He was a general, but soon after receiving the rank of major general, he volunteered to return to his hometown to become a farmer

He was one of the first major generals in New China to be awarded the title, his merits were outstanding, he had been injured many times during the war, he could have enjoyed generous treatment, but after two years of awarding the title, he took the initiative to apply and returned to his hometown to work as a farmer. Who is he? Why did he make that choice?

First, the baptism of war, throw yourself into the revolution

Gan Zuchang was born in 1905, when the land of China was in a state of devastation. When he was in his early 20s, Gan Zuchang joined the revolutionary ranks and became a member of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. During the Long March of the Red Army, he arrived in Shaanxi with the army. From his participation in the revolution to his inauguration in Xinjiang, Gan Zuchang was mainly responsible for military supplies and logistical support, which was not easy to do well in that era of material conditions. In Liu Nannan's "The Unknown Story of Gan Zuchang", the story of "three peppers" on the long march is mentioned, and a soldier gave three peppers to Gan Zuchang before his sacrifice. We who are well fed and well-fed may think that these three peppers have no effect, but in the extremely harsh environment, the role they can play is not what we can imagine. After Gan Zuchang got these three peppers, he gave them to more than a dozen warriors, each taking a small bite, which showed the difficulty at that time.

After much hardship, Gan Zuchang arrived with the team in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and during the period when the Kuomintang blockaded the border area, Gan Zuchang assumed the leadership of the munitions factory. As we all know, during the Kuomintang blockade, the materials in the border areas were extremely scarce, and the salt needed to be first immersed in cotton jackets. It was under such extremely difficult conditions that Gan Zuchang almost started from scratch to develop a munitions factory. In the munitions factories that Gan Zuchang was in charge of, except for a very few who had a certain foundation, most of them started from scratch at the beginning of the preparations, such as textile factories, and there was a shortage of factories, raw materials, production tools, and workers. Under such circumstances, Gan Zuchang organized personnel to open kilns to make machine rooms, borrowed soil looms from his fellow villagers, and at the same time imitated some looms, gradually set up weaving factories, and to a certain extent solved the problem of clothing for the military and civilians in the border areas.

Second, the tip of the knife wanders around and skillfully seizes the ammunition

Shanxi was long in charge of Yan Xishan, and after the Japanese invasion, part of the arsenal of Yan Xishan's troops was occupied by the Japanese, including a small arsenal in yuanping town. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the importance of arms was self-evident, and our army's munitions were very limited, and Gan Zuchang, as a member in charge of arms and materials, paid special attention to how to obtain more arms. Therefore, when he knew that there was an arsenal in Plain Town, he looked for a way, came to a dark Chen Cang, and under the eyes of Ri Kou, he emptied the arsenal.

According to Liu Nanfang's "The Unknown Story of Gan Zuchang", after learning about the situation in Yuanping Town, Gan Zuchang led the guerrillas to disguise themselves for observation, and after returning to their foothold, they formulated a plan to seize arms. In the middle of the night, a squad ambushed the entrance to the wall leading to the arsenal, while the rest dug a hole in the back corner. After entering the arsenal, Gan Zuchang removed some of the ammunition according to his own transportation capacity and restored the cave entrance to its original state. After that, they followed this method several times until the arsenal was emptied.

Third, the new mission of New China, the construction of Xinjiang

In 1949, Wang Zhen led an army into Xinjiang, and Gan Zuchang was also a member of this team. In Xinjiang, which has just been liberated, the grain production capacity is insufficient, and the grain needed by the troops cannot be supplied. Transporting grain from other places or the Soviet Union was subject to high freight costs, and hostile forces even clamored that "it is better to go in and out of here." At this time, Gan Zuchang was still in the position of logistics support, and in the face of the problem of insufficient food, Gan Zuchang proposed a comprehensive survey to Wang Zhen, of which Gan Zuchang led a team of 8 people to go deep into northern Xinjiang. Later, it was found that the local people had a large stock, but they were too much squeezed during the rule of the Kuomintang government, and they hid the grain. So he proposed to Wang Zhen to exchange daily necessities for herders' wool and grain, which not only solved the food problem, but also allowed the local people to obtain the goods they needed.

Fourth, due to injury recuperation, take the initiative to resign

In the course of the battle, Gan Zuchang suffered multiple head injuries and suffered from concussion sequelae. In the long-term high-intensity work, his sequelae recurred repeatedly, and he often fainted, so the organization sent him to Lushan and other places for recuperation. During his recuperation in Lushan, he felt that he could still play a role, returned to Xinjiang, submitted an application to the organization to understand Jia Guitian, and was approved for the third time. Therefore, he took his wife back to his hometown of Pingxiang Lotus and participated in the construction of the countryside with the villagers.

There are many admirable aspects about the deeds of General Gan Zuchang and his wife Gong Quanzhen, and they have been made into TV dramas.