The award of the rank in 1955 is a major event in our army, because this award is an affirmation of the revolutionary career of many revolutionary predecessors and decades.
Because it was a matter of honor, Marshal Luo Ronghuan, General Song Renqiang, and others in charge of pre-sale work were very cautious, for fear that it would be unfair to award titles.
1955 Conferment Ceremony
But after all, there are more than 1,000 people responsible, and it is inevitable that some people will be dissatisfied. There are some generals who have achieved military merit, but they are not qualified enough.
For example, zhong Wei, a famous general of the four fields, Zhong Wei is a member of the fierce generals who have made many military achievements on the battlefield, but because he is relatively young and has relatively shallow seniority, he has been rated as a major general.
General Zhong Wei
General Zhong Wei was originally relatively straight-laced, saying whatever he wanted, and in public he raised objections to his own title, and even gambled in private: "I want to hang that sign on the dog's tail." ”
However, Zhong Wei could still understand the title, because he was still a general, and later he was reused, serving as the chief of staff of the Beijing Military Region, enjoying the treatment of lieutenant general or above.
Yang Zongsheng
However, Yang Zongsheng, who was only awarded the rank of colonel at the deputy corps level, did not even get a general, which made Yang Zongsheng very incomprehensible. You must know that at that time, the deputy corps level was basically a lieutenant general, and there were some generals, and there was only one major general.
Revolutionary career
Born in 1906 to a peasant family in Xiangyin, Hunan Province, Yang Zongsheng attended a private school for a year and a half, but because his family was relatively poor, he had to herd cattle and sell coolies to landlords to make a living.
In 1926, at the age of 20, Yang Zongsheng began to be influenced by peasant associations and communist party organizations, and his ideological progress yearned for revolution. In June 1930, Peng Dehuai led the Red Third Army to attack Changsha, and when passing through Xiangyin, Yang Zongsheng volunteered to be a guide for the Red Army, and since then he has become a member of the Red Army. In August of the same year, Yang Zongsheng joined the Communist Party of China and became a glorious member of the Communist Party.
Stills from the Red Army period
During the Red Army period, Yang Zongsheng started as a small soldier and became a battalion commander in the battle sequence, but later transferred to the supply department to find the right position, and later became the chief of the accounting section of the supply department of the Red Sixth Army. It should be known that the supply department managed military supplies during the Red Army period, which was a very important existence, and it can also reflect the organizational trust in him at that time.
As an old Red Army soldier, Yang Zongsheng participated in the Long March, and when he passed through Guizhou, he fell seriously ill, and the troops left him in the local area to recuperate. However, after he recovered from his illness, he ate bark and chewed grass roots all the way to drink sewage, and finally reached Yan'an. From here, it can also be seen that Yang Zongsheng is a party member with a firm will.
During the War of Resistance
After the end of the Long March of the Red Army, Yang Zongsheng was organized to focus on training and studied at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Yang Zongsheng served as the chief of the supply department in the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. It is the logistics department again, and Yang Zongsheng has been handy here and has never made mistakes. Everyone also praised the section chief who provided the necessary materials for the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army's frontline anti-Japanese resistance.
Anti-large
In fact, in addition to logistics, Yang Zongsheng also has experience in leading soldiers to fight.
In 1944, he returned to his hometown with a unit to run errands, and on the way he encountered a group of puppet troops, and our army naturally wanted to eliminate the puppet army when it saw them. But after all, they are all Chinese, or try to let them stop from the cliff.
At this time, Yang Zongsheng came up with a good way, that is, to persuade the puppet army to revolt and no longer fight for the Japanese.
Under the bitter persuasion of Yang Zongsheng, this puppet army eventually established an anti-Japanese armed force, which became more and more powerful, and later developed into a crowd of several thousand.
However, the Japanese army could not see the anti-Japanese contingent growing under their eyes, and soon mobilized soldiers and horses to prepare to eliminate the anti-Japanese armed forces led by Yang Zongsheng.
Although Yang Zongsheng had not led many soldiers to fight before, he was still calm and calm, commanding the team in an orderly manner to block the Japanese army and repelling the enemy's attack many times. One after another, the Japanese army suffered a lot of losses, not only failed to eliminate Yang Zongsheng, but also suffered a lot of losses.
Liberation
The loss of a beloved son
During the Liberation War, Yang Zongsheng's son Yang Yingjiu was still a minor and died in the Central Plains Breakthrough. At that time, the situation was critical, Yang Zongsheng temporarily suppressed his grief, and after burying his son with his own hands, he successfully broke out from the enemy's encirclement.
As a father, Yang Zongsheng's loss of his beloved son on the battlefield was actually a very big blow, but he was still able to endure grief and better complete the tasks assigned by the organization in the days to come, and he was definitely a good comrade worthy of trust.
Central Plains Breakout
During the Liberation War, Yang Zongsheng's work was still in charge of logistics, and he served as the director of the Logistics Department of the Lüliang Military Region and the director of the Quartermaster Department of the Northwest Military Region, and together with Marshal He Long, he guaranteed the logistics supply of the People's Liberation Army. In 1949, He Long led the army to liberate the great southwest, and Yang Zongsheng was also among them, serving as the director of the logistics department of the Southwest Military Region in Chengdu.
Refused to attend the conferment ceremony
Yang Zongsheng made certain contributions to our army in the era of the Red Army, the era of the War of Resistance, and the era of the War of Liberation; when our army evaluated the cadre rank in 1952, he was rated as a deputy corps officer.
Knowing that he had been rated as a colonel, Yang Zongsheng's heart was very unconvinced, after all, he was born into death for twenty years, and even his son was sacrificed on the battlefield. Some of his former subordinates were awarded the rank of general, but he was only a colonel.
So Yang Zongsheng decided to say that he was sick at home and not to attend the award ceremony. Eventually his rank and medal were sent home. Yang Zongsheng looked at his colonel's uniform and became more and more angry, so he decided to press the military uniform under the box and never wore his own colonel's uniform for the rest of his life.
Why did the lieutenant general end up becoming a colonel?
In fact, there is no official specific reason for this matter, but there are records that in the early stage of the award of the title, someone once reported that Yang Zongsheng had a certain relationship with the landlord, so the title was affected.
However, according to later understanding, the landlord who interacted with Yang Zongsheng was a progressive person who once helped us when our army was in danger.
Progressive gentry
In the end, Yang Zongsheng found his old superior, General Wang Zhen, and told him about his injustice, and although Wang Zhen was also upset with Yang Zongsheng, after all, the title was over, and the result could not be changed.
Build Xinjiang
Later, when General Wang Zhen was ordered to build Xinjiang, he decided to take Yang Zongsheng, an old subordinate, after all, after coming to Xinjiang, he no longer had to face the matter of conferring titles directly, nor did he have to wear his own colonel's uniform.
General Wang Zhen is in Xinjiang
After coming to Xinjiang, Yang Zongsheng successively served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, deputy chief of staff, deputy commander of the Production and Construction Corps of the Xinjiang Military Region, and vice chairman of the CPPCC Autonomous Region, making outstanding contributions to the development and construction of the Corps.
On January 24, 1981, Yang Zongsheng died of illness at the age of 75.