The Biography of Luo Ronghuan records such an incident: "There was an old cadre who participated in the 'Nanchang Uprising' and held important posts, but he repeatedly misbehaved in dealing with the problem of personal life, and after entering the city, he made the mistake of disobeying the organization's distribution. Luo Ronghuan once personally talked to him, criticized his serious mistakes, and solemnly warned him that if he did not change, he would be severely punished. But in evaluating his rank, Luo Ronghuan comprehensively analyzed the merits of this cadre and awarded him the rank of lieutenant general a year later."
Although the book does not state who this lieutenant general is, among the founding lieutenant generals, only Tang Tianji, Peng Mingji, Nie Heting, Zhao Rong, Tan Furen, and Tan Jiashu participated in the Nanchang Uprising, of which only Nie Heting's lieutenant general rank was supplemented in 1956, so the old cadre mentioned in the "Biography of Luo Ronghuan" is Lieutenant General Nie Heting. Nie Heting is a native of Fuyang, Anhui Province, born in 1905, and entered a private school at the age of 7. Later, the family changed, the family fell in the middle of the road, and was forced to drop out of school to work as a farmer.
Lieutenant General Nie Heting
In his spare time, Nie Heting has always insisted on self-study. In 1921, he was admitted to the Physical Education Department of Anhui River Normal College, during which time Nie Heting became acquainted with Xu Jishen and embarked on the revolutionary road under his influence. After the start of the Northern Expedition, Nie Heting served as the platoon leader of the 2nd Battalion and 6th Company of the Ye Ting Independent Regiment, and followed the troops all the way to the battle, making many military achievements. Soon after the Nanchang Uprising broke out, Nie Heting participated in the uprising with the 73rd Regiment, leading the whole platoon to carry out the task of guarding the direction of jiujiang to raid the enemy, and the later founding generals Xu Guangda and Su Yu were only squad leaders at that time.
Soon after, the rebel forces marched south to Guangdong, and when passing through Sanheba, they were surrounded by superior enemy forces and lost the battle. By the time of Dayu in Gannan, there were only more than 800 rebel troops left, and there was very little food and ammunition left. In order to solve the problem of survival, Mr. Zhu decided to defect to Fan Shisheng, commander of the Sixteenth Army of the Nationalist Army, who had a deep relationship with him, and temporarily incorporated himself into the army under the premise of adhering to independence. Nie Heting, who was only 22 years old at the time, was very "unable to think straight", so he asked to leave the army and go to Shanghai to "do other work", and After a fruitless persuasion, Mr. Zhu agreed to his request.
Nie Heting (first from the left)
Soon after arriving in Shanghai, nie Heting was sent to Guangzhou to participate in the Guangzhou uprising that was brewing. As early as the Period of the Northern Expedition, Nie Heting served under Ye Ting, and this time when he met his old superiors, Nie Heting was very excited, and Ye Ting made him a staff officer of the general headquarters of the rebel army. Among the more than a thousand founding generals, only a handful of them participated in the Nanchang Uprising and the Guangzhou Uprising, and Nie Heting's seniority was evident.
After the start of the Long March, Nie Heting served as the chief of staff of the First Division of the Red First Army, serving as a left-wing unit to cover the advance of the CmC column. When the Red First Division passed through Xintian, it was besieged by more than 6,000 people of the Yu Han Conspiracy Of the Yue Army. Nie Heting led his troops to repulse more than a dozen enemy charges in one day, ensuring the safety of the left wing of the CMC column. After the Red Army entered Guizhou, the superiors decided to forcibly cross the Wujiang River and occupy Zunyi. The task of crossing the river was taken over by the First Division, and Nie Heting was ordered to lead a regiment (regimental commander Yang Dezhi) to advance the crossing in one fell swoop, creating extremely favorable conditions for the Red Army to seize Zunyi.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Nie Heting successively served as director of the Operations Bureau of the General Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, director of the General Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, and chief of staff of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Nie Heting followed the troops to the northeast and successively served as commander of the Songjiang Military Region, chief of staff of the Northeast Democratic United Army, commander of the Northern Liaoning Military Region, and deputy chief of staff of Siye. Shortly after the liberation of Changchun, Nie Heting was ordered to lead the troops of 7 divisions south to liberate Shenyang.
Before the general offensive was launched, Xu Gengyang, commander of the provisional 53rd Division of the Kuomintang New First Army, sent people out of the city to find Nie Heting and discuss the uprising. Without asking the head of the Northeast Field Army for instructions, Nie Heting agreed to the 53rd Division's request for an uprising, and after the war he was criticized by Luo Ronghuan. The superiors believed that the provisional 53rd Division had only raised an uprising when the general offensive of our army was about to be launched, and that there was speculation, so the division should not be counted as an uprising, but should be treated with sincerity. Nie Heting, without asking his superiors for instructions, listed the Provisional 53rd Division as an insurrectionary force without authorization, violating organizational principles, so he was criticized by Luo Ronghuan.
After the founding of New China, Nie Heting successively served as deputy chief of staff of the Central and Southern Military Region and deputy commander of the armored corps of the People's Liberation Army, and led his troops to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. When he was awarded the title in 1955, Nie Heting, who had participated in the Nanchang Uprising and the Guangzhou Uprising and served as the chief of staff of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army, was rated as a lieutenant general, and he thought that his military rank was low, so he ran to Luo Shuai and made a fuss, causing a bad impact. As a result, the rank was not awarded in 1955, and the rank of lieutenant general was not re-awarded until a year later.