did old Chiang want to kill him, but the Japanese Kou wanted to kill him, and even the leaders of the Red Army wanted to kill him, but every time he turned the danger into a disaster.
Xiao Jinguang is a big figure on the old Jiang's blacklist, and all parties want to catch this "big fish" in order to get a bounty. After he arrived in Huainan, Anhui, the local reactionary leader immediately ordered: "Even if you turn huainan city over and over again, you must dig out Xiao Jinguang!" "He also opened 200 oceans as a reward, and Xiao Jinguang was wanted."
After Xiao Jinguang heard about it, he also said, "I am worth 200 oceans?" Twenty thousand pieces is not even close! Later, Xiao Jinguang asked a miner to pretend to have discovered his whereabouts, go to the reactionary regiment leader to inform him, and lead the reactionary regiment to other places to arrest him, and he successfully escaped the disaster.
During the anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, Xiao Jinguang was in charge of the defense of Lichuan County, Jiangxi, when the Kuomintang troops sent three divisions to attack and occupy, Xiao Jinguang knew that no matter how to fight, he wanted to retreat and preserve his strength. But Bogu and Li De disagreed, accusing Xiao Jinguang of wanting to be a deserter. Bogu demanded that Xiao Jinguang be removed from his post and investigated, and Li De even said that he would execute Xiao Jinguang.
In the end, Xiao Jinguang was able to save his life under the appearance of the great man. But at that time, the great man did not have much real power, so Xiao Jinguang was still sentenced to five years in prison, and later under the care of the great man, Xiao Jinguang was only locked up for a month before he came out.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was appointed commander of the Rear Guard Corps of the Eighth Route Army. From the spring of 1938 to the New Year's Day of 1939, he led his troops to fight against Japan more than 70 times, effectively attacking the Japanese army's attack on river defense.
After the outbreak of the Liberation War, Xiao Jinguang went to Shenyang to serve as deputy commander-in-chief and chief of staff of the Northeast People's Autonomous Army. He commanded the Southern Manchurian forces to carry out the Sibao Linjiang Operation, and within three and a half months he smashed four large-scale attacks by the Kuomintang troops, completely reversing the situation in Southern Manchuria and laying the groundwork for the Northeast People's Liberation Army to turn into offensive operations. Later, he was appointed commander of the Hunan Military Region. In the Battle of Hengbao, he led the Zhonglu Army to surround the four elite divisions of the Kuomintang and liberated most of Hunan.
In mid-October 1949, shortly after the end of the Battle of Hengbao, Xiao Jinguang, who was far away in Changsha, was still immersed in the joy of victory. One day, Xiao Jinguang suddenly received a telegram from the Central Military Commission: The great man summoned him to discuss important matters. Xiao Jinguang did not dare to be idle, and appeared in the reception room of Zhongnanhai a day later.
The great man said straight to the point: "Although the task of liberating the whole country is still very arduous, the issue of forming an air force and a navy has been put on the agenda, and now we have to start preparing for the navy. He said frankly: "I am a 'dry duck', how can I be a naval commander?" "It turned out that he had been on a boat a few times before, but each time he was seasick. The great man also said humorously: "The commander of the Navy is seasick, the commander of the Air Force is seasick, and this is my cadre policy." ”
Since then, he has served as a naval commander for 30 years, devoted his life to the modernization of the navy, and was later praised by the great man as the "commander of the navy for life". In 1955, Xiao Jinguang was awarded the rank of Grand General. In 1989, Xiao Jinguang died in Beijing at the age of 86, the last general to die, and the longest to live.
The founding general Xiao Jinguang spent his life full of legends. He is an excellent leader of our country and army, an outstanding revolutionary in our country, and the founder of the people's navy; he has made tremendous contributions to the cause of our country's liberation and the cause of socialism.