During the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the staff of the People's Liberation Army Publishing House visited the home of He Long, one of the founding marshals, and accidentally found that the rank order hanging on the wall was actually numbered 001. The staff and relevant experts were shocked and did not understand why He Long, who ranked fifth among the marshals, held the military order number 001.
Before the 1955 award ceremony, New China invested a lot of manpower and material resources to formulate military rank criteria. In order to be more convenient for the military of other countries to be connected with the armies of other countries, as well as to facilitate the management and commendation within the People's Liberation Army, the military rank evaluation work began to prepare in 1950, and it took five full years to determine the final list.
Ten Marshals
Under the influence of the "one-sided" diplomatic policy, the preparations for the award of titles in New China were also revised according to the Soviet model. Chairman Mao led the people of all nationalities throughout the country to establish a new China, and he was also the supreme commander of the Party and the army, and there is no doubt that the rank of Grand Marshal should be awarded.
It was only when Peng Dehuai and Luo Ronghuan had just reported the list of titles and their opinions to Chairman Mao, and Chairman Mao repeatedly waved his hands and refused: "I am not the Grand Marshal!" This incident caused a strong reaction within the party and among a group of democrats, who all believed that Chairman Mao was the founder of the People's Liberation Army, commanded many major battles, and deservedly awarded the rank of grand marshal according to merit.
However, Chairman Mao always believed that wearing the uniform of the Grand Marshal would alienate his relationship with the masses of the people, and resolutely refused to accept the award of military ranks.
Chairman Mao was at Tiananmen Square
Zhu De, who is recognized as the head of the Ten Marshals, has served as the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army since the beginning of the establishment of our army, and he is also a veritable "father of the Red Army" in the hearts of everyone.
Even Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away on the other side of the strait, heard that Zhu De was the head of the ten marshals, and he was convinced to praise him for his worthy of the rank of marshal.
It was only Chairman Mao's refusal to appraise the rank of grand marshal also affected Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, who had also participated in the founding of the People's Liberation Army, led major battles, and held senior leading positions in the country, and they all resigned the rank of marshal one after another, which led many old revolutionaries in the party to modestly believe that their merits were really not worth mentioning compared with Mao Zhou's Liu Deng, and they should not accept the award of military ranks.
Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping
Therefore, Chairman Mao proposed that comrades who were already working in the localities should not participate in the appraisal of ranks, which reduced a lot of trouble for the examination and approval of military ranks. It was only the painstaking persuasion of such generals as Chen Yi, Luo Ronghuan, and Ye Jianying, who had truly made outstanding achievements, that Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou painstakingly persuaded them to accept the rank of marshal with peace of mind.
At 4:30 p.m. on September 27, 1955, seven marshals who were able to attend the marshal's award ceremony gathered at the Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai and waited for the ceremony to begin in a laughing conversation. He Long still thought that Zhou Enlai, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, should also be awarded the title, but the humble Premier Zhou waved his hand and refused, laughing that he would do a good job of logistics for the marshals.
When Chairman Mao personally handed over the military rank order and the three first-class medals to Marshal Zhu De, no one cared about the number written on it. Even if people later saw that Zhu Dejun's order, the head of the Ten Marshals, was numbered "004", they subconsciously thought that the Central Military Commission had left the first three numbers to Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and Liu Shaoqi.
Chairman Mao awarded Zhu De military orders and medals
However, why does the 001 number appear on He Long's military order? The story behind it reflects Chairman Mao's broad mind.
In times of national turmoil, it was proposed that our country's Founding Day be changed to September 9, because that day was the day when the leader Chairman Mao led the Autumn Harvest Uprising. Chairman Mao did not hesitate to reject the proposal, insisting that August 1 be the Founding Day of the Army. We believe that the importance of the Nanchang Uprising in the history of our army cannot be ignored or shaken.
The Nanchang Uprising fired the first shot of the Communist Party of China's armed resistance against the Kuomintang reactionaries, was the beginning of our Party's independent leadership of the armed struggle and the creation of a revolutionary contingent, and was of extraordinary significance in the military history of the people's army, so it was an irrevocable day of army building.
Nanchang Uprising
Zhou Enlai, then secretary of the Military Commission, was elected secretary of the Committee of Former Enemies of the Nanchang Uprising, and He Long was the commander-in-chief of the Nanchang Uprising and the leader with the greatest military power in the Nanchang Uprising troops.
Many people were deeply impressed by He Long's deeds of "two kitchen knives to make a revolution", and he was slightly reckless compared with several other Confucian generals who had read books among the ten marshals, but he could not hide his contribution to the revolution and new China.
When he was a teenager, He Long was famous for his cynicism and bravery in the township, and after following Sun Yat-sen to participate in the revolution at the age of 18, He Long's name also spread throughout his hometown of Sangzhi and Shimen, and he was arrested and imprisoned by reactionaries three times.
He Long was young
In 1916, the 20-year-old He Long pulled up his own team with only two kitchen knives in his hand, and gradually spread his fame to various armies.
After leading the army into Sichuan, He Long's fame grew, and more and more people in the army, and by 1925 he had become a lieutenant general division commander of the National Revolutionary Army, and was the most meritorious and highest-reputation officer in the Northern Expedition.
He Long actively supported Sun Yat-sen's "United Russia and The Communist Party" policy from the beginning of the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, and after contacting the Communists, he quickly realized that the Communist Party was the organization that could really win revolutionary victory and save China, and proposed to join the Communist Party of China very early.
Premier Zhou and He Long
However, during the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, many things were not convenient to operate, and He Long could only temporarily hold his strong desire to join the party and lead the troops to garrison Wuhan as the commander of the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
Chiang Kai-shek's counter-revolutionary coup d'état in Nanjing, Shanghai and other places affected Wang Jingwei, and after three months of patient observation, he finally could not resist attacking the Communists near Wuhan, and the two counter-revolutionary figures set off a white terror throughout the country, and tens of thousands of Communists and revolutionaries were brutally killed in a short period of time.
At the same time, in order to win over He Long, Chiang Kai-shek opened up a huge temptation of 5 million oceans and the Hanyang Arsenal and the commander of the Wuhan garrison, hoping that he could serve himself. It was only when He Long heard about Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal of the revolution that his desire to join the Communist Party became even stronger, and he did not care to be with Chiang Kai-shek at all.
He Long
On the eve of Wang Jingwei's rebellion, He Long took the initiative to find Zhou Enlai and expressed his willingness to obey the Communist Party's arrangements and fight to the end with Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei.
When Zhou Enlai plotted a plan for an uprising with Zhu De, Ye Ting, who was "electrified against Chiang Kai-shek", He Long used his status to provide them with a lot of help.
On July 15, 1927, the Wang Jingwei clique began to hunt down communists and revolutionaries on a large scale, and He Long hung the flag of the 20th Army on the gates of revolutionary groups such as trade unions and peasant associations, and sent soldiers to guard the gate to protect them. More than 300 Communist Party members who had previously fled to Wuhan due to the April 12 coup were all included in He Long's wing, and Zhu De, who needed to go on a mission to the field, was also escorted away by him.
He Long, Xu Xiangqian, Zhu De
On July 28, Zhou Enlai once again ventured to He Long's military headquarters to meet with him, and with He Long's strong support, he handed over the entire 20th Army to the command of the party organization.
So He Long participated in the preparation of the next uprising plan, and at the mobilization meeting on the evening of the 30th, he called on the brothers of the troops to follow him and overthrow Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing. The troops of the 20th Army accounted for half of all the troops involved in the Nanchang Uprising and captured the city of Nanchang before dawn.
The Nanchang Uprising was the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party's creation of its own army, and the 20th Army led by He Long could be described as the backbone of the initial people's army. He Long was the commander-in-chief of the Nanchang Uprising, and his exploits are indelible in the history of armed resistance against the reactionaries, which is why Chairman Mao awarded him the "001" military order.
Marshal He Long
At the end of the Long March and the victory of the three main forces of the Red Army, the Central Committee made difficulties with the question of who would serve as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy. As one of the candidates, He Long was the most prestigious person in the Red Second Front, but he did not hesitate to recommend Peng Dehuai, believing that the party's troops were completely under the party's command.
A general who has held military and political power for many years can give up military power without hesitation, and He Long's broad mind has touched many people. At the first meeting, Chairman Mao praised He Long, and He Long grinned and called him "Mao Dashuai", a special title that only He Long alone in the whole army would call until the period of the War of Resistance, and He Long still often called Chairman Mao "Mao Dashuai".
Chairman He Long
After the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, He Long, as the commander of the 120th Division, humorously said at the mobilization meeting that he had originally taken off the gray military uniform because of the Kuomintang's betrayal of the revolution, and now he was wearing it again because of the anti-Japanese resistance, in fact, as long as Chairman Mao and the party decided, he could wear flower pants himself.
This sentence made all the leaders and soldiers laugh, and also defused the tension and fear of the soldiers before the war, and played an excellent pre-war mobilization effect.
Among the twenty founding marshals and generals, Chairman Mao would only call three people "bosses", and Zhu Lao was always the father of the Red Army and the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army. Peng Dehuai was also known as Chairman Mao for his achievements in appointing volunteers on the Korean battlefield, and He Long did not participate in the Liberation War, but he was also one of the "bosses" that Chairman Mao admired in his heart.
Chairman Mao and He Long
When Hu Zongnan attacked Yan'an, General He gave all his troops to Peng Dehuai to form the Northwest Field Army, and said to the generals who did not want to leave: "The army is the army of the party, not someone." When the people's republic of China was just founded, Hu Zongnan fled from the northwest to the southwest to make a rebellion, and Chairman Mao made Boss He the commander of the Southwest Military Region and eliminated Hu Zongnan's 100,000 militiamen.
At this time, He Long's old unit had been renamed the First Field Army, and under the leadership of Peng Dehuai, he long took into account the overall situation and transferred 18 corps from the North China Military Region, which did not have much war, to break into Hu Zongnan's defense line from northern Sichuan, and completely surrounded the enemy with Liu Deng's army and liberated the southwest.
On the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central Military Commission was also re-established, and He Long became the second of the three vice chairmen. However, first vice chairman Lin Biao was often ill, and Chairman Mao suggested that he Long preside over the daily work of the Central Military Commission.
Although his personality is bold and rough, He Long is a very low-key and modest person. He devoted his enthusiasm to the party and Chairman Mao because of his enthusiastic support for the party and Chairman Mao, and he was loyal to the party and the state all his life, always hoping that others would put forward more critical opinions on him.
Before the 1955 ceremony, many generals, like Chairman Mao, resigned their ranks. They all feel that they have not done enough for the country and the people, and they refuse to accept the honors given by the state. For example, Marshal Zhu De insisted that his salary could not exceed Chairman Mao's, so he never received the allowance that belonged to the marshal, and for other generals, they did not pursue the honor brought by the rank, and the number of the military order was even less important.
The Founding Fathers in film and television
Every marshal who joined the Communist Party risked being threatened and persecuted by the Kuomintang opposition, who had been fighting for the revolution for the sake of new China for decades and never cared about these external things. Therefore, the number 001 can only represent a kind of respect of Chairman Mao and the state for The General Manager He who led the Nanchang uprising, and does not mean the size of merit or honor.
Chairman Mao's refusal to change the date of the Founding Day stemmed from this idea, and the 001 number was not discovered until the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The founding fathers all cherished the same noble sentiment of serving the country and never sought fame and profit, and only then did they create a new China in which everyone was equal and the people were supreme.